I did some exercise yesterday and thus ended the fitness dry spell I’ve been enjoying for well over half a decade. I can account for around three years of that dry spell (pregnancy, new baby, pregnancy, new baby) but I’m not quite sure what I was doing for the years at either end. I think…
OK, so it’s not a snack drawer, more of a lunchbox. In fact most of the time my various snacks are to be found scattered randomly across my desk, which is why I have to regularly hoover my laptop keyboard to rid it of crumbs! But here’s a little delve into my daily snacks – the…
Things that told me I desperately needed to start thinking about my post-partum health and fitness (10 months down the line, so about time): I ate so many Magnums, and banged on about my Magnum-eating so much on Twitter, Magnum actually sent me a whole box filled with loyal-Magnum-eater chocolate stuff I almost had a…
After last week’s Sleeplessness post I tried to make some serious changes to my bedtime routine. Thank you, by the way, for all of your amazing comments – I was really rather touched that so many of you took the time to share your experiences and give advice. And as last week’s post was so well-read, I…
Recently I wrote about my new healthy eating tips, or rules, that were part of my general diet overhaul. After a rather extended “babymoon”, in which I had been eating incredibly naughty things with the excuse that I needed extra calories for breastfeeding, I decided that enough was enough. The handfuls of Haribo and nightly chocolate ice-cream were all fun…
Two years ago I made a video with my Five Basic Diet Tips. The tips were just common sense, really; eating fresh, unprocessed food, eating when you’re hungry and stopping when full, that kind of thing. They weren’t diet tips in the “dieting” sense (I’m definitely not a dieting person), more the “healthy attitude to eating” way –…
Okay, I’m holding my hands up and admitting defeat on this one: my pregnancy blog, The Uphill, is still not completely finished. But I feel as though I’ll have given birth by the time I’ve twaddled about with it to the point where I’m completely happy, so here I am throwing the doors open wide and…
Something I’m slightly embarrassed to admit, as a keen-ish cook: until yesterday I had a complete aversion to separating eggs. You know, when you crack the shell and then pour the yolk from side to side, attempting to keep it whole and unbroken whilst the gloopy, snot-like whites fall miraculously into a waiting bowl? That. A…
I must tell you that I get thoroughly confused when it comes to supplements. No longer is a simple multivitamin enough; a new superfood or magical health-improving tablet seems to be added to the long list of nutritional “must-haves” every week. And I used to be really sceptical about them, until I saw the benefits…
A quick throw-together recipe for a goat’s cheese, cherry tomato and basil penne dish – or, as I like to call it, Fridge Scraps Pasta. The first name is probably more appetising, but it seems only fair to refer to this recipe as to what it really is, which is a hunger-panicked chuck-it-all-in-the-pan affair. I seem…
Two weeks ago I attempted to start running. I say “attempted” because I did two runs and then realised that I was totally and utterly unequipped to take on the challenge. As a total non-runner, I had thought that just sticking on some trainers and downloading an iPhone app would be the answer to all…
1) As part of my new fitness drive, I have tried to kickstart my running “mission”. There will be a post next week about some of my…er…mishaps, but I just wanted to tell you about the iPhone app I’ve been using. It’s called “Couch to 5k” and I’m pretty sure that some of you lovely…
I’ve been trying to cut down my bread intake. Which isn’t too much of a faff, apart from the fact that in the mornings I do tend to rely on being able to pop a couple of slices of wholegrain into the toaster and spread on some butter and honey. I can live without bread at any…
And so, when I had only just got my head around the idea of juicing, something else was thrown into the mix: blending. As in smoothies. (But not the mango and papaya sweet-as-you-like things you can buy with your croissants in the morning; we’re talking very green and very healthy smoothies, here. Spinach and spring greens and avocados and blended-up…
After three days of relentless face-stuffing in Paris, I am well and truly ready to kickstart my healthy eating plan again. Actually, there is no plan and there never really has been – I just try to not eat platefuls of pasta and macaroons and huge baguettes filled with jambon et fromage – but I have a few…
I’m getting right into my brews, I am. Herbal brews, that is – I’ve never once had a “normal” tea, the type that you have with milk and sugar. I’ve never had a coffee either, for that matter; hot drinks just didn’t ever appeal to me when I was growing up and then, when I…
I expect by the time you’re reading this all chocolate will have been devoured – I haven’t yet started on my own egg, which is a smallish Cadbury’s Creme number. Once I get started, I find it best to eat the whole lot in one go – egg and ‘bonus’ confectionary. If you limit it…
Just before Christmas I was doing a lot of reading about oils. Not facial or body oils, this time, but cooking oils. I have always used Olive Oil for absolutely all of my cooking needs, thinking that it was by far the healthiest and most convenient choice, but over the last couple of months I…