October 5th

I ordered an amazing card today called a Hi-Life Card. I’ve known about them for years but never remembered to order one. They cost £49 and entitle you to get Buy One Get One Free on all starters, mains and deserts at hundreds of restaurants ranging from Franky & Benny’s to Harvey Nicholls restaurant. Looks like my diet will have to go on hold ☺

October 1st

I went for an allergy test today at my local health store. These kinds of tests have had a lot of criticism as they seem to be very inaccurate but I thought I’d give it a go anyway. I was sent up to a room above the shop where a funny looking lady was waiting for me. She had a huge bouffant hairdo, backcombed to death, and bright blue eye shadow. She was a nutritionalist and hypnotherapist although she reminded me more of someone who would read a crystal ball. She sat me down in front of a table with a strange-looking machine on it. She asked me to hold a thick metal rod thing and then pulled out a box full of tiny glass bottles containing different substances, which she was going to test me for. One at a time she put the tiny bottles into a hole in the machine and gently pressed a small rod, also attached to the machine, onto my finger. It made a strange squeaking noise. She repeated this with every different container and the ones I was supposedly intolerant to made a different pitched noise. I heard a big variation of noises so I was pretty worried about what she was going to tell me. I’ve told you all how much I love my food so to be told I can’t have some of it is pretty devastating to me and being the type of person that always wants what I can’t have makes matters even worse. I was expecting her to say something bad but never as bad as it was! I’ve tried cutting out wheat and dairy on separate occasions and both times, although my bloating problem didn’t improve, I did feel better and had less indigestion. So I’d already considered the fact that I could possibly be intolerant to wheat and dairy but was in denial as it’s like a nightmare to me. I love anything creamy, cheesy or buttery and can’t stand the thought of living without bread, pasta, pastry or pizza!! Anyway the dreaded results, you won’t believe what she said! I’m intolerant to cow’s milk and wheat, as expected, but on top of that… SUGAR, a food flavouring that’s in all Chinese food and crisps, all orange colouring and sweeteners!! To top it off she said I was also intolerant to lager and whiskey! It wouldn’t be so bad if my favourite drinks weren’t a pint of lager in the day and a JD and coke in the evening! Typical! I must have done something reeeeally bad in a past life! Like I say they’re not necessarily 100% accurate but I have always thought I could possibly be intolerant to quite a few things as my symptoms are every day and I can never see a pattern with one particular food. I’m just going to cut down as much as possible and see if that makes a difference. I’m not going to start for a week though so I can pile in as much sugar, wheat and dairy as possible.

September 29th

I’ve finally got my Slendertone out of its box and I have to say I love it! I haven’t seen results yet as I’ve only used it for a week but I can really feel it working. I do it when I’m walking the dog or watching EastEnders or Corrie ☺ You use it 5 times a week for 30 minutes. The only disadvantage is you look a bit like a suicide bomber and every 5 seconds it makes your stomach contract, so you look like you’re pushing out a number two ha, sorry. Talking of my fitness regime, I’ve discovered why I used to almost pass out when I’d go on a running machine, I was going too fast! I’ve slowed it down just a smidge and now I breeze through! I always push myself too hard. Even in yoga I always try and do the most advanced moves, nearly falling over and breaking my back, It’s always best to start at the very beginning and work up. I’ve started doing a 10 minute run to warm up at the gym before I work out. I mentioned in previous blog entries how I do no cardio to prevent losing weight, well actually, my boobs, but I’ve been told by my doctor that doing a bit of cardio is really important for circulation and that it would be really unhealthy to cut it out completely. I did start swimming as I mentioned a while ago but as it’s getting colder I’ve given it up. Actually that’s probably just an excuse, I never stick at anything when it comes to diet and fitness. I’m constantly getting new ideas and trying new things! Varying your routine is important to keep it interesting - I get really bored doing the same routine over and over.

September 19th

It’s been a really sad time as one of the Sun Page 3 girls, in fact the latest Page 3 Idol, committed suicide over the weekend. So tragic and such a loss, she was only 19. It was only the week before I was working with her doing a PA in a club, she seemed so happy and normal, it seems no-one actually knows why she did it. I only wish she could have told someone about her pain, so that they could have reassured her and shown her she had such a bright future ahead of her. It’s a reminder to us all to not take anyone for granted because one day you might wake up and, unexpectedly, they could be gone. RIP Jenny. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

September 12th

I’m sorry guys, but I have to take back everything I said about the Biosculpture gel nails! After having them done in red, once my nails had grown to a nice length, I got the Biosculpture overlay in a French manicure. They look great and are good if you’re going on holiday for a week but after a week, one or two of them begin to peel. Not really worth £49!! The beautician told me to stick them down with a bit of nail glue if they begin to peel, but it was quite tricky to do and still looked messy. I’m terrible as well because as soon as one starts to peel, give me an hour and I’ll have ripped them all off! Also the idea behind Biosculpture is that they’re meant to be good for your nails but when you get them removed, they soak them in acetone and then scrape them off leaving your nails looking a bit of a mess. The other method of removing them, the one I used the second time, is peeling them of yourself and as you can imagine a few layers of your own nails comes off with it! My advice is don’t bother with them, and just look after your natural nails. One more thing, as I predicted my Slendertone machine still hasn't seen the outside of its box. As soon as it does, I'll fill you in on the results.

September 7th

I went to one of the Sun Page 3 girls, Melanie Boorman’s, wedding yesterday in Hertfordshire. It was amazing! I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was slightly jealous. It was so special and she looked like a princess. I had the most disastrous time getting there, though. I got up at five in the morning to get the train to London and then on to Hertfordshire in time to get to the hotel and get ready before the church at 2pm. I was, what I thought was, about 30mins away from Euston when I went to the train buffer and asked what exact time the train arrived into London. The lady’s response was, ‘Don’t you mean Birmingham?’ Apparently there were no direct trains to London that day. I then had to get a coach to somewhere else and then two more trains to London!!!! I had to do my hair and make-up, and get changed on the train! Luckily I’d put my rollers in at home, God knows what I would have done if not! I know what you’re probably thinking, don’t I feel stupid walking around in rollers, but to be honest that’s just what I’m like, I don’t give a monkeys! It’s the friends with me who always feel embarrassed. I’m always embarrassing my friends ☺ If I’m in a shop and lose them I’ll just shout their names really loud. Anyway, I managed to get to the church for exactly 2pm looking and feeling slightly worse than I’d planned. I aged about 10 years through the whole journey worrying about whether or not I’d actually make it. Anyway luckily they had endless bottles of my favourite Sauvignon Blanc to help me relax and forget about how awful I looked. It was a great wedding. It was filmed for a programme on ITV, which is basically a competition between four weddings so watch out for it. Oh, and good luck Mel, I hope you win. If any of you see me on the programme, please bear in mind what I said about the journey and the amount of wine I drank to get over it!

Aug 30th

I’m absolutely loving Soap and Glory at the moment. Their products are really good. It’s the sister company to Bliss, which has spas in London and New York and sells a variety of products from the spa in stores such as Harrods. Bliss is v expensive though, and Soap and Glory is a lot more affordable. I once bought lemon and sage body butter from Bliss as I’d read in a magazine that it was Lily Cole’s favourite. If a supermodel likes it, it has to be pretty good. It was a really lovely rich cream but at £23 a tube I didn’t really want to buy it all the time. I then discovered Soap and Glory and their body butters were just as good and a lot cheaper at £10. I luuuurve them and they smell gorge. They come in various different scents from blueberry to lemon flowers and orange, which I’m loving at the moment. You’ve gotta try them! I also use ‘Scales Away’, a scrub for your legs which is great, and ‘Scrub Of Your Life’, an all-over body scrub. They have a few new products that they’ve just released. I tried ‘Some Like It Hot’ thermal scrub. It was the most bizarre product I’ve ever used. I think I had a reaction to it! I rubbed it all over, and as soon as you put it on your skin it gets very hot but quickly cools down. About two minutes later I started to heat up again to the extent that I had to turn the shower onto cold because as hot water touched my skin it made it feel 10 times hotter and felt as though it was burning my skin. I got out of the shower and as usual I’d forgotten my towel so had to run around looking for one. Usually I freeze when I’m on my after shower towel hunt, but this was bizarre, I was roasting! I finally found a towel, wrapped it around me and jumped back in bed. It felt like I had a heated towel wrapped round me. Strange! I used the scrub again the other day just on my legs and it didn’t have the same effect. It heated up at the beginning but quickly cooled down and stayed cool. Maybe because it was the first time I’d used it, the stuff in it that heats up had dropped to the bottom (it’s in one of those tubes where the lid’s at the bottom). I don’t know but it was HOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!