Griffen Fitness - Newsletter

August newsletter

Greetings healthy people,

If July is holiday month, then August is festival month. If you’re a festival addict, check out the article on staying healthy over August at the end of this newsletter. As it’s been a quiet holiday month I’ve honed in on the less serious aspect of fitness (i.e. surfing the net for silly stuff) and now present to you my findings for July.

Speaking of silly stuff, the Ministry of Silly Walks officially has earned its place in scientific research. Read this article which appeared in the Independent newspaper this morning about how arm swing assists locomotion. On the subject of arms, a journo from the Scotsman called me to find out my opinion on Madonna’s arms ("who cares?" you cry) which should be published later this week. Also look out for the healthy living section in the Pulse magazine mid August for more fitness booty.

Highland Boot Camp logo After a successful Edinburgh Boot Camp, life coach Eilidh and I are now looking forward to our ‘life changing’ Highland Boot Camp. We’ll be spending a packed five days exercising to the max, doing powerful life coaching exercises and utilising the Hilton Coylumbridge’s leisure facilities. Relaxation sessions and a swim and sauna are the order of the evenings, and all food and drink (non alcoholic of course) are included in the cost. Have a peek for yourself at www.highlandbootcamp.com

What’s in Season for August
It's good to eat seasonal fruit and vegetables, so here's a list of what's in season locally:

VEGETABLES
Artichoke, aubergine, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, carrots, courgettes, cucumber, fennel, french beans, garlic, kohlrabi, mangetout, marrows, new potatoes, onions, peas, potatoes (maincrop), radishes, rocket, runner beans, sorrel, spring onions, turnips, watercress

FRUIT
Apricots, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, gooseberries, kiwi fruit, loganberries, melons, raspberries, redcurrants, strawberries, tomatoes

Easy Recipe: Stuffed Marrow
serves four

You can’t get more seasonal than a giant marrow straight from a friend's allotment. There is a knack to carving the marrow whilst leaving it whole, so get the big knives out!

One marrow
100g rice (for a medium marrow)
stock cube or fresh stock
a red pepper
small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 mushrooms
small carrot
handful of parsley or your favourite herb
½ teasp cumin
1 Tab olive oil
ground pepper to taste (the stock is salty, so no need to add more)

- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Wash and cut the ends off the marrow.
- Scoop out the seeds from centre using spoon, creating a marrow ‘tube’. Retain ends for later use and toss the scooped mush. If this is too challenging, you can simply scoop out the marrow that has been halved lengthwise.
- Cook rice in water with a small amount of stock for flavour.
- Chop the veg and herbs finely. You can use other veg if you wish.
- Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. When softened add the other vegetables, cumin and black pepper and cook with the lid on. You can add a bit of water if it starts to stick.
- When cooked, stir in the rice.
- Hold marrow upright for stuffing, with one of the ends held over the bottom hole so the stuffing doesn’t fall out. When you’ve stuffed it from one end, turn it upside down and stuff the other end.
- Or if you’ve gone for the easy option simply fill halved and scooped marrow.
- Place in a baking tray in the oven for 45 minutes (or more depending on size of marrow).
- Slice up and enjoy!

Resisting Temptation Hint of the Month: Beware the Exercise Appetite
It’s fab when you start exercising as your appetite increases. However there’s no need to go overboard with it. If you’re aiming to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you’re ingesting so you can start burning your fat stores. For instance, if you reward yourself for a half hour brisk walk to work with a digestive biscuit, you may as well catch the bus and not bother with the biscuit! So when peckish from exercising, be very aware of exactly what you’re snacking on…
can of O2
Fad or Fab: Air and Water
Air and water are two basic necessities of life. So it’s not surprising there’s a load of products out there around this theme. Firstly I’ll look at hydration and the newly evolved Camelbak. Camelbak is a ‘hydration system’ in a backpack. Basically it’s a backpack full of water (in a plastic bladder). The plastic tube you stick in your mouth looks kinda medical, however it’s a godsend for long bike rides, runs or hill walks. Also on the hydration theme I’ve just bought a new Brita filter jug, which I love. Edinburgh water is really very good compared to London water, but still there is a slight residual taste of chlorine. A filter jug removes this odour and also any nasty heavy metals which we shouldn’t drink. Two fabulous hydration innovations.

Moving swiftly onto air, I recently tried two ‘oxygen supplements’. I felt a bit of a dipstick paying for air, but in the name of research I tried Oxyshots, containing “CSO2™ Charged Stabilised Oxygen - a literally space-age technology pioneered by NASA and produced exclusively from natural ingredients.” In plain English it was 10mL saline solution with a saturation of Oxygen. For £1.60 I bought 10mL of salty water that didn’t do anything for me.
Wandering through Harvey Nichols awhile ago I was intrigued by another Oxygen product called ‘Big Ox’. For £6 I could have purchased a (very light) pressurized container of flavoured air. Being a canny shopper I waited for the sales, when loads and loads of the cans were on sale for £2 each. Upon reflection I was still ripped off, even though it came in a nice tin. So don’t be an Oxymoron – if you want more Oxygen, just breathe a little deeper!

Website of the month: Twitter
I’ve gone bird brained, Twitter mad! Many of the ideas for this newsletter started as tweets. There are also loads of other health professionals twittering, so you can learn things and waste time at the same time. If you’re a Twitterer, look for tracygriffen
Article of the Month: Festival Fitness
(as published in August issue of Bite magazine, www.bitepublishing.co.uk )

It’s the crazy time of year again where common sense is abandoned for the pursuit of all things hedonistic – yes, it’s festival month.

If you’re an Edinburgh resident, you will have seen it all before and maybe even been to the Penny Black at 3am. For those of you who are Festival virgins, here is a brief guide to damage control:

- Be sure to have some yummy breakfast food purchased and ready to go. It really is the most important meal of the day energywise.

- Carry a bottle of water around with you at all times. You’ll get so sick of carrying it that it will force you to drink it. Also some Festival venues are notoriously hot. I remember a very stuffy Phil Nicol show where he encouraged the audience to take off their tops. Avoid embarrassment and keep your cool.

- Carry a small bag of nuts and seeds with you. Handy for nibbling on at a show or when you’re queuing to get in. Oatcakes and low fat cereal bars are also handy snacks on the go.

- Walk! Walking between venues is the quickest way to get around auld reekie when it’s suffering festival congestion.

- Walk up a hill! Wander up Calton Hill, Arthur’s Seat, or for a cracking view of the Old Town, Salisbury Crags (where you can clearly see the four cow legs of the Underbelly venue at Bristo Square).

- Just say ‘no’. Not only to the multitude of flyers thrust upon you on the Royal Mile, but no to that ‘just one more drink’.

- If you didn’t say no the night before, a good Vitamin B complex supplement can take edge off and also helps replace booze depleted vitamins.

- Work out how much sleep you need (especially if you’re holding down a fulltime non Festival job) and work backwards. Do you really need to go to that cabaret act at midnight on a Wednesday? Your immune system will thank you.

- Get out of town! Whether you hire a bike or go for a run, escape the craziness of the city centre and see some green.

- Enjoy!

And Finally… More YouTube clips
Fedback suggests that many of you enjoy watching daft fitness clips, so here’s some more:

Guinea pigs eating watermelon (loose healthy eating theme)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m904SQBfCBI (18 sec)
Roller Babies
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs (1 min 1 sec)
or to Beat It
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOu2MYXjU74 (51 sec)
Yoga ball flip
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxUj578eH2g (19 sec)
National B-Boy Championships
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAmI7R4UXJQ (4 min 36 sec)
Spinning Baseball Trick
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnlLIn7HeNQ (1 minute 14 sec)
Grace Jones hula hooping whilst singing 'Slave to the Rhythm' at Sonar Festival
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpwlWBWyRDo (5 min 19 sec)

And a final thought for the enlightened: “Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.” H.G. Wells

Have a happy and healthy Edinburgh Festival,

:)
Tracy

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August newsletter