Circus Circuits

I'm off to film a fitness feature 'Circus Circuits' for ITV's Daybreak this morning in Shoreditch with Denise Van Outen! A bright and early start, I have been up since 4.15am; I love nothing more than waking up at this hour when it is light outside - I don't like the dark,it just makes getting out of bed ten times harder! Keep an eye out for me, who knows, I may get my 15 minutes of fame!

When The Sun Shines...

The Sun is shining upon London today, people are smiling, everyone is raving about the beautiful weather and then it had me thinking back to my holiday earlier this year in  a small town on the island of Tobago. I had the most spectacular time, and days like today bring those memories flooding back to me; I hope I can inject a little happiness, love and peace into your day by sharing with you a couple of extracts from my diary.

Firstly to set the scene... Imagine this - I am sat on a balcony overlooking the rainsforest and the caribbean sea, reggae plays in the background whilt I read the most splendid of books, watching parrots fly in circles and appreciating the sounds of nature.

"The waves lap and crash, the birds sing, the cockeral wakes you up earlier than needed. This place is truly spectacular. I think I have found the perfect place for people to rediscover themselves; to feel nature, to have the sun kiss their skin with it's abundance of warmth and vitamin D..."

"The level of people's friendliness has been astonishing, somewhat unbelievable. It is a life which I have imagined 10 times over, again and again. Where kindness overrides hate, where peaces is what is known and where honesty is the norm. You are free to be who you are, for noone shall pass judgement."

"Just being able to touch trees, feel the land beneath my feet, submerge myself beneath water, watch nature forgoe it's daily activity, eat food as mother nature intended, is just the most beautiful thing to me!"

I think the sunshine allows us to appreciate the simple things in life a lot more and hope with all my heart this has put you in a beautiful mood for the rest of the day. Now, whilst we're on the subject of nature and being outdoors, I think I need to find one of those fitness parks, as there's no fun in training indoors on such a wonderful day like today x

Water Babies

Water based training, catagorized by many as a regime fit only for the over 60's and pregnant women; assumed to be boring and ineffective, expected to be unchallenging, is in fact a phenomenal form of exercise suitable for all levels of physical ability. Used by the military as a way to push their Royal Marine's into preparation for gruelling missions, by physiotherapists to rehabilitate client injuries and of course by the fitness industry as a way to provide a safe yet effective workout; my guess is that the demand for this type of exercise, often unconsidered as a component in most peoples training regimes, will continue to grow and popularize over the next decade.

Public ignorance of the assistance in wellbeing that water exercise provides us with means that the popularity of water based training depends entirely on the marketing and promotion of the many benefits that it encompasses. The benefits include but are not limited to: reduced spinal pressure, better cholesterol levels, improvement in aerobic fitness as well  as  increased strength and flexibility, anxiety reduction and decreased blood pressure.

When in water, our body weight decreases by upto 90%, releasing any pressure on our joints which we  may experience during land based exercise; the water also provides a natural resistance in multiple directions, allowing us to work two opposing muscles at the same time - meaning your workout takes less time in the water. The multiple resistance helps us to develop balanced muscular strength and decreases the risk of injury; water is denser than air and we do not have to fight against the down pull of gravity, instead the buoyancy of water eliminties impact shock all together leaving us with  little or no muscluar soreness and joint pain.

It is no wonder that the military have adopted this extremely effective form of training; for those who want to maximize results yet minimise injury, water based training is the perfect option.

Dancing In Heels

LADIES, listen up!!!! How would you like a FREE, yes I said FREE, pair of high heels??? In association with Raunchettes RaunchUK Stiletto Workout & New Look..

Come and join us for a strut on the 3rd of July with a very famous face.. ANYONE can come along for the morning and as soon as you have entered your details you are automatically booked!! There are only 100 pairs/places left & I can garuntee they will be gone by this time tomorrow morning so get booking xx

http://apps.facebook.com/dancingheelswfieldii/pages/ad0dd2a60f1ecd547bac72e842b26094

All Danced Out

After weeks of rehearsals and lots of performances, including Lovebox Festival, I am feeling all danced out... Time to catch up on some sleep!! Here are a couple of snap shots to show what I've been upto with urban cheer team Drop The Pom.



Cambian Sports Event

Lovebox & Gymbox Party

Three Cheers For British Talent

After watching Jay-Z's incredible performance at Hackney Weekend I'm getting rather excited about talent today; I have finally had a chance to sit down and start appreciating the skills which we have been blessed with & the unlimitless talent in this world - especially British female talent!!!!!

 

I am having the most amazing time in my life developing and nurturing my own talent & having the opportunity to work with amazing dancers and being inspired on a daily basis by both my friends and teachers.  To name two - Renata Carvalho, my best friend and one of the most talented choreographers I know & Vicki Stavrinos, my mentor, the Queen of hip hop...

 

For those of you that don't know Dominique Tipper, well she just starred in her first feature film alongside Noel Clarke & releases her debut single tomorrow  - "Superstar". Plus, winner of Essex Factor, X factor 2011 top 16 finalist and my baby sister no.2 Aiesha Pease has got her ass back in the studio, penning some fantastic work!!

 

Not forgetting the athletes and competitors in my life who continue to push their bodies to their peak physical limits; Figure Pro champion Tracy Bray, female body builder Chloe TheRed, BNBF competitor Tsuki Harris and of course my runners, Kat Johnson & Grace Brown.

 

Arghhhhhhhh the talent I am surrounded by just never ceases to amaze me and makes me soooo proud and happy!!!!!! There are just too many people to mention.

Vegetable Love

Slightly addicted to these juices from Marks & Spencers - no added ingredients or nasty junk, just simply what it says on the bottle!! Orange & carrot or apple, beetroot & blackcurrant; I can't decide which one is my fave. They taste sooo good and even the fiancé enjoys them - bonus!

Would You Like Salt With That?

Eating out for most families is a luxury occasion, as is a naughty takeaway treat; but you those with children, how detremental can it be to their health?

Despite a Nando's spokesman being quoted saying, "In our new trial menu all of the children's options will be well within recommended guidelines" their nandino's veggie burger with creamy mash contains 1.3g more salt than the children's recommended daily total allowance.

Another restaurant whose children's meals contain more salt than the RDA (recommended daily allowance) is Weatherspoons, who justify this by claiming that they "aim to provide a range of children's meals" which "feature varying salt levels".

Adding to this, many luxury treats including desserts, cakes and confectionary sold in restaurants contain high levels of salt above childrens recommended amount, so they really aren't as luxury as they may seem!
Now salt, also referred to as sodium is an important part of our diet; it helps cleanse the bowel and we require a small level withing our blood stream, but what happens when we have salt to an excess? Furthermore, what hapens when children have too much of it?


Salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, which is the major cause of strokes and heart failure in the UK. Too much salt is also widely know to cause or is linked to many other illnesses including kidney stones & disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, asthma, obesity and even Alzheimers disease.


Recent studies now show evidence that high salt intake can affect blood pressure in children and cause many of the above illnesses at a much younger age; children from 'ethnic minorities' are at agreater risk of developing salt-related illness and disease.


Although the research is still incomplete, salt has been proved to affect our satiety causing people to overeat - that why crisps are hard to put down!


As adults, we have a choice on how much salt (sodium) we consume; children however, don't! If you have children, it is extremely important you understand what the RDA's are and what they mean. Learn to check salt content in foods before offering it to you child as their meal and wise up to the detremental health affects too much salt can cause.

Below is a chart from the UK website, CASH; an organisation run by 25 top scientifc members, working with the government to raise awareness of salt intake:

Age	Maximum Salt Intake
0-6 months	<1g / day
6-12 months	1g / day
1-3 years	2g / day
4-6 years	3g / day
7-10 years	5g / day
11 years and above	6g / day

In order to ensure you, and your family do not have a high sodium diet avoid foods such as bacon, cheese, pickles, ham, stock cubes and salami. Other foods which tend to be high in salt content, but can vary depending on brands include bread, crisps, pizza, condiments & sauces, cereals, sauces and processed meats.

The governments colour guide labels show high salt content as a red traffic light (1.5g salt per 100g) and low salt contemt as a green traffic light (0.3g salt or less per 100g). You can use this guide as a way to calculate salt content in every meal.

Be wise, read the label, and know your salt allowance!