please don't be taken in by the scammers!

Over the years, I have been aware that there are more than just a few very dodgy websites offering free downloads of my books and January always appears to be the month that they all come out of the woods! Please don't be taken in or tempted to sign up - they are scams - all of them!

Should I decide to offer free downloads of my books at any time - I will always flag this up on my website and direct you to a bona fide link!

As soup is such a big plus for weight loss at this time of the year, my Soup Can Make You Thin diet and Soup Can Make You Thin: The Cookbook are being offered for free on a number of websites but heed this warning...

What most of the scammers do is ask for your credit card details before they grant you the opportunity to download books, movies etc for free and once they have your details, you can almost see the smiles on their faces as they empty your wallet and make it very difficult for you to unsubscribe.

If you are in any doubt whatsoever, go to www.scamadviser.com and enter the website name. In most cases you will be horrified at some of the stories people have to tell...

happy new year to all!

Beat the Bloat and Lose the Festive Flab!

How did it go? Have you managed to swing into 2016 without having overindulged and packed on a few pounds? Or was there simply too much food and drink everywhere you went and it all went a bit pear-shaped?

Don't despair, help is at hand! And yes, you guessed it - soup is involved! But, stick with me here as there are monumentally good reasons why....

Weight gain over the festive season is very often as a result of us retaining water which is why we don't just feel tired and a bit toxic but also why we feel bloated and uncomfortable. In essence, it's all about having had too much of everything over a relatively short space of time and our hard-working livers have struggled just a little to keep up their sterling work!

Many are tempted to detox - and there's no shortage of advice on how to go about this with the internet stuffed full of impossibly-strict diets every January - but I have said it before and I will say it again - it's a rocky (and sometimes dangerous) road and I urge you not to get swept into the crazy detox obsession. The liver is perfectly capable of doing its detoxification job when we give it a helping hand rather than forcing it into overdrive which tends to catapult it into a frenzy and make us feel pretty goddamned awful along the way. And, this is where soup comes in...

The best way to beat the bloat and reverse water retention is to increase our consumption of liquids which is why we need to stay hydrated with regular glasses or small bottles of still, clean water each day but we need nourishment along the way and a good soup is hard to beat on this front. Fluid and nourishment in the one mug or bowl - sorted!

So, here's the plan! I have devised a diet (click here for all the details), based on the principles of my Soup Can Make You Thin diet that you can launch into today and not only tackle any bloating issues that may have occurred over the festive season but also prompt some very satisfying weight loss from day one!

Have a go and let me know how it goes! 

You can also buy the diet book or cook book on Amazon.

up the ante this winter with soup!

Black Bean and Ham Soup

If someone managed to convince you that one little pill taken three times a day throughout the ‘darker’ months would prevent you from falling prey to colds or 'flu' would you take it? Of course you would - a really bad cold or, worse still the ‘flu’ is guaranteed to make you feel totally miserable, be forced to take time off work and see friends and family giving you a very wide berth while you suffer!

Studies continue to show that a deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals reduce our immune response and render us more prone to catching something but as cold and ‘flu’ viruses that sweep the globe each year are rarely the same as the previous year or the year before, there is unlikely to ever be one pill or vaccine that offers all-round protection so we are pretty much on our own on this one, I’m afraid!

However, there’s a lot we can do to up the ante and this is where soup can be our saviour!

Soup is so much more than just a warm and comforting bowl of deliciousness - a good soup is like a medicinal tonic, offering a whole host of natural, anti-viral goodies rich in immune-boosting micronutrients like folic acid, vitamins A, B6, C and E plus zinc, copper, iron and selenium. Not any old soup will do, however. It’s all about the ingredients and perhaps more importantly, the cooking method......

Light and Tasty Chicken Broth

the secret is in the simmering!

A great soup base is vital for a great soup and a slow sauté over a very low heat until the vegetables used are soft (onions, leeks, garlic, celery, carrots and other roots) not only forms the basis of a really tasty soup but also helps the vegetables retain their disease-fighting nutrients. The addition of herbs and spices at this stage and another spell of slow simmering adds yet more immune-boosters. Thereafter, it’s simply a matter of slinging in all the other ingredients according to the cooking time required (eg beans, lentils, rice and other grains first, meat, poultry and game next and greens and seafood last) until you have a pot of goodness you can’t wait to get your spoon into! Same goes for broths that involve meat, poultry or fish bones - keep it low and keep it slow for maximum protection!

Scotch Broth

Top foods with anti-viral, anti-bacterial, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties to include in your soups:

• the onion family (red and white onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, spring onions, chives)
• roots (turnip, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, sweet potato, beets)
• mushrooms (whatever is in season but particularly shitake)
• the citrus family (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
• greens (everything from lettuce to spinach - the darker green the better!)
• herbs and spices (everything from A to Z but particularly ginger and turmeric)
• bones (meat, poultry, game and fish)
• probiotics (yoghurt, kefir, buttermilk, fermented soya products)

click on the images to download, save and print off my top three immune-boosting soup recipes

More excitement on the way!

Gone are the days when we can be enticed to try a recipe that merely provides a brief explanation, a list of ingredients and a method - we all want an image which prompts  us to race out and get the ingredients before we head into the kitchen now! The extremely patient and long-suffering photographer who, over the last few years  has taken all the shots of my recipes for all my books, is currently polishing his lenses and has agreed to take on the mammoth task of shooting the 40+ new recipes that feature in the Diet Secrets Uncovered series of books.

There's a lot of cooking to be done (by me!) and probably a lot of laughs to be had (by both of us!) when things don't exactly go to plan but I am well-excited about seeing the results which I hope, when you see them, will tempt you to give them a go and make weight loss a delicious and never dull experience! 

Have a look at some of Keny's other work - it's brilliant and inspiring stuff!