Why exercise can help with postnatal depression

Why exercise can help with postnatal depression

How exercise and ‘happy hormones’ can help you 🙂

When you’re feeling down it can be difficult to start exercising, but take that first step and you will quickly feel the benefits.

Exercise helps to release endorphins (happy hormones) into your system. These lift your mood and reset your brain patterns, leading to an overall feeling of wellbeing.

Enkephalins are also released into the bloodstream, which act as natural painkillers and increases the levels of other natural antidepressant chemicals within the body.

As an added bonus exercise also aids sleep: quality sleep makes the world a lot easier to deal with and helps build a more positive perspective of day-to-day life as a mother:)

Nothing beats exercising with other mums! Come to one of our classes, BUMP FITNESS, Buggy FITNESS and MumMe FITNESS, and get your exercise in a friendly group with others that understand.

Future Family Fitness is where we mums exercise, elevate our happy hormones, feel the sense of achievement and thrive from sharing it with others, we’d love to see you at our next session 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 5 Nutrition – 5 a day!

5-a-day really do help you work, rest and play;)

I know you know, but do YOU eat 5-a-day?

5 Reasons why to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables each day:

  1. Convenience- the best easy, quick snack to keep your energy levels up!
  2. Fibre- fills you up while keeping your digestive system happy!
  3. Low in fat, moderate in calories- around 100 calories per medium piece of fruit!
  4. Packed in vitamins and minerals, reducing you chance of disease!
  5. Variety- lots of colours and textures, all helping maintain positive health for different reasons!

For lots more information on healthy eating please visit:

http://www.healthyshropshire.co.uk/topics/healthy-eating/what-is-a-balanced-diet/5-a-day/

Week 4 Nutrition – Hydration

Week 4 Nutrition – Hydration

Our bodies are made up of 60% water and we are constantly loosing water through sweat and urine, which needs replacing to keep our bodies working optimally. Signs of dehydration include: sluggishness, headaches, loss of appetite, feeling too hot and nausea in extreme cases! Dehydration reduces your blood volume, increases your body temperature and therefore put an extra strain on your heart- best to be avoided! Many people are frequently slightly dehydrated- don’t be one of those people and make the effort daily to keep your fluids up!

How much water should you drink in a day? The body is very clever, so get tuned into it! You naturally feel thirsty when you need to up your fluid intake. This can be pure water, cordial, juice, tea/ coffee, soup etc.

All these drinks and more can help keep your body hydrated some better choices than others dependent on if you are looking to reduce/ gain weight. E.g. fruit juices despite having many vitamin benefits are loaded with sugar which ain’t going to help the weight loss but diluted down can help rehydration after a longer session where you have sweated a lot;)!!

For every hour of intense exercise you will loose approximately 1 litre of fluid from your body, which needs replacing.

Should I drink during exercise? Yes, little and often is the best approach. Plan ahead and ensure you have drunk approx 400- 600 ml of water prior to a hard workout and have given yourself time for a toilet trip too;)

After exercise what is best to drink? If you have exercised at a high intensity then it is wise to replenish your fluid levels using a hypertonic drink afterwards, this can be a bought sports drink/ skim milk or a homemade banana milkshake is perfect for replacing the energy and fluids!

And alcohol… Yes it helps us relax and red wine is proved to have benefits on helping reduce heart disease by keeping the blood more viscous but moderation!!!! There are 7 kcal/g of alcohol so you got it lots of alcohol is as bad as lots of cream cakes!!! Whilst the body is working hard to break down alcohol it doesn’t use the fat and other spare energy (glycogen), which is why it leads to fat gain- booo! So, enjoy your festive beverages but be aware too much means more hard work in the New Year ladies;) Sugary non-alcoholic drinks are no better so moderation of the tipple you like and water in between.

Keen it active, have fun and live healthy’ish!

Week 3 Nutrition – Macronutrients!

Nutrition Everybody Active project- Week 3

Macronutrients = in simple terms, fats, proteins and carbohydrates. These all have an important role and form part of a balanced diet, helping you stay fit both physically and mentally. Getting your diet right can help your body perform better during exercise and afterwards, help rid those late afternoon energy dips and improve IMPROVE YOUR BODY”S SHAPE inside and out!:)

 

Fats:

Not all fats are bad for you in fact, some fatty acids are essential because the body cannot make them, so these fats must come from your diet, e.g. eggs, oily fish like salmon, mackerel, avocado, nuts, flax seed, coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil.

Aim to include some of these into your diet each day. Once you realise that essential fatty acids help prevent blood clotting, reduce inflammation from injury and infections and maintain the immune system then their importance in our diet becomes apparent!

 

Proteins:

Like fats, proteins are also essential, they are needed to build a lean, strong body and contribute towards a healthy immune system.

Ideally each day you should have eaten an equal amount of all nine of the essential amino acids (essential amino acids can not be made by the body itself) to ensure you body has a complete protein source, this includes fish, eggs, poultry or lean meat. For vegetarians this involves combining proteins to get the full 9 essential aminos which can require more planning but leads to some delicious dishes that provide the body with a broad range of micro nutrients too.

Eating the correct amount of protein in your diet will help you body gain the right amount of energy and enable muscles repair effectively. As a result when combined with regular training your muscles will become leaner and your metabolism speed upJ

Carbohydrates:

Do not fear carbohydrates, but also don’t over indulge! Carbs give you lots of energy for those active days and help you refuel after longer workouts (sweet potato, rice, banana milk shake). Be aware though that eating too many of them will cause you to store fat therefore if you’re having a relatively mellow, inactive day low-carbs is the way forwards.

 

Glycaemic index is important! Read on…

Low GI gives slow release of energy for longer, promoting FAT BURNINGJ

 

High GI you get an immediate hit so perfect for post high intensity exercise session but not your best choice most of the time! Your key to having enough energy for your daily life with minimal fat storing is maintaining steady blood sugar levels this is achieved by Low GI so make the right choices with carbs like: porridge & museli for breakfast, acidic fruits, wholegrain breads, pasta, noodles and basmati riceJ I’m sure you can guess yourselves that cakes and biscuits are High GI, but some are wiser choices than others, everything in moderation;)! See my fb page for ideas…

 

Week 2 Nutrition- Why & Where you Eat!

Wednesday mornings FREE fitness classes in Craven Arms- do contact Nina to book on.
In last week’s nutrition focus we looked at identifying the rubbish foods from our cupboards! Did you surprise yourself with how many sugary, salty, bad fat foods you found? Shop wisely from this point on: save time, money and avoid the excess pounds in weight!
This week we are thinking about our eating habits.
WHERE we eat? 
Take 5 minutes to think about WHERE you eat.  Do you always sit down to enjoy the food you have prepared OR do you find yourself eating a quick snack as you rush between school pick up and doing errands? Do you graze your way through the dinner whilst it is half cooked? Do you walk about eating or are you always eating out?
STOP, SIT DOWN &SLOW DOWN !
Allow your body time to acknowledge the nutrition of the food you eat and time to digest it. Give yourself time to stop, sit down and enjoy your eating time.  Physically making your own food and putting it on your plate helps you see the amount you are eating and what it is made up of! Try to eat with your family and celebrate the sharing of food:)
WHY?
When you feel stressed, frustrated, tired, rewarding yourself or even just thirsty- many of us eat our way back to feeling better? Numerous factors in our day affect why we put food in our mouths! Sometime good choices sometimes not!:(
Have a think and write down 5 triggers for you personally? By eating balanced meals and staying hydrated throughout the day (usually 3 main meals plus 2 additional snacks/ fruit & 8 glasses of water) this will help your mind and body feel content and not look to poor choices to resolve problems in your day.
RETEACH YOUR BODY THAT FOOD FEEDS HUNGER NOT EMOTIONS!

Week 1 Nutrition- rid the rubbish!

Rid the Rubbish

Rid the Rubbish: Simply take a box or bag place it in the centre of your kitchen and start searching those cupboards… Yes you are searching for the rubbish foods that you have bought although deep down you know they are not helping you reach the ‘leaner, fitter you”!
Pick 3 items and aim to not buy them in your next weekly shop, think about how you could replace them for a food that will treat your body to more goodness:)