news and events
Friday 10 March 2006
Hi everyone!
As you know, this is the first spring for us here at our new clinic, Coast Chiropractic. To celebrate and to coincide with the Spring Equinox we are holding an informal open evening (with wine and nibbles!) on Monday 20th March from 6pm – 9pm.
The evening will also see the launch of an exhibition of paintings by local artist, Jo Kirby which I’m delighted to be hosting. I love Jo’s paintings and I think she’s captured the calming ambience of the clinic beautifully.
As a little enticement we’re offering a 10% discount on massage and homoeopathic treatments booked at the open evening. I do hope that you will be able to find some time to pop in and see us.
My many thoughts on what to include in this our first newsletter have been diverse to say the least but I keep coming back to it being spring and thoughts of holidays ahead and, of course, warmer weather and body exposure! This will, no doubt, motivate many of us to exercise frantically in an effort to trim down and tone up before daring to uncover our sun deprived flesh in the coming months. So here are a few tips on how best to do just that.
This isn’t just for those of us who are over weight but also for those who weight is average but tone is poor. Therefore it’s about Body Composition. Generally speaking, this is referring to carrying too much fat in comparison to lean tissue (e.g. muscle) – often referred to as having a high fat-to-lean ratio. As your bodies fat-to-lean ratio increases, so do your health risks. We won’t we covering those risks here because sadly vanity issues appear to motivate people rather than health risks.
How can you measure Body Composition?
Well, it can’t be measured by your bathroom scale but you can apply the following methods:
- Waist Circumference – generally speaking, a waist circumference of 35 inches of more in females and 40 inches or more in males indicates increased fat – to lean ratio and therefore increased health risks.
- Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) – WHR is calculated by dividing your waist circumference by your hip circumference. A WHR of 0.8 or greater in women or 1.0 or greater in men indicates unhealthy body composition.
After assessing your Body Composition, a healthy program that includes the following will target fat and preserve muscle.
Nutrition
Don’t fall victim to fad starvation diets– in the long run your body will only end up retaining fat because you’re starving it and losing lean tissue (muscle). Muscle is essentially the body’s engine house and this is where the bulk of the body’s fuel is burnt. If we lose muscle bulk our overall capacity to burn fuel declines. With this comes an inevitable decline in our ability to lose weight and an increase in the chances that we will put it on. I know you’ve heard it before but it’s all about balance. A good healthy diet, rich in fresh NOT processed foods. Decrease simple carbohydrates such as sugar, cakes, biscuits, dried fruit etc. Include 2 pieces of fresh fruit daily. Moderate more complex carb’s in your diet such as rice and potatoes, but balance them with your choice of protein – fish, lean meat, lentils etc , lots of vegetables and a good source of oil. It is incorrect to believe that eating fat will make you fat. Essential fatty acids, especially omega-3 oils, can actually help to suppress appetite, elevate your mood, give you more energy, increase your metabolic rate which can help burn calories faster and therefore lose weight.
Exercise
Exercise physiologists have found that the best fat loss exercise programme is a combination of both cardiovascular and resistance training.
Resistance Training - Now we’ve already talked about muscle burning energy (aka calories), therefore it makes sense that the more muscle a person has the more calories they can potentially burn. Ladies if you’ve often thought that guys seem to lose weight much easier. They do! Men have more testosterone than women. Testosterone is a hormone that apart from other things, builds muscle. More muscle bulk = potential to burn more energy, resulting in weight loss. (I know, just another reason to hate them). Resistance training will increase muscle bulk. There are simple ways of doing this without the need for expensive equipment or joining a gym. You can either invest in a set of dumbbells or use rice or sand filled bags to get a similar effect. Start with the lowest weight dumbbell and increase over time as you become stronger. You do not need to lift enormous weights. The idea is simply to create a resistance against which your muscles have to work, thereby increasing muscle mass.
Cardiovascular Training - People think that the harder they exercise the more fat they’ll burn, not true!
Massage
I probably don’t need to remind you but there may be some of you who don’t know that we have an excellent sports massage therapist, Richard Husseiny, here at the Clinic on Tuesdays and Fridays. Richard treats all soft tissue problems involving muscles, tendons and, to some degree, ligaments. He covers general aches and pains, stress release and, for the sports people amongst you, he specialises in pre- and post- sport event situations and strains and sprains. We’re lucky to have Richard as he also works for Fulham Football Club.
Homoeopathy
We also have Claire Dadswell, who is registered both as a Homoeopath and as a Homotoxicologist with the British Register of Complimentary Practitioners.
Claire treats disorders of the immune system, hormonal problems (with an emphasis on infertility), digestion and metabolism disorders and can also offer remedies that support healthy hair, skin, nails and weight loss.
She is currently enrolled as a postgraduate research student with Barts and The London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. The focus of her research is on the use of Homoeopathic remedies to treat infertility and to support conventional assisted fertility procedures.
Don’t forget that if you refer a patient to the clinic for Chiropractic treatment, to show our appreciation, you receive a Complimentary half hour Massage.