Apr 21
How would like to eat anything you want, except for thursdays? What sounds too good to be true, has taken France by storm. Today, more than 1.5 million French women swear by its dramatic - and long-lasting - slimming results. Politicians, film stars and high-profile models, including Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Lopez, live the Dukan life, all of them seduced by its promise of the ultimate dieters dream - permanent slenderness while eating what you like. Now this great French dietary secret is coming to Britain, with the launch next month of an English version of the Dukan Diet. The Dukan Diet is, in fact, four very different eating programmes that each follow on from the other. It starts with a dramatic and rapid weight loss, and leads on into a structured, but simple long-term, real-food regime that ensures you never regain the weight you’ve lost. The crucial element that links the four stages is the days spent eating nothing but protein. It may sound similar to Atkins, but the Dukan Diet is very different. Protein days are used for crucial strategic effect at each stage of the diet, and dieters are urged to stay clear of butter and oil that forms one of the mainstays of the Atkins regime. Have you tried it?
Apr 20
Adam Mead, dietitian at Kingston Hospital in London, says: ‘The mantra“five a day” refers to variety as much as quantity — in particular you need to buy as varied colours as possible, each colour representing different health-boosting antioxidants and nutrients that work in synergy with each other. ‘For instance, vitamin C in fruit boosts the absorption of iron from any green leafy vegetables such as spinach, or even red meat. ‘Make sure you’re getting the full spectrum of colours in your basket — think of traffic lights: something green, something orange and something red’
Apr 14
What is your favourite way to start your day? Many would agree that a good, solid breakfast is the best way to a productive day. But what’s on your plate? Let’s what other countries dish up in the morning: Britain: The Full English Breakfast, or “fry-up”, undoubtedly a rather unhealthy option, will typically consist of fried or grilled bacon, baked beans, fried bread, black pudding, eggs, sausges, mushrooms, tomatoes, english muffins and hash browns. Ingredients can vary. 
A fried full English can have up to a whopping 3,000 calories. Germany: A typical German breakfast (Frühstück) falls somewhere between what we’d call a deli platter and a continental breakfast. Cold meats (including their famous sausages) and cheeses are served along side a variety of breads and sweet toppings like jam, marmalade and honey. Soft-boiled eggs, cereal and fruit would round out a large breakfast. 
While cold cuts of meat isn’t everyone’s idea of a breakfast and may be hard to stomach, the German breakfast certainly holds less calories and healthier foods than a fry-up. Japan: A traditional Japanese breakfast consists of steamed rice, miso soup, and various side dishes. Common side dishes are broiled/grilled fish, tamagoyaki (rolled omelet), onsen tamago, tsukemono pickles, seasoned nori (dried seaweed), natto, and so on. Ultimately coming out as a very healthy way to start your day.
Oct 23
There are many dieting fads, from drinking lemon water to eating cabbage soup. While low calorie diets work for most people, they are quite dangerous. In contrast, very fatty diets like the Atkins diet which includes a lot of meat, can prove unhealthy too.
it has long been blamed for causing nightmares. But cheese may also give you a dream figure.
A diet packed with cheese and other dairy products helps with weight loss, a study found.
Australian slimmers were put on low-calorie diets which included varying amounts of cheese, yoghurt and low-fat milk.
Those who increased their daily servings of dairy products from three to five lost the most weight.
They also had lower blood pressure, the least tummy fat and ’significantly improved’ their chances of avoiding heart disease and diabetes.
The researchers, from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, said that although dairy products are widely perceived as being fatty, they have a place in the slimmer’s shopping basket.
Sep 04
Sounds like a miracle but could become reality soon!
The wonder drug would also protect against diabetes, liver disease and other debilitating conditions associated with unhealthy eating habits.
The breakthrough hinges on the discovery of a metabolism ‘masterswitch’ - a gene key to weight control.
Mice lacking the gene, known as IKKE, stay slim despite being fed a lard-based diet.
The ‘knock-out’ mice also free of the liver problems associated with a junk food diet and appear to be protected against diabetes, the journal Cell reports.
Researcher Alan Saltiel said: ‘We’ve studied other genes associated with obesity - we call them “obesogenes” - but this is the first one we’ve found that, when deleted, stops the animal from gaining weight.
‘The fact that you can disrupt all the effects of the high fat diet by deleting this one gene in mice is pretty interesting and surprising.’
It is thought that the gene makes enzymes called kinases that help regulate metabolism.
Removing the gene - and the kinases - speeds up metabolism, leading to more calories being burnt.
Dr Saltiel said: ‘Perhaps most interestingly, the mice burn more calories even though they aren’t eating any less or exercising any more.’
Apr 01
I’m not a fan of dieting hollywood stars. Most of them seem to take things too far, too many times.
One detox diet heavily promoted by Beyonce is the lemon detox drink. Whilst a body detox can be incredibly healthy and healing, surviving only on a mixture of water, pure lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and Natural Maple
Syrup, sounds horrific.
Enduring this for 14 days seems rather cruel! Anyway, here’s the recipe:
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon. Do not use concentrate or a drink mix.
2 tablespoons of Organic or natural maple syrup. Again, no maple flavored syrups.
1/10th of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, more or less to taste.
May 09
I love it. For me, it’s the perfect spring/summer snack. It’s light, virtually no calories and 92% of it is water. Simply delicious and helps you to stay hydrated.
I’d love to grow my own watermelons, but I haven’t really looked into the whole process of planting and growing them.
For now, I’ll just get some from the shop. Easier and less messy.
Here’s a yummy watermelon recipe I found on watermelon.org:
Watermelon Cherry Mojito
3 fresh mint sprigs, chopped
1/4 cup watermelon puree
1 tsp cherry syrup
3 Tablespoons fresh limejuice
2 oz light rum
Chilled sparkling water
1 sugar cane stirrer
1 lime wedge
Using a fork, press the mint with the back of a fork to coat the inside of the glass and leave it in the glass. Add the watermelon puree, cherry syrup, limejuice and rum. Stir well. Top with ice. Top-off the glass with sparkling water or club soda. Add the sugar cane stirrer and lime wedge to the glass and serve. Serves 1.
Apr 14
Hot right now are grapes, avocados, pineapples, limes, easy peel citrus.
Frozen grapes - I’ve been anxiously waiting for winter to pass to try this, quite summery food. I think this will make an excellent snack this spring/summer: toss your grapes in the freezer and eat them once they are frozen.
Avocados - not just temporarily hot… I eat all year round. Mainly in sandwiches or salads. They are yum and full of nutritional goodness.
Pineapples - I love em’. One of the healthiest foods you can eat. Try them as a salsa or make a Pizza “Hawaii”.
Limes - supposedly fantastic for detoxifying the body. I have yet to try them and I’m really curious.
Easy peel citrus - makes a great snack but too much of those make me sick.
