Griffen Fitness - Newsletter

March newsletter

Greetings healthy people,

Spring Time! The crocuses (is that crocii?) are coming up, the days are getting longer and British Summer Time officially starts in three and a half weeks. I have a whole swag of interesting fitness offerings for you, so without further ado, I’ll crack on with the newsletter:

Event: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Health Foods, But Were too Afraid to Ask
tasting as Real Foods event is the catchy title for my next Real Foods event on Tuesday 29th March from 7.30pm.

Be prepared to get excited about eating well, for this evening will give you lots of ideas of healthy and easy fast foods for when you don’t have time to cook. Learn what foods are good for snacking on the go. Tickets are only £5 and you will get a guided tour of my favourite health food shop with lots of tasters, recipe ideas and a goody bag at the end. You will receive a £5 Real Foods voucher if you spend over £30 on groceries on the night… The evening is listed on the Sunday Brunch Club website, so tickets are starting to sell fast. Be sure to email me this week if you would like to come along.

You can find all the info at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192009390813647

Like Walking… But Better
Nordic Walking is a cross between cross country skiing and walking. Using lightweight poles, the Nordic Walker propels themselves with ease. The movement opens the chest and shoulders and is also a fab workout, suitable for anyone. Try an introductory Nordic Walking Session at Holyrood Park on either Saturday 19th March or Sunday 20th March at 11am Pre-booking is essential, by emailing Nordicwalkers@hotmail.com Cost £18 per person.

What’s in Season
The days are getting longer, shoots appearing on trees and bulbs tentatively coming up, so here’s what you might find locally:
Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, chicory, forced rhubarb, leeks, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, parsnip, purple sprouting broccoli, shallots, squash.

Try Something Different: A Plate Party
A week after we returned to Scotland we were invited to a friend’s ‘plate party’, where everyone brings a plate of food to share. It can be any type of food, you can either make it, or buy sunflower something. Of course it’s much more fun to bring homemade food, and the talk inevitably moves onto favourite recipes and food in general. It’s more fun if you don’t tell anyone what you’re bringing (in this case a general rule of thumb is to bring something that you’d want to eat).
The bowl of sunflower seeds we took to the plate party were all scoffed. The best thing is that sunflower seeds are really really good for you, and are a excellent snack if you have low blood sugar levels (check out http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=57 for nutritional info). If you’re nibbling on sunflower seeds, a small handful will suffice, about 30 grams.

Recipe: Soy Sunflower Seeds
Heat a pan to a low heat and toast some sunflower seeds, stirring constantly. They will go brown and smell nutty. Take the pan off the heat and splash in some light soy sauce. The soy sauce will coat the seeds and dry out. They store well in the fridge (if you have any left!).

Offer of the Month: £10 off Springtime Shiatsu at The Shiatsu Place
“Shiatsu is a nurturing method of touch, with its roots in Oriental medicine. Like acupuncture it stimulates points and meridians, but is non-invasive – i.e. there are no needles involved - and deeply relaxing. Stretching, releasing, holding; Shiatsu allows your body’s flexibility and creativity to flow freely. It supports you in getting more out of your life, whether by freeing you up from aches and pains, helping you move with more freedom, supporting you through challenges, or simply giving you a chance to relax effectively, so that you have the energy to face everyday stresses.”
A lovely description of Shiatsu there from Nina, and she’s offering readers £10 off a Shiatsu treatment, at the Shiatsu place in Morningside. Contact the Shiatsu Place at www.shiatsuplace.co.uk and bring a print out of this newsletter.

Fad or Fab: Cardio Twister
Home shopping channels around the world are fascinating, and the one I watched in Seoul was no exception. I couldn’t find the exact device that the smiling Korean models were demonstrating, but this corker comes close, I present to you… the Cardio Twister! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq0DIsz7vRE
This product is wrong on so many levels, and you can imagine this device not being quite as good as they promise to be. I’m not convinced that it would be quite as much ‘super fun’ as promised on the ad, and the “dual drive gearbox” sounds frankly scary! I’m also a bit sceptical about exactly which ‘20 core muscles’ it works… So a big fat fad I’m afraid.

Article of the Month: Antipodean Fitness Trends
When we were recently in the land of Oz, I noticed some interesting fitness trends, that I thought you might be interested in:

‘Hot’ Yoga – would you believe it, but there are yoga studios in Australia that have heated rooms. Ensuring that the environment is nice and warm for yoga is a sensible one, as when muscles are warm or hot, they are most pliable and therefore more flexible. A very good idea I would love to see (and try) in Edinburgh… but who wants to foot the heating bill?

Sushi Takeaway – Nori rolls (rice rolls with seaweed wrapper and different fillings) have been popular in Sydney for some time now. I never expected to see the sushi trend reach out into further flung rural Australian towns, but you seem to be able to get sushi pretty much anywhere nowadays. In parallel, there are an increasing number of sushi restaurants in Edinburgh now (Yes Sushi, Sushiya, Yo Sushi!, No 1 Sushi etc) and nori rolls are a fantastic healthy lunch option, so why not more sushi takeaway?

Free Range Chicken / Sustainable Fish takeaway – I think you can really tell the health of a nation on it’s takeaway meals. Not all takeaway meals in Australia are unhealthy, quite the opposite. Some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had was a cheap takeaway from Maggie’s Thai in Erskineville, Sydney.
Now there are takeaway joints in Australia serving only free-range chicken or sustainably fished fish. There are a few takeaways in Edinburgh who as prioritising the welfare of the meat (Los Cardos use Red Tractor chicken and other British Farm Assured meat) but perhaps this will become more commonplace. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall will be chuffed!

Outdoor Fitness - It makes sense to use the great outdoors for exercise, after all, that’s what we did before gyms. As I was running past a sweaty boot camp class in a park in Glebe, Sydney, I thought that perhaps Australia weather is often too hot for exercise. In parallell with the proliferation of air-conditioned gyms in Australia, so there are an increasing number of outdoor fitness classes.

No matter how warm the Antipodes are, there’s nothing quite like crisp spring mornings in Edinburgh. So to celebrate the coming of spring, I’m starting a wee outdoor group fitness class on Tuesday mornings from 7.30am from 5th April. It’s £10 per class (in a six week term for £60) with a small group of up to 5 folk. We’ll meet in the studio, dump our bags then head out to a green space for an invigorating Early Bird workout, finishing with stretching either outdoors, or in the studio if the weather is squiffy… Do let me know if you’re interested in being an Early Bird this spring.

Coconut Water – speaking of warmer weather, coconut water has become the drink of choice for rehydration. Even Madge (Madonna) is doing it. Apparently coconut water contains a certain amount of Potassium, and according to http://www.knowledgebase-script.com/demo/article-320.html even has the same properties as human plasma.

And Finally… David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries
Cycling is one of the best ways to see what’s going on around you, and Talking Head’s frontman David Byrne takes his fold-up Brompton bike on tour around the world with him. His Bicycle Diaries observe the cities he visits from a different view. He’s also a working artist and his tongue in cheek bike rack designs are clever. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brCk1-AVvRk What shaped bike rack could represent Edinburgh?

Have a happy and healthy March,
Tracy

Do you tweet? Follow tracygriffen on Twitter for daily fitness updates and healthy food ideas

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March newsletter