Here is my Valentines Day recipe for Sparkling Wine and Grape Jellies:

It serves 4, so you will have a couple spare for another day.

Ingredients:

15g caster sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1tbspn water
3 tbspn grape juice (hot)
10g powdered gelatine
550ml sweet sparkling wine
200g seedless red & white mixed grapes (halved)
small bunches of whole grapes to garnish

Method

1. Dissolve the sugar in a saucepan in the lemon juice & water.

2. Put the hot grape juice into a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over it.
Leave for 5 minutes (the gelatine should have dissolved, if not, set it over a pan of just-boiled water until it does.)

3. Pour the wine into a large bowl, add the sugar mixture & the gelatine mixture and combine thoroughly.

4. Arrange the grapes in 4 dessert gasses, then pour equal amounts of jelly mixture into each.
Chill and when half set, stir to distribute the grapes.

5. Continue to chill the jellies until set, and serve garnished with the mini grape bunches draped over the edge of the glasses.

They look and taste really special and are a lovely light dessert to finish off a romantic meal – will definitely impress.

You could use small strawberries in place of the grapes if you want to, which also look nice.

How Does Coconut Oil Help with Weight Loss?

The oil that comes from coconuts is a saturated fat made up of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA). It was thought that saturated fat caused heart disease but research is now showing that all saturated fats are not the same. Most of what is eaten in a normal diet is made up of long chain fatty acids (LCFA). When LCFAs are consumed they turn directly into fat. On the other hand, when medium chain fatty acids such as coconut oil are consumed, the body converts the lauric acid found in it into monolaurin. Monolaurin is metabolized by the liver for energy resulting in more calories burned. So you can see that one chain of fatty acids, the LCFA’s are stored in the body as fat while the other, the MCFA’s are used for burning up energy.

Low thyroid function can also be helped by coconut oil.  The thyroid helps to regulate metabolism in the body, so if the thyroid is not functioning properly, this can lead to weight gain.  Coconut oil can help to regulate the thyroid and in some cases has resulted in some people who were taking medication for hypothyroidism to be able to reduce or eliminate the amount of medication they need.

Coconut oil also helps the liver to metabolise fats more efficiently having a beneficial effect on the whole body, resulting in less fat being stored in the body.

It is clear that including coconut oil in your diet to help with weight loss can only be a positive thing to do as it has clear health benefits as well as helping you to achieve your goals of having a slimmer body.

Here are my Top 10 Slimming Tips:

1. Write down everything that passes your lips.  If you can see in black and white exactly what you have eaten and drunk during the day, then you cannot fool yourself.  It is very easy to not count all the little things that you consume during the day – a can of cola, a couple of your childs sweets, a nibble at some leftovers.  All of these things count and are often unnecessary calories.

2. Don’t cut out all of your favourite foods all of the time. If you deny yourself the occasional treat and never get to eat the things you enjoy, you will begin to crave them, which will inevitably lead to a binge.  Still have your favourite things, but in much smaller quantities and less often.  eg. a couple of squares of dark chocolate will satisfy any cravings for something sweet and is actually good for you.  Buy low fat versions of cheese, crisps and anything else that is available.

3. Always use scales in the kitchen. It is very easy to deceive yourself into thinking you are not eating too much, but by measuring out your portions you know exactly how much you are getting and can cut down to a more suitable quantities for losing weight.

4. Treat yourself to some new clothes.When you have dropped a size or two, buy yourself something new. You will be reminded just what you have achieved so far and will keep you motivated to carry on.  Get rid of your old, big sizes.

5. Eat a good breakfast. This will kick-start your metabolism for the day. Recent research has shown that eating eggs for breakfast could result in a 2lb a month weight loss.

6. Do some exercise every day. Try and incorporate some activity into your daily routine – go for a brisk walk in your lunch break, walk to work or to take the kids to school, always take the stairs, not the lift, go for a swim, to the gym or an exercise class. If you don’t like formal exercise, put more effort into daily chores like housework, gardening etc.  You can easily burn some extra calories in this way and help to tone up your body.

7. Have the right mindset.You must want to lose weight for you.  Keep focused on why you are doing this. Before you eat anything, stop and ask yourself “Do I really need this?”. If you are not really hungry, then do not eat it. There are techniques you can learn to reprogram your mind to help you to resist temptation.

8. Stick a photo on the fridge of somewhere you will be going in the future. Maybe you have got a holiday planned, so stick a photo of the place you are going, to remind yourself of why you want to look good.  Perhaps you have got an invitation to a special party or wedding – stick that on the fridge or maybe you are getting married yourself. A constant reminder staring you in the face will help to keep you motivated and save you from temptation.

9. Don’t forget that drinks count. It is very easy to forget that drinks contain a lot of empty calories, particularly alcoholic drinks, sodas and fizzy drinks. Drink water as much as possible, cut down on sugar in tea and coffee and limit alcoholic drinks.

10. Don’t give up! Everyone has bad days – it happens to us all!  Just get straight back on track and limit the damage. Don’t beat yourself up about it if you lapse, it’s not the end of the world – tomorrow’s another day.

I’m sure you have lots of slimming tips of your own, these are just a few of my favourites, which when put into action can really help you to shed those pounds.

What you eat, your levels of activity and your lifestyle can have an effect on your body.

Take this test to find out whether the calendar age you are is  a true reflections of your REAL age.

Click here to find out your real age

I just did the test and I am almost two years younger than my actual calendar age – so pretty good, though there is still some room for improvement.

See how you get on.  You will be able to see at the end how you can make changes to your diet and lifestyle to help you to live a longer and healthier life.

Take the real age test here

Check out this article from The Daily Mail which tells of studies done which show that your metabolism slows down when you are sleep-deprived.

Weight Gain Caused by Lack of Sleep

Interesting reading for all you night owls!

 How many times have you actually stuck to your diet and achieved your weight loss goal?

 My guess is that your answer to question 1 will be “many, many times”.

And your answer to question 2 will be “never!”

 I know because those are my answers too and also the answers of thousands and thousands of other people.  Research shows that between 95% and 98% of all diets fail.

Why is this?  Usually because we set ourselves unattainable goals and start our diets with a huge list of forbidden foods which leaves us feeling deprived and frustrated.   So of course we start to crave for the forbidden foods and eventually give in and end up gorging on what we feel we are missing out on.

But, in fact, all foods can be consumed as part of a healthy lifestyle as long as you eat them in moderation and vary your diet to suit your individual needs.

 To lose weight sensibly you need to take these four points into consideration:

 Be Realistic. Don’t set your goals too high. Concentrate on making small changes one step at a time. Small changes are more likely to last than major changes.

 Add Variety and be Adventurous. Don’t eat the same foods day after day.  Try out new foods and expand your tastes.  This will help to stop you getting bored with what you are eating – variety is the spice of life, so make sure you get plenty of variety.

 Be Flexible. Make sure that you eat regularly and choose your food wisely.  If you are out of your normal routine make the healthiest choices you can and include some sort of physical exercise every day.

 Be Sensible. Enjoy all foods and drinks, but have smaller quantities. You do not have to deprive yourself completely, but if you struggle to resist something just buy a small size of it so that you will not be tempted to finish off the whole lot, and enjoy it without feeling guilty.

Stick to these four points and you will soon see that losing weight sensibly is the only way forward. It may not be a quick fix like many fad diets claim to be, but if you follow this plan you will achieve your weight loss goals and change your life for good.

I hope you enjoy this short video which gives some very effective exercises for toning your arms.  I’m a big fan of pilates and go to classes a couple of times a week.  I find that it really does help to keep me toned.

 Here are my best breakfast foods for sensible weight loss:

 1. Whole grain cereals.  These are a good way to start your day as they will keep you full until lunchtime. Add skimmed or semi-skimmed milk and top with some fresh fruit if you like.  Make sure you choose low-sugar varieties though and watch your portion size.

 2. Egg and soldiers.  A boiled or poached egg with some wholegrain toast, spread with a little reduced fat spread or some marmite which will cut down the calories.  Eggs are highly nutritious and quite low in calories and saturated fat, wholegrain toast will fill you up.

 3. A smoothie. You can get imaginative and creative with a smoothie and add all sorts of healthy things.  My favourite is made with fresh or frozen mixed berries, cranberry juice, whey protein powder and a slug of flax oil.  This is absolutely packed with all sorts of very healthy ingredients and I find that it keeps me going until lunchtime.  Smoothies can also be made with any fresh fruit and mixed with yoghurt.

4.  Porridge/oatmeal. This is the ultimate healthy breakfast, especially when topped with some fresh fruitas it keeps you going all morning.

5.  Fresh fruit salad topped with a dollop of natural bio yoghurt. This is packed with lots of vitamins and nutrients to give you a great start to the day.

6.  If you really can’t face too much breakfast, then a couple of slices of wholegrain toast, spread thinly with some low-fat spread or a little honey and topped with a banana is a good, healthy option.

7.  If you really are in a hurry and genuinely haven’t got time to sit down and eat breakfast – don’t be tempted to skip it all together.  Grab a banana, a wholegrain breakfast/cereal bar or a ready-made protein shake or meal replacement drink.

 Make sure that you make the effort to include breakfast in your morning routine, it really is essential if you are serious about following a sensible weight loss plan.  Try some of my favourite best breakfast foods and be inventive to come up with some of your own which are both healthy and nutritious and share them with us.

Emotions can be deadly.

At least when it comes to eating.

And the VAST majority of us are “emotional eaters.” And that leads to excess bodyfat.

We eat when we are stressed-out.

We eat when we are overly happy.

We eat when we are depressed.

And when you eat like this you can kiss your fatloss goodbye.

There’s a 4-minute video that I want you to watch today.

It is touching, funny, and very powerful all at the same time.

And it will help you come to terms with emotional eating.

Go here -

Emotional Eating

P.S. This is a very unique video. I know you will love it.  And I KNOW you will benefit from it.

Please share this with others too.

Emotional Eating

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time.

Fitness pro Jon Benson released a bombshell last week on the fat-burning world.

He is giving away a book’s worth of material in his freee 7-Day Personal Fat Loss Certification Course.

Freee… and get this:  Anyone who completes the course gets his book “The Radical Fatloss Blueprint” freee as well.

So there’s nothing to buy at all… in fact you get tons of freee stuff AND you can even earn bucks in the program.

It’s just too cool for words.

So go see it for yourself:

Free Fatloss course and book

Here is a short review:

The Course is for anyone who wants to become their own “personal” fatloss expert. It is complete with a quiz each day and more material than most people sell in a book… and it’s totally freee.

After the course, you get his “Radical Fatloss Blueprint” freee too. This is all about how he and a group of “guinea pigs” experimented with natural techniques and got up to 21 lbs of unwanted bodyfat off in just 21 days.

The average was 17.5, but some people got as much as 30 lbs off.

All with little to no muscle lost.

It then outlines the ‘exact’ workout and supplement “feeding” schedule Jon still uses to get into top shape in 21 days.

This is down to the ‘hour’… and it includes home workouts or gym workouts. Your choice.

This is his gift to my readers, and I am thrilled to share it with you.

Here you go:

Free Fatloss course and book

Enjoy the course!