September 2017
- A shiny new website
- Healthy Seasonal Recipe: Super easy cucumber gazpacho
- Article: Anxiety, why worry?
- And Finally… Leith Festival needs you
Hello healthy people,
It’s here… After twelve years of having a highly informative (perhaps overly wordy) website, we’ve got with the times and modernised our web presence. Check it out at www.griffenfitness.com with lots of Coco photos for you.
Autumn is a gorgeous month for walking and cycling – and good luck to all doing the Tour O the Borders bike ride this weekend.
Super easy cucumber gazpacho recipe
I love this soup. It’s so easy, tasty, healthy and reminds me of summer… Not only delicious, cucumbers have a unique nutritional profile, including the rather wonderfully named cucurbitacins (which apparently are a defense against herbivores!). Keep the skin on for maximum goodness and greenness. Serves two.
1 cucumber, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 yellow or orange pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
Couple spring onions, chopped
Clove garlic, chopped
150mL natural yoghurt
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh herbs to garnish
Green tobacco sauce to taste
– So easy, pop everything in the blender (except last two ingredients). Zizz until smooth.
– Refrigerate until cold, stir again if soup has separated.
– Serve with fresh herbs, a dollop of yoghurt and tobasco to taste (pictured with nastursium petals and oregano flower).
Article: Anxiety, why worry?
Do you worry? I do. There’s so much in the world that can be worried about, but it’s much easier not to. If you have anxiety, it seems impossible not to worry. If you understand more about the neurological root of anxiety, it can help explain.
Here’s a quote from Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, a rather excellent book by Prof Robert M Sapolsky who specialises in behaviour in primates (and now how the stress response affects humans):
“Anxiety is about dread and foreboding and your imagination running away with you. Much as with depression, anxiety is rooted in a cognitive distortion. In this case, people prone towards anxiety overestimate risks and the likelihood of a bad outcome.”
Many people are anxious about exercise – Can I do it? Will I look silly? Will it hurt? Having experienced anxiety myself, I can definitely help you if you’re feeling worried about getting in shape… Regular exercise can help alleviate anxiety, just getting out the door is the trick.
If you’d like to learn more about how stress affects the body and mind, I highly recommend the Zebra book. If you’re worried that stress is negatively affecting your health and fitness, drop me a line, I can help.
And Finally… Leith Festival Parade
I’ve recently got involved with Leith Festival and we’re already looking at how we can make next summer’s festival AWESOME. Firstly, by growing the Gala day parade, which leaves from Pilrig Park and wanders down to Leith Links, to Gala day. Would you like to join in the parade? We’re looking for local community and interest groups to get involved. Drop me a line!
Have a happy and healthy September,
🙂 tracy