“Hottest diet and fitness trends for 2008
What is it? A calorie-counting plan that uses a beaded bracelet to help you diet. Each bead equals 100 calories, so if you want to eat 12,000 calories per day, slide 12 beads onto one string of the bracelet. Then when you eat 100 calories, slide a bead onto the other string.
What can I eat? Anything! As long as you know the calorie content.
How much weight will I lose? It depends, but if you stick to 1300 cals a day, you could lose six kilos in six weeks.
Why is it hot right now? Delta Goodrem is rumoured to be a fan and actress Kate Beckinsale makes her own diet bracelets for friends. Forget those red Kabbalah bracelets, you’ll be seeing Hollywood’s elite wearing diet beads in 2008.
How can I do it? Buy a bracelet at www.ilovethiscolor.com/dietbracelets or make one. Take a piece of wool long enough to wrap around your wrist twice and then thread enough beads onto one strand of the wool. When you’ve eaten, just slide the bead to the other strand.
Bench pressing
What is it? Okay, it’s not new, but this is the fitness fad of 2008. To bench press, simply lie on a gym bench and push a barbell upwards from the chest with both arms until your arms are nearly straight, then lower it again. You’ll work your pecs, chest and triceps.
Why is hot right now? Sarah Jessica Parker got those taut, defined arms for the Sex And The City movie thanks to bench pressing (and remember what she did for Manolo Blahniks…) According to Lou Schuler, co-author of The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess, it’s a perfect exercise for women. “It’s the default exercise in modern gym culture,” he says. We should all do it because it’s so easy and gives amazing results”.
Where can I do it? Anywhere, with the right equipment. Ask a gym instructor to show you the correct technique.
Super-fruit: The pomegranate
What is it? It’s a wonder fruit! With about 105 calories, pomegranates are a great source of potassium. Pomegranate juice contains antioxidants which can help fight cell damage and so protect against heart disease, cancer and other diseases. It can even help lower cholesterol.
Why are they so hot right now? The lowly pomegranate was just named by Oprah Winfrey as being in her food hall of fame and sales in America have more than doubled — Oprah even drinks pomegranate martinis.
Bio-synergy skinny water
What is it? Believe it or not, this is tipped by its creators as a “low-calorie water, enhanced with a unique combination of ingredients to help you lose and maintain your weight”. It contains L-carnitine and chromium which allegedly assist natural fat-burning and help reduce sugar cravings. Oh, and it contains a hint of that wonder fruit the pomegranate, too.
Why is it hot right now? Jennifer Aniston is rumoured to be a convert and has been seen swigging from a bottle.
How much weight will I lose with it? Tricky to say as it’s meant to be an accompaniment to a weight loss plan. But the makers claim sugar and carbohydrate cravings are reduced.
Where can I buy it? It’s not available in Australia right now but you can buy it at www.bio-synergy.co.uk for around $35 for a case of a dozen 500ml bottles plus shipping.
Run a marathon!
What is it? When Katie Holmes finished the New York marathon in five and a half hours, little did she know she was about to be the pioneer of a whole new trend — more people than ever before are signing up to run 42.2km races around the world.
Why is it hot right now? Yummy mummy Katie is a key Hollywood trendsetter so expect to see every marathon around the world with a celeb contingent. Claire Burke, editor of Runner’s World Australia & New Zealand, says it’s about time. “Katie joins a long list of high-profile people to run a marathon, including Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey, P Diddy and Australian Ryan Maloney. We definitely expect to see numbers grow even more in 2008.”
How can I do it? Put on some runners and er … run. But to complete a full marathon you’ll need solid training. Look at www.coolrunning.com.au to find a club in your area.
The lunchbox diet
What is it? A new diet based on a simple principle: buy a large plastic lunchbox and fill it with a highly nutritious mix of 60 percent vegetables, 30 percent protein and 10 percent fat. Then slowly graze on the lunchbox contents all through the day, ideally every hour — then you won’t binge at meal times.
Why is it hot right now? Super-stylish magazine Elle has featured the diet in its January 2007 issue and now it’s the diet for the fashion industry.
How much weight will I lose? Personal trainer Simon Lovell, who created the diet, says it’s hard to tell. “It’s completely different for everyone, although six kilos in 30 days isn’t unrealistic. If you can stick to the diet for seven days you will feel a difference, by 30 days you should be hooked and never look back!”
How can I do it? This is one of the first diets to be immediately available as a 10-page download document on the Internet for around $23.50 (depending on the exchange rate).
Workout shoes
What are they? Expect 2008 to be the year we all start wearing strange-looking shoes which the makers claim will give us a workout as we walk around. FitFlops, Chung Shi shoes and MBTs (Masai Barefoot Technology shoes) are becoming more and more popular, which means we’ll all leave style at home but have leaner, longer legs!
How do they work? Although they’re all slightly different, the shoes all work along the same principle of slightly destablising the foot as you walk, creating a kind of continuous tension that works the muscles of the foot and leg. “It’s like a mini-wobble board,” explains Marcia Kilgore, who created FitFlops. “It makes you step more naturally and it activates the slow-twitch muscle fibres in the legs.”
Why are they hot right now? FitFlops have many celebrity fans, including Mischa Barton, and they look like thongs, so you can wander down to the beach and blend right in. Chung Shi runners also have a stable of A-list fans, including Kate Hudson and Jerry Hall.
How much weight will I lose with them? Hard to tell, it depends how often you wear them, but most users report that their legs look and feel more toned after just a couple of weeks.
Where can I buy them? For MBTs, try sports stores or www.bstore.com.au. For FitFlops, see www.thefitflop.com for a list of stockists. For Chung Shi, see www.chungshi.com for more information. (credit)”
Adria Ali
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