Monday 30 April 2012

Oh so... healthy chocolate?


My perennial challenge is to bring it all down to poop… as you know! So today I’ll take the most unlikely suspect of all – chocolate. Can chocolate, the sinful, the hidden, the guilty pleasure possibly become the King of Poop?

Oh yes it can! But not just any chocolate – ‘ohso’ probiotic chocolate.


This perfectly sized bars of chocolate, not only gives you the much appreciated feel-good effect, but also makes sure your gut stays healthy and full of the good bacteria it needs. It is definitely a welcome change from the sugar-laden, overpriced and over-billed probiotic yogurt drinks that have been abundantly stocked on the shelves in the supermarkets over the last few years.

Now you're probably thinking that eating a bar of chocolate a day is more likely to do you more harm than good - but ‘ohso’ isn't your regular chocolate bar. It's made with 53% Belgian Chocolate, which is dark chocolate making ‘ohso’ not just very tasty but also a source of powerful antioxidants which helps strengthen the body’s own natural defenses, whilst also providing vitamins D and E, plus many B-complex vitamins. I hear you all cry ‘Where have you been all my life!?’ My reaction was pretty similar! A chocolate I can proudly eat without feeling guilty!? Am I dreaming?

And just in case all the above isn't enough to persuade you to at least try these little bars of heaven - there's more. The good bacteria needed to promote healthy gut function lasts 3x longer in chocolate. Completely proves my theory that there’s virtually nothing you can’t fix with a bit of chocolate! So this chocolate is making sure as much of the good stuff gets to your tummy, where it is very much needed.
Is there science behind it? Yes there is, and, even better, it’s on our side.

And finally, for all of us who feel that chocolate is a constant cause for calorie caution, each of these wondrous bars contains only 72 calories - less than half the calories in a bag of Maltesers!

Move aside all you other evil chocos and smelly probiotic pills, and make way for the super bar!

The most important question is… where can I get mine?

http://www.ohsolovesyourtummy.com

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Touché!...or is it Tushé?



Another insanely successful man, music industry giant Simon Cowell, unveils his greatest pampering secrets in his new (ostensibly unauthorized) biography.

Now, although he is a bit of a diva, and takes things a tad too far, some of his madness does have supporting method.

Let us start at Simon’s bottom.  Simon supposedly uses only black quilted toilet paper. 

This may seem like the typical behaviour of a money mad show off, but I think we can learn something from him. Mr Number One shows an attitude towards Number Two that many of us should adopt. Pooping is not the most glamorous of activities, but it is necessary, and if it is necessary why not enjoy it! His derrière just like the rest of ours, has to sit on a toilet and be wiped clean by something before it can be popped back into a pair of undies. So this mundane task should be turned into a form of t.l.c- why do we give our faces so much pampering attention, and not our bottoms? Black toilet paper does not do it for me, but if I could get Dali printed toilet paper, I may spend more time sat on the thrown (feeling like it’s a little less of an embarrassing activity), and feel extra special when its time to wipe my tush! To make the point more clearly, why not make some element of your toilet ritual and environment more glamorous? See if it changes your attitude to pooping. Definitely, tushé....

Simon's face undergoes quite an ordeal! Apparently he is hooked up with Botox twice a year, and carries around at least 2 suitcases full of lotions and potions whenever he travels! However, along with the external resurfacing, he does also work on his face from the inside, injecting vitamins, drinking super-smoothies and eating loads of fruit and veg. Lots of vitamins = healthier body = healthier skin = more youthful appearance!

Now to the gut, the proverbial Mum. I imagine Simon’s gut speaks to him regularly, and I think he is well acquainted to it, and listens to it closely. This is very clear in the fact that he has regular colon hydrotherapy treatments. He knows his gut struggles to process all the nonsense he puts it through, so to show he cares, and understands, he also pampers his gut. In turn, I imagine, his gut treats him much better as well; processing foods better, and therefore gaining more from his super smoothies and air freight delivered fruit!


Tuesday 17 April 2012

The most successful people in the world listen to their gut




On last weeks ‘The voice’ Will-I-Am declared at several points that he was listening to his gut for advice on who to choose for the final spot on his team. He also said that his gut was his mother, a slightly bizarre statement but hey the message was clear; he knew his gut instinct was the one he should follow.

One of Oprah’s coveted life-lessons is ‘always listen to your gut’ – she believes it is an instinct that all animals listen to, but humans have forgotten and sometimes actively ignore.

Take a look at Mark Zuckerberg. His gut told him that students would love a service to connect them seamlessly to each other at their campus. And each of his product decisions, from the newsfeed to photo tagging, also came from gut decisions.


Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson. They all learned very early on to listen to their initial instinct.


So, what does it mean to listen to your gut? Obviously your gut does not boom with an omniscient voice guiding you through tough decisions, (although Will-I-Am’s gut appears to have a very distinct voice, the voice of his mother), but its does make its presence known… when you get ‘butterflies’ your tummy is talking to you, telling you that ‘this may not be a good idea’ or possibly ‘this is a very exciting situation to be in’. Or it could be an even subtler message, not quite a fully formed voice, what some may call intuition.

I remember the last time my gut spoke to me (it tends to make its presence known on a daily basis), it told me to take my umbrella as I was leaving the house to meet a friend, but did I listen? Oh no! I arrived drenched from head to toe… I should have listened to ‘my mother’.

When was the last time your gut spoke to you? And what did it say? Does it have a voice or is it just a sensation or feeling?