The Urban Trainer Blog - UK

Many of us choose this fruit as a healthy snack. Yes, I said fruit; so I thought it time to take a closer look. Sunflower seeds are actually the fruit of the sunflower and when the hull is taken off you are left with a kernel. The plant grew wild in North America and was originally used by the native Indians, the first patent for squeezing oil from the plant was in 1716 in England, and the commercial varieties were developed in Russia an imported back to the US in the 19th Century. So sunflower seeds, and sunflower oil have been in use for a long time, it is not surprising then that the sunflower seed is small in size and big on nutritional content. Read more »

Learning how to relax is an important part of de-stressing. Exercising is a great way to do this. The main thing to make sure is that it’s kept simple and you enjoy it.

Here are some tips at how you can help to reduce overall stress. Read more »

We all know fruit and vegetables are good for you, and you’ve all probably heard of the campaign ‘5 a Day!’ encouraging us to consume five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, but it’s not always obvious as to how these five should be made up. Fruit and vegetables need to be consumed, along with a variety of other quality foods, to ensure you’re obtaining adequate amounts of all the vitamins and minerals (collectively known as ‘micronutrients’) necessary for optimal health. Different fruits and veg are higher in different micronutrients; for example, oranges are packed with vitamin C, carrots are high in vitamin A, leafy green veg contains iron, bananas provide potassium, and so on. Read more »