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​Okay – so what we have here is a food label so first thing to look at is the amount of calories this food/drink has – which is outlined in blue – you can see that per serving is 118ml, which is an absolutely stupid amount, how you are meant to measure that precisely is insane so ignore than and look at the Per 100ml – this carton has 4 servings at 118ml so its roughly 500ml which is 5 x 100ml – easy to work it now!

So you just multiply the amount of calories per each 100ml so 68kcal x5 is 340 calories per bottle, which seems very high.
Next you look at the protein, which is outlined in orange the higher protein isn’t necessary better as the protein they use might be crap quality however, try and go for the most protein as you can, this means the food will keep you fuller for longer, will help with gains and a higher protein diets trumps every diet in the science tests for weight loss and health etc. so it’s generally a good thing to go by!

Next have a look at Fibre, which is outlined in the green this can sometimes be categorised under carbohydrates but where ever it is on the label look at it, the higher fibre the better for your digestive health (more research needs to be done, but this is what it seems like) to a limit, obviously you don’t want to eat so much fibre you don’t poo for a month!
A good way to see how much you need is – 14 grams of fibre per 1000 calories or 30 to 38 grams a day for men and 25 grams a day for women between 18 and 50 years old – personally I would go a bit more just because the days you get more, then great but the day you don’t hit your target you might still actually be getting enough.
Next is Fats and Carbs, the reason these are last are because the priority for you is completely different to the other people reading this, you choose which levels you want, are you Keto, high carb, low carb, high or low fat, high or low polyols, high or low sugar, high or low saturated, trans fats?

I don’t know – unless your my client, but most of you won’t be and most of you reading this are probably reading other and listen to other advice and have then probably made up your minds of which level are best for you, not only health wise but consistency wise. So read these and make up your decision.

If it doesn’t might your macros (Protein, fats and carbs) or even your calories I can almost bet there is a high/low protein, fats and carbs version and a lower calorie version somewhere so if you really want the food then go and find it somewhere!

Then salt you don’t really need to pay attention to for years now food salt levels haven’t been too bad because of the health scares of salt which are vastly exaggerated – if the food is highly salted then just drink more water and it will balance that out, unless you have a medical reason then it should go without saying, be careful with salt levels.













So just the quickly recap – in priority order:

1. Calories/Energy
2. Protein
3. Fibre
4. Carbs and Fats
5. Salt

 
I really hope this helps you and I hope that with this you can shop with better food choices – I will do a part 2 to this where we go through ingredients labels and how to understand what all the chemical sounding names are, because some of them are just the chemical names for vitamins/minerals.
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Thank you for reading!
Dan

Don’t you’re there to relax...

This will be quite a quick blog post about what you can do exercise wise on holiday.

The easiest way to exercise on holiday is walk - stop hiring a moped or buggy or getting a taxi to go 10 minutes down the road, walk everywhere, I always carry a pouch for valuables - with sun cream, coin change and notes, make sure you have as much water as you can carry and just bloody walk, it’s amazing when you just go exploring in a new city or place as long as it’s safe to do so, just go for a wonder, you find some amazing things too.

The second one is Swim! Chances are you are you getting to the sun because England doesn’t have it, let’s face it 5 days of summer doesn’t count as Sunny England, so you’ll stay somewhere with a pool or near beach or both - so take the opportunity to swim or learn to swim! I have retaught myself to swim and getting better and better each holiday and now look forward to getting away to swim! It’s a great all over workout that’s bloody hard on your cardio health too - if you have poor mobility it’s amazing at loosening you up and allowing you to move more freely.

Thirdly - Find a gym - this doesn’t need any explanation just do your own workout in a gym!

Finally - Do a ghetto workout in your room, this takes a bit of dismantling of beds, overfilling of suitcases and the like but once ready can be a gruelling task, you can do dips on the side of the bed, into press ups into weighted burpees in bent-over suitcase rows, into Kettlebell swings but with your bag, jumping lunges with a backpack, shoulder press with your suit case, squat and press with your bag, single leg Glute Bridges loads of stuff!

Do it to a time rather than rep range and just go for it!

Personally I don’t like the idea of training while you’re on holiday apart from relaxing exercises like swimming and walking, for me I’m there to get away from everything I normally do and everyone I’m normally with - I’m there to completely shut down, restart and reload my whole mindset, state of being and purpose and to just explore somewhere new and exciting!

Now as it's coming up to holiday session and people are well on there way to either booking or going on holiday I thought I’d right this little guide that means you can eat well on holiday and not come back like I have done a few times a few Kilos heavier.

One of the main things to do isn’t to do with eating but a tip that means you can be habit more lenient with your food, HIRE A BIKE!

Most cities now offer a Boris bike style system, so what better way to explore a new city than by cycling, you can’t ride a bike walk, My girlfriend probably hates me for it but I love just walking, and figuring it out as we go getting google maps when you need to, if you aim for at least 15k steps you should be able to do this very easily on a city break, if your on a beach chilling holiday then going down and swimming for 10 minutes every hour or 2, or if your by the beach just getting up walking, one of the things I do is get smaller bottles of water, so i have to get up and go and get another bottle of refill the one I have, it's a little thing but can help a lot with raising your NEAT(non exercise activity thermogenesis)

Don’t have the mentality of ‘fuck this I’m on holiday give me ALL the food’ think ‘fuck this I’m on holiday give me all the dinner’ - having this mentality and waking up having a glass of OJ or apple juice with your coffee, having a freshly made 4 egg omelette with leafy greens, some fresh fruit and maybe a few rashers of bacon - you A) have a good hit of protein to start your day, have a good amount of energy from carbs for when you go walking and a pretty decent amount of fats to keep you healthy and again give you energy for exploring the city or the sun loungers. not to meant all the vitamins and minerals from the eggs and leafy greens.

So, stick with that sort of breakfast, sort your protein source first! and then find something with a good balance of fats and carbs and don’t eat as much as you can!

Next up is lunch - if you’re on a city break, the chances are you’re too busy to get a proper lunch, grab a local style lunch, in Spain there's loads of little bars that serving chicken Paella, Budapest get a cinnamon chimney cake with and some kind of local meat based meal to be honest I normally stick with a chicken burger or something like that again don’t eat as much as you can, I sometimes just have a black coffee on a city break and wait to dinner but there's a castle to see or a secret building somewhere who knows! on a sun break I get starving from sitting in the sun an I’m normally all inclusive for the sun holidays, I’m not big time(yet) its just sooooo much better and less stressful (which is the whole point of going to the sun) so for lunch I’d normally grab an omelette if I didn’t have one for breakfast or if even if I did to be honest, or a burger or whatever you can get with the all inclusive, normally its something pretty ‘english’ we seem to get anywhere in the world and there is a ‘english fish and chips’ shop,

And then for dinner and drinks - YOU’RE on holiday do whatever you want! be controlled on breakfast and lunch, don’t snack and then do whatever you want for dinner, keep your activity as high as you can, swim, walk or cycle, don’t spend a penny on taxi’s!

A final word - RELAX! turn all my emails off, i mute all my work related Facebook/WhatsApp groups, this year I’m going to get a very basic Holiday phone and a little camera with social media upload ability, and leave my iPhone at home, so everyone can see what I’m doing but i get none of notifications if there's an emergency I’m still reachable! I implore you to do the same!