Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Some serious concerns about sugar by world renowned  Doctor/Author Pediatric Endocrinologist,  Robert Lustig. This has over 5 million views on YouTube. Can sugar be that bad, surely things in moderation cannot be that serious. Let me know what you think guys.

Now you can have your Cake, sorry I mean PIZZA and eat it. This pizza is so TASTY and Healthy it is almost "too good to be true". I have made several and they are mmmmm. Let me know what you THINK guys!! Please leave a comment.

How to Get Rid of Cellulite Fast and Forever Truth About Cellulite

The Health Benefits of Mushroom Consumption

By Dr. Mercola

Mushrooms contain some of the most potent natural medicines on the planet. Of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is familiar with only 10 percent, according to world-renown mycologist Paul Stamets, who has written six books on the topic.

About 100 species of mushrooms are being studied for their health-promoting benefits. Of those hundred, about a half dozen really stand out for their ability to deliver a tremendous boost to your immune system.

It's important to eat only organically grown mushrooms because they absorb and concentrate whatever they grow in — good OR bad. This is what gives mushrooms their potency. Mushrooms are known to concentrate heavy metals, as well as air and water pollutants, so healthy growing conditions is a critical factor.

While it may sound strange, we're actually more closely related to fungi than we are to any other kingdom, as we share the same pathogens, meaning bacteria and viruses.

As a defense against bacterial invasion, fungi have developed strong antibiotics, which also happen to be effective for us humans. Penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline all come from fungal extracts.

The Many Health Benefits of Mushrooms

The FASEB Journal recently published nine studies on mushrooms that were also presented at Experimental Biology 2013, which detailed a wide variety of health benefits,1 including:

• Weight management: One study2, 3 found that substituting red meat with white button mushrooms can help enhance weight loss. Obese participants with a mean age of just over 48 years ate approximately one cup of mushrooms per day in place of meat. The control group ate a standard diet without mushrooms.
At the end of the 12-month trial, the intervention group had lost an average of 3.6 percent of their starting weight, or about seven pounds. They also showed improvements in body composition, such as reduced waist circumference, and ability to maintain their weight loss, compared to the control group.
• Improved nutrition: One dietary analysis4 found that mushroom consumption was associated with better diet quality and improved nutrition.
• Increasing vitamin D levels through your diet: Consuming dried white button mushroom extract was found to be as effective as taking supplemental vitamin D2 or D3 for increasing vitamin D levels (25-hydroxyvitamin D).5
• Improved immune system function: Long chain polysaccharides, particularly alpha and beta glucan molecules, are primarily responsible for the mushrooms' beneficial effect on your immune system. In one study, adding one or two servings of dried shiitake mushrooms was found to have a beneficial, modulating effect on immune system function.6 Another study done on mice found that white button mushrooms enhanced the adaptive immunity response to salmonella.7

Parasitic Fungi Showing Promise for Immune Disorders and Cancer

Cordyceps, also called caterpillar fungus or Tochukasu, is a favorite of athletes because it increases ATP production, strength and endurance, and has anti-aging effects.8 

This parasitic mushroom is unique because, in the wild, it grows out of an insect host instead of a plant host. It has long been used within both traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine.

It has hypoglycemic and possible antidepressant effects, protects your liver and kidneys, increases blood flow, helps normalize your cholesterol levels, and has been used to treat Hepatitis B.

Cordyceps has antitumor properties as well. Scientists at The University of Nottingham have been studying cordycepin, one of the active medicinal compounds found in these fungi,9 and the one identified as a potential cancer drug. More recent studies suggest it also has potent anti-inflammatory characteristics that may be helpful for those suffering from:

• Asthma
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Renal failure
• Stroke damage

A question that was begging for an answer was how cordycepin could produce so many different beneficial effects at the cellular level. Researcher Dr. Cornelia de Moor told Medical News Today:10

"We have shown that cordycepin reduces the expression of inflammatory genes in airway smooth muscle cells by acting on the final step in the synthesis of their messenger RNAs (mRNAs) which carry the chemical blueprint for the synthesis of proteins. 

This process is called polyadenylation. Commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs either work much earlier in the activation of inflammatory genes, such as prednisone, or work on one of the final products of the inflammatory reaction (e.g. ibuprofen).

These findings indicate that cordycepin acts by a completely different mechanism than currently used anti-inflammatory drugs, making it a potential drug for patients in which these drugs don't work well. 

However, it is a surprise that cordycepin does not affect the synthesis of mRNAs from other genes, because nearly all mRNAs require polyadenylation."

According to Dr. de Moor's research, the mechanism responsible for cordycepin's many varied effects may stem from its ability to alter the synthesis of many classes of rapidly induced genes that help counteract inflammatory genes, thereby slowing down otherwise rapid cellular responses to tissue damage. It may also help prevent over-activation of inflammatory responses.

"However, it also indicates that cordycepin could have adverse effects on normal wound healing and on the natural defenses against infectious diseases," the featured article states.11

"Dr. de Moor said: 'We are hoping to further investigate which genes are more dependent on polyadenylation than others and why this is the case, as well as test the effect of cordycepin on animal models of disease. Clinical testing of cordycepin is not in our immediate plans, as we think we first have to understand this drug in more detail before we can risk treating patients with it.'"

Foragers, Beware of Toxic Mushrooms

An November 2012 article in The Atlantic12 highlighted recent cases of lethal food poisonings related to eating wild mushrooms, and the need for caution when foraging food:

"Of the over 10,000 species of mushrooms, only about 50 to 100 are toxic. About 6,000 Americans each year end up eating them. Over half of those cases involve unsupervised small children. So if you're considering treating that special person in your life to a wild mushroom-based dish, take the following into consideration: Over 90 percent of deaths, including these most recent ones, are caused by amatoxins."

As mentioned in the article, the North American Mycological Association13offers critical information on a number of toxic mushrooms and the symptoms they cause, including those for amanitin (amatoxins), which is one of the most serious:

• Stage 1: A latency period of 6 to 24 hours after ingestion, in which the toxins are actively destroying the victim's kidneys and liver, but the victim experiences no discomfort.
• Stage 2: A period of about 24 hours characterized by violent vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and severe abdominal cramps.
• Stage 3: A period of 24 hours during which the victim appears to recover (if hospitalized, the patient is sometimes released)
• Stage 4: Relapse, during which kidney and liver failure often occurs, leading to death. Patients may also "bleed out" and die due to the destruction of clotting factors in the blood. There may be more than one relapse.

Warning: If you have any reason to suspect that someone has ingested an amanitin-containing mushroom, DON'T WAIT for symptoms to appear! There is no antidote for amanitin poisoning, and the best hope is to rush the person to the hospital where the toxins can be removed before being fully absorbed into the body.

It's also important to eat ONLY organically grown mushrooms because they absorb and concentrate whatever they grow in — good OR bad. This is what gives mushrooms their potency, for better or worse. Mushrooms are known to concentrate heavy metals, as well as air and water pollutants. One way to know what you're getting is to grow your own. You can find a variety of DIY garden kits available online,14 which will eliminate any questions about what kind of mushroom you're picking.

Improving Your Nutrition with Mushrooms

Two years ago, I interviewed Steve Farrar, who worked and studied mushrooms professionally for the last 30 years. The first 20 years he spent growing them and working primarily with gourmet chefs, but in the past decade, he's started applying his expertise of mushrooms to health purposes. According to Farrar, Americans consume about 900 million pounds of mushrooms a year, but 95 percent of that is just one species: the common button mushroom and its relatives, the Crimini and the Portabello mushrooms.

Granted, the button mushroom is an excellent low-calorie food, especially for diabetics. It contains a number of valuable nutrients, including protein, enzymes, B vitamins (especially niacin), and vitamin D2. However, there are many other types of mushrooms worthy of consideration if you want to improve your diet. I'll review a few of my favorites below. Farrar's focus has been on growing various gourmet mushroom species, particularly the wood decaying mushroom species, which differ greatly from your average button mushroom in terms of biology, nutrition and medicinal value.

source:http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/13/mushroom-benefits.aspx

T25 INSANITY P90X BEACHBODY TRANSFORMATION - THE FIT DYNASTY

Three Words sum up this video..... Dedication,Dedication,Dedication!! WOW! - Let me know your words for this Video.

What it feels like to engage your core muscles.

How to tighten your core

Caveman Diet goes mainstream: how to be 'paleo-ish'

The 'paleo' eating regimen that looks back fondly to our neolithic days is showing signs of evolution

Pressing the flesh: the paleo diet has gone mainstream, with a host of suppliers, websites and even its ow

n festival  

By Lucy Fry

7:00AM GMT 06 Mar 2015

57 Comments

It’s happening, whether you like it or not: the “paleo” diet, which essentially refers to eating high-quality meat and fish, lots of vegetables, some nuts, seeds, a bit of fruit, little starch and no sugar – has gone mainstream. Not only has it achieved the ultimate in linguistic circles and been crowned an adjective (I’m paleo, you’re paleo, he/she/it’s paleo), it also has its own festival (in Austin, Texas, at the end of April:paleofx.com), magazine (paleomagonline.com), restaurants, bloggers (munkeychews.blogspot.co.uk, for example, and there are plenty of others) and a “Twitter hour”. With the endless stream of paleo-related diet and cookery books coming out year on year, it remains a wonder there isn’t a paleocentric publishing company to boot.

This era of paleo dieting hit the big time, somewhat ironically, around the turn of the millennium, when American scientist Dr Loren Cordain brought the health benefits widespread attention with his book The Paleo Diet. Next, the CrossFit – a core strength and conditioning programme founded in 2000 – community leapt on board. “If it has a food label, don’t eat it,” they declared, waving grass-fed steaks like flags before heading off to complete another set of heavy squats.

• This paleo restaurant? It's joyless

But it’s not just CrossFitters and carnivores anymore. “More people are turning to the paleo diet to prevent or alleviate diseases caused by poor lifestyle choices,” says Mari Griffiths, co-founder of PaleoChef, a Wales-based paleo meal delivery service that has grown to 200-plus clients since launching a year ago. “This simple framework makes it accessible to everyone – the can’t cooks, won’t cooks and master chefs alike. No relentless calorie counting or nutrition degree is required.”

So long as you have a socially thick skin (refusing pizza can be a surprising sticking point with some friends) and a healthy bank account, you can now go paleo without too much fuss – and, clearly, we don’t like fuss: online store cupboard and snack retailers Perfectly Paleo and Primal Snack Box both reported a tenfold increase in demand since February last year.

'No relentless calorie counting' is required for the paleo diet

This way of eating certainly has its critics. And, yes, sometimes being paleo-ish (someone who tries to live a paleo life but actually still has a life) involves using ingredients that aren’t 100 per cent unprocessed. Of course, cavemen didn’t sit around making gut-friendly pancakes with almond flour, nor did they marvel over the health-giving effects of biodynamic wine. They also didn’t have central heating, electricity or movement trackers. They didn’t need to worry about food sourcing, whether their vegetables were drenched in pesticides or their meat fed primarily on grain. They ate what was seasonally available and, thus, were unlikely to develop the kind of intolerances (who had time, anyway, given they rarely lived beyond 25?) that often result from excessive consumption of any one type of food. Caveman didn’t need to do a grizzly workout to put hairs on his chest. Cave woman didn’t need to join a muddy 10km race each weekend. They were too busy rushing around after their next meal. But these days most of us lead such sedentary lives that we need to exercise regularly, consciously and deliberately. We would also no sooner choose to spear a pigeon for dinner instead of picking one up in the supermarket than we would replace our cotton underwear with loincloth.

The caveman figure is as relevant to today’s paleo diet as a walkie-talkie is to a smartphone. There’s a similarity of purpose – healthy eating/ communication – but little similarity in how it works. The truth is that the real caveman diet was tough. Few would have chosen it if they had the option, and the criticism of many contemporary paleo foods that they aren’t what cavemen really ate is stupid. The only real issue here is one of potential overindulgence/ human nature.

• Paleo diet: the best snacks to give you energy

“The paleo lifestyle doesn’t come with a rule book; you need to own your decisions and obviously it’s up to you not to feed yourself exclusively on paleo-friendly brownies,” says Sarah Mace, who established paleo snack company Primal Joy in October 2013.

^{A paleo brownie from the 'paleo snack' website Primal Joy}

Yet people still find fault with what seems to be the most obvious definition of healthy eating ever known to (cave) man. First, there are the doubters: those who chomp smugly on processed bread and accuse the paleo world of hypocrisy because it serves up a paleo sticky toffee pudding that is made of organic dates, raw honey and coconut flour. This seems churlish, but is perhaps a smidgen less annoying than those at the other end of the spectrum – the “paleo police” – who pull out chicken breasts on public transport and criticise others who advocate paleo-ism for eating anything they haven’t yanked out of the ground or killed with their bare hands.

Of course, we paleo-ish individuals know it’s purer to have boiled egg and a broccoli floret than a cold-pressed bar made with seeds and cashews, but we have busy, demanding lives and a modicum of respect for vegetarians who may be travelling on the Tube with us. So, yes, we sometimes buy overpriced ready-made snacks which, crucially, contain no added chemicals, preservatives or sugar. And guess what? At first they don’t taste as immediately delicious as the sucrose-laden alternatives sold in every corner shop, but pretty soon we realise they taste better. That’s because after years of munching on sugar and trans fats, healthier “real-food” desserts and snacks take a little getting used to. But get used to them you should, if you want to have your cake and eat it – that is, enjoy the occasional raw chocolate cheesecake and not develop chronic health problems associated with a high-sugar, high-carb diet such as diabetes and heart disease. It might not be exactly what cavemen ate, but it can still be healthy and paleo-ish. So let’s all take the etymological origins of the paleo diet with a big pinch of (ideally Himalayan) salt and leave this century’s best diet trend to evolve as unnaturally as it wants.

THE PALEO DIET RULES

DO EAT

Lean meat and fish. Up to a third of hunter-gatherers’ diets consisted of protein

Nuts (but not peanuts, see below) and seeds

Berries. Think of the sort you might pick on a country walk, ie “wild” rather than “cultivated”

Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, etc

DON’T EAT

Grains. Many people today are coeliac or gluten-intolerant, but paleo purists insist that gluten is bad for everyone – on somewhat shaky evidence, it’s blamed for declining brain health. Even gluten-free grains such as millet, buckwheat and rice get the bum’s rush from the paleo police

Dairy. Notwithstanding the heavy milk consumption of nomadic pastoralists such as the Maasai of east Africa, dairy is a paleono-no

Pulses (technically peanuts are a pulse)

Salt

Sugar (and all processed foods)

OUR BEST PALEO-FRIENDLY RECIPES

Roast cauliflower recipe with currants, capers and nuts

Slow-cooked beef cheeks with tomato, spices and sage recipe

Deliciously Ella's warm winter salad recipe

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthyeating/11451640/Caveman-Diet-goes-mainstream-how-to-be-paleo-ish.html

Workout and diet secrets of top fitness coaches

We look to personal trainers to guide us in the gym, but how do the instructors themselves maintain their perfectly honed body?

BY KATY YOUNG | 07 JANUARY 2013

Nathalie Schyllert Photo: Amber Rowlands

More than a quarter of British adults are classified as clinically obese. No surprise, then, that only one in three of us does any kind of exercise, and seven out of 10 men and eight out of 10 women fall well below their optimum activity level. But it is at this time of year, after a couple of weeks of eating more and moving less, that the idea of a better eating and exercise plan starts to have some sort of appeal. And who better to inspire you to get on that healthy treadmill than some of the world's most experienced - and strictest - personal trainers.

Nathalie Schyllert, 30 (above)
When Nathalie Schyllert left the Royal Ballet School at 15 years old because of an injury to her foot, exercise became her obsession - kick-boxing and yoga filled the void that ending five hours of ballet a day had left open. Her ballerina frame turned into an athletic 'sporty, healthy' body that won her modelling contracts with Stella McCartney, Adidas, Vogue and Elle. But while good genes and a naturally active disposition played their part (her mother, too, had that dream body), Schyllert works hard in the gym. To keep her stomach flat and her arms and legs toned but not bulky ('something I have to really watch'), she trains at the gym where she also works as a personal trainer. Bodyism is the exclusive one-to-one personal training company based at the Bulgari Hotel in London. 'It's lengthening, strengthening and toning circuits and the clean and lean lifestyle that really works for me,' she says.

Three things that make a difference
Less stress is imperative. However it's caused - whether it's work, friends, family or even food-related [culprit foods include coffee and sugar] - an increase in the level of the stress hormone cortisol causes us to hold on to weight, particularly around the middle. Eat as much natural food as you can, cutting out sugar and bad carbs including pasta, bread, sweets, fizzy drinks and alcohol. Don't do long runs if you hate them. Do something you like; not only will you stick to it, you'll also be far less stressed so you'll lose more weight.

Weekly exercise routine
I pack in a lot around my working day, which starts at seven, either before my first client or during my lunch break. I usually manage two Bodyism training sessions, two hour-long dynamic yoga sessions and one regeneration session (either stretching, foam rolling my legs or a massage), plus I walk to and from work, which takes 20 minutes each way.

Total: 9½ hours per week.

Typical food diary I eat at least five times a day - you have to if you want to keep the metabolism revving. But that means preparing food to bring into work, unless I'm eating off the Bodyism menu at the hotel where we train. Options include sea bass and steamed vegetables or pan-seared lamb and aubergine. I'm lucky as I never crave the bad stuff, rarely have a blowout and hardly drink unless I'm at a birthday or a wedding, where I might have a bit of champagne.

Breakfast, 7am: two eggs and a green juice of a combination like kale, spinach and celery.
Snack, 10am: a handful of almonds.
Lunch, 12.30pm: salmon with spinach and quinoa brought from home.
Snack, 4pm: three slices of turkey.
Dinner, 6.30pm: prawn and avocado salad.

How do you stay motivated? I never step on my scales; I use my mirror or clothes to gauge my shape. Over Christmas I took no more than two days out from my usual plan. A couple of weeks out and you just gain too much weight.

Dalton Wong, 36

'Teaching people how to get fit and healthy is the only job I know,' says Dalton Wong, the founder the holistic training studio Twenty Two Training

, which lists some of Hollywood's biggest names on its books, including Jennifer Lawrence. Wong was born in Canada and moved to London in the late 1990s. He injects energy into classic one-to-one personal training (his dynamic circuit training mixes weights, cardio machines and stretching) in his gym studio in South Kensington. 'My father died of a heart attack when I was 10, and from that moment on I was made to exercise and eat for my health by my mother, and it stuck. I still think like that today.'

Three things that make a difference A body plan is key. I watch gym addicts train day in, day out but you just won't see change if you don't know what you're aiming for. It's mindless training. Just like a financial plan, you have to record your starting point [your vital statistics, and how fit you are], your budget [how much time you have to train], and your goal [your dream weight or how far you want to be able to run or how many reps you'll be able to lift]. Recording change - using old fashioned pen and paper, not an app; taking your phone into the gym is just a distraction - is the best drive you can give yourself. Set a good balance; there's no point working out so hard that you can't stop. Relax and enjoy your new body. As a rule I take one day off a week, and a week off every eight weeks. A good diet needs balance, too. I eat well for 80 per cent of the time and relax for 20 per cent. And most importantly never feel guilty if you eat badly. Remember, you're only one meal away from getting back on track.

Weekly exercise routine I always make time in my diary for exercise, treating it like an appointment. I have to make sure nothing clashes - it's as important as my work. I start work at 7am but make room for 90-minute Brazilian ju jitsu classes, a form of martial art, four times a week, two of my circuit-based sessions and 15 minutes of stretching to work on flexibility at least four nights a week. The hip flexor stretch is so good, particularly for anyone who sits at a desk all day. Get into the lunge position, lowering the back leg right to the floor, and step the other leg all the way through until you feel your hip muscle open out. Repeat on the other side.

Total: nine hours a week.

Typical food diary I eat a balanced diet but I do plan ahead - I always know what I'm eating tomorrow. I'll cook two portions for dinner and take the second one in for breakfast, something like salmon and spinach or a vegetable and chicken stir-fry. But I take my foot off the brake and eat out a couple of nights a week, plus I reckon drinking three units of alcohol a week is fine. It's far better for your health to relax a bit. One good tip is to choose a protein-based main and then go for a starter that is soup- or salad-based. I'll have desserts, too, but they're best shared, two mouthfuls satisfies a craving, any more is gluttony. The only thing my friends ever notice is how much I eat; I always order double the vegetables, restaurants always skimp on them. If I feel like I've gone off track I'll do a juice cleanse; my favourite is the sugar-free five-day juice delivery company Radiance Cleanse [radiancecleanse.com].

Breakfast, 7am: my prepared meal from the night before, an espresso, and we keep a juicer at the TwentyTwo studios as we all have green juices in the morning with kale, spinach, celery and pear.

Depending on how I'm feeling, I'll add ginger to boost my immune system or lemon for extra vitamin C. It's a truer, more effective way to get the right vitamins into your body.

Snack, 11am; half an apple spread with almond nut butter.
Lunch, 1pm: home-made turkey super-salad, with peppers, alfalfa sprouts, sunflower seeds and brown rice.
Snack, 3pm: a few almonds.
Dinner, 7pm: a stir-fry with chicken.

Striking a balance is key for me; over Christmas I didn't go into the gym as much but I made sure I stayed active by switching a run for a walk. A few days at a lower intensity won't affect your weight.

How do you stay motivated? I'm naturally competitive; I like beating my own targets and other people. For real focus I enter Twenty Two into triathlons, marathons and competitions like the Tough Mudder  as a team.

David Higgins, 36

Growing up in the great outdoors with brothers in Melbourne, Australia, David Higgins has activity in his DNA. 'Exercise has always been, and still is, fun for me. It doesn't feel like a chore. And becoming a trainer after university where I studied exercise physiology and sports science felt so natural.' He moved to London in 2004 and in 2007 set up Ten Pilates (tenpilates.com), the supercool dynamic Pilates studio in London, and the current celebrity favourite for body sculpting, slimming and toning.

Three things that make a difference Water: I recommend a minimum of two litres a day. If you're dehydrated you just won't get as much from any workout.

Classes: they push you far more than you can ever push yourself. Failing that, work out with a friend - competition is always a good motivator.

Staying positive: having that inner voice saying Yes you can, rather than No you can't, is the most powerful and inspiring tool that you can have.'

Weekly exercise routine I prioritise fitness over everything. I put it in my diary and it stays there; meetings just have to work around exercise because I need two hours of weight training a week, as much for my mind as for my body. But I'm lucky. Part of my job is teaching three spin Cardiolates classes - a cycling and Pilates hybrid - and I've made it company policy to join two dynamic reformer bed Pilates classes a week.

Total: seven hours a week.

Typical food diary I'm never stuck behind a desk. I'm on my feet or training all day so I burn off about 5,000 calories a day. Putting on weight isn't a problem for me, and apart from a couple of scotches on the rocks at the weekends I'm not a big drinker, either, so I can afford to be relaxed about what I eat; but I do make a point of setting aside time in my diary to eat.

Breakfast, 6am: muesli and cup of tea.
Lunch, 12pm: chicken or tuna sandwich or a jacket potato.
Dinner: steamed vegetables with fish or chicken and brown rice.

I won't be making a tough new year's resolution to compensate for a few glasses of wine and some mince pies over Christmas. You never stick to it and for me it's all about consistency. Instead I might book myself in for an MoT, with a sports massage or general physio check-up at Ten Pilates, to check I'm good to go again.

How do you stay motivated? By setting goals and celebrating when you hit them.

Nathalie Desmier, 26

At the age of 16, Nathalie Desmier made the decision to leave athletics after three years competing at county level to become a professional dancer. She now does music videos, commercials and shows, tours as a dancer with bands, and works as a trainer at London's new retro dance studio Frame (in Shoreditch and Queens Park). Desmier has made her work life into her workout, which means she never veers from her petite

but perfectly toned body - despite her chocolate habit. But when you're racking up 18 hours a week, who's counting calories?

Three things that make a difference Regular intensive cardio workouts with stretching and toning; it means burning calories to keep the weight down but lengthening and toning at the same time so you don't bulk up.

Eat breakfast if you want to work out well.

Music. It has a massive impact on a workout. Whenever people come into my class looking lethargic, good music always peps them up.

Weekly exercise routine I'm working out all the time by teaching about 15 classes a week. I also love adding in a Pilates class to work on my strength and flexibility, too. Then there are the professional auditions and classes, which can last up to eight hours. I try to include a bit of cardio, toning and strengthening every day, and make it a habit to have one day of recovery a week.

Total: 18 hours a week.

Typical food diary I usually plan my food diary the night before - it's easier to take meals into work as that way I won't let my sweet tooth sway me. I keep snacks in my bag, too, and sometimes a chocolate bar. I have a couple of Bounty bars a week. But I don't really drink - maybe four times a month I'll have a glass of rosé. And I avoid

coffee. Overall I'm lucky, I don't have a massive appetite and portion size is key.

Breakfast: cereal and a cup of coffee - the time varies but I have it as soon as I wake up as I'm always starving.

Lunch: roll with salad and chicken, and yogurt.

Dinner: the biggest meal, including protein, some carbs and vegetables, often a treat like ice cream.

How do you stay motivated? I've got a loud inner voice which tells me to push myself; plus the dance industry is so competitive I have to look my best. If I know I have a big job or audition coming up I just picture that bikini - it always works. Over Christmas I cut my training to around half the hours to give my body a break. But I always step up my training in the new year.

Nicole Winhoffer, 28

Growing up in New Jersey with three soccer-mad brothers, Winhoffer is as fit and competitive as they come. She made her debut as a professional dancer on Broadway at 17, and has been Madonna's personal trainer for the past three years. She is also one of her choreographers on tour. Winhoffer works out for 30 hours a week. 'It is a real commitment that takes scheduling and planning,' she says.

Three things that make a difference Work out on an empty stomach in the morning so your body goes directly into the fat stores for energy. Do this for one week straight and I promise you will see change. Give it your all. You have to put 110 per cent effort into every workout to see results. I swear by probiotics for staying lean and sculpted.

Weekly exercise routine Personal workouts, client training and dancing daily.

Total: up to 30 hours a week.

Typical food diary I plan and pack all my foods - and if I'm on tour I work with the hotels and cater ahead for specific foods. I often travel with my box of steamed vegetables and lean protein so I don't get caught out. If I eat out, I make a special request for a green salad with some grilled fish or chicken and a little olive oil. And any time I have a hunger urge I drink 10 gulps of water and then wait 10 minutes. I aim for three litres every day. Three small snacks: I love the sugar-free, glutenfree, 20g protein-packed Think Thin protein bars, [£21.60 for 10, amazon.co.uk], and the green juices with kale, apple, spinach, celery and parsley from the American juicing company Blue Print Cleanse, [blueprint.com] and whey protein shakes. Two or three eggs (which I hard-boil six at a time) are a good snack [she eats two whole eggs and just the yolk of the third] and apples, too.' Dinner: grilled chicken, greens and puréed soups. Sometimes a glass of white wine, or a warm baguette and butter as a 'limited' treat. Alcohol is pure sugar, and if I do ever enjoy a glass of wine I cut down on calories, carbs and increase my cardio.

Source:http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG9785991/Workout-and-diet-secrets-of-top-fitness-coaches.html