The New Year’s Revolution by Clare Potts of Tweet

For the next month or so you’ll be bombarded by everyone and everything telling you to stop drinking alcohol, go cold turkey from turkey and to get fit.

It’s always the way; as soon as 1st January rolls around, television, magazines, newpapers, social media and blogs switch drastically from indulgence, spending and treating yourself to fitness, healthy eating and saving money. It is quite amazing what a few weeks of overeating and drinking almost every day can do to us all. As a nation, we see January as a chance to change, a fresh start where anything is possible and we can transform into a better, healthier, fitter version of ourselves.

But your New Year’s resolutions need to come from you to give you the best chance of sticking to them, it’s tempting to go hard and give yourself a long list of strict rules influenced by peer pressure. But if you tailor your resolutions carefully, ensuring that they’re achievable, something you truly want to change about yourself and not something you’re only doing because someone else is.

Personally, I’ve kept my resolutions quite simple but they are all things I would love to change in 2014.

To shape up and lose weight.,. Over the course of last year I lost and gained a stone putting me back to exactly where I was at the end of 2012… So this year I’m aiming to be different, I know I can lose a stone so the challenge is to lose it, but keep it off.

To blog more... and get more involved with the online community. I suppose you could see this guest post as my first step to getting more involved online, I’m looking forward to building up my little corner of the internet in 2014.

To eat more healthily... and to not drink alcohol for January (at least!). October to December was pretty much a binge of indulgence for me, packed with birthdays, meals out, parties and other excuses to drink, eat and be merry. I’m pretty sure the stone I lost was all put back on during this time… My body is in need of a detox!

To save money... When I put my mind to it, I’m really quite good at saving money. The only problem is, I rarely put my mind to it. This year is going to be different though, no more buying sequin covered dresses ‘just in case’ and spending as much as normal people spend on a week’s worth of food for Friday night. Even if I just use it for a holiday, it will have earned it.

Here are some tips to help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions and for making them that little bit easier to follow…

Fitness

If your aim for 2014 is to get fit, don’t start hard and then let it tail off, choose a fitness regime that is manageable for you. You might go to the gym every day for the first week but that’s hard to keep up for an entire year… Set yourself a challenge of doing some kind of exercise a day, whether it’s getting up half an hour earlier to do some exercise or taking a walk during your lunch break. Then add on 2 or 3 trips to the gym or running outside a week, and you have a routine you should be able to keep to.

Set yourself a goal; whether it’s weight loss, fitness levels or taking part in a race; it’s so much easier to get motivated when your progress is measurable or time sensitive.

Find something that you love doing, exercise will be so much easier if you enjoy it!

Healthy eating

If you buy lunch every day, switch to preparing something healthy at the weekend to last you for the week. Not only can you control what ingredients are included, you’ll also save money.

Team up with a friend or partner, the more support you have, the more likely you will be to stick to your resolutions.

Drink more water. It will do wonders for you, honestly!

For some inspiration to help you stay motivated... take a look at some of my go-to blogs for when you need a little push in the right direction.

- For healthy food inspiration, visit Ambitious Kitchen. Everything is delicious, nutritious and easy to follow. Try the peanut butter cookie recipes, they're amazing and low calorie!

- If you're pushed for time but want to add more exercise to your life, try the 7 minute workout. 12 exercises packed into 7 minutes using only body weight, it's the equivalent of a long run and some weight work, sorted. Visit www.7-min.com.

- Stock up on vitamins, minerals and even carb blockers all in cute packaging on myvitamins. Visit www.myvitamins.com/

- For workout advice, recipe inspiration, fashion, tips and more with Women's Health.

- For daily yoga inspiration follow amazing yoga genius Laura Sykora on Instagram.

To find out more about Clare Potts and her health and fitness journey through 2014 (and a little rambling along the way), visit her blog Tweet. You can also follow Clare on Twitter and Facebook.

Bella’s Power-Kraut by Annabel Wright of Bella's Freestyle Kitchen

Boost your gut flora and get your health tip-pity top!

Digestive health is important and I’m a firm believer that the right kinds of food really can be a panacea for everyone.  At the same time ‘food glorious food’ really is a joyous experience when the right combination of flavours and textures are brought together to play a symphony on your palate, so I certainly don’t advocate denying yourself the enjoyment of tasty food.

Culturally haven’t we all become a bit numb to what is advertised in the supermarkets as “healthy”?  I’m a Coeliac and so as a matter of necessity I have to read ingredients labels to make sure the product is free of Gluten. This has really opened up my mind to how much rubbish these manufacturers throw into a recipe in order to - fill it out, make it last longer, and make it cheaper for them to produce - so it’s not necessarily as healthy and nutrient dense as it could be for us!

With all this in mind I have been on a mission for the last fifteen years to make recipes that are made with alternative ingredients that not only taste fantastic but are also much healthier for you too and as an aside, just happen to be gluten and cow milk free… I’m so passionate about this, I actually dream about recipes, about combinations of flavours and how I want the end result to look.  I’ve just started the blogging journey and have already had fantastic responses to my Birthday Blog: The Dream Cake... Chocolate Beetroot Cake, Sexy Little Nectarine Tart, Bella’s Banana Bread, The Ultimate Chicken Salad with Bella's Pig Candy, Smokin’ Meatballs and The Lunch Box Plan – my head is ‘a-spin’ with recipes and which ones to put on the blog next! For the purposes of this post I wanted to share with you Bella’s Power-kraut!

Ok so here’s the deal, I didn’t invent Sauerkraut; versions of it were invented as far back as 2000 years ago in China – the simplest of recipes – Cabbage & Salt. So what’s the big deal and why are fermented foods kind of the big secret health weapon?

Well apparently Sauerkraut is extremely high in Vitamins C, B, and K. In addition to that you get Calcium, Magnesium, dietary fibre, Folate, Iron, Potassium, Copper and Manganese, and the fermentation process actually increases the bio-availability of the nutrients which makes the humble cabbage even more nutrient dense than it’s original naked beginnings.  Raw Sauerkraut also contains live Lactobacilli and is rich in enzymes so it really is all set to boost your immunity and your digestive health by promoting the growth of healthy flora in your gut and protecting you against many diseases of the digestive tract. Ever had antibiotics in your lifetime? If the answer is yes then it’s totally worth re-colonising these healthy gut-flora guys back into your system! Hurrah to the “kraut!”

Now, you can buy Sauerkraut from various stores but that’s not fun, can be pricey, and the pasteurized ones have had all the good stuff killed off anyway! Also, why spend a fortune on shop bought pro-biotic tablets or pro-biotic (packed full of sugar) yoghurts, when it’s so easy to make your own yummy, pro-biotic packed, “Power-kraut!”

You can get yourself a proper Sauerkraut making crock pot, there are loads of styles online, but if like me you are so excited about getting started and you can’t possibly wait for delivery of one these fancy (sometimes expensive) pots – just dive in with gusto! Get yourself a cabbage red or white or why not one of each?

Some salt… I like Himalayan salt, because it is unrefined and unprocessed and apparently it contains the full spectrum of 84 minerals and trace elements, which a lot of processed salts are missing.

Now shred those cabbages finely, either by hand into long thin strips like this:

Or if you are short of time, just throw it into a food processor, shred-mode-styley, like this:

Now layer up the cabbage with a sprinkling of salt for each layer.  If you want to be a bit adventurous and go the Bella’s Power-kraut route why not throw in some Carrot (Vit A and Beta Carotene), Fennel (Vit C, Fibre, Folate, Potassium for cardiovascular and colon health) a sprinkle of Juniper Berries (high in Vit C and apparently lowers blood sugar, improves digestion and helps promote kidney health) and a couple of Star-Anise (contains antioxidants properties and is considered to be anti-viral and anti-fungal) for an extra awesome “Vit-hit”!

Pack the shredded, salt-layered veg down – really squash it (make sure your have clean hands and use cling-film as a kind of glove).  The salt will draw the moisture out of the veg and the lacto-fermentation process will begin:

You will see the liquid start to draw out as you squash!

Put the small plate on top and add a weight to help keep it squashed – I find a weighty jar of rice, helps! Then cover the lot in cling film and leave it to work it’s magic.

See how much liquid gets squashed out!

In the warmer weather we are currently experiencing you will see the tell tail fermenting signals starting fairly quickly – a few little bubbles appearing up the side of the bowl within the first 12 hours; it might take longer if things are a little cooler.  All you need to do is check on it every couple of days making sure it is well squashed and more liquid has been drawn out starting to rise above the line of the cabbage.  It can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks for your Sauerkraut to be ready. How you know if it is “ripe,” is by giving it regular little taste tests around week two. The texture of the vegetables will have softened and the taste will be tangy, a hint of light vinegar and mellow saltiness. At the point you feel it has reached it’s prime in the taste department, jar it up and it will keep in the fridge for several months – if it lasts that long!  It is a unique flavour but goes oh-so well with slices of ham or smoked Mackerel. Get inspired and shred that cabbage! Power to the “Kraut!”

Annabel Wright is an actress, with a passion for cooking. Annabel is a Coeliac and follows a gluten free and cow's milk free diet. Determined that the food she eats can be shared and enjoyed by family and friends has driven her to create recipes that are as satisfying as 'normal food.' For more recipes, visit bellasfreestylekitchen.wordpress.com and follow Annabel on Twitter.