Oh, my cherries!

Hi everyone! After a few days, I am back! And today I will entertain you with some nutrition basics.
As said in the previous posts this blog will not barely deal with fitness meant as exercising and diet. It will also provide you with intresting facts about your daily routine that may change the way you see things.

Therefore, today's topic will be cherries. What a wonderful fruit! I do not know about you but they are so delicious that once I start eating one, I just cannot stop!

Since it is one of those fruits that everyone likes it is important to state that cherries have various beneficial effects on health. They contain vitamins A and C that improve our vision and help the immune system. They also help prevent diseases suh as arteriosclerosis, kidney failures and cellular aging.

It is also recommended, and extremely smart, to use the all fruit for food/drink preparations. For example, if you suffer from cystitis, you can prepare a green peduncles infusion to drink twice a day.
If you suffer from joint pain, do not throw the cherry pits away as they are good conductors of heat to be used for relieving pain. Here are the two most common use:

• Hot therapy - joint pain: wash the cherry pits and let them dry out. Creat a pillow out of them and heat it in a microwave for about 1 minute. Put it wherever it is needed. 

• Cold therapy - contusions and sprains: wash the cherry pits and let them dry out. Creat a pillow out of them and put it in the freezer for about 2 hours. Put it wherever it is needed.

Food Yoga: Nourishing Body, Mind & Soul!

Today I will inaugurate a series of posts that do not necessarily deal with fitness in its strict meaning but with healthy living in its broader sense.
Here I will mainly focus on adopting healthy habits for a better life by giving a few ideas in the form of recipes.

As said many times before, eating is strictly linked to our physical and mental health. While many believe that in order to lose weight it is necessary to eat very little and, if possible, fast, there is nothing more wrong than that. Metabolism needs always to be moving and in order to do so it is important to eat.
Of course it is not easy especially during seasons such as winter when cold and greasy ingredients have the best of us. However, if we pay attentions to the ingedients we eat, choosing seasonal products (especially fruits and vegetables) we will not find any burdens on our paths.
I will give you the instructions for a healthy and fresh summery salad, may it inspire you!
Ingredients:
2 oranges
1 lemon
1 avocado 
1 fennel
1 shallot
some mint leaves
a handful of pinenuts
Peel, de-pith and section the oranges, cut the avocado into cubes and sprinkle the juice of a lemon on it. Cut the fennel and shallot into thin slices and chop the mint leaves with the pinenuts. Arrange the orange slices on a plate, season the avocado, fennel and shallot with oil, salt and pepper and put the mix over the first layer. Sprinkle the mint with the pinenuts over it. Enjoy!

I would not want to repeat myself but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Therefore, the way we eat breakfast, what we eat is crucial for our day. Eating too much is not recommended just as much as eating not that much is not an option. It is also important to keep an eye on what we eat during the morning or along the day while at work. We should replenish our body with the lost fluids and energies without stumbling upon unhealthy sugary snacks. The best alternative would be to prepare energising fruit-based smoothies at home and take them along with us everywhere we go! Here you have two intresting recipes:
Ginger and Turmeric Tea
Pour hot water over a ginger slice and a pinch of turmeric and cardamom. It is best served hot but not boiling!
Bananas and almond milk smoothie
Blend 1 banana with 30 gr almond, a cup of yogurt, a teaspoon of flaxseeds and one of almond milk. It is a perfect recipe for breakfast to be eaten with a slice of whole-wheat bread.

whole-grain bread

a Slice of Whole-Grain Bread

a Slice of Whole-Grain Bread

Variety is the spice of life... even in fitness!

Variety is so important to any fitness program because by avoiding boredom, you will be able to get in shape. However, before going into further details I would like to address a tricky topic that concerns men: six-pack abs.

Who said that women are the only ones to be obsessed with the perfect swimsuit-ready body?
Nowadays, more and more men are living a sedentary lifestyle: they use the car to go anywhere, their job constists in sitting all day long in front of a computer and they have no time to keep fit. In addition to that, they are constantly eating more and more UNhealthy food with the result of having the so called beer belly (even if they do not drink).
To be honest, (and I am talking as one of these men) everyone wants to have a v-shaped body even though men tend not to say it loud.
This is why, I decided to design a series of exercises for your abs to be done daily, a few minutes each day. In this way, you will not feel exausted but you will see the results in a matter of months.

Now it's time to go back to the main topic of this post!
If traditional workouts have run their course for you, if you are not a gym person, take a look at one of the most unusual fitness trend I found that is inviting folks to have a little fun while breaking a sweat. Who knows? Maybe it could be your ticket to fitness.
If you’ve always dreamt of being in Cirque de Soleil, trapeze classes are your chance to unleash your inner circus star. Indoor and outdoor trapeze schools are popping up throughout the country for those who want to learn how to flip and fly. Most beginner classes start out with basic moves taught on the ground before moving to the skies. And, aside from being super fun, it’s a fantastic way to target your upper and lower bodies, particularly your lats and shoulders, and carve out your core.
Together with being an extremely intresting activity, trapeze schools allow you to get fully in shape. Unlike exercises such as spinning, kickboxing and zumba fitness that are characterized by cardio and lower body workouts, trapeze enables a fully body workout: thighs, glutea muscles, harms and the upper body are all involved! See you at trapeze schoo then!

Let's get back on track!

                                                                       Today I will talk about how to get back into shape. Since there are two main methods: weight training exercises and swimming, I will talk about both of them separately.

Swimming is without a doubt one of the healthiest sport and it can be done during both winter and summer (you can go to the beach or use a pool).
Its being healthy derives from different elements:

• it does not have any negative effects on the skeletal system
• it stimulates muscle growth and strenghtens the muscles
• it makes articulations and ligaments flexible
• it strenghtens heart and chest muscles
• it prevents weight gain
• it relieves the effects of asthma
• tit balances the levels of cholesterol 
• it prevents diabetes
• it reduces stress since by stimulating the production  of endorphines 
• it helps you live longer

However, be careful. Swimming can be risky if you have certain physical characeristics: without further ado consult with your doctor and get a checkup done!

At the same time, if you want to get back on track there are some exercises you can do together with running: you can see them in the image shown above. An hour of these exercises each day helps keep fit, relieve stress and relax.
Abs, biceps, quads, shoulder, gluteal muscles and so and so forth... A perfect body that's ready for swimsuit season!

On the perfect shoes and the joy of walking

                                                                     

             
In the previous posts, I have been talking about how to eat and run better. It is now time to talk about the most important element in a runner's life: shoes!

I am going to teach you how to choose them so that your physical well-being will not be damaged. A number of factors needs to be verified especilly in relation to our feet: firstly, it is vitally important to understand how the ball of the foot lays on the ground; secondly, it is necessary to perform an agility test on the shoes and thirdly, you need to check if you pronate (your feet roll in) while running.

Together with finding the best shoes for you, it is equally as important to understand whether your body allows you to run or whether a simple walk is recommended.

Walking does not require an excessive physical effort but, if done for at least 30 minutes a day, allows you to exercise. Furthermore, it allows you to avoid boredom since it allows you to spend time with your friends and to discover new parts of your city while exercising.

Although people tend to think that running is healthier than walking, the latter gives the same advantages as the former: it allows you to keep fit, to lose weight and to feel younger.

On the benefits of running and how to eat healthy

                                                                     

 

As mentioned in the previous posts, food and physical exercise are strictly intertwined. Therefore, in order to improve our physical and mental health we have to improve the way we eat (and exercise)!

A few questions then arise: What do you eat before running, a light or a hearty breakfast? What do you eat for lunch while recovering from the exercise? 

Firstly, it should be pointed out that it is always recommended to run early in the morning: it will help you start your day in a good mood and lose weight. In fact it jump starts your metabolism early in the morning and helps your body burn calories at a faster rate throughout the day. Therefore, the ideal breakfast would be a portion of sugar-free yogurt (the best variety is the greek yogurt) with some fresh fruits sliced in it. It is important to include bananas since they are high in potassium and it maintains normal blood pressure and reduces cramps. 

Once you've finished the running sessions it is likely that you will stumble upon post-workout cravings. It is absolutely normal however, if you really want to lose weight and get the most out of your exercising you need to control them! How to do it? Well, you only need to make a light, tasty and fulfilling lunch based on carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables. An ideal recipe is penne with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese: this will prevent you from weighting down. 

Before going into further details about the benefits of running it is important to point something out. It is not necessary to eat before running, if it's for under about 45 minutes as our body contains enormous quantities of energy and it will only burn fat reserves. On the contrary, if you run for more than an hour, it is recommended to eat something. In that case fruits, cereals and white meat are ought to be eaten as they will prevent you from drying out by sweating. 

Having taken into account all that, now it is important to underline the benefits arising from running:

• It burns fats
• It improves mental and physical health
• It helps prevent the formation of cancer
• It reduces stress
• It strenghtens articulations
• It enhances selfesteem
• It slows the aging process
• It helps sleep better

    

Mental coach

A mental coach is a professional who support people who want to achieve their goals by making them grow and helping them be successful in sport and life.

As a mental coach I try to raise people's awarness of their weaknesses and streghts and therefore to channell their energies to get the best results. Some ways to improve the ability to control attention during trainings are: learn how to control emotions, learn how to stay motivated at all times to achieve your goals and learn how to overcome fears.

As a mental coach I help people optimize their physical and mental health and well-being through "training sessions" focused on diet, physycal exercise, how to manage fears and emotions etc...

People turn to me when they want to achieve well-being, when thy want to stop feeling anxious or stressed and when they want to lose weight.

Healthy eating

The body is the garden of the soul therefore, if we look after the latter we must do the same with the former. Healthy eating is just a part of body-care: eating wisely is one of the factors that ensure wellness. Food plays an extremely relevant role in our lives and has a strong impact on our mental, physical and emotional health.

Nowadays an endless number of temporary diets is being published: this way results can only be achieved and maintained for a limited period. The word "diet" derives from the Greek "way of living" therefore, balance and moderation give many more permanent results than any of those diets prescribing the elimination or the massive intake of elements from the same food group.

I recommend you to keep a food diary for a month so that you can visualize what you eat each and every day and then formulate a meal plan. Get to know yourselves and understand which ingredients bother you, which foods are hard to digest and which ones make you feel better. Learn the difference between good fats and bad fats, try to understand the positive impact of cereals, fruits, vegetables and legumes on your body and learn the importance of drinking water. Set yourselves a goal: thanks to the acquired knowledge on food and its benefits you will be able to plan your own personal balanced diet. If you will be using a balanced approach and eating healthy foods there will always be room for a piece of chocolate!

Daily workouts

In order to live a healthy life it is important to balance the food you eat with physical activity. Let's be clear: not everyone is a fan of exercising and often the fatigue and indolence caused by a long work day make people say "I'm tired now, I'll do it tomorrow". Even if you are not a gym person and you can't even think about tradmills and lifting weights, I will show you alternatives that will bring you benefits and will make your daily routine healthier.

These are some exercises that help your body not to get lazy: going to work on foot, walking your children to school, shopping for groceries without your car and going for a walk. Other exercises that will help you burn calories are: washing your car, cleaning your house and doing some gardening.


Another useful workout to fit into your daily routine is stretching: only a few minutes of it every now and then during the day gives pain relief to your articulations. If we spend the day in front of a computer, we often feel the need to stretch our legs and arms: these are very simple actions that make part of stretching routines without us realising it. If we perform these tasks regularly, we will manage to limber up our muscles and articulations and we will help them not to lose their natural flexibiliy. There are many benefits:

• reduction of muscle tension
• improvement of blood circulation
• decrease in the risk of injuries 
• improvements of posture
• relaxation of mind, body and soul

There are two different types of stretching techniques: static stretching that requires you to hold muscles and articulation in a position for 30 seconds, and dynamc stretching that helps stenghten core muscles by propelling them into an extended range of motion for 15 seconds. While completing these workouts force should not be used: it is good practice to stretch slowly and exercise precise control of movements in order to avoid feeling pain.

Who am I?

Let me intriduce myself: I'm Giampietro Vignaga and I'm in love with life!
My motto is Mens sana in corpore sano also known as A healthy mind in a healthy body.

What I would like to express through my work is how to respect your body and how to live a healthy and peaceful life.
Feeling good about yourself is the first step towards happiness.
A daily workout routine, a healthy diet and proper motivation are the first steps towards flourishing both mentally and physically!

In this blog you will find some useful tips to shape your life around a healthy diet and simple and effective workouts. I will also help your mind overcome obstacles that make things difficult for you.

What are you waiting for? Get started now!