Healthista’s Bodyologist blogger Helen Foster brings you the latest body trends for September. Posh noodles and Teqball are just some of the coolest things she has discovered this month
IDEA I LOVE: Psychogeography
Have you ever noticed that some places you walk just make you feel happy? So have app developers and some of them are suggesting that the next wave of map apps won’t just tell you how to get to places fast, they’ll also pinpoint the route that gets you there in the best mood as well. They’re calling it psychogeography. Work is still determining what about our surroundings give us joy but my new aim is to walk more finding mine. I already know the local dog park is a must include. Seeing dogs on their walks makes me happy – especially if they are carrying a stick or a ball. They just look like nothing in the world gets better than that.
THE SCIENCE BIT: Breakfast might not make you thin
Breakfast is a bit like a sugar for me – if I don’t have it I don’t want it (and eat less all day). If I fall into the habit of eating though it’s really hard to climb back out. And now a heap of studies are disputing the idea that eating breakfast makes you thin. I’d already covered some on my blog, but the new ones seem to show that yes breakfast eaters move more in the morning than skippers, but they only move enough to counteract the calories they’ve eaten. And in US trials dieters who were told eat breakfast, skip breakfast or just carry on as normal all ended up the same weight. The moral of this story? Breakfast might not be the most important meal of the day – if you want it eat it, if you don’t, don’t force it down for the sake of your waistline.
SNACK ALERT: Posh Instant Noodles
Need a fast snack (or something soupy with lunch) the temple of healthiness that is Itsu could have the answer with their new Crystal Noodle Cups. At 160 calories, using gluten free crystal noodles and creating the broth from fresh paste (not chemically-created powder) it’s not unhealthy, although standing by the kettle waiting to reconstitute lunch reminded me of the days when I thought bread came in two types – sliced white and sliced brown. It’s pretty tasty though – I added a couple of handfuls of Clearspring Toasted Fine Cut Nori to boost the health factor further. Don’t look for them in Itsu restaurants though, instead, they cost £2.99 each and are about to hit all the supermarkets any minute (though Sainsbury’s definitely have them now).
NEW SPORTS ROUND UP: Ovasinax or Teqball anyone?
It seems everyone is giving sports a bit of a makeover – making them slower (walking basketball anyone?), funkier (Smash Up – badminton to music for da kids), faster (Rush Hockey) and now mashing them together into weird hybrids. Teqball is ‘football reinvented’ – actually it’s football taken inside and played over a ping pong table. Check it out at teqball.com. Oh, and then there’s Ovasinax. I’m still not sure if this is real (but the inventor has emailed me so he exists) but it’s a sport for couples which involves carrying the female on the male’s shoulders (not sure what happens if you’re a same sex couple) up and down a swimming pool racing the other teams. It has rules and everything.
OOOH, PRETTY: The Dailygreatness Training Journal
It’s 12 weeks before I lace up my trainers at the first ever Disneyland Avengers Half Marathon in Anaheim making it perfect timing for this journal which promises ‘12 Weeks To a Rocking Fit Body & Mind’ to plop onto my desk. Packed with motivating quotes, navel gazing questions and tick boxes so you can check your got your reps in and drank all your water it’s perfect if you want to make your weight loss/training plan a project. Right now my current training plan involves the word RUN scrawled in my work diary – with random minutes allocated to it – I think I need to up my game. Find the journal (and its sister yoga and happiness journals) at dailygreatness.co priced from £29.95
I NEED: The Mobile Gym Bus
Devised by US trainer Adam Zickerman it’s a refurbed shuttle bus packed with weights machines. It comes to your house fully equipped, parks in the driveway and you go out and workout. My workload is a bit heavy right now and it’s a struggle to get to the gym so my weights routine is suffering, this would solve all my problems. Sadly it’s in New York (and costs from £100 a session) so I have been scouring online for the UK alternative – it seems a few councils (like Durham) have them but they seem to park in car parks not my driveway; a gym called The Way Gym in Gloucestershire (the waygym.co.uk) has a mini-van with free weights etc that will appear with their trainer but not an 80kg leg press. Okay people of fitness, I see an opportunity here.
Healthista’s Bodyologist Helen Foster blogs daily on all things health, fitness and diet related. Follow her @healthehelen.
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