On Wednesday 10th May, we attended the second annual Elevate conference, an event that aimed to tackle the issue of inactivity in the UK and provide a forum for cross-sector debate on physical activity, health and wellbeing.

This conference included seminars, a tech lab, a stage area showcasing interesting projects and products, and there was also an exhibition area.

The seminar programme was divided into four streams: Physical Activity for Health and Wellbeing; Inclusivity – Creating an Active Nation;  Future Performance; and The Business of Physical Activity.

Inclusivity

We attended the sessions in the inclusivity stream which started with a keynote debate ‘Tackling Inactivity: What are the priorities?  On the panel of this debate was: Steve Gray, the Chief Executive of Nuffield Health, Steven Ward, Executive Director of UK Active, Professor Robert Copeland, from Sheffield Hallam University and Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive of Cycling UK.

This was a very interesting discussion with the panellists giving their view on where we need to focus our attention if we are to ensure that exercise is more inclusive.

Steve Gray from Nuffield Health  provided some good background stating that  1 in 3 people in the UK are inactive, 1 out of every  10 deaths  in the UK is linked to an inactive lifestyle and inactivity costs the NHS £1Billion. He also explained that we have more people living in urban areas and most people are very much dependent on technology which has led to a more sedentary lifestyle.

He explained that there is no single solution to address this issue but felt that firstly everyone needs to take accountability and that includes the government, businesses and individuals. He also explored the fact that exercise needs to be more accessible practically (made more affordable, easy to fit into a person’s day) and emotionally (everyone needs to feel that they can do it). Finally he also discussed the fact that we need to look at new approaches that are bespoke, suit the individual and are holistic, so they go beyond just the physical.

It was also interesting to hear from Steve Ward from UK Active who explained that their work focuses on communicating the message that it doesn’t matter how long you move for just as long as you move. This is a simple message that makes exercise less daunting.

One of their main priorities is getting more children and young people active as we currently have the most inactive children compared to  previous  generations.

One area they are working on is making sure that children keep active during the summer holidays. He explained that during term time children tend to be very active but once they go on holiday all physical activity ceases.

Another focus area for them is targeting workplaces and ensuring that businesses have a health and wellbeing offer for their staff.

Paul Tuohy also provided some useful insight explaining that 90% of people in the UK own a bike but only 2% of people commute to work or school regularly. The challenge is how to get people from good intentions to action. He also explained that exercise needs to be made simple and people need to get away from the artificial idea that to be fit they need to be a member of the gym. With regards to cycling, he felt that there was a need to normalise cycling rather than feeding the idea that it is an elite sport. People need to see cycling as fun and something they can do everyday.

Engaging with the  least active

We also really found the seminar session on addressing the least active very interesting. This focused on projects that have explored the motivations, attitudes and lifestyles of the most inactive people.

We first heard from Barry Horn from the English Federation of Disability Sport. He spoke about their project Get Out Get Active which is a sport and active recreation project for people with a disability. He explained the need for the project – people with a disability are the single most inactive people in the nation. He stated that their project looked at reaching inactive groups through outreach, engagement and effective marketing and a major priority for them was ensuring sustainability – making disabled people active for life.

As part of their project they explored what disabled people wanted from an exercise program and 64% wanted to take part in physical activity and sport with non-disabled people, they didn’t want to be excluded.

They have also developed some key principles for getting people active – drive awareness, engage the audience and offer support and reassurance.

In this session we also heard from Age UK about how they are getting the elderly more active and the Women’s Sport Trust on the work they’re doing with girls and women.  We were particularly interested in the presentation by Anun King from Sporting Equals about exercise and ethnicity.  He showed data that looked a physical activity and participation in different ethnic groups and this suggested that black and Asian women were the least active.  He explained that some of the barriers to participation were cultural, attitudes to exercise,  socio-economic and organisational.  To address this Sporting Equals have implemented a number of project including a faith centre model. This focused on people from an Asian background. Anun explained there were a number of benefits of working with faith based organisations, these include their large footfall and they have indoor and outdoor facilities. He discussed other projects which included their cultural events model, community sport zones and ethnic minority media work.

Great day out

This was a really busy day that we thoroughly enjoyed it. We attended so many presentations but just wanted to highlight a few interesting ones in this blog. Other projects that you may find interesting that we learnt about at Elevate were:

• Working with disadvantage communities to remove barriers to participation and get children and young people active
• WHO HEAT Tool
• Tackling inequalities and behaviour change in Birmingham

You can find out more about Elevate on their website and look out for the next event in May 2018.

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Lake Foundation’s blog! It’s Stacey Mensah here, The Lake Foundation’s guest blogger. As many of you may know I embarked on a 31-day challenge at the start of May. I invited all of you lovely people on this journey along with me as I was documenting this journey over on Instagram.

What is the 31-day challenge?

If you know nothing of this you need not worry because a month ago I knew nothing of this either. The 31 days saw me take on the challenge of staying away from processed foods and artificial ingredients. I was only able to eat natural things. This basically meant that I was paleo for the month which was an interesting experience for me.

What have I learned during the 31 days?

At the start of the challenge I was feeling incredibly optimistic. It was the beginning of the new month and I felt ready to take on anything and everything. Honestly I thought this challenge was going to be a walk in the park – oh how easily deceived I was! Below are some of the key things I learned during my journey:

Don’t get comfortable

The first four days were amazing. I stuck to the paleo diet of vegetables and meat and I was all about prepping my meals. It was only until the fourth day did I get a bit comfortable. I remember someone asking me about how it was going and I simply said, ‘oh yes, it’s going well’ in such a blasé manner. I hadn’t recognised how well I was doing and therefore passed it off as if I was just taking it in my stride. And because of that, I momentarily went back to my old eating habits at the end of day five. Terrible, right? But the one thing I decided before the journey began was that regardless of whether I stumble, fall or jump off this bandwagon I would always get back on.

If you don’t meal prep, you better be mentally prepared

 If you don’t meal prep one or more of the following things will happen:

1. You’re going to have to be mentally prepared for the other options that are available
2. You will most likely have to spend an arm and a leg to get food that is tailored to your diet
3. You will end up compromising. Eating food that you normally would not consider.

Depending on how busy your lifestyle is, meal prep can be incredibly tedious but you have to weigh up the alternatives. Would you rather spend an hour now making your meals for the next two days, or spending two hours during your lunch time on Monday running around London trying to find a healthy alternative? I know which one I would rather do but of course I ended up doing the latter. Of course there are many stores serving incredibly healthy options but you need to figure out what works for you. Many healthy breakfasts in London’s various trendy cafes include oats, eggs, nuts or apples and of course I am allergic to all of these things, so if you are going to skip out on your meal prep for the day please just be prepared.

Have someone to keep you accountable

Getting towards the second half of the month I enlisted the help of a friend to keep me accountable. Naively, I gave him permission to confiscate any unhealthy food that was in my possession. Now of course I didn’t think he would do it but boy, was I wrong. During this time, I was working towards a deadline. I was having an incredibly stressful day and so I thought this was reason enough to indulge in a chocolate bar.

So on this particular day, I walked into the newsroom with a Kinder Bueno, feeling somewhat settled, I approached my friend. Thinking that he would have compassion for me I began telling him how stressed I was and I realised half way through our conversation that his eyes had been fixated on this chocolate bar. He suddenly shouted, ‘No’, snatched the bar of chocolate from me and threw it in the bin. He then began an unexpected monologue on why I shouldn’t be eating this but of course I was two steps ahead. The analytical skills I spent building up during my years of undergrad were suddenly awakened. I quickly left and ran around the corner, remembering that I had one more bar left. Unfortunately, he found me, tackled me, snatched the second bar from me and stepped on it vigorously. That was the end of that!

As you can imagine I was not pleased but he was simply just doing what I had asked him to do. It’s great to have people around you that are going to keep you accountable but ultimately this is your journey.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink

Whether you recruit a single individual or a group of individuals to keep you accountable the responsibility of completing a programme or living your life a certain way rests on your shoulders. It’s important to have a reality check in times like this. The only obstacle in your way is yourself and so you can’t place the blame on others. It’s up to you to have enough self-discipline to stick to your convictions.

You’re not a dog, so don’t reward yourself with food

This is a habit that I am incredibly guilty of. I don’t know what it is but food has been something that I have always gravitated towards. I think it’s important to establish your relationship with food because starting a lifestyle change because then you are able to anticipate how you will react in certain situations. For some food is a source of comfort, a security blanket or for the lucky few it could be simply a source of nutrition. Either way you have to be prepared and know what your vices are.

As I’m now at the end of the 31-day period, I can say that my relationship with food has changed. Although everyday isn’t filled with glowing green smoothies and nutritious meals I have learned to listen to my body. I plan to continue this lifestyle change going forward and I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to challenge themselves, both mentally and physically.

The Griot Institute is organising a consultation event for Black women on the treatment and support for chronic fibroids.

The Fibroids Fraternitee meeting will examine questions about the kind of health care Black women want in relation to chronic fibroids.

What would a Black women-friendly service look like? What support do women want to deal with the disabling aspects of suffering from chronic fibroids?  What medical and clinical interventions have we had and how have these affected us? What lifestyle and natural approaches have we used to good effect?

For many years, Griot has run peer support forums for Black women with chronic fibroids with presentations from expert patients, clinicians and naturopaths.  They are consulting to find out what women want in their new series of monthly forums. They also want to know how younger women want to be supported and how they can access the vast knowledge of older Black women who have accumulated a vast range of knowledge on how fibroids were dealt with ‘back home’ in order to explore potential wider options for women with chronic fibroids

The event will take place at Deptford X,   9 Brookmill Road, London SE8 4HL, on Saturday 10th  June 2017 from 1pm to 5pm

Places can be booked at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fibroids-fraternitee-workshop-tickets-34292467694?aff=efbneb

This event is in collaboration with the AntiUniversity Now Festival 2017.

Shea Island will be exhibiting at our upcoming Autism Health and Wellbeing conference in July. In today’s blog they answer the question ‘Why are we so crazy about Shea Butter?’ by discussing some of its benefits.

Why are we so crazy about Shea Butter???????

Ok so let me explain why…..

Shea Butter is provided by the nut of the Shea Tree otherwise known as ButyrospermumParkii (don’t worry we can’t pronounce it either), which is native to Western Africa.

The Shea Tree is considered as a sacred tree which is understandable as it grows up to 60ft tall and does not flower before it is 20 years old.

Shea Butter has been used for centuries by African people to take care of their skin, heal aliments and is also found in food products.

These guys knew what they were talking about!!

With its high Vitamin E, D and A content Shea Butter not only keeps your skin in tip-top condition but also protects against UV rays and pollution damage. Essential fatty acids help improve the skins elasticity, whilst Vitamin E helps to prevent fine lines and wrinkles. The anti inflammatory and healing components, aids the healing of skin condiditons such as eczema, psoriasis and skin allergies.

Shea Islands Raw Organic Grade A Unrefined Shea Butter takes care of all of your skin needs.

To conclude………What’s not to be crazy about?!

Shea Island would also like to say a big Thank You to the wonderful ladies in Ghana who have worked hard to produce our lovely Shea Butter. Without you Shea Island would still only be a dream.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.

With Love

Shea Island

Last weekend, we attended the Black Women’s Conference. This is an annual event organised by The Black Women’s Forum that  aims to provide a safe space to share, empower and engage with women of African,  Asian, Arab and Caribbean descent living in the UK. It provides a forum for open, honest discussion on issues affecting black women.

This year’s conference was the fifth anniversary of the event and the theme of the conference was ‘Celebrating the Achievements of Women of Colour.’ The  program included panel discussions in the morning followed by workshops in the afternoon.

The panel discussions consisted of speakers from a variety of fields with the first panel focusing on black women in the creative and education industry and the second panel focused on black women in sports and business.  You can find out about all the speakers here

We were really inspired by all the speakers who took part in the panel discussions  and it was interesting to note that the message of the importance of our health and wellbeing was a theme that recurred in almost every presentation.

Black women in the business world face a lot of barriers and challenges which were clearly illustrated by the speakers as they shared their stories of racism and sexism. This core barrier of racism has led to loss of opportunity, difficulties in securing investment, daily battles with “the system”, lack of career progression and so much more.  Fighting these inequalities every single day is tough, affects our wellbeing and can thus impact both our physical and mental health.

We applaud the honesty of Imriel Morgan, the Chief Executive of the Shout Out Network and co-host of Melanin Millennials who spoke with passion about the pioneering work that she’s doing in the podcasting world and the challenges she has faced. This has included difficulties getting her podcast onto well-known platforms which lack diversity and seem not to embrace black podcasts and organising the first ever black podcasting festival. Imriel spoke of the frustrations of not being able to access investment despite being an award-winning podcast and then very movingly tried to fight back tears as she told us that being a black female Chief Executive is really tough. Imriel opened up and was very honest about her experience with depression saying “the struggle is real” and spoke about being on anti-depressants.

We have to do something about this. We have to make sure that black business women have all the support that they need to fight these battles and get through them with their physical and mental health intact. One solution that was discussed throughout the day was the need for black women to come together to form supportive networks so that women have a support system and don’t feel alone in the corporate world.

We feel there is much to do in this area and will explore what we can do as a charity to support black business women.

With more than 20 million people in the UK reported to be physically inactive and thus not getting enough exercise, there is a need to find fun innovative ways to get people moving. With that in mind, last month we attended the Fitness Blastoff BASH, an event that we were really excited about as we loved the idea of a fitness party.

The Fitness Blastoff is an urban fitness dance party experience for men and women based in the UK. They work with a variety of aerobics instructors to create unique, fresh and lively workouts but with a party-like feel to it.

So on the 1^st April, with a sense of excitement, we ventured to their BASH, we arrived late and as we walked through the door of the venue we were met with a huge number of people dancing to music blaring through the speakers as the DJ on the stage created a fantastic party atmosphere. It really did feel like a club, it was dark with a great vibe and some club lights too.  What struck me as I walked around was the diversity in the room (young, old, black, white and all shapes and sizes) and the smiles – everybody was having a good time in their trainers, gym wear and with water bottles in hand.

As we tried to find a bit of space in the hall we suddenly heard the DJ say: “Are you ready for your 5 hour workout!??” Fear then set in as we all looked at each other and thought: “ I don’t think we’ll last 5 hours!”

After a few minutes of throwing our hands in the air and singing along with the rest of the crowd we were introduced to the first instructor, Alicja Blachut, for a 30 minute Jamaican Dancehall session called Mash It Up, this was a fast- paced, fun session where we learnt a routine to Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You. The time flew by and before we knew it, the 30 minutes was over and it was time for a 5 minute water break. This was followed by the sessions below, each with a 5 minute break afterwards:

• Old Skool Hip Hop with Ameila Aramu
• Afrobeats with Kwaku Agyemang of Azonto Fitness
• UK Garage with Karla Richards
• Bashment with Shallahni Rose
• Jungle with Faye Edwards of I.T Academy
• House with Kassidy Chaplin of Shuffle in Shape
• Soca with Andre Chacha of Addicted to Fitness

Believe it or not, we were having so much fun that the 5 hours flew by so quickly and at the end of the event we didn’t want to leave!

It was a very tiring day, but because it was so much fun, we didn’t actually feel it in the same way we have done when we’ve taken part in other fitness events where we’d be counting down the time to the end of the session.

The sessions we enjoyed the most were the Afrobeat, Jungle, Hip Hop and House sessions. The instructors were very engaging and had put a lot of thought into their sessions, making them easy to follow but very energetic.

The event was a massive success for so many reasons. Firstly, the variety of workouts, each session being so different made for an interesting and fun day; Secondly, the DJ. He was very good, he set the tone of the day creating a fun atmosphere, getting the crowd going and in between sessions got us dancing, waving our hands and doing various dances (loved it!); the organisation of the event. The event was really well organised, there was plenty of water on hand and lots of attention paid to the safety of attendees.

We applaud the team behind the Fitness Blastoff for their approach to getting people active. This was a creative and fun way to encourage people to take part in exercise and, from the variety of people in the room, we think it attracted a lot of people that running, cycling and traditional exercise wouldn’t appeal to, giving them an option that suits them. Plus I don’t think you could get a lot of people to exercise for 5 hours and still be smiling at the end of it, like this event did. The fact that people had so much fun meant they were motivated to keep going.

We’re so glad we attended the Fitness Blastoff Bash, we didn’t know what to expect and were pleasantly surprised, we had a wonderful time and most importantly we got a fantastic workout.

The Fitness Blastoff team’s next event, the Afrobeats vs Dancehall Fitness Pop-up Party, is on Saturday 27^th May at 1pm and you can book your tickets here

On Wednesday,  we were so excited to host our third fibroids Twitter chat. We were joined by special guest Dr Sydney Dillard, CEO of Fighting Fibroids to discuss the symptoms and diagnosis of fibroids.  If you missed it you can check out our conversation below.

Hello all, it’s @AbiBegho here and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to The Lake Foundation’s #fibroids #TwitterChat. #FibroidsChat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Today we’ll be discussing the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of #fibroids. We’ll be putting questions to our special guest. #FibroidsChat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

I’m delighted to introduce our guest, @DrSydneyjd. Please tell us a bit about who you are and what you do. #FibroidsChat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Thank you for having me. I am a wife, mother, daughter, and professor who has dedicated her life to addressing fibroids #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Wonderful! Thank you for joining us again. You’re becoming a regular 🙂 Great to have you tonight #fibroidschat.

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Ok, we’ll get going with our discussion. Tonight we’re focusing on the #symptoms, #diagnosis and #treatment of #fibroids. #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

.@DrSydneyjd, let’s start at the beginning. How would a woman know she has fibroids? What are the symptoms? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Great Q. There are numerous symptoms. The most common include heavy bleeding, pain in the abdomen, lower back, and cramp #fibroidschat pt1

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

while others symptoms may include decreased fertility. #fibroidschat pt2

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Those are a lot of #symptoms! Do women get all of those symptoms or just some of them and what is the most common #symptom? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Symptoms vary across women so it’s difficult to say, but heavy periods seems to rise to the top as most common often times #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

.@DrSydneyjd What other conditions may be associated with these symptoms? Other gynae conditions may have similar symptoms? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

There are a handful of other conditions associated with similar symptoms such as PCOS, ovarian cysts, polyps, etc #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

.@DrSydneyjd If a woman thinks she has symptoms what should she do? Should she go straight to her doctor or wait and see? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Depending on her level of discomfort, she can choose. I always suggest getting checked out as being informed. Trust yourself #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

.@DrSydneyjd How would a doctor/gynaecologist diagnose fibroids? What tests are done? #FibroidsChat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Fibroids can be found through numerous methods including ultrasound, lab tests, MRI, hysteroscopy, and other imaging tests. #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Can you tell us what a #hysteroscopy is? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Quite difficult to explain via twitter 😅. But in short a small lighted telescope is inserted into the cervix. #fibroidschat pt1

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Saline is also injected to help examine the walls of the uterus in search of the fibroids #fibroidschat pt2

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Do these tests give doctors a good picture of the womb so they can see whether a #fibroid is present? Can they miss them? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Unfortunately, yes. Fibroids are easily missed because they can be found in all sorts of places with the uterine cavity #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

#fibroidschat What would you suggest someone does if they feel their symptoms are not being taken seriously?

— thefibroidforum (@fibroidforum) May 3, 2017

Great q. I always say trust yourself. Remember it’s the docs opinion, so i suggest getting a 2nd or even a 3rd opinion #fibroidschat pt1

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

There are plenty of woman and other ways to gain support so that your voice is heard and your experience is validated #fibroidschat pt2.

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

There are plenty of woman and other ways to gain support so that your voice is heard and your experience is validated #fibroidschat pt2.

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

@ThekindDiva Mine sure did! 😞 #FibroidsChat

— thefibroidforum (@fibroidforum) May 3, 2017

Another great q. They certainly can. In fact depending on how early you have them removed, they may be more likely to return #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

that’s not great to hear 😢

— Sheena Simpson (@ThekindDiva) May 3, 2017

I know…but u are more informed now. I wish we had time to talk through ways to minimize their return

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Sorry to hear that! ☹️. We hope you’re ok. #FibroidsChat https://t.co/BCrDO7QIc5

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

@DrSydneyjd @ThekindDiva Thank you. Change of diet, increased exercise and UAE procedure & I’m doing alright 😊 #FibroidsChat

— thefibroidforum (@fibroidforum) May 3, 2017

.@DrSydneyjd if people would like to find out more about your work, how can they? Do you have a website? #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

Yep! Find me at https://t.co/zKw9ilkpyj or check out some of my work in Women’s Reproductive Health Journal. TY for having me #fibroidschat

— Dr. Sydney Dillard (@DrSydneyjd) May 3, 2017

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of our #TwitterChat. A big big thank you to @DrSydneyjd for being such a wonderful guest. #fibroidschat

— Lake Health and Wellbeing (@lakehealthwell) May 3, 2017

#fibroidschat @TheLakeFound @DrSydneyjd @ThekindDiva Great chat as always. Thanks everyone!

— thefibroidforum (@fibroidforum) May 3, 2017

This week, our guest blogger, Stacey Mensah, strips it all back when it comes to our diet and asks: ‘Why don’t we just keep it simple? In exploring this question Stacey has been inspired to start a 31 day eating clean challenge today. Follow her journey and, even better, join her on this challenge.

Hello and welcome to another week at the Lake Foundation. This week I decided to look at the idea of simplicity when it comes to diet. Now, this topic must be quite foreign to most of us as everyday life has disguised simplicity as idealism; and so we think we’re incapable of eating the way our ancestors used to. I have to admit, I do find it incredibly idealistic to live in such a way purely because I’ve never done it and I’m sure that if I did do it I would fail miserably.

Complex diet and lifestyle changes have plagued the majority of modern society’s habits but once you break down that formula for losing weight, drinking more water, or whatever that goal may be you find that it isn’t as complicated as it needs to be (or so I’ve heard). For some reason when I decide to go on a diet, or a lifestyle change, as I like to call it, I feel as though it’s​ necessary to buy certain trendy superfoods or go for products with enticing packaging. Just a quick side note though while we’re here: I know I’m not the only one in on this so please continue.

All I’m really left with in the end is an Instagram-worthy shopping cart and what can one do with that? When it comes to cooking, however, I keep it incredibly simple and that, of course, means that I end up wasting the majority of my basket – which is incredibly frustrating. This frustration, of course, drives me to my nearest chippy. And let’s be honest, chips are anything but complicated!

While looking into the idea of keeping it simple I came across an article on Dale Pinnock, who interestingly, is known as the UK’s ‘Medicinal Chef’. This lovely gentleman specializes in the medicinal properties of food and in his latest book, ‘The Medicinal Chef: The Power of Three’, he explores the secrets that can lead to a longer, healthier life. Pinnock stresses the importance of simplicity and the absurdity of buying into trends, ‘I’ve been eating kale for years, and it’s great, but when people take one thing and turn it into the ultimate panacea, that’s when you need to put the bulls*** detectors on’. So this has inspired me…

For the next 31 days, I will be eating a clean diet – free from processed foods, artificial colours​ and all of that other stuff. The exciting bit is I would like to take you along this journey towards ‘the simple life’ via social media. I’ve created the Instagram account – @staceydmensah – where you’ll be able to find daily updates of my journey. My hope for this social experiment is that we may be able to have an open dialogue about healthy eating and good food.

I hope to be speaking to some of you very soon….

Till next week….

We’re really pleased to let you know that Candice Bryan, Founder of Noire Wellness and Yacoub Khalaf, consultant gynaecologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital will be speaking at the upcoming fibroids support group session.

Candice Bryan will be discussing fibroids and exercise whilst Yacoub Khalaf will be exploring the clinical side of fibroids.

We are  so delighted to have teamed up with TOHETI at Guy’s Hospital for this support group session. which will take place on Monday 15th May from  6:00pm – 7:30pm at the McNair Centre at Guy’s.

Anyone who has been affected by fibroids is welcome to attend and this session aims to provide women with the opportunity to share their experience, meet other women with fibroids, obtain support and hear from experts in the field.

TOHETI’s support group provides a safe, informal setting for women to ask questions and share concerns, both before and after surgery. The group is run by patients, for patients and a clinical member of staff will be present to help answer questions.

For more information and to let us know you’re coming please email events@thelakefoundation.com

In this week’s blog our Cycling Club Coordinator, Sheila, discusses some great cycling tips she’s picked up from members of the club. Share some of your cycling hacks with us, we’d love to hear them.

One of the benefits of joining The Lake Foundation Cycling Club has been getting to know other members of the group. We come from all walks of life: from a curtain maker to celebrities, an accountant, to a care worker who has enjoyed a former life as a salsa teacher. The diversity of our group also means that there is a wealth of knowledge and experience between us. Here are a few cycling related gems (cycling hacks) that have emerged from our members.

Apps and websites

One of our cyclists was pretty new to cycling before joining The Lake Foundation Cycling Club. She went from strength to strength and went on to invest in cycling equipment and clothing. She began to ride outside of the club and even took part in the London to Brighton bike ride. It was encouraging to see members of The Lake foundation cycling club support her as she trained for the ride. Whatsapp was a great way to keep up to date with her progress on the day of the ride and cheer her on.

A couple of our cyclists use Strava which allows you to record your sport activities and progress over time. On occasion they’ve then shared the route so we can see how we’re doing as a group.

Our cycling instructors have taken advantage of apps to make their lives easier. One says he’s not a fan of tech. An app like Whatsapp is “far too complicated” for him.  Plot a Route is the exception. He uses it because, “it’s simple and does exactly what it says”. “I can then take a screen-shot and send you the route!” Our second cycling instructor uses Ride with GPS, which also allows you to plot routes in advance but comes with details cue sheets and a wide range of features for the more serious tech savvy rider.

Clothing

A kindly couple in our group took it upon themselves to buy a high-visibility top for one of our riders. Highly visibility clothing has reflective properties or is of a colour that is easily seen from any background. High-visibility clothing can be a life-saver when cycling amongst motor vehicles during day or night.

I’d never had known waterproof socks existed had it not been for one of our more serious riders. It was a cold Saturday morning when we ventured out from Croydon to cycling to Greenwich. I was smug about having layered against the cold weather. I wasn’t prepared, however, for the relentless rain. I re-emerged from the bathroom after a failed attempt to dry my wet socks and was met by laughter of my friend amused by my misery while she enjoyed a hot mug of tea and the comfort of her dry sealskinz socks.

Why not share your cycling hacks with us on Facebook or Twitter #cyclinghacks.

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