After yesterday's fruit-based success, she got brave again (!) and attempted another vegetable juice. Would she need to hold her breath?????
Today, GN made herself a 'Primary Pepper Punch'
Hmm.
Doesn't sound so hot does it? The 'Book' of spells (well, juice recipes!), tells her it is a juice to sip on a regular basis and is a 'cocktail with a difference'. Ooer! With 'ultimate antioxidant power from a massive dose of beta-carotenes and other carotenoids, it also helps prevent anaemia and fights pollution (so good for city Ninjas). Oh, apparently it's a good one for those of you who smoke too, as it gives increased lung protection.
So what goes in it?
This!
1 small unpeeled beetroot, complete with leaves
1 celery stick with leaves
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 red pepper
That freaky looking beetle style thing is actually the beetroot. Odd eh? Looks like a beetle to GN anyway...
She stuffed it all into the juicer and watched as it looked as if something had been slaughtered inside the machine...this is what came out...
Looks exciting!
Stinks of peppers though... :-(
OK, so Gym Ninja decided to be a grown up (properly this time) and took a sip WITHOUT holding her breath....
Oh!
Oh...considering it wasn't a fruit juice, it actually didn't taste too bad. She managed to drink the whole thing without once holding her breath. Admittedly she was a nervous wreck for fear of spilling it on something and marking it with red beet juice for life...but apart from that, yeh, it was ok!
So...onto today's subject..OBESITY. A HUGE epidemic sweeping the country, and indeed the world. It is also sweeping Gym Ninja's studies right now (which is why she is keen to share her facts!)...
Le us start today with the startling fact that we, as the UK, are quickly becoming the 'fattest' population in Europe? Thank GOD we are an island or we may squash our neighbours! Obesity is linked with many health disorders and illnesses...have a rummage through this little lot as you dunk your Chunky KitKat into your latte and see whether you finish your snack eh...? ;-)
Coronary Heart Disease
Diabetes Mellitus
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Stroke
Various types of cancer (take your pick really)
Damage to the joints
Gall Bladder problems
Respiratory Problems
oh and psychological Problems...Well, wouldn't YOU be depressed and have low self-esteem faced with that little list of side effects?
Apparently there is also something they originally called 'Syndrome X' which now goes by the name of 'Metabolic Disorder'.
*cue 'ooooooh' noise from you all*
Obesity, apparently, has a direct link to it, although 'they' (whoever 'they' may be) say that estimates put about a quarter of the UK population as showing clear signs of having Metabolic Disorder. Basically it is a gaggle of conditions bundled together into a fancy umbrella term; such conditions as high cholesterol, fat storage around the midsection (central adiposity if you want to sound fancy?), glucose intolerance, chronic inflammation, procoagulation and hypertension. Hmmm, doesn't sound like a group Gym Ninja wants to be in! Go research it on the t'internet (Wikipedia) for more info if you fancy rummaging around in that subject in more depth.....
So, as you would expect, Or maybe you wouldn't (?), there isn't actually one singe cause for obesity. It can be a group of things that all contribute into someone edging into the category of 'obese'. Such things as the obvious...
Dietary habits (aka what you stuff into your mouth).
It's all about energy in and energy out. Balance it and you're on the right track. Tip over into too MUCH energy in and not enough energy out, then you're asking for trouble. It really doesn't make a blind bit of difference if the excess calories come directly from fat, carbs or protein...if there is more than is going back out then you'll be wearing it on your hips, thighs, timmy, arms, around your internal organs.......SO last season darhling..... ;-)
But WAIT! It's not a case of restricting calories and you become sylph-like and a Slender Brenda. Oh no! You can diet hard and restrict what you eat and whaddayaknow? Life's a biaaaatch and it makes you fat regardless, as NOW your poor ickle body thinks it's starving to death, so is determined to survive by squirreling away every bit of food possible it can spare as fat. You know, to stop you wasting away?
You know what else comes under the face stuffing category? The chemical faff (a non-technical Gym Ninja term, ahem) that's added to our foods. Processed foods!!!!! The devil in a cardboard box and shrinkwrapped for your convenience all in less than 2 minutes in the microwave!! Yum! It is said that the food manufacturers add certain chemicals into their stuff that increase the craving YOU have for that product. That of course make you want MORE of it! So you go and get more. You line their pockets and by eating more of it, line the insides of your big fat thighs! (Well, not YOUR fat thighs-you are NOT fat my darling are you?). Any of these sound familiar..?
MSG..aka Mono-sodium Glutamate...they stick it in chinese foods (that is what hit the headlines most recently) and almost all processed foods. Makes things taste all yummy and nice. Can cause lesions (a 'lesion' is a region in an organ or tissue that has suffered damage through injury or disease, eg wound, ulcer, abscess,tumour...) in the HYPOTHALAMUS which is part of YOUR Brain which is directly responsible for the control of weight & appetite. EEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nasty old sweetener Aspartame also does this, the scoundrel! See? Told you processed food is the devil!!!!!!! So no wonder people gain weight by eating this nonsense!
So, imagine the body getting all overloaded with these devil-like toxins & harmful additives in processed foods. Imagine it yet? Good. So how does YOUR body handle it? Nasty old toxins are not welcome inside us, so your body needs to stuff 'em somewhere until it's liver and kidneys can sort it all out and do what they are supposed to do (remove them from our bodies). Hmm, where to put these toxins....hmmm.....Ahhh (cue lightbulb in the body).
Just as Gym Ninja stuffs magazines, nail polishes and unopened bills currently decorating her coffee table at home into a drawer to 'tidy up' (ahem) moments before a guest arrives, so too does the body to these toxins cluttering up the place. It's suggested that the body uses the fat stores as it's equivalent to Gym Ninja's drawers (drawers as in FURNITURE, NOT knickers!). The more it shoves into the fat stores the more it fills up the store for toxic cr*p. When it runs out of fat to store the toxins in, well, whaddayaknow? It most likely stimulates greater fat storage in readiness for the incoming toxins....
Refined Carbs....those yummy treats like biscuits, cakes, sugary breakfast cereals, white bread, pastries, Haribo.... they kind of get you hooked as they send your blood sugar soaring into the stratosphere and you are BURSTINg with energy and are wide awake and then oh.......and then you are crashing down again, so like Amy Winehouse at her lowest ebb, you go rummaging around for your next fast hit...another donut! Yum yum yum, big fat tum! Insulin levels in the body struggle to cope with all this glucose in the body and increase to meet demand, making you a FAT STORING MACHINE!!!
Ok.......time out people! We all have eyes as big as saucers and mouths as wide as blow up dolls having read all of that!!!!!
Gym Ninja thinks that is more than enough for one day....tune back in tomorrow for the genetics behind Obesity (oh and maybe another juice recipe if she gets time!)
Gym Ninja xx
PS..
Did you finish your KitKat and Latte? ;-)
