Your waist line is a clear indication to you becoming at risk from heart problems, diabetes and chronic bone diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis. Females should be aiming to have a waist line 80cm or below this will decrease your chance of these problems and males should have a waist line 94cm and below to decrease their risk. Come in and get measure today and start reducing your risk.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Oatmeal Pancakes are a great snack and are full of protein and low GI carbohydrates. They are excellent served as breakfast or cooked and rolled up and used as a snack option between meals. The low GI energy will help fight of sugar cravings and the protein will keep you feeling fuller for longer.

1 Cup Low-Fat milk, Soy Milk or Apple Juice
1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
2 Whole Organic Eggs, or 4 Egg Whites
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Honey (optional if you like it sweeter)
2 Tablespoons of chopped walnuts (optional good source of omega 3 fatty acids and Protein)
Zest from 1 Orange (optional)
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Essence (optional just for flavour)

Method

1. Combine Milk, Oats, Baking Powder, Eggs and cinnamon into a blender. Blend until smooth. Add extra ingredients if you would like, cover and leave in fridge overnight or for 30 minutes. The thicker you mixture the thicker your pancakes will be and the thinner the mixture the thinner they will be mix to desired taste.
2. Cook with non stick pan as it will limit the use of fats and oils for greasing.
3. Serve with banana and fresh yogurt or cottage cheese. (banana is a geos ource of potassium that will help with electrolyte regulation, yogurt is a natural culture and will help with digestive health and is a great source of calcium, cottage cheese is low in fat and full of nutrients. Remember it is still cheese so go easy moderation is the key)

By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Everyone should be eating a serving of fish each week. Fish is a great source of lean protein and is high in omega 3 fatty acids. These are the good fats that help with cholesterol reabsorption. When buying fish though you must be careful of fish that is high in mercury, mercury can decrease brain functioning and can be harmful to your body. When shopping for fish look for fish that does not have a long life span things like salmon and tuna, stay away from bigger fish at the top of the food chain as they are more likely to have higher exposure to mercury throughout there life span. You should also look at buying fish that is not fished in commercial shipping or in high commercial waters. This is because although mercury is in the environment it is increased through pollution. So you should be eating fish every week cause the benefits are very rewarding for your health, just remember make smart choices.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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To loose half a kilo a week you need to either drop 2000 kilojoules per day from your diet or increase your daily exercise to burn an extra 2000 kilojoules a day. This is not alot if you look at, take in to account if you have one can of soft drink a day thats nearly a quarter of the 2000Kj you need to get rid of for you to drop the weight. If you find yourself eating a packet of chips thats probably half of your 2000Kj. The other end of the scale is just as easy walking on level 8 on a treadmill for about 30 minutes will burn about 1200 kilojoules this plus a 30 minutes weights session will burn the 2000 kilojoules you need to drop the half a kilo a week. If this is followed for 10-12 weeks thats 5-6 kilos. This small change to your lifestyle so much more sustainable then a quick fix diet.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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If you find yourself trying to sleep and your brain just wont switch off try this. I have heard if you have a thousand thoughts running through your head at night time you should keep a note pad and a pen by your bed and when you think of something write it down. Once the thought is out of your head your less likely to be thinking about it. So if you are having one of those nights where your stressing or thinking to much write it down and see if it works. This is not a proven fact more of a myth but I have heard that people do it and it works.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Our Circadian rhythms control our sleep patterns. This internal body clock as such is the reason we have peaks and troughs in energy levels during the day. It is also the reason why alot of people feel worse when they wake up and go back to sleep for a little while. This is because you often wake up in a different sleep wave. Your circadian rhythm is often broken up into large wave patterns with a smaller wave running at the same time through out the period of a 24 hour day. Everyone pattern is different as depends on your lifestyle, alot of people though tend to ignore theres. A common problem is at night time when you feel tired your body is normally in the low point of your circadian rhythm. If you don't go to bed during this low point you will often find that when you do eventually go to sleep your body would have entered a peak in your sleeping pattern. This can lead to poor sleep during the night and can affect your circadian rhythm during the next day. So when you feel tired at night time go to bed your body will thankyou for it in the morning, as when you have a good nights sleep your body is getting essential hormones for growth and repair. This will also limit the release of bad hormones that can create stress, affect bowel functioning, and break down muscle tissue and increase your bodies ability to store fat.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Eating healthy is often looked at by some as a challenge or that its hard to make healthier food choices. The fact is that eating healthy can often save money, make you feel better and is important for our bodies to be in top working order. Now eating healthy does not mean you have to start a drastic diet fad. These often lead to quick weight loss that is often put back on once you start eating normal again. Some good nutrition tips how ever can help have a healthier diet.

1. Plan your week. Planning out a week worth of food and cooking helps eliminate the chance of grabbing take aways or unhealthy food choices. This will also help you to write a shopping list. Planning out your week can  help you visualise what you need, how much you will need, and can also help with controlling unnecessary items in the shopping trolley.
2. Snack Time. You should be aiming for 3 sqaure meals a day by try for snacks in between. Try eating museli bars or yogurt or some fruit between each meal. This will help with speeding up your metabolism and will help fight of cravings.
3. Fresh is best. Eating healthy doesnt mean you have to live of grass for the rest of your life to avoid bad food. Making smart food choices is easy the less processed and the more natural food is the better it is for your body.

Follow these simple rules and eating healthy should become alot easier.

By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Our new Boot Camp course will be commencing the 3rd of February. It is a great time of year to get started with out fantastic Boot Camps, they are designed for all types of people and fitness levels ranging from beginner to advanced exercises. Join Luke, Matt, and Louisa in an outdoor training course that will run for 6 weeks. You will do 2 sessions per week over this period of time, this is an excellent way to beat the heat as sessions commence at 6:15am tuesdays and thursdays. To sign up call or come see us at reception. This course is offered to both members and non members.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Get paid to stay fit. We are currently looking for members who are interested in becoming a group exercise instructor. If you love participating in classes, have high energy levels you can bring to the group then come and enquire at reception. If you think you have what it takes to be a group instructor its a great way of staying fit while you work and its also a great way of meeting new people. Start today ask us how.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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Cardiovascular training can become stale if your only using one piece of equipment and can often lead to poor results. So try something different, pick three different machines and plan a 10 minute workout on each. It could be a constant speed or intervals or what ever you come up with. Do 1-2 cardio days a week with this routine for about 6-8 weeks trying to overload your training. This could mean increasing the level or the time, or the distance. This means you have done 30 minutes and you wont even realise, because your changing your machine every 10 minutes your body gets a bit of time to rest and as its often a different movement it involves different muscles. So the benefits of this are you can train longer, you are less fatigue and your heart works harder to cope with the different exercises. Another great way of doing this if you dont want to workout all at once, break your routine up. Go riding one day, walking the next. There is no limit to how much cross training or what type you want to do. Some great ideas are rock climbing, boxing, kayaking, running, walking, swimming, riding, and sport. This is perfect for anyone and can work for everybody so get started on some cross training and reap the benefits.
By: Southern Cross Health Club

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