Salt is everywhere. Alongside sugar, it’s a go-to ingredient for brands to bolster up the taste factor of their products. In 1982, TIME magazine published a cover featuring a salt-shaker emblazoned with the words “A New Villain”, setting in stone the widely held belief that salt is dangerous for your health and will, inevitably, give you a heart attack. And yet, salt continues to persist in every meal, every snack, every McNugget and every Michelin-star côte de boeuf.

‘Sodium’ and ‘salt’ are often used interchangeably, but salt is made up of both sodium and chlorine. While sodium level is what causes the fuss about possible raised blood pressure, salt in itself is crucial to life. The average human needs 1g of salt per day for good nerve and muscular function plus regulation of fluids in the body. Trouble is, most of us can’t even envisage only eating 1g of salt per day, especially when the average Brit consumes around 8 grams – way beyond what we need to function and even in excess of the recommended 6g daily limit. But how much of an effect does this really have on our health?

In the fitness world, a trainer or nutritionist will advise that you limit your salt intake because too much sodium can cause water retention, making you feel bloated and holding ‘water weight’ in your body that can be misleading if you are trying to lose or gain weight. But the crux of the salt debate revolves around its possible relationship to heart disease. Some studies have suggested that excessive sodium in the diet raises blood pressure, increasing risk of heart failure, while restricting salt intake can lower blood pressure to reduce the risk. This has meant that patients with heart failure are invariably advised to drastically limit their salt intake.

The issue is still highly contested, as some argue that the difference in blood pressure across differing salt levels is too marginal to be definitely cause-and-effect. We get over 75% of the salt in our diet from processed food, from cured meats to baked goods, and these salty foods are often also high in calories, trans fats and sugars. We can’t necessarily know that it is specifically the salt that causes all of the trouble.

Simply put, controlling just salt levels alone is tricky so there are too many variables in the research to be totally conclusive that salt = bad. In fact, native cultures with high levels of naturally occurring salt in their diets don’t exhibit the same degree of heart issues as Western populations!

This doesn’t mean to say that salt is fine for anybody to have in any amount. Each person benefits from an intuitive, nutritious diet focused on moderation. It is always best to follow the advice of your GP depending on your personal health needs, but a good start is to limit processed foods and eat as naturally as you can to fuel your body to its full potential.

Why not try our personal metabolism screen – designed to identify exactly which foods you should be eating based on your personal requirements and allow you to make the best choices for each meal.

At Natural Fit, we believe in restoring your body to its natural potential by helping you nurture good nutrition and exercise habits for a healthier, more invigorated you.

Enquire now to learn more about our bespoke screening service and exercise classes, exclusive to our membership. 

Nowadays, the warnings about smoking are abundant. We’ve all heard them a million and one times. Any school-child could give you a comprehensive run-down of why smoking is bad for you: the long-term damage to the lungs, the yellowed fingers and the inevitably shorter lifespan, to name just a few. However, since it’s National No Smoking Day, we wanted to delve into some of the dangerous effects of smoking that still fly a little under the radar or might seem small enough to be counteracted with an otherwise healthy lifestyle.

The unfortunate fact is that while an active lifestyle is a salve to plenty of physical or psychological ailments or symptoms, exercising while smoking is a little more complicated and can’t necessarily undo what smoking does to the body.

Why is this?

1. The more you exercise, the more you burn fat mass in favour of building muscle mass. Muscle is built as it repairs after being used during exercise, and in order for this to happen the muscles need oxygen. Smoking starves the body of oxygen, by inhibiting the flow of red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. Therefore, your muscles are unable to perform, repair and build, and you’ll see little reward for your hard work in the gym.
2. If you smoke even just a couple of cigarettes a day, your red blood cells can’t properly transport oxygen because the nicotine and carbon monoxide narrow your arteries and turn your blood ‘sticky’. This seriously restricts the flow of blood to your vital organs as well as your muscles, making exercise harder as well as less productive plus putting more pressure on your heart and lungs.
3. Speaking of pressure on your lungs, smokers’ lungs suffer badly in the short-term as well as the long term. The tar from cigarette smoke coats your lungs and makes them much less elastic, significantly lowering their capacity for the oxygen that your body needs. Imagine that pinched-chest feeling you get when you go full pelt at the cardio, but if you couldn’t even fill your lungs properly…
4. When the body has less oxygen to work with – and the arteries are too clogged and narrow to get what little there is to the muscles and organs that need it – the heart is forced to work double-time just to keep things ticking along. This means that your resting heart rate is elevated unnaturally high, which can be dangerous when you’re pushing yourself in a workout and so raising your heart rate from an already elevated state.

Exercise is a positive investment in your wellbeing even if you find smoking a tough vice to kick. With a touch of care to make sure that you don’t push your body beyond its limits, staying active can help your body and mind stay in a fit state and even help you quit smoking or other troublesome habits to help you unlock your natural potential.

Try our gentle cardiovascular screen, designed to identify both your current level of cardio fitness and the type of training that will best help you achieve your desired goals.

We all move constantly in our day-to-day lives. ‘Movement’ is one of the seven qualities that determine whether something is alive. Naturally, we all want to care for and preserve our freedom of movement as much as possible, and maintaining an exercise regime may seem like the logical way to do this. But what if exercise causes you more pain than gain?

We do not consciously co-ordinate every small movement we make. Movement is controlled by your Central Nervous System (CNS), and is therefore entirely reflex-driven and subconscious. We have a conscious thought, such as ‘pick that up’ or ‘walk there’, which is converted into a subconscious direction to our CNS that sets a chain of minute actions in motion that altogether make a natural movement. 

On the other hand, most exercise programmes and classes are designed to work on the basis of conscious muscle engagement, building particular muscle groups to be able to do the particular sequence of actions prescribed by pilates, boxing, spin or yoga. While this does carry a lot of benefits such as weight loss through burnt calories, it doesn’t necessarily follow that exercise in this format develops your fundamental natural movement. A person may be able to lift their own body mass on the bench press, but struggle with a bad lower back when gardening or picking up their kids.

The basics of this problem boil down to time. There simply isn’t time to be consciously engaged in your every movement in everyday life. Our conscious brain doesn’t have that kind of processing power or physiological awareness. Our muscles are designed to operate subconsciously, so exercise that consciously targets specific muscles can’t touch whatever lack of natural mobility still lies underneath. If we stumble or catch something falling, our brain cannot catch up in time to make sure we have the ‘right’ muscles engaged before the movement. This is where injuries crop up.

A survey recently found that increasing numbers of yoga teachers are suffering from significant hip injuries, which a leading physiotherapist put down to the fact that exercise formats like yoga encourage people to force their bodies to “fit prescribed positions, even if our natural physiology prevents it”. 

So is there a way to strengthen our natural physiology to make exercise as rounded and beneficial as possible?

Functional movement training reminds the body to link subconscious impulses to the correct muscles, enabling you to move through day-to-day life from a position of confidence and natural strength whilst reducing the risk of injury. Simply experiencing movements that suit your level of ability enhances the effectiveness of your exercise efforts, rejuvenating the body’s natural form and functional strength in everyday life.

Natural Fit has developed a unique system of bespoke training that focuses on building your body’s natural functional strength, re-connecting brain and body to enable you to rediscover moving how you were born to. 

Enquire now for more information about our natural movement studio and innovative classes.

We’re almost one month into the new decade, and this might be the moment you take stock of how you’ve kicked it off. How are those resolutions going? Are you still riding that new year high?

Year in, year out, we all find ourselves thinking to the future as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, carrying us through into a new year or, in this year’s case, a new decade. A lot of people avoid actively making New Year’s resolutions to save all the baggage of ‘inevitable’ failure. But it is natural to still think about what version of yourself you would like to be a year from now. Maybe that person is fitter, more confident, more financially secure or can even speak un poco de español as the countdown to 2021 starts up. So what’s stopping you?

Starting the year on the ‘right foot’ is understandably easier said than done, and hard to keep going all year long. Making small, gradual lifestyle changes can feel strange and unstructured, so it’s tempting to try a gigantic lifestyle overhaul that feels like a quick fix, but end up fizzling out within a few weeks as your motivation falls foul of the post-Christmas January blues. The intentions are great, but the process can leave you feeling jaded and tired before you’ve even truly given yourself the right opportunity. 

The ‘SMART’ method helps to keep your goals achievable, but in a much more structured way for long-term success. SMART stands for:

• Specific: A focused goal that motivates you. What steps are required to make this happen? Where? When? What is needed? Who will help you?
• Measured: What does the completed version of this goal look like? At what point would you class this goal as successfully achieved? How will you see progress?
• Achievable: A goal that is personally attainable in a healthy, positive fashion.
• Realistic: Is this goal within your reach (even if it is a bit challenging)?
• Timely – bound to a specific, conducive timeline that provides urgency. Is there a target date for this goal, like an event, holiday or new job? Is this target date doable?

Let’s try taking a starter goal and turning it into a SMART goal:

1. Goal: “I want to lose weight”
2. SMART Goal: “I want to lose two stone by my wedding anniversary on 1st June 2020. To do this, I will walk the dog for 45 minutes every evening and attend two gym classes a week while following a nutrition plan worked out with my Natural Fit trainer. I will weigh myself each Sunday morning before breakfast to make sure I stay on track. I will achieve my goal if I aim to lose 1.5lbs a week.

Try SMART goal setting to turn a wish into an actionable plan, to make success a reality and to give you control over your wellbeing. Any time is a great time to become a more invigorated you. A positive, healthy lifestyle is for your future, not just for New Year. 

Natural Fit will support and restore your natural potential through bespoke exercise plans that unlock a life of freedom and flexibility.

As life has been busier, food has become all about being ‘on the go’; convenience and drive-thru reign over traditional meal habits as we are encouraged to multitask our way through breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mealtimes have given way to scrolling on devices, working on laptops, or even just mindlessly snacking all evening only to still feel cravings later.

Christmastime brings its own joys and challenges; for every delicious mince pie, there is a tray of canapés that need scoffing – for every feast, a tin of Quality Street. As much as we all want to indulge in every treat the festive season has to offer, the inevitable New Year health kick looms and no one wants to spend Christmas worrying about starting 2020 on the wrong foot. So how can we keep our physical wellbeing a priority without denying ourselves all the wonderful tastes of Christmas?

‘Mindful eating’ began as a Buddhist meditative practice, and has now become a mainstay of modern-day wellness. Mindful eating focuses specifically on full enjoyment and appreciation of food, and has been popularised as the perfect antidote to the number-obsessed, restrictive diet culture that has come to the fore in recent decades. Evidence suggests that it can support weight loss, enhance one’s relationship with food including for those who struggle with disordered eating, and even improve body image. 

Essentially, it’s about taking small steps to approach each meal and snack with intent and purpose, and re-connecting brain and body by using every sense to get as much pleasure as possible out of eating something delicious and nourishing.

Try these five great starting tips to develop your mindful eating skills:

1. Reaching for a snack? Consult your headspace first by asking yourself some questions to better understand why you feel the impulse to eat what’s in front of you. Are you hungry? Are you bored? Is that the most appealing food available to you? Are you eating that food simply because it was offered to you? Is this a conscious choice, or habit? Will eating this now mean that you can’t eat something you like more later? Will you fully enjoy this food at this point in time?
2. Drink a glass of water before eating to cleanse your palate. This tip is used a lot as an appetite suppressant, but in the context of Mindful Eating this can be an excellent way of switching your mind into the ‘event’ of eating food. Turn ‘eating’ from a chore or passive necessity into an active pleasure by preparing your taste-buds like an artist priming a canvas.
3. Clear away all screens, laptops, books and distractions to create a peaceful dining environment. We live in a multi-task society, and the time spent eating can feel like dead time that needs to be filled with tasks. Designate a meal or a snack as sacred, something that both requires and deserves your full attention.
4. Until you feel confident and practised, take your time by setting a fixed number of chews, and try to notice something new with each bite. If you are eating avocado toast topped with tomatoes, perhaps you first notice the roughness of the toast. Then the creaminess of the avocado, the sweetness of the tomato, the combination of seasoning, and so on. Think creatively about what you are actively using to nourish your body and mind to infuse the experience with appreciation and gratitude.
5. Once you have practised these techniques, try to make every single choice conscious to draw the mindful awareness across the entire eating experience. This may sound daunting, but it can be as simple as selecting your plate and utensil with care, choosing your seat thoughtfully and sitting down to eat with deliberate purpose, as well as taking full advantage of every sense by taking a moment for visual presentation, smelling before tasting, and listening to the sound of the food as you chew.

There is no fixed way to try mindful eating, but consciously prioritising enjoyment of and engagement with food over Christmas will put you in your best frame of health to keep the good spirits going through to the New Year. Allow yourself to experience the full scope of life’s pleasures, to be a more invigorated you.

As part of the Natural Fit induction, we will give you a bespoke nutrition screening to help improve your health for life and support body and mind

We all know that the physical and the mental are interconnected. As the frost falls and sunny days become gold dust, it’s important to understand how the changing seasons can have a noticeable effect on both body and mind. We’ve explained here the best ways to physically care for yourself in the face of lack of sun, but what about mentally? 

For some people, managing the winter months might be as simple as breaking up the dark with twinkly lights, mulled wine and plenty of Christmassy cosiness. But if, year-on-year, you find it tricky to keep your physical and mental health in good shape once the clocks go back, you’re not alone.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of depression that people experience during certain times of the year depending on the season and weather, often during winter time as the days get shorter and the weather more temperamental. While everybody feels perhaps a bit sluggish on an average gloomy day in January, people who are affected by SAD experience significant mental and physical symptoms including low mood, carbohydrate cravings, hyperphagia (excessive eating), anxiety, irritability, weight gain, and lethargy. 

When symptoms like these can noticeably impact quality of life for months at a time each year, it is vital to have an idea of what small habits you can include in your day-to-day life to keep your mind and body as healthy, invigorated and peaceful as possible. 

1. Keep mornings light with a dawn simulator alarm clock that bathes your bedroom in simulated sunlight in the thirty minutes leading up to your wake-up time, waking you gradually and naturally as the light builds, and so staves off the dark wintry mornings to start the day as positively as possible.
2. Invest in a SAD light therapy box, which can be used for 20 to 60 minutes a day depending on your personal experience. Lightboxes of 10,000 lux that are specifically designed for light therapy, or phototherapy, have been proven to help symptoms of SAD with daily use through the winter months, by providing artificially produced sunlight that filters out 99% of harmful ultraviolet rays. All you need to do is place the lightbox two feet away from your face at a 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock angle. Pair your lightbox-time with your morning routine so that it becomes a natural part of your day; simply switching it on while you answer your emails, put on makeup or eat breakfast could enormously improve your mindset for the day.
3. We’ve previously sung the praises of meditation and the effect it can have on your mental wellbeing year-round, and it can be especially helpful when managing the psychological effects of SAD in the form of breathing in sunlight. Spending just 15 minutes outside in the morning and performing a mindfulness ritual that helps you feel more connected to the sunlight can have fantastic benefits. It can be as easy as facing the sun and practising a breathing exercise, visualising the sunlight flowing to your lungs and being absorbed by your body and mind as you inhale. 
4. The quality of our diet is the catalyst for all our mental and physical wellbeing. It’s easy to give into the SAD carbohydrate cravings that set in or the impulse to overeat in the search for energy, but the physiological effects of doing so can actually make symptoms feel more overwhelming. Focus on making sure your diet is packed out with all the vitamins and nutrients you need to bolster yourself against the effects of SAD, such as eating plenty of protein and foods rich in Vitamin D and B such as wild salmon, green vegetables, legumes and fruit juices. If you struggle to keep vitamin levels up through diet, consider a vitamin supplement in consultation with your GP.
5. Lastly, exercise is always an excellent way to boost energy, regulate hormone levels and stabilise mental wellbeing, especially when it comes to SAD. It can also help provide fantastic structure when the evenings feel long and lethargic, and become a new hobby which buoys you through the winter. Set aside just half an hour to reconnect brain and body, get your heart-rate pumping, or even simply just go for a walk during your lunch time in the precious daylight hours, and your mind and body will both thank you.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is more than just ‘winter blues’ and is as valid and worthy of treatment as any other mental health disorders. We at Natural Fit believe in synchronicity between mind and body, and are therefore giving our all to support and restore your natural potential. 

Revitalise the mind with a guided exercise programme and nutrition plan that is tailored to your individual needs.

The sun has set on Daylight Savings Time for 2019 – that wonderful extra hour of sleep officially ushering in evenings spent snuggled under a blanket, toes toasting in the glow of a fire and festive films with warm mugs of hot chocolate. The countdown to the most wonderful time of the year is on.

But you may be starting to notice just how scarce the sunlight hours are becoming during the day, and wondering what effect this has on your health each year. Perhaps you have noticed fatigue washing over you just as we passed Hallowe’en or perhaps that your mood dips from the onset of winter until springtime.

When we absorb less sunlight, our body creates less vitamin D. Vitamin D is crucial for helping to absorb calcium, promote bone growth, regulate insulin levels and support the health of the immune system. Symptoms of early vitamin D deficiency can include muscle pain, unexplained fatigue, hair loss, difficulty walking and overall weakness, as well as links to poor mental health and even Seasonal Affective Disorder.

The most natural source is the vitamin D created by the body itself but it is not always easy to absorb enough sunlight through the skin to produce the levels of vitamin D we need, especially for those in Northern climates and people with darker skin. 

With busy modern life keeping many of us inside for the increasingly precious hours of daylight through the winter months, there is all the more need to stay mindful of how much vitamin D we miss out on. So how can we get enough for what we need?

1. Eat thoughtfully: You can get vitamin D from your diet, though it is trickier than other vitamins. Egg yolks, cod liver oil and fatty fish such as tuna or salmon can be great sources of vitamin D when eaten regularly. In fact, the average person can satisfy their weekly dietary vitamin D requirement with just 2.5 servings of wild salmon per week. For plant-based diets, mushrooms, spinach and soybeans can help absorb vitamin D at a slightly less efficient rate than animal products. You can also buy calcium-fortified and vitamin D-fortified foods such as orange juice, cow’s milk, alternative milks, cereals and yoghurts.
2. Find alternatives: The NHS advises considering a small daily vitamin D supplement to keep your intake steady throughout the winter months. The average adult needs no more than 600 IU of vitamin D per day; a proportion of this can be found in daily multivitamins, which typically contain around 100 IU to accompany sun and diet. If you’re unsure what kind of supplement to choose, consult your doctor for an idea of how much you ought to take on top of your diet.
3. Follow the Sun!: The best and most natural source of vitamin D is through sunlight, so try to make the most of every moment you can snag in the sun. It can take from just 15 minutes of skin exposure each day to absorb what you need. Make it a daily priority to get out into the open air; the wavelengths required to produce vitamin D are lost through glass, so sitting by a window is not enough! Take your lunch break outside a few times a week, or set aside even just a quarter of an hour for a brisk, rejuvenating walk. Vitamin D can be stored in the body, so stock up on sunlight at the weekends with one of our favourite local walks in the Tunbridge Wells area. 

Every body is unique, and knowing what building blocks keep your physical self at its best is the key to improving your health and strength for future life. At Natural Fit, we’re all about restoring you to your most natural self, to be a more invigorated you. 

Natural Fit members will receive a full body screening so that we can tailor a bespoke exercise and nutrition plan to your individual needs.

An active lifestyle is about more than just workouts, targets and diet plans. The way we see it, it’s about making little but great choices each day that allow you to enjoy a full, rounded life with family and friends. 

Autumn is a fantastic time to reconnect with your body, mind, loved ones and the peacefulness of the changing seasons. With the children off-school this half-term and your wellbeing to look after as winter draws closer, take advantage of all of the natural beauty that Kent has to offer year-round. 

We’ve put together a wonderful itinerary that’s packed with plentiful opportunities in the Tunbridge Wells area for the whole family to join in active, outdoor fun!

Walks to invigorate and inspire

We really couldn’t be luckier than to be so close to Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh’s stamping ground The Hundred Acre Wood. There are 13 different walks to take through this historic forest from Pooh-themed trails to archaeological treks and even a route that follows an airstrip from the Second World War, so there is something for all interests and ages! There are some accessible areas for pushchairs and wheelchairs, and dogs are very much welcome. Maps can be downloaded from the website or picked up at the Forest Centre for a small donation of 50p. Horse riders can purchase a permit to hack within the Forest on a day, winter and annual basis.

Enjoy walking for a little part of each day, or triumph with a full hike, with the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walks. The full route is 27.5 miles and takes you all around the countryside on the outskirts of the town, skirting the Kent-Sussex border round to Pembury, Tudeley Natural Park, and Southborough before closing back in around Langton Green. If the full course sounds a bit daunting, try out one or part of the four smaller circulars that range between 8 and 15 miles starting in the town centre, so you can pick whichever best fits your ability level and appeals to your inner explorer.

If you’d like to stay more local to town, take a stroll along the Heritage Walking Trail, which guides you through all of the best historical sites in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The trail includes a tour of the finest examples of Tunbridge Wells’ beautifully preserved Regency architecture and commemorative plaques, spanning from the homes of novelists and Shakespearean actors to the local residence of Queen Victoria. 

Breathe in our rich local history and the crisp autumn air this half-term in just a few active, family-friendly hours.

Be active without noticing!

Sneak some steps into your day by visiting one of the many historic attractions in the Tunbridge Wells area as a family day out. 

Hole Park Gardens is open between 11am-6pm this Wednesday and Thursday, with a family-run tea room onsite. Catch the magnificent changing colours of the trees at this dog-friendly Georgian estate before it closes for the winter after 31st October.

Pop out to Scotney Castle for a leafy wander around the grounds, lakes and even the Hallowe’en themed children’s trail available until the 3rd November. Also dog-friendly, Scotney Castle is currently in the midst of harvest and so features pumpkins for sale plus a carved pumpkin display by the National Trust team, perfect for a spooky family day out!

Being active can be natural and easy.

Natural Fit can help you move freely and with greater longevity, aiding your everyday functional movement to enable you to rediscover moving how you were born to. Experience life at its full with the people close to you, every day of the year for years to come.

It’s National Heart Month 2020, when the British Heart Foundation do important work to shed light on how best to avoid causes and symptoms of heart disease, yet wading through the information and diet recommendations may seem daunting.

Nutrition is the foundation of health, and each food we eat influences the well-being of the body and soul. We all know the basics: have your five a day, don’t have chocolate for breakfast, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and so on. Beyond that, the diet landscape can appear to be a bit of a minefield, littered with disprovable old wives’ tales, muddled research theories and ‘miracle’ crash diets.

One thing that crops up a lot, particularly as we age, is keeping the heart strong and healthy by managing our ‘cholesterol levels’. The textbook one-size-fits-all advice is to eat less fatty food because too much saturated fat in the diet causes high cholesterol, which is very bad for you and can put you at risk of cardiovascular disease. But how true is this?

Myth 1: Cholesterol in food is the same as Cholesterol in the blood

‘Cholesterol’ in itself is not the bad guy, any more than saturated fat. In the same way that saturated fat unfairly gets the blame for body fat, cholesterol in food is blamed for body cholesterol; they are two separate things! 

Cholesterol is crucial to our survival. It helps with making hormones and vitamin D, plus it helps maintain the structure of cells. In the average person, the body regulates how much cholesterol is in the blood by only creating enough body cholesterol for what it needs, based on how much food cholesterol is in your diet.

It’s actually very simple: the more cholesterol you eat, the less the body makes. The less cholesterol you eat, the more your body makes. Therefore, eating less cholesterol will not ‘lower your cholesterol’. The amount of cholesterol in the average person’s body stays about the same all of the time.

Myth 2: The more saturated fats you eat, the higher your cholesterol

So what is food cholesterol, and how is it part of our diet? 

Until now, the common misconception has been that saturated fat makes your blood cholesterol levels rise, but this is another example of the food vs body cholesterol mix-up! 

Foods that are high in saturated fats are also high in cholesterol. Food cholesterol reduces the amount of cholesterol made by the body, so foods rich in saturated fats will not raise cholesterol levels even though they have a high cholesterol content.

In fact, research has suggested that replacing saturated fats with alternatives can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, so clearly saturated fats can’t be to blame!

Natural foods that are high in saturated fats and cholesterol are important to your diet and very nutritionally valuable when eaten in non-excessive quantities. Great examples are grass-fed beef, whole eggs, fish oil and full-fat dairy products.

Myth 3: Too much cholesterol causes heart disease

We’ve now made a distinction between food and body cholesterol, and we already know that it’s very difficult for cholesterol levels to rise. So, how could it be cholesterol itself that causes all of the trouble?

Lipoproteins carry cholesterol around the body, and can be sorted into two types: High-Density Lipoproteins and Low-Density Lipoproteins.

Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDLs) are created when we eat too many carbohydrates than can be properly processed, so the excess is converted into fatty acids in the liver. When this happens, Very-Low-Density Lipoproteins are released into the bloodstream carrying cholesterol, before shrinking down in size to become LDLs. The more LDLs that carry the body cholesterol around the bloodstream, the higher the risk of cholesterol clogs in the arteries and the risk of heart disease.

High-Density Lipoproteins filter excess cholesterol in the bloodstream back towards the liver to be processed properly, keeping the arteries clear.

The simple truth?

Cholesterol itself isn’t the problem, rather what type of lipoprotein transports it around the body. Instead of worrying about saturated fats causing ‘high’ or ‘low’ cholesterol, eating the right quantities of fat, protein and carbohydrates for your body will help keep everything ticking along smoothly and with vitality.

As part of the Natural Fit induction, we will give you a bespoke nutrition screening to help improve your health for life and support your body and mind.

It’s BackCare Awareness Week (7th-11th October), and we believe that it is always a good time to learn to protect yourself from back pain and restore natural everyday movement to your life.

It often seems as though everyone suffers from back trouble these days, from injuries to simply feeling like you carry all of life’s stresses in your shoulders or lower back. When it is estimated that office workers spend 75% of the work-day sitting down, it is especially important to understand how the way you sit and the time you spend sitting still can affect your back.

Sitting in the same position for long periods can reduce the flexibility and mobility of your hips and lower back, leading to tightness, stiffness, and even pain in your body. The discomfort of a tricky back might even keep you from taking part in hobbies and activities that you enjoy.

It is never too late to revitalise your body and move with comfort and confidence.

The good news? It’s easy to add some small changes in your day to help you on the way to moving freely and feeling at ease with your body.

Here’s a few quick and simple tips:

1. Sit well: You can give yourself a significantly more natural and restful experience when sitting for hours at a time by simply tweaking your sitting position to erase the pressure on your hips and back. The best way is to sit with your hips slightly higher than your knees; an angle of just around 10 degrees should do it!. There are specialist chairs that you can buy that are designed with this posture in mind, but any chair can be modified using cushions for even more comfort.
2. Stay flexible: If you often find yourself sitting for lengthy periods of time, take a moment to reconnect your mind and body. Remind yourself once an hour to practise this simple extension exercise:
   • Sit upright in the position above with your chin slightly dropped, eyes level with the horizon. Take a deep breath in as you lift your chest up and arch it backwards looking up to the ceiling. Exhale, and slouch forwards into a rounded shoulder posture. Repeat this 10 times.
3. Reset your body: ‘Baby rocking’ is a great way to re-activate mobility, flexibility and stability in your entire body, and it’s easy!
   • A couple of times a day, find a soft surface and position yourself on your hands and knees. Place your knees directly underneath your hips, and hands directly underneath your shoulders. At your own pace, sit back as far as you feel comfortable then rock forwards to return to the starting position.
   • Take care to only rock forwards to the starting position, as pushing further could upset your lower back.
   • Repeat until your body feels light and free to move easily, which will usually only take between 30 seconds and 1 minute.

It is never too late to revitalise your body and move with comfort and confidence. We can help you take good care of your mobility and wellbeing through a restorative exercise programme that is personal to you and what you want to achieve.

Enjoy moments with family and friends without discomfort or concern, and gift yourself the feeling of freedom and ability.