”Weight-training will make you bulky”. ”You didn’t workout hard enough if you’re not sore” ”You should never do cardio and weight-training together!” We’ve heard them all. It can be difficult to separate the fact from the fallacy when it comes to the old gym-related rumour mill, but we’re hear to sort the sense from the downright silly! With the help of our friends at PureGym, we’ve addressed the 6 most common myths believed by gym goers in the UK – that aren’t actually true! The rule of thumb ladies: don’t be afraid of the weights room!  The myth: Cardio is the best way to lose weight The tr ..read more

Find everything you need to be the healthiest version of you in the brand NEW February 2020 issue of Healthy Food Guide.  Find recipes, tips, guides, expert advice and more inside… Do you ever find yourself eating alone? Whether by choice or as a result of a change of circumstance, a third of us now regularly dine solo. While eating on your own can certainly have its pitfalls (a takeaway suddenly becomes much more tempting), there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that dining solo is no bad thing. Dietitian Juliette Kellow looks at the reasons why meal times can become a solo affair and offers e ..read more

If sweet pancakes are more your style, then check out these 4 quick and easy pancake topping ideas to take your stack to the next level. From a light fruity compote to banana with chocolate sauce, all of these fantastic topping ideas are easy to do.  Just whip up a batch of your choice of pancakes (go for a classic crêpe or try this fluffy American-style recipe) before adorning with one of these sweet toppings. Pear and apple pancakes Prep: 10 min Cook: 10 min Serves: 4 Melt a little low-fat spread  in a large frying pan, then add 3 chopped apples and 3 chopped pears and cook for 5-6 minutes u ..read more

Just four simple bodyweight exercises (burpees, pull-ups, press-ups and squats) combine in this seriously challenging workout by Freeletics. Think you have what it takes? This workout is all about the pacing. It might look easy, but the high rep range for each exercise means you’ll need to be smart about how you break it up. Let’s face it, completing 100 press-ups in a row is a bit of a stretch! The key is to take lots of short rests while chipping away at every rep – think about the pace, rather than the timing, of this one. We’ve also provided progressions for some of the more challenging ex ..read more

Find everything you need to kick off 2020 with a healthy diet and mindset in the latest issue of Healthy Food Guide magazine.  Portion control If 2020 is the year you’d like to take control of your health, whether that’s by losing a little weight or becoming more mindful around food, we’ve got the tools you need to achieve your goals. Know what you’re putting on your plate with our handy portion guides that include serving suggestions for typical breakfast foods, protein, carbohydrates, legumes, dressings, snacks, sweet treats and more. Did you know that a portion of lasagne is the size of a 3 ..read more

It’s that time of year again. A new opportunity to change old eating habits, exercise more, and get more sleep. We promise ourselves that after a few months of rigorously sticking to these resolutions, we’ll wake up one morning and be a changed person. Exciting, right? But many of us fail to stick to our resolutions for longer than a few weeks (or days), particularly if we’re making sweeping changes. Could it be this all-or-nothing mentality that makes it so hard to change? So, why not tackle 2020 with a different mindset? We’ve created this guide to help you stick to those resolutions, and tu ..read more

See inside our fantastic December issue for how to eat to fight festive stress, ways to give back this Christmas, the café that’s tackling mental health, fantastic crowd-pleasing recipes and a beautiful festive spiced loaf cake.  Plus, our special section this month is all about dealing with IBS, in which Megan Rossi (aka The Gut Health Doctor) discusses causes, cures and tips to help reduce your symptoms. Have a scroll to find out what else is in store… Eat, drink and be merry! There’s so much focus on feeding others at Christmas that it’s easy to forget about eating well yourself, especially ..read more

Hannah Barrett, aka Yoga Girl, fell in love with yoga during a particularly stressful time in her life. Now she’s a yoga teacher, mum and pre and post-natal specialist and she shares some pretty impressive moves over on her Instagram (which has 218k followers!). We asked Hannah 10 questions about the influence that yoga has had on her life and, in particular, its positive impact on new mums.  How did you get into yoga and what made you fall in love with it? I’d been practicing yoga on and off for a few years but it wasn’t until I was pregnant with my son that I fell in love with it and started ..read more

Once you’ve made your Christmas pudding and are ready for steaming, follow our easy step-by-step guide to find out how to wrap and tie the bowl correctly. 1.Cover the pudding basin with a large sheet of baking paper and a sheet of foil, folding each in the middle to make a pleat to allow the pudding to expand during cooking. 2. Fold the foil and paper down around the pudding basin. 3. Pinch the foil tightly around the rim. 4. Wrap a length of string around the rim, leaving enought to make a bow. 5. Tie the string with a double bow. Now, you’re read to steam your pudding! Check out our Chr ..read more