How to do cereal the Paleo way..

Breakfast: Whilst it’s well known to be the most important meal of the day, it’s something most people don’t find the time to enjoy, or at least, enjoy properly. It’s well known that having a good breakfast to start your day is key in managing and maintaining a healthy body, but when work and other commitments get in the way, it is easy to forget how important it really is.

For most of my childhood, breakfast consisted of sausages and boiled egg with soldiers (the best). I also went through various pancake stages when Waitrose used to do the homemade ones (so middle class it hurts). When I turned 14 and suddenly became extremely aware of boys and what I looked like, I eat what seemed to be the best weight loss option, aka Special K, which was fucking horrific in terms of actually being healthy but seemed to have some kind of crack like ingredient in it that made me desperate to eat about ten bowls a day. This has never been tested or proven but I’m convinced there’s something in that theory because every single friend I have who eat it said the same thing. Just a warning… I then moved onto porridge, and finally, to the relief of my trainer, I (Re) discovered eggs, salmon, and avocado. Whilst the porridge wasn’t necessarily terrible for me, it was really heavy and always made me feel bloated and a bit pregnant afterwards. I would have these super starchy, heavy, ‘healthy’ (special K, occasionally Shreddies) breakfasts and wonder why I felt SO exhausted and sluggish all morning, and until I started having healthier breakfasts with more protein I genuinely had no idea the food had something to do with it.

FYI – If you don’t have the right ratio of protein/carbs etc in your meal (ie – not enough protein), your body produces a hormone that makes you really sleepy, so that explains that symptom. You don’t need coffee, you need protein! And maybe coffee as well, depending on how much sleep you’ve had.

However, as is often the case with everything I love (songs, food, etc) whenever I find a food that I love, and is healthy such as the eggs and salmon, I obsessively eat it non stop for however long it takes me to get so sick of it that I can practically never look at it again. I had basically had eggs for breakfast every day for about 2 years, and I was fucking sick of it. I realized I needed to find healthy alternatives – not only for my taste buds, but for my metabolism. As your body’s metabolism can slow and get lazy if you always eat the same thing, I decided to try and switch it up a bit – and try not to eat the same thing every single day. Particularly since starting the Paleo diet last year, I really had to try and be more exciting.

Although there are obviously millions of other breakfast alternatives that are Paleo friendly, such as fish, meat and nuts, green juices and so on, which I will do another post about, I decided to keep this one just for Paleo friendly cereals – because let’s face it, cereal is fucking great. However, 90 percent of cereals are definitely not great FOR you – like Special K, they’re loaded with sugar and dreadful ingredients that you definitely don’t want in your body. Discovering healthy cereal has been FANTASTIC for me, for my metabolism, gut health, and also just because freaking YUM. Below are my favourite healthy alternatives to the shitty cereals, in no particular order – hope you enjoy!

• Primrose Kitchen’s Carrot, Apple and Cinnamon Muesli

I LOVE this one… I mostly try and avoid muesli as the majority of them are full of sugar (moment on the lips, forever on the hips hunnay) but this one is made without gluten wheat or artificial sugar. I think it’s also a great idea to add vegetables in. The chia seeds and psyllium husks make it great for breakfast, and it tastes amazing. There are also other flavours if apple isn’t your thing! It’s really reasonably priced at just under £6, this will last most normal people a couple of weeks, however I go through about 2 packs a week because I eat it like it’s my last meal on this earth and I’m hungry in the mornings. Find it at Whole Foods, Planet Organic or on the website :

http://primroseskitchen.com/shop/muesli/raw-carrot-apple-cinnamon-muesli-400g

• Bench Pressed Oats (Oomf!)

If you like porridge and oats but want to switch it up and add some protein in there too, this is the brand for you. Healthy, gluten free oats infused with whey protein. Bingo! Porridge without the mid morning energy slump. WERK those muscles…

http://giveitsomeoomf.co.uk/

• Roots and Bulbs – Quinoa Granola

This always gives me loads of energy before a workout – really nice with almond milk, coconut yogurt, or even blended berries (you can make a good acai bowl with this one!). It’s not like your usual granola – which can only be a good thing, as it tastes good AND isn’t packed with shitty ingredients and hoards of sugar. Find it in store or visit…

http://www.rootsandbulbs.com/

• The Living Food Kitchen – Buckwheat Granola

This is fucking DELICIOUS, especially with almond milk. However, although there is no added sugar, make sure you stick to a small serving (50g or less) because there is still quite a lot of natural sugars. This one is great for a snack when you are craving something sweet but don’t want to fuck up your diet! Again – find at Whole Foods, Planet Organic or…

http://www.thelivingfoodkitchen.com/sprouted-buckwheat-granola-18.html

• Paleonola

Paleonola do amazing granolas without the crap. I discovered this one at Whole foods (bit of a theme going on here!) where they have a whole section full of paleo friendly granolas, but this might be my favourite.

http://www.paleonola.com/shop_ep_53-1.html

• Whole Foods ..

Whole Foods also have a large range of buckwheat, rye and gluten free oats, which they sell in huge bags of pure oats in the gluten free section. These are inexpensive and will last you for absolutely ages. I believe the best store for these is the Piccadilly one, but they all deliver!

Let me know how you get on with these, if you’ve tried them, even if you hated them!

Bon appetite!

10 ways to stay MOTIVATED this January

There is no better time to start a new regime than January. Not only is it the start of a new month, but the start of a new year, making it the perfect time to leave all of (or most of!) your bad habits in the previous year. And usually at the top (or fairly near) of peoples list is getting fit – or rather just looking fit as fuck – but there’s no avoiding the two pretty much go hand in hand. After a month of Christmas parties fuelled with mulled wine and dinners consisting of mostly stuffing and sausages, however, January is often a bit of a struggle, and more often than not, what starts off as a constantly rammed gym slowly dribbles off into peace and quiet again come February. I read recently that much of peoples gradual weight gain as they get older comes from gaining it during the holidays and never quite managing to shift it afterwards (I did read this on the Daily Mail though so don’t quote me on that, ha ha!) and I can definitely see how this happens, especially as workloads get bigger and the weather is somehow colder and darker than ever – not exactly the nicest morning wake up, having you feeling like running to the gym when it’s pitch black and sub zero. Below I have decided to include my top ten tips for staying motivated in January and working off your lard arse for the rest of the month, no giving up!

Currently on my bedroom wall…

• Set goals and stick to them

With no clear idea of how you want to improve your physique and fitness, progress is tricky. Try making a four-week plan with weekly goals of upping your treadmill time, weight on the squat bar, and so on. Mark your progress as you work through the month. It’s a million times easier to stay motivated and focused when you can see yourself changing and developing!

HIT IT BITCHES!

• Plan your workouts

Instead of just hopping over to the gym and doing whatever, plan your workout before you get there. Make sure you diversify your activities and keep moving from exercise to exercise – you don’t have to be at the gym for hours, an hour or even 45 minutes of hard work is much more realistic and better for you than 2 hours of moving like a snail!

Don’t do it for the people you love, do it for the people you hate!

• Switch it up

If you go to the gym and do the same workout every single day, chances are, you’re going to get extremely bored – and stop seeing results after about a week. Thanks to THE WORLD WIDE WEB, finding new exercises and workouts online is easier than ever. Get on Instagram and check out some of the fitness pages – check out videos of exercises you’d like to try, and don’t be shy! (Have an instructor show you if you’re not sure…don’t hurt yourself!) Everyone at the gym is there to do the same thing, so don’t be embarrassed. Better to feel a bit awkward at the gym than super embarrassed to take your clothes off on the beach! Make sure you try and check out workouts from people whose bodies you admire as well – no point copying Arnold Schwarzenegger’s moves if you don’t want to look like him!

YES IZA

• Make an inspiration board

I’m not ashamed to say that the wall above my desk is literally covered in photos of hot girls whose bodies I would totally not mind having. Although it’s important to love your own body and accept that you will never look like Beyonce, it doesn’t hurt to have a little motivation to keep you going. When I first started working out, I literally had the Victoria’s Secret catalogue stuck to my fridge, and it seriously works! When you’re opening the fridge for a late night snack, nothing puts you off quite like staring at Candice Swanepoels abs. Abs over alcohol!

• Go to new places to work out

If you haven’t got a new gym membership, try moving one of your workouts outdoors (if you can bear the cold for the first few minutes, it’s pretty refreshing), or going to a new class – check my previous post on the best workout classes in London for ideas. Nothing wakes up your body quite like starting a totally new activity!

• Give dry January a try

If alcohol is a regular and important fixture in your life, try and cut it out for a month. I work out fifty million times better when I haven’t been drinking for a while, just because – aside from the shitload of sugar and empty calories, plus the post drinking carb binge – my body is that much less tired and I feel a lot fresher and more energetic from getting it out of my system. You’re not going to be so up for a 7am workout if you’ve been knocking back the Pinot the night before, no matter how much water you had afterwards!

• Remember REST is as important as your hard work

I remember asking my biology teacher once why we seem to need so much sleep and I’ll never forget his answer – ‘think of it like literally recharging your batteries’. You can’t hit a workout with a full battery life if you didn’t charge it overnight!

• Be hard on yourself

I know that everyone goes on about how you shouldn’t be hard on yourself, but sometimes you fucking should. Do you think Beyonce became Beyonce from saying to herself, hey, I’ve done enough and I’m all good now? NO SIR! The first person you need to be hard on is yourself, otherwise you’re never going to develop. Push yourself to get better! You don’t come into this work a baby and stay that for the rest of your life – change is vital, especially when everything else is improbable. I feel an intense wave of guilt when I miss a workout or a set (slightly OCD) but I’m also grateful for that, because that’s what makes me work ten times harder the next time.

• Keep a record of what you eat

There are loads of apps where you can track your eating and actually even find out more about what you’re putting into your body, which in turn can help you lose more weight as you become more aware of what you eat. A great one is MyFitnessPal, which is free on the App Store (so no excuses for not getting it!) and you can actually scan your food into it, allowing you to see, for example, how much sugar is actually in that drink you got at lunch. A lot of the time, food companies are fucking cheeky and that ‘2g’ of sugar you THINK is in the bottle is actually ‘2g’ per 100ml…when the bottle is 500ml. Stay conscious! You don’t put diesel in a Ferrari engine…..fuel your workouts with the right food – first that swims, then that flies, and plenty of greens!

• Find a workout buddy

It’s way easier to work out if you have someone to work out with. If you get super bored, it’s nice to have a buddy to work out with – as long as you still get your shit done! You’re much more likely to get to that workout if you have to meet someone there, so find someone you enjoy working out with and push each other to get better!

Good luck for January…Stay focused and in the words of Arnold…DON’T BE A BABY!!

My favourite chemical free beauty products!

For most of my teen years, I used to spend most of my money the way most teenage girls do – obsessing over all the makeup and beauty products I could get my hands on. I never really gave much thought to what was in these products, or what they could do/were doing to my skin and body. I had literally built up a half used collection of half of Boots and Selfridges beauty department and (rather ironically) it was NOT pretty. I remember speaking with all my girlfriends about products and the massive annoyingness of being a 14 year old girl, and how various doctors/dermatologists had always gone on about how until you’ve ended puberty there’s nothing you can do to improve your skin. The older I’ve got, and the more interested in health and fitness I’ve become, the more time I have taken to learn more about the products so many of us use and how best to look after my skin and body. And let me tell you – it has been a long and difficult journey since I was a badly fake tanned and overly bronzered 14 year old in a pink juicy tracksuit!

One of the biggest mistakes I realize that I made when I was that orange 14 year old was the amount of chemicals I was putting on my skin. If you look on the label of something and it has more than about five ingredients in it, it’s PROBABLY not going to be very good for you. In loads of popular products there are a shit ton of dangerous chemicals which can do anything from irritate your skin to fuck up your hormones. As I’ve written before – you know eating junk food is bad for your body, so why would you do the same to your skin? Bad skin products and makeup are essentially the junk food of skincare and beauty products. I wrote in a previous post of the quote that I love, ‘invest in skincare before makeup – the better your skin is, the less makeup you need’ and it’s as true now as ever. I love makeup, but it’s no fun caking yourself every day and feeling like shit whenever you’re not coated in MAC products, and making your skin worse in the process.

Below are my favourite beauty products that I have achieved amazing results with and are all chemical free – and not tested on animals either, for any vegans reading!

HAIR: Hair needs looking after just like your skin! I always use Aveda when I’m washing my hair, which you can find at John Lewis – (http://www.johnlewis.com/aveda-shampure-shampoo/p236722). It’s slightly more expensive than your standard supermarket home brand, but a bottle of their shampoo and conditioner lasts me a good 6 months, (And I have really long hair!). They have a wide range of products but I just use their standard one about twice a week.

FACE MASK: I was never hugely into face masks. I tried quite a few when I was younger and desperate for amazing skin, such as the much coveted Eve Lom (which was horrendous and majorly messed my skin). Since then I’ve kept it fairly basic and just invested in good moisturisers and cleansers, but I visited Content recently (http://www.beingcontent.com/) and asked for their recommendations on the best masks, and they introduced me to REN skincare’s glycolactic radiance renewal mask, which ‘is a potent bio active peel mask designed to renew the complexion, reduce the appearance of fine lines and dramatically improve skin tone’. I have been using the REN mask for about a month now, once a week, and it is UNREAL – the day after I always have girlfriends asking me what I’ve used.

http://www.beingcontent.com/skincare/face-masks/glycolactic-radiance-renewal-mask.htm

CLEANSER: My favourite cleanser has for some time now been the purifying foaming cleanser from Suki. From the first time I used it about 18 months ago, it has been amazing. I usually use it once a day, straight after I’ve worked out. The package states it gives ‘long term results without side effects’ and it’s not wrong. Despite using this product every day, it still last me for a good 6 months. Holistic benefits include: ‘The sebum mimicking jojoba oil mingles with your skin’s fatty acids, allowing the actives & apple enzymes to penetrate pore channels where bacteria resides, “eating away” congealed surface oils & dead skin without clogging or drying out the skin.’ (http://www.beingcontent.com/skincare/cleansers/wash/purifying-foaming-cleanser.htm)

Makeup Remover: For the past couple of years, I have been using Bioderma, which has been good for not irritating my skin and does the job as good as the next. However it sometimes takes absolutely AGES to take my makeup off with this one, so I looked for an alternative and then I found NUXE rose miscellar cleansing water. This product is also really good if you have sensitive skin, and like Bioderma it also cleanses your skin as well as being a makeup remover, so you don’t have to go through the annoying process of cleansing as well as makeup removing when you’ve come home from a night out! It’s also great at removing eye makeup, and it doesn’t sting your eyes if you accidentally put too much on the cotton bud! It also smells AMAZING, so if you want to go to bed smelling like a bed of roses, this is the thing for you!

I had a bit of a pain trying to find it in-store at Space NK but you can get it online here.

http://uk.spacenk.com/micellar-cleansing-water-with-rose-petals/MUK200008751.html

No gym no problem: London’s best fitness classes

Although there are a lot of problems in England with our obesity and health issues getting bigger by the second, I have become more and more aware that in London, the fitness bug seems to be catching on. Whilst gluten-free everything and green juices used to be very LA and LA alone, it seems that more recently London has gone fitness mad. (WOOHOO!) Off the back of this, I have noticed more and more fitness classes opening up.

Whilst I am first and foremost a gym rat, I am a big believer in always switching up your workouts and trying new things/going to new places so that working out doesn’t become boring.

So for a few months now, I have been trying and testing different classes all over town to see if I have any fitness talents that I never discovered (I don’t, alas, but I did find some good workouts). Below are my reviews – let me know what you think or if you have tried any of them!

• Barry’s Bootcamp

I wrote about Barry’s on my first ever blog (1 year ago!). Started in LA (where else) and now in London opposite Euston square, it is a super hardcore, 1 hour workout, full of screaming men/women with microphones, dark lighting (I’ve never felt sexier while working out) and loud, LOUD music. Barry’s is probably the extra curricular workout I have frequented the most, but we do have a love-hate relationship. One thing I have learnt is that if you are going to Barry’s, you absolutely will not have a good workout if you haven’t had 8 hours sleep, a coffee beforehand and a fucking good breakfast. Even then, you will be EXTREMELY tired afterwards. I often roll up and extremely arrogantly always assume that I am a fit person and I will be FINE. How wrong I am. The workout consists of 15 minute intervals between the treadmills and the floor, but do NOT make the mistake of picking up the weights you might usually use in the gym, because the reps are fast and never ending, so you get tired much quicker. I do find some of the trainers here better to workout with than others – Faisal’s classes are my favourite (and my friends too), and Olly is good as well. I get the feeling that Taylor is the heart-throb of the bunch because every class of his I have been to is full of fully made up girls with no T shirts on. The protein shake bar post workout is also a great asset.

http://www.barrysbootcamp.com

Kim Kardashian leaving Barry’s

• Bootcamp Pilates (Notting Hill)

Like I have never been a yoga girl, I have NEVER been a Pilates girl either. However, I can deal with Pilates a lot more than I can deal with yoga (as long as its hard). After a while, doing weights can (and definitely has) really tense you up and make your muscles super tight. There are loads of things which you can do to release muscle tension – foam rolling every day, which has been a great help to me, regular sports massages, and of course stretching. But if you have been workout out 6 times a week for a couple of years, sometimes stretching makes you want to scream bloody murder. Despite stretching after most workouts, I still find my flexibility has been affected negatively, so I have been keen to find a workout which enables me to stretch out all of my muscles whilst working them at the same time. I’ve also spent too much time stalking various Victoria’s Secret models on instagram (Iza Goulart stand up) and have seen for myself the ab-spirational bodies of Pilates babes. So I decided to start attending Bootcamp Pilates once a week and see if it helped stretch me out, strengthen my core, and work out parts of my body that I didn’t know existed.

Bootcamp Pilates works you on (and sometimes off) the Dynamic Reformer machine for a good hour. I usually attend on Saturday’s because it doesn’t affect my gym routine and it’s also surprisingly relaxing, so it’s a good one to hit when you want to feel super chill on the weekend. The first class I attended was a beginner’s class, which I found too easy, but after attending the standard intermediate ones I enjoyed it a lot more. One thing I noticed with Bootcamp Pilates is the huge focus on breathing properly (which is ridiculously easy to forget how to do, and I am often guilty of this). This, in turn, works your core really well, but it’s also extremely relaxing. Who knew breathing was so relaxing? I also discovered having inner thigh muscles here, which I am obsessed with and I now live in my leggings. If you want something a bit more sweaty, they also do HIIT classes which involve exercises on and off the dynamic reformer at a faster pace, and superset. I did like this class but prefer to spend the whole hour on the machine, as I can do non-machine exercises such as burpees and jump squats at the gym anyway. This is a great workout for the core and to switch up your weights workout if you feel a bit bulky or need a lower impact workout. My favourite teachers so far are Ben and Karin, both really really helpful and don’t laugh at you when you fall off the machine (yes, I did)!

http://www.bootcamppilates.com

• Psycle

I have only attended Psycle the once, but I am keen to try it again to see if I prefer it with a different instructor/more energy, as I have girlfriends who love it. Psycle is almost like a Barry’s, but on the bike and no floor work. The bikes, however, are different to the ones you might go spinning on, as you actually have to wear shoes which clip in to the bikes, meaning there is a bit more of a focus on your ass during the workout, instead of the usual major quad workout you get from spinning, which is not my fave. Give me a big booty over big quads any day! The class is 45 minutes long, so it’s not quite as exhausting as other workouts. You also select weights in the class (although these are light ones, again the reps are usually fast paced). Whilst spinning, you do press ups on the bike and towards the end we used the weights to do punches and exercises like that, which was a good way to switch it up a bit at the end, but I didn’t find it incredibly challenging.

I found the class I attended initially tricky, as there was no instruction on how to actually clip your feet into the bikes, so it took me a few minutes after it had started to get help from one of the guys there to actually figure out how to get into the bike, and the girl taking it did not come over to help or check on peoples technique/see if they were ok during the class, which I thought was really annoying, as especially when your first take a class it is helpful to have someone just make sure you are doing the right thing. Although I am a fan of low lighting and loud music, it was actually so dark I could barely see anything, so this frustrated me. I would have definitely enjoyed this class a lot more if there was more guidance. However, I am keen to attend again and see how it is due to my friends thoughts. I also attended when it was very new, so hopefully these things have improved.

http://psyclelondon.com

• Barrecore – (Mayfair)

I’m fairly ashamed that it took me so long to discover Barrecore, as I have heard so much about it over the past few months. Barrecore classes are ‘high-energy and low impact, utilizing the ballet barre and other proven dance techniques to perform isometric movements using your bodyweight as resistance’. As I wrote earlier, I am in desperate need of a good stretch out, so I thought this class would be a great balance between working out whilst simultaneously giving my muscles some relaxation.

At barrecore, there are ten different types of classes: barreMIXED, barreBANDS, barreFOUNDATIONS, barrecoreADVANCED, HIITcore, barreSTRETCH, barreDANCE, barreCARDIO, barrecoreEXPRESS and barreBUMP (for mummys-to-be).

Feeling extremely over-confident in my fitness abilities, I booked into HIITcore, an hour long class compiled of hiit bodyweight circuits, intense ab work, and isometric exercises. Before I had even attended, I received a number of very helpful emails giving me information about the class (including a warning that given it was my first time, I might wish to try another class before entering the high intensity one, which I decided against – although I was definitely challenged!). When I arrived, the girls were extremely friendly and helpful and even gave me a tour of the studios.

Five minutes into the class, which was taken by Emily, I already began working up a sweat. I really enjoyed the diversity between all of the exercises, especially working on the barre – which was bloody hard, but the look of my butt afterwards was worth it! Emily was encouraging and paid careful attention to each of us in the class, which I felt definitely helped at times when I was really, really burning!

One of the great things about the stretching element of this class was that it was carefully done in a way that meant you don’t realise you are actually stretching. When it came to my training the next day, I felt a million times more limber and stretched out from all of the exercises, which in turn helped my next workout. The workout was extremely unique, which meant it gave my body and muscles a much-needed shock. I will definitely be attending again – this class was a 10 out of 10.

http://www.barrecore.co.uk

‘Real Women’ and the ‘Fatikini’ hashtag

 I recently stumbled upon a new trend on a social media – enter the #fatkini. Initially started by a US based fashion blogger called Gabi Gregg, the hashtag has now been used thousands of times over, and calls for women of larger sizes to embrace their bodies and post photos of themselves wearing their #fatkinis. Following the trend, retailers such as Asos and Forever 21 have now started making ‘plus size’ bikinis for more fuller figured ladies. The majority of the articles and posts I have seen on the #fatkini refer to the ‘real women’ in the posts and are extremely positive.

 

Let me get this straight – I am one hundred percent, totally all for women embracing their bodies. I do not by any means think that in order to be beautiful, or healthy, that a woman has to be a size 8. Although I personally am an absolute fitness fanatic, I recognize that this is not for everyone. Everyone has a different body ideal, and a different body at that. I will never look like Kim Kardashian no matter how many squats I do, because that is just not my body shape/I haven’t got implants. I do not by any means praise ‘skinny’, just healthy. In short: You could be the sweetest, juiciest peach in the world, but there will always be someone that hates peaches. The only person you should seek approval from with your body is yourself (although this is usually the person the most hard to please!) However, I do not necessarily think that the #fatkini trend is really the most positive thing that has hit social media. Firstly, for the fact that I keep seeing it associated with the term ‘real women’. Again…. Can everyone fuck off with this term! ALL women are real women! Just because someone is a size 8 or 12 or whatever they might be…that does not change the fact they are a real person!

 

Iza Goulart has 6 pack abs and minimal body fat….but she’s still a real woman!

 Embracing your body and not being ashamed is an amazing and important thing to promote, however, I strongly disagree with the way that the media constantly contradicts and controls peoples’ views on what the body ideal is. I’m not saying you have to be a rampant gym bunny on a diet 24/7 to be beautiful and healthy, but I do think the media has a lot to say for promoting obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle, and passes a lot of it off as ‘real women’ and ‘curves’. Because obesity is not healthy. If a person wants to be a size 24, that is their choice and they can do whatever they like. But that still doesn’t make it healthy. There is also a difference between having curves and being overweight…don’t toy with it!

 

Healthy curves!

In a society where obesity is a huge problem, I do not believe the fatkini trend is necessarily something to aspire to. Unfortunately, we also live in a society which is coming out of an ecomonic crisis and there are huge cuts, for example, to the NHS, and to be frank, it is a huge waste to spend valuable money and resources on surgery such as gastric band operations which could have been prevented by a slightly healthier lifestyle. I know she is an extremely controversial figure, but I read a tweet from Katie Hopkins recently on gastric band operations and suchlike which people claim for on the NHS, ‘You can afford to eat yourself fat, you can pay to get yourself slim. The taxpayer doesn’t want to pay’. 

The media have a lot to say for themselves when it comes to the body debate. Women can’t win – they either post articles of slim women and make them out to be obsessive anorexics, but as soon as they gain weight it’s ‘OMG – is she pregnant?’ They can’t decide what they want, and they need to make up their minds! One week they’re promoting fit bodies, the next being fit is a ‘problem’, the next bigger figures are in, and it’s fucking confusing!

 

Normalizing unhealthy habits and lifestyles can have – and does have – a huge impact on all of our lives. It leads people to believe there is a set norm for what they should be, what they should eat, and so on. I still find it confusing! But what I have come to learn is that if you look after your body, you shouldn’t’ be made to feel like you are any less of a person, obsessive, or ‘boring’. I have been told countless times by my family and certain friends because I don’t eat chocolate and burgers all the time, I am ‘silly’ ‘stupid’ ‘obsessive’ ‘boring’ ‘I can’t have fun’ not everyone’s idea of fun is filling their body with chemicals and sugar! Looking after yourself doesn’t mean you’re not ‘relaxed’ (I still don’t get this?!).

 

My point is, we should not let the media dictate what is a healthy and sexy body. The media twists the minds of the people who think unhealthy is normal as much as they twist those of people who are anorexic. Find your own normal! Be your own peach! There is no such thing as an ideal body! Just a healthy body. OWN IT!!

 

 

Starting the Paleo: 4 weeks in

As I have discovered more and more throughout my training, food and fitness go absolutely hand in hand. You can’t experience the full benefits of one without the other, and as I have previously mentioned in some of my food related posts, I have found that certain common elements of the modern diet such as gluten and wheat had been hugely hindering my results and progress in the gym.

Like any gym junkie, I am fully aware that in order to achieve maximum ‘gains’, it is essential to sustain a diet high in protein and essential fats, and low in sugar and grains. In greatly reducing my intake of alcohol and starchy carbohydrates such as bread, pizza and pasta, I have already seen a huge improvement in my appearance in many ways – not only improved muscle tone and less body fat, but also improved moods, skin condition and energy. However, in order to not get bored and plateau with ones results, it is always vital to change your routine and further refine what you are eating and how you are exercising, to shock your body and stay focused.

 

For the past year and a half or so, my diet has generally consisted of the following (on the week days, when I wasn’t not asleep or having a cheat meal):

Breakfast – eggs, usually scrambled, with rye bread and smoked salmon

• porridge, usually with gluten free oats, with blueberries
• occasionally a kipper on rye toast

Lunch       – mostly some kind of wrap with chicken and salad, or a salad

Dinner     – Meat or fish with vegetables and rice or more rye toast, followed with yogurt and fruit

Snacks – porridge (again…) or fruit, mostly, peanut butter cups, coconut and date balls, things like this.

On the weekends I found a cheat meal on Friday (my cheat day) usually turned into a more of a cheat weekend, where I did allow myself a couple of snacks, gin and tonics, maybe a biscuit or two. Although this seems fairly normal, I wasn’t happy with my results in the gym and felt really frustrated that my stomach STILL did not look like Candice Swanepoels, despite heating healthily all week, focusing on getting enough sleep (8 hours a night) and working out almost every day.

 

More recently, I found myself not only getting pretty bored of what I was eating, but also desperate for more of a health kick. I mentioned to my trainer I wanted to progress my body further and basically, get a bit of a kick up the bum with my nutrition, which is when he presented me with the Paleo (Short for Paleolithic) diet. I have now been following the Paleo for 4 weeks, and have tracked my progress (included further down). I have achieved fantastic results, although it hasn’t been easy, but what I have also gained is a vast expanse of knowledge about my body and what goes into it. I have been a ‘healthy eating’ person for a long time, but never a diet person. In my experience, they drive you mad and then lead you to gorge on whatever you were unable to eat, making you put back on the weight you lost and then some. However, as the Paleo principles were ones I was already familiar with, as well as this being mainly for my health rather than to be a skinny bitch, I decided to start following this and document my experience. I was also desperate to find out how my body reacted to cutting out sugars, which I have read a lot about recently.

 

(Ten days in)

 

So what is the Paleo diet?

Also known as the Hunter Gatherer diet, the Paleo is a hugely popular diet among many athletes, celebrities and nutritionists. Famous followers include Megan Fox, Grant Hill of the LA Lakers (in an interview with Paleo Lifestyle Magazine he said it was what kept him in the league, more than able to hold his own with the other “kids” on court), Jessica Biel, Matthew Mconaughey, Novak Djokovic, and many more. Created by Dr Loren Cordance in 2002, the Paleo diet focuses on the foods which we ate as Cavemen many thousands of years ago, which our bodies are genetically adapted to being able to digest – meats, fish, nuts, as well as fruit vegetables from above the ground, such as broccoli, kale, spinach, etc. These foods, as well as eggs, are what basically make up most of the Paleo diet – which looks at an 85:15 ratio as part of the ideal diet. (85 being the Paleo, 15 being the cheat meals). The Paleo also does not include dairy. It focuses on healthy fats such as those found in avocados and oily fish, omegas 3 and 6. See http://thepaleodiet.com . I also listened to an amazing podcast on the Paleo, from ‘stuff you should know about’ (available on iTunes).

Carbs

Although it is low carb, it is not no carb – you get the slow burning, healthy carbohydrates your body needs through food like vegetables. (It drives me absolutely nuts when I hear people telling me they are on a ‘no carb diet’ and think this only means cutting out bread and pasta! Double no!) Where slow burning carbs will give you longer lasting energy and fibre, modern ‘carbs’ such as bread and pasta, when broken down, are basically sugar, which means your body produces insulin, which essentially sends messages to your liver to produce fat for storage. This is where a lot of people gain weight from eating a diet heavy in bad ‘carbs’.

 

Obesity and diabetes rise

Dr Loren Cordane looked at the vast amount of health problems there are facing the modern Western world, such as obesity, which is an epidemic in the US and UK, as well as things like diabetes, heart disease, and so on. What Cordane cleverly noted was that the Western diet is an extremely modern diet, full of processed and man made foods heavy in carbohydrates such as pizza, pasta, alcohol and bread. Much of the food and drink we consume in the West is pre packaged, and has to go through many processes before it is actually edible.

Fat and Saturated Fat: FRIEND, NOT FOE!

In the 1950’s, a scientist called Ancel Keys did something called the 6 (and later, 7) countries study, in which he looked at the effects of eating saturated fats found in animal fats on heart disease and cholesterol. In short, he (wrongly) concluded that saturated fat was basically directly linked to heart disease. Keys ignored a lot of other factors in his studies, for example, he studied Japan and the US, and decided the US ate more animal fat and therefore had more heart attacks. He ignored vital things sugar intake and other lifestyle factors. Also, there are 22 countries, not 6, my friend!

Some pointed out to Keys that another study was carried out on the Maasai tribe of southern Kenya, who ate a diet of roughly 60% fat, eating mainly animal fats. They were lean, healthy, and without heart disease. Supporters of Keys’ argument stated this was probably due to genetic predispositions, meaning they were better at digesting animal fats. However, when the Maasai were moved into the city and began eating a Western diet, their rates of heart disease and bad cholesterol suddenly became that of the Westerners.

 

^ The government recommendation of a healthy diet

 

The media and government, however, latched onto Keys’ findings that saturated fats were ‘bad’. This lead to the massive craze of consuming low fat foods. From the 60’s to today, the fat intake reduced by 1 third, and obesity levels almost tripled. When fat is removed, things are taken from their natural state, and basically end up PROCESSED. In short – if your brain doesn’t recognize the ingredient, your tummy probably won’t either.

 

Dairy

I was previously unaware that dairy could be bad, but have recently found out a lot of interesting things about how it can affect your health. Dairy can cause inflammation – resulting for many in nasty things such as acne and constipation, as well as stomach pain. Although it is often marketed as amazing for your bones, the countries with the highest rate of dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.

 

When it’s not organic, milk, for example, is often full of hormones and antibiotics. Cows can be injected with rgBH to increase their milk production, which often gives them udder infections (poor cows L ) .They are then pumped with antibiotics to get rid of the infection, which then makes its way into our milk. The pasteurizing process kills a lot of the healthy enzymes, meaning its not that fantastic.

Me and the Paleo

For the first two weeks of beginning the Paleo, I was in ‘bootcamp’ phase – in short, I could only eat things such as eggs, nuts, leafy greens, fish and meat. NO rice, NO grains, NO fruit for a whole two weeks. I went on holiday on the tenth day, which meant I didn’t fully stick to these rules for the end – I wasn’t hugely unhealthy, I just had a bit of rice and dark chocolate with my meals, and the odd slice of nut bread. However, I saw a huge improvement in my trickiest area (my stomach) and how I felt energy wise! Now I am in the adding back stage, it is a lot easier, and I am no longer dreaming about bowls of rice and yogurt (pathetic!).

 

Anchovies and mackerel with rice, nuts, seeds, humous and salad

 

Ironically, when on holiday, I felt the best, as I was surrounded by fresh fish and meat, as well as vegetables, which I can tell you felt fifty times better than all of the processed crap we get fed with in the city, where It’s almost impossible to stick to a Paleo diet when every other store in London is a Pret or a Starbucks, which are full of crap ingredients, and you have no idea what you’re putting in your body. Following the Paleo has made me far more aware of these things, and more organized with my food, instead of relying on shops. I have also been greatly saved by the fact that my gym makes Paleo friendly meals. Initially, cutting out dairy was also really tricky, simply from cutting out my morning coffee (addicted) , but after 3 weeks, almond milk coffee almost tastes better. So now, my diet looks more like this:

Breakfast: Fish (sardines or kipper) with a rice cake, eggs with spinach, avocado and smoked salmon, or quinoa granola with coconut yogurt and nuts/berries

Mid morning: protein pancakes (3) or a protein bar with berries

Lunch: Usually meat like chicken or turkey, with 2x leafy green vegetables

Mid afternoon: protein bar or a green juice, rice cakes with nut butter

Dinner: Usually fish, such as salmon, with vegetables and (if I’m starving) basmati rice

I also usually add in things like protein shakes with almond milk, bee pollen and maca, green teas, nuts, etc. Below are some of my progress photos. I don’t take a lot of ‘progress’ photos but I will include the few that I took below!

 

 

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Having experienced and researched the health benefits, I am definitely going to stick to the Paleo as part of my lifestyle. However, I have also come to realize that when it comes to diets and so on, you have to stick to what works for you. Everyone is different and what works for one person might be awful for another – for example, the bootcamp for me was incredibly hard as I wasn’t even able to have things like natural sugar in berries, which drove me insane! As the saying goes, everything in moderation. Health is obviously vital, but as the Paleo suggests an 85:15 ratio is important for upkeep, and I definitely agree a balance is key to not going mad!

Boxing: the best workout in the world!

From quite a young age, I was always interested in sports. I suppose this was mainly due to the fact that I have always found it incredibly difficult to sit still for more than ten seconds, so sport based activities were always ideal for satisfying my need to bounce around all over the place, allowing me a physical outlet for my unusual amount of energy. However, I have never thought this was anything unusual – sports is something which, being human, should come naturally to us all (if that makes sense). I don’t really think anyone is convinced that our bodies were designed to sit at office desks all day, in fact this is most certainly not the case, and although obviously it is totally necessary for most jobs, it is certainly not for me.

One thing I always hear people raving about is yoga. ‘It’s amazing, you’ve got to try it’, ‘I always say don’t try therapy until you’ve tried yoga’ and even ‘yoga helps me cope with life’ are just a few of the things which friends of mine have told me. Whilst I can totally see its place, it is simply not for me. I have tried it quite a few times, from Hatha yoga to Ashanta, but in all honesty, I just find it too boring. For someone who can’t sit still for very long, ‘umm’ ing and ‘ahhhh’ ing and being ‘alone with your thoughts’ and ‘breathing deeply in and out’ for an hour is something like a form of torture to me. Perhaps this is because I tend to prefer more aggressive and extreme sports (adrenaline junkie), having found these de-stress me a lot more. So whilst I do not personally take an interest in yoga, I do believe that everyone has their ‘yoga’, if that makes sense. What I mean by this is we are all programmed completely differently, and each of our bodies is going to be better adapted to certain kinds of sports. If yoga isn’t for you, something else will be, you just have to find it. Think running sucks? Fine! Go wakeboarding. Hate the water? Who cares! Maybe pilates is for you. Don’t like it? Maybe you’re an amazing rock climber.

 

Whilst I am one of those weird people that kind of loves almost everything (as long as it requires buckets of energy), starting with athletics and swimming, I have found my ‘yoga’ in boxing (and kickboxing).

 

I first started boxing for fun and fitness. About 2 and a half years ago, I began attending a boxercise class at my gym, and finding I had never really enjoyed anything so much, I started attending whenever I could run away from boarding school. At the end of the year, I realized I really wanted to take things further, so I began training with Martin who ran the class. This was amazing for me as it allowed me to develop my passion even further, whilst also being taught about fitness and health in general, which was fairly vital for me at this stage in my life because although I loved the boxing, I was still going out about 4 times a week and drinking my weight in vodka and tequila, amongst other things, which does not exactly aid a fit and healthy lifestyle. Starting the class gave me a way into ‘discovering’ the gym and fitness in general, and whilst I kept boxing and then started kickboxing in my training sessions, it took me a while to think about pursuing my passion further, and I certainly would have never dreamed of doing a fight or anything like that. I have broken my nose once before, and I most certainly do not plan on doing it again. Boxing had got me into the best shape of my life, and mentally helped me more than I could ever imagine. 2 years later, I am more confident and happy than I have ever been in my life (and also in the best shape.)

Most of the people who meet me find the fact that I box really weird, as there seems to be some kind of stereotype that to enjoy boxing you have to be a Phil Mitchell from Eastenders-esque character, and obviously, a guy. Like football, I think a lot of people consider it a ‘mans sport’. Whilst many times in my life I have behaved less than ladylike, I am most certainly not a tomboy kind of girl. I like pink nails and Chanel pumps, and I watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians. I cry about twice a day and I do not think it is weird to watch Disney movies over the age of 18. And I am NOT ASHAMED. However, I also love fighting. I think this was probably clear to my parents when I was suspended from school aged 5 for beating up one of the boys in the playground (kicking him repeatedly in the bum, to be precise, because he was really annoying me) – not something I am proud of, but something that maybe speaks to my character more than I would like to admit. I should have known 6 months later I was destined to do boxing when after one of my friends parents asked my to ‘calm down’ I responded by swiftly kicking him in the nuts (sorry). If that wasn’t enough, getting banned from playing at my best boy buddies house because I tried to hit him was probably the cherry on top of the cake (but he needed toughening up anyway).

 

Martial arts is an amazing thing to learn. The discipline it teaches you is second to none, and I do believe it also really teaches you to be a more peaceful person. To put it simply I have dealt with a LOT of dickheads in my life, and there are still a fair few, so it’s safe to say I have had quite a lot of aggression to deal with, which is where boxing can help. There is absolutely no way in hell that I can leave a boxing session angry, because beating the shit out of your trainers pads for an hour really takes it out of you. When you are constantly putting your energy and force into practicing your sport in a specialized environment, I find it leaves you with a lot less anger outside of the ring (or the gym).

Whilst I have kept up my boxing, over the past few months I had been doing a lot more strength training in the gym (which obviously helps hugely with the boxing anyway), but I have missed the boxing massively. However, I have recently been training with a coach at the gym to make sure I don’t have any more accidents (I am a massive idiot) and in these sessions I have been doing a lot more boxing. (Nothing works you out better!) As I learn more and more about technique, fighting in general, rather than punching and kicking as hard as possible, which was my usual tactic, I am loving it more and more every day, and it is for this reason that I have decided to think about doing a proper fight in the coming months. It is going to take a fuck of a lot of work, but I can’t think of many other things I am keen to work on. I mentioned to my trainer I was keen not to break my nose again or get my face bashed in, but as he pointed out that would only happen if I’m a bit of a shit boxer, which I guess is pretty fair! Furthermore, training is always easier when you have something to work towards, as it means you have to set yourself goals and time limits, working more effectively.

 

On a more serious note, one of the main reasons I am so keen about boxing, especially as a girl, is I think it is really important that women don’t ever feel like they can’t or shouldn’t try something because they are just that, a ‘woman’ (whatever that means). I know that there is a really common feeling amongst most girls that should you ever run into trouble, for example, if a guy tries to attack you, whether that is simply by grabbing your butt in the street or something a lot more serious, there is basically nothing you can do because he is a man, and therefore stronger than you. This is a feeling I understand more than anything, but I have also come to realize it is completely wrong. I spent a very long time thinking that in these situations, aside from kicking the guy in the nuts and making a run for it, being a girl meant one was at a huge disadvantage. This was, I guess, a confidence issue. Obviously, most of the time, guys will be bigger than you, taller than you, whatever. Everyone knows that bullies are drawn to weakness, which is why they often think they can get away with picking on people who are smaller than them. If boxing and training to be a fighter has taught me anything, it’s confidence in myself that if anything like this should ever happen, I am more than happy to defend myself. Should this never happen, it has made me one hundred times more confident to walk down the street and not feel threatened, because I shouldn’t. If some asshole on the tube wants to flash me, or some dickhead in a club thinks its ok to star grabbing me, because I’m a girl, he is extremely fucking wrong! I literally DARE the next guy who thinks he can be a pervert to me, as he is getting a left hook in his fucking face.

 

To be continued!

 

 

 

 

 

 

hunter gather Spring/Summer 2015 – Move, Soulboy: LCM

As some of you might remember, a few months back I posted about the amazing huntergather, a creative community assembled by founders Chris Bailey and David Bradshaw. This morning, I had the pleasure of attending the upcoming S/S 2015 show for men’s collections, which was equally as fab!

 

Inspiration 

 

huntergather is ‘a new concept in fashion retailing.. it is a collective, a repository of ideas, a gathering of minds and a fashion label.’ (www.huntergather.com)

 

Jazzy windows on Wigmore Street

 

Shown at the Wigmore Street store, the collection focused on soul-boy silhouettes, curly perms and plastic sandals (which made me feel incredibly nostalgic for the 90’s, and I will be investing in another pair ASAP!). Once again, the prints were inspired by an iconic artist – this time, Matisse, with jazzy applique cut-out motifs. The colours in the collection were ideal for summer: earthy and bright, which makes sense for British weather when its always raining and you need something colourful to make you feel better…..

 

As the male models nonchalantly swaggered down the runway, there was also R&B music playing, which fit very well indeed with the stylish and smart, yet understated feel of the clothing and models. In the words of Beyonce, If (only) I were a boy…..

 

David Bradshaw stated on the collection: ‘When David Bowie released ‘Young Americans’ he said he’d been inspired by the sounds of local dance halls. His new sound needed a new look, Ziggy morphed into a soul-boy, and got a new fan. You see, I knew these sounds, for I was a soul boy too. I remember talking about this with David Sims when we worked together on an editorial for an early issue of Arena Homme Plus, and we channeled this energy and attitude into the story,, setting dance moves against a cut-out set’ Much more recently I saw the Matisse cut-outs show at the Tate Moden. So full of energy and life, its vividness and vibrancy reminded me of those times’.

 

 

My absolute favourite of the collection has got to be the blue bomber jacket, which I will be pouncing on as soon as it is in stores! (I know I’m a girl but it is to die for)

 

 

 As usual, there were lots of familiar (and extremely good looking) faces there, such as….

 

 

David Gandy

 

 

Oliver Cheshire and Mr Hudson

 

  @charleyvanpurpz @ramariochevoy @xyyx_

One of the reasons I am a huge fan of the clothes is because they have a very fresh and unique approach to fashion, and everything is original – so no chance you’re going to look like everyone else! So much attention and details is put into the clothes and it really shows. I hope you enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it!

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re looking to buy huntergather items, you can find them in the store, at Selfridges or online at:

 

www.huntergather.com

http://www.matchesfashion.com/mens/hunter-gather

http://www.selfridges.com/en/Menswear/Brand-rooms/Brands/HUNTER-GATHER/?brandname=HUNTER+GATHER&noDept=1

 

 If you’re on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huntergathersocial

                       Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hunter_Gather

                   Instagram: https://twitter.com/Hunter_Gather

 

 

Waist train, lose gains

Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend who told me she has bought a ‘waist trainer’. To those of you that don’t know what this is, it’s essentially a corset which is supposed to serve the purpose of giving you a smaller waist. If you remember Keira Knightly in Pirates of the Caribbean (I believe it was the first one) fainting due to her excessively tightly laced top, you have the right idea. Khloe Kardashian recently uploaded an Instagram of herself wearing her waist trainer, an idea she apparently got from the seriously bizarre Blac Chyna (Tyga’s baby momma aka the only woman with a faker ass than Nicki Minaj).

 

 

It is becoming increasingly unavoidable to check your social media site of choice whether that be Pintrest, Twitter or Instagram without multiple accounts or photos coming up of girls who look like they are straight up from a Drake video. Everyone is obsessed with asses and getting a curvy, hourglass figure, with butts bigger than planets and waists tinier than my little sisters wrists. The situation is fuelled further by image obsessed celebrities, particularly creepy rappers who appear to be solely motivated by women’s bottoms. (Jason Derulo is great, but ‘you know what to do with that BIG FAT BUTT? REALLY JASON?)  The world has gone curve crazy.

 

So when a friend of mine – who already has a body that makes Kim Ks look bad – told me that she had bought a ‘waist trainer’ corset, I was SO BAFFLED. ‘Doesn’t it hurt?’ I asked.

 

 ‘Kind of, I had to take it off the other night because it was so uncomfortable’, she replied. ‘It kind of feels like you can’t breathe’.

 

After she confirmed my suspicions, I decided to check out the hype further.

 

I literally cannot get my head around why anyone would do this to their body, if they had any idea of what it does to you. Corsets went out of fashion for a reason – they can literally kill you!

 

A waist trainer works something like this: crushing your ribcage and stomach slowly and rather uncomfortably so that your appetite and actual bones shrink down a few sizes. It’s so unnatural and wrong! If you were meant to have a tiny waist, you would have been born with a tiny waist. We have got to stop aspiring to be like these women who have bodies that are totally different to ours! Know your own body type and own it! And celebrities who know they have a huge influence on younger girls and their body image should be fucking ashamed to promote something which is so bad for you all in the name of vanity. They could be promoting healthy eating and working out, which would be a much more sensible message to put out there for young women and girls. But they’d much rather get their ten percent and instead show off a totally unhealthy and damaging piece of equipment all over the web, which effectively promotes laziness and not much else.

 

  – THIS IS SO BIZARRE 

What is the problem with going to the gym and putting in some work to reach your goals, please explain to me!! Shame on you, Khloe Kardashian! First it was workout rants and squat photos, which is all very well and good, but now this? Whyyyyyy!!

 

Much of me thinks this is part of a much wider issue which many people (particularly escorts on Instagram….bitch you ain’t no model….we know you’re selling pussy stop lying) seem to be affected by, which is basically laziness, aka paying for multiple surgery operations to make it look like they workout a fuckload but really don’t. It’s sad! Because if you do that, you’ll never actually get any of the benefits that you should from exercising, such as a stronger body, a happier and healthier mind, stress relief…the list goes on.

 

Also let’s be honest, does anyone want to look like Blac Chyna (or whatever she is called) when they’re 80? Unless you’re going to go into a weird kind of porn industry, I would vote no.

 There are plenty of examples of women who (literally) work their asses off to have small waists and amazing butts. These are the women to aspire to for this kind of training! My favourite people to follow on Instagram for these tips are:

@lyzabethlopez (she created @hourglassworkout and honestly her bod is just the best thing ever

@alexandrabring

@michellelewin

Also, if you get a chance, check out Brett Contreras, who has a page on Facebook, and a whole book on how to build your body and butt up, which I bought, and my ass is thankful!

 If waist trainers and corsets were beneficial to work out with, don’t you think you might have seen them in the gym or at sweaty betty? I think there’s kind of a reason they’re only sold on dodgy internet sites halfway across the world…

I think curves are amazing…I just don’t think they’re worth crushing your body to gain.

 

 

 

 

 

Uniforms are dumb

FORENOTE: WHILST WRITING THIS BLOG, I TRIED TO FIND HILARIOUS PHOTOS OF ME IN UNIFORM. UNFORTUNATELY WHEN I WAS 15 I GOT EMBARRASSED AND DELETED AL EVIDENCE OF WHEN I WAS A FREAK, SO I CAN ONLY INCLUDE A FEW WHICH I STOLE FROM OTHER PEOPLES FACEBOOK PROFILES.

A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with some friends from school when the topic of school uniforms came up. As our school was probably one of the few remaining in London which was uniform-less, it came as a bit of a shock to us that that has now been changed. Not only a shock, but as we all agreed, a bit of a shame.

 

Here is an example of giving no fucks at school

 

I suppose the idea behind a uniform is that it kind of creates an equal ground for (in this case) students, to lessen the chances of bullying for the kid who isn’t typically ‘cool’ and as is often the case in preppy private schools, those who can’t afford head to toe designer clothes ages 12. Which makes sense. It is inevitable that in any school, especially between the ages of 11 and 18, you will at some point feel insecure about how you look or what you’re wearing. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the fact you’re in school – it’s probably more due to the fact you’ve hit puberty and feel hideously self conscious and hormonal, but inevitably we have all felt a little competitive with one another when in comes to what we are, and lets be honest, the coolest kids in school are usually always dressed pretty well.

 

 

But is it better to throw a uniform at the problem, in a desperate make everyone the same? Not really, because you only really then postpone the issue to when they’re 18 and as a school you don’t have to deal with it. As we all agreed, although not having a uniform initially feels competitive and loads of effort, after you get used to it, it’s the best fucking thing ever, because you kind of get to figure out who you are and what you like about ten years before everyone else. You also care way less about impressing everyone after by the end of your first uniform-less year, someone has at one point come to school in their pyjamas. Strapped for time first thing in the morning? Who needs to get dressed! Through on your hoodie and leave the house stress free. At the end of the day, if you’re going to have problems with other kids in school, the real problem is not going to be because of how you dress. And if it is, kids need to learn to not care what people think of how they dress as young as possible, as me and my friends were lucky enough to.

Clearly unable to look at the camera because I knew my hideous uniform was hiding underneath

At my previous school (where there was a very STRICT uniform code), I used to get detentions all the time just from not tucking my shirt into my skirt. I know it’s a small rule, but how fucking dumb is that! I distinctly remember the many anger issues 90 percent of the students had against the strictest teachers, which all began with a minus point for having a corner of your shirt un-tucked. In my opinion, removing a uniform removes a LOT of petty student teacher arguments, which are so awkward to witness (and be a part of). I also remember once a term having a non-uniform day, which was possibly the biggest stress of the century, because it was one of the few days which the whole school see what you ‘actually’ look like, and the immense pressure to be better dressed then about 2 thousand other people.

SAD ABOUT UNIFORM

 

As I’m studying at a fashion college, I see a LOT of people who make a huuuge effort on a daily basis. On the one hand, I totally get it, fashion is awesome. As Rachel Zoe perfectly sums up, it is ‘a way of saying who you are and what you feel without having to speak’. Very true. Fashion is amazing and many people live their entire lives in it. It affects all of us whether we like to admit it or not, and it’s literally everywhere. As easy as it would be for me to say I don’t care for it, it’s not true, even if momentarily I do often question peoples outfit choices, and there are definitely items of clothing I wouldn’t be seen dead wearing (one of them is black tights, I can’t be dealing with more reminders of school uniform).

But being allowed to have my own style and wear whatever I like since the age of 13 has also made me realize fashion is also pretty fucking stupid, which is really liberating. I don’t need to spend my time ‘experimenting’ with new styles because I already have one.

 

Whilst I would always appreciate the approval of my nearest and dearest when I’ve bought something, I also don’t really give a shit what anyone else thinks because I’ve bought it for myself and not them. I love fashion and I love clothes, but I’m amazed at how seriously people take it, because for so long now it’s not been such a big deal to me. I am so embarrassed for people who take fashion so seriously, because the whole point of it is that it’s supposed to be fun, and different from other slightly more uniform practices. Is the Instagram whore with 5,000 likes on her and her bag an interesting person? Probably not.

 

Word to the tracksuit wearers

Unfortunately for most people, some form of uniform follows them into every day life and controls what they are able to wear and on many levels, their comfort. If I was a llawyer, I probably wouldn’t be able to go to work wearing my gym leggings and a PINK hoodie, because no one would take me seriously. (Can’t decide if this is ok or not). Luckily I’m not and I can dress like a fucking idiot all the time. It seems a shame, therefore, to stop children and teenagers from having the freedom to dress as they please for what might be their only chance.