See What Happens if You Give Up Sugar for 3 Days

Almost all of us have thought about going on a diet at one time or another. For some it’s just a passing desire to shed a few pounds before a party; for others, losing weight is a struggle that lasts many years. However, one Swedish doctor,  Andreas Eenfeldt, has suggested it’s time to stop believing in myths about food and listen to the signals your body sends you. 

As is well known, we get energy from two different sources:

• from carbohydrates, which includes sugar;
• from fat.

For many years we’ve been told that fat is bad and that the only way to get thin is to eat low-fat products and celery. However, giving up sugar rather than fat is worth paying much more attention to. If you do, something very interesting will happen:

• Once you’ve stopped worrying about consuming fat (in reasonable quantities) and given up sugar, you’ll be able to stay slim on a permanent basis, and as a bonus you’ll have overall better health, more energy, and great skin and hair.

• You’ll no longer feel the need to check the calorie intake for everything you’re buying. Yet your waist will be the first thing to decrease in size.

If you give up sugar for as little as three days, you’ll soon notice a new feeling of satiety, and consequently you’ll feel satisfied despite eating less food. Many people who try this say they no longer want to eat a large supper and don’t even think about food until the next day’s breakfast.

A rough three-day menu

Breakfast :

• Scrambled eggs with ham, bacon or avocado 
• Boiled eggs with tomatoes and spinach 
• Cottage cheese (no less than 5% fat) with berries 
• Pancakes made with almond flour 
• A salad with green vegetables and olives 

Lunch:

• Meat or fish dishes: with vegetables (excluding carbohydrates like rice, pasta) 
• Soups (excluding the carbs, apart from potato and beans) 
• Salads (made with any vegetables and with vegetable oil) 

Diner:

• Roasted vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, bell peppers) 
• Meat or fish dishes: with vegetables (excluding carbohydrates like rice, pasta) 
• Salads (made with any vegetables and with vegetable oil) 
• Any of the options from breakfast 

Remember that any of these meal choices are interchangeable, and you should eat as much as you want and whenever you feel like doing so. Don’t be afraid to experiment and to try preparing ordinary food in new ways.


If you stick to this system for a while, you’ll be surprised to discover that you’ve dropped several clothes sizes. At the same time you’ll feel hungry less often, will be free of problems with your intestine and/or blood pressure, and be more energetic.


Most importantly, this method can put you in charge of your body and your life.

Source Andreas Eenfeldt , LCHF


Stay fit and healthy! See you in class:

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6 Healthier Breakfast Ideas To Get You Fitter

From our experience we already know that breakfast is the most important meal of your day, however having a large variety of choices doesn't always help and a lot of you probably wonder what would be the most nutritious, tasty as well as healthy breakfast meal.

Turns out, starting your day with a nutritious and healthy meal is surprisingly simple: all you need for a complete breakfast are carbohydrates and proteins. Your body breaks carbs down into sugars, which fuel your brain, and proteins keep you satiated until lunch time.

Many companies that market breakfast foods claim that their products contain at least parts of this golden ratio, but processed foods like sugary cereals usually contain "bad" carbs, such as simple sugars, which are quickly converted to fat rather than energy.

Here are a few common breakfast foods you should ditch for some healthier, more complete alternatives.

For something sugary:

Instead of a biscuits or cookies, eat steel cut oats with peanut butter, walnuts and honey. Many cereals are loaded with sugars and processed flours. Steel cut oats contain about 5 grams of protein, zero sugar, and are low in saturated fats and high in finer. The peanut butter and walnuts adds an extra shot of satiating protein, healthy fats, and honey will give you a 
sweet kick without the sugar blast.

For something toasty:

Ditch a plain bagel and cream cheese for whole grain toast with avocado, smoked salmon, and a poached egg.

You're technically getting carbohydrates from the bagel and protein from the cheese, but plain bagels contain refined white flour and simple carbs, which provide a quick burst of energy to your brain that quickly fades.

The complex carbs in the toast take longer for your body to process, leaving you satiated for longer. The smoked fish, avocado, and eggs are packed with good lean protein and heart-and-brain-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

For something creamy:

Instead of flavored yogurt, eat plain whole milk Greek yogurt with berries, nuts, and cinnamon. Flavored yogurt cups are chock full of sugars. Substitute with plain Greek yogurt, which packs in 17 g of protein and only 6 g of sugars. If it's too bitter, sweeten with antioxidant and fiber-rich berries, protein-rich nuts, and cinnamon.

For something eggy:

Instead of a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, eat eggs with avocado and salsa in a corn tortilla. Bacon is a good source of protein, but it's high in sodium and saturated fats, which increase your risk of heart disease. Substitute bacon with protein-rich avocados.

They contain about the same amount of protein per serving as bacon, yet contain many essential vitamins and healthy fats, which also increase your absorption of antioxidants, like lycopene, from the salsa.

Corn tortillas are also low in unsaturated fats, sugars, and sodium, and high in fiber and vitamins like magnesium.

For something syrupy:

Instead of regular pancakes, eat whole wheat pancakes with a fruit compote on top.

Nowadays you can find whole wheat flour from just about any grocery store. It's high in fiber and sticks with you for longer than white flour.

Be sure to crack an egg into the batter to include your protein!

Fruit compote made from frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are a low-sugar and antioxidant-rich sweetener.

For something fruity:

Instead of a glass of orange juice, make a smoothie of plain Greek yogurt, peanut butter, and frozen berries. Fruit juices contain a ton of simple sugars and few protein and fibres. The protein in the yogurt and peanut butter keeps you satiated for a long time, while the berries not only naturally sweeten the drink, but contain good complex carbohydrates and antioxidants.

Keep healthy and don't forget to burn the extra calories in our classes!

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Boost Your Brain Power With These Foods...

A healthy brain is something we all need! Whether you are a student or not, you still need to keep those thinking powers strong and increase sharpness and retainability! So you can keep healthy, exercise well and fell great! What you eat plays a large role in this. Here is a list of foods to try out to keep your wits about you and to sharpen up the old thinking cap!

1. EAT SAGE TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY

Sage is a flavorful herb that many of us don’t consume much of. Try incorporating more into your diet, especially if you need to focus on improving memory skills! You can even reach for sage essential oil and diffuse it into a room to reap the benefits if you aren’t inclined to ingest sage.


2. MUNCH ON NUTS 

Nuts are yummy, easy to pack, and pretty much all of them have some sort of health benefit. But they all prevent cognitive decline, since nuts are high in vitamin E. I like almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, but reach for whatever strikes your fancy!



3. HAVE SOME FISH FOR YOUR HEALTHY HEART AND JOINTS

Fatty fish has lots of Essential fatty acids and DHA. Your body can’t make this on it’s own, so it’s important to eat foods rich in fatty acids! Try some salmon, mackerel, or herring occasionally! Healthy hearts and joint contribute to brain power because if your body is sore or lacking in an area (even if you don’t know it) that is more energy being spent on repairing or compensating for that spot and less that can be focused on brain power!

4. PUMPKIN SEEDS TO INCREASE YOUR THINKING POWER 

Pumpkin seeds are an awesome snack to keep at your desk for school or work. They are portable, tasty, and brimming with zinc. Zinc is excellent for helping your memory skills and to boost thinking power. Best of all, you can eat pumpkin seeds quietly and they don’t leave you with strong breath like peanuts or other salty, flavorful snacks can.

5. TRY CHICKPEAS TO DECREASE STRESS LEVELS 

Our bodies need magnesium. Magnesium is very beneficial for brain cell reception, and also relaxes blood vessels allowing blood flow to feed our brains! The average American diet is quite deficient in magnesium because it is found in unlikely or unpopular foods. Chickpeas are a great source of magnesium, so chomp away for decreased stress levels and better brain reception!



6. EAT BLUEBERRIES TO IMPROVE YOUR LEARNING SKILLS 

You’ve probably been told before that blueberries are good for you, but do you know why? Blueberries are stuffed full of antioxidants. These are what we need to help us focus and retain information! Antioxidants are also great for your immune system, obviously if you are sick you won’t be able to focus as well as you can when your health is up to par!



7. RED MEAT TO ENCOURAGE OVERALL BRAIN HEALTH 

Red meat is very high in vitamin B12, which is an essential vitamin for brain health and development! In addition, there is a lot of iron found in red meat, which is necessary for healthy blood pressure and energy. Since we need a healthy blood flow to our brain, you can see how red meat has lots of components to boost overall brain health!

If you are an expectant mother, or trying to conceive, you almost can’t eat too much of these foods listed above! Your baby will benefit in brain development from all the goodness contained in these delicious brainpower-boosting foods. I hope this list has been helpful and inspiring! As always, thanks for reading, stalkers!

Keep Healthy! See you in the ballet studio!

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Wishing you a great week! See you in our studios to gain progressive results!www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Sunday, August 30, 2015

7 Important Tips Of How To Lose Weight and Stay Lean

Today, everyone with an excess body fat is looking for the short cut or miracle #diet to lose the extra pounds. Summer is here and you want to feel confident during your holiday time or on the beach.

With dedication and consistency to your training and dieting you can make drastic changes in a very short time frame.

We all want to lose weight and remain slim. We all know that diet is the backbone to losing fat and #getting lean.


Here are 7 dieting tricks that will help you lose fat and build lean muscles.

1. Keep It Tight

You don’t need to be on a 100% strict diet for you to lose weight and gain muscles. This means eating foods that provide enough quality nutrients that is necessary to help your body repair and recover.

You will need to concentrate on complex carbohydrates, good fats and proteins. This is because the body will use such additional nutrients to provide essential energy. Losing weight and gaining lean muscles may take time and effort but in time you will notice significant changes.

Avoid proceed foods and foods that contain high sugar content at the wrong times of the day which will raise hormones and get stored as fat.


2. Take Control


When you reduce your calorie intake too much in the attempt to shift your excess body fat, you can actually slow down your metabolism.

The best way is to trick the body is by controlling your calories intake.

By controlling your calories intake and keeping an eye on the small changes to your body shape you can lower your calories by 250 if you are putting on weight and increase them if you are losing weight (muscle as well as fat) too quickly.


3. Limits you’re Restrictive Dieting


Studies have shown that dropping your calories for an extended period of time can not only affect the levels of fat burning hormone but can also influence the levels of anabolic hormone such as growth hormone and testosterone.

Decreasing the levels of these anabolic hormones can significantly influence the hormonal balance in the body and this may have a profound effect on your achieving your results.

Additionally, prolonged calories deficit can cause muscle breakdown since the metabolism process may shift to protein breakdown so as to provide the body with sufficient energy.

If you are in a restricted diet, limit it to 8 to 12 weeks and maybe reward yourself with something yummy, want your cake and eat it? You have work for it!



4. Add Carbs to Your Diet


A low Carb diet can help you in losing weight quickly but the fact is that you need to add some carbs in your diet so as to keep your anabolic hormones at a constant level.

For muscles to function properly they need energy in form of glycogen and carbs are the main source of that.

To ensure you are maximizing fat loss and at the same time you are preventing muscle breakdown, ensure you time your Carb consumption. The best time to eat carbs is post-workout. This re-loads your lost muscle glycogen.

During this time eat complex carbohydrates alongside a good source of proteins.


5. Concentrate On High Protein Diet


If you are trying to lose weight and at the same time build lean muscles, your protein intake should always be high, but the percentages can differ depending on your body type. To lose weight you need to cut down your calorie levels by reducing the levels of carbs and fats in your diet.

However, add more proteins into your diet as this help to build muscles and preserve them.


The good sources of protein include chicken, lean red meat and eggs, and protein powers should be a last resort if you struggle to eat a solid meal at certain points in the day.

This will help you to build lean muscles as you shed more fats.


6. Add Cheat Food Occasionally


To drop fat and maintain the muscles, it is advisable to add cheat meals to your diet.

The importance of cheat meal is to restock your muscle glycogen load and stimulate production of fat burning hormone known as leptin.

After a few weeks of restricted diet, the hormone leptin can get shut down and this can lower the metabolism.

To maintain this hormone add a cheat meal such as fast foods once in a while. This does not mean every weekend.

Depending on your food history you may have to put off these cheat meals for a few weeks at the beginning of your diet.


7. Add Good Fats to Your Diet


Studies have shown that a diet low in essential fats can decrease the levels of important hormones necessary in building muscles.

For this reason, it is advisable to include a good amount of fat in your diet if you want to add lean muscle.

If you lower your carb intake you will need to increase your fat intake.

After some time your body will use fat as the chosen energy source as oppose to carbs. Eat foods that contain good fats such as avocados, walnuts, almonds and fish.



Apart from professional exercises, cardio training program and ballet, diet is the best solution to burn fat, build your perfect body lines and remain lean.

The progress can be achieved very quickly, even just in a couple of weeks, if you remain persistant and dedicated to our professional advice.

See you in class!



www.balletbodysculpture.com

"Excuses are the rocks where our dreams are crushed" - so no excuses, just follow your dreams!www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Tuesday, June 16, 2015

8 HEALTHY SNACKS FOR YOUR HEALTHY DIET

Swap sweets and biscuits for some healthy snacks this summer!

If like us, you tend to suffer from the 3pm energy slump, here are some healthy snack ideas to help satisfy your cravings…

Blueberries

Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of all fresh fruit - making them a great snack to help boost your immune system. Also, their sweet flavour promises to satisfy your sugar cravings.

Seaweed thins

What we love most about seaweed is that it can do wonders for hair and skin, with vitamins, fats and minerals from the sea that can help strengthen, revitalise and moisturise. Dried seaweed thins are a great alternative to crisps and crackers.

Apple slices with peanut butter

The benefits of eating apples are endless – from teeth whitening and immune-system boosting, to aiding digestion and detoxifying your liver. Try cutting one into slices or wedges and spreading on a light layer of organic peanut butter.

Almonds

Almonds not only satisfy hunger but also regulate cholesterol, strengthen bones, improve complexion and contain nutrients that help boost brain power – among many other things. Try roasting a batch with lemon, salt, Worcestershire sauce and honey to give them an extra kick.

Dark chocolate rice cakes

Rice cakes are low in calories, provide an instant energy boost, aid digestion and are an essential source of vitamin B1. Top them with a layer of rich dark chocolate and you've got a tasty and healthy treat. 

Miso soup

Miso soup is a fantastic afternoon snack if you're trying to lose weight – it's filling, comforting and full of beneficial nutrients. 

Raw energy bars

There's a huge range of raw energy bars out there that are perfect for a pre-workout snack, or simply to give you that mid-afternoon boost. We love Bounce Balls (available at Holland & Barrett) in every flavour, and snack bars from Purple Balance (available at purplebalance.co.uk) and Aduna Baobab (available at aduna.com).

Dark chocolate pumpkin seeds

Dark chocolate covered pumpkin seeds may be a fattier snack option, but they're a great source of iron, magnesium and zinc, and are sure to satisfy your cocoa craving.

All those lovely snacks are great energy source to keep you going and achieve great results at Ballet Body Sculpture class!

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'The price of anything, is the amount of life you exchange for it" - Thank you for all great classes this week! See you next week for some more!www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Saturday, May 23, 2015

POMEGRANATE PROTEIN SMOOTHIE

Great post workout or as a quick breakfast.  This is brimming with anti-oxidants and just bursting with Vitamin C. I always have frozen summer berries to hand as they're an amazing source of vitamins.  Containing red currants and blackcurrants they add a gorgeous tangy to my favourite protein smoothies and available all year round.  The Greek Yoghurt contains plenty post workout protein to fuel muscle repair and growth and adds a wonderful creaminess without the need for a whey protein powder.

This is very low carb - with a little fructose from the berries and pomegranate and a tiny bit of lactose in the yoghurt.  I always avoid 'added' sugars like honey or agarve nectar and chose Stevia which has zero impact on blood sugar levels. 

Juice and Pips of 1 Pomegranate

1/2 cup frozen summer berries

150g Total Greek Yoghurt

150ml iced water

1/2 tsp stevia

Enjoy!

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"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body." - Well done for the classes so far!www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Choc Hazelnut Tart - Grace Your Kitchen Table This Easter Weekend

Creamy, chocolatery and adorned with your favourite fruits or berries, this dish is also vegan, gluten, grain and dairy free to suit particular intolerances and preferences. But above all - it's really DELICIOUS!!!:) 

So here it is:

• YIELD: 35cm tart (10 Servings)
• PREP: 15 mins
• COOK: 10 mins
• READY IN: 2 hrs 25 mins

• Do I really need to say anything? No.....it speaks for itself! 

  INGREDIENTS

  • 220 g hazelnuts
  • 30 g shredded coconut
  • 40 g raw cacao powder
  • 50 g raw coconut sugar
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • pinch salt
  • 1x 240 ml can coconut cream
  • 280 g dark chocolate chopped
  •  fresh berries to serve

  INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 180ºC
  2. Lightly grease your tart pan with coconut oil and set aside
  3. Process hazelnuts and shredded coconut together in a blender until it becomes a fine meal
  4. Add the cacao powder, the coconut sugar, coconut oil and salt, and blitz again until combined
  5. Press into your tart pan and bake for 10-15 minutes; set aside to cool
  6. In a small saucepan, bring the coconut cream to a gentle simmer, and add broken chocolate
  7. Stir continuously until smooth and velvety and pour into tart pan
  8. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours then top with berries and serve

Enjoy!!!:)

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"Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about CREATING yourself " - Enjoy Easter Sunday! See you in classes next week:www.balletbodysculpture.com
Posted by Ballet Body Sculpture on Sunday, April 5, 2015

Healthy Recipes For Season!

Cranberry recipes abound this time of year. They make a stunning addition to any Christmas celebration and add a yummy, tart, sweet flavour to a myriad of dishes. If you want to give them a try this year, you are in luck because cranberries are easy to find, cheap to buy and super easy to work with. Load up on cranberries and get into your kitchen. Here are some mouthwatering cranberry recipes to try this holiday season.

CHICKEN SALAD WITH APPLES AND CRANBERRIES

Source:

http://simple-nourished-living.com/2012/02/healthy-chicken-salad-with-apples-cranberries/

These are great lunch time & diner recipes to keep you fit and healthy during the restful holiday period!

For those that don't like to rest for too long and would like keep the fitness levels going as well as slicing off too much Christmas cake & chocolate, we have some great offers, a bit of ballet workout:

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Post by Ballet Body Sculpture.

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