Griffen Fitness - Newsletter

November newsletter

Greetings healthy people,

Have you had a good month? Got a winter fitness programme all ready?
The ladies who were on Highland Boot Camp earlier this month certainly have, and to the left is a photo of Lucy doing a boot camp back flip on the Super Jumper. It certainly was a week of achieving things that didn’t seem possible! What are your goals for winter?

Winter Fitness Ideas
At this time of year it’s especially important to get creative regarding your fitness programme. Here are some winter ideas to get you all warmed up:

-    Invest in some high viz running clothes and train towards a summer race. Try running at different times during the day, or do one long run outdoors on the weekend and shorter weekday runs on a treadmill if you really don’t like running in the dark.

-    If you continue cycling in the dark, remember to be highly visible and that a motorist has not seen you until they have made eye contact with you. Assume that motorists aren’t looking out for you and you should be safe.

-    If you prefer to cycle in the comfort of your living room, invest in a Turbo Trainer that converts a bike to exercise bike.

-    Continuing the indoors theme, take up a yoga / dance / pilates class. Try Dance Base or Out of the Blue for ideas.

-    Aerobics classes are also a fun way to get fit indoors and with Edinburgh Leisure you don’t need to commit to a gym fee. Kick boxing is brilliant all round fitness kick.

-    Swimming: it doesn’t matter if it’s raining outdoors, you’re going to get wet anyway. Find somewhere with a sauna to truly relax afterwards. This is a favourite trick of many Antipodeans over a Scottish winter. Get hot and sweaty in a sauna, and try not to look at Australian weather forecasts.

-    Utilise your DVD club membership and hire some exercise videos to while away a dark evening.

-    Rope in a friend… and you’re more likely to keep it up.

What’s your winter fitness ideas? Email me at tracy@griffenfitness.com

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

Fruit: apples, blackberries, pears, plums, elderberries (in the wild), figs
Vegetables: beetroot, butternut squash, courgettes, kale (at this time of year is tender and tastier than picked in winter), kohlrabi, leeks, marrow, mushrooms, peppers, potatoes, pumpkin, rocket, wild mushrooms, radishes, fennel, onions, squash, swede, watercress

Bodywork: Bowen Technique
One thing I like about my job is meeting interesting people. Last month newsletter subscriber and Advanced Bowen Practitioner Jackie Farmer sent me an email to let me know about her Posture Monitor, which reminds you how to sit correctly at your desk (stiff shoulders anyone?). See www.posturemonitor.co.uk for more info, and if you quote Griffen Fitness, it’s only £4.95.

I also went try to Bowen Technique with her. It’s a recent addition to the world of complementary therapies, having been developed by Tom Bowen in Australia in the late 1950’s. Bowen Technique involves a sequence of gentle rolling moves over connective tissue at key points, which releases energy blockages and thus assisting the body to heal itself. The treatment itself is deceptively mild – I’m used to my muscles being pummelled, and this was more of a ‘realignment’.

After my first treatment I found myself sitting and moving differently. As I type this a week later I notice my desk posture is much better without any effort on behalf. My stiff shoulder has not completely disappeared (‘Edinburgh cyclist’s shoulder’ from too much braking and gripping handlebars on cobbles) but I’m booking in another session with Jackie as Bowen is pretty impressive on how it’s re-educated my body. You can find out more information at www.bowen-technique.co.uk or call her on 07971 207 833.

Resisting Temptation: Hard Cheese
Most people eat far too much fat. Women are meant to eat less than 70g and men 95 g per day. A bag of crisps contains about 15g of fat, as does a matchbox size piece of cheddar cheese. Cheddar is about one third fat, so when you’re cutting off a chunk of cheese, imagine eating a third of that size in lard. It put me off cheddar anyway! So cut out hard cheese and eat less fat.

Website of the month: Real Foods
I’m a fan of Real Foods as it’s the only shop in Edinburgh where I can buy tempeh (Indonesian fermented soy bean cake popular in Australia). They’ve got a shop at the top of Broughton Street and one in Tollcross selling all sorts of weird and wonderful organic, fair trade, vegan and gluten free foods.

www.realfoods.co.uk hosts a comprehensive vegetarian and ‘special diet’ recipe archive with health and nutrition information from Health Notes. It’s also useful for investigating supplements and special dietary requirements.

Article of the Month: Everyone’s Crazy for Quinoa

Britain’s gone quinoa crazy. Everywhere I look I see recipes for this chenopod (related to spinach). It’s the seed of the quinoa plant that is used, and it’s the texture of these seeds as they pop in your mouth that make quinoa so tasty. It’s a bit like cous cous but nuttier. It’s been grown in South America for over 6,000 years and thanks to the global nature of British culinary trends, has made it’s way over here… The organic fair trade quinoa I bought was imported from Bolivia. But can you buy quinoa without the air miles?

To quote the ever reliable Wikipedia:
“Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthful choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned space flights.” Wow.

It’s certainly a good high protein cereal option for active vegetarians who would like a change from rice and pasta. It doesn’t have a huge amount of flavour and goes with pretty much anything, so really go to town on flavourings.

After rinsing, cook it in a saucepan with one part quinoa to two parts boiling water. I normally use one cup of dried quinoa to 2 cups of water, making about 2 ½ cups cooked quinoa. Like cous cous, it will absorb the water, taking about 10 – 15 minutes on a low heat. Use the cooked quinoa to make the below recipes.

Quinoa Burgers - makes six burgers
1 ½ cup cooked quinoa, cooled
2 organic eggs
some grated cheese, if you’re feeling devilish!
¼ cup plain flour
breadcrumbs
handful chopped fresh herbs (we used coriander)
any other seasoning you like (we added cumin)
2 shallots, chopped (or any onion)
salt and pepper

-    Combine the all of the above (except olive oil) in a mixing bowl. Add as many breadcrumbs as you need to make the mixture sticky but not dry.
-    Cook on a medium heat in non stick frying pan. Turn carefully after two minutes.
-    Serve with a salad and lots of chilli sauce.

Quinoa Green Curry
serves 2

I was experimenting with quinoa whilst writing this and this is what we had for lunch yesterday. So simple, and the cashews and quinoa both good sources of vegetarian protein.

Diced vegetables for green curry (carrots, sweet potato, courgette, raw cashews, potato, onion, beans)
Green curry paste
Additional spices are optional, i.e. chilli, garlic, ginger, holy basil
dash olive oil
½ tin coconut milk, or equivalent rehydrated from a long life solid block of coconut cream
1 cup cooked quinoa
wedge fresh lime, for serving

-    Fry off the curry paste in a little oil and add onions, then add the rest of the vegetables and sauté until aromatic.
-    Add the coconut milk (I use a little long life coconut cream from a block and water instead).
-    Cook on a medium heat until nearly done.
-    5 minutes before serving, mix the curry and quinoa together in a pot on a low heat.
-    Garnish with a wedge of lime for squeezing.

Lazy Quinoa Porridge
This is a tasty method to use up leftover quinoa, and you can add whatever ingredients you like to taste.

-    Place leftover cooked and cooled quinoa into a plastic container.
-    Add a splash of milk to cover, a sprinkle of mixed spice, some honey, dried cranberries and some toasted and ground almonds (or whatever you prefer). Refrigerate over night.
-    In the morning simply microwave the whole container until hot then transfer to a cereal bowl.
-    A surprisingly palatable alternative to porridge…

Have a happy and healthy November and see you next month for the festive issue,

:)
Tracy

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November newsletter