Bloated and flabby or bronzed and beautiful?

There's a great piece in the press today about an American guy showing how to produce those "before" and "after" shots - in just a few hours! You know the shots I mean - the flabby, pale, unhealthy shot then the muscular, toned, super- fit shot?

Of course he must have had the muscles already but the interesting thing is how he says is the best way to get from muscular (pumped up in the gym, spray tan, oiled) to flabby (yuk) - eat a whole bag of crisps and drink 2 litres of fizzy pop! It will bloat your body! And, he says that diet fizzy pop is best!

What conclusion can we draw from this......

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Smoking and dementia

I don't want to alarm you but in the latest published research middle-aged men who smoke are at a greater risk of suffering dementia later in life. The research found that men had a greater and faster decline compared to those who had never smoked or had given up more than 10 years earlier. The research also found that the more the men smoked the more the mental decline.

This research was carried out at University College London and looked at data from over 5000 men and over 2000 women over 25 years.

The leader of the research is quoted as saying: “Our results show that the association between smoking and cognition, particularly at older ages, is likely to be underestimated owing to higher risk of death and dropout among smokers.”

When I ask clients which they are most scared of cancer or dementia it's dementia that is most feared. We see so much about dementia and it's devastating effects. It seems like every day there's something in the press about it. If you needed a reason to stop smoking could this be it?

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money, money, money

According to the Alliance Savings Trust if you save £83 a month for a child from birth into a pension (yes, kids can have pensions) the government will top it up by £250 a year and when that child retires (if they continue the savings) they will have the £1m pension pot they will need to live on!

Now of course £83 a month isn't much - or maybe it's a lot to you. If it isn't a lot you'll thin well, we'll get around to it sometime! If it's a lot to you then maybe you'll put it off too?

But hey, it's 12 packets of cigarettes! So if you stop smoking you can save for 2 kids and still have about £40 a month left over!

If you need another reason to stop smoking - and for many people their kids are one of the reasons they want to stop - then how about stopping smoking now and starting a pension fund with your savings?

Of course you could also put it into a tax free ISA for yourself! If you smoke 20 a day you'll easily save £3k a year - that's more than half an ISA!

Or are you planning a cruise? Or a new car?

The real reason for stopping smoking is to stop it controlling your life - your health and yes, your money!

Whatever your reason, now is a good time!

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Or maybe

Weight Loss Tips and Techniques

Whenever I meet up with a weight loss client we always talk about tips and techniques for losing weight.

Hypnotherapy is great for changing your mind and for breaking habits and the great thing about weight loss is if you combine hypnotherapy with common sense the weight drops off even faster and easier!

The latest piece of research on what can help weight loss is all about the colour of the plate!
It seems that people who ate of a red plate ate up to 40% less than those eating off blue or white.

The theory is that red is for danger and our unconscious will be put off by the colour. I agree don't you? I hate eating off coloured plates - any colour! But most of all I don't like red plates - food just doesn't look right on a red plate!

So if you need help to eat less maybe you could try it? Although I'm guessing it might be quite difficult to find a red plate?

Of course psychologically we seem to be programmed to eating everything on our plate ("there are starving children in the world you know, don't waste food"). Because of this another easy technique is to use a smaller plate. Your unconscious still feels satisfied as the plate is cleared - and yet you've eaten less food!

I'm off to find some red salad plates to sell on my website....

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Weight Loss Challenge

Happy New Year!

Or is it?

Is 2012 looking very similar to 2011 already?

Are you in need of a change?

Well rather than make big resolutions this year why not make small ones - just for today, just for now?

What can you do now that will help you change?

If you're overweight maybe you could plan a healthy evening meal - add an extra vegetable, cut a slice of bread or a potato. No, it's not much but it's a start.
Maybe you could run up and down stairs NOW! GO!

If the change seems to big you're less likely to start so why not look at what you can do now, today. Then look again tomorrow.

If you want to stop smoking how about cutting down half of one today. Then again tomorrow.

If you need to reduce stress stop. Now. Breathe. Breathe again. Breathe again. OK you can carry on now.

Take a quick and easy assessment of where you are now.

Check your weight and BMI (do it on a website it's much too complicated otherwise!)
Are you overweight? How much do you want to lose in pounds? Divide it by 2. This is the number of weeks it will take at 2lbs a week. Add a month to give yourself leeway. What will you be doing then? What will you look and feel like?

Need more motivation to take control? Is your blood pressure high? How's your cholesterol?
Is your resting heart rate between 60 and 79 beats a minute? Lower? Great! Higher? Your health is at risk!

Take one step NOW towards change. Tomorrow you can take another step!

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Planning to lose weight?

Why not start right now?


Are you already telling yourself that you'll start your diet in the New Year?


Have you already planned to lose weight after Christmas?


Why not start now?


Of course there are going to be days when you eat a little bit (!) more than normal - and maybe drink a little bit (!) more too!

But it's not what you do occasionally that puts on the pounds - it's what you do every day. Now assuming that your partying isn't going to be that extreme how about eating really healthily, even maybe a little less than normally on your non-party days. Maybe even doing a bit more exercise on those days - allowing your weekly calorie intake and burning to balance out?


So stick to the plain cereals for breakfast, salads for lunch and healthy evening meals when you can - and don't worry about the excess (well, don't go mad obviously!!!)

You may even find you don't put on any weight over Christmas - you might even lose a bit!! - Now how would that feel?

Of course, if you need some help you know where I am ...

And don't be stressed this Christmas - breathe, chill out, relax!

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Champix - warning

Are you putting your health at risk by trying to stop smoking?

Champix has already been linked to heart problems, strokes and blackouts. The latest warning comes from Dr Curt Furberg, professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He has done research into stop smoking treatments and found that 90% of people having serious side effects like depression and suicidal thoughts were taking Champix.

Only 7% with the same issues were taking Zyban.

According to a piece on aol today, in the past four years Champix has been linked to 80 deaths, 39 of which were suicides.

The manufacturer Pfizer says that there is an information leaflet with warnings in the pack - as though that is an answer to this issue!

Please take care if you're thinking of taking a drug to help you stop smoking. Your doctor knows of the dangers - make sure you do too.