Exercise is important but nutrition is what’s going to make you either happy with your results or frustrated. The problem it seems is, at least from the outset, nutrition for fat loss seems complicated. It doesn’t however need to be and that’s what we’ll try to simplify here in this post.
 
Our main clientele here at Body Health and Fitness come to us for fat loss, or at least changing their body shape. Our very first step in helping with that is to have them keep a food diary to give us a snapshot of current eating habits and timings, so over the years we’ve seen some pretty big commonalities. For some people small incremental changes are all that’s needed, but for the vast majority we try to help them understand that they need to simply feed themselves back to good health. 

In the western world allergy affects approximately one in four individuals. Common allergic conditions include hay fever, asthma, eczema, food allergy, insect venom allergy and drug allergy. Most individuals with allergy have mild to moderate disease with a much smaller group of individuals having severe allergy, which may be life threatening. Allergy is caused by an abnormal immune response to a harmless agent in the environment e.g. pollen or food. There is a tendency for allergy to run in families. Food allergy should not be confused with food intolerance. There are some types of food intolerance with a known cause e.g. lactose intolerance where an individual is lacking the enzyme necessary for digesting lactose. However, most types of food intolerance have no known cause.
Allergy diagnosis is based on a careful clinical review and there are some internationally validated tests (e.g. skin prick tests, specific IgE tests) which when properly performed can help in confirming the diagnosis. There is however, no blood or other test, which by itself can diagnose allergy. The only exception to this is allergy challenge testing, performed under medical supervision in a hospital setting. In particular, there is no scientific basis to tests such as Vega, hair tests, IgG tests or kinesiology. Not only do these tests not work, they may be dangerous, as they can result in the commencement of restrictive diets and the loss of valuable nutrients. The Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority issued an advisory in March 2015 concerning the use of these tests and you can see that here. Do not waste your money on them. If you are worried about allergy, talk to your doctor.

Throughout my years of running a gym I’ve seen “the good the bad and the ugly” of exercise technique. Without proper technique there are a few things that are likely to happen. One of the obvious being that you will not work the muscles you are aiming to hit through their full range of motion, which in turn means, at best, shortchanging your results. A more hazardous effect however…and high in the probability stakes is that you’ll do damage, maybe not on your first set, or even first week, but at some stage down the line there’ll be a cost to pay. Add to this that most people are loading more weight than they really ought to be using and it’s a recipe for potential injury. 

Let’s get one thing clear, without proper technique/form you are wasting your time and energy. Forget your ego and the amount of weight you’re using and concentrate on using the joints and muscles that are meant to be producing the movement.

I’ve seen so many people firing themselves up with music, energy drinks, pre-workouts and shouting, only to use a partial movement or ‘half rep’ of an exercise, but to what result? There are plenty of studies to suggest that a full range of movement is far more effective at both building size and strength along with keeping your joints healthier. Just think about that before your next workout, full range will help you grow, full range will make you stronger, full range will most likely keep you injury free, provided the weight you are lifting is in within your capability and you leave your ego at the door.

Train smart and you’ll get better result, if you’re unsure of your technique, just ask or invest in a couple of coaching sessions, it may just cost you less than a series of trips to the physio. If your technique is sound and the weight you are lifting is challenging enough then that’s the ultimate aim. In most cases going lighter, performing the exercise properly will serve you well and create a solid foundation from which to build.

As with nutrition, consistency is key, so keeping healthy and making slow steady progress is the most important factor in seeing results. Train hard with correct form, eat well, get enough sleep to recharge your batteries, recover and enjoy indulgences in moderation.​