Bikini diets-friend or foe?

As the sun finally begins to shine, a sense of panic washes over those of us who chose to self indulge a little too much during the winter months.

Editor Laura sunbathing

 Chocolate may have comforted us in the cold dark nights of January, but now as the dreaded bikini season begins many of us are wishing that we had practised a little more self control.

Feeling guilty it’s time to rectify our mistakes; this doesn’t mean try and starve ourselves skinny though. It’s time to get healthy both physically and mentally and realise that a strict low fat diet will not guarantee us beach body perfection.

Fats are bad for you, or so the story goes, but is this really true?

Jonathan Buckley, a personal trainer and founder of the health, fitness, and nutrition website “Peak Performance” says “People fear fats like the plague, this is simply put down to the fact that there is little education into the fact that fats are beneficial to our very existence. Fats are an extremely important energy source and can contribute to as much as three quarters of the energy demanded by physical exercise.”

Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that you can stuff your face with sausages rolls before hitting the gym. Processed foods, red meats and dairy products are packed with saturated fats which are bad for you.  These types of fats are associated with high levels of cholesterol and heart disease, so if you are looking to loose weight try cutting back on these; but be warned cutting them out completely could lead to cravings which could lead to you over indulging.

If Saturated fats are out, then what fats are in?

Healthier fats that are essential to you’re well being are Monounsaturated Fats, these are typically found in cooking oils and nuts. Jonathan says that these also help to lower your LDL cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated Fats are also one of the healthier forms of fats if eaten in the right foods. These can be found in fish, seeds and nuts, and are best consumed in whole foods. However, and it’s a big however if these food type is subjected to types of processing, then the Polyunsaturated gems can be turned into nasty, harmful Trans fats.

This type of fat is the most complicated form, but it is not essential to your diet like other forms. Jonathan says “They can increase the risk of Heart Disease significantly, and also raise your LDL levels, whilst lowering HDL levels (the good cholesterol!).”

So there are the basics on fats. Hopefully you are a little more educated on which ones to avoid and which ones to welcome in your must get slim for summer diet.

Still struggling? Here is Poise’s favorite low saturated fat diet. 

It’s called the ‘Glucose Revolution’ and was originally constructed to aid people with Diabetes. The unrefined food types, useful carbohydrates, low saturated fat foods, and plentiful fresh fruit and vegetables in it aid in healthy weight loss for a wide range of people. As a result of this, this program is said to promote a “sensible, well-balanced, healthy weight loss.”
 

‘The Glucose Revolution’

Breakfast:
Bran flakes with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk
Whole grain bread with low-sugar jam

Lunch:
Chicken, turkey or ham sandwich on whole-grain or whole meal bread
Green salad

Dinner:
Roast chicken with baked sweet potato and grilled green and red pepper strips
Low-fat ice cream with sliced fresh pears or canned pears in fruit juice

Snacks:
Fresh fruit and vegetables (Carrot batons, celery etc)

Check out the peak performance website for more diet tips !

https://sites.google.com/site/peakperformanceadvice/home

Festival Frenzy

Festival Frenzy

 

This time every year thousands of students across the country, are online or on the phone trying to buy tickets to a festival where their favourite bands and artists are playing, from V-fest to Glastonbury there is a festival to suit everyone. If this happens to be your first year going to a festival do not despair Poise are here to help. We have been out on the streets, and asking our friends to find out what are their top tips are for a fabulous hassle free festival weekend.

 

1-      Wellies are an essential for any festival goer, they keep your feet are snug and dry for the whole weekend.

2-      Tent, I think this speaks for itself really!

 

3-      Sleeping bag, to keep you nice and cosy in your tent.

 

4-      First Aid Kit, with paracetamol, waterproof plaster, antihistamine and after bite.

 

5-      Padlock and Key, it may seem silly as it is only  tent, and if they wanted your things badly enough they could get it. But it’s always better to at least make the effort to keep your things safe!

 

6-      Waterproof clothing, we all know how unpredictable whether in the UK can be.

 

7-      Jumper, to snuggling into on the cold evenings. That’s if you’re alone of course!

 

8-      SUNCREAM!! This is one thing everyone always forgets, you may not be in the south of France but the sun will still burn you!

 

9-      Sun hat, yes I did just say sunhat. Don’t worry about looking out of place; after all you will be in the middle of a field with thousands of people that haven’t really showered in days!

 

10-   Dry shampoo. This creation is a god send for us fashion conscious hippies, who are wanting to both live in the moment but to also look good doing it.

 

Fake, a fashion faux pas?

Is natural beauty a thing of the past?  Casual hairstyles and neutral makeup are set to make an appearance this season, but the look on the street is fake, fake, fake.

 

Is natural beauty a thing of the past?  Casual hairstyles and neutral makeup are set to make an appearance this season, but the look on the street is fake, fake, fake.

It seems that we are no longer getting our fashion styling tips from the catwalks of London, Paris, Milan and New York, but from “trashy reality T.V shows”

A new phenomenon has hit the U.K in the form of The Only Way Is Essex. If you haven’t heard of it, where have you been?

Think The Hills but swap Malibu Barbie for stereotypical Essex bimbos, with skin that looks orange, Hair extensions that look too long and too many eyelashes to ever be passed off as natural.  

The programme appears to be light hearted and humorous of the traditional Essex girl stereotype, but instead of laughing along with it more and more girls are mimicking the fake look.

Unable to comprehend the fascination with looking like you have spent hours in the front of the mirror, I decided to try doing it for myself. Hair extensions, fake tan nails and eyelashes at the ready, I’m ready to go, well more like I’m ready to start.

Diane after spending hours getting ready

 

6pm: I decided to start getting ready early as I figured  that I had a lot to do to myself, but first I had a glass of wine, hey I was going out remember!

6:30pm: After showering I blow dried my hair and reached for my new hair extensions, I couldn’t help but spare a thought for the poor European girl that they came from. As I began to clip them in I felt a sense of achievement that they were going right, this was short lived though.

6:55pm. I finally managed to make my own hair cover the clips of my extensions, but managed to pull half of them out when I straightened my own hair over the top of them. Note to self straighten own hair first.

7:00pm: I had a short break for another glass of wine, looking in the mirror so much made me thirsty.

7:10pm: I hit the bathroom armed with a fake tan mitt to coat my naturally pale skin with an ugly dark brown liquid, apparently known as self tan.

7:30pm: After somehow getting my hair extensions stuck to my own skin, I was finally bronzed or rather orange, depending on how you want to look at it.

8:10pm: My face completely piled with makeup of every kind and a nasty battle with false eyelashes later, I was ready.

8:30pm: I forgot about putting false nails on, I tried to stick them on, they fell off I binned them.

10:30pm: I went to the ladies in my favourite bar to discover one of my eyelashes was hanging off in the corner; I didn’t bring the glue with me so I ripped them off. My natural eyelashes were stuck together and there was nothing that I could do about it.

11:15pm: somebody spilt a V.K down my leg and my instant fake tan instantly disappeared, I turn into a diva and stormed off home.

Verdict : I hate fake.

Halfterm Holidays

Student holidays

 

Zanté, Ibiza, Cyprus, Rhodes and Majorca are just a few of the most popular places students have been travelling to during the summer months. Searching for a holiday fling; and crazy adventures is every student’s idea of a good holiday. Or at least it was… is it true students are no longer chasing the boozy, sexually exhilarating, sun, sea and sand holiday experience?

It appears that the rein of the student binge drinking holiday has finally come to its end, and students are opting for more culturally aware holidays. I have been speaking to Jennifer Marsden (Age 28, from Lincoln) an adviser at one of the UK’s largest Travel Agents Thomson, to find out her opinion on where the top student hot spots are currently at in 2011, and also why she believes they have changed.

‘…for a students I believe a holiday have always been their way of escaping rules, and their parents. But nowadays when students come in to ask for advice holidays, they tend to ask what can they get for their money, rather than where is the cheapest and best place I can get drunk and get a tan…’ said Jennifer Marsden.

Jennifer hits the nail right on the head, in today’s society students are more inclined to be careful with their money, because of the economic crisis we have been having over the past few years, and are still having now. Students want to know that they are getting a deal for their money. Speaking to the university students used earlier in Poise’s fashion segment (pages & ), they agreed, stating,

‘…It’s all well and good going on a girly drinking holiday, but if you can spend the same amount of money and go somewhere that you can go on nights out and experience a new culture during the day, then I would always choose the latter option…’ Jodie Bartlett (age 20).

‘I think this could due to the diverse society that we live in today…’ Jennifer Marsden. Students by nature are curious, and maybe Jennifer is right in that the way our society is today and the way we live, it is only natural that people wonder what it would be like to live a different way, and to want to experience it for themselves not just read about it.  Jennifer gave me the top 5 destination Thomson are suggesting if students are looking for a more cultural experience.

 

1- Atakoy in Turkey
2- Taormina in Sicily
3- Barcelona in Spain
4- Prague in Czech Republic
5- Luxor in Egypt

Summer Reading

Summer Reading

This summer get your teeth into one of our four favorite summer reads, with witty anecdotes that will have you in fits of laughter, to emotional turmoil that will have you crying along with the characters, you are bound to be addicted with in minutes.

 

‘Belle de Jour: Playing The Game’ is the third in a series of books following the life of a London call girl. Belle’s explicit, funny, articulate and eye-popping style of writing has captivated audiences all over the world. And if you have yet to start reading, then hurry up

and get to it!

Throughout the book Belle de Jour is frank, refreshingly honest, and bursting with both advice and anecdotes. It is the perfect holiday accessory every girl is after, with reflections in her inimitable tones, this is a novel filled with indecent wit and more than a little lust to entertain you by the pool.

 

‘Can you keep s Secret?’ by the award winning author Sophie Kinsella, is a one off chick lit novel that follows the story of  the ditzy Emma Corrigan. A working woman whose life is filled with many insignificant, amusing and cringe worthy secrets.

Kinsella’s sharp, witty and hilarious manner shines incandescen

tly throughout the book. This light-hearted romance novel is addictive, engaging, laugh out loud funny and easy to read, the ideal kind of book to take on holiday and read on the beach.

 

‘Lipstick jungle’ is another hit book by the talented author Candace Bushnell, the writer of the hit TV series ‘Sex and The City

’. Filled with witty anecdotes, sex and fall outs the book follows the lives of three successful working women in their every day endeavours.

Bushnell describes her new heroines Victory Ford, Nico O’Neily and Wendy Healy as ‘fierce, funny and flawed’, and as she follows them through the minefield of work, love and life on top. Sun, sea and ‘Lipstick Jungle’, it’s the perfect holiday combination for every girl.

 

From the writer of ‘PS, I Love You’ and ‘Where Rainbows End’ comes the magical novel ‘A Place Called Here’ by the award winning novelist Cecilia Ahern. This exceptional novel shares with us the life of Sandy Shortt, her bereavement, friendships and lost love, is both heartbreaking and uplifting.

A book that will make you both wonder and imagine, an enchanted tale about keeping, letting go and losing in life, but also about remembering one’s roots and love. Yet another phenomenal novel from Cecelia Ahern, whose writing seems able mirror a deep and convincing examination of life’s biggest and unanswered questions. It’s a contemporary fairytale that will make your heart race; this book is every girl’s best friend this summer.