If you exercise regularly can you eat what you want?

This question has cropped up three times in workshops in the past week so I thought it would be worth addressing it here.

Regular exercise is the ideal way to lift your mood, boost your energy levels, manage your weight and help you sleep better.  But does this mean that if you exercise well, you won't need to worry about your food routine?

Here are 3 things to consider
1. Exercise can keep you looking healthy but external appearances do not constitute the full picture and say nothing about how healthy you are on the inside.  Everything you eat and drink can have a positive or negative effect on the optimum operating environment within your body and although exercise can mitigate the impact of some negative food choices it cannot completely offset any damage done.

2. Exercise boosts energy but if you're not fueling yourself well there's a glass ceiling on how good your energy levels will ever be.  If you find that you're more focused and more productive when you exercise, just imagine how effective you could be when you combine an active lifestyle with a regular, quality food routine.

3. If you're a regular exerciser, chances are that you enjoy getting active.  It's also likely that you feel some improvement in your fitness levels by maintaining exercise in your schedule but no athlete would rely on exercise alone to achieve their optimal results and neither should you.  

The bottom line

With a regular exercise routine you'll be fit but not necessarily as healthy as you could be.  And even your hard-earned fitness could be compromised if not supported by eating healthily so check your food routine for anything that you think is detracting from your ability to exercise well and recover promptly, and put a plan together to replace some of the suspect items with choices that will maximise your energy to work out and allow your body to recover and repair more quickly.  This approach will bring quicker and more dramatic results which will in turn boost your motivation to stay on track with healthy choices in every area of your routine. 

Here are some snack ideas to get you started:

5 Quick and Easy Snack Ideas for Boosting Energy

Image by Cookie M Flickr

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Men's Health Week - Sleep Better

As part of Men's Health Week, we're looking at the issue of sleep. 

Not getting enough quality sleep is tough and it only gets harder to cope with rather than easier. How does this effect men particularly?

Many men tend to view sleep as a bonus rather than an essential part of their healthy living plan.  But sleep is when the body regenerates and recharges and if we don't get enough we could be under-performing in every single area of life.

The problem is that men sometimes see missing sleep as a bit of a toughness test and think nothing of scraping by on a very few hours and then relying on a steady stream of caffeine and sugary snacks to pep them up through the day. The limitation of this approach is that it causes the body to run on adrenalin from the moment you leap into action, leading to lack of focus and only serving to delay the inevitable crash. It also compounds the problem of getting a good night's sleep following each day like this and a vicious circle of poor sleep quickly establishes itself.

The solution?

1. Plan for quality sleep from the moment you step out of bed. Everything you eat, drink and do during the day will positively or negatively affect your sleep later.  Make choices that promote health and energy.

2. Eat regularly throughout the day so that your body runs off good fuel rather than adrenalin. You'll find your energy levels are much more consistent this way.

3. Get active during the day to dissipate any adrenalin that your body produces. This will help you stay calm and focused and will help you sleep at night.

4. It's an obvious question but do you know how much sleep you need? When you've worked it out, pick your bed time and your wake time and stick to a routine no matter what.

Sleep works in cycles. If your alarm goes off when you are in a deep sleep you'll find it difficult to wake up. By sticking to the appropriate routine you can ensure you benefit from 4 or 5 complete sleep cycles and time it right so that your alarm goes off when you are sleeping lightly so you wake up refreshed and raring to go.

The Tonic offers comprehensive wellness solutions for men and women in business.  We've been delivering wellbeing programmes for almost 15 years now so if you think your office would benefit from greater engagement with health and wellbeing topics, contact us today. Email us at: info@the-tonic.com

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Men's Health Week - Portion Sizes to Ensure Great Energy

Continuing our series of posts to celebrate Men's Health Week, we're looking at portion sizes today - one of the biggest issues that many men fall foul of when it comes to healthy and balanced eating. 

So how much is too much?

Surprisingly, most people don't know how much they should have on their plate and as a result, they carry on eating after they are full and have lost touch with they need and eat what they want instead.

As a rule of thumb, each meal should be the size of 2 cupped hands and each snack should fill the palm of 1 hand. That's actually a good amount of food, particularly if you space your meals and snacks out throughout the day, but is it smaller than what is normally on your plate? If it is then there's no better time than today to pay a bit more attention to what goes onto your plate and into your stomach.

The fast results you'll get achieve by following this simple guideline?

1. Improved energy levels throughout the day
2. Effective weight management with all food being used for energy and nothing stored as excess fat


So what are you waiting for. Observing the appropriate portion sizes for you and your objectives is a great new habit and an easy one to get into.

The Tonic offers comprehensive wellness solutions for men and women in business.  We've been delivering wellbeing programmes for almost 15 years now so if you think your office would benefit from greater engagement with health and wellbeing topics, contact us today. Email us at: info@the-tonic.com

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Get Ready for Men's Health Week

June 9th 2014 will see the beginning of National Men's Health Week in the UK.

Men's Health Week exists to help men stop for a moment to think about their current lifestyle choices and the effects - positive and negative - that their daily choices have on their health and happiness.

It's also an opportunity to encourage men to seek advice, expert opinion, support and assistance where necessary.  Traditionally men have been excellent at toughing things out or avoiding medical issues wherever possible. Men's Health Week helps raise awareness that this might not always be the best strategy. 

So what can be done to help men engage more with their health? 

1. Throughout next week, we'll publish a series of blogs highlighting healthy living issues that can be challenging for men, and we'll offer solutions for making the right choices and decisions in these areas.  The issues we'll be looking at are all common themes that arise when we deliver workshops and presentations within businesses.

2. We've put together a fact sheet entitled Men's Health, Performance and a Competitive Edge. You can request a copy of the fact sheet by emailing info@the-tonic.com

The Tonic offers comprehensive wellness solutions for men and women in business.  We've been delivering wellbeing programmes for almost 15 years now so if you think your office would benefit from greater engagement with health and wellbeing topics, contact us today. Email us at: info@the-tonic.com

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Men's Health Week - Get Fit Fast

In the last in our series specifically aimed at men to mark Men's Health Week we're looking at fitness and good health.

Specifically, how to find that quick programme that works for you and gets fast results so there's never any need to blame lack of time for not getting stuck in.

Becoming fit and staying fit not only helps your heart and keeps your waist line slimmer, it focuses the mind and encourages other good habits like better eating, effective stress management and good balance in your routine. It's a great way to raise your performance in all aspects of life.

The key to fitness programmes succeeding is all about speed and appeal. What we call Male Pattern Fitness.

We've all tried new fitness programmes that fail after 2-3 sessions and that's because they either didn't suit us or they required too much time which we weren't willing to give. Here are 3 excellent ways to get the most fitness out of half an hour - so no room for "I haven't got time".

1. Interval Training

Focus on quick bursts of high intensity activity mixed with recovering on the go for twice the results in half the time

2. Circuits

Put together a selection of key exercises and run through them in quick succession to combine cardio and strength training in a short space of time

3. Team sports - real or virtual
This is about using technology to push you further.  Make your exercise and activity social with some team sports or group cycling, running, hiking or anything else you enjoy.  You can also get online to boost your engagement by using Garmin, Strava, Nike+ or a whole host of gadgets and Apps to spur you on the greater wellness results.  The more motivation you surround yourself with, the better use you'll make of all your exercise time and the greater the chance you will reach your goals quickly.

We hope something you've read over the course of Men's Health Week has resonated with you and will be helpful for your staff and your business.  Always remember, thinking about wellbeing is a great start, putting new strategies and actions into practice is what really makes the difference.  Call us on 020 8995 1302 if you'd like advice on motivating and inspiring your colleagues towards great wellness results.

The Tonic offers comprehensive wellness solutions for men and women in business.  We've been delivering wellbeing programmes for almost 15 years now so if you think your office would benefit from greater engagement with health and wellbeing topics, contact us today. Email us at: info@the-tonic.com

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Men's Health Week - Know Your Numbers

When it comes to business facts and figures, men tend to know their numbers inside out. But what about other numbers that really matter?  Now there's a challenge. We're talking about Blood Pressure, Resting Heart Rate, Blood Sugar and Cholesterol.

The numbers that really make a difference to life. But why are they so crucial and what's the best way to monitor and manage them?

Taking vital measurements such as blood pressure can be the difference between spotting a health problem early on and fixing it easily, or someone facing a major health crisis somewhere down the line. Stress in offices can be a major contributor to high numbers that need addressing but if a man doesn't visit his GP or work doesn't offer a screening programme, chances are that this will go unchecked until it's too late. We've screened clients who haven't had their numbers checked in 20 years!

3 reasons to get your numbers checked sooner rather than later:

1. You can't tell from the outside what the state of your health is

2. Any problems that are spotted can be addressed quickly and changes can be made to your lifestyle to remedy them

3. Age doesn't count when it comes to this aspect of your life. A 21 year old could have seriously high blood pressure - not just a 50 year old

We'd advise getting checks done every 6 months and if needed, you'll be asked to come back in between.

The Tonic offers comprehensive wellness solutions for men and women in business.  We've been delivering wellbeing programmes for almost 15 years now so if you think your office would benefit from greater engagement with health and wellbeing topics, contact us today. Email us at: info@the-tonic.com

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