Infinite Ideas - Whole New You: change your life day by day

Whole new you

Change your life day by day

Infinite Ideas

Previously published in hardback as Be arsed

Combining exercising and socialising will make the time you spend getting and staying fit more fun, then youll be likely to stick with it. What about a regular bike ride with the family? Or link up with a few other cyclists and take it in turns to plan routes for the gang. Take up a regular salsa class or join in a weekly aerobics session; make new friends there, or take your friends along. If youre on a business trip, arrange a round of golf thatll help with the networking and might clinch a deal, as well as doing you good.

Try to have one or two days a week when you eat only raw foods to spring clean your system and help the detoxification process. Its easier and tastier than it sounds - think enormous platefuls of all your favourite salad ingredients, including avocado, sprinkled with fresh aromatic herbs; loads of fruit; snacks of nuts and freshly squeezed juices. By definition eating raw foods makes it impossible to consume any processed, fatty or sugary foods, helps you to lose weight and fills you up with first-class nutrients - raw fruit and vegetables retain more vitamins than those that have been cooked.

Give yourself a facial workout to help tone your facial muscles and delay the ageing process. Stand in front of the mirror daily and raise your eyebrows as high as possible and simultaneously open your eyes as wide as you can. Slowly lower your eyebrows and relax. Repeat this five times.

A good exfoliation of the cellulite-prone areas of your bottom, thighs or upper arms will make the skin look a whole lot better. Give your skin a healthy, rosy glow by using an exfoliator at least twice a week when youre in the shower. Whether you choose one from the luxury body care ranges or a budget buy, youll notice the difference immediately.

When you smile try to project the feeling of Im so happy to be here talking to you in a totally natural way, of course. Someone who seems to take genuine delight in your presence is almost impossible to resist.

Green tea can raise the metabolic rate. If you drink four or five cups a day, you could burn up around 70 calories for doing very little! Drinking green tea could lose you nearly half a stone over a year. Put the kettle on!

To look your best when walking, check your posture. Aim to keep your shoulders back and your ribcage lifted. Pull your abdominal muscles in and think tall. Look forward not down. Strike forward with your heel and push off with your back foot. You can gradually increase the length of your stride but dont overstretch.

To be as stylish as a Parisienne, the devil is in the detail so you must not skimp on accessories. Always buy the most expensive handbag and shoes you can. A scarf of course is de rigeur, as is the little black dress. Try to make sure you have the basics in your wardrobe and that they are good quality; the rest will follow and you will look chic and sexy effortlessly.

Start wearing sunscreen on your face every day. Most (80%) of the lines and wrinkles you see in the mirror are caused by the sun but its never too late to prevent more damage. We now know its the suns UVA, or non-burning, rays that age the skin, which means youre affected even in winter. Many daily moisturisers now include sun protective ingredients just make sure you opt for one thats broad spectrum, to block out both UVA and UVB rays. In summer months, wear a sunscreen specially formulated for the face instead.

To lose weight, play with plate size. If you eat from an enormous plate, chances are youll fill it with an enormous portion or feel short-changed because there doesnt appear to be much on it! Choosing a smaller plate and piling it up is a sneaky way to trick yourself that youre having a big meal.

If youre going out to a club, you dont have to dress up elaborately in uncomfortable clothes. Youre going out to enjoy yourself. Dress casual, be yourself, wear clothes that dont involve sucking in your belly and which you can work up a sweat in. If other people want to dress like corseted peacocks, let them.

Eat more slowly. It takes 20 minutes for Im full signals to reach the brain. Work with your body by giving it the time it needs to respond.

If your hairs looking dull, take a close look at your diet. Be sure to eat plenty of protein-rich foods, such as lean meat, fish, tofu and dairy products, to encourage healthy hair growth. Also eat plenty of red meat, green leafy vegetables, eggs and fortified breakfast cereals, as hair loss is linked to a deficiency in iron.

Drinking two litres of still water a day can help your body burn off an extra 150 calories according to one study. Its thought to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and increase the metabolic rate.

Get some perspective and start looking up rather than down! I mean this literally. Stop spending so much of your time thinking about the past and future and looking down at your boots. Spend a day looking up instead and see how much more positive you feel about life. Look at your body and how youre holding yourself. Stop slouching otherwise youll feel like a slouch. Stand up tall, put your shoulders back and smile. Acting as if you were confident will work quickly and effectively to elevate your self-esteem.

Eyedrops that get rid of blood shot eyes are your quickest route to a re-energised look. For ladies, navy eyeliner is the second quickest. It neutralizes red eye syndrome better than black or brown and makes the whites of the eyes zing. On the whole keep makeup to the upper lids and lashes. The eyes of people looking at you will be dragged upwards, away from sagging.

If you want to look your best while posing for holiday snaps, hold yourself in a way that disguises excess curves; stand up and pivot slightly on your feet so your body including your shoulders is at a slight angle. Put your hands on your hips to make your waist look smaller. Overall itll take inches off your body.

Clothes can play a huge part in improving the quality of our life. Every morning choose one thing that makes you feel good about yourself. Next time youre shopping buy clothes that help you radiate confidence.

Do something with your free time (step 1: switch off the tv)

Keep a log of your TV viewing time over a week. If you watch TV for more than four hours a day, youll consume more calories than you need to because youll have more opportunity to snack and youll burn fewer calories while you are still.

Dont hesitate! Start learning a new craft today. Whether you learn from a fellow practitioner one to one, enrol in a night class or buy a compendium book of crafts, pay your imagination the compliment of a complementary discipline through which to express itself.

Printing with potatoes is a quick, simple way of exploring the recurring elements of pattern it really is wasted on young children! Cut a raw potato in half and carve your design out of the exposed face. Apply poster paint to your motif with a brush, and press it gently onto a sheet of paper. Now, can you make a complementary pattern from the other half of the potato? Try making a border frieze for a poster, or an image for next years Christmas cards.

The lift is a Pilates exercise you can do at your office chair or on the bus. The aim is to work on zipping up from the bottom of the pelvis towards your ribs. While sitting upright, imagine that there is a lift on your pelvic floor. As you breathe out try to take that lift up to the next floor you should feel your pelvic muscles go taut. As you take the lift further up the floors from first to second, you should feel your lower abdominals tighten.