Win A Signed Copy Of Tutti Frutti by Bompas and Parr!

All the better for smiling with, my dear!

I went to the dentist last year with a horrible pain in my tooth. Now, I've always been extremely lucky with my teeth, only having had ONE filling in my entire life! Not bad, eh?

So, I was a bit gutted when I found myself on the end of the telephone to a sympathetic receptionist who suggested that I pay the extra money for the emergency appointment, while I grimaced through some pretty head-tingling toothache.


I was imagining all sorts; root canals, abcesses, antibiotics and endless sleepless nights until I could complete treatment, which would no doubt take weeks to complete.


'Come straight down, the dentist will see you right away'



Yeesh.


I steeled myself while in the waiting room, fearing the worst. My tongue ran back and forth over the tooth in question. I was certain I could feel a hole. And there was definite swelling. Maybe I could even feel the pain right under the tooth...


'Take a seat, Mrs Millar'


I lay back in the chair and opened wide after pointing out the source of my pain.


Two x-rays and a thorough check-up later, the dentist asked me to sit up.


'Well, your teeth are certainly in very good condition - there's nothing wrong at all. No holes, no infection, certainly no sign of anything untoward. Have you been eating anything cold lately?'


Turns out I have sensitive teeth. He explained that nerve pain was sometimes set off by cold or sweet things and that although there were no holes in my teeth, there was erosion of the enamel, meaning that sometimes a nerve caught the brunt of the cold.


All he could do was to recommend that I buy some sensitive teeth toothpaste on the way home and work on the pain with that!


I couldn't believe it - I'd never had pain like that ever. And I never have again - I bought some sensitive teeth toothpaste on the way home and after using it over a few days, the pain subsided completely. To say I was relieved was an understatement, but it was definitely not something I had ever considered before!


From then on I've been a bit funny about eating ice-cream at all. There's nothing like the memory of pain to stop you from enjoying what you once took for granted!

However, I find that by using a sensitive tooth toothpaste,  that I don't have to worry too much - it really does help!

Then I read that it doesn't necessarily have to be ice-cream or cold things that can cause sensitivity - oh no!

 And this is where my latest giveaway comes in!

Contemporary British architectural foodsmiths, Bompas & Parr, have created their most daring dessert yet; the world’s most sensitising ice cream.

Tasked with creating the ultimate challenge for Colgate® Sensitive Pro-Relief™, the culinary explorers created a tooth tingling ice cream invention to put Colgate’s protective powers against tooth sensitivity to the test.

I think it's crazy and am not overly keen to put my poor teeth anywhere near it, but it is rather interesting to see just how many things can set off sensitivity!

Almost half of the UK population (47 per cent) suffer from tooth sensitivity*. Bompas & Parr’s flavoursome invention has packed in some of the most common triggers for sensitive teeth including punchy peppermint, cooling erythritol, raspberry chilli ripple and a szechuan button – a yellow flower bud that delivers the ultimate tingling sensation, which all combined, put the toothpaste to its sternest test yet.

Why not challenge yourself with one of their recipes?

Elderflower and Violet Frozen Fizz

Bompas & Parr say: “Here’s how to create a fizzy, frozen delight; carefully lay a well-shaken fizzy drink down in the freezer,

and rescue it before it freezes solid. Hey presto - your cool, mildly acidic cordial has become a super-chilled sorbet!”

Why not take the challenge, and try this for yourself!

www.colgatesensitiveprorelief.co.uk

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

80ml Elderflower cordial

8ml Violet syrup

8ml Lemon juice

400ml Soda water

Empty plastic bottles (500ml

maximum)

Take the Challenge

1. Combine the ingredients, then pour into bottles and seal the caps tightly.

2. Now shake them like a Polaroid, then lay them down in the freezer and leave

for 2 hours maximum, making sure not to agitate them at all. After the given

time, the liquid should be slushy. 3. Remove the bottles extremely carefully and

pour into pre-chilled glasses or dishes. The liquid should freeze as it’s poured

into the glass.

As part of the development of the inventive ice cream, an independent study of 2,000 adults found that one in three (33 per cent) sensitive teeth suffers will eat on just one side of their mouth in order to avoid the pain of sensitive teeth, with nearly seven in ten (68 per cent) admitting that they failed to report the problem to their dentist. Like me!

Of course, this is not the only cool (geddit!?) thing Bompas and Parr have done of late.  Oh no!

Their latest recipe book, Tutti Frutti  is full of all kinds of amazing and colourful ideas to liven up your tastebuds and show off at parties.  

Particular recipes that caught my eye were Carnival Punch, a 'quick and dirty party drink', and Fruit Ice Lollies, which come with an educational intro on the healing properties and importance of the tongue.

The whole book is a mish-mash of colourful and exciting ideas which stimulate creativity in all of us and all of the recipes and ideas (like ballon pinatas for your pets!) alongside some pretty spectacular creative photography, create a sensual and luxurious reading experience.

There's nothing I love more than a cool recipe - something a bit different.

To win a signed copy of Bompas and Parr's Tutti Frutti, see the Rafflecopter below and let us know - what's the craziest, most outlandish recipe you have in your repertoire?  I'd love to hear it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Days2 and 3, Eating's Cheating:The Juice Diary

Yesterday and today have been TOUGH!

I think am hungry, I am thinking ALL THE TIME about food, and what my first meal is going to be...going to the supermarket to pick up anything at all is pure torture!

Teasing myself with a picture of this!

I've never been so acutely aware of the smell of food emanating from everywhere - it sure is a great tactic these food places use to lure you in.  I don't think I realised before just how effective it was!

From the smell of fresh-baked bread, rotisserie chicken (I'm a vegetarian by the way) to chip fat from the fish and chip shop and being super-aware of what the kids are eating, I am driving myself crazy thinking about solid food.

Once the cravings finally dissipate (if they ever dissipate!) I think I will feel much better.

I slept better last night than I have for a long time, and my energy levels are really good, despite no caffeine.

Although I did have some gnarly dreams about cheese and woke up half-dreaming that the juicer was already on.

mmm!!!

I feel really rested, really fresh and my body feels really settled - it's a nice feeling, and one I haven't felt for a while.

Dave's doing fine.  He is not in love with the green juices, but other than that his willpower is keeping us both afloat at the moment - I think I might have properly caved today if it weren't for him!

We do have a small confession to make though - we have been snaring handfuls of food throughout the day...

...but it's ok!  I had some plain salad last night and Dave's been munching on bananas and oranges.

We figure eating the solid stuff that we would be juicing anyway is not cheating - after all the end goal is to eat healthily, so we're not outdoing ourselves of our end goal, just making getting there a little easier.

We've signed up to the eating plan and joined the community on Reboot With Joe.

Yesterday we watched the docu-film again for motivation and to re-affirm why we are actually doing this!

We are hoping we stop craving food tomorrow!  Here's a motivating video in the meantime:

Rebooting my life. Or trying to.

I hate diets.

I see other people going on diets all the time - in fact I don't think I know one lady just now who genuinely doesn't monitor what she eats.

Maybe it's an age thing, but even I have started to think about what I'm eating, how much I'm eating, and even more frightening, the effect it all has on my body.

For the first time in my whole life I feel unfit.  I feel fat.  I feel unhealthy.

I drink waaay too much caffeinated diet drink, I eat so much chocolate and don't even get me started on my crisps intake.

My energy levels are down, I'm eating mainly white carbohydrates for that quick sugary energy high and my fruit and veg intake is at an all time low.  I've started to use wine like a carrot on a stick to get to the end of my day, just to get through it.

But that's life with kids, right?  I should be tired, shouldn't I?  Everyone else has the same problem with time and energy and the need for fast food fixes, don't they?

I see all those internet memes about wine all the time.  Everyone 'likes' them because it's true, right?

We're all waiting until the kids doze off sweetly (or in my case arse around until they finally give up an hour after I put them to bed) before tucking into our favourite bottle of Cabernet, aren't we?

At least that's the impression I get.

So yesterday, when Ethan was actually playing with Lego on his own for once, I sneaked through to the living room with my 'treat' to myself.  It's something I do occasionally, when I get peace to, and yes, it's something that I do on those rare times when I'm home alone. 

Today for example, the first thing I did when I came home after a particularly stressful morning and school run was to grab a bag of Ready-Salted and a (albeit small) Toffee Cheesecake pot with a can of Diet Coke and consume.  And I feel better.

Yesterday was no different; all was quiet on the Western Front, so I grabbed a Diet Coke and a bag of crisps and I sat on my butt and watched grown-up T.V.

Uninterrupted.

For HALF AN HOUR.

It was awesome.  I opened the bag of crisps, cracked open the can of coke and put Netflix on.  Oh yes, I was choosing for myself! Very exciting!

Now I'm always hyper-aware that the peace I'm getting is probably only going to last as long as it takes to wolf down that bag of crisps, so I always do it quickly and I usually choose something to watch that doesn't require much attention.

So when I picked the docu-film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead it was kind of a half-hearted, ironic choice.  I mean, after all, here I was, stuffing my face unhealthily, the way I do at least once a day.  I didn't think it would have any relevance to me.  I mean, I am still in relatively good shape.  I can still chase the kids down the street and I'm still climbing playground equipment at the park.  Yes, I have put on a bit of weight but I'm not that fat, I'm not sick and as far as I know, the grim reaper ain't got me on his list yet.

Joe Cross, the guy who made this film about his journey rebooting his life and another man he picks up along the way, Phil Staples, who we literally see become half the man he used to be, both seem like a seriously nice guys.  Usually I watch these things with half an eye on the screen, but Joe's warmth and Australian good-humour made the film inviting and engaging and Phil's story and transformation is inspiring.

Joe tells his story candidly, we see what his body is like at the start and we hear all about his auto-immune condition which caused him to be on hard steroid medication for life. 

There's some really cool animations to explain all the science - y stuff, and some really interesting social commentary too. Granted it is based mainly in the USA, but with the diet I've been on recently, I felt it was very relevant to me too.

Joe changes his life by drinking just juice made out of fruit and vegetables, and eating nothing but fruit, veg, nuts and beans for 60 days.  The reactions he meets from his friends and family are that they all think he is crazy, but they do have some admiration for him; after all, the man is a self-made millionaire, so his ideas certainly carry some 'weight' (geddit?)  But he loses over 6 stone in the process, his blood work shows a very healthy change to his system, and by the end of the film, we discover that he has attained his goal of eradicating his need for any medication.  He has changed his life.

Phil Staples, when we meet him, is a truck driver.  He has been eating on the road for 8 years and his diet mainly consisted of fried foods found at truck stops.  He gives Joe a call in a moment of desperation, and Joe wings it over the pond from Australia, juicer in hand, to help him start a ten-day juice diet.  Phil finds it hard at first, but his motivation never waivers, and he perseveres after the initial ten days, extending his reboot even further, losing half of his body weight in the process.  It's amazing to see the change in Phil and the change he makes to his whole life; he even changes his job so he can stay more active.  I really found myself rooting for him.

Soon, I was hooked.  I paused it half an hour in and watched the rest while Ethan was at nursery in the afternoon. This time, no crisps!

Last night, when I went to the supermarket for the packed-lunches food, I wandered up the book-aisle and there it was, the book of the film that I'd just watched that very afternoon.  Unlike me - as I said, I hate diets - I bought that damned book, and I took it home and I sat down and read it.

I really had thought that this film had been just one of those faddy docu-films that Netflix seem to harbour, but it's taken off enough that Joe Cross is making a fine business out of it, and helping loads of people to boot. I made Dave watch it again at night.  He agreed with me; it was a very interesting concept.

We both agreed that yes, our diets are atrocious at the moment.  Yes, we both crave processed, refined foods.  And yes, our energy-levels, our skin, our mental attitudes all probably suffer because of it.

Part of the idea of a reboot is that you are:

• Rebooting your taste-buds.  You fight them on their cravings and re-introduce them to the taste of fresh fruit and veg so then that is what they begin to crave.
• You flood your body with micro-nutrients.  These are essential nutrients that can only be found in fresh fruit and veg.  This flushes out your system so you can begin a healthy balanced diet.
• You set your own goals - try it for 3, 10, 15, or even 30 days and see how you get on.  What I loved was Joe states that there's no way to fail - even if you just manage 3 days then that's still 3 days that you gave your body that you wouldn't have otherwise.
• You have to start changing the way you see food.  One helpful thing I saw in the book was that you don't think 'I need food', you think 'I need energy' and that helps you assess what kind of energy you need better.  eg; and apple gives you slow long-term energy, whereas a packet of crisps gives you a short burst of energy followed by a low.
• It's not supposed to be about losing weight; it's about re-assessing and changing the way you approach food and exercise.

It's going cheap on Amazon! Free plug for Joe!  Lucky boy!

The book is fab - it's written in Joe's easy-going manner, but with complete facts and relevance.  Everything you need to give this a go is in the book - apart from the juicer of course - but he even goes as far as to help you with that too, in a section about how to choose the right one for you.  there's recipes, a substitutes list for any veg you don't like/can't get a hold of and a full run-down of what to but for all the different plans.  It's not heavy-going and you can easily skip to the different sections which are relevant to you.

I've been on his site this morning www.rebootwithjoe.com and there seems to be lovely community to go with it all.

At the end of the day, Joe is businessman with a lot of savvy.  He knows a success when he has one, and I am usually very skeptical of such things, but I really do think I am going to give this one a go.

This afternoon I am going to try to find me a reasonable-priced juicer (the one he's plugging, although very nice and obviously awesome is well out of my price-range)  and take the plunge.  I'm going to find time to plan a three day juice diet initially, following the book and if I feel fine after that, I'm going to continue it into ten days.

I guess sometimes you just need to find the right thing to inspire you, and this has done it for me.  So here goes!

If anyone else has been following the Reboot Juice plan, or has completed one I'd love to hear from you.  I've sincerely never heard of it until yesterday, and I'd really love to see how practical or feasible it is for a mum to two small boys and no time!

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.