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Fashion Innovation Awards 2013

Jo Lavelle — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:56:58 +0000

The Fast Diet!

Jo Lavelle — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:01:14 +0000

The Fast Diet

It’s the diet that so many are talking about. Restrict your calories two days a week and eat normally the rest of the time and hey presto, the weight will fall off. We put the The Fast Diet to the test and also caught up with one of the authors of the book behind the dietary plan. Gráinne McMahon meets Mimi Spencer, who explains the rationale behind intermittent fasting.

Mimi, why do you think The Fast Diet has created so much talk?

First, in short, it works. It is also popular and successful because you only ever restrict calories for part of the time. This means that it is mentally not too taxing, and it will fit into a normal, sociable life.

And you only eat 500 calories two days of the week?

500 calories is not exact. It is simply an approximation of what has worked in trials and in practice. You should severely restrict your calorie intake two days a week, but allow yourself enough sustenance and, crucially, protein, to get through the day in relative comfort and with a decent amount of nutrition. It is not a magic number, but people do need to have a strategy with a clear boundary.

How soon can dieters expect to see noticeable results?

A healthy weight loss expectation would be 1–2 pounds per week. Some weeks you’ll lose weight quickly, others, you may plateau. It is a diet for life, so go easy, go slow and take the long view.

What will happen if I ever start eating normally again?!

You may put weight back on. You may not. Everyone’s metabolism is different. But if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. Simple thermodynamics!

How do you manage hunger on the fast days?

In the early days, hunger can be challenging. Try to embrace it, understand that it is short-lived and that you are doing yourself a favour by steering clear of food for a short period. Hunger is actually not at all scary, you won’t pass out! The fasting is only partial as you are still taking in calories on a fast day. If hunger really is a problem, you may include a snack to get you through such as half an apple or a handful of almonds.

What are the best days to diet?

Both Michael and I like fasting on Monday and Thursday. They seem to be the days that work for us. They’re non-consecutive, which may help psychologically, though there’s no reason not to do them back-to-back, and they’re not the most social days of the week.

What about the temptation to eat badly on non-fast days?

Try to eat normally and well on a non-fast day. Lots of people find that their appetite changes over time and they begin to eat more healthily and mindfully on non-fast days. It’s hard to drastically over-compensate by over-eating on a non-fast day. Studies have shown that the ‘overeat’ would generally only amount to 10-15% extra on those days, which still leaves you with a substantial weekly caloric deficit.

Mimi’s top five foods to eat on fasting days:

-Eggs to start the day

-Plants, mostly vegetables, should make up the bulk of the rest of your calories – you can eat a lot of green leafy vegetables or salads for very few calories.

-Plant proteins like nuts or lentils are great fillers.

-White fish is another fast day food that many people rely on.

-Some fruits are more fast-friendly than others. Strawberries are low cal and low GI.

Our Verdict:

I’d read lots about The Fast Diet and as I’m always on a quest to find a weight loss solution that works, this sounded too good to be true. But with my wedding coming up next year, I was determined to shed that spare tyre once and for all. I picked two days a week where I wouldn’t be socialising too much – Mondays and either Wednesdays or Thursdays. Those days I stuck to the diet, loaded up on black tea or herbal tea and water and had porridge with blueberries for my breakfast (no milk, but I don’t like the stuff anyway). Then nothing until dinner. That was tough. Dinner never involved more than steamed fish with vegetables and then it was more herbal tea until bedtime. When I was about to reach for that chocolate bar, I found the power to say no as I could eat it the following day. The mornings after I fasted I felt thinner and lighter. After two weeks I’d lost 3lbs. My verdict? The diet works, especially, if like me, you’re not into the gym.

The Fast Diet by Mimi Spencer and Dr Michael Mosley is published by Short Books Ltd.

Fashion Innovation Awards 2013 Winners!

Laurq — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:51:54 +0000

Congratulations to all of the winning designers for 2013! Check out our Events section above for all details of the winners. Pictures of all the style and glamour of the night to follow soon!

Honeymoon Hotspots

Grainne McMahon — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:47:11 +0000

As owner and Managing Director of Host PR, Ireland’s only dedicated hospitality and travel PR company, Tim Magee travels a lot. By his own admission, probably too much. Last year alone saw him travel 81,000 kilometres and spend 234 hotel nights in 33 hotels in 21 countries. For many, splashing out on a honeymoon is one of the most lavish expenditures in a lifetime so it’s important to get it right. Travel expert Tim shares his top honeymoon destinations this year and lets us in on his own adventures post wedding.

Farol Design Hotel, Cascais and Estoril

The most consistently best value for money destination I can suggest for everything from setting yourself at gas mark four on a sun bed with a boat drink, to culture, to food, to amazing wine, is the area in the sunny twin suburbs outside of Lisbon, Cascais and Estoril. And for a honeymoon, the Miami-esque Farol Design Hotel is as private as it is cool. The Farol is a bouquet throw from the gorgeous lighthouse it’s named after. Surrounded by candy-striped fairytale buildings and follies, The Farol looks like it was lifted from South Beach and planted perfectly on this continent’s most westerly point, complete with cracking views of the Atlantic and Europe’s sexiest city. The area has its own microclimate and gets better weather than most of Europe – and if you get bored of gazing adoringly at each other you can hop on the cheap as chips train that will deliver you right into the heart of Lisbon, which is like one big sexy South American city. All perfect, inexpensive and less than two hours from Cork.
www.farol.com.pt/en

Sugar Beach, St Lucia

If you have put so much saving, planning and effort into the big day that you just want to run away together to paradise. If your attitude is screw culture, feck city breaks and anything that involves doing more than turning over to tan evenly or taking on the heavy lifting of a daiquiri, then there is a paradise island that lives up to the dream of the office screensaver. Lush green volcanoes surrounded by bath warm azure water, more tropical fish than you can shake a snorkel at just feet from your feet on the beach, toasted jasmine scented air and a tree frog chorus that kicks in at first signs of night. It is long haul, but not Bali or Maldives long haul, just nine hours from London. St Lucia is paradise. Not tacky or Anglicised like the Bahamas. Not the two-day American conference centre like Bermuda or Belize, just paradise, and the new Sugar Beach resort is the most spectacular I have seen in twenty years of top travel.
www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/sugarbeach

The Raleigh Hotel, Miami

For indecisive couples that want everything. The beach. Incredible food. New-York-style shopping. Year round sunshine. All in a low-rise city teeming with culture and a cracking nightlife, but also a city that tracks eight miles of white sandy beaches, Caribbean seas and sits under crazy electric pink and orange neon skies. Most of the Irish traffic to Florida is a bit Mickey Mouse or is to the brutal plasticised resorts around Orlando. Miami has more in common with New York and Chicago, but with a Caribbean flavour. The contrast of having a pre-lunch swim and then strolling a couple of blocks right onto Main St. USA is what makes this city so cool. The jewel within America’s cheerleader’s crown is SoBe’s art deco darling, The Raleigh Hotel. The Raleigh sits right on the beach and is straight out of a nineteen thirties movie. You might feel like movie stars but the real star in this hotel is the fleur-de-lis pool, probably the most beautiful in the world.
www.raleighhotel.com

TWO HONEYMOONS…

L’Hotel, Paris and …

I’m always surprised at the couples who drop eight grand on a honeymoon to somewhere like Bali (particularly winter weddings), where they will spend their honeymoon surrounded by other honeymooners and a conveyor belt of weddings. Eight grand gets you a lot of holiday in Europe. It gets you two. And what is better than having one expensive long haul holiday where you lose two days travelling? Having two honeymoons – one somewhere sunny and expensive at a more affordable time of year in early or late summer, something to look forward to when everything else is over, when the photographs have been forensically examined and the DVD has been watched endlessly. But first, take a few very special nights in a romantic hotel, in Paris the city of romance, and in the hotel of Paris, L’Hotel.

A candlelit velvety knicker-drawer of perfection, L’Hotel is the sexiest city hotel anywhere. Staying there on your own can actually make you feel unfaithful. It is a living building that is as compelling and covetable as the luxurious, arty and interesting 6th arrondissement that surrounds it. It’s home to one of the cosiest and best restaurants in Paris and there’s a private hammam and pool in the basement, bookable just for couples to wash away the stress of a day in Paris. Not that such a thing exists.
www.l-hotel.com

…my own honeymoon

They called him The Landlord. He was a bull elephant, about sixty years old. Mostly friendly but mostly blind. Not a problem in a zoo, but I wasn’t in a zoo. I was on my honeymoon, on safari and on the ten million acre Mars-like monster that is Tsavo National Park in Kenya, and eight hours drive from any buildings bigger than a termite hill.

We were staying in a Victorian era campsite, all very Out of Africa, very pretty with heavy canvas head-height tents and deep enamel baths. Didn’t have a fence though. The boundary lines were an accidental arrangement of jeeps and equipment flanked by a watchtower that looked like it came from Mothercare and a skinny but fast prehistoric river that lit up at dusk like a Christmas tree with the staring eyes of crocodiles and cute, but lethal, hippos.

The guide was regaling our small troop over a swish fireside dinner with stories of The Landlord’s visits over the decades. He had been patrolling the campsite for over forty years. He was a gentleman apparently but he also weighed over five tons and couldn’t see past his own trunk. Nightly, The Landlord would feel his way around the century-old pathway between the tents and we were under no circumstances to open our tents or go out lest we get trampled. I’d no intention of leaving; I’d seen Jurassic Park. And being young, obedient and exhausted, after an overwhelming day in an alien landscape seeing the world of lions, zebra, even cheetahs, I’d no intention of doing anything but sleep.

Older people don’t sleep so well though. A charming elderly duo of Dutch ladies were determined to ignore the guide, make the best of perpetual insomnia and get a peek at The Landlord on his nocturnal rounds. When I shuffled down past the snorkeling dinosaurs to breakfast the following morning, the rebel pair where giggling like hyenas while telling their story for the tenth time against the absolute silence of Tsavo. The daredevils had heard movement and heavy breathing outside their tent in the dead of night, unzipped their tent, peeked out and staring back was a four hundred pound male lion. Shaky heads reversed back in like terrified turtles and shaky hands zipped the tent back up, as if that was enough. They had stayed awake all night waiting to be eaten or to tell the only humans for miles of their adventure. They were wired, demented, squealing, and profoundly happy that morning and they looked twenty years younger. Although I doubt they ever slept again.

Fashion Innovation Awards 2013 Finalists Announced!

Laurq — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:29:42 +0000

The finalists for The Fashion Innovation Awards 2013 have just been announced! Thank you so much to everybody who entered again this year – we received a huge amount of entries which made the judging process very tough once again.The lucky finalists are all listed on the Events section of this website. All details about the night and how to get tickets can be found here too!

Sirona Irish Designer Showcase

Grainne — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:33:45 +0000

Galway Special Babies Fashion Show

Grainne — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:22:32 +0000

Weekend Away | Farnham Estate, Co Cavan

Grainne — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:27:05 +0000

Grainne McMahon visits Cavan town, pops up to Enniskillen for and unconventional shopping trip but for the most part checks out what the Radisson Blu Farnham Estate has to offer for a weekend away.

After a busy few weeks we needed a weekend break but wanted to be away from the hustle and bustle of a city or town. A spa treatment, a few walks and definitely lots of R ‘n R is what we were after. We left Galway after work on a Friday evening and arrived in Cavan a couple of hours later. It wasn’t the type of drive that leaves you shattered for the night or yawning over a candlelit dinner, which was a good start. When we arrived a friendly porter took our car and parked it up for a small tip. It was a nice touch, which was further complimented by friendly front of house staff and a cosy feel in the lobby, despite its airy backdrop.

The Radisson Blu Farnham Estate mixes old and new. An old estate house built in the 1660s with a wealth of history and a modern building combine to give a unique hotel experience. A few miles from Cavan town, the long and winding drive up to the house sets the scene for a relaxing romantic weekend away or a few days chilling with friends.

For more check out the November issue of GALWAYnow.

Best Beauty Pick – Must Have Fragrance

Grainne — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:17:37 +0000

Every so often a celebrity scent comes along and blows us out of the water. Forget all the others- if there’s one perfume that will have men running after you this winter it’s Closer from Halle Berry. Renowned master perfumer Jacques Cavallier has brought a masculine fougère accord (lavender and bergamot base normally restricted to male fragrances) with a luscious feminine blend of violet flowers and mimosa. The result is a fragrance that Halle believes can bring a man and woman together. When you wear it first, you could be mistaken for believing it’s your boyfriend or husband’s aftershave but it soon turns feminine. Great for a night on the town, you will be sure to get looks for all the right reasons with this one- believe us we have tried it! Closer by Halle Berry, Eau de Parfum Spray 30ml, €24.95, available from pharmacies nationwide.

Galway Comfort Food

Grainne — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:12:22 +0000

Get set for winter with these gorgeous recipes from the Ard Bia Cookbook, one of Galway’s foodie havens. The book concentrates on local ingredients but with a special twist. Galway sourced artisan products are paired with new Middle Eastern flavours to create a family friendly go to manual for all your kitchen needs.Written by Aoibheann Mac Namara, a regular contributor to GalwayNow with food journalist Aoife Carrigy, the book features not only the recipes of Ard Bia but also the suppliers who are named throughout, many of whom are local.

Granola With Seasonal Fruit Compote

Granola is one of those things that can be expensive to buy and super cheap to make, and easy too once you have the ingredients in your cupboard. Stored in an airtight container it will keep for a good three weeks, thanks to the candying effect of the sugar and honey, so feel free to increase the quantities depending on how many are in your household.

Ingredients

200g / 8oz oats

50g / 2oz sunflower seeds

50g / 2oz raisins

50g / 2oz flaked almonds

50g / 2oz hazelnuts

2 tbsp brown sugar

3–4 tbsp honey

4–5 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil

Tastes great with seasonal fruit compote, natural yoghurt or honey

Serves 10–12

Method

Preheat oven to 140ºC/275ºF/gas mark 1. Combine all the dry ingredients, mix the honey, sugar and oil together to integrate and drizzle this in, tossing well to coat and moisten the oats and seeds. Bake at a low heat for about 30–40 minutes or until everything becomes caramelised and golden brown, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking. The browner you dare to go, the crunchier the results, but take care not to burn the oats or flaked almonds. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container for up to three or four weeks. Serve with natural yoghurt, seasonal fruit compote and honey. At Ard Bia the chefs use local orchard syrup and natural probiotic yoghurt. For a seasonal fruit compote, just cook down some fruit in a little water or juice, adding honey or sugar to taste and maybe a little sweet spicing – peach with vanilla is great in summer, or pear and apple with nutmeg in autumn (see Pantry 2 for more ideas).

For more recipes see the November issue of GALWAYnow.