Sadly in the news today studies have shown that Diabetes has doubled in the past 20 years making many fear that Australia is surely becoming a land of the obese!!!

Diabetes has quickly reached epidemic proportions due mostly to poor lifestyle choices. And with nearly two thirds of men and half of all women are overweight or obese without prevention people will literally die from junk food and inactivity! Well, not on our watch!! We are the experts on preventing this epidemic and we thought we’d take the time out today to help educate about prevention and cure!!

There is no shame in having let go, but there is shame in staying that way!

Did you know that 60% of Type 2 diabetes is preventable and curable with some of the most simple guidance!!!

Firstly we must understand what causes Diabetes and what does to your body.

Type 2 diabetes is generally caused by people:

- Doing less or no exercise.

- Eating foods low in fibre and high in saturated fat and diets high in processed foods.

- Gaining body fat, becoming overweight or obese.

Diabetes is a complex condition….. But basically our bodies need energy from food to work properly.

Ok lets get a little technical….

Signs of diabetes are frequent urination, increased thirst and increased hunger. If you are overweight or obsese or do not exercise you are also at high risk.

By digestion we convert glucose (sugar) from food into the energy required to maintain our basal metabolic rate, control body temperature, complete daily cell repair, maintain healthy functioning and supply every day energy needs. A hormone called insulin is essential for the conversion of glucose into energy.

For example if a normal healthy person ate a carbohydrate such as an apple the glucose converted from the apple would make the body release insulin forcing your bodies cells (like muscle or fat cells) to open and receive nutrients.

In people with diabetes, insulin is no longer produced or not produced in sufficient amounts by the body. So when people with diabetes eat they do not have insulin to convert their food into energy and therefore their bodies cells cannot recieve nutrients.

Diabetes can be seen to be caused from on-going abuse from poor diet to a point where the body no longer responds to carbohydrates. For example eating refined sugars and fats (Think man made food- icecream/chips/chocolate/fast food/bread/sugar) and very limited amount of healthy food (Think food from the earth-  plants/fruits/animals/nuts/seeds) every day, gradually the body gets used to the overflooding of carbohydrates/sugars and ‘runs out’ of insulin, leaving the glucose to float around in the blood rather than be converted into energy.

This failure can cause damage to the entire body.. think about it… nothing is being able to be repaired and constant damage to cells is occuring as the body tries to perform functions with out any supply of energy. It’s like trying to run a 10 day marathon on nothing but fresh air… It’s struggle street for your body and somethings going to give in!

Most damage is caused to blood vessels, which then have a snowball affect on eyes and limbs.. losing sight, blindness and loss of circulation, becoming numb or tingly. Diabetes doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Long term diabetes causes kidney failure and possible amputations of the lower limbs due to diabetic foot ulcers….. seriously people is the junk food really worth it?????

THE BEST NEWS is that a Slow carb and high fibre diet and exercise controls blood sugar levels with the same efficacy as oral diabetes drugs. Added bonus.. it makes you feel better and makes moobs (man boobs) and jiggly bits go away!!

The power of strength training, fun interactive cardiovascular exercise and a balanced diet bursting with colourful food from the earth is immeasurable.

Yes it takes a little time and effort to introduce a healthy lifestyle but it far outweighs being sick, overweight and unhappy for years on end. If you’ve dedicated 5, 10, 15 years to your junk food or alcohol habit then you have to accept that it may need a solid year or more to undo it. But one year can save you from all the pain and suffering of a self inflicted disease.

WE ALL DESERVE TO  BE HEALTHY and it is possible for everyone!!

Need proof? Well go check out our testimional from Ted Larson, he has lost 27kg and is free from all heart and diabetes medication, avoided expensive lumbar spine surgery and is now an athlete cyclist at 49 years old.

For a diabetic and weight loss Slow Carb and High Fibre Diet Plan and mentoring session simply book in with Noni or Gez from Play Fitness on 1300 PLAYFIT or 0439 240 243.

Every day you put off getting healthy is just another day of pain!

Yours in happiness and health,

Noni Croft

Senior Trainer

Play Fitness

0439 240 243

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Holding onto a full bladder too often and for too long will cause extensive damage further down the track.

The pelvic floor muscles are like a hammock that sits in across your pelvis supporting your internal organs by lifting and compressing. Pregnancy, being overweight and aging will put strain on these muscles and create some rather tricky… and lets be honest awkward moments where wee comes out when its not meant to!!

It can happen during something as simple as sneezing, coughing or laughing or during exercise like skipping, running or weight training.

Most women are be told to do pelvic floor exercises after giving birth as these muscles have to hold immense amount of pressure for 9 months as well as in the last trimester having a little person sit, roll around and head butt them!

But its men also need to learn how to strengthen these muscles!! Men who hold on for too long or are overweight are at high risk of being incontinent at an early age.

The good news is that it is so easy to do and only requires learning how to and remembering to do it!

(Sorry the instructions are a tad graffic.. we’re all adults.. I hope.. try not to laugh at the explanations involving your rude parts!)

Do this every time you are on the toilet or waiting in traffic or laying down…(obviously don’t wee when your waiting for traffic or laying down that would just be silly!)

For Men:

A) Practice by holding urination mid-stream

B) Practice by imagining it is cold and you are ‘sucking your testicles up’

C) Practice by lifting the base of your genitals, shaft and anus up

For Women:

A) Practice by holding urination mid-stream

B) Practice by imagining you are lifting your internal vaginal canal and anus up

C) Practice by contracting as it would during/after climax/orgasm

It is also easy to make them work by squeezing your knees together while doing the above list!

Why?… Well have you ever noticed how little kids run up and ask for a toilet while they stand there squeezing their knees together!? It’s because it switches the pelvic floor on, lifts the bladder and prevents urination! How clever is the human body!!

So go on, switch them on right now!!!

Yours in health and happiness… and preventing little accidents.

Noni Croft

Breathe…

Oxygen… with out it we die! Remembering to breathe properly when you exercise is vital to get the best benefit! Wether you are doing cardio or resistance training if you fail to breath you’ll fail to achieve.

When you are strength training you shouldn’t be grunting or squealing to excess, if you are then unfortunately your not doing it right and in fact you could be doing damage!

By exhaling forcefully/breathing out at the top of any movement (Going UP in a squat, Pulling UP in a Chin Up, Pushing UP in a Push Up) when you do exercise switches your abs on, supports your back and strengthens your core.

If you’re swimming up on a squat, squirming up on a chin up or fall straight down on a push up then change your breathing, slow it all down, focus, control and breathe.

Correct breathing technique with Cardio exercise like boxing or running it vital for you to be able to keep going, avoid fatigue and avoid dizziness from lack of oxygen to your brain!

One of the reasons we hold our breath is because it stops pain messages getting to our brain!! That’s why women during labor try to hold their breath.. But it denies oxygen to them and the baby and that’s why they have to do funny breathing classes!!!!

When boxing you should aim to breathe out with every hit, yes you’ll sound like a little steam engine but you will get more power and much more benefit!

When running it is important to keep your shoulders back and your rib cage open, when people start to get tired and fatigue during a run their shoulders round forward and they start to hunch over, limiting the room in their chest cavity for their lungs to expand and take in oxygen which really defeats the purpose!!

It is also important to take breaths through your nose as frequently as possible, when running approximately every 4 breaths. The nose filters the air and makes it the right temperature for your lungs to absorb, oxygen taken through a gaping mouth will make your lungs burn and is not as readily absorbed.

Yes breathing is a science, its so easy to take for granted as it is done for us with out having to think about it!

Remember to breathe next time you train and see what a difference it makes to your performance!!

Yours in health, fitness and oxygen loving goodness.

Noni Croft

Well done to Blue team Phil, Lyn, Kate, Leona & Gez for winning the team challenge and team play Chicken! Great work Red team Jess, Brad, Josie, Lisa and Noni for the excellent team work in the ball tag game!

It was beautiful to see have everyone having fun, celebrating the rain and having a great giggle. A giant rainbow was in the sky as the sun started to shine again and everyone was so happy that they got up, got active and got to share in a gorgeous morning. Base ball in the heavy rain was halerious fun and every one was such great sports! Well done to both teams who both got a home run each!!

It feels great to be alive, to be able to appreciate the day and to give our bodies a big happy work out before the weekend ahead!

Bring on next week’s amazing work out!

Have a happy, healthy and successful Friday!

Noni and the Play Team x
Play- Fun, Fitness & Performance

So, there we all were on the beach on our hands and knees packing wet sand into 10-20kg hessian bags, all helping each other pick them up onto our backs to then race them up the steep stony cliff side of Point Cartwright hill. It may sound like hard work but there is beauty in all things. The beauty of it was the team mate comradery, everyone was so passionate about taking part, they were all cheering each other on, opponents supporting both sides and individuals making their mark for the good of the whole group.

The challenges’ theme was ‘Tsunami survival’, with the goal to build a pretend ‘drinking water well’ high above sea level. With imaginations sparked the challenge went amazingly, and even at the end when all energy resources were used up, every one still chipped in to run up again and bring all 20 bags heavy with sand back down to return the sand to the beach.

It stirred in me how lucky we are to have such strong able bodies and to only ever have to reenact a natural disaster. Makes you have a deep appreciation for your life, knowing that only days before an earth quake took the lives of millions of Haiti people in the Caribbean. A deep thankfulness for the life we have here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast was definitely inspired.

Just to have everyone all cheering each other along with such joyfulness, despite burning legs, lungs thirsting for oxygen and bodies covered in a sheen of perspiration, was powerful. Just the feeling your spirit gets from being with these amazing people is as beneficial as the incredible work out your body receives from taking part!

It is amazing that a group of people aged from 20’s to 50’s, who only see each other twice a week for Team play and who wouldn’t cross paths in the out side world are banded together like old friends during these work out sessions. It is the most beautiful experience to encounter when grown ups can laugh, have fun playing games and be part of something that is so simple yet so meaningful.

I give a huge thank you to all the Play Mates and Play team for an inspiration morning. And encourage you to celebrate all the wonderful things you have in your life, not to take anything for granted and not to miss out on any opportunity to have fun and live to the fullest. You are all incredible people.

Yours in health and happiness,

Noni Croft
Play- Fun, Fitness & Performance

Acute stress is the energy rush, the excitement, the butterflies. Chronic stress is the lethargy, sadness, depleted, exhausted feeling. The hormones that control stress are secreted from the endocrine system and create the ‘fight or flight response’. The two basic hormones are Noradrenalin (good – energizing, anti-inflammatory, boosts immune system) and Cortisol (bad– stress, anxiety, increases fat storage, suppresses immune system). During prolonged times of stress due to loss, grief, fear, boredom, anger and poor management of these feelings lead to stress, anxiety and depression. All which make you feel empty, sad, lost, unwell and unhappy.

On a physiological (inside your body) level it is the depletion of your adrenal glands which secrete these hormones which is the actual cause of stress symptoms mentioned above. Depletion can also be caused by caffeine, poor nutrition (over eating/bingeing/starving/poor nutrients), sleep deprivation, medication and physical or mental trauma. So the question is how do we increase good stress and what are the skills and tools to prevent, recover and cope with stress, anxiety and depression!?

Heal through exercise that strengthens, increases fitness and releases good stress and happy endorphins.
Learn to laugh, take time to laugh and be at peace.

Practice good nutrition, increase omega 3 intake, avoid stimulants like caffeine in coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks, drugs, cigarettes and depressants like alcohol.
Participate in counseling relative to your level of stress and cause.
Learn about changing your limiting beliefs and have a positive attitude and mindset every day.

Appreciate what you do have. Look from a different perspective on your situation and try to find the positive lessons that can be learnt from our traumatic experiences. A loss of a friend means we had a friend to lose, cherish the memories that we get to create with them, celebrate the life we got to share with them and know that we can now have a deeper appreciation of the circle of life and death.

Stress, anxiety and depression is not all in your head, it is the result of your full body being at dis-ease! It is your over worked adrenal glands, your depleted immune system and your unhappy state of mind from a combination of external stressors (eg. Trauma, caffeine, lifestyle, poor nutrition, attitude).
If you believe yourself or someone you know is suffering from stress, anxiety or depression please feel free to contact me for more help.

Ph: 0439 240 243
E: play@playfitness.com.au

Yours in health, happiness and success.
Noni Croft

Original content researched and written from experience by Noni Croft for Play—Fun, Fitness & Performance

There really isn’t such thing as good or bad.. just how you maybe ‘seeing’ things to be.

Every thing happens for a reason
Your perception of the world is just that.. it’s yours alone and it is only a perception. If you have a disagreement with some one in your life then you’re both right….and you’re both wrong too. It depends on what standards and beliefs you both have, which may be complete worlds apart. Can you call them wrong for having different beliefs to yours? No. You can learn to appreciate that the world doesn’t tick to your or anyone else’s clock and that life is full of ups and downs, lessons and pain, love and joy. Choose to be a deeper and more intune human by accepting other people’s views and not forcing yours on the world.

Opt to take the good with the bad, and more importantly learn to celebrate!!! Do you have hundreds of dollars worth of bills pouring into your letter box.. then CELEBRATE! Electricity bill? Excellent.. I loved being able to have a hot shower on those rainy mornings, to make my breakfast with ease, and have my food stay nice and cold in the fridge. Rent due? I am so lucky to have a roof over my head, a comfortable space to call home and a warm bed to snuggle into at night. Car rego? Wow I have a car that I get to drive wherever I want, whenever I want. I don’t have to ride a goat or walk for miles just to go to where I want to be. Don’t take your life for granted. When you have to ‘pay bills’ you are actually investing in your life. You are investing in your happiness! If you had the luxuries you have at the moment taken away from you like hot water, fridge, soft bed or a car to drive then I am sure you would give anything to have them back…Bills and all!!!.

Don’t waste your life waiting for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain.

Love, peace and happiness,

Noni Croft
Play – Fun, Fitness & Performance