Archive for the 'Health' Category

Celebrating 100 years of ‘keep fit’, health care organisation Benenden brought their new video to my attention and asked if I’d share it with you folks. I love the way they captured exercise trends through the ages, complete with fun hair and make-up! I thought it was a great opportunity to tell you about one of my favourite ways to keep fit which I never knew was actually a 1950s trend – Hula Hooping!

My Nan and Grandad used to have a hula hoop hung on the wall in their yard and I loved playing with it, although I could never keep the hoop going for longer than a few turns. Fast forward over 20 years(!!) and now I know why! Haha. Kids’ hula hoops are missing one important ingredient to good hooping skills – they’re not weighted!

Now I’ve got myself a weighted hula hoop I can keep momentum going for hundreds of turns and it’s still just as fun as when I was a kid, except now I have my own house I can hula hoop anywhere, including my own living room. I love how easy it is to fit into your daily routine.

My favourite ways to fit hula hooping into the modern day are:

// As my five minute break during the Pomodoro Technique

// While catching up on shows on Netflix

// Dancing along to a new record on the record player

// While waiting for my lunch to cook in the oven

I love making keep fit, fun – especially when it’s convenient too! Which is your favourite exercise era?
Loves x xx

A couple of weeks ago Currys invited me out to try their range of Juicers, an alternative to smoothie making where you only get the juice from the ingredients with no pulp. Since I’ve just joined the gym and I’m trying to improve my health I thought it was a pretty good idea to try before I thought about buying!

Super awesome bonus was I got to hang out with Daisy from Prettygreentea for the day. We met at the Blognix event in Birmingham last year and I just love having a blogging buddy that is so into business like I am. Working for yourself can be lonely at times, so I really enjoyed sharing some ideas with Daisy over a Chai Tea at Bundobust (recommended!) before we headed down to play with juicers!

My first impression of the juicers were that they were huge! We have a tiny blender that I use for smoothies and milkshakes so the juicers looked like giants in comparison – I really wouldn’t have the space to keep one on our worktop.

The first juice we tried included ginger, cucumber, apples, carrots and beetroot. Beetroot?! It was surprisingly tasty and not too sweet. I would never have thought of including those ingredients.
We then got to make up our own recipes and I loved how easy it was to use the juicers; you can literally toss fruit in there, whole (except oranges – they need peeling, and any stoned fruit needs the stones removed).

My recipe was lime, pineapple, cucumber and apple and it came out vibrantly green and soooo tasty, oh my! I think lime is my absolute key juice ingredient. Here’s a few tips I learned:

// Even though you can throw in whole fruits I cut my apple in half and would recommend that you peel away the lime skin if you don’t like a bitter taste to your juice.

// You can add supplements to your juice by popping in a spoon of chia seeds for extra protein or a splash of flaxseed oil that can help with skin complaints like eczema and psoriasis.

// It’s much better for you, especially if you’re dieting, to make a juice from vegetables as fruits contain a lot of natural sugars. For more nutritional advice you can head to NutriShan.

On the whole I really liked the juice and the variety of flavours you can whip up. I loved the simplicity and I think I would really enjoy drinking a fresh juice everyday as opposed to a smoothie or milkshake… or even as well as. However I think the size of the juicer (and the price!) puts me off, at least until I can get a bit more organised at home! You can read more about our day over at the Curry’s Blog!

Have you tried juicing? Or do you prefer the more traditional smoothie?
Loves x xx