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We got the chance to give this a try. It was a bit of a no brainer, as it involved gadgets and movies, which are the two biggest hobbies of almost all the Scottish Mum family. I think most of us have heard of EE these days, and they launched a new Community Cinema Club for 2017.
This year, EE brought a series of 4G powered film screenings to rural communities across the UK, in partnership with BAFTA.
The first event was on the side of Gimmer Crag, a sheer cliff face in the Lake District, which has only recently become connected by EE and the 4G network.
I’ve obviously got no head for heights, as just looking at this picture makes me feel dizzy.
As a Scot, whose relationship with 4G was very patchy until very recently, when even the possibility of 3G working, seemed to be a distant memory. EE is continuing it’s 4G roll out, with each newly connected community being given a 4GEE Community Cinema Kit to keep, which includes a 4G WiFi device, a state-of-the-art connected projector, wireless speakers, and a movie streaming voucher to host al fresco movie nights with BAFTA-winning films during the year.
Many rural communities which have just come online with EE, are pretty remote, and miles away from a cinema, although EE intend to connect 95% of the UK landmass by 2020,. It’s also a lovely idea, to help communities make their own cinema club, with a kit that can be used outside and indoors too.
While the bigger competition for a full kit like mine is over, there is still the option of winning a smaller on the go kit to watch movies on the move. On the 25th August, 10 lucky winners will be in with the chance to win one of these, so keep an eye out on their Twitter for the news, and details of how to enter.
We’ve been doing some renovations inside, and rainy weather convinced us to give our kit a try on a dark damp night, by stitching the canvas screen onto the supports of the new wall that’s going up. It made a perfect place to hang the screen.
We used our box as the stand for the movie, which worked a treat. As it’s the first time we used it, it took a fair few minutes to get it up and running, but how fabulous was that when we had half a whole wall to watch a movie with……..
I realise just how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to test this kit out. With the canvas screen, the speaker and the projector, it’s a pretty good full blown cinema experience. Outside, I think we’d have to try and find some trees to tie the screen to, but it’s worth a try to give it a go.
We hadn’t charged up the gadgets before use, so we had to plug in, but everything operates by battery. I think we’re going to enjoy this very much over the next few weeks, while we learn to get to know it a bit. In the end, it was fairly simple, with the EE 4G being used to provide the data, which allowed us to watch the movie by streaming it through the projector box.
Even the cat was interested in the box………
EE, is part of the BT Group, which means it’s the the largest mobile communications company in the UK, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers.
EE pioneered the UK’s first superfast 4G mobile service in October 2012.
I have to admit, watching a film was the longest I’ve had our youngest in the room with us for about a year. It must have been something about the size of the canvas screen, as we certainly did have the cinema experience.
Remember, make sure to keep in touch with EE on Twitter, to find out how to enter for the smaller on the move kit on the 25th.
We’re taking our kit outdoors next. This will be interesting….
Thanks to EE for the opportunity to try the cinema kit.
My last coffee machine was on it’s last legs, and being ever thrifty, I’ve just let it limp along, sometimes working and sometimes not. I’ve meant to look for one for a while, so the offer to try Nespresso coffee pods came at the right time. We didn’t have a compatible machine to try the pods in, so they sent us a wee one to use with the pods.
To be honest I was just expecting the wee Nespresso Essenza Mini and some iced coffee pods. What arrived was a bit different. Along with the little machine, came a whole box of iced coffee pods, two coffee glasses, a travel mug, and an ice cube tray.
The machine is very neat, and takes up little room on a worktop. It’s not very wide at all and seems to make enough for two larger coffees, and several expresso sized beverages. It took me a while to figure out the different coffee names, but I got there in the end.
The two new flavours of iced coffee, are:
Intenso on Ice
Leggero on Ice
Intenso on ice, is a rich, roasted coffee, with cereal notes, whereas the Legeero on ice is subtle, with lemony notes. I did have to look up their website to figure out how to make iced coffee with a coffee maker. Call me an iced coffee numptie, ahem, newbie.
I’d like to have made the iced vanilla coffee from their recipe, but my wee machine doesn’t have a milk frother, and I don’t own a milk frother. Yes, I know, I have almost every type of gadget under the sun, but a milk frother isn’t one of them. I did half wonder if putting some milk into my blender on a high setting might do the trick, but I didn’t take the chance. I am making a mental note to get a milk frother however. Having milk frothed latte needs to be in my future.
I did have a few cheeky cups of coffee to test out the machine, and to be honest, it’s fairly simple and doesn’t have excess bits on it to take up space. I might even give this one to my mum so that her carers can make coffee up in her room, and don’t have to come downstairs a dozen times a day. I might earn some brownie points there…and I can get myself a gadget with a built-in milk frother. See, there is some method to this chain of thought….
Ok, now the coffee part has been well figured out, it had to go to the iced coffee version.
This is what I did.
Fill glass with ice.
Pop Leggero on ice pod into machine and choose expresso setting.
When expresso shot has finished, I poured cold milk over the back of a spoon, and into the glass, then stirred at the end. I did manage to achieve a little froth on top of the coffee, which went down pretty well on a warm Aberdeen day…
What did I think?
To be fair, iced coffee isn’t ever going to be my thing, apart from the odd glass as a change. I’m pretty much a traditional girl, and a hot latte is my bevvy of choice with caffeine.
Can I see this being popular?
I can. I’ve always thought of iced coffee as being an American thing, but my kids tend to buy themselves iced coffee shots in a coffee shop, so now I just have to figure out how to use these pods for the same effect at home. I suspect lots of crushed ice will do the trick, along whipped cream and some chocolate powder, but the possibilities are wide, as is the variation in the type and strength of coffee for the little machine.
Future
Our machine is going to be well used, whether by us, or my mum and her carers, so for that, I am grateful. I doubt I’d buy iced coffee pods personally, but that’s just me, although my youngest is planning how to use the Caramelito and Vanilio pods instead of the Intenso on ice and Leggero on ice for whipped cream iced coffee. He’s a teen, and I guess for teens, iced coffee really is a thing….. Ok, this old woman is off to settle for an old fashioned cup of hot caffeine…
We received some samples of the new Antsy Labs Fidget Cube and Fidget Spinner. To say two of my boys couldn’t wait to get their hands on them, is an understatement. Two of mine are very restless, and tend to use anything they can get their hands on to fidget with, even if it’s just elastic bands. I’ve lost count of how many pencils and rulers I’ve had to buy, as they fidget with them, and they end up broken.
We’ve seen fidget spinners before, but the one from Antsy was far better quality than the cheapo I first bought from a big company, but that one had sharp edges. No fear of that with the Antsy one. I can see the attraction for the kids with the spinner, as they flick and twist, but personally, I struggle with that.
Moving onto the fidget cube, I just couldn’t put that down. With all the little bits to twist, spin, press, flick and click, and how it fit nicely into one hand, I could see the enormous benefit for that when my boys go back to school. The spinner is great for home, but the cube, as it’s less of a distraction for other kids, would be great for school. At the moment, my kids have a sort of putty they use at school, but the cube would be far better.
Watch this:
What does Antsy Labs say?
Leading international toy and consumer products company ZURU Toys is thrilled to announce an exclusive worldwide deal with Antsy Labs to manufacture and distribute the original sensation
which started it all – Fidget Cube™.
Fidget Cube™ is available now in major UK retailers including Smyths, Tesco, Asda, Argos, Toys R Us and The Entertainer, selling for £9.99 each. So, forget about fiddling about with paperclips and pens, once you get your hands on these toys you won’t want to fidget with anything else!
Headlining Fidget Cube™’s global launch is the world’s most famous “finger tutter” 23-year-old John Hunt (aka PNUT) – who wowed everyone with his amazing finger dancing moves in Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off videoclip. PNUT shows off his incredible finger moves with the cube in Fidget Cube™ commercials and other parts of the #FreeTheFidget campaign and has to be seen to be believed!
Also available in the range is the ZURU Spinner – the unique design uses high-quality ball-bearings for an even smoother spin, twirl and fidget. Designed to satisfy your natural fidgeting urges, you can choose from 4 classic colours. http://www.zurufidget.com/product-details-spinner.html
Who isn’t under some kind of stress in today’s fast moving life, where children, elders, work, pets, e-mails and social media place more and more need to fit into a certain slot, no matter how much it impacts on our lives!
It’s not surprising that people seek out massage therapy as a way to de-stress and relax, to improve their well-being going forward. The one thing that all massage therapists know, is that massage helps to reduce stress levels, and all it takes, is half an hour of relaxation. We often see stressed clients arrive, for hot stone massage, or an indian head massage. They are tense when we begin, and at some point in the treatment, perhaps a minute or two in, or perhaps ten or more, we can visibly feel the client begin to relax under our fingertips.
We all need sleep. I blame lack of sleep when the kids were young for my wrinkles, but that’s just a guess. the CDC believes that lack of sleep can lead to increased risk of diabetes, obesity and depression. I don’t know if that’s true, but lack of sleep definitely has negative effects on my body, and we all know that driving while tired can lead to devastating consequences if we fall asleep at the wheel.
Giveaway:
Prize: Full Body Hot Stone Massage in Aberdeen, worth £70.
How to Enter:
One entry for each condition met.
1 – Like Sanctuary Aberdeen on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/sanctuaryaberdeen.co.uk/
2 – Retweet the tweet at the the following link. https://twitter.com/Scottish_Mum/status/888738236104921088
3 – Join the Sanctuary Aberdeen Newsletter below. You will need to verify the mail in your inbox to be fully subscribed.
The Rules
– Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
– Open to over 18’s only.
– 1 winner will receive a 1 hour session for a full body Hot Stone Massage in Aberdeen.There is no cash alternative. The winner is required to have booked and received their Hot Stone Massage by end of December 2017
– The prize will be booked and redeemed at Sanctuary Aberdeen.
– The Scottish Mum Blog is not responsible for your prize and cannot be held liable in any way for non delivery or non receipt at your end.
– Winners will be notified by DM on Twitter, or e-mail. If the giveaway is not claimed within 14 days, a new winner may be drawn.
– The winner will be chosen by random generator.
– Scottish Mum Blog and Sanctuary Aberdeen, reserve the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
– Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
– The giveaway is not associated with any social media channels.
– The winner decision by Scottish Mum Blog is final.
Fancy doing something a little different? Get your pinny on and enter the Tiptree World Bread Awards.
The annual Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Foods, is open to both amateur and professional bakers. The purpose of the awards, is to celebrate the art of bread making.
The Kitchen Aid Young Baker category is looking for the next generation of young British bread makers and has two age groups;
Under 12
12-17.
In addition to an Award, each winner will be invited (with an adult), to attend the VIP Awards reception in London in October and will also receive a Kitchen Aid Artisan 4.8L Tilt Head Stand Mixer (worth £499) in Empire Red.
If you want to see one of the iconic mixers in action, pop along to the new Experience Store in the heart of London’s West End on Wigmore Street.
The expert panel of judges for this category includes:
Martha Collison, the youngest ever Great British Bake Off contestant and now, food columnist for Waitrose Weekend.
Fiona Hamilton Fairley, Principal of the Kids Cookery School.
Bread is a huge industry in the UK with over 12 million loaves sold every day and the phenomenal success of programmes such as Great British Bake Off, have played a significant role in re-igniting Britain’s interest in home baking.
The overall winner of Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food will be presented with a £1,000 cash prize, along with a Kitchen Aid Artisan 6.9L Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer, Artisan Toaster and Artisan Kettle (worth over £1,000).
This competition is not affiliated or associated in any way with the Scottish Mum Blog. We are not responsible for any contact or entry you make into the competition.
I don’t usually share infographics, but this one is very relevant to me, as I often struggle to sleep in the summer months.
How To Beat The Heat & Sleep Through The Night In The Summer Months – An infographic by the team at SleepyPeople.com
To sleep well, a good mattress is always a great idea. I know I tend not to change my mattress often enough, but one way to help prolong the life of our mattresses could be to add cooling toppers. Sleepedia’s list of cooling mattress toppers. Find out more here. (Collaborative Link)
Guest post with recipe developed by Nicky Corbishley, the founder of Kitchen Sanctuary blog. http://kitchensanctuary.com
Nicky is also brand ambassador for NEFF, after winning the Cookaholic competition last year, and is currently helping gathering true and passionate cookaholics around the country to enter this year’s competition. This is his second recipe to feature on my blog.
Neff is currently looking for new entrants to this years competition at:
The Spicy Thai Cauliflower soup is actually vegan so a flavoursome option for vegetarians and vegans.
Spicy Thai cauliflower, coconut and lime soup
A deliciously spicy soup to warm you up from the inside. It’s vegan too!
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 medium red chillies, chopped (remove and discard the seeds if you don’t like it too hot)
1 x 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp lemongrass paste
1 heaped tbsp of fresh coriander stalks (save the leaves for garnishing)
1 ½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp tamarind paste
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk (full fat)
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
Juice of one lime
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 180°C. Place the cauliflower florets on a large baking tray.
Place 2 tablespoons of the oil, half of the chopped onions, the chillies, ginger, garlic, lemongrass paste, coriander stalks, turmeric, tamarind paste, cumin and paprika in a food processor, and pulse until you get a thick paste.
Spoon half of the paste onto the cauliflower florets, and rub the paste in using your hands.
Place the cauliflower in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan. Add the remaining chopped onions and fry for 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened. Add in the remaining curry paste and fry for a further minute.
Add the roasted cauliflower to the pan (save a few florets for garnishing) along with the coconut milk, stock, rice wine and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Carefully blend the soup in the pan using a stick blender.
Divide the soup between four bowls and garnish with the reserved cauliflower, coriander leaves and some finely chopped chillies.
Guest post with recipe developed by Nicky Corbishley, the founder of Kitchen Sanctuary blog.http://kitchensanctuary.com/
Nicky is also brand ambassador for NEFF, after winning the Cookaholic competition last year, and is currently helping gathering true and passionate cookaholics around the country to enter this year’s competition.
One of his fantastic recipes is included in this post. Enjoy..
Refined sugar-free chocolate mint avocado mousse with shortbread bites
Makes 4 servings of mousse and 28-30 shortbread bites
Chocolate Mint Mousse:
4 ripe avocados, peeled and de-stoned
2 very ripe bananas, peeled
160ml unsweetened almond milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/8 tsp green food colouring gel (optional)
3 tbsp honey
½ tsp peppermint extract
3 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 small square good quality, sugar-free dark chocolate, grated
Mint leaves to garnish
Shortbread Bites:
100g unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp real maple syrup
100g plain flour
50g rice flour
pinch of salt
Instructions:
Start with the shortbread. Using a stand mixer, or by hand, mix the butter and maple syrup until well incorporated. Add the two flours and the salt, and mix again until just incorporated (don’t over-mix as your cookies will be tough).
Scoop out the dough and squash it together into a big ball. Place it onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to approx. 6mm thick. The dough is quite delicate and will try to crumble in places. Just push it back together if it crumbles.
Using a small (approx. 3-4 cm) cookie cutter, cut out the cookie shapes – squashing and re-rolling the dough as needed. Dip your cookie cutter in flour before each cut, to prevent it sticking to the dough. Place the cookie shapes on a tray or chopping board, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes (this will help the cookies to maintain a sharper shape once in the oven).
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170c CircoTherm. Take the biscuits out of the fridge and take off the clingfilm. Place baking parchment or a silicone mat onto a large baking tray and place the cookies on the tray. They shouldn’t spread, but leave at least 1.5cm space between each cookie. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges start to turn slightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.
Now make the mousse. Place the avocados, banana, almond milk, vanilla bean paste, food colouring gel (if using) and honey into a food processer. Blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon half of the mixture out into a bowl and stir in the peppermint extract.
Add the cacao powder to the remaining mixture in the food processer and pulse until well combined.
Spoon the two mixtures into two separate piping bags with a large circular or semi-circular tip (alternatively use disposable piping bags with the tips cut off – no nozzle needed). Holding both bags at the same time, with the tips next to each other, pipe the mousse into serving glasses in a swirled pattern.
Top each mousse with ½ tbsp Greek yogurt and a small sprinkling of grated dark chocolate. Push a shortbread biscuit into the blob of Greek yogurt and garnish with a few small mint leaves.
Serve the mousse immediately, with extra shortbread bites for dipping.
I don’t know about all of you, but I suffer from hay fever these days. I was lucky enough to avoid it for most of my life, then one day, I started sneezing after an outside run, and it’s bothered me ever since.
Believe me, there’s nothing safe about repeated sneezing your way home in the car when you’re driving, so I had to find ways of dealing with it on a day-to-day basis. Mine started as exercise induced, but now it’s just your regular old hay fever.
We’re at the point in the year, where I have felt a few extra sinus headaches, and a more than a few sneezes, and it’s only going to get worse.
What Is Hay Fever?
Unfortunately for some of us, it starts with an itchy, runny nose, lots of sneezing and water eyes to go along with it. Mine comes on suddenly, then stubbornly refuses to go away. It’s very common in the UK, and it affects our lives in more way than we tend to think about. I know I struggle to sleep and don’t work so well when my hay fever is at its peak.
Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen. It’s fairly simple, but there are different types, such pollen from grass, nettle rape seed, mould spores, hazel trees and more. One, or a combination of these is what we’re allergic to. Our bodies recognise that pollen as an alien threat and produces histamines which trigger sneezing, coughing, runny eyes etc, in a bid to get that pollen out of our bodies. In effect, our bodies are doing us a favour, no matter how miserably we feel about it.
What Can We Do About It?
At first, my instinct was to try to ignore it, thinking I had just caught a cold. When it didn’t tail off after a few days, I knew I had a longer issue to worry about. Simple hacks to help ourselves can include.
Taking exercise earlier in the day and try to avoid evening jaunts outside, as pollen rises during the day, being higher in the evenings, before subsiding during the night.
Dry clothes and bedding indoors if you can, but if you have to hang them outside, take them in before evenings.
Consider using a saline nasal spray to wash out your nostrils after being outside. Speak to your local pharmacist about it and anything else that might help.
See The Doc
I did end up having to see the doc. I have chronic sinusitis, so having hay fever as well is just double summer misery. I use a corticosteroid spray in the summer months, and I use an antihistamine all year round, to avoid the headaches. Age seems to have something to do with it, as our immune systems start to need a little extra helping hand. As with all allergies, you need to seek medical advice if any adverse symptoms begin to appear.
What Else?
I’m still unsure about alternative therapies, although may people swear by them. I don’t know much about them, other than quercetin is said to help in a similar way to an anti inflammatory. It’s worth checking out for yourself. I’ve heard immunotherapy works in a similar way to a vaccine, where we’re given small doses, to help reduce symptoms
To find out more, visit the Allergy UK website, at allergyuk.org.
We’ve probably heard it called a multitude of other things, but learning to make time for ourselves is something we should all do, no matter what our budget or free time looks like.
It’s not the same, but as an example, I’ve lost count of the people who’ve asked me how I lost weight, but when I tell them I log all my food, they say they don’t have time for that, or they don’t have time to exercise. What they’re really saying, is that they’re not prepared to do it, or they don’t want to, or they’re not yet ready to focus on themselves, or I somehow, magically, have many more hours in a day than they do.
Let’s talk about a stereotype of some women I met in the playground when my kids were younger.
I can’t help thinking they’re going to have a heart attack, due to being constantly on alert, always worrying about what people say about them, always worrying about whether their kids are clever enough, pretty enough, top of the class, a genius in whatever, or whether their husbands are making enough money or not.
They’re STRESSED….. With a great stonking S……. Not only do they have to contend with the playground mums these days, they also have to content with the mythical perfection that exists in family life on Facebook or Twitter, or Pinterest, or Instagram, or whatever their choice of social media, where the pressure to conform is massive. Their phones beep every few seconds, and they’re always being at the other end of demand from someone or other… And when it comes to appearance, many are doing the latest Botox, or fillers, or Microblading their brows to perfection, but what about their minds????
Mindfulness is a new term to me, and one that I might mention frequently from now on. Looking after our mental health is a place where we tend not to go these days, as time is always just that few seconds ahead of us, and we struggle to catch up.
For relaxing treatments, a move to treating the mind, in order to relax the body, isn’t a new thing, but it has tended to be ignored. A move to more holistic approaches to treatment is always going to relax the mind, body and soul.
Aromatherapy, Hot Stone Massage, Facials, Hot Stones, Reiki, Reflexology and much much more, are all examples of therapies where we can sit back, and let our minds wander, especially if we’ve turned our mobile phones OFF for the duration. I’ve come late in life to the benefits of holistic treatments, but I’m finding the therapy, where we have time to concentrate on our breathing, sit quietly, and actually relax, allowing our minds to rest, is something I’ve been missing all my life.
Sleeping is a no brainer, and a big issue for many of us, whether it’s falling asleep, or simply staying asleep. I find that my hayfever makes that worse from Spring to Autumn, but on the whole, whenever I’ve taken time out for me, I’ve found my sleep has improved enormously, especially if there are aromatherapy oils or a well delivered massage involved.
Do some research and find something that works for you. You won’t regret it.
After doing so well right until after Christmas, my daily life schedule took a nosedive. My mum went into hospital with a broken hip, and ended up in a much worse state, that I’m not going to mention again today, and I lost complete control over my eating and life for a while. It happens, and as disappointing as it is, dealing with life changes is something almost all of us have to do as we get older. Yes, there are people who never change when it comes to weight, and it’s a fortunate thing for them, but I’m not one of them.
Now don’t get me wrong, I haven’t gained stones and stones of weight, I’ve gained a few pounds, but it’s where that weight is that had me so disappointed.
I talked about my first In-Body scan here, which tells us about our body fat percentage, distribution of fat, protein and muscle, and what the visceral fat levels are. They’re eye opening for sure. I looked a bit on the thin side for a while, yet my visceral fat was still borderline. In January, I went back for my second In-Body scan, and I’d done great. I’d managed to increase my overall muscle by 0.5kg and increased the amount of calories I could eat in a day without gaining weight by a smidgen. A few weeks later, post stressful month or so, and I’d gained a couple of pounds, yet I LOST a fair bit of muscle, reduced the amount of calories I can eat in a day, and my visceral fat went up by a fair bit. The shift in my visceral body fat was just not visible on the scales at all. Visceral fat is the dangerous fat around our midsections, that can lead to fatty liver disease. I felt incredibly deflated after that, but at the same time, finding out the information from the scan, was incredibly empowering.
I gained weight.. Ok, it’s not great, but we’re all only human. I’ve done really badly these last few weeks, but I know what I need to do, as I’ve seen the evidence on the In Body scan from Temple Medical, that it works. Going to the hospital most days, work, and juggling daily life, means I haven’t had the time for me. I know I need to change that, but it looks unlikely to happen any time soon, and I need to work more too, so I’ll just wing the best way I can for now.
What I wanted to write about, was the Body Contouring that Temple Medical let me review. I have to say, that I have been very fortunate in having the opportunity to take part in this, as body contouring involves a treatment that helps to tighten loose skin. I’ve seen people on TV having the treatments, but actually hadn’t thought about them for myself, even though I do have some loose skin that means I cover up more than I need to in warmer weather.
What Happens
You put on a lovely stocking suit. I say lovely, as it’s actually not as bad as I first thought it would be. It’s a bit like thick white tights material, and seems to make the treatments more comfortable. It does, I have to say, help hold in some of the wobbly bits for when your measurements get taken. The treatment is in two parts. The Ultrasound, to help with fat reduction and LPG Massage, to encourage collagen and elastin
The suit is pretty see through, so I’m not going full out on the blog in that, but you get the idea from my pictures. Just look at those rosy cheeks with no make-up on and a hot room…
For the Ultrasound, at the beginning, you sort of shimmy out of your suit on the top half and cover up with a towel, while the ultrasound does it’s job on your tummy. The therapist moves the head around the area to be targeted, for me the belly, which creates friction and heat as it’s moved around the skin, with plenty oil. I didn’t find the heat uncomfortable at all. It was a lovely warm sensation for me.
The second half of the treatment is the LPG, which Jana says is known as lipo massage. It uses suction and rollers, moved across the body in sections, to help tighten skin. There’s more about the detail below. Now, I’d be fibbing if I said this part of the treatment was without any discomfort at all. I wouldn’t call it painful, but you definitely know something is happening to your wobbly bits. I felt it more on bony parts, like upper arms and upper thighs etc, which are more sensitive. The therapist makes her way around your whole body, rollering as she goes.
At the beginning, I doubted there would be any difference whatsoever, but the weird thing was, that at around the last couple of sessions, I suddenly realised I wasn’t ashamed of my upper arms anymore. After losing the weight, I had loose skin on my upper arms which really bothered me. I often used to wear a long sleeved t-shirt under a short sleeved one to hide them. One day, I popped on a short sleeve top, and didn’t instantly whip it off again to put another one under it. I think it took me a couple of days to realise what had happened there.
What was also interesting, was that even after my last disappointing In-Body, where I’d gained a bit of weight and lost muscle, I’d strangely had a shift in my measurements. Although heavier, my abdomen looked better, and had pulled in, and that was my biggest problem area. I got off lucky in the loose skin stakes, considering my weight loss, but there’s always room for improvement I think. I did leave happier than I went in, and I know what I need to do now.
I’ve come towards the end of my treatments with Temple Medical, however, I’ll always be grateful to them for helping me see what can be achievable with a bit more work, and that it’s not all about picking one exercise and thinking that’s enough to actually be fit and healthy.
I’ll let one of the therapists, Jana, give you the official information on the treatments I had.
Temple Medical Body Contouring
Ultrasound
The ultrasound device is called Med Contour. The treatment objective is to reduce adipose tissue in the affected area.
Med Contour is a non-surgical and non-invasive US machine specializing in fat reduction and fat loss. It does this by breaking down stored subcutaneous fat. MedContour features its own patented FDA approved dual hand piece helping focus treatments better and leaving surrounding structures (i.e. skin, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue) undamaged. Med Contour also has its own built in lymphatic drainage system helping the body to remove toxins, excess fluids and waste from the body. It carried a CE mark allowing it to be used as a medical device. It operates at a frequency of 1000kHz. The frequency pitch is too high to be heard therefore no buzzing will be heard/felt in ears. Heat is generated as a result of the high energy, which is an advantage as it assists with skin tightening. If temperatures of >41C can be reached and maintained, the skin will tighten in the area.
Please be aware that the heating is a secondary effect. It is not important for the mechanical ultrasound vibrations and not by the heat. The treatment will work even if the skin doesn’t get hot.
The treatment time in a combined treatment is 20 minutes.
LPG treatment
LPG (also known as lipo massage) is an intense and deep mechanical massage using suction and rollers to tighten the skin. It works in multi direction forces to activate the fibroblasts (skin cells) to create more collagen and elastin.
Fibroblasts are dormant and repair the skin after trauma to stop infection. The collagen and elastin they create pull the skin of the wound together. The LPG activates the fibroblast to wake them up, imitating trauma to the tissue. This creates collagen and elastin for repair, hence the tightening of the skin.
The treatment also breaks down surface fat calls me
Tightens the skin by the stimulation of the fibroblasts.
Helps to break down surface fat. It is worked through the lymphatic system improving circulation, which will smooth out the uneven fat storage and trapped fluid under the skin. This leaves the body via normal bodily fluids.
In summary LPG
Enhances the surface of the skin by improving the appearance of cellulite, stretch marks and scarring.
Increases lymphatic drainage and speeds up the removal of toxins from the body.
As part of the blog, I tried a couple of new products recently. One thing I have never actually owned was a standalone Citrus Zester, so I was intrigued by the new new one from Deiss, that also doubles as a cheese grater with a multitude of uses, from grating lemon, garlic, ginger and nutmeg too. As with all graters, you have to watch your fingers when you use it, and I’m grateful it comes with a blade cover, as it’s a much more substantial tool that the ones I’ve seen for sale in my local supermarkets. I write more about it below.
Castle McLellan Pate
I do like a bit of pate, though mushroom is usually my stretch.
They say:
Castle MacLellan Foods Limited in Dumfries & Galloway has been established for over 30 years and is renowned for its high quality range of pâtés. Today we continue a tradition of excellence and the reputation as the pâté experts. It is our attention to detail and sourcing of authentic ingredients which enables us to create the finest recipes.
Castle McLellan sent me some samples of their pates’ to try, and as my kids also like it, I accepted a selection. The ones we received were.
Oven Roasted Mushroom Pate, with garlic and thyme.
Smoked Salmon Pate, with lemon juice and horseradish.
Chicken Liver Pate, with Scottish heather honey.
Rannoch Smoked Duck Pate, with apple jelly.
Luxury Orkney Crab Terrine, with lemon juice & mustard.
We haven’t opened them all yet, as we couldn’t eat them all at once, but we have broken out the Mushroom and the Smoked Salmon. I absolutely loved the mushroom one, as it’s a rich, creamy, over roasted mushroom pate, with full fat soft cheese, creme fraiche, and seasoned with a hint of garlic & thyme.
I was quite surprised to find that inside the outer cardboard wrappers, there are recipe suggestions for the pate. Our Mushroom pate contained a recipe for wild mushroom soup, with garlic croutons, which would make 1 large bowl or 2 smaller bowls. By that point, I’d eaten half the pate, and my middle child had eaten the bagel in the image, so we had none left to make the soup with, but I’d love to try making it.
My kids polished off the Smoked Salmon Pate, and I don’t think the other ones currently sitting in my fridge are going to last for long. You don’t get the real colour of the smoked salmon pate below, but it was a lovely pale shade.
Castle MacLellan and proud makers of Scottish Pate, and are owned by the Kavli Trust, which supports good causes in the UK and abroad. Part of the profits from the Kavli group are reinvested in strengthening and developing the groups operations, which the rest is donated to good causes in research, culture and humanitarian work, by supporting poor and disadvantaged people in the global south and in the Kavli countries.
Available to buy in Sainsburys, Aldi, ASDA, Morrisons, Co-operative, Booths, NISA, Budgens, Local Independent Stores.
Deiss Pro Citrus Zester & Cheese Grater
For the pictures on this post, I used the Deiss to grate some lemon peel to sit over the Smoked Salmon Pate from Castle McLellan. Deiss is a small kitchenware company, and the Citrus Zester and Cheese Grater can be found on Amazon at a great price at the moment. As of 23 April 2017, the price is £9.98 with free delivery. That’s a pretty great price for such a nifty gadget.
The Zester & Cheese Grater are well presented and looks like a professional product from the word go. It is very sharp. I’ve already said this, as I ran my fingers across it to wipe away the lemon zest. Big mistake. Thankfully, I didn’t press, and my fingers recovered, but keep your hands well away from the blades when you are cleaning it, and if you put this in a kitchen drawer, make sure you use the purpose designed blade cover that comes with it.
Actually, I’m pretty pleased with this. It’s far easier for me to hold and grate cheese, than my old traditional style grater, and I have more control it. It’s made of a premium quality stainless steel that won’t rust, and has a non-slip grip, which is always important for any device with a blade.
I like it so much, that I’ve given my old graters away. I guess that says it all. It’s very light, and comes with a lifetime warranty, as well as being dishwasher safe.
Thanks to Castle McLellan and Deiss for our samples.
Newest Comments:
Quick, creamy, and packed with zing this is my kind of lunch Thanks for the easy, nourishing recipe, Scottish Mum.
I just googled this saying and this thread came up I'm neither Scottish or a mum, I'm a Geordie and…
As an 88 year old American, after reading the article(s) and all of the comments, I say "nothing is now…
This year, EE brought a series of 4G powered film screenings to rural communities across the UK, in partnership with BAFTA.
Makes 4 servings of mousse and 28-30 shortbread bites
Quick, creamy, and packed with zing this is my kind of lunch Thanks for the easy, nourishing recipe, Scottish Mum.
I just googled this saying and this thread came up I'm neither Scottish or a mum, I'm a Geordie and…
As an 88 year old American, after reading the article(s) and all of the comments, I say "nothing is now…