BLOG – Page 2 – Kings Cross Osteopathy

The Effects Of Yo-Yo Dieting

How many diets have you been on in the past?

I’m guessing quite a few?

I see people like you who are struggling to lose weight all the time.

It seems like every time I see them they are on a new diet.

When you’ve been on diets in the past, how much did you manage to lose?

Did you manage to keep it off or has that weight come back on?

I get why people do it. It gives them structure and takes the thinking out of what they need to do.

The problem is, diets don’t work in the long term.

They don’t work for a number of reasons;

– They restrict you too much causing you to want the bad things more than before.
– They are way too low in calories (I don’t even believe in calorie counting)
– They are not the right foods or proportions of foods for your body.
– They are designed for a mass population and not you as an individual.
– They do not look at why you became overweight in the first place.

I could keep going but hopefully you get the idea!

Diets make your body think you are being starved, and your body is super smart!

Way smarter than you or I, which means we can’t outsmart it in the long run.

The more you diet, the better your body becomes at holding on to you FAT!

Your body is designed for survival and whenever you go on a diet, your body switches on it’s fat storing hormones because it thinks there is a famine in the world and it wants you to survive through it.

The more you diet the more stubborn your body becomes and the harder it clings on to your fat.

If you really want to lose weight you have to treat your body with kindness.

You must think about nurturing your body and feeding it as many nutrients as you can to make it as healthy as you can.

Only then, will you truly start losing weight.

Stop dieting and start feeding.

This is such a massive hurdle for many people to get their heads around.

But trust me it works!

Even if you have a sluggish metabolism, or an underacive thyroid, or even if you think you got all the bad genes!

The nutrition plan I get my clients to follow, not only makes them much healthier, but they all lose weight and keep it off!

Isn’t it about time you did something that worked?

Apply below to work with me and change your body for good

http://www.ashleyjameshealth.com/body-transformation-coaching/

I look forward to hearing from you

Ashley

Insulin- The Fat Storing Hormone

This one hormone can be your worst enemy when it comes to losing weight

and yet it is essential to your survival

because without it you would not have lived this long!

It’s called

INSULIN.

It is THE fat storing hormone.

It’s role is to take sugar out of your blood (also called Glycogen)

and deposit that sugar into fat cells.

There are two other places that sugar can go in the body;

The liver and the muscles.

Think of these two sites as buckets.

Once they are both full with the amount of glycogen they can store, that glycogen has to go somewhere else.

And that other place is a bottomless bucket called your fat cells.

Fat cells can grow and grow and grow, making you fatter and fatter.

But the good news is that Insulin is only released when there is sugar in the blood.

The main way sugar gets there is from what you’ve eaten.

Meals high in carbohydrates will cause a high level of insulin release and therefore will either make you fatter or will stop you losing any fat that you are in the process of losing.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, the best first step is to make sure your blood sugar levels are kept level and are not fluctuating all over the place.

This is done through not eating foods that will raise your blood sugar levels too high or too fast.

Low GL foods are good for this.

I analyse all of my clients blood for Uric Acid, Ketones and Glucose levels as it gives me a deeper understanding of what sate their body is is and whether they are in fat burning or fat storing.

This allows me to tailor their diets and training accordingly and get them results rather than just “pissing in the dark”!

If you want results then do something that gets you results.

Like working with me.

I’m taking on a couple of new clients this month.

I’m picky with who I choose though as they have to be a good fit, not just a time waster.

If you’re interested then fill out my application form here;

http://www.ashleyjameshealth.com/body-transformation-coaching/

Speak to you tomorrow

Ashley

Should You Hire A Personal Trainer?

What I’m about to say might surprise you.

No.

See I have been working in gyms for close to 10 years now and I have observed these animals in their natural habitats doing their thing.

And to be brutally honest I am very disappointed.

They all do the same thing;

Smash their clients to make them believe they are getting the results

The technique is poor.

The trainer doesn’t know why they are doing that exercise with their client to beging with, they just saw it in this month’s magazine.

Quite often they are not even paying attention to their client.

They are just looking for their next sale elsewhere.

This is bad and very unprofessional.

Personal trainers are not all the same.

If you’re thinking of getting a trainer you need to choose them wisely because some are good and some are pants!

This is why I don’t even call myself a personal trainer.

Because I get put in the same bucket as the rest of them.

Personal trainers believe they can do everything and train everyone.

That just makes them very “vanilla”, a “jack-of-all-trades”.

I would decribe myself as an Injury and Weight Loss Specialist. Not a personal trainer.

I train 2 types of people here in Central London;

People with injuries

Women who want to lose weight.

That’s it!

So next time you’re looking for a trainer, watch them training and interacting with other people.

They need to be a good fit with you!

That’s all for now

Ashley

What Are The Best Supplements For Weight Loss?

This is something I get asked all the time!!

In fact I have a client who brings me a new pot of pills to have a look at almost every week!

It drives me crazy.

Back when I was new to the personal training industry I used to advise all sorts of supplements to my clients.

I’m embarrassed to admit it but I did.

Sure some of them got results, but they also wasted a lot of money.

Now I have a completely different approach and it works a lot more effectively and my clients are getting amazing results.

There is no such thing as a good supplement for weight loss.

Don’t believe what you hear… ever!

There are some supplements that can aid with your goals but there are way more important things to do first than to take supplements.

Like sorting your nutrition out first.

I am a real firm believer that the body stores fat to protect it from dangers; toxins, dehydration, starvation and stress.

I also believe that you should focus your efforts of becoming super healthy rather than trying to lose weight.

You’ll still get the same desired effect (weight loss)

but one way will be better in the long run.

If you’re just focused on weight loss then you’re most likely going to be restricting your body of nutrients.

If however you focus on getting healthy then you’re going to be giving your body a tonne of nutrients.

This way you’ll have more energy, your skin will look better and you’ll feel better as well as LOSING WEIGHT!

So rather than focusing on supplements for now (we can discuss this in the future), focus on getting the nutrients your body needs to allow it to start losing weight!

I make it a challenge for some of my clients; how many nutrient dense foods can you get in each day?

They seem to enjoy this way a lot more, especially as I’m not making them “starve” or “diet”… and more importantly they are

GETTING RESULTS!

So get stuffing!

That’s all for today,

Ashley

Weight Gain Wasn’t Your Fault!

You know what pisses me off?

When people stand there and lecture overweight people about how it is easy to lose wieght.

“Just eat less and exercise more” they say.

Or “eat less calories and burn more”

That’s bullshit!

How many times have you tried that yourself?

If it was that simple everyone would be skinny!

Behind every fat person is a million different reasons why they may have gained weight in the first place.

People don’t just wake up and decide to stuff their faces every day until it’s too late.

Food is often a comfort for people.

There are emotional triggers; stress, anxiety, depression.

Hell I stuff my face with biscuits when I’m stressed!

I can’t help it!

Now, we all know there are millions of different diets out there.

This obesity epidemic is not because of a lack of diets.

I think it’s more than that.

We need to look deeper.

Sure emotions play a part, but what about those people who don’t eat too bad and yet still can’t shift the weight?

We need to look at other things like;

Hormones- is their INSULIN levels too high for too long?, do they have an UNDER ACTIVE THYROID?, are their CORTISOL levels chronically elevated? do they have TOO MUCH OESTROGEN or NOT ENOUGH TESTOSTERONE?

Toxins- has this person been gaining fat as a way of storing toxins to prevent the body becoming damaged? There are traces of more man made chemicals in our bodies than ever before, even at birth a baby’s blood can show hundreds of different man made chemicals.

Wrong type of food- we are advised to eat a certain way by the NHS and our doctors, and yet that is just not right for most people.

There are many many other reasons why people gain fat.

The key is often to start looking at WHEN this first started happening and try to establish WHY.

This is something I work on a lot with many of my Personal Training and Functional Medicine clients and it’s interesting to see the many different causes.

The good news is that they can all lose weight and so can you.

You just have to understand what to do.

I’ll cover some of the above topics in more detail soon,

Stay tuned!

Ashley

Tell Me About Your Weight Loss Goals

Ever since I can remember I had never seen a six pack on me. I was never fat, just a bit chubby around the middle.

See, I love sweet foods; cakes, biscuits and desserts!

But in 2014 I decided enough was enough and I really applied what I knew and within 5 months I had some pretty good definition!

I wasn’t “ripped” or “shredded”, just had a decent six pack.

I don’t want to be too lean, it borders on obsessive and narcissistic. I do want to enjoy life and be able to eat the thnigs i enjoy.

But, while I was losing that excess weight I was pretty strict; I didn’t have the bad things that I enjoy all too often.

My goals were quite extreme by some people’s standards and so my diet had to be too.

But not everyone wants that, and maybe you don’t either.

Everyone is individual and has a story and goals.

I would love to hear yours and what has led you to this point now.

I read every email you send to me and I would love to get to know you and what your goals are and why you have those goals.

What are you struggling with right now?

What have you tried in the past that hasn’t worked?

How willing to change are you right now?

Tell me what ever you like in as much or as little detail as you feel comfortable with.

I’ll be right here waiting,

Speak to you soon

Ashley

Most People Will Never Get Out Of Pain, Here’s Why…

I’m serious about this. People will not get better because they simply aren’t ready to.

It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?!

But think about it for a second. Since we all have physical pain in common let’s use that as an example.

How much pain were you in before you decided to seek treatment for it?

What became so painful that you had to do something about it?

Was it the actual pain?

Or was it the thought of not being able to work? Or go to the gym? Or to play with your kids?

There’s an old saying that goes;

“People won’t change until the pain of not changing is greater than the pain changing brings.” by Just B. Jordan

We see pain all the time, people coming in with back pain, neck pain, knee pain, all sorts of aches and pains.

People who come in for treatment will generally improve, but how much is up to them.

Unfortunately a lot of people never fully improve because they are not fully committed, and then they have to live in discomfort.

When they are given “homework” to do, they only do it sometimes, and sometimes is not enough!

So here’s the thing.

We can see what the problem is and we know what you need to do to fix it, but it’s up to you to do it.

You have to decide that you want to GET OUT OF PAIN

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Find something that will get you results

get HELP

and COMMIT to it!

Like…

Booking in with us for a treatment!

Just saying

Ashley “the school teacher” Ridout

A Recent Car Crash Gave Me Back Pain! Here’s How I Solved It.

by Ashley Ridout

The other morning I was on my way to work.

It was a normal day like every other day, coffee in the cup holder, listening to a geeky podcast and enjoying the comfort of my car.

Traffic in front started slowing as we approached the traffic lights and so I started slowing down also.

Then, BOOM!

The car hops forwards as the car behind me came smashing in to the back of me!

Oddly enough I was super cool, strange because situations like that would make me super shaky!

Anyway, the guy was alright and was probably more shaken than me. He wasn’t paying attention and by the time he looked up it was too late!

We exchanged details and so follows hours of phone calls to all the necessary companies.

There wasn’t actually that much damage and aside from a slight ache in the lower back I was fine too.

But the ache didn’t go away and continued to remain stiff even a couple of weeks after.

If only I knew some therapists who could help!

Well funny you should mention that… I work with Steven and Luke.

At this point I hadn’t already had a treatment with Steven so I booked myself in with him.

If you don’t know who Steven is, he is the guy who does sports massage for us. He has a Batchelors in Osteopathy but never finished the course so can’t call himself an Osteopath, but his level of knowledge is INSANE! Probably knows more than me!

Although I was expecting the usual kind of sports massage I was most impressed with how Steven worked. He looked at me totally holistically and treated above and below the area of pain, including some stretches and active release techniques.

So if you want a thorough sports massage treatment then get yourself booked in with Steven today!

Call us on 07825 418481 or email info@kingscrossosteopathy.co.uk

Speak to you soon

Ashley ‘no longer broken’ Ridout

Here’s How Sports Massage Can Make You Perform Better

by Steven Holinshead

“Everybody who trains for a sport either at amateur level or professional level should be having a regular sports massage!” Jake Mackenzie, BJJ world no 4.

Having spent well over a decade treating, training and rehabilitating injuries some serious, some not so serious, from an ACL reconstruction to serious spinal injuries, one thing is paramount in the pursuit of health and performance, a full holistic approach is beneficial to all participants of sport and exercise in general.

What do I mean by this?

Well, there are 7 key abilities to sports performance according to Tudor Bompa (PhD) in his book on periodisation. These are balance, endurance, speed, power, agility, flexibility, and strength and are all accomplished by dedication and hard work along with good genetics.

To achieve all the above, certain lifestyle factors have to be put in place these are: optimal recovery, good nutrition, the right strength and conditioning programme, good hydration and plenty of rest.

Sports massage when done right can assist in all of the above; it can improve your recovery by speeding up the metabolic effects in a given muscle. This is done through several techniques that remove the waste products that build up through your high intensity training in your conditioning programme.

This not only removes and improves the lymphatic system but can also relax the nervous system, allowing a reduction in cortisol/adrenaline (your stress hormones), this then allows you to switch from your fight and flight system into your relaxing parasympathetic system which improves digestion, elimination and detoxification pathways.

Another great reason for having a good sports massage is to work on your flexibility, by using techniques such as muscle energy technique which tricks your nervous system and results in elongation of the muscle fibres. This is achieved through re-setting of the muscle spindles (a muscle within a muscle) and leads to improved posture, and greater flexibility which can only improve performance.

Power is something that is needed in all sports some more than others, but requires a big eccentric component, (a lengthening of a muscle or muscles under tension), Dr Gary Gray a physical therapist from Michigan in the United States talks about priming the muscle before exploding into a given movement.

Let me give you an example, If there is a severe shortening of a single muscle, let’s use the peroneus longus and brevis (muscles found in your calf). Their main role is to roll the foot during deceleration, either in walking, running or in jumping. If these muscles are tight, there will not be enough inversion (supination) at the ankle joint to allow you to push off with your big toe as the ankle joint moves into eversion (pronation), this dysfunction has profound effects in the way we distribute our force as we land.

Sports massage can aid in improving these movement patterns by mobilising your joints to allow better mechanics to stop unwanted movement further up the body.

Finally sports massage can highlight all muscle/joint imbalances that might exist, this allows the therapist to construct a rehabilitation programme, which should work on posture, stability, and strength and power in that order allowing the patient and client to achieve their goals and most of all remain injury free.

If you want to remain injury free, whether you train or not, then book a sports massage with Steven today. Don’t wait until you’re in pain… trust us, prevention is better than cure!

Steven Hollinshead is a sports therapist, personal trainer, and kinsiologist working at Urban Kings Gym on a Tuesday and Thursday morning.