Byline: By Louise Prendergast
HANDS up if you overindulged during the festive season. Yes, so did I. Now everywhere I look someone is telling mehow to get fit, lose inches and become the picture of health, and they're telling me it's easy. DetoxThe Easy Way was the Daily Record headline above a svelte and smiling Carol Vorderman last week ''Carol's recipes will let you glow with health''.
Oh will they? Just how easy can it possibly be for a 37-year-old working mum like me to adopt a healthy lifestyle for life?
I don't have a personal trainer to design me the perfect fitness regime. I don't have a chef to cook me healthy meals from scratch. And I don't have time to swan about health shops reading labels on speciality foods.
But the feature stirred my curiosity and I pushed a trolley full of convenience food over to the books section at the megastore. I picked up Carol's book, Detox for Life, and began reading positive testimonials from women who had taken the plunge and adopted the diet.
But I was still in denial. The previous evening I had watched in horror as the red needle onmy scales bouncedup to the 10 stone mark.
I hadbeen exercising regularly at the gym, but seemed to let it slip from the very first sighting of a Christmas tree.
All those festive parties led to a booze binge of George Best proportions and the turkey wasn't the only one that was stuffed in our house on Christmas Day.
The copious amounts of malt whisky I got through would have put my Highland grandfather to shame. God rest his soul. But I've another nasty vice. Whenever I drink alcohol, I smoke cigarettes.
This odd, part-time smoking habit never creeps in to my daily life or my alcohol-free evenings. But at the mere sip of a gin and tonic, I'm gripped with an uncompromising craving and rush to buy a pack of 20.
Die-hard smokers can't understand why I don't give up altogether, because I only smoke occasionally, but a 20-year habit is not an easy one to break.
So while weekends are fuelled by nicotine and alcohol, weekdays have lapsed into an eating regime which includes fat, sugar and additive-laden junk.
I rarely eat before I leave the house but then can't resist the mid-morning office snack of a roll-and-something-fried, with a cup of tea.
Recently, it's been square sausage with egg, on a white buttered roll with ketchup. Delicious.
Chips and gravy or curry sauce is a popular choice for lunch, with a cup of tea. And a typical dinner might be chicken burger with chips, salad from a bag, and lots of mayonnaise. With a cup of tea, of course. And you can't have a cup of tea without wolfing down a biscuit or two, can you?
I've decided that something has got to change. Drastically.
I can actually feel the toxins I'm putting in my system makingme feel rotten.
Mymood swings can be erratic at the best of times, andwhen PMS sets in I could preservatives, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are banned.
Friends, family, and colleagues, think I'm mad. They find this all very amusing. But we'll see who's laughing on February 14. I've had to swap all my usual foods for healthy ones. I've stocked upon fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and chicken and got to grips with non-wheat bread and pasta.
It's all out there if you look for it. I bought the snacks Carol recommends, such as cashew nuts, grapes, raisins, apricots and pumpkin and sesame seeds for between meals.
And I plan to make big pots of soup and vegetable dishes, so there is always something there when I'm hungry.
I'm about to try kicking my stupid, part-time smoking habit for the first time in my life, and I've abandoned booze. But howam I going to live without my tea?
frighten dinosaurs. And I often feel sluggish and lethargic. I ventured to the gym the other day but felt too tired to exercise when I got there. So I opted for a sauna instead.
I lay on the benchand looked down despairingly at where my waist used to be. I noticed my bust was beginning to take over the whole of my upper bodyand realised I'd soon be giving Jordan a run for her money if I didn't sort myself out.
Then I remembered Carol's bookand I made myself a huge promise I'm going to lose a stone in a month.
By the time Valentine's Day arrives, I'll be a slender nine stones. And I'll be glowing.
Carol recommends a strict 28-day detox diet twice a year and a slightly more relaxed maintenance diet for the rest of the time, which allows fish, chicken and eggs.
But I'm going to try the maintenance diet, teamed with a vigorous exercise plan, and see if I can still shape up within a month.
Sugar, wheat, dairy, additives, colourings,
CAPTION(S):
OUT OF HARM'S WAY: Louise gets ready to bin every possible temptation
WILL MY FAST LAST?; Can a detox diet really work for an ordinary working mum?We decided to follow Louise's efforts to stay on the straight and narrow.(Features)Byline: By Louise Prendergast
HANDS up if you overindulged during the festive season. Yes, so did I. Now everywhere I look someone is telling mehow to get fit, lose inches and become the picture of health, and they're telling me it's easy. DetoxThe Easy Way was the Daily Record headline above a svelte and smiling Carol Vorderman last week ''Carol's recipes will let you glow with health''.
Oh will they? Just how easy can it possibly be for a 37-year-old working mum like me to adopt a healthy lifestyle for life?
I don't have a personal trainer to design me the perfect fitness regime. I don't have a chef to cook me healthy meals from scratch. And I don't have time to swan about health shops reading labels on speciality foods.
But the feature stirred my curiosity and I pushed a trolley full of convenience food over to the books section at the megastore. I picked up Carol's book, Detox for Life, and began reading positive testimonials from women who had taken the plunge and adopted the diet.
But I was still in denial. The previous evening I had watched in horror as the red needle onmy scales bouncedup to the 10 stone mark.
I hadbeen exercising regularly at the gym, but seemed to let it slip from the very first sighting of a Christmas tree.
All those festive parties led to a booze binge of George Best proportions and the turkey wasn't the only one that was stuffed in our house on Christmas Day.
The copious amounts of malt whisky I got through would have put my Highland grandfather to shame. God rest his soul. But I've another nasty vice. Whenever I drink alcohol, I smoke cigarettes.
This odd, part-time smoking habit never creeps in to my daily life or my alcohol-free evenings. But at the mere sip of a gin and tonic, I'm gripped with an uncompromising craving and rush to buy a pack of 20.
Die-hard smokers can't understand why I don't give up altogether, because I only smoke occasionally, but a 20-year habit is not an easy one to break.
So while weekends are fuelled by nicotine and alcohol, weekdays have lapsed into an eating regime which includes fat, sugar and additive-laden junk.
I rarely eat before I leave the house but then can't resist the mid-morning office snack of a roll-and-something-fried, with a cup of tea.
Recently, it's been square sausage with egg, on a white buttered roll with ketchup. Delicious.
Chips and gravy or curry sauce is a popular choice for lunch, with a cup of tea. And a typical dinner might be chicken burger with chips, salad from a bag, and lots of mayonnaise. With a cup of tea, of course. And you can't have a cup of tea without wolfing down a biscuit or two, can you?
I've decided that something has got to change. Drastically.
I can actually feel the toxins I'm putting in my system makingme feel rotten.
Mymood swings can be erratic at the best of times, andwhen PMS sets in I could preservatives, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are banned.
Friends, family, and colleagues, think I'm mad. They find this all very amusing. But we'll see who's laughing on February 14. I've had to swap all my usual foods for healthy ones. I've stocked upon fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and chicken and got to grips with non-wheat bread and pasta.
It's all out there if you look for it. I bought the snacks Carol recommends, such as cashew nuts, grapes, raisins, apricots and pumpkin and sesame seeds for between meals.
And I plan to make big pots of soup and vegetable dishes, so there is always something there when I'm hungry.
I'm about to try kicking my stupid, part-time smoking habit for the first time in my life, and I've abandoned booze. But howam I going to live without my tea?
frighten dinosaurs. And I often feel sluggish and lethargic. I ventured to the gym the other day but felt too tired to exercise when I got there. So I opted for a sauna instead.
I lay on the benchand looked down despairingly at where my waist used to be. I noticed my bust was beginning to take over the whole of my upper bodyand realised I'd soon be giving Jordan a run for her money if I didn't sort myself out.
Then I remembered Carol's bookand I made myself a huge promise I'm going to lose a stone in a month.
By the time Valentine's Day arrives, I'll be a slender nine stones. And I'll be glowing.
Carol recommends a strict 28-day detox diet twice a year and a slightly more relaxed maintenance diet for the rest of the time, which allows fish, chicken and eggs.
But I'm going to try the maintenance diet, teamed with a vigorous exercise plan, and see if I can still shape up within a month.
Sugar, wheat, dairy, additives, colourings,
CAPTION(S):
OUT OF HARM'S WAY: Louise gets ready to bin every possible temptation
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