Over the last few weeks I have been participating in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC). The aim is to empower people to take exercise, through walking, cycling and swimming.
Each day I record my steps and enter them online as part of the team that I am in. Together our goal is to be the most active in the world. However we are currently sitting at 10,315th.
The reason I bring this challenge up is that I have been surprised how easy it is to be active. Maybe not on a level like mine (ahem!) But rather how simple it can be to burn more calories each day and have a positive impact on our health.
My perfect example is G one of our security team at Cadbury House. Before the GCC even began he started to walk to work, using a pedometer to count his steps. His job isn't the most active, so he started to walk into work every shift. Gradually he lost weight and we approved of his reduction in belt holes. G then turned to his diet and after educating himself with documentaries and research he changed his eating habits.
Just last week he told me about another documentary that had opened his eyes to the dangers of Diabetes. G then proceeded to put me to shame by showing me what he was eating. He'd brought in a wholegrain sandwich, organic meat, monkey nuts, fruit and a new bottle of Evian!
The result of G's exercise and diet was not only weight loss, but an improvement in how he feels. He has taken "the bull by the horns" and developed his knowledge of fitness and nutrition in order to help himself.
Often in personal training the hardest thing to do is enable people to help themselves. Without my help G has triumphed in positively moving forwards and taking action. If more of us could take steps each day and educate ourselves then we would be happier, healthier people.
Tom :-)
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Thursday 23 June 2011
Metabolics to your Super Foods
I've been trying to follow the Metabolic Typing Diet for the last few weeks with varying degrees of success.
Working as a personal trainer means that your day is usually a long and active one. For me it means being on the go from 6am and getting back after 8pm. I enjoy being active and though I sometimes wish I worked 9-5, I have a great job and balance to life. The downside is being unable to cook proper meals to benefit my body in the best way, meaning I have to be really organised or really careful with my food. Two things that can be surprisingly difficult for me!
I have had to avoid caffeine, sugar and wheat as part of my metabolic typing diet. When it comes to breakfast this means the easily transportable British staple of cereal is a no no. Added to that I can't have a cheeky coffee from the burgeoning cafe industry that lines London's streets. Nor can I have any number of French pastries that line the bakery shelves at that big name supermarket we all rely on. Instead I eat a selection of fruit and a protein shake. When I'm lucky enough to be at home it's a trio of poached eggs on wheat free bread.
Is it difficult? No. It's surprisingly easy. With a little self control and a good understanding of what foods I do well on I am thriving. I have less dips in my energy and less crazy highs, I have less depressive periods and more positive, clear thinking. I also have a greater desire to do it properly as I can feel the benefits so quickly. Avoiding wheat leaves me less bloated. Less sugar and processed foods means I am clear minded and less scatty. Less (I'm working towards nil) caffeine means I'm not bouncing off the Walls before crashing.
The only downside is that I can't have certain foods I love because they don't "balance" my metabolic type. Coffee is one. Broccoli is another. Peppers a third. These foods are just a few that can upset the balance in my body, through their acidic nature or the stimulating effect on already overactive systems in my body. However this is a small concession when there are many, many other great foods I can eat and in plentiful supply. It's just a question of expanding my knowledge of foods and applying them to the cooking that I enjoy creating.
So, today my feeling is not one of superiority, but rather a leaning towards positive, affirmed action, trial and error and learning. Through years of abuse through fitness and diet my body has pulled through. Now it's time to put the super back into food and keep on the metabolic path.
Tom :-)
For more information on the metabolic typing diet visit www.
Or contact me for information.
Working as a personal trainer means that your day is usually a long and active one. For me it means being on the go from 6am and getting back after 8pm. I enjoy being active and though I sometimes wish I worked 9-5, I have a great job and balance to life. The downside is being unable to cook proper meals to benefit my body in the best way, meaning I have to be really organised or really careful with my food. Two things that can be surprisingly difficult for me!
I have had to avoid caffeine, sugar and wheat as part of my metabolic typing diet. When it comes to breakfast this means the easily transportable British staple of cereal is a no no. Added to that I can't have a cheeky coffee from the burgeoning cafe industry that lines London's streets. Nor can I have any number of French pastries that line the bakery shelves at that big name supermarket we all rely on. Instead I eat a selection of fruit and a protein shake. When I'm lucky enough to be at home it's a trio of poached eggs on wheat free bread.
Is it difficult? No. It's surprisingly easy. With a little self control and a good understanding of what foods I do well on I am thriving. I have less dips in my energy and less crazy highs, I have less depressive periods and more positive, clear thinking. I also have a greater desire to do it properly as I can feel the benefits so quickly. Avoiding wheat leaves me less bloated. Less sugar and processed foods means I am clear minded and less scatty. Less (I'm working towards nil) caffeine means I'm not bouncing off the Walls before crashing.
The only downside is that I can't have certain foods I love because they don't "balance" my metabolic type. Coffee is one. Broccoli is another. Peppers a third. These foods are just a few that can upset the balance in my body, through their acidic nature or the stimulating effect on already overactive systems in my body. However this is a small concession when there are many, many other great foods I can eat and in plentiful supply. It's just a question of expanding my knowledge of foods and applying them to the cooking that I enjoy creating.
So, today my feeling is not one of superiority, but rather a leaning towards positive, affirmed action, trial and error and learning. Through years of abuse through fitness and diet my body has pulled through. Now it's time to put the super back into food and keep on the metabolic path.
Tom :-)
For more information on the metabolic typing diet visit www.
Or contact me for information.
Monday 20 June 2011
Mr. Motivator? Who's he?
Harking back to the 90s when Michael Buerk presented the nine o'clock news and Tamagotchi's were THE toy, we find Mr. Motivator. Mr. Motivator was the star of early morning fitness tv on GMTV. He instructed his aerobic routines with the help of colourful, spandex all in ones. No matter how you felt that morning you would always manage a smile at his infectious enthusiasm and energy.
Sadly Mr. Motivator left our screens in 2000 and despite a brief return in 2009 he hasn't remained. (Rather sensibly he's returned to his birthplace of Jamaica).
Much like Mr. Motivator our own motivation may have seen a decline as we've grown older, possibly disappearing completely. (It may be waiting in Jamaica!) You may struggle to get active, avoiding exercise and eating a poor diet.
We are not all like Mr Motivator but we all have it inside ourselves to pull our finger out and make a difference to our bodies. We must look to make changes to our lifestyles and adopt a healthy and active approach to EVERYDAY life. We can't expect to join a gym and for magic to happen. We must commit to doing activity everyday of the week. We have to eat healthily throughout the week, not just the odd occasion. Most importantly we have to find something we enjoy doing that raises our heart rate and enables us to de-stress. It could be Zumba, boxing, walking, cycling or circus trapeze. If it makes you happy and helps you to forget your worries then it'll keep you MOTIVATED.
So Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Motivator, what will you do differently today to help yourself?
Tom :-)
Sadly Mr. Motivator left our screens in 2000 and despite a brief return in 2009 he hasn't remained. (Rather sensibly he's returned to his birthplace of Jamaica).
Much like Mr. Motivator our own motivation may have seen a decline as we've grown older, possibly disappearing completely. (It may be waiting in Jamaica!) You may struggle to get active, avoiding exercise and eating a poor diet.
We are not all like Mr Motivator but we all have it inside ourselves to pull our finger out and make a difference to our bodies. We must look to make changes to our lifestyles and adopt a healthy and active approach to EVERYDAY life. We can't expect to join a gym and for magic to happen. We must commit to doing activity everyday of the week. We have to eat healthily throughout the week, not just the odd occasion. Most importantly we have to find something we enjoy doing that raises our heart rate and enables us to de-stress. It could be Zumba, boxing, walking, cycling or circus trapeze. If it makes you happy and helps you to forget your worries then it'll keep you MOTIVATED.
So Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Motivator, what will you do differently today to help yourself?
Tom :-)
Monday 13 June 2011
Organise, then, live life.
As life gets made easier with mobile technology (I'm using my iPhone to write this) our lives pickup speed. We can contact friends in an instant, buy food online and read books without paper. These, among other tools, should help us to remain organised and live life at a less hectic pace.
In reality though we spend hours tweeting, surfing and facebooking; a few words that were irrelevant (and to some extent non-existant) 10 years ago. We rely on technology so much (I am a victim) because we know we can get hold of friends if we are running late, do last minute shopping and make our gadgets beep when there's a birthday to remember. Rather than being organised with lists, a diary or, (heaven forbid) our brains, we are organised by proxy. We leave things later because we know we'll get a reminder to tell us to do something.
All our lives are affected by technology, sometimes in a positive way, at other times negatively. We have so much going on that we need an "app" to track what we eat, tell us how to exercise and to show how we slept during the night. Things that us humans have been able to do perfectly well for millennia.
Technology is immensely powerful, useful and in today's world, essential. But are we saying that because of thousands of years of evolution we have taken a forwards step in technology but a leap backwards in emotions, organisation and health? Would we die without our Blackberrys and Apples?
When we rely less on technology we use our brains and hearts more. We are intelligent, organised, emotive beings. The sooner we let go of technology for everything, the sooner we can embrace a more organised and relaxed life. We can still phone friends, train our bodies and be
healthy, we just need to organise without battery powered assistance.
Tom :)
In reality though we spend hours tweeting, surfing and facebooking; a few words that were irrelevant (and to some extent non-existant) 10 years ago. We rely on technology so much (I am a victim) because we know we can get hold of friends if we are running late, do last minute shopping and make our gadgets beep when there's a birthday to remember. Rather than being organised with lists, a diary or, (heaven forbid) our brains, we are organised by proxy. We leave things later because we know we'll get a reminder to tell us to do something.
All our lives are affected by technology, sometimes in a positive way, at other times negatively. We have so much going on that we need an "app" to track what we eat, tell us how to exercise and to show how we slept during the night. Things that us humans have been able to do perfectly well for millennia.
Technology is immensely powerful, useful and in today's world, essential. But are we saying that because of thousands of years of evolution we have taken a forwards step in technology but a leap backwards in emotions, organisation and health? Would we die without our Blackberrys and Apples?
When we rely less on technology we use our brains and hearts more. We are intelligent, organised, emotive beings. The sooner we let go of technology for everything, the sooner we can embrace a more organised and relaxed life. We can still phone friends, train our bodies and be
healthy, we just need to organise without battery powered assistance.
Tom :)
Wednesday 8 June 2011
The Metabolic Typing Diet
This week I have started my new diet. Yes you heard me correctly, I have started a diet. However this diet is far from calorie reduction, it's much more about eating the right foods for your metabolic type.
Through a process of asking 60 questions the program determines what your metabolic type. It asks questions based on how foods affect you, your personality and sleep patterns after consuming certain foods. Once your metabolic type has been established the program suggests what food groups to eat and which ones to avoid. This should result in increased energy levels, better sleep and optimum health.
Bill Wolcott (the author of The Metabolic Typing Diet) played a pivotal role in advancing the field of Metabolic Typing in the 1970s. In 1983 he discovered critical new dimensions of the way in which human metabolism is controlled by the Oxidative System and the Autonomic Nervous System. Wolcott published a paper on this topic and over the course of the 1980s and 1990s made many additional discoveries that continued to transform Metabolic Typing into a multi-dimensional clinical and academic discipline.
Unlike other current dietary approaches which distinguish people from one another on the basis of single variables - such as body typing and blood typing - Metabolic Typing utilizes many different aspects of a person's physiological makeup in order to specify a diet appropriate for that person. Metabolic Typing uses multiple biochemical or metabolic indicators and seeks to identify patterns among these variables - patterns that reveal how a person's system is genetically designed to digest or utilize or "process" specific foods and nutrients.
The diet is a lifestyle change, so once started you adopt it for life. It doesn't restrict your calories, merely guides you to selecting the appropriate foods for your type. For example "fast oxidisers" generally speaking do better on protein and healthy fats with fewer carbohydrates, as their metabolism is faster than most. "Slow oxidisers" are at the opposite end of the scale and do best on whole grains and carbohydrate based foods as their metabolism is slower.
The best way to ascertain what will work for you is to check out the diet at www.metabolictyping.com and take the survey.
But fear not I will update you on my progress. Coffee has been the first thing to go (oh so difficult for me) and I am trying to eat more protein based foods with healthy fats, whilst still consuming some carbohydrates for the marathon training I am doing.
If you need any help or advice on nutrition feel free to contact me at tom@tomalfry.com
Tom :)
Through a process of asking 60 questions the program determines what your metabolic type. It asks questions based on how foods affect you, your personality and sleep patterns after consuming certain foods. Once your metabolic type has been established the program suggests what food groups to eat and which ones to avoid. This should result in increased energy levels, better sleep and optimum health.
Bill Wolcott (the author of The Metabolic Typing Diet) played a pivotal role in advancing the field of Metabolic Typing in the 1970s. In 1983 he discovered critical new dimensions of the way in which human metabolism is controlled by the Oxidative System and the Autonomic Nervous System. Wolcott published a paper on this topic and over the course of the 1980s and 1990s made many additional discoveries that continued to transform Metabolic Typing into a multi-dimensional clinical and academic discipline.
Unlike other current dietary approaches which distinguish people from one another on the basis of single variables - such as body typing and blood typing - Metabolic Typing utilizes many different aspects of a person's physiological makeup in order to specify a diet appropriate for that person. Metabolic Typing uses multiple biochemical or metabolic indicators and seeks to identify patterns among these variables - patterns that reveal how a person's system is genetically designed to digest or utilize or "process" specific foods and nutrients.
The diet is a lifestyle change, so once started you adopt it for life. It doesn't restrict your calories, merely guides you to selecting the appropriate foods for your type. For example "fast oxidisers" generally speaking do better on protein and healthy fats with fewer carbohydrates, as their metabolism is faster than most. "Slow oxidisers" are at the opposite end of the scale and do best on whole grains and carbohydrate based foods as their metabolism is slower.
The best way to ascertain what will work for you is to check out the diet at www.metabolictyping.com and take the survey.
But fear not I will update you on my progress. Coffee has been the first thing to go (oh so difficult for me) and I am trying to eat more protein based foods with healthy fats, whilst still consuming some carbohydrates for the marathon training I am doing.
If you need any help or advice on nutrition feel free to contact me at tom@tomalfry.com
Tom :)
Saturday 4 June 2011
To eat or not to eat
I was thinking just the other day (careful Tom) how we can be reckless with life. Not necessarily other people's lives (I'll leave the Arab uprising for a different blog), but our own existence.
I thought it funny how we can recycle with the efficiency of a military unit, but when it comes to our health and lifestyle we lack organisation and commitment.
If you were to look at how you react to food from a third person perspective what would you see?
For me personally food is my energy, my mood changer, my comforter and my training essential. I relish food (often too much) and my attitude towards it can be unhealthy. I often think along the lines of "well it's just one treat, I deserve it". When I am moving like a sloth we'll know my eating habits weren't right!
We often live in two worlds. The first is the "right now" where we live for the moment, eat with a carefree attitude and do what we enjoy most without committing to a particular path. The other is the "future" where we recycle to save the planet, buy organic eggs and worry about our pension pots. Now neither is necessarily bad, but we often are mixed up in prioritising which is best for our health. It's true that we should live for the present, our futures are as unpredictable as London transport. But we should have a couple of toes in the future world and think how our nutrition and fitness choices will affect our health in the short, medium and long term.
The trouble with living in the "right now" is that we could live to the age of 100. If you've eaten like you'll always be 25 then it'll be a painful existence. If you choose to live just for the future then you'll lead a plain and uneventful life.
Striking a balance is the hardest part, but balance we must. Before you next eat or train, just take the time to see how it will affect your health in the future. For that day make your choice a positive one and take each day as a new one, little by little is always the best way.
- Tom
I thought it funny how we can recycle with the efficiency of a military unit, but when it comes to our health and lifestyle we lack organisation and commitment.
If you were to look at how you react to food from a third person perspective what would you see?
For me personally food is my energy, my mood changer, my comforter and my training essential. I relish food (often too much) and my attitude towards it can be unhealthy. I often think along the lines of "well it's just one treat, I deserve it". When I am moving like a sloth we'll know my eating habits weren't right!
We often live in two worlds. The first is the "right now" where we live for the moment, eat with a carefree attitude and do what we enjoy most without committing to a particular path. The other is the "future" where we recycle to save the planet, buy organic eggs and worry about our pension pots. Now neither is necessarily bad, but we often are mixed up in prioritising which is best for our health. It's true that we should live for the present, our futures are as unpredictable as London transport. But we should have a couple of toes in the future world and think how our nutrition and fitness choices will affect our health in the short, medium and long term.
The trouble with living in the "right now" is that we could live to the age of 100. If you've eaten like you'll always be 25 then it'll be a painful existence. If you choose to live just for the future then you'll lead a plain and uneventful life.
Striking a balance is the hardest part, but balance we must. Before you next eat or train, just take the time to see how it will affect your health in the future. For that day make your choice a positive one and take each day as a new one, little by little is always the best way.
- Tom
Location:London
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