Bounty feature

New year's revolution

Money matters
The New Year sales have broken records this year and the ‘credit crunch’ hasn’t deterred bargain hunters. But if you have money worries, though it may tempting to push them to the back of your mind, they won’t go away. If you’re struggling to budget or pay off loans, steer well clear of ‘debt consolidators’ and instead get free and confidential advice from your local citizens advice bureau, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service or www.nationaldebtline.co.uk And check out www.bountyfamilyfinance.co.uk for the latest deals on financial products to help you save on your mortgage, take out a child trust fund to save for your tot’s future, and more.

Feeling blue
As a new mum, you may be feeling particularly low once the excitement of Christmas is over. See your health visitor or GP if you’re finding it hard to cope or are tearful and unhappy as you could be one of the 70,000 to 100,000 women a year in the UK suffering from postnatal depression.

One new mum who had her baby just before Christmas says the new year was a rough time for her. ‘My family had all gone home after spending Christmas with us and my partner had gone back to work so I was alone with my baby for the first time. The weather was wet and miserable and I just felt so isolated and so low and guilty because I wasn’t enjoying being with my baby, all I kept doing was crying. I plucked up the courage to talk to my GP and health visitor and I’m glad I did as they were great and really understanding. My health visitor put me in touch with a couple of other new mums in my area and we arranged to meet up once or twice a week. For me, just getting out of the house and being able to talk to other mums like me made a huge difference to how I felt.’ Go to www.apni.org for more information.

The right diet
Many of us put on weight that’s hard to shift long after we’ve had a baby, and all that Christmas over-indulgence doesn’t help. But however much you want to lose weight fast, and however hard it is to believe, quick-fix or faddy diets just don’t work. All the statistics show that losing weight quickly or following an unsustainable eating plan may lose you pounds in the short term, but you’ll heap them back on once you stop dieting.

What does work is a long-term, lifetime change of eating and exercise habits. But you don’t need to take up tofu and yoga, unless you want to of course. Think instead about being kind to yourself by introducing more healthy foods into your diet, walking more, and easing off the junk.

Top mums’ weight loss tips

• Don’t try to lose weight if you’ve just had a baby, especially if you’re breastfeeding – ignore the antics of skinny celeb ‘yummy mummies’ and give yourself at least six months to a year for your body to recover from the birth. •Remember that breastfeeding uses up a lot of energy so you’ll lose weight gradually and naturally.
• Remember too that eating healthily will help you feel better mentally not just physically. Eating lots of processed foods high in fat, sugar, salt and chemical additives can make you feel listless, sluggish and low, which in turn makes you turn to more of those foods as comfort. Get more information on healthy eating from www.eatwell.gov.uk
• Eat more fruit and veg. Make them your snacks instead of biscuits or crisps and you’ll feel the benefit and see the weight fall off. You don’t need to spend a fortune – choose produce that’s local or in season and it costs a lot less.
• Include a handful of seeds such as pumpkin seeds in your daily diet as they’re packed with essential oils and make a healthy snack. Buy them in large bags from your local wholefood or health store instead of the dinky, but expensive little packets in supermarkets.
• Cook from scratch as often as possible and make ready meals, takeaways and pizzas an occasional treat. This isn’t easy if you’re not a natural cook, but you don’t have to be Nigella to create simple dishes that are tasty and good for you and the family. Start by simply basing each meal on a protein (eg meat, fish, eggs, pulses) a starch (potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles) and a large helping of vegetables or salad. Grill, stir-fry or steam rather than fry or boil to cut down on fat and keep nutrients in. Choose monounsaturated fats such as olive oil for frying and drizzling as they’re better for you than hard or saturated fats such as lard or butter. Buying raw ingredients rather than pre-prepared meals will save money too.
• Although it’s important to eat less saturated fat, forget low fat or ‘diet’ versions of foods as they are often packed with calorie-high sugar and nutritionally useless additives or sugar substitutes and they just don’t taste good. Worse still, they are deeply unsatisfying so you want more of them to fill you up.
• Cut out processed foods as much as possible – that includes, cakes, biscuits, crisps, pies and many ready meals. These are some of worst offenders for anyone trying to lose weight or eat more healthily as they’re laden with fat (often including hydrogenated fats which are worse for you than saturated fats), sugar, salt and artificial additives. Read the nutrition labels before you buy processed foods to check their fat, salt, sugar and additives content. It may go against the grain to start off with, but check out your local wholefood shop or wholefood section of the supermarket for healthier alternatives such as fruit bars with no added sugar, oatcakes, and nuts and seeds.

Feeling fit
Moving around more will help you lose weight. It’s that simple. Research (and common sense) shows that people who ‘can’t keep still’ are on average thinner than their couch potato counterparts. Start by walking more – it’s the cheapest and most effective form of exercise and the more you do it, the further you can go and the more calories you’ll burn off. Walking also boosts your endorphin levels so you get that feelgood factor, for free.

If you’ve got a young baby, getting out every day for a long walk when they’re napping will shed pounds and keep you fit. Get together with other mums to make it more fun – see www.buggyfit.co.uk for groups of pram pushing mums near you, or just make it a regular thing with a couple of mums you know locally.

Prefer something more structured? Check out your local playgroup or community centre noticeboard for local keep fit classes, which are cheaper then the gym.

This is a good way of getting to know local mums and dads too. Many mums swear by pilates as a brilliant way to get fit, strong and supple safely – go to www.pilatesfoundation.com for details. Look out for local pilates classes in church halls, leisure and community centres, or have a go at home if you have time when your toddler’s at playgroup or you have someone to mind the baby, with the Lindsey Jackson’s Pilates for Mums DVD
Or get fit with the BloomingFit online exercise programme, especially designed for mums to be and new mums by post natal sports therapist, former midwife and mother of two, Alison Merry. Save £5 on a year’s membership through Bounty

What about me?
Feeling good about yourself makes a difference to every area of your life. One of the best ways to improve your mood, especially in the dark, dull days of the new year is by making more ‘me time’. You, your partner and your children, however young they are, will reap the benefits of your regularly spending time on yourself.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when you’ve got kids, but dig yourself out by joining a class, spending regular time with friends, and taking time to discover an interest that’s outside the home and family, whether it’s as dramatic as a new career, or simply an escape from the day to day grind.

One mum of two left her job in marketing after she had her second child and took book-keeping classes at the local tech. Now she’s working part time for a small business and is planning to set up on her own working from home.

Another mum, who works part-time as a manager in retail took up creative writing. ‘I don’t have any ambition to be the next JK Rowling,’ she laughs, ‘I just love pouring it all out on paper, the taste of freedom it gives me to be ‘me’, not just a mum.’

Go to the Bounty ‘Just You’ forums to chat to other mums like you. And discover some of that feelgood factor at our new site, Looking good-feeling great.

Enjoy making it a happy new year for yourself.