NELLIE KNOWS

WELL that’s 2018 well and truly over with and a whole new year ahead!

Happy New Year to you all,

I do hope you had a peaceful and happy Christmas.

Ours was great fun and I was treated to some lovely candles from Jo Malone, Molton Brown and Quinnell Candles so when the decorations have made it back into their home and the furniture is moved back calm will once again be restored to the zoo and I will enjoy sitting down with a beautifully scented candle and getting through my thank you letters, to do list and reading pile.

I am currently reading The Puppet Show by M W Craven, which is published later this month and I can’t wait to see what’s new in Waterstones.

Sugar and health

I read the headlines about sugar and can confirm that giving up sugar (both natural and added) has been on the of the best things I have ever done.

I started my new healthy lifestyle on August 27 and I can honestly say I have never felt better.

Most people work in numbers but I have made the conscious decision to only weigh myself once a month, I have found it to be counterproductive to weigh every week, instead I have been smiling to myself as my clothes have become ridiculously large and I have noticed I have a neck and dimples!

In four months I have gone from a size 22 to a size 14 through giving up ALL sugar as well as caffeine, dairy, yeast, wheat, fruit, carbs and alcohol.

Having struggled to stick to diets and losing the will to live with sachets of snake juice and tumble dryer fluff I have ditched the diet and now only eat foods that are healthy, agree with me and that give me all the nutrients I need.

Christmas was, of course, going to be challenging but I navigated my way through the sweet treats and over indulgent wares and started the year with a renewed sense of achievement and a bucket load of enthusiasm.

I have been writing about it on my blog a nd a number of my readers and friends have been so inspired that they too have given up sugar.

Discover Wales

This year is Visit Wales’ Year of Discovery so my column on the third Thursday of the month will feature Wales.

I make no secret of my love for Wales and, as I said on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Berkshire before Christmas I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping in Wales, both gifts and experiences.

Now that there is no bridge toll a little piece of the journey has changed but depending on where you go Wales is only a couple of hours away.

Of course, Wales is never far away in this house with the telly or radio, and I am very excited that series two of Keeping Faith is returning to our screens in the Spring.

I saw a trailer for BBC Drama recently and can’t wait to see Luther, Killing Eve and Line of Duty return.

A big year awaits us!

It’s also a big year in this house as we have an 18th, 21st and 50th birthday coming up and my husband and I are celebrating 30 years.

When we were at school we thought all the teachers were at least 80 when in fact they were probably younger than we are now.

If I knew then what I knew now … oh well, no time for regrets I’ve got things to do, people to see, a book that won’t write itself and a new mug that needs filling with hot water.