Perhaps the biggest health benefit of avocados is that by adding avocado to certain foods, you can improve your absorption of nutrients. This means that when you combine other fat burning foods with avocado, you can improve your nutrient absorption up to 400%!

Avocados provide many general health benefits, in addition to its fat burning benefits due to its vitamin E and glutathione, which protects you against tons of diseases including several forms of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and cholesterol.

Avocados also help reduce the signs of aging, regulate blood sugar and promote eye health.

SUPERFOOD (2) – BROCCOLI

Broccoli provides a high amount of vitamin C, which aids iron absorption in the body, prevents the development of cataracts, and also eases the symptoms of the common cold.

The folic acid in broccoli helps women sustain normal tissue growth and is often used as a supplement when taking birth control pills and during pregnancies.

The potassium in broccoli aids those battling high blood pressure, while a large amount of calcium helps combat osteoporosis.

The vegetable is also fiber-rich, which enhances the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, as well as aims to reduce blood cholesterol levels.

In recent years, broccoli has made the headlines regarding three components found in the vegetable. For instance, indole-3-carbinol has captured the attention of those looking to prevent hormone-related cancers, such as breast- and prostate cancer.

I3C promotes “good” hormones, while working against destructive ones. The sulforaphane in broccoli also helps to increase the level of enzymes that block cancer, while the beta-carotene in broccoli transforms into vitamin A within the body, providing an effective antioxidant that destroys free radicals (responsible for weakening the defense of cells).

Additionally, the health benefits of broccoli have been linked to preventing and controlling the following medical concerns: Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, calcium deficiencies, stomach and colon cancer, malignant tumors, lung cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and even the aging process.

Guest Blogger: Tonci Prusac (New Level Personal Training Newtown)

Special guest presenters Matt Golfis and Matt Moody from GNC Westfield Geelong had the intrigued audience captive for well over an hour as they discussed the importance of adding supplements to our daily diet in order to achieve optimum health.

Starting the day off with Multi-vitamins is a vital part of any healthy diet and the importance to both the immune system and increasing the intake of anti-oxidants was the first topic covered by the two Matts.

“You should start with taking good Multi-vitamins which will form the base of your supplementation, then you take it from there,” explained Matt Golfis.

“If you take Multi-vitamins in conjunction with protein powders, you aid the immune system but at the same time ensure optimum muscle recovery,” explained Matt Moody, then continued, “However, just taking protein powder to grow your muscles and leaving out the Multi-vitamins may result in compromising the health of your immune system.”

The two Matts then spoke about the importance of choosing the right Omega 3 fish oil supplement, by analysing the active ingredient in the supplement’s composition.

They then spoke about protein powders, addressing some of the myths surrounding this vital supplement as well as exploring the different types available on the market.

“Protein feeds nutrients to your muscles which leads to good muscle recovery and growth,” Moody explained.

“By repairing the muscle fibres, the protein can be used to help grow the damaged muscles,” continued Golfis.

They briefly discussed the three types of proteins, Whey Protein Isolate (WPI), Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) and Casein Protein, and what to look for when choosing protein powders.

Finally, there was an opportunity to do some taste testing, with the banana flavoured Whey Protein blend proving a popular choice alongside the tradition chocolate flavour.

There was also an opportunity for question time, with both Matts staying around to chat to the seminar participants following the conclusion of the event.

The next scheduled seminar in the monthly series will be in late June, with the date and topic to be confirmed

Although well attended, it’s nonetheless a shame that more people werenít in attendance to hear what New Level personal trainer Kelly Hill had to say about the importance of goal setting and how to best go about achieving it.

”Goals give you a target to aim for in life,” Kelly told the enthralled audience, ‘‘if you make goals on a subconsious level, you effectively become a passenger in life. If you concsciously go about setting your goals, however, you become the driver. The driver of your own destiny”.

Kelly explained how goal setting can be quite a daunting and overwhelming task, so that’s where short term and long term goals come into play.

It was at that stage that Kelly ripped out one of many clichees she would use during the course of the evening.

”By a yard it’s hard, by an inch it’s a cinch!”

Kelly went on to explain that before setting a goal, you need to tap into the ”why” – why you want to achieve what you have set out to achieve.

Towards the end of the short yet highly informative seminar, Kelly staged a short practical exercise which included setting a long term goal by in the process setting a series of short term goals.

To go about establishing and identifying a goal you would like to achieve, use Kelly’s ”SMART” philosophy of goal setting….

S – specific

M – measureable

A – achievable

R – relevant

T – timebound

The next instalment of the monthly seminar series will be held on Monday 14th of May at the studio at 7pm. The topic will be the importance of supplements in our everyday diet.

Special guest presenter will be John from GNC Westfield Geelong, who will talk about protein powders, male and female multi-vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and will also stage a taste test and provide a few giveaways and specials.

To reserve a spot, call Jen or Tonci at the studio on 5298 2601.     

As time heals most things, eventually Janine moves on with her life and soon she returns to her normal caloric intake. And that was that.

But what she can’t understand: even though she’s back to eating the same way she used to, she still weighs over 75 kilos. In fact, she eats no more than her lean friends. And so, like most people, Janine blames her over-weight on a slow metabolism.

She starts an exercise routine but lost a mere 1 kilo. Life is unjust. An ageing metabolism sucks!

She sees a sports nutritionist (with a PhD, never the less) who tells her she needs to eat more to lose weight. She follows his dietary plan and eats more, but she gains weight. The expensive nutritionist, with politely chosen words, blames this weight gain on her failure to follow his plan.

Frustrated and feeling bad, Janine stops exercising and dieting altogether, and remains overweight.

Keeping it Simple

Then finally she sees a Personal Trainer who, keeping things simple, tells her to stop eating so much. The recommendation was simple and straight forward:

1) The “S” diet.

No snacks, no seconds, and no sweets, except on days that begin with the letter “s.”

In 3 and a half months she lost 15 kilos. Back to where she was before her divorce in 2002, feeling great and looking fabulous.

Janine happens to be a past client of mine. Last week she called me to say she’s engaged to a wonderful guy, and to thanked me profusely for the simple dietary coaching.

This has allowed studio owner Tonci Prusac to co-ordinate numerous other projects as well as embark on an exciting strategic development plan for the establishment, which is going to greatly benefit the studio’s ever growing clientele base.

One of those developments has seen the erection of a new manager’s office, as well as a modern and private consulting room. This has also resulted in a small yet significant and practical re-arrangement of the studio floor plan.

The consulting room is currently being utilised by local osteopath, Alison Sim, who also happens to be a personal training client at New Level. 

“This has already opened up numerous opportunities, both for New Level clients requiring the assistance of a professional osteopath, as well as Alison’s clients who require the services of professional and top quality personal trainers in their rehabilitation,’ explained studio owner Tonci Prusac.

“We are currently in negotiations with massage therapists and other allied health professionals about hiring the consulting room on a part time basis, which would be of mutual benefit, to both our members as well as the prospective new practitioner’s clients,” added Prusac.

He concluded by saying another exciting innovation will be the upcoming launch of online nutrition advice service Nutrition Complete, which will be available to New Level Newtown members for the first time.

“Nutrition Complete will be an added service that will ensure our clients achieve their health and fitness goals much faster than they normally would, as it will help them get their nutrition on track.”

Think about it; if you look back at a whole week of entries and see a pattern such as a bag of crisps every night around 7:30pm; then you know that you have zeroed in on a bad habit that needs retuning.

Eg (Eating a tuna salad while watching Biggest Loser versus gauging on those fatty crisps; just because you’re not as big as those poor bastards are you?)

Another misconception with Results Diaries is that it’s too hard or too time consuming to keep track. Let me just say that I know the difference between an excuse and a fact; do you? That little read book that we give you when you join is little for two reasons; one it’s not heavy so you can take it any anywhere; two it’s small so it fits in your hand bag, suitcase, briefcase etc. So that’s one excuse debunked; let’s try another. The time consuming bit is easily eradicated by the fact that the diary is small and can go anywhere. This means that while you’re out having that café brunch for that all important meeting about replacing the water cooler; or the need for stationary you could also be writing up what’s going down your gob. Embarrassed? You shouldn’t be; you’re doing what’s necessary to be a winner in the game of fitness and your colleagues will respect that if they want to be winners too.

Now I know what you’re thinking; this is just some crappy write up to get me to use that bloody red book. Well you’re half right; the real reason for this article is the way I have seen these little red wonders work with my own clients. When I hear them say things like.

“Using that book really made me focus on eating good food because I didn’t want to right down cheese burger anymore”

“I never realized how much I actually snack:

“I drink a lot more than a thought; I should probably cut back huh?”

My first thought is; “everyone should be doing this; not just my peeps”

These comments are what prompted me to right this article about that little red wonder; the “Results Diary”. So if you’re not already using; start; and if you are; good job and I’ll see you around the studio for a high five or steady handshake.

Four of New Level Personal Training’s best trainers got together and decided on their 3 best tips to Shape Up For Summer. So when we put them all together we have 12 Tips to get in shape. The tips in no particular order are:

1. Stop Eating Processed Food, Eat Natural Food

2. Drink More Water and Green Tea

3. Do Whole Body Exercises

4. Stick To A Meal Plan

5. Cut Out Alcohol

6. Increase The Workout Intensity

7. Lift Heavier Weights

8. Do High Intensity Cardio Intervals

9. Cut Out All Sugar From Your Diet

10. Train At Least 4 Times Per Week

11. Drink More Water During The Day

12. Cut Out All Take-Away Food

So, there you have it!!! 12 Tips to think about in the lead up to Summer. If you would like further advise feel free to download our 3 FREE Session offer on this site, or simply contact us on 1300 NEWLEVEL for a chat!

Simon was in the cooking industry for 10 years and decided to make a career change to Personal Training. His former career as a chef gives him a great advantage when designing nutrition plans for his clients. Simon knows what works and what doesn’t, how to prepare food quickly, and has lots of tips for cooking the healthy way!

New Level Personal Training founder Trav Bell talks to Simon in the video above about some of the ‘most asked’ questions from clients about nutrition, and along the way Simon reveals some handy cooking advice.

Some of the key points are:

• Prepare your lunch and snacks the night before so you are not rushed in the morning and decide to just buy your lunch.
• Prepare some soups (especially during winter) on the weekend and put them the freezer in containers ready to go when you need them.
• Use the palm of your hand as a guide for the correct portion of the ‘protein’ in your meal. eg: Red Meat, Fish, Chicken.
• When cooking on a pan, get the surface really HOT first. This helps seal the food quickly and hold in the nutrients.
• A light spray of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on pan is better than dripping it in oil.
• Sealing your chicken breast in a pan first then allowing it to continue cooking in the oven is a good way of cooking the chicken without frying it in oil.
• Poaching and steaming are healthy cooking techniques that need to be mastered.
• Try not to overcook your vegetables. Keep them crisp. Overcooking them will release too much of their goodness.

Simon will be back with some more cooking and nutrition tips in future videos. If you have any questions you would like to ask him, just comment below this post or simple call 1300 NEWLEVEL.

Personally, I think in the next video he should wear a ‘Chef’s Hat’, be in the kitchen and give us a ‘Master Class’… What do you think?

There’s no such thing as a taboo food in a low-sacrifice eating plan.
So, what are some great strategies around drinking alcohol?
Where…you can still be social and have a good time!

Watch this video and remember these 6 tips:

1. Keep drink to a minimum
2. 2 glasses when you go out
3. Minimize eating fatty foods when you drink
4. Eat before you go out
5. Order fish at a dinner where you know you’re going to be drinking
6. Eat a low fat vegetarian option

Have a great weekend!

Coffee is not good for high blood pressure. If you are stressed it has a
tendency to magnify the effects of the stress. It can make you even more
stressed and more anxious. It causes adrenal exhaustion which has a big
effect on your energy levels.

Coffee is quite acidic as well. So it affects your stomach lining and your
digestion. The diuretic effect of caffeine is that it dehydrates you…but
you may need to down about 8 cups of the stuff.

The highly addictive nature of coffee is another set-back to drinking it.
If you have ever come off coffee and gone ‘cold turkey’ you may have
noticed a headache. If you are reading this article or watching the video
here and you’re thinking to yourself, “I might cut down”, we suggest
that you should come off it slowly to reduce the side effects. In turn,
you’ll reduce your headaches.

Caffeine consumption is a big part of our society. It’s not just in coffee.
It’s in tea, chocolate, cola drinks & some over-the-counter medications.
As a society, we are highly addicted.

Our # 1 tip is to simply watch that it’s not sneaking into your daily ritual
too much. Be aware of it. There’s no need to completely cut it out. That’s
not part of our low sacrifice eating plan that we (@ New Level Personal Training)
prescribe to.