Here’s How a Bathroom Remodel Can Add Value & Comfort to Your Home

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Home improvements are a great way to boost both the comfort and value of your property. While many homeowners focus on areas like the kitchen or living room, the bathroom is often overlooked. Yet, upgrading your bathroom can have a significant impact on your day-to-day life.

From increasing property value to making your space more comfortable, the benefits are clear. Austin, Texas, is known for its unique blend of modern city living and traditional charm, making it a prime location for home improvements. Remodeling your bathroom in Austin not only enhances your home’s comfort but also boosts its value in a competitive housing market. 

With local trends leaning toward energy-efficient upgrades and sleek designs, a bathroom remodel in Austin can bring a fresh, updated look to your home while improving functionality. Let’s highlight a few key ways that remodeling your bathroom can add value and comfort to your home:

Increases Property Value

One of the biggest advantages of remodeling your bathroom is the boost in property value. Potential buyers often look for homes that have modern and updated bathrooms. Even if you’re not planning to sell your home anytime soon, knowing that a remodel can increase its value is a great incentive. A freshly remodeled bathroom with new fixtures, tiles, and a modern layout can be a major selling point. Buyers appreciate the work that has been done, and it can give your home a competitive edge in the market.

For instance, in Austin shower replacement cost can vary depending on materials, labor, and the installation process you choose. However, rest assured that it will be significantly less than the return on investment (ROI), making it a cost-effective upgrade that adds significant value to your home. Acquiring professional services, such as the ones provided by ZINTEX Remodeling Group, is key to ensuring the job is done right. They offer expert remodeling services, providing high-quality, durable installations tailored to your needs. Their team ensures a hassle-free remodeling experience with custom designs and professional craftsmanship to enhance the look and functionality of your bathroom.

Improves Energy Efficiency

Another important benefit of remodeling your bathroom is the opportunity to improve energy efficiency. Older bathrooms often have outdated fixtures and appliances that use more water and energy than necessary. By upgrading to energy-efficient models, you can save on utility bills while also helping the environment.

Low-flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads are great examples of energy-saving fixtures. You can also install LED lighting, which uses less electricity than traditional bulbs. These upgrades not only lower your monthly expenses but also make your home more environmentally friendly. Over time, these changes can significantly reduce your energy consumption.

Enhances Aesthetic Appeal

A bathroom remodel is a perfect chance to improve the overall look of your space. Whether your current bathroom feels outdated or you simply want to change its style, remodeling gives you the opportunity to create a fresh, modern design. From choosing new tiles to selecting updated countertops, you can design a bathroom that fits your taste and enhances the look of your home.

Today’s design trends offer a variety of options, from minimalist styles to more luxurious finishes. Whether you prefer a sleek, modern look or a more classic, timeless feel, remodeling allows you to create a bathroom that you love. A visually appealing bathroom also adds to the overall aesthetic value of your home, making it more attractive and enjoyable for both you and your guests.

Boosts Storage Space

Remodeling your bathroom can also help you make better use of the available space. Many older bathrooms lack sufficient storage, leading to clutter and disorganization. By adding cabinets, shelves, or built-in storage, you can increase the functionality of your bathroom and keep it tidy.

Modern bathroom designs often include smart storage solutions that maximize the use of small spaces. For example, floating shelves or vanity cabinets can provide extra storage without taking up too much room. By incorporating these features into your remodel, you can create a bathroom that is both practical and stylish, with everything you need neatly organized and easily accessible.

Increases Home Comfort

One of the main reasons people choose to remodel their bathrooms is to increase comfort. A bathroom should be a relaxing space where you can unwind, and upgrading it can make a big difference in how comfortable it feels. Simple changes, like installing a new shower or bathtub, can enhance your daily routine and provide a more enjoyable experience.

Upgrades such as heated floors, towel warmers, or a rain showerhead can turn your bathroom into a personal oasis. These small changes can significantly improve your overall comfort, making your bathroom a place where you can relax and recharge after a long day. Whether you’re looking for a more luxurious experience or just a more functional space, remodeling can make your bathroom much more comfortable.

Fixes Existing Plumbing Issues

A bathroom remodel is the perfect time to address any plumbing problems that might have been causing issues in your home. Older bathrooms often have outdated pipes, fixtures, or drainage systems that can lead to leaks, blockages, or water damage. During the remodel, you have the opportunity to inspect the plumbing thoroughly and fix any problems before they become more serious.

Repairing or upgrading plumbing can prevent long-term damage to your home. Leaky faucets or pipes not only waste water but can also cause mold, mildew, or structural damage if left unattended. By tackling these issues during the remodeling process, you’re not just improving the look of your bathroom, but also ensuring it functions properly for years to come.

Enhances Safety & Accessibility

Safety is another key benefit of remodeling your bathroom, especially if you have small children, elderly family members, or someone with mobility challenges in your household. Modern bathrooms can be equipped with features that improve safety, such as grab bars, anti-slip flooring, and walk-in showers.

These additions can make your bathroom more accessible and reduce the risk of accidents. For instance, walk-in showers and bathtubs with low thresholds are easier to use and safer for people with limited mobility. Installing these features can help create a bathroom that is safer and more comfortable for everyone in your home.

A bathroom remodel is a smart investment that can bring both value and comfort to your home. From increasing property value to improving energy efficiency and safety, the benefits of remodeling your bathroom are clear. It also provides an opportunity to fix existing plumbing problems, enhance air quality, and make the space easier to maintain. Whether you’re planning to sell your home in the near future or simply want to improve your quality of life, a bathroom remodel is a worthwhile project that can have lasting benefits.

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Alzheimer’s disease – prevention is better than cure – and safer and cheaper

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By Patrick Holford, Food for the Brain 

Preventing Alzheimer’s is easy, but it is being ignored!

Everybody wants a cure for Alzheimer’s. The medical industry has spent around $100 billion searching for one and, so far, come up relatively empty-handed with over thirty failed drug trials. Yet a simple to administer, cheap test could predict Alzheimer’s and allow preventative measures – saving the NHS over £60million a year. 

The focus to date has been on drugs that lower two of the chemical compounds associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia in general – amyloid and p-tau, a pair of messed up proteins that can lead to plaques in the brain and tangled nerves. There is a third compound – an amino acid called homocysteine, that becomes toxic if you have too much, that the drug industry and the Alzheimer’s charities don’t talk about, for reasons that will become clear.

Predicting Alzheimer’s

The actual clinical measures that are used to diagnose Alzheimer’s are a decline in cognitive function and shrinkage of the central area of the brain called the medial temporal lobe. Both changes in cognitive function and brain shrinkage can be picked up thirty years before a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is made.  

Current study

So now a £10 million study is underway to see if a blood test for p-tau, or amyloid, will ‘predict’ if you are more likely to develop the disease and there are plans for a major program to identify those at risk so they can be treated as early as possible.  This sounds sensible but there are serious drawbacks. To begin with not everyone with raised p-tau or amyloid go on to develop Alzheimer’s. 

Drawbacks and side-effects

This means, as a recent article in the New York Times entitled, ‘Apparently healthy but diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,’ pointed out, people without a diagnosis or no brain scan showing shrinkage, could well be offered new drug treatments that are, so far, only marginally better than placebos but have awful adverse effects. 

These include brain bleeding or swelling which has occurred in more than one in four participants in the last two drug trials and resulted in seven deaths. Medical agencies in the US, EU and UK are reluctant to licence their use but are under a lot of pressure to do so. 

So thousands of desperate people with early stage Alzheimer’s or cognitive decline, hoping for a cure, are queuing up to join these drug trials because they perceive these drugs, that so far come with little or no benefit plus highly unpalatable side effects, are a better alternative than doing nothing.

The research

But are there really no alternatives? Well, none that patients are routinely told about. They involve changes in diet and lifestyle, that are very likely to improve your overall health, including that of your brain, and very unlikely to cause damaging side effects. 

Almost all money for research, pledged by governments and raised by Alzheimer’s charities, is going in the direction of drug treatments. Alzheimer’s Research UK’s (ARUK) website says, “we exist for a cure”. Yet, most of the money is going toward amyloid and p-tau related research, neither of which has been established as causal. In other words, high levels may just be a consequence of the disease process.

Homocysteine

The same is not true for raised blood levels of homocysteine. If levels rise in the brain, it shrinks faster and cognitive abilities decline. If it goes down, they improve, and brain shrinkage slows. This means that it is causing the damage and so would logically be a target for treatment. The only way to do it, however, is with high dose B vitamins (B6, B12 and folate). Several gold standard, placebo-controlled trials have found this to be very safe and effective. But this approach is not patentable and so yields nothing like a drug profit.

But the benefits of treating homocysteine don’t stop there. It is a much better biomarker of risk for Alzheimer’s than plaque and p-tau both because it is more easily measured and more safely lowered. And when it is lowered, unlike those two, it actually improves cognitive function and slows brain shrinkage by as much as two thirds. It also helps to stop p-tau formation.

Routine checks save £60million a year

Routinely checking homocysteine levels could prevent thousands of cases. Just doing this “could save costs to the UK economy of approximately £60 million per year,” says Dr Apostolos Tsiachristas, Associate Professor in Health Economics at the University of Oxford. His research also estimated it would promote healthy longevity, adding 14 years to life expectancy. 

About half of people over 65 have a homocysteine level above 11mcmol/l, which is where it starts to become damaging. 

Supporting studies

In one study a third of those treated ended the study with no clinical dementia rating, meaning they could no longer be diagnosed with cognitive impairment. Those with sufficient omega-3 DHA, which is the most important structural fat in the brain, had 73% less brain shrinkage compared to placebo when given the B vitamin treatment. In contrast, in the last anti-amyloid treatment trial, brain shrinkage accelerated by about a fifth in those getting the drug, compared to placebo and not one person achieved a clinical dementia rating of zero.

It should be clear by now, after decades of scientific research that amyloid plaque is not a cause of Alzheimer’s, but a consequence. The same is likely to be true for p-tau tangles.

As an analogy consider your teeth. Is plaque the cause of tooth decay?  Sure, flossing your teeth and getting the plaque scraped off by the dental hygienist helps, but what causes the plaque? The answer is a bad diet – in this case, one high in sugar and low in fibre. Despite fifty years of research there is no ‘cure’ for tooth decay, but it can be prevented. The same concept applies to Alzheimer’s, which is as preventable as tooth decay with the right diet and nutrition and lifestyle – which also happens to include less sugar and more fibre.

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Alzheimer’s Prevention

How preventable is Alzheimer’s? It accounts for two thirds of dementia cases. The most conservative figure is 40%. More optimistic estimates say around 80%. Since only one in a hundred cases is caused by genes Alzheimer’s may be entirely preventable in those 99% who do not have the rare causative genes and act early enough to optimise all diet and lifestyle factors. It is not an inevitable consequence of the ageing process as evidenced by the fact that the majority of people don’t get it.

Why the difference in figures? 

Why the difference in figures? It’s all to do with what is or isn’t included in prevention studies. The most widely used review for dementia prevention in the UK is the 2020 report of the Lancet Commission, authored by Professor Gill Livingston. Both this and the first edition in 2017 failed to even mention homocysteine, despite being repeatedly sent all the evidence of the undeniable beneficial effects of homocysteine-lowering B vitamins by the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) at the University, headed by former Deputy Head of Medical Science, Professor David Smith.

This is a major and damaging error and has led to the widespread belief that B vitamin supplements are not part of the usual list of preventive actions. But it should be corrected, especially considering that a US National Institutes of Health study attributes 22% of the risk of Alzheimer’s to raised homocysteine. Also, the best study of all, looking at 396 studies in total, published in 2020, concluded: ‘Homocysteine-lowering treatment seems the most promising intervention for Alzheimer’s disease prevention.’ 

Other prevention studies you may have read are possibly based on data from the UK Biobank. This major research data bank also ignores homocysteine, not for any malevolent reason but simply because it wasn’t measured when it was enrolling people. So, one of the single biggest risk factors and arguably the simplest to change, is repeatedly ignored.

Given that a conservative half of Alzheimer’s cases could be prevented, shouldn’t half the available research money be spent on prevention? This certainly doesn’t happen at the moment. Of the three leading charities, two spend nothing on prevention. ARUK claim to spend 5% but none of this goes towards B vitamins or other brain-friendly nutrients such as omega-3 or vitamin D. They too ignore homocysteine, and the beneficial effects of lowering in with B vitamins, as first shown in a 2010 Oxford University study they actually helped fund!

Prevention studies are almost always going to under-estimate (never over-estimate) the power of prevention due to excluding risk factors, but also because they largely ignore the ‘1+1=3’ compounding impact of interactive risk factors. B vitamins, for example, don’t work without sufficient omega-3 and omega-3 oils don’t work in people with raised homocysteine, because of a lack of B vitamins. This has been shown in four trials – in the UK, Holland, Sweden and China. The combination of B vitamins given to people sufficient in omega-3 DHA improved the reduction in brain shrinkage from 53% to 73%. Pollution exposure is a risk factor but, in those with lower homocysteine this effect is much reduced. Poor sleep is a risk factor, but less so in those who exercise. 

For the past five years leading UK researchers led by neurologist Professor Peter Garrard, who is the Director of the dementia research group in the St George’s, University of London Neuroscience Research Section, have tried to get funding to test the most promising combination – B vitamins and omega-3 – to no avail. Such a trial is badly needed and would cost of a fraction of that being spent on amyloid or p-tau.

So, what if a person does everything right – enough B vitamins to keep homocysteine low, sufficient omega-3, low sugar, high fibre diet, enough vitamin D (Alzheimer’s is four times less likely in those with sufficient vitamin D), and an active physical, intellectual and social lifestyle, plus good sleep and not too much stress? 

The only ongoing study and database, the COGNITION Biobank, that assesses all these risk factors as well as including blood tests of four critical biomarkers, homocysteine, omega-3 index, vitamin D and HBA1c, which measures glucose control, is being run by the charity foodforthebrain.org. It describes itself as ‘citizen science’ because anyone can get involved doing a free online Cognitive Function Test, filling in a questionnaire about their diet, lifestyle and medical history, and sending in a blood sample from a home test kit. 

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So far, over 400,000 people have been tested. But, unlike the £10 million trial, funded by the People’s Lottery, the Gates Foundation, ARUK and the Alzheimer’s Society, it gets no funding. It is literally funded by the citizen scientists who chip in £50 a year and pay for their own tests. Their message is simple: prevention is better than cure – don’t jump.

To test yourself visit www.foodforthebrain.org.  To find out more about prevention visit www.alzheimersprevention.info 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Holford is a Nutrition and Mental Health expert & Founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, VitaminC4Covid, and the charitable Food for the Brain Foundation, where he directs their Alzheimer’s prevention project, including Alzheimer’s Prevention Day. Patrick reads hundreds of studies a year assimilating the latest health breakthroughs and turning them into practical advice to make it easy for everyone to live a healthy life. He is author of 46 health books translated into over 30 languages. www.alzheimersprevention.infoand https://foodforthebrain.org/ 

References:

These are key papers regarding stated facts in this article.

New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/health/alzheimers-amyloid-diagnosis.html

Homocysteine and p-tau: https://foodforthebrain.org/the-p-tau-delusion/

Donanemab review in the British medical Journal: BMJ 2023;382:p1852 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1852; 

Telegraph reports 7 deaths and brain shrinkage: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/19/alzheimers-drugs-shrink-brain-scientists-warn/

Health economics of B vitamins: Tsiachristas A, Smith AD. B-vitamins are potentially a cost-effective population health strategy to tackle dementia: Too good to be true? Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2016 Aug 11;2(3):156-161. doi: 10.1016/j.trci.2016.07.002. PMID: 29067302; PMCID: PMC5651357.

Omega-3 and B vitamin interactions and studies: Smith AD, Jernerén F, Refsum H. ω-3 fatty acids and their interactions. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021 Apr 6;113(4):775-778. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab013. PMID: 33711096.

Less brain shrinkage and cognitive decline with B vitamins and sufficient omega-3: Jernerén F, Elshorbagy AK, Oulhaj A, Smith SM, Refsum H, Smith AD. Brain atrophy in cognitively impaired elderly: the importance of long-chain ω-3 fatty acids and B vitamin status in a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jul;102(1):215-21. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.114.103283. Epub 2015 Apr 15. PMID: 25877495; see also  Oulhaj A, Jernerén F, Refsum H, Smith AD, de Jager CA. Omega-3 Fatty Acid Status Enhances the Prevention of Cognitive Decline by B Vitamins in Mild Cognitive Impairment. J Alzheimers Dis. 2016;50(2):547-57. doi: 10.3233/JAD-150777. PMID: 26757190; PMCID: PMC4927899.

NIH Alzheimer’s prevention review: Beydoun MA, Beydoun HA, Gamaldo AA, Teel A, Zonderman AB, Wang Y. Epidemiologic studies of modifiable factors associated with cognition and dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2014 Jun 24;14:643. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-643. PMID: 24962204; PMCID: PMC4099157.

Meta-analysis of 396 studies favouring homocysteine-lowering B vitamin treatment: Prof Yu study Yu JT, Xu W, Tan CC, Andrieu S, Suckling J, Evangelou E, Pan A, Zhang C, Jia J, Feng L, Kua EH, Wang YJ, Wang HF, Tan MS, Li JQ, Hou XH, Wan Y, Tan L, Mok V, Tan L, Dong Q, Touchon J, Gauthier S, Aisen PS, Vellas B. Evidence-based prevention of Alzheimer’s disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of 243 observational prospective studies and 153 randomised controlled trials. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020 Nov;91(11):1201-1209. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2019-321913. Epub 2020 Jul 20. PMID: 32690803; PMCID: PMC7569385.

What Is IIH? Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension Explained By Natalie Peeke

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September has always been one of my favourite months , the leaves starts to change colour , the temperature starts to drop, wearing slippers and snuggling under a blanket is more acceptable. Children return to school with new school uniform and start a new chapter of their lives. Everything just feels like it’s changing and I love it. However the past 2 years September has also meant something else to me, it is the month of awareness for IIH. 

What is IIH I hear you ask ? It stands for Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension. Clear as mud right ? When the doctor told me that he said it with his serious doctor face on and I chuckled and said ‘in English?’ Basically it means that I have high fluid pressure in my brain , idiopathic means that they don’t know what the cause is. 

So I’m going to talk to you about some of the fabulous symptoms that go with having IIH in order to raise awareness for this rare condition. 

  • a constant throbbing headache which may be worse in the morning, or when coughing or straining.
  • temporary loss of vision. 
  • feeling and being sick
  • feeling sleepy
  • feeling irritable
  • finding it difficult or painful to look at bright lights 
  • hearing a pulsing noise in your ears
  • problems with co-ordination and balance
  • mental confusion
  • loss of feeling or weakness

Glorious isn’t it? IIH is often treated with medication , I am taking a drug called Acetazolamide which comes with its own and rather long list of side effects. The one that has effected me most is my sense of taste , especially with drinks, pop especially cola now tastes so bitter I can’t stand to drink it. And fruity drinks tast very sour. 

As of yet there is no cure for IIH but the lovely people at www.iih.org.uk are constantly raising money for better , more effective treatments as well as supporting those affected with IIH and their families. 

For me personally some days are are bearable , and others are not. Everyday is painful but what keeps me going is the support I have from my family , my amazing partner , beautiful children as well as the online community, with a rare condition it can be easy to feel as though you are alone and that others don’t understand what you’re feeling but there is always support out there. No one is alone. 

Great News: Yorkshire Venue Marsden Mechanics Joins Forces With Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Band LYR To Bring New Cultural Events To Rural Communities

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Marsden Mechanics (https://www.marsdenmechanics.co.uk/) announces ‘Tenterhooks’; a community arts project led by Marsden-born Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, the band LYR and Marsden Mechanics – a large scale creative endeavour culminating in a day of celebratory performances and viewings to be held as part of ‘Cuckoo Day’ Saturday 26th April 2025.

Following the huge success of recent events at the venue which looked to the building’s history and its legacy to inform its latest series of live performances – providing rural communities the opportunity to experience high-quality concerts without coming up against cost prohibitive travel and accommodation – this latest venture embraces the same ethos, but is stepping up its ambitions with the additional goal of helping people within this rural community near Huddersfield to be actively involved in the creation of the next generation’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage Photo credit. Paul Stuart Photography

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage was born in the rural Yorkshire village and, together with Marsden Mechanics, formed a plan to create the next phase in an ongoing endeavour to ensure that everybody should have the opportunity to access top calibre cultural and artistic events and experiences, no matter their location or financial status

Armitage will be working with the band LYR (of which Armitage is one of the three founder members) Marsden Mechanic’s Development Manager Jonny Kelly, and, vitally, the people of Marsden. The plan is to create a visionary project which invites the local community to take part in a series of creative storytelling events to uncover untold stories of Marsden and its rich heritage. Armitage will take these stories and develop a series of new poems. Then, alongside his bandmates Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson, will set poems to music.

These poems will then be returned to the community for interpretation, and local creatives will be supported by Marsden Mechanics in creating brand new art  – everything from songs to sculptures, literature to theatre; culminating in a day of celebratory performances and viewings to be held as part of  Cuckoo Day on Saturday 26th Apr 2025. The goal of which, is for Marsden’s collective voice to resonate in celebration of its past, present, and future.

“Marsden is in my blood and in my poems. It’s a modern village but one with a deep history, full of stories and myths, and the Tenterhooks project hopes to turn some of those memories, tales and legends of yesterday into the songs, tunes, paintings, writings and art works of today and
tomorrow.”  Simon Armitage

“For a village so small, Marsden’s influence on our national identity is nothing short of colossal. It’s a place that has always punched well above its weight. Tenterhooks is here to celebrate that past and look to its future. The desire to do this in such a collaborative way, was naturally driven by a collective desire to set the foundation for events and artistic endeavours that are inclusive for all community members. Connection and inclusion which encompasses the whole community are our core values and we are proud that we are continuing to help to contribute to this, not only to making our relatively rural location a more animated and vibrant place to live, but also a more compelling place to visit and to work in, which in turn strengthens and grows the community further.”  Marsden Mechanic’s Development Manager, Jonny Kelly

FESTIVAL OF THE GIRL AWARDS 2024

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INSPIRE HER FUTURE

·        A pioneering, awards-driven campaign launched by Festival of The Girl for young girls to celebrate each other and aspire to be future leaders

·        Builds girls’ self-esteem and confidence to use their voices

·        A great summer holiday activity for girls to nominate a special girl in their lives

The team behind the ground-breaking Festival of the Girl have launched their inaugural awards-driven campaign which will shine a light on the importance of girls supporting girls and celebrating each other’s achievements.

Why are these awards important, why do we still need to be building girls’ self-esteem and confidence, and why do we want to encourage girls to use their voices and support one another?

1.        In a time when society still reinforce gender stereotypes and female rivalry (think Swift vs Beyonce narratives), when ‘mean girl’ behaviour is normalised with responses like ‘girls will be girls’, these awards aim to help build self-esteem and confidence with the next generation of girls

2.        Just 15% of UK girls believe politicians act in their best interest with almost half of UK girls (47%) having lost trust in them over the last three years. Now with the largest (40%) proportion of female MPs in the UK government and a potential female US president, we need to change this trajectory and see girls celebrating each other, and the leadership and change girls and women can create

3.        In the lead up to the 2024 General Election 20% of women didn’t feel inspired to vote or believe they had a voice in the election, so we need to build the agency and confidence in our future women voters

The awards campaign invites girls aged 7-11, with the help of their parents and carers, to nominate a special girl in their life for one of the following awards:

INSPIRING GIRL 2024 AWARD

Who has inspired you recently? Who do you know that did something brave?
Maybe they stood up for someone else, maybe they’ve had to overcome something really difficult, or maybe they’ve simply worked incredibly hard at something and it has felt inspiring to you.

LOYALTY AND FRIENDSHIP 2024 AWARD

Who is your very best friend, or has shown amazing friendship to someone else you know?
Maybe they’ve spent loads of time helping their friends, or supporting them in some way. Or they might have been thoughtful about how to cheer someone up when they’ve been having a hard time.



LEADER AND CHANGEMAKER 2024 AWARD

Who has made a difference in your school or community? Who has created a change that really mattered?
Maybe they campaigned for something they believed in, and got the decision makers to really listen. Maybe they got lots of other people interested in a problem they wanted to solve and you all worked together on it, joining in with their idea and making things happen. 


The Awards Ceremony, sponsored by V2 Studios, will take place at the Festival of The Girl 2024 on Saturday 5th October at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London. With an incredible panel of judges, beautiful awards and exciting presenters, it will be a truly inspiring event.

http://www.festivalofthegirl.com/

Top Tips for busting Perimenopause

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Top Tips for busting Perimenopause: from co-Founder of Valerie, Wizz Selvey.

These are some simple everyday tips that should be prioritised when you’re dealing with symptoms that sound like they might be Perimenopause. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may still be necessary for some people, but following these foundational strategies can help support added HRT, or help you on your way to leveling out a regular day to day.

1. Feel Strong
Overtraining, HIIT and excessive cardio will drain your natural energy levels, and deplete hormones, so focus on supporting your skeleton through resistance training. Pushing your body too hard will only increase cortisol production, which in turn can weaken your immune system. So focus on training smart, not hard.

In mid-life we should prioritise building strong bones and muscle around the joints, because of the hormonal fluctuations and the impact that has on bone health. A full-body gym (or home) strength routine that focuses on choosing a goal and slowly increasing the intensity over time gives all of your muscles a chance to rest and build strength; providing balance, flexibility, and support to your body and joints. Body-weight training is a good place to start, and there are some great beginner routines on YouTube or social media to follow along to at home.

2. Feed Your Body Right
Stay as close to ‘whole and natural’ as possible and have a full range of nutrients. Think about groups of protein, fat, and carbs. As our bodies age and hormones begin to fluctuate, our nutritional needs change too. The most common nutrient that women lack in mid-life is protein. Generally speaking, we should have at least 1 gram per 1lb of body weight just to manage our normal nutritional health. These protein requirements change with hormone fluctuations, infections, and other types of stress, depending on the person.

Understanding the role and basic principles of nutrition is never more important than as we transition through to menopause. Our bodies need fats (cholesterol) and protein (amino acids) to make hormones. It is important to make sure that whatever diet you follow, you are nurturing yourself with the correct amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrate. To manage Oestrogen really effectively it’s crucial to eat these as whole foods and both insoluble and soluble fibres; supporting a healthy gut microbiome.

3. Manage Everyday Stress
We all know it’s harder to cope, think and function at your best when you’re stressed, but this is amplified by fluctuating hormones. Try meditating (apps I recommend are: Calm, Headspace, Healthy Minds Program, and Smiling Mind – the last two are free.), focusing on diaphragmatic breathing, or some grounding practices like forest bathing, to bring you back down to earth. Or mitigate the stress before it starts to mount by keeping your environment toxin and clutter-free, phone-free time, trying some novel activities, and socially connecting in person.

Another way to decrease stress can be limiting your alcohol intake; because it is a stressor to the brain and body — and its impact is worse in Perimenopause stages. If drinking is on the cards, make sure you stay optimally hydrated with foods/electrolytes and take supplements to help support your liver and brain function (suggestions below).

4. Recharge Your Body and Mind
Sleep’s one of the hardest things to maintain when mid-life gets to you, but it is really important for your the brain and body to maintain a regular circadian rhythm by going to bed and getting up at the same time each day. As we age our Lymphatic System starts to slow, which is one of the reasons we don’t feel refreshed from sleep. One way to manually stimulate this is through diaphragmatic breathing.

Diaphragmatic breathing gets the Lymphatic system moving, but also works to relax the nervous system. Do your best to breathe through your nose in bed, as this will decrease the chances of sleep apnea, which can limit diaphragmatic breathing and create stress in the nervous system. These things act as a gateway for jaw clenching or grinding, that can further impede Lymphatic flow. 

Wearable devices can really kickstart your sleep routine, such as Oura, Sensate, and Whoop. Manual lymphatic techniques such as Body Brushing are also great ways to help improve your overall circulation. I always have a Herbal Tea before bed, and Pukka make a really great Nighttime Tea that I recommend to everyone.

5. Supplements
I know, supplements are a minefield, with endless options! As this field is not very well regulated, it’s really important to know what you’re looking for, read the labels and stay aware. 

Here are some key points to look out for when choosing a high-quality supplement:

What are the therapeutic effects? Find this by checking the dosing amount of ingredients in the bottle. 

What fillers and other potentially toxic compounds are included? These can diminish the benefit of the supplement. What else, besides what you need is in there?
What is included in the supplement to help manage your symptoms? Nutrients such as Magnesium, Vitamin D, Omega fatty acids, and Adaptogens are very important to have and perhaps best in a blend. 

Lastly, what’s the delivery method? (pills, liquids, sublingual etc.) The right delivery method is going to help the nutrients get to work as quickly as possible. Liposomal formulations (like Valerie’s liposomal product) really are the best to ensure quick absorption and assimilation or bioavailability.

EMILY IN PARIS Premium Ready-To-Drink Kir Royal Cocktail Launches in the UK

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Quintessential Brands have launched a delicious and stylish premium kir royale ready-to-drink cocktail, Chamère, in collaboration with EMILY IN PARIS. Created by executive producer Darren Star. Season 4 part two is on Netflix now.

Chamère 250ml can – RRP £4 per can. Available to order in a case of 12 x 250ml cans for £48 from neatandshaken.com

Chamère 200ml bottle – RRP £7.95 per 200ml bottle. Available to order in a case of 6 x 200ml bottles for £47.70 from neatandshaken.com

During Season 3 of EMILY IN PARIS, Emily tasted and loved the French cocktail kir royale and pitched it as an RTD to her agency clients. Consumers picked up on the idea of a ready-to-drink version of the French cocktail and the kir royale became one of the most searched for cocktails online, with consumers suggesting this could be the new Spritz, becoming an overnight viral sensation. 

The new Chamère ready-to-drink cocktail is 10.5% ABV and is available in cans and bottles in the UK.The 250ml can and the 20cl bottles feature the words ‘kir royal’ which is the French spelling of kir royale. The packaging was developed in collaboration with Paramount and Sunhouse Creative agency.

@chamere_emilyinpariswww.chamere-emilyinparis.com

Café Solo – A Taste Of Elegance – by Award-Winning Author Dr Kathleen Thompson

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With torrential rain battering my window and temperatures sinking fast, my thoughts are switching from chilled Chablis in the sun to something warmer and cosier. The usual suspects are great but I’m seriously excited to discover Café Solo. The clue’s in the name, meaning Just Coffee in Spanish.

As an amateur coffee aficionada I’m thrilled that this UK company majors on the quality of the cold brew coffee in this fabulous liquor. Consisting of 100% arabica beans and 80 plus speciality grade, it’s directly traded from Brazil and Colombia. You can also buy the coffee as a concentrate – cleverly combining high quality coffee with convenience.

Café Solo liqueur combines this fabulous coffee with premium vodka and natural sugar – that’s it. It’s described as a bold, rich flavour profile with hints of dark fruit acidity, chocolate, and vanilla notes, culminating in a subtle sweet finish. I can’t better this description and I can confirm it’s totally delicious. Warm, powerful, comforting, perfect for a cold dark winter evening, which will be with us only too soon. With an ABV of 25% the vodka packs a punch and the delicate sweetness blends perfectly with the rich coffee flavour. And this isn’t just my opinion, Café Solo Original achieved both Gold and Country Winner at the World Liqueur Awards 2024.

However there’s more. Café Solo recently launched their ready-to-drink Espresso Martini in a can. Usually I’m wary of canned alcoholic combinations but Café Solo Espresso Martini is pure joy. Made using Café Solo Original Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, Premium British Vodka and SOLO Coffee Espresso Strength Cold Brew, you simply shake the chilled black-and-white can and pour, then enjoy a bar-quality 15% ABV martini – shaken not stirred and beautifully frothy. Such a clever idea.

So if you’re as excited as I am about these great new bevvies, give them a try.

Café Solo Original Coffee Liqueur RRP: From around £30 for a 70cl bottle. ABV: 25%. Available from Amazon and Drink Supermarket.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.