A national pub chain has sparked outrage after charging £28 for two meals featuring cauliflower ‘steaks’ as the main event.
That’s £14 each. For a slice of roasted cauliflower, mushrooms, a tomato and some mashed potato.
To add insult to injury, if you want to add a glass Malbec, that will cost you an additional £5.
Meat-eaters at the Young’s branch get to tuck into 6oz Aberdeen Angus steaks with triple-cooked chips for the exact same price, and people have been quick to point out that this doesn’t seem fair.
(Picture: Jamie Klinger/Twitter)
Jamie Klingler tweeted a picture of the pub board advertising the offer at The Queen’s in Primrose Hill saying: ‘£28 for two pieces of Cauliflower. That’s mental. Like properly mental.’
The tweet has had more than 1,000 likes, and people are seriously angry.
One person wrote, ‘£28. For two pieces of cauliflower. Utterly shameless profiteering. ‘London prices’?! The emperor is naked, people.’
Another commented, ‘Holy s**t. I’m a veggie but would order the steak just to get some value. Extra chips would be required though.’
We are all for providing vegan and vegetarian options in pubs, but when an entire cauliflower in the supermarket costs around 70p, this feels like a bit of a joke.
After reaching out to the pub for comment, a Young’s spokesperson revealed that the cauliflower option has now been removed from the offer.
‘We have a great value steak promotion running through January offering customers two 6oz sirloin steaks for £28. We always seek to offer our customers a range of vegetarian and vegan dishes and wanted to ensure that choice extended to this offer,’ the spokesperson told Metro.co.uk.
‘Having listened to the feedback, we have removed the cauliflower dish and will remain committed to offering value and choice across our menu for all our customers.’
It isn’t clear whether there are plans to create a new offer for vegan and vegetarian customers.
January is pretty bleak – it’s cold, we’re broke and we don’t even have Christmas to look forward to.
A holiday in a remote Italian village probably sounds ideal way to recharge right now.
The problem is, pay day is still a few weeks away so a holiday is the last thing on our minds.
So this AirBnB scheme to give four people the chance to live like a local in the village of Grottole in southern Italy could be perfect.
The town of Grottole (Picture: The Italian Sabbatical / AirBnB)
The company will pay your expenses and you can fully immerse yourself in village life for three full months.
You can learn Italian and how to make fresh pasta alongside the village’s permanent residents.
Olive oil producers Giuseppe and Vincenzo (Picture: The Italian Sabbatical / AirBnB)
The village has only 300 residents and 600 empty homes so they need some help.
Selected candidates will volunteer with Wonder Grottole, a local-non profit organisation who aim to revitalise the town.
You’ll start the day with a cappuccino an an Italian language lesson, learn how to grow vegetables with a local expert, learn all the secrets of Italian cuisine with the ‘best cook in town’ Rosa and explore the countryside in a classic Italian Ape Piaggio.
You can live like a local in Grottole for three months (Picture: The Italian Sabbatical / AirBnB)
Andrea, the founder of Wonder Grottole, said: ‘It’s a big opportunity for the local community: they can open their minds and get to know different cultures, sharing their day-to-day life. They are very curious about our project – they know they can transform the travelers into local ambassadors for their land.’
Olive oil producer and one of the hosts Vincenzoadded: ‘Visitors coming to Grottole will be living in a quiet place, with a slow pace of life. There’s no traffic, no chaos and no pollution, just good food and welcoming people. We want people to visit to share their stories – we are good listeners.’
AirBnB are sponsoring four people to live here (Picture: The Italian Sabbatical / AirBnB)
The sabbatical will take place from June until August this year and is open to solo travellers or couples.
To apply, you need to explain why you are ready to take a sabbatical and what you would bring to the town.
Learn from the story of this man, who says he somehow managed to propose to his girlfriend while on sleeping pill Ambien… and has no memory of how it happened.
‘I want to start off with saying that AMBIEN is the strongest drug/hallucinogen I’ve ever tried and you should not f*** with it,’ he wrote.
‘One night I just couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take four 10mg ambiens (I’m an idiot) and I had an engagement ring in my drawer that I traded for some other jewellery because I buy and sell stuff on Craigslist.
‘Long story short I woke up and she was wearing the ring on her finger and had explained what had happened and I was just shook because i couldn’t remember sh*t.
I go on my Facebook and apparently my ambien drugged brain changed my relationship status to engaged and it got 150+likes before I saw it.
‘I had not planned on being engaged with my girlfriend for another year and a half and probably would’ve gotten her a better ring but ambien sped up the process tenfold.’
Now, really, this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.
At least this guy was considering getting engaged to his girlfriend at some point. And realistically, she should be able to tell when her partner is off his face on sleeping pills and perhaps understand that the proposal wasn’t legitimate.
(Picture: Getty)
A lovely side effect of the incident is that it’s prompted a bunch of people to share their own stories of mishaps after taking sleeping pills.
‘I stopped taking Ambien when I woke up to a confirmation email from Amazon that I’d ordered “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, The Complete Box Set” at 3:00 a.m,’ wrote one Redditor.
Another said: ‘A friend of a friend took too much ambien once and woke up with a brand new Lexus in his driveway. Said it was his “dream car” anyways. He still drives it to this day.’
And our favourite story: ‘My girlfriend has anxiety on airplanes. She has a prescription for Xanax. Her dad accidentally switched them for his Ambien. She took three to calm her nerves.
‘I knew something was off when she just slumped on me like a dead body. She ended up going on a full blown psychedelic trip on the airplane. She didn’t recognize me, like she was confused and frightened at my face, claiming I had a “Pokémon nose”.
‘I calmed her down, put my Ray-Bans on her, wrapped her up in a blanket and put some cartoons on for her. She then had a grin like the Cheshire Cat.
‘When the flight attendant came by and asked us what we would like to drink, she loudly whisper-yelled “TACOS, PLEASE!” I explained again that it was Tazo tea she had seen on the menu.
‘Given some time, she calmed down and sobered up. The older lady who was sat with us was not amused.’
The lesson here: be careful with sleeping pills, okay?
If the new year has pushed you to reorganise your personal space Marie Kondo style (author of international bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying) and you need help organising your beauty products, you’re in for a treat.
We’ve searched the internet high and low for the best beauty storage solutions and found 20 of the best.
From wire baskets, pretty brush pots and Instagram favourite Muji acrylic drawers, you’ll be able to neatly store your makeup and beauty products in style.
Yep. You’ll finally be able to see the top of your dressing table and find that nude lipstick you thought you’d lost – hooray!
To find out more about the reality of having sex for the first time – and to hear people’s regrets – we asked a bunch of Brits to share their tales.
Ron
I was 16 and it happened at Newmarket Racecourse.
Relationship is probably too strong a word but we knew each other. It was a Sunday. August. We just headed there. We weren’t drinking or anything as far as I can remember. We did it on the racecourse. Quickly!
It was forgettable! I was so nervous that I didn’t come. I don’t think she did either.
Ava
I lost my virginity aged 30 and it was with a guy I’d met on Tinder – it was painful, uncomfortable and forgettable.
He also smelled of nothing – like literally no scent at all – and it was all I could focus on the whole time. Never slept with him again and it put me off trying again. Happy to say things improved later down the line and am in a happy and satisfying relationship now.
It was the right time in my head as I was fed up of not being sexually active – I wanted to know if I was missing anything
I don’t regret it – for me it was just to get it out of the way. I wanted it to be with someone I didn’t love – it was all about the act, not the emotions.
I come from a culture where sex before marriage is frowned upon – so I waited and waited, and was like: is this it? It wasn’t worth waiting for.
Jenny
Was at T in the Park when I was 16. I got wasted then went to watch David Guetta… ended up kissing a guy I was sort of friends with.
Ended up going back to my tent, losing my virginity (our wellies were still on because the tent was too small to take them off) and as SOON as he finished, he got up and ran out.
Turned out he had a girlfriend of two years who I knew nothing about.
Didn’t feel any particular sense that I had ‘lost’ anything but it was my first experience for sure of guys being total pricks. Didn’t try to make it romantic like a lot of my friends did, so I like that it was a bit rock n roll considering how square I am now.
(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
Emma
I had been with my first boyfriend since I was 14 but we didn’t have sex until I was 16.
We’d done everything else so by the time we actually came to it, I just remember being totally underwhelmed, it didn’t last long and I remember lying there thinking – ‘Is that it????? We may as well have done a year ago!’
But now as a grown up I’m glad I waited and didn’t rush anything as it was with someone I loved and really trusted. I would have hated to have felt the way I did and it be with someone I didn’t care about.
We also had no idea what we were doing and unfortunately I probably didn’t actually enjoy sex until about a year later.
Amy
At 17, I was the last one of my friendship group to have sex.
I’d done other bits with a boyfriend, but we broke up before we actually went all the way, so I wanted to just get it over and done with. I ended up having sex for the first time with someone I hated while off my face on mephedrone (remember when that was legal?).
I was definitely ready, but the set-up was not healthy. I did a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been comfortable with if I had been sober.
I don’t really regret it because it hasn’t had a horrible emotionally scarring effect on me (as far as I know). I wanted to have sex, I had sex, then I was able to date without that internal pressure of needing to not be a virgin anymore.
I don’t think sex for the first time needs to be a huge deal. As long as you’re ready and it’s consensual, go right ahead. It doesn’t need to be super romantic or done in the perfect way, it’s just a physical act that you’ll likely go on to do many more times with other people.
James
I was 15. I don’t really remember it, to be honest. It was unmemorable… not in a bad way.
It was in bed, with a girlfriend, tried a bit of sex, that was it. Genuinely have no outstanding memories.
I probably did it too early.
Sophie
So, I was 15 and had been with my high school boyfriend for around six months. Weirdly I’d only had my first kiss the month before with him. Talk about moving fast, but we really wanted to give it a go and our mates had done it and didn’t hate it so what was the big deal, right?
I reckon the majority of my friendship group lost their virginity in the same month I did. What a time to be alive.
We were on holiday with his family, staying at his grandma’s house up the coast (romance isn’t really in the teenage vocabulary) and literally one night, when everyone went to bed, we just thought, why not?
We had to do the ‘sneak into one another’s guest rooms’ as we were not allowed to share a bed. He already had a condom handy, because he was a 15-year-old boy keen to have sex, and it was really quite a nothing act. No offence to the guy.
It didn’t hurt (we even checked for the telltale blood on the bed… nothing). It wasn’t awkward. It just…happened. And then it was over and we were like, ‘cool’.
I didn’t feel like I’d changed in any way. The only thing that changed was that I was swiftly put on the pill right as I turned 16, despite not dishing all the dirty deets to my mother previously… so perhaps mum was wiser to any differences in how I acted.
Sarah
I had just turned 18 and was desperate to lose it before I went to university. I had been seeing my boyfriend at the time for about three months.
He was 24 – which looking back, is way too old to be dating a 17/18 year old – but he had a car and a job and he would get me in to clubs. I didn’t fancy him, but I didn’t really fancy any boys at that point – that came later – I just felt like I was supposed to have a boyfriend and be going on dates, and he was always really nice to me.
It happened one night in his flat. I feel like I knew it was going to happen that night, but I also remember I was wearing a pair of Snoopy knickers so I can’t have been that prepared.
It really, really hurt. He was rather well endowed. He asked me – ‘am I hurting you?’ and through gritted teeth I said, ‘nope!’. But he was trying really hard to be gentle.
After, he scurried off to the bathroom and asked me if I needed any tissue – which at the time I didn’t understand at all, and I was like… ‘no?’
I remember rolling over and thinking, oh god – why do people do this? But I don’t regret it.
No, it wasn’t romantic. No, I didn’t love the guy. But he was kind, and my aim was to lose my virginity before uni – that’s all I wanted out of it. And I don’t think you’re ever, truly ready for the first time you have sex anyway.
Pete
I lost my virginity at a popular rock music festival in Berkshire after I turned 19.
At the time, it felt like I couldn’t have gone one more day without finally losing my V.
I like to tell people it was ‘intense’, because, yes, my friends, it was in tents.
It was reconciliation sex, as I’d completely fumbled my first attempt to bone only two weeks earlier in the passenger seat of her car.
We agreed to try the act again at the festival, in a close semi-circle of our nearest and dearest friends nearby.
I did not cum, despite my best intentions. You might think that this’d mean that at least she had a jolly good time from my ability to last, but in hindsight it was the most unrhythmic jig wildly spasming above her, and maybe the first time I’d used my hips for anything.
We mutually agreed to call it a day, and we never did it again.
It kickstarted a chain of drunk, one night sex where the person and I would go our separate ways afterwards. I barely remember my second time, and the third time is blackout.
(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
Naima
I’d been with my school boyfriend for about a year – we were proper serious in my eyes, the couple of the school.
The first time we were going to have sex, my mum twigged and wrote a letter to my boyfriend telling him to respect me (and not flush the condom down the toilet), which naturally embarrassed both of us to hell and we were too ashamed to go through with it. Ten years later I still don’t think I’ve forgiven her for that.
We finally committed to it on his 16th birthday – we’d had a wonderful day out in London, had gone and seen a play, etc etc. Mum somehow let us stay in the spare room in a double bed so we set some music up, candles, the full cliché.
But in the build up to it, somehow it came up that he’d been smoking for the past month or so – something I’m really against due to, you guessed it, my mum, who did it constantly. That caused a bit of an argument, but because we’d already hyped ourselves up, we had sex anyway.
I don’t regret losing my virginity with him at all, but I wish we’d done it at another time to save tainting it with me being upset. We stayed together for another couple of years but broke up a short while after he went to uni.
Rebecca
I had sex for the first time on a beach in Biarritz with a man who I thought was a Vanderbilt but turned out to be a very distant cousin of the Vanderbilts.
I was 18, there were literal fireworks, but I got sand in my vagina and found the whole experience quite undignified.
I really was quite upset that he wasn’t a proper Vanderbilt.
Adam
I was 17 years old when I lost my virginity in 1993, but I had been lying that I had already lost it since I was 16.
My made-up virginity loss ‘was with a French girl on holiday’. I am pretty sure no-one believed me.
I lost my virginity in the upstairs bedroom of a house party, which smelt of Thunderbirds Blue, teenage excitement and petty theft.
My mate was in the other room and we lost it at the same time. He never saw his girl again but I ended up going out with mine for five years. We met at sixth form, had been heavy petting for a few weeks and then both did it drunk at the party.
I had no idea what I was doing but had seen a porno called Alex D’Renzy’s Easy Way (the VHS label said ‘World Cup 66’ the week before) so I copied some of the moves I had seen from there.
It did not last long, I think I used a condom, and tucked in a plant pot in the bedroom afterwards.
We were doing it on a pile of coats, mine included, it was green corduroy coat, and it was wrecked by teenage fluids. A few weeks later we did it properly, on my girlfriend’s living room carpet, just two of us without the soundtrack of someone shouting ‘I’ve got 3 fingers in’.
I am glad I lost my virginity with a girl I loved, she was a great first love. I remember highfiving my friend walking home and telling my mates the next day, because of my excitement they definitely knew I had been lying about the French girl.
Claire
I was 17. It was his 17th birthday. It was on the top bed of a bunkbed, at his birthday sleepover with a bunch of his friends.
His friends walked in midway, then his little brother spotted the condom wrapper the next morning
It was awkward… very awkward. It didn’t last long.
I don’t think we ever saw each other again.
Liv
I did it with my boyfriend when I was 15 and he was 18. He was super nice but his mates had convinced him there would be loads of blood as I was a virgin so he’d got blackout drunk.
Was fine but extremely sloppy and I felt horrible after so I left alone with a bottle of vodka, went to a party and made out with a gross 24-year-old in a dragon shirt.
Catherine
I was 13, which is far too young, and it was with a boyfriend who was 19, which is far too old.
I regret having sex that early. I felt ready at the time, but looking back it wasn’t right.
Jess
We met at freshers week at uni – I was a late one by some standards (19), we were seeing each other from September, in December he told me he’d booked a trip to Paris for my birthday. First love and all that, tells you he’s taking you to Paris – we did it right then.
It was pretty damn good and not all that awkward considering it was the first time. That’s how I’m remembering it anyway, 11 years later, maybe I’ve blanked out bad bits.
It was the right time. We were serious about each other at the time, though very young and naive. It led to an awful breakup but I don’t regret it.
Tom
I was 19. I liked to imagine my first time would be a grand occasion with a marching band, confetti and singing Disney birds to wake me up into sexual maturity. Turns out, life doesn’t always go your way – I was given a single-bed fumble with my neighbour in university halls.
To be honest, there was an element of build-up to it. We had been on a couple of dates before, which perhaps ramped up my awkwardness surrounding it all. I remember it putting on a whole lot of pressure around it, which, looking back, is the worst thing you can possibly do ever.
We went onto have a three-year relationship, so it couldn’t have been too awful. But any attempts to make it ‘sexy’ are dashed when you’re clambering over one another and simply trying not to fall out a tiny bed.
I think I even left my socks on because it was so cold. Diabolical.
Looking back though, I don’t regret it. I’m of the mind of simply getting it out the way so you can move onwards and upwards as fast as possible. Everyone’s first time is an awkward mess, so just try to enjoy/forget about it.
Grace
The week before my birthday (so I was 18) I met this gorgeous breakdancer at the Student Union and he invited me to see him dance one evening.
I was pretty drunk and I couldn’t believe my luck when he came back with me to my crappy halls. Fairy lights on, the deed was done and I remember thinking maybe I should tell him it was my first time but it really didn’t seem like a big deal.
He had a pretty big dick but it wasn’t painful as such. I remember thinking why do people make such a big deal out of having or not having sex – it’s not world changing either way, but I really, really, really liked this guy so I was so chuffed with myself and also in awe of this dude.
Anyway, we’re finished and I was like, gosh, I’m so glad that happened, I’ve never done that before.
He was crushed. He was like: I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, I wish you had told me, I would have made it more special. I had no idea.
Part of me thought: look at me, I’m a natural. Part of me thought maybe I did a bad thing by not saying – maybe it was a big thing for him.
He’s literally one of the hottest and nicest people I’ve ever met.
The next time we had sex he covered himself in honey and I woke up stuck to him.
Names have been changed and stories have been edited for length and clarity.
When is the right time to have sex?
The law says it’s legal for you to consent to sex from the age of 16.
Beyond that, the choice of when to have sex is up to you.
The NHS recommends asking yourself some questions:
Does it feel right?
Do I love my partner?
Does he/she love me just as much?
Have we talked about using condoms to prevent STIs and HIV, and was the talk OK?
Have we got contraception organised to protect against pregnancy?
Do I feel able to say “no” at any point if I change my mind, and will we both be OK with that?
If you answer ‘yes’ to all of these, sex is on the table.
However, if you answer ‘yes’ to any of the following questions, now may not be the right time:
Do I feel under pressure from anyone, such as my partner or friends?
Could I have any regrets afterwards?
Am I thinking about having sex just to impress my friends or keep up with them?
Am I thinking about having sex just to keep my partner?
It’s not every day big brands take on the ownership of diversity – especially in the fashion industry – and what a great champion he is.
It’s made me think about my own experience in growing up with vitiligo, the skin condition that affects pigmentation and causes white patches to appear on the face and body.
For me, it began as a small patch on my chest and under my eye when I was 15.
Back then, I didn’t know what it was. As silly as it sounds, I thought I wasn’t washing myself properly and didn’t tell my parents about it.
It wasn’t until I was parading around the sitting room with my top off that my gran noticed it and before I knew it, off to the doctors we went.
As a teenager, I was too afraid to show my vitiligo, especially as it was very visible around my eye. I’d given in to society’s view of perfection and deemed myself unworthy.
I remember feeling anxious, and afraid of what others might think – being called names was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
And so, after various consultations and treatments, I made the decision to cover up my skin patches with makeup, provided by the British Red Cross.
The young man in the Primark campaign has made me so proud. The positive impact of his photos and self-acceptance of his condition is incredible; it will have a lasting effect with young adults who have vitiligo and are looking for role models in life.
The recent Primark fashion campaign featuring a teenage boy with vitiligo has really made me smile (Photo: Primark)
It provides a real spark of encouragement and, to me, it says: love who you are, embrace your vitiligo, for you are simply beautiful.
It took me seven years to embrace my vitiligo and stop covering it up. I was staying at my girlfriend’s flat and forgot to pack my makeup – my heart literally sank.
I didn’t want to go to work and was afraid of what people might say or think. After some words of encouragement from my girlfriend, I plucked up the courage to go in, but felt the weight of the world on my shoulders as I did.
Weirdly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Although a few initial questions were asked, everyone accepted me for who I was.
That was the day I became the real me again, and I haven’t worn my makeup since.
Soon after, I launched an Instagram account called The Vitiligo Man. Here, I share photos of my condition in hope that it will help others. I’m now pursuing a modelling career, and aim to bring diversity to the fashion industry. A particular highlight includes being features in Brock Elbank’s vitiligo series for i–D magazine.
Recently I also became a champion for the Changing Faces charity, which has enabled me to empower others struggling with visible differences, like vitiligo, to gain the confidence to lead the lives they want.
I call on all brands in the fashion industry to empower more people with visible differences.
Let us together change society’s view of perfection, let us together educate and promote acceptance.
If I could go back and talk to my teenage self I would say – don’t let your vitiligo define your insecurities, let it define your confidence.
Want to know more about Changing Faces?
Changing Faces is a UK charity for anyone who has a mark, scar or condition that makes them look different.
For more information, including online resources and information on skin camouflage services, you can visit their website or call 0345 450 0275.
Caption: Lidl are giving away free baby boxes for new parents
Having a baby is daunting.
With so many new things to think about, Lidl is trying to make it a little bit easier.
The supermarket is giving away baby boxes filled with some essentials to help you or someone you know prepare for a new baby.
They’ve partnered with The Baby Box Co to offer the boxes, which contain a mattress and waterproof cover, a fitted sheet, 24 newborn nappies, a packet of wipes and a muslin.
Inside the box there are sheets and covers so the baby can sleep in the box (Picture: Lidl)
The box itself can be used for the baby to sleep in.
The idea started out in Finland where baby boxes have been given to all parents since 1938 so that all babies, rich or poor, have the essentials for a good start in life.
Doctors wanted to make sure babies had somewhere to sleep, rather than in their parents’ bed, so they decided on the stiff cardboard box with a mattress to make the baby’s first crib.
The idea has spread in recent years and the Scottish government has promised to start giving out their own version to new parents and there are pilot schemes in some parts of England.
But if the scheme is not available where you live, the Lidl version could be a good alternative.
1 x 24 pack of Lupilu newborn breathable and super-absorbent nappies with an elasticated waist, wetness indicator, and magical tubes that offer better protection against leakage
1 x 56 pack of Lupilu newborn fragrance free, pH neutral and dermatologically tested wipes
1 x muslin
The outside of the box is covered with a cute animal motif and the inside is decorated with a black and white design on the internal walls to aid baby stimulation, as well as a measuring tape on the inside wall to help keep track of their baby’s growth.
Put this in a salad, not in your vagina. (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)
As someone who regularly writes about things that shouldn’t go inside your vagina (Lush bath bombs, Vicks VapoRub, cocaine, to name a few), I’ll often get sent articles and tweets about genitals.
This week, a pal sent over an article about making your periods come earlier, asking whether it was okay that the writer had recommended inserting parsley into the vagina.
Answer: No, it is not.
‘While few of us would feature parsley as the main part of a dish, it turns out the herb is a mild emmenagogue and can help to kick-start your period, so you might want to look into some parsley recipes ASAP,’ reads the article on Marie Claire.
‘Parsley can help to soften the cervix and level out hormonal imbalances that could be delaying your cycle, helping your period come faster. If you’re struggling to find a dish based on parsley, don’t panic – the most effective forms are said to be parsley tea and parsley vaginal inserts.’
What they fail to mention is that the recommendation of putting parsley in the vagina has a dangerous history.
It’s long been touted as a way to carry out an at-home abortion, and is often used by women who don’t have safe, legal access to abortion around the world.
This is thanks to anecdotal evidence (there are currently no scientific or medical reports on this subject) that says parsley increases blood flow to the vagina while softening the cervix, inducing miscarriage.
Proponents of the parsley method recommend parsley tea or simply placing sprigs of parsley as far inside the vagina as it will go.
Because the method is not approved by doctors, there are no official guidelines on how you can use it safely (if it’s even possible to use it safely). Instead, a google of ‘parsley abortions’ will take you to a load of blogs and Tumblr posts with advice from people who are not medical experts, often with wild variances in the exact technique and how much parsley to use.
To make this very clear: The use of parsley is not a safe method of abortion. It is also not a safe way to bring on your period.
It is something often used by women who have no other option. It is not a fun lifestyle hack.
But those are the risks for pregnant women, you might be thinking. Surely it’s okay if you’re just using parsley to bring on your period?
Nope. It’s never a good idea.
Inserting parsley into the vagina puts you at risk of infection and toxic shock syndrome, which, again, can be deadly.
‘It’s a bad idea to put herbs inside your vagina,’ Karin O’Sullivan, clinical lead at FPA Charity, tells Metro.co.uk. ‘Your vagina has a natural healthy balance which can be upset by the introduction of foreign objects.
‘When it comes to plants or food, hygiene can be an issue, with the introduction of new bacteria.
‘More importantly, whatever goes inside your vagina must be something that can be taken out intact.
‘Anything left behind in the vagina requires an immediate trip to A&E or a sexual health clinic to be removed. Otherwise this can cause infections and even lead to toxic shock syndrome, which can be deadly, so it’s unwise to insert parsley into your vagina as a means to induce your period.’
Just to really hammer this home: The risks of putting parsley in your vagina include infection, irritation, and death.
If you are looking for ways to schedule your period around a special occasion, there are safe and medically backed ways to do so.
(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
Karin suggests using oral contraceptive pills, which can lead to shorter, lighter, and less painful bleeding, and taking packs back to back when you need to.
‘Oral contraceptive pills can also be used on alternative regimes by skipping a “pill break”, which would mean skipping a monthly bleed,’ explains Karin.
‘This could include tricycling (taking your contraceptive pill continuously for three months in a row), or extended use (taking your contraceptive pill continuously for three weeks or more until breakthrough bleeding occurs for 3-4 days).
‘There are no medical or health reasons to take a break from oral contraceptive pills so that bleeding can occur, so there are no problems with taking them continuously.
‘If you are regularly experiencing problematic bleeding, seek medical advice from your GP.’
You could also make use of Norethisterone, a synthetic hormone designed to stop your period before it begins by mimicking progesterone. By artificially keeping your hormone levels steady, your body won’t shed its lining and your period won’t start.
Norehisterone is not a contraceptive, so you’d need to continue to use protection during use, but it is an effective and medically backed way of stopping your period for a holiday, big meeting, or whatever other occasion you don’t fancy menstruating for.
See? There are proper options for making your period work around your schedule. There’s really no reason to faff around with risky methods you find online instead.
Boohoo’s latest denim creation has left fans of the brand wondering if perhaps designers are running out of ideas.
Please welcome the utterly confusing ‘reverse jeans’.
Here’s how we imagine the idea was presented at Boohoo – someone from the company woke up early one morning, got dressed in the dark and put their jeans on inside-out.
In a rush, this fashionista popped her coat on before looking in the mirror, and didn’t notice her mistake. An hour later, she’s in a company meeting and to avoid embarrassment, decides to not only own the look, but also pitch it as the latest trend that customers will love.
(Picture: Boohoo.com)
(Picture: Boohoo.com)
Boohoo posted a photo of a model wearing the new mid-rise denim and proclaimed: ‘In case you missed the memo, reverse stitched jeans are now a thing!’
Yet, somehow, the style has not gone down well on social media.
In case you missed the memo, reverse stitched jeans are now a thing! 💜💜💜
Boohoo also isn’t actually the first to embrace the look, either.
As part of the ‘Unravel Project’ in redesigning classic outfits, Ben Taverniti released a pair of reverse mid-rise denim shorts, sold at Farfetch for just £375.
If innovative and unusual fashion is your thing, you can order the reverse jeans in size 6-12 and they’re even on sale, having been reduced from £22.00 to £16.50.
Maybe the lack of popularity had something to do with it?
But, if the January purse strings are a little tight, you could just grab a pair of existing jeans in your wardrobe, turn them inside out and go with that.
No-one knows quite where where the 10 year challenge started, as is usually the case with internet trends like this.
The nature of the challenge is simple.
Participants post two pictures of themselves side by side on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter. One of these pics shows how they look 10 years ago, the other shows what they look like now.
The 10 year challenge is also known as the #HowHardDidAgingHitYou challenge, the aging challenge and #GlowUp.
Some of the 10 year challenge posts are made in earnest, and some are just plain funny.
It sounds innocent enough, but Kate O’Neill, founder of KO Insights, and author of Tech Humanists, has warned that we should see these pics as data which could be highly useful to people with nefarious face recognition algorithms.
O’Neill wrote in Wired that, ‘It’s worth considering the depth and breadth of the personal data we share without reservations.
‘Imagine that you wanted to train a facial recognition algorithm on age-related characteristics, and, more specifically, on age progression (e.g. how people are likely to look as they get older).
‘Ideally, you’d want a broad and rigorous data set with lots of people’s pictures. It would help if you knew they were taken a fixed number of years apart — say, 10 years. Sure, you could mine Facebook for profile pictures and look at posting dates or EXIF data. But that whole set of profile pictures could end up generating a lot of useless noise.’
The moral of the story then is have fun out there kids, but always be aware of the implications of what you share.
And there isn’t much we can do about that. As the housing crisis continues to rage and property prices spiral at breathtaking velocity – most of us have to sit back and accept our fate.
This can be a somewhat painful process of acceptance.
For the thousands of us brought up by baby boomer parents, equating property ownership with prosperity, stability and adulthood, renting is often seen as something shameful, something that needs to be escaped.
But why do we think this? It comes down to the fact that so many of us have internalised the old capitalist adage that owning property is the only true path to success.
Buying a house isn’t the be-all-and-end-all that we have been taught. And renting into your late 20s, early 30s and beyond, isn’t a failure.
I want the snarkiness to stop.
The superior, sneering comments about how renting is a waste, how you’re throwing your money away if you’re not paying into a mortgage.
Renting has given me the freedom to live in a property I love, in a city I love, and do a job that I love. I don’t consider any of that a waste of money.
(Picture: Ella Byworth/Metro.co.uk)
I do concede that it is partly circumstance that dictates this opinion. I don’t really have another option, so some of this thought process is a form of self-protection. But I am far from alone.
If you live in London, are under the age of 35, and don’t have a) rich parents or b) a successful career in the financial sector, renting is most likely your only choice.
Figures from the Nationwide Building Society show that a typical 20% deposit in London is now more than £80,000 – which is £30,000 more than a decade a go. And when the average yearly salary for Londoners is just £34,473 – you can see where the problem lies.
Home ownership, in London at least, has become something that is exclusively for the extremely privileged.
That’s not to say there aren’t young people who have chosen lucrative careers, worked hard to save and managed to buy a home on their own. It happens, and I admire anyone who achieves this.
But they are a tiny minority, and it takes the average Londoner almost 10 years to save enough for a deposit.
And if you aren’t able to do this, it isn’t fair that you’re looked down on or made to feel ashamed for renting.
Renting can be a true joy. I have been renting in the capital for more than seven years, and I have loved most of it.
Despite my outward and clearly apparent happiness with my situation, I am still repeatedly asked when I am planning on buying. Or met with a puppy-dog pity face when I tell people I’m ‘still’ renting.
I refuse to feel bad about my failure to conjure £80,000 out of thin air, just because other people can’t extricate their own self-worth from their value in bricks and mortar. I choose to judge my value in other ways.
Renting equals freedom. If you are offered a dream job in another city, or fall in love and decide to upend your life, you can do so at the drop of a hat.
Yes rental contracts and absurd admin fees are an issue, but finding someone to rent your room is a damn sight simpler than selling your home or finding reliable tenants.
Like many millennials, I change jobs every few years, I change cities, I have aspirations to live abroad – a mortgage would only tie me down.
While I am still child-free and burdened with minimal responsibilities, I’m keen to avoid anything that even remotely resembles shackles.
I currently live in an affluent, charming area of London. My little alcove in north London feels like a village, but I can be in the centre of town in less than 30 minutes. I could never live somewhere like this if I chose to buy.
For most of us, buying anything within the realms of affordability would involve decamping to the arse-end of Zone 6. Where no one will visit you and your commute will be tripled.
I’m not from London. I moved here to reap the many benefits of living in this incredible city. Sacrificing my proximity to the action for the only benefit of owning the flat I live in, doesn’t nearly seem worth it.
When people say that renting is a waste of money, they don’t seem to ever take into account the thousands you save on not having to deal with maintenance.
A pipe bursts, your boiler breaks down, the roof falls in – these things do happen. If you’re renting, they’re annoying, but if you own the property they can be disastrous and leave you out of pocket for months.
When my boiler breaks I call my landlord and they fix it. And pay for it.
Some landlords are awful, unhelpful and make life difficult when you need things doing – but there are regulations to prevent the worst of them and, ultimately, you can always move out.
One of the most annoying presumptions about renting is the idea that you can’t really make it your home unless you own it. But making somewhere feel like home is about more than your ability to paint the walls any colour you like.
The flat I rent with my boyfriend is the closest I have come to making a ‘home’ since I moved out of my mum’s house when I was 18.
(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
No, we can’t paint the walls, and we have to use weird sticky, velcro things to put pictures up – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t our home.
Home is a feeling. A space where you create a sanctuary from the outside world, a space filled with love and great food, dinner parties, movies and lazy mornings, a space where you can be your true self. You don’t need to own somewhere to create that.
So don’t pity me for not owning a flat. I have created a home that I adore. And I didn’t have to save £80,000 to do it.
I’m painfully aware that this is an extremely middle-class conversation. You have to be privileged to start with to rent in London, or any big city. I don’t want to ignore that issue.
There are plenty of people who would not be able to afford the flat I live in, and when I first moved to London my dad lent me half of the £800 I needed for my deposit. If my landlord evicted me, I know I could count on my family for back up.
Not everyone will have that safety net.
So renting does have its drawbacks, and I understand the arguments about the potential lack of stability. Particularly for people with children.
What I really want is for the Government to build more affordable housing so that property ownership can be an option for anyone who needs it or wants it.
But until that happens, it’s important that we interrogate our emotional attachment to home ownership.
So much of how we judge each other is based on external markers of wealth and a capitalist conception of success.
But self-worth and individual happiness is entirely personal, and almost never related to the things we own.
He and his siblings were born at a shelter after his mum, a feral cat with three legs, was caught in a trap. The kittens were quickly put up for fostering as the shelter environment was stressing out them and their mum.
Help came in the form of Tracy Pitisci, who fostered the family through a rescue centre called Ana’s Angels. She took them in just hours after the kittens had been born, with the hopes that a comforting home environment would encourage the kittens’ mum to take care of her kiddos in peace.
As the kittens were getting settled in, Tracy noticed Aries.
She noticed him because he looked a little different to his siblings – he had twisted legs, which made him look like a spider.
(Picture: Tracy Pitisci)
‘They were completely bent up against his stomach,’ Tracy told The Dodo. ‘You could tell the joints were not facing the correct direction.’
Thankfully, Aries has Tracy, who will do whatever she can to make sure the kitten’s unusual legs don’t hold him back.
After giving away the other kittens, Tracey has decided to adopt Aries permanently, as well as his mum, Diana.
So far, he’s living a healthy and happy life. He has some difficulty climbing out of his playpen, he can’t jump, and he prefers to scoot around on his bum rather than taking steps, but that doesn’t prevent him from playing, clambering over obstacles, or trying to explore.
He’s not in any pain and there’s nothing wrong apart from being born with twisted legs and contracted tendons – he just looks a little different.
(Picture: Tracy Pitisci)
‘We knew that we loved Aries and that we were always going to do everything to make sure he had what he needed,’ said Tracy. ‘Then we realized that he had already found his forever home with us. Adopting Aries has brought tremendous joy to our family.
‘He will always try to do something he wants to do.
‘If he sees something he wants to climb, he will give it his best attempt.
‘To help him overcome some of his limitations and let him experience life like other cats, we thought to take him on adventures with us and show new things to him. He regularly goes to the park where he likes to go down the slide by himself and enjoys the beach.’
A cucumber, for example, has its own protective skin. The same goes for an avocado. What’s the point of another plastic layer?
M&S is taking some action.
The brand will soon be selling more than 90 types of loose fruit and vegetables – and by loose, we mean free of all plastic packaging.
Fruit and veg which is hardy enough to withstand being set free will simply have the offer of a paper produce bag, while soft fruits and berries will be packed in compostable punnets.
To kick off the new initiative, M&S’s store in Tolworth now has two aisles of fruit and vegetables free of plastic packaging, as well as trained greengrocers on the shop floor who’ll offer advice on keeping produce fresh and reducing food waste. Lovely.
As part of the trial, M&S has also removed ‘best before’ date labels from fresh fruit and veg. Because you can tell if a bit of fresh food has gone bad by sight and touch, right?
This is all part of the store’s plans to massively reduce their plastic use and become zero-waste by 2025. They reckon that just by launching lines of loose fruit and vegetables, they could save 580 tonnes of plastic waste in the space of two years.
M&S’s head of food sustainability, Louise Nicholls, said: ‘We know our customers want to play their part in cutting out plastic, while as a business our goal is to become zero-waste by 2025.
‘That’s why we’re working hard to reduce the amount of plastic packaging we use without compromising on food quality and contributing to waste.
‘Our trial at Tolworth is an important milestone in our plastic reduction journey and bringing back the traditional greengrocer will play a key part in educating our customers.
‘Our plan is to create long-term impact in the future using tangible insights from the Tolworth store trial.’
They work those notoriously hard-to-target lower ab muscles, elevate your heart rate and, when done correctly, can even help ease back pain.
They’re also incredibly accessible. The low-impact move can be done anywhere from the gym to the local park to your living room. And anyone can do it, no matter your level of fitness.
But, as with any core movement, it’s vital to nail your technique – otherwise you’re at risk of damaging your back or neck muscles.
Luckily, our expert James, Creative Director of Sweat by BXR, is on hand to teach you exactly how to execute the perfect flutter kicks.
Watch the video above for a full, simple break down of the move.
(Picture: Getty)
But really, it couldn’t be simpler.
Lie on your back with your legs outstretched. The trick is to put your knuckles underneath your bum, this lifts your hips and takes the pressure off your lower back.
Your spine should be neutral, and your shoulders should be relaxed and down, away from your ears.
From this position, point your toes and lift your feet off the ground. Then gently kick your legs up and down in an alternating motion, never going higher than about 30 degrees.
Try and keep going for around 30 seconds before resting and repeating.
Tips for the perfect flutter kicks
Keep your back connected to the floor or your knuckles – you want avoid any arch in you back when you do flutter kicks. This can lead to back strain or injury.
Stretch it out – your hip flexors can become tight as a result of doing flutter kicks, so make sure you stretch out your hips before and after.
Do them alongside other core exercises – for a well-rounded core workout, make sure you’re also practicing your planks and crunches, to make sure all of your core muscles are being engaged equally.
Yes, you could end up with the love of your life, but more often than not, you just suffer through awkward moments, pain in your fingers from swiping on all those apps (side note: try Hinge in 2019) and, dry January aside, spend a lot of money on liquid courage.
So, maybe it’s time to mix things up. And what better way to do that, than to introduce a little danger to your dating?
This weekend, three sets of singles will head to the Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire Oakes to take part in the world’s first underwater date.
In a shark tank.
The experience has been dubbed First Dives, no doubt a play on Channel 4’s popular dating show First Dates, with six daredevils hand-picked from 300 applicants.
They’ll get the chance to get up close and personal with each other, as well as the animals.
No need to worry about what to wear, either; they’ll be provided with wetsuits and scuba gear.
Phil Jones, marketing coordinator at Blue Planet Aquarium, said First Dive will be ‘a fun way to bring people from the local community together and launch a “new wave” of blind-dating that will hopefully create some perfect matches.’
Ranae Scott has a pretty ambitious lifestyle that requires a lot of travelling.
To make it happen, Ranae has lived in a van for two years and gets her food for free from bins.
The dance and yoga instructor, the 30-year-old from California, USA, has always lived an adventurous lifestyle and decided to devote herself to rock climbing full-time in 2015 by living out of a vehicle for two years before she met her now-husband, Yoav.
In June 2015, Ranae was introduced to dumpster-diving; the salvaging of waste in large bins to find potentially useful items that have been discarded.
They have since upgraded their ‘house’ to a van. Ranae has travelled to over ten states since living out of a vehicle, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, California, Nevada, Illinois, Kentucky and Texas.
Yoav, holding food they salvaged from dumpsters (Picture: MDWfeatures / Ranae Scott)
Since she has picked up this lifestyle, she has become more aware of the dangers that waste has had on the environment. As well as trying to help the planet, Ranae’s new hobby means that she has saved roughly £120 to £160 ($150 to $200) a month on food alone.
Her frugal way of living has helped her focus her attention and savings on travelling and participating in various outdoor activities.
‘For the past three years, I’ve lived out of a vehicle; two years in a Honda, before I met my husband, Yoav. We’ve since upgraded to a larger van to comfortably fit two and allow for cooking inside,’ Ranae said.
‘We’ve lived this way so that we can travel around, and rock climb/play/exist in outdoor spaces and have the ability to switch up our locale every few months without a hitch.
Ranae holding boxes of food they salvaged out of dumpsters (Picture: MDWfeatures / Ranae Scott)
‘When I first started living in my car, so I could devote myself to rock climbing full-time, I met some cool like-minded people that told me about dumpster diving.
‘I’ve never been a germaphobe, and I highly value resourcefulness, so it was easy for them to convert me.
‘Obviously it’s important to balance out work with appropriate spending habits, and I wanted to stretch my savings.
‘But as soon as I discovered not only how easy dumpster diving can be, but how much perfectly good food is constantly wasted, I made it a personal necessity.
‘I became compelled to dive; not just to save money, but as a sort of ethical stance. Why should I buy food when so much is on its way to the landfill? Why don’t I do everyone a favour (including myself), and lighten those bins a bit?
‘A lot of what I find in the dumpster I’d never buy in the first place, as they’re too expensive, but the value of what I save is in the few hundreds range for food alone.
A BBQ pictured made out of dumpster food (Picture: MDWfeatures / Ranae Scott)
‘I think the important thing to remember is you’re not going to save the world alone, and you need to make it sustainable.
‘So, dive when you can and shop when you can’t, or want something the dumpster gods didn’t provide.’
Ranae explains that she dumpster dives to eat, cook and share food that has been wasted and by sharing her journey on social media, she wants to encourage her followers to dive too.
‘It’s made me more aware of waste, as well as our society’s misconceptions about food safety and how wasteful these misconceptions encourage many people to be,” she said.
‘It’s made me poignantly aware of the overarching impact of materialism, and the detriment of living in a society where dietary fads and pseudo-ethical eating practices force grocers and businesses to waste far more.
‘I hope it encourages more people to dive and demonstrate how capitalism wastes. I also wanted to call out and hold notorious companies more accountable for their waste.
‘That way they will hopefully implement easy changes, such as introducing mark-downs on near-expiration items, donating, or even having a ‘free’ bin in their shop with ugly produce, or other ‘unsellable’ items.
‘I want people to be more aware of how societal norms that are in no way normal, like getting rid of perfectly edible food, are drastically detrimental to our world and well-being.
‘I want to show how ethics aren’t simple and should always be questioned/re-defined. There’s no black and white rule that works and saves the world.
‘Veganism, for instance; why not animal products from the dumpster? The animal has already been slaughtered, and completely in vain if not consumed.
‘I’m not condoning eating meat over not; I’m condoning eating garbage over packaged, distributed and branded foods that aren’t actual foods.’
Planning your next travel adventure and want the experience to make your social media followers crazy with envy?
Forget quirky popcorn beaches, eclectic Scandinavian Moomin museums and naked hiking. What you should really invest in is a classic American road trip on Route 66 – voted the most Instagram-worthy road trip of all, according to car hire company Hertz.
The journey will take you from the windy city, also known as Chicago, all the way through to Los Angeles on the other side of the continent, with plenty of jaw-dropping nature displays and unusual attractions along the way.
Famous stops include the Grand Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway, along with man-made creations such as the world’s second largest rocking chair, located in Missouri, and the Texas Cadillac ranch.
The latter is an interactive art installation of cars partially buried in the ground and covered in graffiti. If you bring your own spray paint, you’re allowed to doodle on the Cadillacs, too.
But enough about all this, let’s just look at the photos, shall we?
If you’re one of the 14 million subscribers to the FailArmy YouTube channel then you’re probably already aboard the Failure is Awesome boat, but for a totally different reason.
I’m not here to poke fun at failures with a 10-minute compilation made up of clumsy skateboarders and weak trampolines.
No, I’m here to celebrate failure and tell you that the concept itself has been grossly misunderstood.
Today, 17 January, is officially known as Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day, that fateful day that we all knew was coming.
It’s the day where we are, apparently, most likely to fail the self-imposed challenges that we set ourselves on the first day of the year.
A mere sixteen days after millions of us vowed to go vegan, many of us will sneak off to eat a kebab in the car park.
Those of us who gave up booze will indulge in a midweek wine to see us through to Friday, and many of us once-eager gym bunnies will sack off that Step class in favour of somewhere more comfortable, like the sofa, or a McDonald’s drive-thru.
But what if instead of seeing this failure as a negative outcome, we realised that it’s actually a small step in the right direction?
As teenagers, the idea of failing at school was a fate worse than death.
We were told that working hard and getting excellent grades was our one and only route to a successful career, but studies show that this isn’t always the case.
In a 2012 TEDx Talk, Eduardo Zanatta explained that most successful people achieve what they desire through sheer persistence.
He says that failure is a ‘fundamental part of success’ and that too often people quit early because they see failure as a sign that they are unqualified or incapable.
On the contrary, psychological studies show that the brain has the ability to react positively in response to a failed task.
In one study, doctors were observed when making decisions about which medications to prescribe. Psychology Today reported that in the experiment some doctors showed a response dubbed as a ‘wake up call’, where the brain actively focused on the negative outcome of failure and then analysed the situation to find an appropriate solution.
In this instance, doctors paid more attention during the next decision making process and were more likely to learn from the mistake and improve their performance.
According to a Forbes article written by leadership expert Glenn Llopis, failure is also a practical tool for improving your own skillset.
He claims that failure offered him the most rewarding opportunities of his career and continues to be a ‘powerful source for know-how and understanding’.
(Picture: Ella Byworth/ Metro.co.uk)
Failure forces us to think outside the box, makes us re-evaluate our approach to the task at hand, learn about ourselves and highlights where there may be room for improvement.
Glenn says the key is to act quickly, using our bruised ego as momentum to propel ourselves forward with gumption.
‘Quickly create a plan of action while the pain you experienced is fresh and begin to outline how the key learnings from the failure can be used in different situations,’ he writes. ‘Allow failure to make you stronger and wiser.’
The people who we deem as successful have generally failed more than the rest.
Katy Perry, for example, sold only 200 copies of her first album and was later dropped by two record labels. Her hit single I Kissed a Girl didn’t make its mark until nearly a decade later.
As many of you sit at your desks today eating spoonfuls of Nutella straight out of the jar, you may not feel like Katy Perry. You may be staring wistfully into the distance wondering where it all went wrong. When did you become so weak?
But that’s where you’re wrong. Failure has the potential to make you stronger in the long run.
Therapist Sally Baker tells us that children especially will benefit from exposure to minor defeats, and when these experiences are absent they are likely to struggle as an adult.
‘The unprecedented rise in mental ill-health among undergraduate students is a result of young people not being allowed to experience failure while growing up,’ she tells Metro.co.uk.
‘Many young people don’t manage to build up their resilience and therefore see themselves as unable to overcome adversity and thrive.
‘They have never been allowed to learn that it is okay to metaphorically fall down as an opportunity to experience getting back up again, dusting yourself off and getting on with one’s life.’
So how to we undo this fear of failure?
(Picture: Ella Byworth/Metro.co.uk)
How can we get comfortable with being uncomfortable, or, as the saying goes, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway?’
Chartered Psychologist Suzy Reading reinforces the idea that self-love (this is cheesy I know, but stay with me) is the best place to start.
Think about it.
It’s not actually the failure that upsets us, it’s the fact that we see the failure as a reflection on us as a human being.
I ate a biscuit, I’m so greedy!
I missed the gym, I’m so lazy!
Sound familiar?
Suzy counteracts this inner critic by teaching mindfulness and self-compassion to her clients who have a deep-rooted fear of failure.
‘With mindfulness, we acknowledge that failure is an inevitable part of life. It’s OK!’ says Suzy.
‘It is not evidence of us lacking as human beings…. Embracing compassion and kindness allows us to bloom and grow in the aftermath of failure.’
Asking yourself a few key questions e.g. Was this solely my fault or were there other external factors at play? What strengths did I use? Is this just a setback? post-failure should offer an opportunity for growth, as well as a chance to work on your personal willpower.
We need brain power to exert the self-control that allows us to keep our resolutions going, so if you’re under more stress than usual (lack of sleep, aching muscles, restricting calories) you simply won’t have the energy needed to stay focused.
Take baby steps. Give yourself a break.
And if you’re still beating yourself up just channel your inner Beyoncé, who once said: ‘I embrace mistakes. They make you who you are.’
