The Mediterranean diet is well known for being super healthy. One of the most popular dishes, originating from Valencia on the East Coast of Spain, is Paella.

Here’s how to make a quick, easy and  tasty version, loaded with goodness:

Serves 4-6 (depending how hungry everyone is)…

• 400g mixed seafood (mussels, peeled prawns, clams, squid, white fish) – to save time, buy a pre-mixed packet.
• 4 organic / free range chicken thighs (skin and boneless).
• 1 handful of chopped chorizo and/or smokey bacon (optional).
• 1 medium onion.
• 2 peppers (1 red and 1 green).
• 1 cup of frozen peas.
• 2 garlic cloves.
• 400g paella rice or similar (short or long grain).
• 1 chicken or fish stock cube.
• 2 lemons.
• Olive oil.
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (a pinch of each for seasoning).
• Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Pinch or paprika or saffron (optional)
• Crusty bread (optional)

Preparation (5 minutes)
Prep all the fish by cutting into small pieces (or take it out the pre-mixed packet) * Cut the chicken into small pieces * Chop up the onion, garlic and parsley and put onto a plate * Heat 1.5 litres of water in pan and drop in the stock cube when starting to boil.

Cooking (15 minutes)
Use a large deep saucepan to heat up some oil * add the chicken, chorizo / bacon and mix up for a few minutes * add the onion and garlic when the chicken starts to turn golden, cook for a further 5 minutes * add the rice, salt and pepper * pour in the stock and mix everything together with a wooden spoon * turn heat down so it simmers, add the lid and cook for however long the rice takes (10-15 minutes – see packet for details) * 5 minutes before it’s ready, stir in the seafood, juice from 1 lemon and more seasoning if required * serve on warm plates or bowls with slices of the second lemon and some crusty bread.

Serve with some fresh crusty bread and a glass of full bodied red wine.

The above recipe is loosely based on ‘Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food’. An excellent book because its purpose is to inspire those who don’t / can’t cook. It’s therefore packed with recipes that are really easy peasy to make and extremely well explained.

What exactly is a lemon detox, and how on earth can it help us get clearer eyes, improved digestion and loose weight?

There are many variations but the original comes from this website: www.lemondetox.com and involves drinking nothing but a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for 3-5 days! Apparently other benefits include: increased energy and vitality; shinier hair and nails; clearer skin and eyes; and an overall greater sense of self-worth.

Great…but how could this be possible?

Michael van Straten (Super Health Detox, 2003), a leading voice in the world of nutrition, naturopathy and alternative heath, believes:

“we are constantly either inhaling, rubbing-in or eating toxic materials“

These could include: Pesticides, Herbicides, Fungicides, Fertilisers, Growth Hormones, Antibiotics, Vaccinations, Ripening Agents, Colourings, Additives, Sweeteners, Preservatives, Waxes, Hydrogenated Oils, Trans-fats, Cigaret Smoke, Benzene, Methanol, Radiation Treatment, Mobile signals, Wifi signals (check some of them out on www.wikipedia.org).

Fortunately our liver, kidneys and colon do a pretty good job at cleansing out most of these things during the natural detoxification process, a lot of which takes place during the night when we’re sleeping. However, overeating, poor diets, stress, lack of sleep and not exercising regularly, all make it much more difficult for this to happen – maybe this is why many of us still feel shattered even after 8 hours sleep i.e. our body organs haven’t been sleeping – they’ve been working overtime!!!

By not eating for a period of time, known as fasting in some religions, the body can shift focus from digestion to conducting a kind of spring clean. Lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, all assist in this process by acting as a natural cleaning agent – hence the lemon detox diet.

It’s not for the faint hearted though and some might say unnecessary.  Before attempting it, a much easier and very effective solution is to swap the junk/fast food, highly processed food, coffee, diary and sugar etc., and replace them with freshly made dinners (see cooking for easy recipe ideas) with lots of salads and veggies; get some gentle exercise and develop the habit of drinking a freshly made lemon drink first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Try the following for just one week and see how you feel:

1. Cut a lemon in half every morning (put the other half in the fridge for the next day).
2. Squeeze its fresh juice into a tall glass.
3. Fill the glass with a mix of cold filtered water and freshly boiled water (to make lukewarm) and drink within 5 minutes.
4. Cut out all meat, diary and caffeine for the entire week (it is possible – see links above).
5. Eat and drink as much healthy stuff as possible (fish, salads, veggies, rice, sweet pots, smoothies, juices etc.).
6. Exercise a little everyday – even if it’s just a brisk walk to work or around the block before evening dinner.

By starting the day with this wonderfully natural juice sweeping though your system and assisting the cleansing process, then avoiding the stuff that puts a massive strain on the digestive and detoxification process, AND fuelling up with much needed nutrients, AND pumping them around your entire body from increased movement – you may well find all the benefits described above – and many more!

Office worker are particularly prone to bad backs…along with sciatica and RSI.  Initially it tends to come and go (a warning sign), but if nothing is done about it, it can become permanent!

Often attributed to working from a computer all day i.e. sat down and hunched over your desk, there are three easy things we can do to both reduce the risk of developing a bad back in the first place and improve any existing problems.

We’ve come a long way since our ancestral days of roaming around in the wild hunting for food (not sure there was as much equality then so it may have just been the men), where everyday they would run, jump, lunge, lift and then drag the dinner home – but all we need to do these days is order from the menu or pick it up from the supermarket.

As bipedaluar animals, we are designed to be upright - standing, walking or running. However, we seem to be gradually devolving because our preference these days is for more of a sedate lifestyle: living in a box, working in a box, staring at a box during the day, staring at a box during the evening – even moving around in boxes between home and work!

A huge downside to this is that our bones, along with the muscles and tissues that make up our musculoskeletal system, stop growing in our 20′s, AND, start becoming weaker in our 30′s! This is part of a natural ageing process but is dramatically speeded up if not given the right ingredients – plenty of oxygen, water, nutrients and MOVEMENT!

There are three simple steps to massively reducing the risk of developing a bad back or helping correct any existing problems:

1. Stop sloughing – because this puts a huge amount of pressure on our lower vertebra.
2. Start exercising – even walking uses most of our muscles, tendons and ligaments – which means blood carrying these vital nutrients is pumped around us to reach them.
3. Sort out some decent nutrition – dark green veggies like broccoli, cabbage and spinach – all help provide our old creaky bones with the stuff to make them stronger.

Are you still sloughing right now? Try standing upright and taking a really deep breath, hold it for 10-20 seconds, then blow it all out (empty your lungs).

You’ve just given your bones the gift of more fresh nutrients than most people get in weeks, or even years (and eliminated lots of carbon dioxide).

Our bones are important, it’s not fun to be in a wheel chair later in life with brittle, nutrient deficient acidic bones – often labelled osteoporosis.

There are certain books which are almost pre-requisites to success! The one for wealth creation is Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think And Grow Rich‘.

It is one of the most influencial best sellers of all time, selling over 15 million copies around the world. The reasons for its success: because it does what it says on the tin! During the research for the book, he interviewed 500 of the most affluent men and women of the time and put together a 13-step formula to achieve the same success – here they are…

The book first reminds us of the power of thought and desire. It then goes on to cover the 13-step process, which includes:

1. Faith: visualising and believing in the attained desire.
2. Autosuggestion: influencing the subconscious mind.
3. Specialised Knowledge: personal experiences or observations.
4. Imagination: the workshop of the mind.
5. Organised Planning: turning desire into action.
6. Decision: the dangers of procrastination.
7. Persistence: the sustained effort necessary to believe.
8. Power Of The Master Mind: the driving force.
9. The Mystery Of Sex Transmutation: how drive and sex drive are linked.
10. The Subconscious Mind: the connecting link.
11. The Brain: our broadcasting and receiving nerve station.
12. The Sixth Sense: door to the temple of wisdom.

The titles don’t do justice to the detail in the content. Napoleon Hill teaches the reader by telling lots of stories and building lots of pictures in the mind. If we truly want to turn our finances around, we need a shift in our perspectives – this book provides it!

Do you have a really tight grip on your finances – knowing exactly how much money is coming in and going out each month?

Many of us get so busy managing our careers, relationships and health – we neglect our wealth. If we’re spending money, the real cost is actually 10-30% more than the price tag – why? Because…

that money could have been invested!

Many businesses run their financial year from April to March. At the end of this time they calculate their financial health by producing various reports which are essential for making sure they have enough cash to operate, and that they are on track for making all the hard work worthwhile i.e. there’s a profit at the end of the year.

Likewise, as individuals we absolutely need to know how healthy or unhealthy our finances are each year. This means income has exceeded out-goings so there’s a surplus at the end of the year (which should be saved or invested to boost income for the following year).

A really great way of keeping an eye on this is to calculate our Net Worth at the end of the financial year (or monthly to keep a really careful eye on it). Fortunately, Mr Gates and Mr Jobs have both provided excellent templates to help us out:

Action Plan

Dig out some old statements and calculate the previous 2 years, then compare them with where you’re at for the current financial year. The idea is that our net worth should increase each year, leading to an end game of having a pot of cash (including savings and investments) that generates enough income to cover all our out-goings – without reducing the total amount i.e. our capital.

With some creativity, hard work and self-control against instant gratification, it is possible to achieve financial independence a lot sooner than retirement age, and then only ‘work’ because we enjoy what you do!

Dictionary definition of a habit: ‘An action done on a regular basis; An action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness’.

We all have hundreds of habits – many of which have built up over the years without realising it. It’s therefore important to try and accumulate a few GOOD ones from time to time in order to compensate for all the BAD ones (especially when it comes to our health).

This free Healthy Habits download, is a collection of 27 habits (3 for each Principles Behind Great Health) that can be printed off and stuck to the fridge door – or anywhere else it can be looked at for a minute or two everyday until the habit has been formed.

We haven’t just made them up either; each habit has been carefully constructed to underpin the very foundations of great health, according to some of the leading gurus on the subject, people like Dr Andrew Weil, The Juice Master, Dr Paul Clayton, David Allen, Tim Ferriss, Richard Koch..to name but a few.

Good luck!