At this time of year colds are rife.  We’ve weakened our immune systems with seasonal excesses, we’re working in offices or travelling on planes, trains and buses getting exposed to everyone’s germs, so it’s no wonder you eventually catch someone else’s lurgy.

Here are some of my own cold cures that I use to stop colds dead in their tracks.  The trick is to try any one of these or all of them (it depends how desperate you are!) as soon as you feel the symptoms of a cold coming on.

1. Echinacea – I use the Echinaforce Echinacea drops from A Vogel.  15 drops in a bit of water 2-3 times a day, generally works.  Just knock it back as it is an acquired taste.
2. Ginger and Lemon tea – stick a 1 inch chunk of peeled ginger with a squeeze of lemon in boiling hot water. Treat it like tea, drink it all day.
3. Garlic – finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic, and add to a small glass of apple juice.  Again, knock it back quickly and do this 2-3 times if you can.  Yes, you may find the garlic repeats on you and you will stink of garlic, but this really does work!
4. Vitamin C –Take a couple of vitamin C tablets. The jury is out on this one, some research says for it to work you have to be deficient in vitamin C in the first place, I eat a very healthy diet and it works for me.
5. For desperate measures I use Vicks First Defence (micro-gel nasal spray), believe me I have to be desperate to use this as I hate putting synthetic chemicals in my body, however, I’ve probably had a 90% success rate with it (my husband, Andy hates the stuff and won’t touch it!).

If the cold has got the better of you, try this remedy from my nutritionist, Laura De La Harpe from Nutritional Benefits

      6.  Add the juice and zest of ½ lemon, 1 inch of ginger grated, 1 to 2 tsp honey, in boiling hot water, plus a good pinch of cayenne!  This will blow your mind as well as your sinuses!

How many colds have I had this winter? None!  I had the symptoms for one at the beginning of November and did all of my first five tips, went to bed early, got a good night’s sleep and woke up the next morning feeling fine.

 Do you have any cold cures you want to share?  Or just let me know how you get on.

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan

The author, Michael was confused as most people are about what exactly healthy food is, and what links our diet and our health.  He describes himself as a “curious journalist” (he is not a nutritionist or food scientist) and researched material for the book based on food culture, people he met or posted on his blog through the New York Times, as well as .  Michael Pollan has also written In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World

The book won’t take long to read, each rule is explained with interesting and humorous facts about food and the way we eat, and it all makes perfect sense.  Some of the rules you may not agree with but you can always defer to his Rule no. 64 “Break the rules once in a while”!  If you’ve read the book, what are your favourite rules and why?

Here are my favourite rules:

Rule no. 2: Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.
Rule no. 5: Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
Rule no. 9: Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “non-fat” in their names.
Rule no. 14: Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
Rule no. 17: Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.
Rule no. 20: It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
Rule no. 21: It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles).
Rule no . 22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
Rule no. 24: Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals).
Rule no. 27: Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
Rule no. 30: Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.
Rule no. 31: Eat wild foods when you can.
Rule no. 32: Don’t overlook the oily little fishes.
Rule no. 35: Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature.
Rule no. 36: Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of your milk.
Rule no. 37: The whiter your bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.
Rule no. 38: Favour the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground.
Rule no. 41: Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.
Rule no. 44: Pay more, eat less.
Rule no. 46: Stop eating before you’re full.
Rule no. 47: Eat when you are hungry, not when you’re bored.
Rule no. 37: Eat slowly.
Rule no. 50: The banquet is in the first bite.
Rule no. 51: Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
Rule no. 52: Buy smaller plates and glasses.
Rule no. 53: Serve a proper portion and don’t go back for seconds.
Rule no. 57: Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.
Rule no. 58: Do all your eating at the table.
Rule no. 60: Treat treats as treats.
Rule no. 63: Cook.
Rule no. 64: Break the rules once in a while.

1. What were your biggest successes in the last 12 months?
2. What were the biggest lessons you learnt?
3. If you had known on 1st January 2011 what you know now, how would you have approached the last 12 months differently?

A few additional questions for you to ponder over for 2012:

1. What will you stop doing?
2. What will you start doing
3. What will you do more of?
4. What will you do less of?
5. What will you keep doing?

Now, think how you’re going to execute your discoveries.

Happy New Year!

 1. Eliminate the following from your diet for at least 10 days

• Alcohol
• Wheat and gluten products (bread, biscuits, crackers and pastries
• All processed food (read the ingredients)

 2. Drink plenty of water

You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces

For example if you weigh 10 stone

10 stone = 140 pounds

You should be drinking 70 ounces of water per day = 3.5 pints or 1.98 litres

 3. Exercise

Do a full body workout using dumb bell weights or body weight.  This will get you quicker results than pounding on a treadmill, peddling for hours on a bike or striding on a cross trainer.

You will see your shape change; improve your strength and burn lots of fat.

You should choose weights that will challenge you so that you can lift a max of eight repetitions and repeat 2-3 times.

Work the legs, chest, arms (front and back), back and abs.

Better still, get yourself a personal trainer to help you

Find personal trainers here:  www.nrpt.co.uk

It was not until the 4^th century AD that Pope Julius I set 25^th December as the date for Christmas to Christianise the Pagan winter solstice celebrations.  Apparently Jesus was born in either March or September 4 or 5 BC, not in December!

The middle of winter has always been a time of feasting and celebration; the 21st December is the shortest day and after this date the sun starts to strengthen and the days become longer.  The Romans, ancient Greeks, Pagans, Druids, Hindus and Jews all have celebrations around this time of year.

The Scandinavians saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons.  The word wheel in Norse is houl, from this came the Yule or Yuletide.  They sat around fires, told stories and drank lots of ale.

The Romans held a festival for seven days from 17 December called Saturnalia (the Sun God was Saturn).  Men dressed as women and masters dressed as servants.  They decorated their houses with greenery, lit candles and gave presents.

The Jewish midwinter festival of Hanukkah lasts for eight days.  It is a celebration of light, time to give gifts, have fun and also of remembrance.

Holly has been associated with Saturnalia and Pagan festivals.  Some ancient religions used holly for protection against evil spirits which why we decorate our doors with it.  Mistletoe was a symbol of life during the dark winter months.

The medieval Christmas lasted for 12 days.  It started on 24^th December and lasted until 6^th January (Epiphany – Twelfth Night).

Christmas suffered a temporary blip from the middle of the 17^th century until the early 18^th century.  The Christian Puritans suppressed all celebrations in Europe and America as the bawdy celebrations inherited from Yule and Saturnalia were too strongly linked with the celebration of the birth of Christ.  So in 1644 Christmas was cancelled.  No one was allowed to decorate their houses with evergreens or eat mince pies.

The Victorians really began to revive Christmas and they gave us the kind of Christmas we know today.

This is an excerpt from our FREE 40 page guide, “Secrets to Surviving Christmas” CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD

Alternatively, just indulge on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and then get back on the track the day after with loads of exercise to counteract your indulgences.

If you really want to be strict don’t let other family members or friends emotionally blackmail you into eating things you don’t want to, they’ll do the “go on, one won’t hurt”, or “it’s Christmas…”  Be strong, it’s your body.

If you’re on a diet during the run up to Christmas as part of a weight loss programme, then be realistic about putting your weight loss on hold for a couple of weeks, so you don’t get despondent about not achieving your weight loss goals.

Be positive about the whole eating issue and this will hopefully not lead you into too many temptations and you WILL be delivered from evil.

This is an excerpt from our FREE 40 page guide, “Secrets to Surviving Christmas” CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD

They can either be a great night out with work colleagues or a completely humiliating experience.  It is a night to let go, enjoy yourself and get to know the people you normally wouldn’t normally get to talk to; but beware – do you want to be the office legend for years to come?

What ever you’re tempted to do at the Christmas party, think of the repercussions to come and don’t say anything you might regret in the morning.  Keep tabs on your drinking so that you don’t end up with a harassment suit the next day!

This is an excerpt from our FREE 40 page guide, “Secrets to Surviving Christmas” CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD

1. Try not to live up to expectations of having the “perfect” Christmas – it’s not like how it is in the movies.
2. Get together and write a list of what everyone wants to do – decide what is really important, and if possible, prioritise.
3. Encourage everyone to be honest about what they want to do for Christmas.
4. Make a list of who needs to see you – particularly important with extended stepfamilies or with a relative who recently experienced a bereavement (it’s a nostalgic time for them).
5. If it’s your first Christmas after a bereavement or relationship break up try and spend the day with family or friends. Doing something different will take your mind off your loss.
6. Compromise on what the family wants to do.
7. Use a calendar – make a note of which family members are doing what and when.
8. Plan ahead to avoid putting too much pressure on yourself not just with Christmas Day but with the shopping, finances, cooking and other Christmas related chores.
9. Schedule in “me” time to recharge your own batteries – this is very important.

10. Have a Christmas amnesty over any family feuds or resentments going on.

11. Get help; don’t try and do everything yourself – delegate. Make sure everyone knows what their jobs are and at what time they’ve got to do them.

12. Don’t put pressure on yourself to make sure everyone has a good time, you can’t keep everyone happy all of the time.

13. Book a pantomime – a chance to let yourself go, get in touch with your “inner child” and have a good laugh.

14. Plan a post holiday season treat to avoid that deflated feeling you get post Christmas, it also gives you something to look forward to during the grey months of January and February.

Desperation Measures

15. Celebrate Christmas alone.

16. If you are completely “bah humbug”, go and help out at a charity.

17. Go abroad!

This is an excerpt from our FREE 40 page guide, “Secrets to Surviving Christmas” CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD

• Almost 60% said they weren’t getting enough sleep
• 64% managing only between 4 – 7 hours.
• 6 out of 10 find it hard to switch off to get to sleep after a busy day.

Did you know that?

1. Our bodies are biologically wired to need 7-9 hours sleep, and to be awake during hours daylight and sleep during hours of darkness.
2. Most of us are getting 45 minutes less sleep than we were 25 years ago.
3. If we get less than 4 hours sleep 5 nights in a row, our cognitive skills become similar to that of being drunk.
4. Research has proved there is a connection between lack of sleep and obesity.
5. There is a strong link between sleep deprivation and increased risk of certain cancers and heart disease.

What happens when we experience extreme tiredness?

• More emotional.
• Impaired concentration.
• Less productive.
• Suppressed immune system.
• Carbohydrate cravings for quick energy fixes.
• Reduced mental capacity.

Sleep is a vital for the body and mind to function, renew, reenergise, grow and process.

If you’re having difficulty in sleeping or experiencing lack of quality sleep, here are our top 15 tips:

1. Avoid caffeine or alcohol before bed time, better still stop at lunch time.
2. Read material that is going to relax and not stimulate your mind.
3. Reserve the bedroom for sleep and “love”.
4. Listen to guided meditation or relaxation music before going to sleep.
5. If you’re stressed – get to the root of what of causing it and get everything out of your mind on to paper.
6. Keep a sleep diary.
7. Use ear plugs to block out external noise.
8. Go to bed early for a few nights to catch up with your sleep
9. Change your mattress – memory foam is extremely supportive.
10. Change your pillows – your neck may need more support.
11. Try and relax before bedtime, don’t work late, as your brain will be über stimulated.
12. If your over-active mind wakes you up in the early hours of the morning, keep a pen and note pad by your bed and empty your mind on to paper.
13. Avoid sleeping pills – seek help from complementary therapy before going down this route.
14. If possible keep windows open to allow fresh air to circulate.