I LOVE nuts!
I ADORE nuts!
I could happily eat nuts ALL day long!
Just writing about them is really making me want to go out and buy bags and bags of them!
The health benefits of nuts have long been known – they’re a fabulous source of good fats, oils and antioxidants – but, luckily for us, scientists don’t seem to get tired of researching them.
The latest published nut research [Journal of Proteome Research] comes from a group of Spanish scientists who’ve discovered that nut consumption can increase levels of serotonin. Also known as the ‘happy hormone’, serotonin is responsible for lifting your mood – tons of it is released when you laugh – along with suppressing appetite and improves heart health.
The boffins in white lab’ coats, resident at the University of Barcelona, say that just 30 grams of raw (and plain, sorry, the honey roasted varieties don’t count!) unpeeled walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts was enough to have a positive impact on the body.
The team of scientists, headed up by Cristina Andris-Lacueva, carried out a 12-week study involving people diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS sufferers often have excess belly fat, high blood pressure as well as high blood sugar levels, leaving them prone to type II diabetes and heart problems.
Twenty two MetS patients consumed 30 grams of nuts a day during the course of the study, whilst another 20 adhered to a nut-free diet; after 12 weeks it was discovered that the nut group had higher levels of serotonin than the nut-free control group.
This is excellent news and another tick in the ‘good to eat’ box for nuts. But it gets better, especially if you’re a pistachio fan!
Earlier this year the British Journal of Nutrition published the findings of a study carried out by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). They discovered that those little green nuts can also help you to lose weight and keep your heart healthy.
David Baer, the lead white lab’ coat boffin, says,
[quote]”Pistachios convey a variety of health benefits, including weight management support and cardiovascular support[/quote]
Well that’s excellent news for nut-lovers around the world; there is, however, just o-n-e tiny ‘problem’ – for me, at least. Thirty grams of nuts just is NOT ENOUGH!!!! It takes iron will-power not to eat far too many of those gloriously lovely nutty things!
I’m a numbers girl – they help me stay on track and avoid getting carried away – so here are some nutty facts and figures that should stop you (me!) from leaping into the car and driving to the nearest nut shop.
One walnut weighs approximately four grams and contains 26 calories – so for your 30 grams you can have 7.5 walnuts and will need to knock 196 calories off your daily calorie intake.
Hazelnuts fair a little better when it comes to the number of nuts for your 30 grams. Ten hazelnuts weigh around 14 grams and are worth 88 calories, so you can have 21.4 of the little guys to make up your 30 serotonin-boosting grams and will have boosted your calorie intake by 188.
(Have I put you off yet? Just wait until I tell you about peanut butter!)
So on to almonds – these have to be one of my favourite nuts, ever. One little almond weighs about one gram and is worth six calories. So 30(ish) lovely almonds will give you 30 grams (it’s nice when maths is simple hey) and also the lowest calorie total, coming in at just 173; hurrah!
Do you want to know about pistachios too? Okay, one pistachio weighs approximately half a gram and is worth three calories (oh, this just gets better and better!), so 30 grams of them equates to 60, or so, nuts and 171 calories.
Now that sounds like a lot to me – I think I might just have to invest in a bag (or two!) of pistachios tomorrow and conduct some research of my own 😉
The bottom line? The same principle as always – in moderation, and with an eye on the numbers, nuts are GREAT; eat too many of them and your waistline will soon let you know about it!
WOW!
Where did those 10 weeks go!?
Being a girl with a six pack has been a goal of mine for quite a while – years in fact!
If you’ve read my eBook ’10 Things You Absolutely Must Know’ you’ll know all about the ‘interesting’ training and eating patterns I’ve dabbled with over the last decade, that they clearly didn’t work and seen the pictures that prove it.
Now you can see the pictures that VERY clearly show what does – the right eating plan, the right training schedule, patience, hard work, commitment and consistency.
Here they are…
Week 10 pictures
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Comparisons with day zero
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[styled_image image=”http://sixpackforgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/back0back70.jpg” alt=”” w=”0″ h=”0″ align=”center”] (I’ll put my final numbers at the end)
What started out with me, Sam, Susan and the Coach working together back on 27 September, has become the four of us and thousands of people spread over 55 different countries around the world!
One of the most common questions I’ve been asked is, “Do you think I could do it to?”
The answer to that is ABSOLUTELY YES!
I promise I don’t have a magic spell, magic bullet or secret weapon tucked away in my desk drawer 😀
I’ve had to work, HARD, to get to today but all I’ve done is what I’ve been told to do by those who knew how to get me here; YOU can do that too…
The only difference between you and me will depend on how badly you want a six pack; whether or not it’s important enough to you to make you train when you don’t feel like it and stick to your eating plan.
Are you prepared to train to the limit every time?
There’s no point just ‘sort of training’. Every rep has to be the best you’re capable of, every cardio session must be the best you’re capable of because, you see, if you DO that and you do it consistently every day, in a relatively short space of time you’ll be LOOKING the best you have ever looked… and believe me when I say THAT feels AMAZING!
I’ve discovered I’m capable of far more than I ever imagined; my strength has increased massively (I’m still going to nail those 20s with perfect form for each one with my own bodyweight!), my fitness level has increased, my engergy too, and I now have TOTAL confidence, and belief, in my ability to achieve whatever I set out to do.
The other question we’ve been asked a lot lately is, “What’s going to happen when your 10 weeks is finished?”
Well, we’ll be looking for six girls who want go on the six pack journey too, starting around the middle of January 😀
If you’re one of the six, then me and the Coach will be working closely with you 10 weeks; we have a few ‘extras’ in store for you too which we’re VERY excited about
We’ll be revealing more about The Next Six Six Pack for Girls, as soon as we can, on the site and via our newsletter.
We don’t want you to miss the announcements, so if you don’t already receive our newsletter then simply request your free copy of “10 Things You Absolutely Must Know” (it’s my gift to you and everything in it will be VERY useful if you want to be one of The Next Six) by filling in your name and email address and we’ll add you to the newsletter list.
I MUST say thank you to Sam and Susan for going on this journey with me; for their hard work, dedication, companionship and for girly chats on Skype Sundays 😉
And then there’s the Coach – what can I say? Thank you for EVERYTHING!
For your endless patience and belief in all of us; for your knowledge and support and keeping us on topic DURING Skype Sundays.
As our Six Pack for Girls challenge finishes, yours could be just beginning as one of the next Six Pack Girls in the coming challenges we have planned for you!
ps – here are my week 10 numbers!
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On the one hand I’m very excited that there’s only a week to go before the final HURRAH and 10 weeks of hard work is successfully concluded.
But on the other, I’ll be quite sad to say ‘goodbye’ to seeing Sam and Susan every week
On the third hand (what? Did you not know there was a third hand? 😉 ) I’m VERY excited about the exciting announcement we’ll be making soon about the NEXT SIX PACK FOR GIRLS starting in January 2011!
More on that later, but NOW for some results 😀
Week Nine pictures
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Comparisons with day zero
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Week Nine numbers
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SO! Just seven days to go – well, five training days and one Christmas party for me on Thursday…I can tell you already that I will NOT be ordering salad 😉
See you back here, in this bit, for the final results on Sunday! WAHHOOO!!!
If you ‘know’ me then you’ll also know what it takes to push my buttons – not much 😉
Tell me something is difficult and I’ll want to go and do it.
Tell me to get an eight pack instead of a six pack and I’ll go ALL out to do it.
Tell me GIRLS can’t do something and that’s IT, I’ll set out to prove you wrong!
Offer me a challenge and I’ll find it almost impossible to resist; when the 20s gauntlet was thrown at my feet at the end of last week, my fate was already sealed.
20s (20 rep squats) – I’d never heard of them.
Tough, apparently; will make you want to throw up and find walking a challenge for a couple of days after! Well I was UP FOR THAT 😀
The first set I did was with 32kgs – erm….that was just a little bit easy and I stopped at 25 reps as I wasn’t sure if I was ‘allowed’ to carry on; I could have been bobbing up and down forever 😉 And FAR better to work up than fall down at the first hurdle with a hideous injury.
So the next set was on Monday, “add 10kgs and THEN let’s see you do it!”.…alrighty then!
25 @ 42kgs – it was heavier and getting tough heading towards the 25 but I couldn’t stop at 20, it would have felt like cheating.
I knew what was coming next, “add another 10. Go to 52kgs. Be CAREFUL!”
Today was the day!
As yesterday disappeared, the butterflies in my stomach began fluttering faster and faster. I couldn’t work out whether I was excited, nervous, apprehensive or what it was I was feeling. Googling didn’t help either…
“When doing 20-rep squats, your entire day needs to be consumed by it. What does this mean? For me it means getting mentally prepared for what I am going to face. The 20-rep squat is a scary thing. You can’t just go to the gym, load the bar, and go. You need to get there mentally or you are going to fail. All day long I think about squatting.”
Well so far so good, because this had definitely been, and was, the case!
“Pushing a heavy weight for 20 reps is something that your body is going to reject. You will hurt. You will get dizzy. You will feel faint. You will want to vomit. Your body may shut down completely and leave you on the safety pins (pins or a competent, alert spotter are an absolute MUST for this!).
Be prepared for all of that. In order to stop the pain and torture, the body will start reacting, shutting down the pain. 90% of this will be mental. The mind is going to scream STOP! The mind will go before the body unless you are prepared to silence it.” *
* from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/cyberpump24.htm
I was ready for this too – towards the end of the 42kgs I was aware of really STARING at myself in the mirror; daring myself to carry on, seeing myself do another rep, and another, and another.
Jack’s been my spotter and he went a little pale last night when I told him we’d be ‘going for 52 in the morning’,
“Mum, I don’t think I’ll be able to lift that if you get into trouble!”
So Ellie was enlisted into the spotter ranks this morning and they stood on either side of me, ready to take the bar when necessary.
I woke up at 4.15am (this is normal) and laid in bed thinking about what was heading my way.
I could do this! It was only four bags of sugar, or so, more than I did the other day and I did 25 of those; 52kgs…no problem….
7.30am – time to warm up and do to two warm up sets: 6 x 16kgs, 8 x 26kgs….then 20 x 52gs
It felt heavy just standing still, there was nothing for it other than turn my brain off and START.
(yes, I know it looks like I bashed Morpheus on the head on rep one (he’s my other always present spotter) but I promise he moved his head down at just the right time. Things got tough by rep 6, my brain walked out and I lost count at about rep 11 – hence my requests for the kids to, “COUNT!” and I was breathing as if I’d just been chased by a bear for 10 miles!)
Plenty of room for improvement, that’s for sure! MUST go deeper when it starts to get tough, keep my head up and still and stay more balanced.
This was H E A V Y! Does it matter that I’m only small (not in my head)? Give or take a couple of kgs, it’s what I weigh;I’ll keep working on it until I can do a straight 20 without stopping and without wobbling…think I might still be out of breath though!
How do I feel now…? On top of the world and can’t wait to do it again!! 20s are MAD!! I think I love them…just don’t ask me to run anywhere… 😀
I love words.
Lucky for me – it would be tough being a writer if I didn’t.
Words are amazing. They can be powerful, destructive, comforting and encouraging depending on how we choose to use them.
We have an endless supply of them at our disposal and they don’t cost anything to use, but their value can be immeasurable.
It’s easy to see how your words affect the people you live and interact with on a daily basis, but what about those who are a little further removed?
Have you ever stood in a queue and overheard a conversation where something was said that has stuck in your mind ever since?
Have you ever read something that resonated SO strongly with you, that it changed the way you thought, felt or behaved?
The person standing in the queue, or the writer, will never know what their words did for you.
Our words – good or bad – have the potential to change someone’s life forever, we shouldn’t be careless with, or underestimate, them.
Reading through lots of the Challenge journals over at Tom Venuto’s Inner Circle is a very good case in point.
There are over 6,000 of them to choose from for the Holiday Challenge alone – I won’t be short of good bedtime reading for a while, that’s for sure – and every single one is packed with WORDS.
Words from the author about what they’re doing, the challenges they’re overcoming, the strategies they are adopting. Words from other contestants offering support, offering advice and some providing playful banter which makes the world go round.
Friendships are being formed through words alone; some will last a lifetime.
You never know who’s reading what you write, or listening to what you say; something that seems like a throw-away comment to you, can be a light bulb moment for someone else.
Words can make someone’s day.
My fab friend, Tamsin, came to stay last weekend. We went into town on Saturday morning and as we were parking the car we spotted a girl with the most AMAZING lilac coloured hair!
Tamsin’s a firm believer in telling people things that will make them feel good (as long as they’re true of course) and isn’t afraid to tell random strangers that she thinks something about them is amazing – so she went up to the girl and said,
“Excuse me – I have to tell you that my friend and I think your hair is just amazing; SUCH an awesome colour! We love it!”
This isn’t a very British thing to do – Tam’s South African – the girl was clearly a little stunned but the HUGE smile on her face showed she was THRILLED, who wouldn’t be?! Ellie (who was with us) was utterly mortified and said that we were embarrassing hahahaha.
I think it’s probably safe to assume that Tamsin’s comment made that girl’s day, I’m sure she would have felt fantastic for the remainder of it and told the story, many times, of the total stranger who came up to her in the car park in town and said her hair was amazing 😀
Talk is cheap but genuine words, freely given, are priceless.
ps – 20 x 52kgs barbell squats tomorrow – watch this space!
Actually it’s not so mini!
Training has obviously been on target and going well, but there are only so many times I can say ‘I did legs today’ or ‘upper body today’ and ‘cardio was on today’s training menu’.
I love barbell squats and I love, love, love them even more when they’re heavy!
So my little mini squat challenge is to be able to squat my own body weight for 20 reps…this morning I did 25 @ 42kgs, so only about13kgs or so to add on!
The week has been going well, I can’t believe it’s Thursday already tomorrow as it means there are now only FOUR weight sessions left of this Six Pack 10-week Challenge – just FOUR!
I’ve been having a lot of fun looking through all the Holiday Challenge journals over on the Burn the Fat Inner Circle – catching up with old faces, getting acquainted with new ones and seeing how the early starters have been getting on.
There are just THREE and a bit hours left to ENTER now – guys, there’s cutting it fine and there’s cutting it FINE y’know 😉
Short and sweet tonight as I’ve still got a huge to do list glaring at me; I’m SURE it’s longer now than it was this morning! Does that only happen to me?!
See you tomorrow 🙂
Eight weeks gone – two to go – the whispers of ‘why not aim for an eight pack instead of six…?’ are beginning to shout in my head!
So let’s see what the next 14 days brings shall we! 😀
Week Eight pictures
Compared with day zero
Week Eight numbers
It’s super busy here in the background at Six Pack for Girls, there are lots of exciting things coming up that we can’t wait to share with you!
The other day, I was asked what I did in my spare time.
I laughed because it’s not something I have a lot of at the moment, but when I do get a few I often watch things like this…
…perhaps it’s just me, but when I watch that I get ridiculously inspired and have to sit on my hands to resist going to train! I want to have the relative strength and control to do that!!!
Don’t tell me you can’t train and get results because you don’t have a gym nearby, or you can’t afford membership.
Don’t tell me that working out at home isn’t effective – I haven’t set foot in a gym since the end of August.
If you really want something, find a way to work with what you have and then go all out to make sure you achieve what you want!
See you tomorrow!
I’m sure someone’s messing around with time!
All of a sudden, for me at least, three weeks sounds like lots of time left – two weeks ago five weeks didn’t sound like very much time at all.
I’m rather pleased with how things are coming along and I’m looking forward to seeing what next week brings, the week after and then the FINAL WEEK after that! 😀
Week Seven pictures
Comparisons with day zero
Week Seven numbers
See you tomorrow 🙂