Health Advice

When exercising you need to replace fluid losses including electrolytes such as sodium and potassium) as your body sweats and replenish supplies of glycogen in your muscles. There are a wide ranges of sports drinks available on the market today – lucozade being one of the most popular. When looking for sports drinks you should be looking for a mix of glucose, sucrose and fructose on the label. It’s important not to wait to be thirsty as a indicator as this is a sign that you are already dehydrated. Water as a fluid replacement drink is fine if your workout is less than an hour but for longer workouts sports drinks or isotonic drinks are more beneficial. However a work of warning is to look out for the sugar content which can be as much as 6 teaspoons.

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Sugar is divided into two categories – that which is naturally occurring sugar (Intrinsic Sugar) and part of the cellular structure of plants, found in food such as fruit and vegetables. The foods we know are part of a healthy diet and the sugar is slowly absorbed in the body. Refined sugar or sucrose is known as Extrinsic sugar and is extracted from sugar cane, honey or sugar beet and commonly added to manufactured foods such as cakes, biscuits and drinks. Other types and sources include maltose from barley, lactose which is found in milk and fructose found in fruit and honey. Artificial sweeteners can be used to replace sugar but long term it’s better to wean yourself off the taste of sugar and sweet flavours.

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Too much sugar in the diet can lead to high cholesterol, diabetes, tooth decay and obesity. Sugar or glucose is a carbohydrate that provides our greatest amount of energy. However when the sugars are refined and processed, they become high in calories and as there’s no fiber to make you feel full you end up eating more and more hence piling on the calories. Surplus sugar is stored in the muscles or liver as glycogen or converted into body fat. The major source of sugar in our daily diet comes from the refined sugar added to food and drink during processing – manufactures use sugar not only to make food taste more palatable but also to add cost effective bulk and prolong shelf life.

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As more and more of us become health conscious companies are taking the opportunity to promote their business by handing out Promotional Items. Such as a gift/souvenirs as part of a advertising campaign. Promotional items which are commonly used are those such as miniature manicure sets (which are always popular whilst on travel), compact mirrors, to health gadgets like Skipping Ropes, a Pedo Metres, digital Thermometers and makeup pouches. Other popular items include Bottled Water which during the summer months is vital to maintain fluid levels and stop dehydration.

The promotional items itself given at the right time to travelling commuters provide the ideal opportunity to market the business. Other drinks coming onto the market are Fruit Smoothies which are ideal due to their nutritional value and available in a variety of exotic fruits. Many promotional merchandising company also offer energy drinks and other products. During winter months when the weather takes its toll on the skin items such as Lip Balms are key to help keep lips moisturised and are a handy item to carry around. Miniature hand creams are also great for keeping hands soft and again can be great for advertising and for the business traveller bath sets will go down a treat.

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Sugar consumption has increased by more than 30% in Britain and on average we’re consuming 30 teaspoons every day! However we’re adding less sugar to Tea and Coffee or cereals as we become health conscious. Most of the sure we consume is in pre prepared or processed foods that have added sugar – drinks, cakes, and even savoury foods. Baked beans have 1.5 teaspoons of sugar whilst stir-fry sauces have 6.

The downside is that foods that we consider healthy such as wholemeal breads, breakfast cereals and soups are significantly sweeter than they used to be. As the government tries to get us and food companies to cut down on Salt, sugar seems to have gone up.

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Core Stability is a word which is being more and more these days and is vital to our stability both before and during exercise. When talking about Core the area which springs to mind is of the mid-section and Stomach or Back whereas it is actually the lumbar spine and pelvis and incorporates our deep spinal, abdominal and pelvic muscles.

The function of the core is to provide stability and support before and during movement giving your lower and upper back a better platform to move on as well as minimising joint loads. Training your core muscles can be beneficial in maintaining our back and pelvis stability and allows the more superficial muscles that produce movement to do the job the need to. If our core muscles are weak or not activating efficiently we can increase stress on joints such as the lower spine, shoulders and knees.

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Meditation is usually associated with a connection to spirituality but in today’s age it’s a tool to deeply relax the mind and becoming aware of yourself. People who meditate vary from Sports professionals to business people to Yogis and Buddhist monks. Breathing is a generally a key exercise in meditation where you inhale air through the nostrils, down to your stomach filling your abdomen and then back out again. This is also used to distress as long deep abdominal breaths can lower the heartbeat, reduce bloody pressure and induce calm. Yoga is one of the methods which use a variety of breathing techniques and asanas to aid meditation and inner well being as well as improve your health.

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