My Perfect Morning Coffee

My perfect morning coffee is Pret's Rooibos Vanilla tea (completely caffine free) with soya milk. When I arrive at work, 8.30ish in the morning, I nip into Pret and treat myself to this wonderfully smooth hot beverage. Pret's Rooibos Vanilla tea is unlike any other rooibos tea I've ever had. This rooibos tea is smooth, palatable with a delectable creamy, velvety texture that is so satisfying. Of course, being caffine-free you don't run the risk of having that artifical boost at the beginning of the day before the afternoon slump. Rather, it's a calming beverage enabling you to plan your task list for the day with clarity. Try it. It's a soothing morning experience you could get used to.

Edamame beans vs Crisps

I can safely say I have discovered an alternative to a junk food: crisps. For years, my body was a temple. No crisps, no cake, no chocolate and certainly no sweets. What a boring life I must have led, I hear most of you cry. Without a doubt, my body was at the peak of health. Back in those days I was a Bikram yoga fanatic which had a dramatic impact on my eating habits. As I was exercising in a ludicrously hot 100 degree sauna room, I could not cope with having too much body fat. In fact, during those four years I must have lived on a liquid diet of carrot and apple juice with a shot of wheatgrass and water. I soon dropped Bikram yoga after hearing whispers among the yoga camp that too much Bikram was bad for your skin. Dehydration and crinkly skin didn't appeal. So for aesthetic reasons I abandoned this hard-core yoga in favour of something gentler. I found a wonderful class, the teacher was lovely, it was a beautiful space to practice: a huge yoga space created by an indoor pool and sweeping wooden walls which cascaded up to slanted windows. It was yoga bliss until one day I attempted the headstand with the teacher's help. She dropped my legs a little too early and I fell sideways on my neck. I fell out of love with yoga for a while after that.

So onto the glory of edamame beans. I can truly triumph the crispy sweet, nuttiness of edamame beans. Definitely try them out. A great healthy alternative to crisps. I can safely say I won't be eating another packet of cheese and onion in a hurry.

Falafel Express

Something innocuous as an appetising falafel wrap, with a dollop of garlic mayonnaise and a scatter of fresh herbs, would normally makes anyone's mouth water. Eating it, even more so, freshly prepared from the Beirut Express, it was one of those pre-midnight snacks after an evening out. But disaster struck when three quarters of the way through eating this falafel wrap I violently threw up. For someone of my normally robust tummy disposition, this is quite a shock to the system. Throwing up is one thing. But I had suddenly developed swelling around my eyes and cheeks and a red rash which was more horrifying to look at than the jabbing headache that accompanied it. I didn't rush to A and E which I should have. But yesterday I was still feeling unwell so I did make a reluctant trip down there and got seen to in two hours. So lesson to learn here is, even if you're vegetarian, you're not safe.

The Friday Croissant

There's something special about Central London in the early hours. When I say early hours I mean for late risers, 8.30am might be the ultimate bearable definition. Sunlight bounces off the buildings and it's only at this time in the morning with the earlybird office workers I can look up and fully appreciate the mix of historical elegance and cosmopolitan beauty that London personifies. There are so many old buildings to marvel at. For instance, this morning for the first time in my entire 36 years of living in London, I discovered a medical university building dating back circa 1744.

This morning I also invented for myself the Friday Croissant. Now croissants can be eaten any day for any normal person. But for a detoxer like me they are a very rare treat. I walked into my favourite healthy eating joint today, Pret, and looked at the array of freshly baked croissants. I loved the look of the mozarella, tomato toasted with flavoursome oregano sprinkled on top. As I bit into my personal Friday treat, I savoured the mixture of warm cheese and tomato juices oozing out of the lightly crunchy croissant. Unlike my usual wolfing down routine of food, I took my time over the croissant, taking purposeful bites into it. I'm not going to beat myself up by saying now you have to run ten times round the block but now and again the odd treat, whatever it may be makes you appreciate the little culinary delights in life.

The Wedding Thief

This weekend, I attended an Indian wedding reception. For a couple of weeks now, I had been dreading looking decent in a sari but was pleasantly suprised at myself at how the metres of silky material draped around my curves but didn't leave me feeling billowy. When my mum wore a sari, my dad would tease her on how she wore it like a world-class flag. So with that in mind I was determined not to look like an hot-air balloon. The wedding reception got into full swing. Starters were served at a decent hour and I started to panic at the thought of eating too many fried nibbles.

Mogo chips, samosas and fattening paneer were quickly snapped up by the other guests at the table and I modestly picked at a couple of mogo sticks, dried samosas, and tepid paneer fried in peppers. Luckily for me, the starters were so spicy that anything I put in my mouth left an unbearably snake-like spicy sting on my tongue. What followed was a long spate of dancing. I charged to the dance floor and danced like there was no tomorrow. The mains were served at an unearthly hour of 10.30pm which for detoxers like me is criminal. All I heard was a big gong in my head like Big Ben chiming the 9pm watershed. But I managed to calm myself down and eat the platter of food: two pieces of fried bread (puris), a small portion of pillau rice, dhal and a mixed veggie dish. I forced myself to slow down and taste the food but it all tasted rather dispriting like the meal had been flung together haplessly. Again what followed was a spate of mad dancing to eighties classics with a mix of bhangra and Bollywood moves thrown in for good measure. But a sour end to the evening: I learned my simple black clutch bag had been stolen. Bizzare, as it's not as if I was at a nightclub! The host in charge of waiting staff was darn adamant that her staff would never steal: she instructed them to empty all the bin bags. But the wedding thief went undetected.

Exercise and Diet

Whenever I hear the word diet, I react badly or rather my body does. I've been listening (and falling asleep to) the Paul McKenna Weight Loss CD. On it when you hear McKenna's deep, dulcet hypnotic tones he describes how those of us wanting to lose weight have basically been overeating and it's all about reducing portion size and more importantly, the aspect of emotional eating. Now for someone like me who has an anally retentive foodwatch mechanism that kicks in, this is refreshing to hear. Every nutritionist - and I've been to see a couple of the top ones in the country - talk about cutting out processed foods, eating more fruit, veg, fish, protein, etc but very rarely do they investigate whether your tendency to overeat is caused my stress or emotional imbalances. Tuning into what your body does or doesn't like when it's truly hungry rather than listening to our minds persauding us to reach out for that chocolate bar seems a much more manageable philosophy.

Feel the flab burn

If only I could feel the flab burn. I've been eating sensibly now for weeks. Detox this and that. And it has made some difference. This evening I went round to a friend's house for some advice on the current trends of evening wear at Indian wedding receptions. In her bathroom, I stealithly stepped on her Ikea bathroom scales and was horrified to see that my weight was a massive 9 stone 4. No wonder I felt horrendous weeks ago! I must have been a whopping 10 stone (for my height that's hefty) but vowing not to weigh myself until I could feel a difference in my clothes, I had avoided the dreaded scales until now! Well at least I know I have a target so to speak. I'm aiming to turn from chubby chops to lean muscle in a few weeks now. I'm determined. I also determined to outwit the leisure, fitness industry by doing my fun dance based workouts, yoga and pilates without having to physically go to a gym. Watch this space for more updates.