Due to the Volcanic Ash in Europe I was stranded in New York for 3 days… but that doesn’t really account for my absence over the last 4 months. I guess Ive been lazy busy.

So any news on my Personal Training? Well for the last 3 months i’ve been doing my Nutritional adviser course and case study and my Personal Trainer Course.

First, the Nutritional Advisor. For this I had 8 weeks to learn the material via Future Fits online learning system, which is great and also annoying. Then after the 8 weeks I had to get a real life client and begin a 8 week Nutrition course with them. This involved collecting Diet diaries, educating them on Nutrition and physical activity, making changes to there diet etc.

The course as a whole, I found, was pretty interesting and of great benefit to anyone wanting to become a Personal Trainer or Fitness advisor, as we all no that making changes to your body is 30% training and 70% diet. As they say, muscles are built in the Kitchen, not the gym. Whilst this course doesn’t teach you specific sport Nutrition (Future Fit has a separate course for that, which I will start in August) it does teach you the importance of Proteins, Carbs and Fats and what they all do to your body. You also learn about the Macronutrients (Vitamins and Minerals) and also how food is broken down by the body.

You then have to take this information and apply to it a client (family member of friend) and record your results and submit a case study at the end. The actual case study was pretty easy, even if you are unable to complete the course with your client (mine got lazy and hard to work with). The questions on the case study practically require text book answers, and that’s what I mostly gave.

The pass mark for this course was 80%. I received my score last week and passed with 83%. The great thing about the marking is that they provide you with comments on how things could be improved, so it serves for future purposes. Also, if you receive under 80% you can re-submit the case study and just amend certain questions you scored low on, so with the help of the markers comments, you should pass on the second attempt.

The second course im doing is my Personal Trainer course, this involved a 5 day work shop which I attended in January, followed by a 12 week case study with a client. Now if you’re an idiot like me and do both courses at the same time, id suggest using 2 different people for each case study, otherwise it gets confusing.

Im going to start writing my case study next week for this course, so will write about it here in my next post… which wont be as long as 4 months, I promise.

Thanks for reading.

Base most of your meals on these 12 groups of foods. Every meal should have at least two foods from the list.

• Almonds and other nuts

Includes: Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Cashew, Walnuts.

Don’t have: Salted or flavoured peanuts

• Beans and pulses

Includes: Soya beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, haricot beans, black beans, cannelloni beans, kidney beans, lima (butter) beans, green beans, lentils, peas, hummus, edamame (green Soya beans). There packed with protein, iron and fibre, which helps you both build muscle and lose weight.

Don’t have: Refried beans high in saturated fat or baked beans high in sugar.

• Spinach and other green vegetables

Includes: Spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peppers, lettuces. Green vegetables, particularly spinach, have the power to protect you against heart disease and stroke. broccoli is loaded with calcium and vitamin c.

Don’t have: Iceberg lettuce (which contain no vitamins minerals  and little fibre unlike other kinds of lettuce, such as romaine or rocket)

• Dairy skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, low-fat or none-fat yogurt and cheese)

Includes: Milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheeses
Calcium has shown to be a key ingredient in weight loss. Used as a base for smoothies, semi-skimmed low-fat milk helps give smoothies volume to keep your stomach full and you satisfied.

Don’t have: Whole milk (high in fat) frozen yogurt (high in sugar).

• Instant hot oats cereal (unsweetened, unflavoured)

Includes: high fibre cereals: Oats contain soluble fibre, which helps lower your cholesterol. oats has shown to sustain your blood sugar levels longer than many other foods. That ensures you won’t be ravenous for several hours afterwards and you’ll keep your metabolism fast.

Don’t have: Cereals with added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.

• Eggs

Includes: eggs and egg whites. The protein found in eggs is more effective for building muscle than protein from other sources. Remember the whites are the good part and the yellow is the fatty part.

• Turkey and other lean meats

Includes: Turkey, chicken, fish (especially salmon and tuna) shellfish, extra lean steak, ground beef, rump, fillet.
since your body uses more energy to digest protein than it does to digest carbohydrates or fat you’re burning more calories simply by eating protein but protein also helps build muscle and keep you replete. the best tactic is to split your primary meat choices between fish and poultry with occasional portions of red meat. fish is loaded with polyunsaturated fats and chicken and turkey have the lean protein to build muscle.

Don’t have: Sausage, bacon, cured meats, ham, fatty cuts of steak.

• Peanut butter

Almond butter all natural and sugar-free or peanut butter:
it contains monounsaturated fats which have been shown to help keep you full, and its also one of those sinful-tasting foods that help add variety and taste to your diet

Don’t eat: Sugary brands or trans fatty peanut butters. 2 table spoons a day only.

• Olive oil

Olive oil: olive oil rebreed (canola) oil peanut oil sesame oil.

• Wholegrain breads and cereals

Wholegrain bread, wholegrain cereal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta:
whole wheat means that the unrefined parts of the product that contains important nutrients and fibre remain. all-white breads and pasta don’t contain those fibre-rich elements that help your digestive system. wholegrain foods keep your insulin levels low so you’re less likely to store fat.

Don’t have: White breads ,bagels, doughnuts breads labelled as ‘wheat’  or ‘brown’ instead of ‘wholegrain’ or ‘whole-wheat.

• Raspberries and other berries

Includes: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries and other fruits like apples.
Berries are a powerful sources of cancer-fighting antioxidants, and they also contain fibre to keep you fuller longer.
The most powerful berries are blueberries they are the daddy in antioxidants and they are loaded with soluble fibre.

• Other

Extra-Protein (whey) powder
Whey protein is high-quality protein that contains amino acids, which build muscle and burn fat, it has the highest amount of protein for the fewest number of calories.