1. I play the trumpet.  Most people remember me from school as ‘blond, glasses, plays the trumpet.’ One of my happiest memories is playing the A-Train solo in the middle of a packed out square on a school music tour in Limono, Italy (and getting a free gelato for my efforts).
2. I was a bit of a square at school.  And a goody two shoes.  I liked school.  Got on with my teachers. Did three thousand extra curricular activities. I was that girl.
3. I used to be a management consultant. I spent four years working for PwC Consulting. During that time I ran graduate training programmes in Tampa, Florida, learned to code (and teach to code) computer programmes and partied (and drank), a lot.
4. I can down a pint in about 6 seconds (see above).
5. I love baking. I wooed my husband with a lemon drizzle cake. Still my signature cake.
6. I’m petrified of spiders, mice and anything that moves fast. Occasionally my own shadow.
7. I got straight A’s for all my GCSEs and A-Levels and a First class honours degree.  It seemed important at the time!
8. I’m very creative. I love to paint, do crafts, sew and decorate cakes, homes, anything.
9. I was selected to be an international Girl Guide.
10. My favourite drink is a gin and tonic.  Bombay Sapphire, ice (about 5 small cubes – not too cold), a large chunk of lemon, with a little juice squeezed into the glass and Schweppes tonic.  A short drink if it’s a summer garden party.  Gin and tonics always taste best when my dad makes them!
11. My big sister, Sue, taught me to read before I went to school so I spent most of my primary school teaching other kids how to read Roger Red Hat or sitting on my own reading from a very small selection of ‘clever kids’ books (I remember most of them were pretty dull).
12. I’m obsessed by stage musicals. Perhaps it’s the escapeism, perhaps it’s the fairy tale romance, perhaps it’s the music and spectacle but I love them and will defend them to the death. Much of my life is spent in an internal stage musical.
13. I once won an award for choreographing our University production of Guys and Dolls which we performed at the National Student Drama Festival.
14. My roles in theatre productions have included, courtesan (in the Comedy of Errors), Shy (a young whore in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) and Mona (killed her husband due to artistic differences in Chicago).
15. For as long as I can remember I’ve fiddled with my hands.  I used to bite my nails until they were sore. I hate that I do it.
16. I once played the part of a ‘mourner’ at Lord Byron’s funeral in a BBC adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (I was a runner for the programme).
17. My grandfather is racist. A month before my wedding he sent me a letter explaining how he thought my marriage would offend many people and how he had no desire to meet my future husband.  He has never acknowledged the existence of my son, Isaac. I have learned an awful lot about different kinds of racism since knowing and loving Chris. I have learned through asking questions – if you don’t think racism exists anymore, I’d suggest you start asking questions too.
18. I’m a Christian. It’s brilliant. I can’t imagine life without my faith.
19. I’m a sobber. I cry at happy films. I wail at tragic films.  I cry when people tell me sad things. I well up when I remember moving bits in books. The Color Purple nearly destroyed me and War Horse was a traumatic event in my life.
20. When I walked down the aisle to marry Chris, I’m convinced I saw a glimpse of heaven.  It was the most on track, on purpose, spiritual moment of my life.
21. I used to work in McDonalds.  I had all five stars on my badge.
22. I have ridiculously thick hair.  Having a full blow dry generally takes so long that I end up with a migraine.  My hair is like a rope.
23. I’m a dreadful procrastinator.  I put things off.  I don’t think I used to as a child but somehow the dreaded put-it-off demon got stuck in my head (I wrote this post a very long time ago but have only just been brave enough to publish it).
24. I was pretty rubbish at sports at school (see my blog post about P.E.). I tried really hard but to only thing I could really do was dance.
25. I genuinely often wonder why people would want to spend any time with me! But then when I look at all my beautiful friends, from different stages of my life, I realise I can’t be that bad!

IF the 80s was about hip and thigh diets and the 90s was all about low fat and the dreaded WW starvation style diets, I believe the future of health and nutrition lies in our acid versus alkali balance.

Did you know that certain foods, like sugars, dairy, meat and grains create a highly acidic state in your body? We’re not talking necessarily about the sorts of acids that rot your teeth but about the bi-product of digesting certain foods and the way it affects your body at a cellular level.

From cancer, to obesity, digestive complaints, thyroid and adrenal function, an acidic body is a toxic body, which, over time is literally rotten.

In the short term, an acidic body wants to store fat and has a slower metabolism. It’s a protective mechanism, a way of preventing acid damaging vital organs and tissues. An alkaline body on the other hand is a fat burning machine, with a stronger metabolism – an alkaline body is lean, mean and green!

So where do we start:

STEP ONE: Cut out the cr*p

Processed foods, sugars and highly refined foods are hugely acid forming and provide little nutritional benefit. Put simply, on a pros and cons scale these foods are B.A.D. Nasty. Just no need to go there foods. So scrap them. They will make you feel like garbage. End of discussion.

STEP TWO: Neutralize your vital food stuffs

Foods like meat, eggs, some dairy and grains are important for you to function but are also acid forming. So in order to neutralize their acidity, choose high quality protein sources and eat them with a plate full of (you know what’s coming) veggies! Yes. Yummy vegetables like kale, broccoli, spinach, watercress … mmmmmnnnn. And if the thought of green vegetables leaves (ha ha) you cold, never fear, my next blog will be all about interesting ways with vegetables.

STEP THREE: Start the day in an alkaline way

You may have heard those earthy, naturally slim types chattering about how they start each day with a mug of hot water and lemon. Well it works, one way of alkalising your body first thing is to go lemon tastic. Your body gets acidic over night so the first thing that crosses your lips needs to be alkali.

If lemon doesn’t float your boat then try a 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in a glass of water. It’s cleansing and also a top tip for pepping you up if you ever have tummy troubles or gripes.

You could be really brave and try a greens drink. You can create your own in a juicer/blender by whizzing up spinach and watercress with apple juice, avocado and lemon or buy one. Now I’ll come clean, powder green drinks are pretty grim.  The best one I’ve found was created by a fitness colleague, Paul Mort: http://www.leangreens.co.uk/

And that’s it. If you only do two things to reduce your acidity I’d suggest green veggies with every meal and lemon and hot water first thing.

Did you catch the Gabby Logan interview this week with Carl Lewis and Ian Thorpe? It was about pain. Specifically, the pain an athlete has to endure in order to win a medal. Ian Thorpe described it like this:

“It’s so painful that your brain is telling you to stop but your heart is still telling you to go.

“It’s like doing a bungee jump. You look over the edge and everything in your whole being is telling you not to do it but you have to somehow push through and do it.”

What a brilliant metaphor.

Whenever we have challenges in life, be it career change, a fitness goal, a big move, our immediate response tends to be fear. Fear of change.  Changing behaviours.  Opening ourselves up to failure.  Going for it.

It happened to me last week, on two fronts. Firstly Chris and I have got the go ahead and financial backing to go ahead with our family fitness business.  It’s something we’ve dreamed of doing for a long time.  It’s an area where between us we have masses of experience and a vision we’ve been excited about for years but when the go ahead came I felt petrified and like I didn’t want to do it.

Why?  Because it means change.  Letting go of an old way of doing things and embracing change.  Taking ownership of a big risk and working hard to make a success.  It means moving out of my comfort zone.

Then I had a lovely chat with Sara from my Pilates class about moving forwards with journalism and writing.  Again, in order to move forwards I’m going to need to change behaviours.  Stop hiding behind my computer and actually pick up the phone and go out and find stories and contacts.

So here is my inspiration so far from the Olympics.  I’m going to brave jumping off the edge of a cliff with a bungee rope around my ankles . . . but metaphorically of course.

Is there anywhere in your life where you need  a little push?  Where you’re holding back. All we need to do is take that one step off the edge!