Live Well London

February is here, and we are proud to say that we are keeping to our New Year’s Resolutions at The Amazing Blog (well, for the most part anyway). Many resolutions revolve around health and fitness, aiming to make 2019 our year of maintaining a healthy body and mind. We were therefore excited to discover the new event, Live Well London, taking place from the 1st-3rd March in Old Billingsgate.

This event will encompass a full line-up of classes, workshops, inspirational talks, live kitchen demos and much more. From fitness to nutrition, beauty and well-being, Live Well London offers a number of contributors and influencers who will be giving well-founded advice, from both personal and professional experiences. This ensures that you will leave having gained wisdom from a range of experienced professionals. Understanding the need for a varied range of advice, organisers have secured speakers from all walks of the fitness and health industries. Matt Roberts, one of the UK’s leading personal trainers, and best-selling fitness authors, will be on hand to provide science-based advice, to help you live a more energised life. The founder of Mind and Meditation, Niraj Shah will imparting her knowledge for those looking for well being and inspiration. If that’s not enough, then skincare expert Liz Earle will be offering advice on how to really take care of your skin. These names are just the tip of the iceberg, with a vast amount of other speakers with equal amounts of wisdom to share. Click here to see what's on over the course of the three days.

The event will also include sessions from More YOGA and Barre Studio, unique and popular classes that prove exercise isn’t limited to running on a treadmill (although this is of course allowed if it’s your thing). The event focuses on four key areas: Well Moved, Well Balanced, Well Nourished and Well Restored. Well Balanced will help you to find new ways of moving, from addressing fitness crazes, to explaining the benefits of HIIT or Pilates. Well Balanced is centred around mental health, an ever prevalent and important topic. You can expect advice on mindfulness and meditation, as well as life-coaching and therapy. Well Nourished will focus on getting the glow from within, with tips and tricks on upping your intake of vitamins, and nutritional food and drinks. Finally, Well Restored will allow you to discover retreats, spas, wellness holidays, courses and more - because we’re all in need of a little escape sometimes.

We predict tickets will sell fast for this event, and as they are limited, we urge you to order sooner, rather than later. If you’ve fallen off the New Year bandwagon, or are simply looking for ways to ramp up your healthy routines, then we’re sure there will be something for you. Click here to purchase a ticket from £35.

Fitty London's Paleo Box

Stereotypical it may be, but we're making a conscious health effort this January. After an extended period of overindulging at The Amazing Blog, we're actively trying to get ourselves back on track to a healthier lifestyle. Through these trepidations, we discovered Fitty London, a brand bringing performance-enhancing products to our doorsteps, with boxes full of nutritional and affordable goodies. This is something we can certainly get behind!

Fitty London's premise is simple, to bring proper nutrition, with specific foods, drinks and workout products. We're not always hot on this, and when we do endeavour to make a better effort, we admit that it is often difficult to find products that are truly good for us. So many promise the world, but instead do the opposite, with a variety of hidden sugars and ingredients that are best avoided. We were therefore pleased to discover that Fitty London's products are all sourced by specialised nutritionists, allowing us to be secure in the knowledge that we're not being sold another hyped and overpromised subscription box.

We tried the newly launched Paleo Box, as we were keen to learn more about the paleo diet and lifestyle. Despite being trusted by millions of people, we were admittedly unaware of the vast amount of health benefits this lifestyle can promote. Although we may not be full paleo converts, we were pleased to try Fitty London's selection of products, our first steps in a healthier direction. This box contains eight specially selected brands and is worth around £60, making it an economical way of trying a multitude of paleo products. We enjoyed the Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee as a morning pick me up, providing a fruity drink that packs a superfood punch! For a mid-morning snack, we have been reaching for the Blue Dinosaur Paleo Bar. The Banana Bread flavour has a cinnamon kick, reminiscent of the past festivities, without the calorific indulgences! For those with a more savoury tooth, the Raw World Company Biltong has proven to be popular. We were intrigued by the crackling black pepper flavour, adding a bit of kick to the 100% grass-fed and dried beef.

Aside from snacking, this Paleo Box also contains the Bare Biology Lionheart Omega 3s supplement and the Symprove probiotic. The Lionheart capsules have helped to boost the appearance of our congested complexions, and the Symprove probiotic has helped to up our gut health, after let's face it, a month of rich foods. Finally, the box also contains a few products to help with your day to day cooking, the Happy Butter Ghee has become a firm cooking oil favourite, and the Cocofina Coconut Aminos has replaced the usual salty soy sauce in our stir-frys. For our New Year salads, we've also been loving the Willy's Apple Cider Vinegar - it's great as a dressing.

So there you have it, we're feeling much healthier and happier, and although we can't completely put it down to Fitty London's Paleo Box, it certainly makes a change to swap our sweet snacks with nutritional ones! To purchase a Paleo Box for £32, visit the Fitty London website here.

Dogs' Dinners Cookbook

Times, they are a-changin’…when once the saying “I’ve made a right dog’s dinner of that” would mean a less than appealing result, along comes Debora Robertson to firmly turn all such notions inside out. Even if you don’t have a pet pooch, we urge you to pick up her glorious book ‘Dogs’ Dinners’ and indulge yourself in some seriously compelling page turning. Not only has Debora brought a whole host of delicious recipes for our canine friends together, but she also gives us the option of how to tailor these taste bud tinglers to suit our humanoid palate too.

First and foremost though, her book is written very much with our four-legged family members in mind - which is why our favourite fluffy English Show Cocker Spaniel Tilly was so happy to sit lapping up every page while we made our more leaden way through the Sunday papers over the weekend! And why not …? With recipes like ‘Turkey and Quinoa Meatballs’, ‘Liver Brownies’, and ‘Summer Pupsicles’ to ponder, there is much for Tilly to salivate over - as you can see, she has been thoroughly engrossed! 

Included are tips on how to deal with specific food intolerances; what to serve up should there be signs of a sensitive mouth or gums, and of course, like us, doggies can suffer from the occasional off day, but guess what - chicken broth works wonders for them too! It appears that when all is said and done, apart from some levels of seasoning, nosh-wise there isn’t much to divide us.

To view this only as a collection of recipes, however, would be a mistake - there is a great deal more information contained within it’s covers, as to the healthiest way to feed your dog from their earliest puphood, through to the various stages of growing up. With advice on the ingredients which will keep teeth as healthy as possible, the ways to encourage fresh breath, and the more basic functions at the other end, Debora Robertson covers it all. She especially explore the essential knowledge of what NOT to offer up - we all know that chocolate and cooked bones are a total no-no, but avocados, unripe tomatoes and caffeine of any kind are also on the hazardous list. Fortunately for Tilly and her pals, there is a larder full of delicious goodies to make extensive use of, and Ms Robertson expertly shows us the way.

‘Dog’s Dinners’ is a fascinating mix of informed nutritional advice, intriguing anecdotes - check out “the bone about which we do not speak” on page 26 - and beautifully observed illustrations by Cinzia Zenocchini, which will sit perfectly alongside Delia and Nigella’s finest on the kitchen shelf.

‘Dogs’ Dinners’ by Debora Robertson is priced at £9.99 and is available here.