blessment.com

Picture this I am 25 years old with no interest in Gardening but I have grandparents and other old people that I know that enjoy gardening so much. I personally pay a gardener to take care of my two gardens every two weeks. I cannot imagine myself being old and wanting to do some gardening but I am warming to the idea after seeing my grandparents.

They take so much pride and time their garden it amazes. It looks great and passes their time throughout the day. I on occasions do have to help with the larger jobs but find myself doing it reluctantly; however my grandparents do say that depending on the task provided to me I do sometimes enjoy. I think that maybe they are correct and well there is a sense of pride with such. Bring on the old age I can’t wait.

Being a parent is a full time job from the day your child is born. The responsibilities you have as a parent to that child are immense. From ensuring your child is safe to ensuring your child is fed and watered properly. As a parent you are responsible for the well being of that child and the morals that are instilled in them. You are not just a parent but you are part of a community that expects parents to be responsible for their children’s actions.

While all this sounds quite daunting you still have to make time for yourself. Without having this time for yourself you will struggle to support your own life demands and that of your children. This can be difficult but effort should be made even if it is a walk, a meal out or a chat with friends.

It is becoming increasingly important to maintain a healthy balanced diet, however all we get told is that we should do this but not how we should do this and what to look out for. The benefits of a balanced diet go without saying as they are fairly obvious in the fact that you will lead a healthier lifestyle. Here are some tips to maintain a balanced diet:

• Starchy food are good and most meals should be based on this
• Eat lot of fruits and vegetables ideally five a day
• Eat a lot of fish. Ideally the more oily the better like Salmon
• Cut down on sugar and salt
• Stay active
• Never ever skip breakfast, this is possibly one of the worst things you could ever do. Skipping breakfast
encourages you to pile up on food at lunchtime
• Salt intake should be capped at 6g a day

Shopping in the New Year sales has been very difficult this year due to the increasingly bad weather conditions. A large number of retails stores have remained closed or altered their opening times to adjust for the weather. Retailers have announced once again a rise in shoppers and turnovers, however I would like to questions the quality of products in the sales.

Clothing retailers seem to fill their shelves with poor quality cheap clothing that are made just for sale purposes to allow people the satisfactions of getting something cheap. It seems that large retailers have a habit of placing their normal stock items in storage and buying poor quality items just for sales. Consumers seem to be happy with this kind of shopping and in the New Year flood the UK stores looking for a bargain. Is it really worth it?

‘Exercise’ this word alone is so difficult for people to say or even relate too. Going to the gym can become like a tedious chore and many people have to work really hard just get the energy to go to the gym let alone exercise. It has and will become a vital part of life for many people and this is why we need to look at ways to motivate you to go to the gym.

Here are some tips on motivating yourself for the gym:

• Go to the gym straight after work. Go home and you will be doomed
• Go with a friend and the company you have will encourage you to exercise
• Don’t think about the gym just go and you will automatically work your into it
• Set goals to achieve by certain dates
• Commit yourself to doing a charity run which will require training beforehand for motivation
• Change your exercise program regularly to avoid getting bored

Each year radio station Heart 106 have an awards evening called “Lifestyle Awards”, which celebrates the locally community and their efforts.

Awards are given out for Health Spa of the year, Fashion Retailer of the year, East Midlands Favourite Family Day Out, Hotel of the year, Hair Salon of the Year, Bar and Restaurant of the year, Interior Retailer of the year and an overall winner of the year.

2009 saw winners like Eden Hall, Pink and Lilly, Twycross Zoo, Sutherland and Barnett, Harts, Hoofers, Saltwater, MAC, Nottingham, John Lewis.

The overall winner for 2009 was crowned as Saltwater, which is a very trendy bar in Nottingham.

BBC Lifestyle – what is it all about???

The BBC has a very prominent section to its website and also it’s channels called “lifestyle”. But what does it include??

After visiting the main section to the website i discovered it was about a lot of different areas – Gardening, Parenting, Health and Watchdog just name just a few.

The website and channels then break down each category so you can easily navigate around.

The Gardening section is all about Gardening and currently has a “free gardening calendar” available.

The Health section can be used to find all your Health, Fitness and Nutrional information.

What change to your lifestyle will you be doing in 2010???

I think my lifestyle changes will be visiting the gym more – 4 times a week should be the right amount. I also want to eat a lot more fruit, which is starting in a new me having a fruit smoothie every day for breakfast – yes this is mainly becuase i got bought a smoothie maker for christmas!!!

I also want to make sure that my 2010 lifestyle includes a marathon of some description – the BUPA Manchester 10,000 kilometres run seems to tick this box (especially as i did it in 2009). I think a walk with my partner once a month should also be achieved during 2010.

i will let you know how it goes??

New Year’s Eve brings through a lot of promises that are made but are not fulfilled – in the form of the famous “new years resolutions.”

With only a few hours to go have you made your new years resolution yet? ? ? ?

Mine personally is to be more patient as i feel that during 2009 i have snapped when i shouldnt have at peopl i should of snapped at!

Various people at work are doing new year resolutions to losing weight, not drinking as much, seeing certain people they no longer see and eating more veg!

what is your resolution for 2010 and more importantly how long do you think you can keep it?

In England it seems we all work each day and all day! It gets even worse during the winter months as the sun dissapears, generally after failing to turn up in the first place. A normal working day for many seems to be the period between 9am till 5pm. Add the extra travelling to work either on the congested roads or using public transport and it can easily increase by another hour at least.

How does this impact on our lifestyle? I’d say quite a lot, even with the few evening hours left, the long hard day of work takes its toll mentally and results in tiredness.

Other countries adopt different measures to tie in their lifestyle. The French leave 2 hours for lunch as they love their food! Some parts of the middle east, namely Saudi Arabia, take Friday afternoon off to keep in tune with their faith. What ideas could England implement to tie in some parts of our lifestyle and culture?