January 30th

I’m excited today because my girl friends are coming down from Manchester for a big party weekender! I’ve got loads planned for us including a night at a comedy club in Leicester Square and club hopping round the West End, ending with a big kebab. I’ll fill you in on what we get up to next week. My mum bought me some new tea by Twinings called Digestiv the other day, which apparently aids digestion. You see I’ve got the worst digestive system (another reason I try and eat well), I get really bloated and often get horrible heartburn, and so I gave the tea a go. It tasted rank!!!!! I normally drink honey and lemon in the morning if I’ve got time, so I added half a lemon and a teaspoon of honey to it, and it now tastes pretty damn good! I only started yesterday so I’m not sure of its effect, but I’m going to start aiming to have one after every meal. In fact I think I’ll put some in my bag now to drink at my Zoo shoot tomorrow. I was at a shoot the other day and my make-up artist was this lovely American lady who said she used to suffer badly from bloating but now regularly has colonic hydrotherapy, which has completely eliminated her problem! ‘Gotta be worth a try’ I thought, until she explained what they do! You basically have a tube shoved up your bum and water pumped up and then sucked back out again along with whatever else is inside! Yes that’s right, you have a hose and a hover put up your bum! Very glamorous. I was instantly put off, but then I spoke to one of my good friends who’s a photographer (I won’t tell you who for because she’ll kill me, but her pics always end up on Page 3 of a certain popular paper). She told me she often goes on detox holidays in LA and had regular colonics and also thinks they’re great. That’s two recommendations now so I’m going to have to put my pride aside and give it a go. Wish me luck and I’ll tell you how it goes, don’t worry, I’ll keep details to a minimum, ha.

January 28th

I’m going to meet a new personal trainer this afternoon. My old one was a bit shit! This new guy’s been recommended to me by a friend who works in the gym in the membership department. He reckons he’s really good. Everyone has their problem areas and mine is my stomach. I look after myself so it’s not bad, but it is the area I have to work on and if I put weight on it goes there and on my boobs. You know I’m not gonna worry about a bit of extra weight in my boobs though. ☺ My stomach on the other hand is a big no no! Some men say they like a little bit of a curve on a woman’s stomach but in my eyes it’s definitely not a good look. I’d rather have a fat ass and legs than a big stomach, but then people who do put weight on in those places hate it. I guess we always want what we haven’t got. Doing 800 sit-ups a day won’t budge fat, though. If anything it could increase the size of your stomach as the muscles increase in size. To get rid of it you have to do fat-burning exercise like running, swimming or dancing, anything that gets your heart rate up. Fat’s not the only problem though, you need to tone your stomach and keep it pulled in. This is my main focus in exercise, I know I could get my stomach perfect by losing a bit of weight but I’d be too skinny and lose some of my boobs. I like curvy girls - I hate the skinny look and think someone that’s size zero would look sooooo horrible naked, even if they do look pretty good in gorgeous designer clothes on a catwalk. In real life though, I think it’s a horrible look and obviously very unhealthy. Some girls naturally have an ironing board flat, hard stomach (lucky bitches, ha) but most of us don’t. I’ve been looking on the Internet for a belly dancing DVD because I’ve heard it’s brilliant for core strength and getting a flat stomach. I might learn some sexy moves in the process as well, which can’t be a bad thing. Once I’ve got the DVD I might put a video up on YouTube of some of the new moves I’ve learnt to show you! Yeah right! Ha.

January 24th

My friend Claire’s coming round for a girly catch up tonight. She’s a northern lass like me. We were introduced by a mutual friend when we both moved to London for university. We’ve been bum chums ever since. Anyway I’m cooking us a big meal tonight! It’s not just a surname, you know! I’m pretty good in the kitchen if I do say so myself. We’ll be having tuna steak cooked in my special way. I think it’s always good to eat home cooked food, simply because you know what you’re eating. I hardly ever buy processed foods to have at home. Most of my main meals consist of meat/fish, some natural seasoning, a type of veg and potatoes or brown rice, and I can list all the ingredients I’ve used to make it. Just look at the ingredients on the back of some ready meals! I’ve not even heard of half of them! When food’s processed it loses a lot of its nutritional value, and they’re normally full of salt, sugar and saturated fat. Not good! I know it’s convenient to bang something in the oven or microwave but there are a lot of healthy meals that taste great and are easy peasy to make. Although it looks ultra posh, the meal I’m cooking tonight is a breeze to make.
Try it. (I kind of make things up as I go along so feel free to change the amounts to suit your taste)

To make the sauce/marinade-

Handful of chopped coriander
Half a chopped red chilli
Juice of a lime
Splash of oil
1 clove of garlic crushed
Pinch of sea salt and pepper

2 fresh tuna steaks

Rice (preferably brown)

Avocado sliced

Balsamic vinegar to drizzle over the avocado (yum)

Simply mix all the ingredients together for the sauce and cover the tuna steaks in it and put in the fridge for around 20mins. I use Jamie Oliver's flavour shaker to mix the ingredients. It was only £10 and is brilliant for making marinades.

In the meantime cook the rice as instructed

Heat a griddle. I spray it with some olive oil called fry light, which is just 1 calorie per spray. When hot put the tuna steaks on and cook depending on how well done you like your tuna. I cook for about 4 mins each side, turning the steaks 90 degrees half way through on each side to get that criss cross effect.

When done place the tuna on a plate, pour in the remaining marinade in the pan and heat for a minute.

Put the rice on the plate and the sliced avocado. Then pour the marinate over the tuna and rice and finally drizzle a little balsamic over the avocado.

Voila… posh nosh made easy!

January 19th

I went for my weekly big shop today. I’m following a strict shopping list at the moment that I prepared while lying in bed in Manchester suffering from a hangover. What a productive way of spending a hangover day, much better than the usual Hollyoaks omnibus! I not only wanted to plan my weekly meals to ensure I’m eating enough good food but also to prevent me wasting so much food. Before Christmas I was buying food willy-nilly and spending far too much money. I was buying food when I already had loads in the fridge and then having to throw it away before I’d even opened it because it had gone off. My mum was disgusted when she came to stay with me and looked in my fridge! She said she saw the box of blueberries walk across the shelf towards the pot of green hummus, and no, it wasn’t hummus with basil. Yuk! It is hard though, as I live on my own and most things come in portions for families so they go off before I get a chance to eat them. Especially salad. I wish they made mini bags of single portion salad. I bought loads of fruit today. I try and snack throughout the day on fruits. Its important to eat a colourful variety of fruit and vegetables as each different colour contains different amounts and types of vitamins and minerals. I try to eat at least three a day. I know it’s not the recommended five, but it’s a start. My latest is eating a handful of blueberries on my Bran Flakes in the morning. It may not seem as tempting as a big fry-up but knowing how healthy and nutritious it is, really gives you a boost for the day. One of my guy friends always has porridge with chopped up strawberries for his breakfast (he’s also very health conscious). It looked pretty good! I’d give it a go but I never really like porridge I’ve made myself. Mum’s always tastes better so maybe I’ll try it when I’m back in Manchester.

January 14th

I’m back and settled into the real world now, after my big break in Manchester living the life of a total bum (it was brill). I’m back in the gym and I’m working hard. As I don’t have a car in London I’m always pretty active, walking here and there, so I don’t do much cardio at the gym. I eat well so I’m not overweight, and doing too much fat-burning exercise would take away my money-makers, ha ha. The first place I lose weight is off my boobs and I obviously don’t want that. I still have to work hard though to keep toned. I do a lot of core work. My favourite is Pilates. I love it. It’s not too difficult but very effective. My gym like most, offers free classes so I do three Pilates classes a week and two yoga. The great thing about all-inclusive classes is that you can try everything and see what suits you and what you enjoy. There’s no point doing a form of exercise that you hate, because you won’t stick at it for long enough to see the results. I love my Pilates classes, although getting up for the early ones is a struggle sometimes, but once I’m there I’m happy, and afterwards I feel great. Yoga, although sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I really, well… don’t. But I expected that. One of the reasons I was interested in doing yoga was because I have a very short attention span and get easily bored and find it hard to relax. Yoga should help me be able to relax and focus more, but to begin with I knew I’d find it boring and slow. I don’t think I’ve seen much of a result yet but I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m definitely more flexible, which is another reason for me doing it. I look at the other really flexible people in the class and that motivates me to stick at it. So I feel like I’ve started the year well and just hope I stick at it. Wish me luck guys!

January 7th

I went out for dinner last night with a couple of my girlfriends to TGI's to say goodbye because I’m heading back to reality to my flat in London. If I didn’t mention, I’ve been in Manchester staying at my mum’s over Christmas and New Year. I love TGI’s! Bring on the Jack Daniels chicken and hot chocolate fudge cake. Believe it or not, I do try to eat a balanced diet. A habit I’ve picked up, which works well, is never buying snack foods such as biscuits, cakes and sweets to have at home. If I’m out and I fancy something naughty I’ll have it, but at home I only have healthy foods. If I do go to a restaurant I’ll order whatever looks the best, whether it’s healthy or not, and have the double chocolate fudge cake covered in cream for my dessert. You’ve gotta indulge sometimes! But the key is to eat in moderation and not go mad. The occasional treat is ok but just not all the time. And If I do over-indulge, I’ll make sure I eat healthily the next day and go to the gym. So today I’m eating extra healthily, to make up for all that Jack Daniels sauce smothered over my chicken and all the Jack Daniels and coke I guzzled it down with. I’ve just eaten my lunch and although it sounds a bit like a rabbit dinner it was pretty damn good! My friend, Georgina, who’s living in Australia told me to try it. I mixed together half a tin of tuna with 1/3 of a tin of cooked chickpeas, a handful of rocket and some sliced avocado. Then I seasoned it with salt, pepper and juice of ¼ of a lemon and then drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It only took 5 mins to prepare and is a really nutritious and balanced meal. Don’t worry if that sounds horrible to you, if you normally eat really unhealthily just start introducing healthy foods one at a time and you’ll start appreciating them. When I first switched from white bread to brown, I hated it and craved Warburton’s thick cut white all the time, but now I really enjoy brown bread and don’t even think about white. I love Warburton's seeded batch.

January 2nd 2008

I went out last night to a party in Leeds. Actually I’m lying, it was the night before. I felt so rough that I stayed in bed all day yesterday and didn’t move. If I have a big night I try to eat and drink really healthily the next day, and try and get all the vitamins and minerals I need to recover by eating loads of fruit and veg and drinking lots of water. I stayed in on New Year’s Eve to save myself because I knew it was going to be a really big night. I went with Rhian Sugden, a friend and fellow Page 3 model. It was fancy dress with a Wild West theme but I’d bought this gorgeous D&G leopard print dress in the sales and ended up wearing that. I hate shopping for clothes in sales because I can’t deal with rummaging. This year though my mum said she’d buy me a bag. I came up with the genius idea of waiting until after Xmas to get a designer one in the sales. I knew nice bags would sell out quick so I decided to get up extra early and go to the opening of the sales at Selfridges and Harvey Nickson Boxing Day. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Crazy woman!’ My mum had the same thought, but I just about managed to drag her out of bed at 7 to get there for the opening at 8. She wasn’t the happiest and we ended up having quite a few arguments on the way. Hung over, racing down the motorway to the sales! As you can imagine we felt great! We got there five minutes before the doors opened and I have to say it was one hell of an experience. The women were very serious about the whole thing and pushed each other as they ran towards the bags on the first floor. Everyone had about 10 designer bags on their arms! I was thinking, “God, these women are really rich to be able to afford all those bags.” Then I clocked onto what they were actually doing! You grab as many bags as you can and then go to a quiet corner and decide which one you want and dump the rest. So here was me and my mum both with 10 bags on each arm and a few round our necks. We were true professional sales folk now! So I picked my bag and went to see the clothes upstairs. I won’t tell you how much I spent, but I haven’t been able to eat since! Only joking, but I did get a bit carried away. I now know why I’ve always hated sales. Every time I used to go, all I’d find was last season’s crap! The trick is to get there as soon as the sales start because after around 2 hours all the good stuff goes. Me and my Mum got some really good stuff. I got a Juicy Couturetracksuit. I always try and buy one in the sales because they’re so useful. I nearly always wear them to photoshoots. They’re comfortable and always look pretty good, even on days that you don’t. As a model, they’re good for not leaving marks around your waist like jeans do. They’re also great for wearing when you’re clothes shopping because they’re easy to whip on and off in the changing rooms. Oh, and they wash well. I’ve just made them sound like wonder clothes! I know they’re quite expensive but if you get one in the sales it’s not too bad.

December 29th 2007

I can’t believe a year’s gone by since I won The Sun's Page 3 Idol. It’s gone soooo quick. Anyway, I’m glad it’s nearly a new year because a new year means a new start. It’s the time when I try and put everything that’s wrong in my life, right (try being the important word here). Life always tends to get a bit messy by the end of the year. I’ve not been to the gym for over a month, I’ve been having far too many late nights, coming home in the early hours, eating whatever crap I can get my drunken hands on and crashing out without taking off my make-up, brushing my back-combed hair or taking my extensions out. Not a good idea! Yes, I wake up with what feels like a large dreadlock on top of my head, looking like Amy Winehouse after one of her benders. My poor hair and skin!

I’ve just realised I’ve been waffling on and not even mentioned why I’m here and writing this blog. So here it is: since a young age I’ve been interested in health and fitness and since becoming a model it’s something that’s been even more important to me. After seeing and feeling the results of a healthy lifestyle, I know it’s something that will be a part of my life forever. I decided to write a blog on my struggle to stay gorgeous and healthy. I’m constantly trying out new forms of exercise, new healthy foods and endless beauty products, so I wanted to share it all with you. I’ve been really enjoying modelling, but I have to admit, its pretty mind-numbing, especially after studying physics, chemistry, biology and then architecture (honestly, I’m not a geek). Although modelling’s a lot harder than people believe, it doesn’t take much brainpower! So, as one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to use my brain more, I decided to write a blog and share all my health and beauty tips with you guys. Just call me your guinea pig!