Health - Drinking Enough Water

Eight glasses a day.

This is what we're supposed to drink, and I reckon that I'm lucky if I drink one or two. Yikes!

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Water is of course the healthiest option for quenching your thirst as it contains no calories and no sugar. It's also free!

I know that it's so important to stay hydrated and yet why do I struggle to drink the recommended water? I have zero excuses. And when I have a thumping headache and am feeling lethargic then that's when I wish I'd had a few extra gulps of good old H2O.

I tried using an app as a prompt to get me to drink more, but it didn't really help.

I'm making progress with my PT goals, and weight wise I'm now down to 11 stone 10 lbs. I've about another half a stone to go.

I'm not sure if this is a myth or not as I've not done enough research, but did you know that drinking water helps keep fat away? I'm hoping this will motivate me to drink more!

Your kidneys can't function properly without enough water, and when your kidneys don't work to capacity some of their load is passed onto the liver. One of your liver's jobs is to metabolise fat, but if the liver is having to do some of the kidney's work then it can't function properly and as such it then metabolises less fat. This means more fat is stored in the body and weight loss stops. Makes sense doesn't it.

So I'm adding this onto my Health & Fitness Goals: I will consciously drink more water each day.

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I have a plastic drink bottle at my desk and I'm lucky if I fill it once each day, if that. I'm going to put some reminders in my phone and get my water consumption up. Watch this space to see how I get on!

Review - Donald Russell Ultimate Valentine's Box

When I was asked if I'd like to review the Donald Russell Ultimate Valentine's Box, I jumped at the chance. Yes please!!

For parent's it can be tough to get out for a nice meal, so the thought of being able to prepare a gourmet dinner in the house for Valentine's Day (or any other occasion for that matter!) really appealed to me, as I'm sure it will for many of you.

Donald Russell are Britain's leading mail order meat supplier, and they're based near Aberdeen, my home city. Only the best producers qualify to supply their meat and this was evident in the food that we were sent.

I received a box to my door that contained vacuum packets of fish pie, chateaubriand, potato rosti and chocolate brownies, kept cold with dry ice. I then popped these into the freezer until required. All of the items can be cooked from frozen except the steak. You'll need to remember to defrost this.

There are clear instructions on the website about preparing your dinner, and it really was quite straightforward. 

Starter - Fish Pie

The fish pie was baked for 30 minutes in the oven from frozen and it was presented beautifully in a scallop shell. The portion size for the fish pie was good (it's bigger than it looks!) and we both thoroughly enjoyed it (although Rick didn't eat his prawns - they were passed to me!). The mash was creamy and smooth and the plaice, scallops and prawns in the pie were delicious.

Main - Chateaubriand with Potato Rosti

Most of the time when I've attempted to cook steak at home it's been a bit 'meh'.

This time, I followed the instructions on the Donald Russell website for pan to oven roasting and we both were so impressed with the end result. Rick was a bit unconvinced on the 'resting' but we went with the step-by-step guide and rested the steak whilst we cooked the rosti (cooked from frozen in 15 minutes).

Wow, just wow!

This is without a doubt the best steak I've ever cooked at home. It just goes to show you that it is worth choosing a quality piece of meat. 

The rosti were also lovely and we added some broccoli for a bit of colour.

Dessert - Chocolate Brownie

The dessert was a chocolate brownie, and if I'd thought this through I'd have made sure we had some ice cream for serving, but we didn't so we had ours with custard. Fail on my part - oops! Again, this was cooked from frozen in about 15 minutes and it was seriously so good. Gooey in the middle and crispy on top. The portion size was really generous too.

I'm super impressed with the customer service and quality of food in this gourmet meal in a box. I think it's definitely worth it's price tag (£54.50). You can enjoy an amazing dinner in the comfort of your own home... no babysitters required! Ticks all the boxes for me :-)

We received a complimentary Ultimate Valentine's Box in exchange for this review. All opinions are honest and are my own.

{Wobbles Wednesday}

My weight loss plans are not going well... :-(

I'm sat at my computer with a bowl of ice cream and some fruit. At least part of it is healthy!

My Sainsburys Online Grocery Delivery Pass has worked in that I managed to avoid all the treats in the supermarket aisles whilst I did my weekly food shop. So that's a step in the right direction at least.

I've also been doing weekly meal planning. Another positive change.

However I was at a friends house at the weekend and majorly fell off the wagon... I consumed an obscene amount of crisps, dips and cakes. I also ate a burger, toast, a bagel and a sandwich. So out with the no bread rule!!

I've also not managed a single run in a fortnight now.

I can do better than this, I just need to try harder.

What's not helping is that work is really stressful as we get closer to a really important external audit (that's the week after BritMums!). All I want to do is eat chocolate and sweets to get through it!! I'm absolutely shattered and I know that the chocolate will just be a quick fix, but it tastes sooooo good!

Despite this, I have managed to stick to the healthy breakfasts and salads at lunch time but by the afternoon I'm craving sweet things!

Today I had a Total Greek yoghurt with fresh berries for breakfast, a Tunnocks caramel wafer at 10am (I was on a training course and couldn't resist!), a prawn & cous cous salad for lunch, a handful of dried cranberries in the afternoon, leftover chicken stir fry for dinner, two of the kids chocolate bars (eaten in secret in the kitchen so they couldn't see me!!), a packet of Hula Hoops and my bowl of ice cream and fruit.

It's definitely the evenings that throw me off. My willpower is seriously lacking.

It's now just 3 weeks to BritMums and I'm not convinced that I can reach my target.

Time to get motivated...

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{Red Online Magazine}

I was delighted to have a snippet of my local knowledge included in the Red Online Magazine's Glasgow Guide, written by Lee Cobaj. You can read the full article here.

Anyway, I thought I would reveal the other insider tips that I shared with Lee...


On a sunny day Pollok Country Park is brilliant. There is a fully enclosed play park with zip line which is great for the little ones (& adults too!), there is lots of woodland to explore and after working up an appetite you can head to the nearby Burrell Collection for a browse and a bite to eat in the cafe. 
In terms of places to eat - we love 'eat cafe' in Shawlands which is family friendly and the food is fantastic. They do an amazing breakfast... stornoway stack is my favourite (black pudding, muffin, poached egg & hollandaise) and the cakes are lovely too (they get the thumbs up from my son & daughter!). It's also where we went for my sister's hen party!

For lunch, one of my favourite places is the cafe at House for an Art Lover. The food looks and tastes beautiful and there are lots of lovely items in the attached gift shop. One of my favourite haunts for dinner is Tinto Tapas Bar in Battlefield (not really suitable for taking my little toddlers though, but would be ok for older kids). It's a great wee restaurant with a lovely atmosphere. You'll need to book a table though. Have a look at this post for other places to eat in the Southside.

Whitespace Kids is a quirky design-led kids shop on Sinclair Drive. I haven't actually been in the shop myself - it's on my list of places to visit, but my mum friends have said it's lovely. You can find some of my other favourite gift shops here although I was sad to see that Annie's has now closed.

So, there you have it - Glasgow Mummy's little insider guide to Glasgow's Southside :-)

Glasgow's sandstone houses

Glasgow Cathedral

The Squinty Bridge!