Give yourself a new lease of life with these tips
Whether revamping your kitchen cupboard or adding a little freshness to your sex life, Robert Hobson, Head of Nutrition at Healthspan and a team of experts share their top ten tips:
Spring is a fabulous time to add some freshness to the home, wardrobe, friendships, and even our sex lives. Healthspan has gathered some expert tips on how to give our lives a boost of freshness:
1. “Time to freshen up your approach to health maintenance.” says Robert Hobson Healthspan’s Head of Nutrition:
- Freshen up your approach to health maintenance by exploring the use of spices to help with common conditions. Cinnamon can be a useful way to help control blood sugar and turmeric may be useful in the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis
2. Freshen up and spice up your weekly menu repertoire. Try experimenting with interesting herbs and spices advise Robert Hobson, Healthspan Head of Nutrition. Dried spices are particularly high in iron, which can help fight tiredness and fatigue. You could add turmeric to scrambled egg, paprika to a chicken stew or give a bog standard cottage pie an Indian flavour with the addition of ground coriander, cumin and ginger.
3. Dr Sarah Brewer, GP, Nutritionist, says:
“It’s time to tackle that medicine cupboard and throw out anything that doesn’t have a use-by-date/ packaging date on or contain the Patient Information, which is key. Choose medicines, vitamin and supplement products that are foil sealed, as they will generally keep fresher for longer.”
4. Add a little freshness to your marriage - Lucy Beresford, a psychotherapist and Agony Aunt advises:
- Say thank you to your partner as often as you can. Not only will you feel better about your own life, by focussing on the things (not matter how small) that you are grateful for (such as they way they make you laugh or the chores they do for you), but your partner will feel valued.
Go back to those early days when you each made a lot of effort to look nice for the other. So take care of yourself, physically. Good grooming and hygiene is important for making us feel good about ourselves, which is healthy in a relationship.
5. At any age it’s important to keep our sex life fresh. Lucy’s tip is to:
- Get physical. Say I love you and follow it with a kiss. Or offer to massage your partner’s feet or shoulders when you’re watching TV. Being tactile brings you closer together.
- Give your partner reassurance about what they are doing while you are making love. Verbalising this tenderness will make your partner feel safe and encouraged, and therefore more inclined to share their deeper feelings without fear.
6. Sometimes our friendships may also need a little bit of freshness and nurturing. Lucy recommends:
- Think of an anniversary (maybe of meeting, or of something you did with your friend(s) when younger) and make a plan to celebrate this. Maybe return to a special place or repeat an activity.
- Put your friend first for a change. Instead of cancelling or not even getting around to make contact, make a plan to be committed to them, to get in touch or see them, and make them a priority.
7. Give your home a touch of freshness, Niki Shafer, Interior Designerwww. says:
Sunshine can be a blessing but it also highlights how 'sluggish' our interiors have become over the winter months.The blankets, throws and deep colours suddenly feel very heavy. It's time to lighten up. Spring colours are various - they can be the pastels that high street fashion is hugely fond of right now - pale yellows, blues and greens in solid colour or soft floral images. There are also some bright neon colours that will sit along side these delicate fabrics nicely and make the whole decor go pop (if you're brave enough). On the other hand, spring colours can be natural linens, embroidered with cotton threads in florals or geometric patterns. Clarke and Clarke have a great selection which are incredibly good value.It's easy to shift from one season to the next by simply changing the accessories - remove the heavy blankets and add a linen throw, take away the warm cushions and replace them with delicately coloured cushions.You can go to great lengths and also change the curtains - giving the winter fabrics a chance to be tended to at the cleaners and allowing the daylight in with more translucent fabrics for voiles. Villa Nova do some affordable sheers and if your budget can stretch that far, Zimmer and Rodhe have some incredible voile fabrics with wonderful embroidery or double layered for a watery effect.
Florals can also be added to the room with more gusto by choosing a floral wallpaper. (This is obviously longer lasting than the cushion choice so make sure you can live with the pattern for the foreseeable future!) Sanderson have some very pretty floral patterns and Harlequin wallpapers have florals plus the addition of metallics which add another dimension to the room.
8. Add a touch of freshness to your wardrobe - Jules Standish, The Colour Counsellor’s tip is:
An instant fresh update to your wardrobe is to incorporate coloured scarves and necklaces. They really can do an immediate “face lift” and can be bought inexpensively, adding that high fashion statement to a tired wardrobe. Otherwise invest in coloured shirts and tops to mix with darker shades, to be worn up against your face to make your complexion look healthy and youthful.
RED – As red is a hot, stimulating colour it also releases adrenalin which will give you an instant energy boost. Use the brighter shades to add freshness to outfits and consider wearing red clothing if you need some drive and confidence. It signifies you are dynamic and want to present yourself as enthusiastic about whatever venture you take on.
Red tip – if you have a tendency to blushing, broken veins on your cheeks or a high facial colour then combine red with green its complimentary colour, it will instantly dull down any redness on your face.
9. Time to freshen up your fitness routine. Jacquie Arnott a Personal Trainer at David Lloyd says: Get a fitness buddy. Someone to train with who motivate you and is as, if not more, committed that you so you don’t miss your gym sessions. You could try a new discipline – if you always do a spin class try some boxing or combat classes.
10. Finally Freshen up your fridge and check all those out-of-date old condiments, dressings that the survey highlighted we are hoarding. Robert Hobson registered Nutritionist at Healthspan says; “it’s time to get the fridge freshened up and I suggest cutting any type of citrus fruit in half, e.g. a lemon, orange and scoop out the actual fruit inside and fill the empty shell with salt. Place in a bowl in a corner of the fridge. The salt absorbs and neutralises the smell and the shell should send out lovely clean smelling scents.”