Prawn Thai Green Curry with Noodles and Kale

Here's our latest delicious recipe from our friends at Tootoomoo...

*6 ounces dried rice noodles 

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1/3 cup chopped green onions 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger 

2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste 

1 1/4 cups matchstick-cut carrots 

1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock 

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk 

6 cups packed chopped kale (about 1/2 bunch) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound peeled medium sized prawns

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

1 teaspoon grated lime rind 

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

*Check noodle cooking time before you start so that they are ready to serve immediately the curry is; they usually take a few minutes.

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions, garlic, and ginger; sauté 1 minute. Stir in curry paste; sauté 30 seconds. Add carrots, chicken stock, and coconut milk, stirring well to combine; bring to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes.

2. Fold in kale; sprinkle with salt. Cook 3 minutes or until kale is wilted and tender. Add shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; top with cilantro, lime rind, and juice. 

3. Prepare rice noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water. Drain and set aside.

Are You Summer Ready?

Your summer holiday is fast approaching and I’m pretty sure that right now your mind is focused on how you will look and feel when it’s time to take the layers off.

Feel like it’s a little late to get started on a healthy eating and exercise plan? Are you starting to panic when thinking about yourself in your summer clothing?

Well you’ll be happy to know all is not lost. 

Sure it may feel a little late to get yourself started on a summer shake-up plan but however much time you have left can be used wisely to create the change you desire.   I am not suggesting for one minute that it is all about the aesthetic, but if the aesthetic is a means to bring about a happier you at this time of year then there are ways you can big about big changes in a short space of time.

As the time is limited you will first need to decide, act then commit.   Decide what it is you actually want to achieve, begin to act, then commit on seeing it through.  These essential ingredients will go some way in making your holiday a happier one, and by knowing you made that last ditch effort you can go away fully deserving that pat on the back rather than feeling like you wasted away valuable time.

Ok so you’re still with me, great! Where to begin I hear you ask? Firstly write out how many days you have till you go away and you can now work back to today and plan the amount of time you can commit to this.

If you are to have the biggest impact on your health and fat loss in the time you have remaining till you depart these shores then you need to know the most impactful action you can take is to cut out all of what your liver deems a toxin.  Avoiding the likes of alcohol, wheat, gluten, caffeine, sugar and processed foods will help you shed the pounds super quick and by adding a healthy 3-4 litres of water a day you can be safe in the knowledge that you are on the path to success.  A good night sleep is vitally important too and a topic which is to be discussed sometime soon.

To some it may seem a little drastic, but of course because you haven’t been too kind to yourself over the last few months so you’ll need all the impetus to get the new you ready for beach time. 

You may have realised that I haven’t yet spoken of exercise.  It too is important and at this time of year the team here at All About You are busy applying the tried and tested fat loss programs, which have so far been working a treat.  With our home workout plans to help get our wonderful clients moving more at home we are seeing better results than ever before.  I know it sounds too good to be true but don’t just take my word for it.  If you've read this far then no doubt you are interested in finding out what our Summer Shake up plan can do for you so here’s what you’ll need to do to get involved.

Call up the studio on 020 8348 9706 and arrange your free consultation with a member of our team so we can tell you all about what we can do for you in time for Summer.

Health and happiness,

Mario. 

The Great Calorie Debate

You want to lose weight?

Just cut your calories right?

Or burn a few more in the gym??

This started off as a simple conversation in the studio earlier this week and soon turned in to a pretty heated debate! So we thought we’d share our view on why all calories aren't created equally and how your body is just too smart to fall for this simple trick!...

In theory the calories in vs calories out debate works but the reality is your body is far too intelligent for this to work as a long term weight loss solution and there are a number of considerations you need to be aware of as to why following this simple equation won’t get you the results you desire.

The truth is your body is an amazing control centre that is monitoring and regulating constantly therefore the fewer calories you consume, the fewer calories your body burns.

There are around 3500 calories in a pound of fat. So if your goal is to lose 1 pound of fat per week simple maths tells us that if you simply reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day you’ll lose one pound of fat per week and you can just keep doing this until you hit your desired weight. Simple 

yes??

Well, NO

You’ll probably find that you lose a pound in the first week but less and less in subsequent weeks as your body adapts to this change and starts to literally run cooler to conserve the lower amount of calories you are now consuming – effectively increasing the value of each calorie!

It’s a tough job to outsmart the human body!

Here’s the even worse news...

The long term damage of this approach is that your body has now effectively lowered its Basal Metabolic rate – the amount energy expended daily at rest.

So, when you go back to your normal eating habits you easily put on the weight you’ve lost AND more!

This is the reason why most calorie restrictive diets don’t work as a long term solution and why most people go back to weight watchers time and time again.

My other problem with calorie counting is that All Calories Are Not Created Equally!

Simply put some of the things we eat are just not food! They are “food like substances!”

                                                  Real food or GOOD CALORIES, are those that supply energy to the body in an effective and efficient manner. They ensure that all of our bodily processes like hormone production, muscle growth and organ function develop and perform in the way that they should.

BAD CALORIES are those that stimulate excessive insulin levels (which is the real cause of fat storage and will be properly discussed in another blog post) they offer very little to the body except for fat accumulation and poor health.

So what do you do?

Here are a few simple tricks:

Don’t fall for marketing tricks! No matter how “Low Cal” it may be, if your body cannot use it, digest it and function optimally from consuming it your causing harm to your health and adding to that growing waist line!

Eat real food.

Our simple philosophy at All About You is that if it’s lived or come out of the ground it will benefit your body and you can pretty much eat as much as you like of these foods!

We are now offering nutrition and lifestyle consultations at the studio. If you like the sound of this and want to find out more, CONTACT US for more information.

Not another fad diet?!!

Everyday we are faced with so many ideas and opinions on the best way to lose weight, get into amazing shape and feel great. As fitness professional my team and I are questioned by our clients constantly about diet X or workout plan Y.

I believe it is our job to dig into all of the confusing and conflicting advice and to provide a simple approach that our clients can easily adhere to!

At All About You we keep things simple. We don’t like fad diets and quick fix solutions we believe in eating clean and moving in the right way and then moving more!

The simple facts that we promote to enjoy a healthy life are:

1.       Move more

2.       Drink more water

3.       Eat more vegetables

4.       Keep starchy carbs to a minimum

5.       Always chose real foods over supplements.

6.       The biggest one of all for me... Avoid Sugar whenever possible!

Simply put, Fat doesn’t make you fat sugar does!

Take a look a this great video which perfectly explains the role that sugar plays in not only making us fat but seriously stressing the pancreas and affecting the regulation of insulin and leptin – the hormone that tells our brain when we’ve had too much to eat!

Sugar is added to so much food and we are constantly lied to by marketers about how healthy for us their products are. Low fat alternatives or 99% fat free products are generally full of sugar. We need more information like this to make us all aware of what sugar actually does to our bodies

What's The Dukan Diet All About?

The Dukan diet has been getting a lot of press lately with A-list stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Giselle Bundchen and most recently Victoria Beckham reportedly following it to lose their post pregnancy pounds. But what is it? How does it work and is it safe?

French doctor Pierre Dukan is responsible for creating the diet over 10 years ago as a treatment protocol for his obese patients.



It is essentially a four-phase, high protein, high fibre, low calorie diet and has certain similarities to the Atkins diet in its extreme nature and in the results patients expect to see. Apparently dieters can lose as much as 1-2 pounds per day during the initial “Attack” phase.

How does it work?
Phase 1, the "Attack" phase, is quite simple: Eat all you want of lean protein, along with 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran and 1.5 litres of water daily. That’s it. Dieters can choose from 72 lean or low-fat meats (excluding pork and lamb), fish, poultry, eggs, soya and non-fat dairy.

This is followed by the "Cruise" phase, which allows unlimited amounts of 28 non-starchy vegetables every other day along with a core diet of unlimited lean/low-fat protein and two tablespoons of oat bran.

Carrots, peas, sweetcorn and potatoes are not on this list of vegetables but appear in the next phase.

Phase 3, "Consolidation," allows unlimited protein (including pork and lamb) and vegetables every day, along with one piece of low-sugar fruit, two slices of granary bread, and one portion of hard cheese. Dieters can also have 1-2 servings of starchy foods and 1-2 "celebration" meals

Phase 4, "Stabilisation," is the maintenance portion of the plan. Which includes rules such as one day a week, follow an all-protein diet as in Phase 1, eat three tablespoons of oat bran a day and walk for 20 minutes daily and never take elevators or escalators.

So is this the answer and should we all just follow this to achieve great results?

Well, in short, NO!

Any diet that encourages the body to deplete its glycogen stores will have a negative affect on the body; the book warns dieters they may suffer from bad breath, constipation, dry mouth and fatigue, all indications of ketosis which is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening state that stresses the liver.

As a health and fitness professional I feel it is my responsibility to bring about lasting change, to look at creating optimal health through safe and effective exercise and nutrition.

All the evidence out there points to the fact that diets simply don’t work. Anything that is so restrictive in its nature to cause such drastic weight loss can not be good for your body.


My first issue is the difference between weight loss and fat loss. You can head to the toilet and lose a few pounds of “weight”; you can reduce your water intake for a day or two and have the same effect. The truth is you need a long term healthy approach to diet and an effective exercise programme to bring about lasting change to your body composition and fat levels.

Burning 3,500 calories will result in a 1 pound of fat weight loss. Now that is going to be a seriously tough training session for a pretty small amount of progression. That’s why any fat loss based exercise programme MUST contain a supervised nutritional element.

You can’t out-train a bad diet!

Unfortunately for us Health and Fitness Professional the glossy magazines out there absolutely love to report on the eating and exercise habits of “celebrities”. If Posh Spice is doing it then it must be amazing!



Why are women so obsessed with what she does?!

The simple fact is that she has been in good shape her whole life. It’s up for debate as to whether she has been healthy for that time!

All of the women you see in magazines have never been seriously out of shape. 90% of the photo’s you see of them have been air brushed and most of them have probably had an eating disorder or two over the years and yet we still aspire to be like them?!!

The simple truth is the quick fix approach will produce quick fix results that produce rapid “weight” loss but rarely result in long-term success as the restrictive nature is extremely difficult for dieters to adhere to.

Our advice is to work with a professional who can not only provide exact exercise and nutritional advice tailored to your individual needs but also provide the accountability to enable you to stick to this programme.

For information on our training and nutritional programmes contact us at the studio: david@aayou.co.uk

Reduce the stress and reduce the fat!

It's that time of year when we all sit down and decide we're going to make some real changes to our lives! New Job, new exciting plans, new body!!

We obviously want to help you to get that amazing new body! Everywhere you look there are pictures of "celebrities" who've lost a ton of weight on the latest "amazing diet" and although they may look great you need to make sure the diet is safe for you, that you have set yourself realistic goals and that you are not setting yourself up to regain the lost weight within a few months!!

I don't believe that any kind of diet works long term for weight loss - but that argument is for another blog post...

It's our job at All About You to educate you, give you the tools to make long term gains, enable you to create a healthy body full of energy vitality and most importantly feel great about yourself!

We’re here to set you straight, tell you the truth and still get amazing results... And so this post is all about hormones and in particular the hormone cortisol which may have a huge influence on your body's ability to control your body fat levels.

Cortisol is your body's primary stress hormone and is responsible for, among other things, the 'fight or flight' response that you've heard so much about.

It works this way; when a stressor affects you in day to day life, such as being cut up in traffic, arguing with a spouse, being under a tough deadline or being chased by a wild tiger, your adrenal glands on your kidneys secrete cortisol directly into the bloodstream where it causes us to release amino acids from our muscles, glucose from the liver and fatty acids from our fat cells into the bloodstream for use as 'emergency fuel' to help us fight or flee.

This would normally be fine, especially if those stressors are few and far between but that's not the case for most of us. Most people live in a continual state of stress where cortisol is being released time and time and time again leading to permanently elevated cortisol both in the bloodstream AND in the cells themselves.

Trouble is, whilst short exposures of cortisol are useful and can be beneficial, long term they're downright destructive leading to:

- Increased appetite and food cravings
- Decreases in lean muscle mass
- Increased Anxiety and Depression
- Decreased libido
- Increase of PMS symptoms
- Increase in menopausal side-effects
- INCREASE IN BODY FAT

And guess where cortisol-created body fat wants to live?

Right up there on the belly!

This means that if you're carrying excess fat in your abdominal region that's stubborn to shift, you're more than likely to have chronically elevated cortisol causing the problem. And again, it may not have anything to do with the total number of calories you're eating.

How do you reduce it?

Well, there are numerous ways in which we can re-establish normal cortisol levels in the body and start burning fat but the best are simply 'natural cures' that can be applied almost immediately and with very little expense.

In fact, the first one is absolutely free!

It's called SLEEP.

That's right; sleep is one of the most important factors in cortisol control as a lack of both quality and quantity of sleep leads to elevated cortisol and a depression of other important metabolic hormones. Fail to get enough sleep and at the right time and you'll be doomed to struggling with your body fat forever. Conversely, make even a few moderate sleep habit changes over the next few days and you'll start to see the fat shift.

Because cortisol is related to sleep and wake cycles and is triggered by light, you should aim to spend the last few hours before bed in a dimmed or dark room and aim to be in bed by 10pm and sleeping by 10.30pm.

It sounds too early, I know. Especially with late night TV and those emails you have to do before bed but hey, your hormones don't know about TV and email, they know stress. You want to lose fat? Then get to bed! In fact, bright TV's and bright computer screens are the last thing you want just before you hit the hay. They keep your cortisol pumping through both the light they emit and the potential for stress they evoke

Try identifying high-stress situations in advance and working out coping strategies to deal with them as they arise. Add exercise (though minimise aerobic exercise which releases more cortisol) and relaxation techniques and eat a clean and healthy diet and your cortisol levels will soon come under control.

Once they do you'll see the fat disappear faster than easier and with far less effort than ever before.

Start by getting some good sleep for just 7 nights and see what happens.