Dietitian Anita Graham outlines some healthy eating options for active individuals. Click on the pictures before to full them in full size.

Anita Graham (Dietitian)

Anita Graham is a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist.
Helping you to create healthy choices.

She is the Dietitian for VO2 Vitality and her office is based out of Bodi Dynamics – Princes Hwy, Bulli, across from the Heritage.
Ph: 0417 281 892
Email: neat_graham@hotmail.com

Her qualifications include:
Bachelor Science (Exercise Science and Nutrition)
Master Science (Exercise Rehabilitation and Nutrition & Dietetics) with Distinction

• Piece of fruit
• 30g dried fruit- sultanas, apricots, apples, etc- Sunbeam have good portion controlled packs
• Tinned fruit or individual packs of tinned fruit i.e. peaches, pears
• 4 VitaWheats or 4 corn thins or 4 cruskits or 4 ryvitas or 1 row of sakatas with
• vegemite or
• jam or
• honey or
• peanut butter or
• 1 x slice of low fat cheese or
• philly cream cheese (individual packets- flavoured), Individual packs of French onion dip
• 1 x small Up and Go
• 1 x 200g tub of low fat yoghurt
• 1 x Le Rice
• 1/2C low fat custard
• 1 x paddle pop
• 1 x Skinny Cow ice-cream or sundae
• 1 x muesli bar
• Good choices- Carmen’s muesli bars, Arnolds farm muesli bars
• 1 x medium can of baked beans
• Homemade Smoothie-
• 1 x frozen banana (or frozen berries/ other fruit of choice), 1/3C oats, 2/3C low fat milk, 1TB honey
• 2 x weet bix and ½C low fat milk
• 1 x skinny latte/ cappuccino/ mocha
• 1 x peanut butter sandwich on wholegrain bread
• 1/2 C yoghurt with mixed frozen berries
• 1/3C oats made with water, 1TB honey
• 2 scoops low fat ice cream
• 30g mixed nuts
• Carrot sticks, celery sticks with 2 TB hummus or philly cream cheese or avocado mixed with minced garlic

Anita Graham (Dietitian)

Anita Graham is a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist.
Helping you to create healthy choices.

She is the Dietitian for VO2 Vitality and her office is based out of Bodi Dynamics – Princes Hwy, Bulli, across from the Heritage.
Ph: 0417 281 892
Email: neat_graham@hotmail.com

Her qualifications include:
Bachelor Science (Exercise Science and Nutrition)
Master Science (Exercise Rehabilitation and Nutrition & Dietetics) with Distinction

6th & 7th August 2011 – Lower Blue Mountains, NSW

A cool morning greeted competitors as they lined up on the start line. After two years of 30 degree C plus temperatures for the Blue Mountains leg of the series, it was moved to August.

Competitors were using an electronic checkpoint system (Sport Ident) for the first time. The new system is more accurate and reliable than the old manual system. It also means punching checkpoints is a lot quicker.

The first leg was a mini rogaine around Euroka Clearing. Competitors needed to collect six checkpoints scattered around the clearing before transition to the kayaking leg. Teams then kayaked 3km up the Nepean River to Glenbrook Gorge. They then transitioned onto the Canyoning section choosing their route carefully as they made their way up the Gorge. Strategy was a key component of this section. Knowing when to swap over from one side of the canyon to the other and when to do a water crossing or not would save you valuable time.

Teams then made their way back to Euroka clearing along the walking tracks. They then picked up their bikes for a ride up to the Oaks fire trail. Stopping on the way for a short trail run before riding back down the sweet single track to the finish.

No Roads Expeditions (Jeff Price and Mark Howell) took line honours in 2hrs 45min. No Roads Expeditions (Mel Pelly and Matt Shields) came first in the mixed teams in 3hrs 28min and VO2 Vitality 2 (Anita Graham and Lis White) won the female category in 4hrs and 1min to round out Saturdays podium.

On Sunday Kiwiscantfly (Mike Sumner and Jamie Anderson) took line honours in 2hrs 54min. Camelbak 1 (Kimberlee King and Sean King) came first in the mixed teams in 3hrs 6min and The Cheminas (Katrin Van Der Spiegel and Jacqui Kennett) won the female category in 3hrs and 33min.

Edwin Kwan

This month’s nutrition focus. from Dietitian Anita Graham, is on you and your kid’s lunchbox. Are you providing yourself with nutrient-rich, filling food or are you swamping your lunch boxes with high calorie, poor nutrient (empty calories) food and getting hungry 15 mines later?

Interested in nutrition and not sure of the answers? You may not be the only person. You can contact Anita Graham at neat_graham@hotmail.com if you have any dietary questions.

Anita Graham (Dietitian)

Anita Graham is a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist.
Helping you to create healthy choices.

She is the Dietitian for VO2 Vitality and her office is based out of Bodi Dynamics – Princes Hwy, Bulli, across from the Heritage.
Ph: 0417 281 892
Email: neat_graham@hotmail.com

Her qualifications include:
Bachelor Science (Exercise Science and Nutrition)
Master Science (Exercise Rehabilitation and Nutrition & Dietetics) with Distinction

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

This is based on an Australian clinical trial in Melbourne by Body-Brain Performance Institute and Swinburne University’s Brain Sciences Institute.

Apart from increased brain function and reduced stress levels at work, the trial also found that it can add five years to your lifespan.

The full article can be found at http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/10000-steps-plus-trips-to-the-gym-itll-make-you-and-the-boss-happy-20110914-1k9oe.html

Now there’s even more reason to go for that early morning jog from North beach to the lighthouse

Last a weekend, there was a mishap in a 100km ultramarathon event in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

Two women, who were participating in the ultramarathon suffered burns to 80% of their body. One of them, Turia Pitt, is from Ulladulla on the NSW south coast.

The Kimberley Ultramarathon was part of the “Racing the Planet” series and consisted of rugged terrain between Kununurra and the El Questro Wilderness Park. Participants in the series compete in races staged in the world’s most remote wilderness locations. It was scheduled to take place from September 2 to 4, 2011.

However the race, which started at 8:30am on Friday, 2 September, was cancelled before the end due to a serious bushfire which flared up in section 3 of the course. Eleven competitors were in the area of the fire.

News articles on the story

• Sydney Morning Herald – Recovery sets tough course for burnt victims
• Courier mail – Race inferno: Burnt runners in fight for life
• Courier mail – Women critical after marathon mishap

Edwin Kwan

September 24th – 25th is Relay for Life in the Illawarra [details of the event can be found here]. Over 130 teams and 1000 participants will be taking part in the relay. For some, the reasons for doing so are more personal than others. Below is Shannae’s story.

Why I relay…

Cancer has touched my family in too many, my grandmother has just recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, not one caused by smoking, but one that every person aged from about 50yrs is quite common to get. Her treatment has not started yet, but it has already put a massive toll on my family as I am the only closest relative my grandparents have. Also in 2005 my father-in-law was diagnosed with throat cancer. After losing most of his teeth, his salivary glands, over 30kgs due to not being able to eat and an intense 6 month course of radio and chemotherapy. It has now been 5 years and they still cant tell him that he is cancer free. He has only put about 15kgs back on and still can’t eat properly. He has to carry around a pocket spray bottle to spray his mouth every minute as he will never get his salivary glands back and he finds it really hard to swallow food due to no lubrication. Every day is a battle for my mother-in-law to try and create new dishes that he can eat with no dramas. But the good news is that after 5 years he is still here.

Both husbands of my neighbours on either side of us have passed away from cancer in the past 13 months. Dave passed away due to a number of reasons, one of them was lymphatic cancer. He had been struggling with this for about 5 years which was continuously making him weaker and was causing more health issues. They became part of our family when he decided to take my son under his wing as an adopted-like great grandson. He loved transformers and would ask Jacob to play with his toys. Kevin was diagnosed with a very rare type of stomach cancer and within 3 months of his diagnosis he was gone. Having my 9yr old son see the horrible life surrounding cancer, I want to do everything in my power to help the Cancer Council research and find some cures.

Help me make a difference…

Cancer Council’s Relay for Life is coming to our community and I’m taking part. That’s right – I’m taking to the track and being proactive in the fight against cancer. Did you know that Cancer Council is Australia’s leading cancer charity dedicated to beating cancer through research? Cancer Council’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has saved thousands of lives. But statistics show that one in two of us will still get cancer at some point and Cancer Council’s vital work, funded entirely by the public, will help ensure that thousands more people will survive. So please help make a difference.

Find out more about Relay for Life in the Illawarra.

Shannae Correia

Shannae Correia walked just over 38kms and raised over $1,000 from last year’s relay for life. This year she has set herself a personal target of $2,000. She’ll be walking for the Berkeley West Public School. If you wish to help her achieve her target, you can donate online by going to her teams page. Every donation counts.

Free diving is a great sport and easily available to the region. It is a great form of exercise and helps improve your lung capacity, making it an excellent low impact exercise for runners. Some of the best free diving sites can be found around here. Over the weekend, free diver Michaela Werner was featured in the Mercury and talks about her free diving experience. You can read more about it by clicking on the images below to view their larger size

More pictures of Michaela Free diving can be found at Edwin Kwan Photography

Edwin Kwan

Edwin Kwan is the PADI Dive Instructor with United Divers and also has a keen interest in underwater photography. He is also the webmaster for the this website. He has a certificate III in fitness and has done numerous half marathons including a marathon and triathlon. He also has a keen interest in Photography and is a webmaster for Little Handy Tips

Edwin Kwan

Anita from VO2 Vitality before the ride

Last Saturday, VO2 Vitality and Spearman Cycles organised a mountain bike ride day up at Appin XC Ring Track.

It was a great opportunity for those who haven’t mountain biked before to give it a go; and there were people from all experience levels that day.
We met at the gates to the ring track at 8am that Saturday Morning. There Ryan, Cameron and Jessica from Spearman Cycles helped pair us with demo bikes and adjusted the bike and seats according to suit us. Once everyone was geared up, we were off!

Amy, Anita and Brendan from VO2 Vitality

Being a first time mountain biker, it took a while to get used to riding in the trails. Having only ridden on road bikes prior to that day, I was used to slowing down and trying to avoid rocks and other obstacles. With mountain biking, its completely different, there’s rocks everywhere and slowing down doesn’t help as there are times when you need the momentum in order to get past the rocks.

We were also taught how to accelerate and lift our front wheel followed by our rear wheel in order to ‘climb’ up the rocks and also how to shift our body weight to the back and level our pedals while doing down hill. Despite that, I was still able to have a massive stack and flip the bike because I had my weight body towards the front while doing down hill.

It was so much fun and we even did two river crossing along the track! Thanks to Brendan from VO2 Vitality and Ryan, Cameron and Jessican from Spearman Cycles for organising this!

Group Photo After the Ride

If you are interested in trying out mountain bike riding, check out Spearman Cycles to see when their next demo day is. And if you’re looking at increasing your mountain biking fitness, contact Brendan from VO2 Vitality about their TRX suspension training!

Edwin Kwan

Change over of swimmers from Anita Graham to Lis White

Last weekend was the inaugural MS 24hr Mega Swim at URAC. It was a hugely successful event and they exceeded their targeted fundraising goals, raising almost $40,000.
There were around 17 teams, each team can have no more than 15 members and there has to be someone from the team swimming for the entire 24hr duration.

Anita is such a great organiser, there were so many teams participating in the event and she also got quite a few sponsors for the events. There was URAC who hosted the event at their pool, the Figtree Lions Club which provided a 24hr BBQ service (I tried out their bacon and egg sandwich on Sunday morning and it was delicious).

Lis White after completing her lap

Brendan Tuck from VO2 Vitality was there to provide TRX training for everyone to try out. Elisabeth White from Lis White Yoga ran pool side yoga sessions and Grant Jacobs and Ben from Recovery Works provided 24hr massage to soothe the sore muscles for the tired swimmers. Also there were dietatians from Port Kembla hospital there to provide freshly cut fruits for everyone. There was plenty of activities going on throughout the 24hrs.

The event raised close to $40,000 and the MS Trashers team, won the event (based on an distance covered and funds raised)! It was such a great effort by everyone involved and they all looked so tried after. Just looking at them swim made me tried too. More photos of the event are up on my website and available at http://edwinkwan.com/2011-ms-24hr-mega-swim-in-wollongong/

MS Trashers (The winning team)

Edwin Kwan