Operation Transformation: Gerry take part! Telly gold awaits you

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Operation Transformation is back – and it’s bigger than ever, according to RTE anyway. Pun intended I think.

As the level of obesity in Ireland rises, a hell of a lot of us need to have a bit of a life overhaul in the health department. And so many people are glued to this program as Gerry Ryan and his team aim to transform selected members of the public from unhealthy and overweight to healthy and svelte. They’re coached, put on diets and supported by experts to get to their healthy weight. And in a clever twist this year they have two of the most unhealthy (and loudmouthed) groups in society taking part – taxi drivers and politicians. Well known for their lardy ways, it’s fun seeing this one play out.

We reviewed it last year and reckoned we liked it – but we wanted Gerry to stop saying “wunt” instead of “want”. We still wunt that to happen but how and ever.

I personally think they would shoot the viewing figures into the stratosphere if Gerry himself would take part – but what do you think?

Tags: diet, health, Operation Transformation, RTE
Posted in Celebrity Watch, Diet & Wellbeing | 31 Comments »

Vatkins: Atkins tries to reinvent itself for veggies – it still looks like a heart attack on a plate

Monday, January 18th, 2010

The Atkins diet – without the meat.

The Atkins diet with no sausages, no bacon and no steaks – all the things that effectively make up Atkins.

But don’t worry vegetarians – because Atkins have now developed Vatkins especially for you. Simply swap all the meat for cheese, eggs and tofu. Pile on the butter and fry everything if you like. A perfect recipe for constipation and high cholesterol, sluggishness and bad breath.

The press release excitedly confirms that this is the perfect way for vegetarians to lose weight and speculates “it could even attract the attention of a few celebrity veggie A-listers such as Leona Lewis, Stella McCartney and Jude Law.”

Er, I doubt it.

Tags: atkins, diet, horrible beauty, vegetarians
Posted in Diet & Wellbeing | 16 Comments »

Martin Kemp: Funny how it seems – Slimfast keeps him suave and sexy

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Martin Kemp is one of those men who just gets better and better with age. He’s swoontastically handsome and the day they got rid of him out of Eastenders was a sad one indeed.

He’s an old hand at assuming pinup status since Spandau’s heydey – he’s been at it for decades. Since he and Gary were the buffest brothers on the block. Ladies who grew up in the eighties who didn’t have a Spandau poster on their wall with the Kemps flexing their pecs were a rare breed indeed.

But Martin is even MORE gorgeous now. He’s survived all the pop excesses ( I did it all he readily admits), survived brain tumours and he credits his physique now to Slimfast. Yes Slimfast. It’s a killer trying to keep the weight down he has said but a shake in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon does the trick.

So what do you think of that hah?

Tags: diet, martin kemp, slimfast
Posted in Celebrity Watch, Diet & Wellbeing | 22 Comments »

Cold Weather Skin Savers: Dealing With Pesky Shredded Cold Nose Syndrome

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Blowing Nose

Like many people, I’ve spent a good deal of time battling some form of sickness in the form of colds or flus or sinus infections or chest infections over the last couple of months. I seemed to catch everything going and then some. In some instances, my nose was so blocked up that breathing was a major ordeal. Most of the time, though, it ran like Hussein Bolt – just without any of the entertainingly crazy showmanship.

Although the redness and soreness and chapped-ness and flaking that accompanied the seemingly unbreakable nose drip/nose blowing cycle was fairly spectacular.

Anyway, I had plenty of opportunity to experiment with ways of combating that attractive reptilian-with-severe-eczema effect. Vaseline, as ever, was shagging useless. Oils and Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream provided some modicum of relief, but it was just a temporary reprieve. The only true solution I found was to gently exfoliate away the dead flaky skin (Origins Modern Friction was my scrub of choice) and lash on an intensive moisturiser that’s far too rich for everyday use (in my case, that was Lancôme Aqua Fusion cream gel).

Oh, and always reach for the kind-to-the-shnozz balsam enriched tissues – so much softer on the nose than loo roll!

Tags: cold, exfoliation, moisturiser, nose, winter skin savers
Posted in Diet & Wellbeing, How to? | 21 Comments »

My Big Fat Diet Show

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

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“I joined my diet club when I was 17. I’m 43 now and I still haven’t reached Goal”

Haha I know the feeling. So when the presenter vowed that she and her hapless dieting group would drop a dress size in two weeks I sat up to take notice. Two weeks? That’s the kind of diet I like the sound of.

(Now I just know someone is going to mention the enthusiastic use of lipliner by the group so I’ll just mention the horror now to get it out of the way).

Basically the programme reckoned if we stick to 1200 calories a day for two weeks we could do it. It was unbelievable though that the Dieting Divas who claimed to be on various diets for all of their adult lives had absolutely no conception of the amount of calories in things like wine and chocolate.

Now we’ve seen much of this before, but other facts revealed by the show were:

many of us are addicted to sugary/salty/fatty processed food
our portions are too big and we eat too many calories
Supermarkets persuade us to buy fattening food by using sophisticated marketing and psychological tricks. (For example we are more likely to buy foods from shelves on the left hand side because most of us are right handed)
A Burger King double cheeseburger has less calories than a Bagel Factory turkey bagel or a cheese wrap. Eeek!

Click here to find out more about the show, including diet menus and profiles of dieters etc

Tags: diet, supermarket, TV
Posted in Diet & Wellbeing | 25 Comments »

It’s January: it must be diet time

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

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Every year people! Every single shaggin year comes the New Year diet – will we never learn?

No is obviously the answer, so as the nation girds its collective loins to drop a few pounds after the Christmas binge we thought we’d ask you which diet you’re embarking on this year.

We’ve discussed most of them on the blog – from fad diets (3 apples, hot dog, negative calorie, maple sugar), to diets in sachets (slimfast, celebrity slim), cereal diets, (Special K); to the extreme: lipotrim; and the ones that have worked for a lot of us – Pig2Twig and the GI Diet

And check out the Diet and Wellbeing forum for lots of chat about exercise and diet

So what do you think you might choose this year?

Tags: diet
Posted in Diet & Wellbeing, Polls | 17 Comments »

Kate Moss in not eating shock!

Friday, November 20th, 2009

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When Kate Moss said “nothing tastes better than being skinny” who was honestly surprised.

I always assumed she existed on a diet of fags, champagne and white powder anyway. Never ever has she extolled the virtues of healthy eating. Her diets don’t appear in magazines extolling the virtues of endamame beans and lettuce. We are never invited to look inside her fridge.

She’s a model. A very successful model. And she eats virtually nothing – because if she gained weight she wouldn’t have a job. And obviously she loves being a skinny minnie.

Now I know the talking heads are already venting outrage about the fact that La Moss is not a good role model to young girls etc. But what do you think about Kate’s “revelation”?

Tags: celebrity dieting, diet, Kate Moss, model
Posted in Celebrity Watch, Diet & Wellbeing | 45 Comments »

I’m loving Angels instead. Well not really. Angel Therapy not for the likes of me

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

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The therapist came out to where Kirstie and I were relaxing on loungers. “Who is for the [insert mumbo jumbo therapy name here] treatment?” she asked kindly.

We looked at one another.

“Eh… her… not me… eh I dunno”

With reluctance I put down my trashy mag. In the end I was the creathur who had to go and do it. Lying on the bed in the treatment room, crystals were passed over me and I was told the name of my own special angel who was “in the room with us. Can you feel him?”

“Er… no”

“He’s very powerful.” (Some Reiki is done on me). ” Can you feel him now?”

“No, sorry”

“Look , I’ll open the door.” (makes gesture like huge wind almost knocking her over when door is opened) “So many of them! Rushing, rushing through the door. Eager to meet you. Oh can’t you feel it?”

“Really sorry, I can’t feel anything.”

In the end I had to (unconvincingly) pretend to feel an angel and submit to his wisdom. Perhaps there’s something wrong with my aura – but this kind of therapy does nothing for me. I only like therapies involving squeezing out blackheads and conditioning hair etc. Obviously I haven’t spiritually evolved. What about you?

Tags: alternative therapies, angel therapy, ridiculous, unevolved
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Diet & Wellbeing | 38 Comments »

Man Flu season open

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

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Man flu visited my home this weekend.

And it was a terrible terrible thing. It began with a “bit of a scratchy throat” and progressed to “itchy eyes”. Then things went rapidly downhill. There was coughing, there was sneezing, there was a lot of shivering and suffering and there was an inability to answer the door to any Halloween callers. How selfish of me to think that was a bit convenient.

Thankfully a brief rallying period was brought on by a visit of another male and the quaffing of several bottles of Schofferhofer (obscure beer from Aldi, pronouced very good indeed). However things once more deteriorated after this, leading to a night of heavy snoring. Refusal to take any cough mixture or paracetamol to relieve symptom, despite loudly voiced misery, was typical of this patient and therefore not unexpected.

Morning led to a worsening of symptoms and bed could only be breached by the aroma of bacon and toast. Suggestion of coming with me shoe shopping led to severe relapse. Suggestion that perhaps a shower might help patient feel better, scorned. Duvet is all that can alleviate the misery.

All we can do now is pray.

How do you cope with Man Flu?

Tags: For Men, man flu
Posted in Diet & Wellbeing, For Men | 19 Comments »

Barbie and her fat ankles: Christian Louboutin’s searing comment

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

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When Christian Louboutin said Barbie had fat ankles all hell broke loose.

In the process of designing shoes for the new Barbie Doll Lauboutin commented unfavourably about her ankle proportions. He quickly denied it, but it was too late. A matter of such seriousness cannot be simply swept under the carpet.

Feminists were outraged. Barbie fans were outraged. Tubby people were outraged. Skinnies were outraged. In short the world found the pronouncement outrageous.

Barbie is no stranger to size battles. For years the plastic one has been subject to an inferno of debate about how her blonde and skinny proportions are unrealistic and place unfair expectations on women at their most vulnerable age.

But is it all just a storm in a shoebox?

Tags: Barbie, body image, cankles, louboutin
Posted in Beauty News & Links, Celebrity Watch, Diet & Wellbeing, Polls | 11 Comments »