Holiday Tips to not throw you completely off

Morning girls J

Holidays are great, the sun in shining (hopefully), which encourages us to eat lighter and drink more water. We’re resting and sleeping better (which is very important when leading a healthy lifestyle) and we’re re-energizing our bodies, which is so important of our mental and physical functioning. 

Before I go through my ten tips that I think make an awesome difference to going on holiday, I want to make sure you understand – you are on your holidays – it IS important that you enjoy some more of life’s pleasures for your short time away. However, you are not a dog, you should not be rewarding yourself with food. 

This is a holiday –NOT a binge trip :) 

So here are ten tips to hang on the healthy living boat while on holiday;

1.      Drink plenty of water – this is not hard to do. It’s hot. You’re thirsty. Choose water over coke.

2.     Meditate every morning on your deck chair.

3.     Pick a time of day to enjoy your alcohol - either lunch or dinner. Do you really need to drink at both meals?

4.     Bring your supplements (see below for the three I brought). Supplements are vital for keeping your body functioning, decant them, they’re easy to bring and will help you feel good when you eat crap.

5.     Watch the carbs at dinner, there are so many wonderful restaurants abroad; try to avoid pasta and pizza every night…

6.    Choose nuts over crisps. A lot of people may have a nightcap or a pre dinner drink, have nuts as your snack instead of crisps.

7.     Get a minimum of 8 hours sleep per night. 

8.    Make sure you eat lots of fibrous foods (leaves, veggies + lentils) so you don’t get bloated and clogged… 

9.    Walk or cycle when you’re going out… Twenty minute walk to your restaurant and back is still a little bit of exercise – something is better than nothing.

10.  Let your skin see the sun (even if you’re very pale, just for a few minutes) –Vitamin D is a very good mood booster J

My Top Three supplements:

1.      Aloe Vera Gel: Well, you know how much I swear by this stuff (full blog on it here) I need this every day – it is amazing! It makes my feel so much cleaner inside; it’s full of nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc. It is amazing for your digestive tract and that means you don’t get bloated J so this is the most important thing that I bring with me. I try to always travel with hand luggage (my wardrobe is flip-flops, bikini, shorts, top #casualchick) So I decant it into little bottles. 

2.     Garcina Plus: A well-known appetite suppressor supplement (I always say to make sure that you’re drinking the gel, when you’re taking these – they can be prone to clogging….) these basically make you feel fuller… So that’s good for eh well you know… not overindulging in the magnums. 

3.     ForeverLean: This is a supplement blend of fiber (super for a healthy gut) and chromium. Chromium is a well-known tool for stopping you craving sugar. Truthfully = I LOVE sugar, I would dive into a bag of sweets if I had the opportunity to. I am not joking you – I do not have a sugar craving when on these bad boys!

If you guys want to grab some of these, you can on my online store: www.ericabrennan.flp.com (and please feel free to send me an email if you’re unsure)

Hope these tips help you with your holiday pounds, but remember, have fun, laughter and don’t come back being disgusted with yourself – it’s not worth it!!!

Erica xx

6 simple steps... lose fat instantly

Right,

Are you ready? Five things - food related - to do and you are guaranteed to start losing fat instantly...

1. Back away from the booze
I am aware that this can be a hard pill to swallow...

If you want to get shredded... you CANNOT drink alcohol.

However if you don't want to get shredded, but you do want to lose a bit of weight or body fat, then you still have to give it up. Drink destroys your ability to burn fat by inhibiting your growth hormone production. It really messes up your liver, which means you will struggle to detoxify your body. Therefore if alcohol is a big part of your life, you're destroying your ability to burn fat... which isn't a great situation to be in really, is it?!

So bye bye wine... And no, it doesn't matter if it is gin and slimline tonic... all types of alcohol will inhibit your fat burning fun. It's nothing to do with calories or "low fat" mixers.... it is all down to the disastrous effect it has on hormones in the body.


2. Stop eating margarines
All those tubs of margarine are a no-go. It's a simple change - move to real butter, organic butter or unsalted butter (ghee). Margarines are full of transfats which are highly highly dangerous!

So as a general rule... let's not put trans fats (everything that is processed) into your body, they're not good for you.

3. Stop eating processed food
Processed foods have been made in a factory and get transported to the supermarkets in boxes... really do you want to eat from dirty boxes.

Factory made food... well you don't need me to tell you that they're not good for you. Plus, MSG and chemicals don't help fat loss either... actually they inhibit it (plus MSG is awful for your body... you're body is a temple, don't put that crap in it!) MSG and Aspartame are some of our generations biggest, most dangerous inventions, and they are literally killing millions of people a year. A bit bleak, I know, but unfortunately that is the reality!


4. Start eating vegetables

You know they're good for you. Just eat them. Preferably steamed, not boiled, and as much orange and green veg as you can!

5. Stop eating the bold carbs
Bread, Pizza, Pasta, Rice (brown, occasionally)
You know they're bad for you... So stop eating them.
Better types of carbs would be Quinoa and Sweet Potato, but the timing is as important, preferably post workout when you're more insulin sensitive.

6. No more low-fat
Remember this: Low Fat = High Sugar

Sugar stores as fat in body and it sits on your hips! Avoid all the foods that say "low fat" on the label. They still taste delicious which means that lots of sugar and chemicals have been added to them so they still taste good. Ditch them. Eat less of the regular product.

Think about this: 
Our bodies are machines, they perform millions and millions of actions every second in our bodies. Now your body doesn't really care about those two kilos that you'd love to lose... if you consume a load of chemically processed foods with ridiculously high sugar. Your main priority is to excrete them. Therefore your body is not focusing on your weight loss regime. If you want to lose weight, help your body function properly so it can burn fat effectively, don't hinder it by eating the above foods.

Hope this helped, Erica xx