Home Travel Wellness Opinion Food Consumer Fitness Fashion Contact me
inews.co.uk •

The Viking Method: meet the fitness trainer who doesn’t take any prisoners

The world of fitness can be an annoyingly chirpy one, increasingly saturated with 20-year-old former reality TV stars offering vague platitudes about “motivation Mondays” and “fitspo” – fitness inspiration.

It’s a world Svava Sigbertsdottir has little patience with. “Argh, fitspo,” she sighs. “Look, it’s so easy to get knowledge these days, and the more discussion about health the better. But fitspo can be dangerous with the constant image demands – that you have to look a certain way.”

Given
inews.co.uk •

Ryan Riley: Meet the food therapist treating a loss of taste

Ryan Riley has a contacts book that most culinary professionals would give their eye teeth for. The 25-year-old rubs shoulders with Nigella Lawson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, all of whom are championing his new cookery school. Yet he isn’t a star graduate of Leiths or the prodigious product of a Cordon Bleu kitchen. Riley is self-taught, and four years ago would never have imagined standing up in front of a class.

It was 18 months ago that Riley first started thinking about c
inews.co.uk •

Parents’ fury at NHS failure to prescribe life-saving cannabis for children

An executive at one of the world’s biggest medical cannabis companies has said he will fund treatment for a British child with epilepsy, as the NHS continues to fail to prescribe the potentially life-saving treatment.

It comes as parents increasingly give up on the NHS and turn to private wealthy funders despite the Government giving the green light to the treatment six months ago.

Parents of seriously ill children, including Billy Caldwell’s mother Charlotte, have spoken of their fear, anger
inews.co.uk •

Meet the tech CEO who lost five stone thanks to his own app

Many of us would never dream of darkening the door of a gym when travelling for work or pleasure. Fritz Lanman isn’t one of those people.

“I went to Sweat It yesterday, do you know it? Pretty tough. I landed from Bangkok into Heathrow and I just knew I was going to have to stay awake all day, so I had to get a workout in to get my energy levels up. And then this morning I went to Another Space, I did a boxing HIIT workout and it was packed in there.”

It’s hardly a surprise that the chief execu
inews.co.uk •

This 88-year-old fitness instructor who qualified in her 70s believes everyone can keep fit

Alacia Elliott doesn’t fit the mould of the stereotypical fitness instructor – no bulging muscles, menacing stance or “push through the pain” mantra. But she’s made of tough stuff. And, at 88, is older than most of her clients.

“When I retired at the age of 59 from my job in local government, my husband was still working, so I decided to take some fitness classes at the local leisure centre,” says Ms Elliott. “There was so much – water aerobics, even badminton. It was also really sociable, so m
inews.co.uk •

The man who gave Margot Robbie a Hollywood body – and can reboot yours in just 21 days

On the morning I meet David Higgins, bloated as I am from a weekend of excess and struggling with a frozen shoulder, I don’t exactly feel that I fit the mould of his typical clientele.

The personal trainer and physiotherapist has worked with Colin Firth, Margot Robbie and even Samuel L Jackson to get them fit for camera. His new book is titled The Hollywood Body Plan – and my body doesn’t even qualify as a Hollyoaks body after a sluggish start to the year.

Sitting in his sleek BodySpace gym at
inews.co.uk •

Dr Michael Mosley: the man behind the 5:2 diet on why he now wants you to eat just 800 calories a day

He is the man who got Britons to lose weight, has written a slew of best-selling diet books and fronted dozens of health documentaries. But don’t leave the biscuit tin unattended when Dr Michael Mosley’s around.

“I have no willpower. If there’s a bar of chocolate, I will eat the whole thing. If there are salted peanuts, I’ll eat the whole bloody bowl.

“Clare knows – very occasionally we’ll have a packet of biscuits in the house and she’ll say ‘what are you doing’, while I’m *makes munching noi
I •

How to cut down on household rubbish for Zero Waste Week

Douglas McMaster launches into his spiel before we’ve even taken a seat. The sofa we’re about to sit on has been upcycled from waste materials, he tells me, as has all the furniture in his industrial-chic restaurant, Silo.

Some very decent coffee materialises in front of us, along with milk that arrived at the restaurant that morning in a giant pail (the staff use it to make yoghurt, cream, cheese and butter, too), and two fizzing glasses of kombucha, a fermented tea that has been brewed in-hou
I •

Mothers of Invention: Mary Robinson on why climate change is a feminist issue

Forging a double act can be powerful, but risky. The chemistry needs to be just right, with no one person dominating. And, importantly, they have to at least appear to get on.

So the podcast producer who came up with the brainwave of pairing the former president of Ireland with an irreverent comedian deserves a plaudit for their genius – and bravery.

Mary Robinson, 74, an academic, diplomat, campaigner, barrister and politician, is a luminary in the fields of human rights and climate change. S
I •

How to make your food look good enough to Instagram

A decade ago, telling someone that you were a “food stylist” would have been met with a blank stare, if not an eye-roll. And some people might still react like that now – after all, purely worrying about what food looks like in photographs, beyond how it tastes, will sound to many like the ultimate example of style over substance.

But style does matter in the world of gastronomy, more so than ever nowadays in the “food porn” age of Instagram where people want to share pictures of their meal in
iNews •

The surgeon who fell in love with broken hearts

As an organ, the heart has been rather unloved in recent years. Column inches and bestselling books are dedicated to the brain and even the hitherto unglamorous gut, while the heart soldiers on unnoticed.

Heart surgeon Nikki Stamp, though, is smitten. “Even when the heart is outside the body – if you give it blood with oxygen and nutrients the heart muscle just beats,” she says. “I think that’s amazing.”

Stamp has no shortage of interesting facts about the heart – in fact, she’s written an ent
iNews •

From bullied schoolboy to running addict: the man who ran 401 marathons

This week, thousands of people are putting the final touches to their London Marathon preparations: easing off on training, having a last-minute sports massage, getting their gorilla suit dry-cleaned. For first-timers, or even those with several races under their belts, it can be a daunting time. Now imagine that you were getting ready for your 50th marathon in a row. Or 100th. Or 300th.

For Ben Smith, running a marathon became as routine as brushing his teeth in 2016, when he completed 401 mar
iNews •

Meet the food blogger that has chefs eating out of his hand

Steve Plotnicki doesn’t seem like your typical food blogger – after all, he isn’t 22, female or snapchatting love-heart inscribed pictures of avocado toast. “I guess I’m a blogger with a capital B,” he says, laughing.

Plotnicki, the creator of Opinionated about Dining (OAD), a prolific online community of lovers of fine dining, has in fact held many titles – not least “king of the bloggers”, as bestowed by restaurant critic Jay Rayner. In his pre-blogging life, Plotnicki was a record company ow
iNews •

OITNB's Lea DeLaria: 'Hard for me to get roles? Have you seen me?' - The i newspaper online

Lea DeLaria is not what you’d call a shrinking violet. The actress, comedian and jazz singer holds the title of being the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk show – The Arsenio Hall Show, in 1993. And what a way to break a barrier – she opened with, “It’s the 1990s… It’s hip to be queer, and I’m a bi-i-i-i-ig dyke!”, and went on to mention the words “fag”, “dyke” and “queer” 47 times.

Even in prison garb, she refuses to blend into the background. Litchfield’s most butch inmate
iNews •

Deliciously Ella: I serve veggie curries, I'm not the devil

Castigated for her part in the clean-eating trend, Ella Mills bites back, telling Siobhan Norton she’s just a businesswoman who want people to celebrate good food

It’s not every day I find myself sitting across the table from public enemy number one over coconut-milk lattes. No, not Piers Morgan. Not a tangerine-hued world leader. I’m talking about Deliciously Ella, the woman who has been garnering column inches as the clean-eating backlash grows. Yes, she’s the woman trying to make you eat you
iNews •

Ben Fogle: I thought I was too young to get pneumonia

Ben Fogle is not someone who tends to shy away from a challenge. The 43-year-old broadcaster and adventurer has run across the Sahara, rowed across the Atlantic and trekked across Antarctica. So a nagging cough didn’t trouble him much – until he realised it was pneumonia.

“I had a cough and what I thought was a cold for ages, but doing what I do, and living with younger children who can bring back bugs they catch at school, I just get on with things,” he says.

“I started to take it a little mo
iNews •

Jasmine Hemsley on why her cookbook is drawing on Eastern philosophies

We’re suckers for a double act in Britain: the Two Ronnies, Fry and Laurie, hell, even Mel and Sue. They are so united as a duo, it is often difficult to think of them as individuals.

So when I told friends I was interviewing Jasmine Hemsley, the name didn’t immediately ring a bell for some of them. “You know, from Hemsley and Hemsley,” I’d say. “Oh, Hemsley and Hemsley! I love their book/restaurant/TV show,” was the stock reply.

The healthy-eating sisters have been prolific over the past few
iNews •

Good Life actor Richard Briers worked through lung disease

Richard Briers may have cut a laid-back, affable figure on screen, but just like The Good Life’s Tom Good, beneath the jovial front was a steely determination. His daughter, Lucy Briers, says his dogged attitude was an inspiration, not least when he was diagnosed with a chronic lung condition.

“He knew that you need to be a particular kind of person to be an actor,” she says. “You need to have a sort of steel running through the middle of you.”

Richard Briers, whose career spanned five decades
iNews •

Chef Chris Denney: 'Michelin stars? I'm just keeping my head down'

The fickle British food scene is always crying out for the hottest new thing – and there was quite a buzz when 108 Garage landed in West London last October. Sticking out like a sore thumb in frou frou Westbourne Grove with its stripped-back decor (it’s not called garage for nothing) and higgledy piggledy garden furniture, it looked like the kind of hipster spot at risk of being a flash in the pan, but the momentum quickly built.

First Giles Coren wrote a review for The Times, excoriating the l
iNews •

Denise Lewis: 'One in five kids is obese - that's worrying'

Saturday afternoons must be a logistical nightmare in Denise Lewis’s house, ferrying her daughter and two sons to various sporting activities. “I struggle to keep my children still,” she laughs. “I’m someone who has dedicated my life to sport, and my husband is very active, so we’re a very busy household.”

But the former heptathlete and Olympic gold medallist knows that her family is the exception rather than the norm. Just 23 per cent of boys and 20 per cent of girls meet the national recommen
iNews •

Fitness blogger Alice Liveing: exercise is about more than weight loss

The personal trainer formerly known as Clean Eating Alice has had a rebrand. She tells Siobhán Norton about her journey from Insta-blogger to bestseller, her PCOS battle, and why fitness is about far more than weight loss.

It feels like Britain has had its fill of “fitspo” lately. Every social media channel is saturated with lithe young things adopting a variety of smug fitness poses. There’s the weighted squat, the yoga headstand and, of course, the “belfie” (or bottom selfie, if you’ve been t