Here are 7 simple ways that you can boost your mood and feel better today:
1. Breathe deeply: a few deep, even breaths removes waste products from the body and brings fresh oxygen into the bloodstream and every cell of the body, leaving you feeling relaxed yet enlivened.
2. Use scent to wake up the senses: smelling the scent of citrus or peppermint stimulates nerves in the brain that are responsible for feeling awake and alert. Light a citrus candle, make yourself some lemon tea or put a few drops of peppermint oil on a tissue and breathe in.
3. Buy yourself a bunch of daffodils: having fresh flowers in your home brightens the room and makes you feel good (take a look at this article about the mental health benefits of flowers). When you've arranged them in a vase, take some time to sit and just look at them. This studying of nature close up becomes a meditation - pressing the pause button to slow your busy life down, narrowing your focus and doing just this one thing. Nature is awesome - allow yourself to appreciate it.
4. Get out in the fresh air, rain or no rain, and take a brisk walk: exercise boosts your metabolism. It will help you feel more energised, rev up your circulation and increase oxygen supply to each and every cell in your body, helping you to feel invigorated . So put your waterproofs on and move your joints, ease muscle tension and get the heart pumping - you'll feel so much better.
5. Wear bright colours: studies have shown that colour has an effect on mood-changing hormones. If you wear a lot of black and grey in winter they could be suppressing your mood (think funerals!) Swap sombre colours for orange or yellow which symbolize freshness and vitality.
6. Try these simple yoga stretches while you are sitting on a chair to release tension in the shoulders, back, chest and arms:
Interlock the fingers in front of you, then turn the palms away and, as you inhale, lift the arms up so your palms face the ceiling. Repeat 3 times.
Separate the fingers and allow the arms to come slowly back to your sides. Repeat 3 times.
Take hold of the back of the chair, just above where it joins the seat. Lift your chest and roll your shoulders back. Feel the stretch across the top of the chest and the release of the muscles of the upper back.
Sit to one side of your chair then twist to face the back. Hold each side of the back of the chair, breathe in and stretch your spine and the crown of your head upwards. Then, as you exhale, twist the torso a little more. Breathe in and lengthen once more, then exhale and slowly rotate back. Turn to the other side and repeat.
7. Finally, although it feels as though winter is going on forever, remind yourself that it will change. The wheel of the year will turn and winter will become spring and the sunshine will come.
This week I am making....Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Strawberries are a super-food with very high levels of anti-oxidants, which help prevent and repair damage to the body. A portion of 8 strawberries contains 140% of your RDA of vitamin C - that's more than an orange. They are are low in calories (a 100g serving has just 50!) and they are high in folic acid which helps to form healthy red blood cells.
Dark chocolate is also high in antioxidants, contains healthy fats (as opposed to standard chocolate which contains lots of unhealthy ones), contains soluble fibre and lots of minerals. It has to be quality dark, organic chocolate, mind you, with a high cocoa content. Don't assume that you can eat tons of the stuff though - it still has sugar in it - although the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it contains.
When you combine these two ingredients, you get a mouth-watering dessert that is better for you than most, and it's very simple to make too:
1. Place a piece of greaseproof paper or parchment on a baking sheet.
2. Wash the strawberries and carefully dry them with kitchen paper. Keep the hulls on.
3. Break the chocolate up into pieces and place in the bottom of a glass bowl. Put an inch or so of hot water in the bottom of a saucepan and place the bowl over it, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl (this is called a "bain-marie" or double boiler). Place the pan and bowl over a low heat so that the water gently simmers and melts the chocolate in the bowl above it. Don't boil the water hard - you don't want too much steam to form and water droplets to run down into the chocolate or, rather than being smooth and glossy, it will be lumpy.
4. When it is melted, dip the strawberries in the chocolate and turn them round until all sides are covered thickly.
5. Place the covered strawberries on the baking sheet and put in the fridge.
6. When the chocolate has hardened, gently peel them off the greaseproof paper and serve.
These don't keep well - the strawberries shrink away from the chocolate casing, so eat them quickly!!
This week I am visiting.....The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. Tube station: South Kensington
This superb exhibition displays dramatic images of wildlife and the natural world taken by photographers from all over the globe. Now in its 50th year, the exhibition is open until 23rd March 2014. Tickets cost £12 for adults and £6 for children.
You can book online at www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/wpy/index.html and reserve a convenient time slot . Print out your e-ticket to take with you, show it to the steward at the main entrance and you will therefore avoid the queue for the museum. Once inside stay to the right of the big dinosaur and follow the signs for the exhibition. You will need to show your e-ticket again at the exhibition desk. If you are planning to visit on a Saturday, go early as it gets very busy.
This week I am growing.....Garlic
Garlic is a very easy and rewarding crop to grow. It won't need much looking after, just a bit of weeding and some water if the weather is really dry It doesn't, however, like acidic soils. A cold spell is needed to get the growing process started so it can be planted any time from November to January, and it will be ready to harvest in late summer. Buy your bulb from the garden centre rather than the supermarket to ensure it is suitable for the UK climate.
Dig over a patch of ground, removing any weeds, and rake over so the soil is fine and crumbly. Break up the bulb so you have individual cloves to plant. My bulb broke into 19 separate cloves, so I will hopefully get 19 new bulbs of garlic all for just £2.99! Bargain!
With the pointy end up, and the flat end down, plant the cloves so that the tips are an inch below the surface of the soil, and 4-6 inches apart from each other. All you need to do now is to write a label so that you don't dig them up later by mistake.
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