It’s perhaps unusual for a wine blogger who spends most of their time extolling the virtues of particular wines to remind us to drink sensibly. At this time of year, though, it’s important to remind ourselves, that we might be overdoing it.

Excess calories from wine are probably the reason I can’t get into my party dresses this year, despite having swum 50 miles for charity in the last 13 weeks. Worried: You’ll find a calorie calculator here which will give you an idea of the impact of your tipple on your waistline and on your health.

For me at Purple Teeth, my goal is to help people drink better. That could mean drinking less. Certainly since I’ve been working in the wine business more and in Customer Experience Consultancy less, I’ve had to drink less. Counter-intuitive perhaps, but as I’ve learned more about wine, my tastes have become rather more expensive than my income allows. So I drink better, but less.

Wine is a luxury good that’s relatively recently been commoditised to be...

We all want great skin right?

Maybe you are lucky and your skin is like something out of a photo shoot first thing in the morning. But for a lot of us that isn’t the case.  And it’s often not until there is a problem with our skin that we pay attention and start looking for solutions.

And when you do look, oh my gosh, there is so, so much information, lotions and potions mostly.  Cleanser, toner, exfoliator, serum, anti-aging creams, moisturiser and the list goes on and on.

And I have been guilty of it myself, buying into those big brands and promises, clever branding and advertising.  I think I spent £100 on one trip to decleor in desperation to sort my skin out.  And guess what, it didn’t help.  Then I went on to Clinique, it sort of helped, but it’s a very expensive little habit.

What was clear is the cheaper ones made it worse for sure.

I personally didn’t think I was that vain until I had a chronic skin disorder and I was horrified with how it made me feel.  I felt like I cou...

Last night a DJ saved my life, well actually it wasn’t the DJ it was the partner dancing.  Don’t ask me why but it did. 

I have always loved to dance, as a child I spent my time dressing up and choreographing routines to all my favourite records, from Abba to Edwin star and flight of the bumble bees.  Many a day spent in my leotard and disco glitter, closing my eyes and feeling the music, like only a child can. I never attended a dance class, something about our working class upbringing, we didn't do things like that when I was a kid. 

And as an adult I continued to go where the music and dancing took me.  

Then I had a difficult period in my life like we all do, after all that’s life.  Completely as a result of bad decisions I had made along the way.  To cut a long story short – I married the wrong man, a very difficult man and my life got tough for a long time. 

In the middle of it I reached an all time low, my rock bottom.  Without realising it, because life was difficult I had ...

I love peoples life stories, stories of change.

I find them inspiring. We can learn from each other.

Listen to Lillies story of change. She starts of quiet reticent as you can hear she feels bad about certain aspects of her past, but keep listening as there are some gems of advice in there.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-2

Alcohol and Cocaine. A Match Made in Heaven? How to Break the Cycle. 

Your cocaine use has become a problem, maybe you are a weekend binge user with your alcohol, an occasional party user, or maybe it has got out of control and you are using a lot and often.

Searching for how to stop taking cocaine? It might be that you only use cocaine when you have been drinking and you would really rather not.  It adds to your disinhibited feeling when you are drunk, adds a confident edge to you that actually you don’t really like even though it may feel good at the time; or compounds the feeling of “oh no what did I say and do last night?”. Who did I talk at? Who did I offend?

Cocaine and alcohol

Alcohol is a gateway to so many things and drug use can be one of those things.  If you are someone that only takes cocaine (or other drugs) when you have been drinking and your intention is not to take any drugs, then the simple answer is take some time off the booze.  It will help in those early few ...

Top Tips for dealing with friends and family when you want to stop drinking.

You don’t even need to stop, maybe you just drink less or change your drinking.  But let’s face it, the first people to notice are your friends and family.

You would think you would just be able to make the change and no one notice, but oh no, we are a nation of drinkers (sorry I hate saying that, but it’s true). And most are too quick to comment on the fact you are drinking a soft drink.

For whatever reason you have taken steps to quit drinking, or even just reduce, gain control, great.  And as you know if you are even a week into this, you feel healthier, happier, you are sleeping better, work is easier, relationships have improved and you are exercising more (maybe).  Anyway it’s all good, it’s a win win.  You feel like you have discovered a secret.

That is, until you have to go out, or there is a family get together, or a work function.  It doesn’t have to be anything major.  But it’s going to happen. ...

Being a mum is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but also one of the most rewarding.  It’s cheesy but true.  Nothing prepares you for it.  I had my first child at 19 and we literally grew up together, he got fun, not a care in the world, throw caution to the wind mum.  But with that came all the mistakes I made and the life lessons along the way, he learnt them with me.  Consequently I have a very together, organised, level headed, responsible down to earth, grown up as my first born (I got lucky).

I had my second much later, in my head I thought “this is going to be easier, because I know what I am doing.”  Wrong! Very different children and in a very different situation.  In fact parenting my youngest has been the hardest thing I have ever done.  I married the wrong man, had a very difficult relationship, life got very difficult and as a result my youngest was hard work from birth.

The whole thing is linked.  Life can get hard and those normal habits you have can turn into crut...

I love people and I love real life stories. Real stories about change. It can be motivating and inspiring to hear how people everyday transform their lives. If they can, imagine what is possible for you?

If you need a bit of motivation have a listen to Vicky's story of change.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-1

So the government have announced new alcohol unit guidelines. Are we still confused? I am guessing we are.

What is a unit anyway? What does it mean for us?

In some ways I am pleased that the government have reduced the recommended amounts that we should be drinking. But again I am unsure if we are clear about the messages.

The guidelines might be easier to understand, if they talked in terms of drinks instead of a unit, such as 1 glass of 125ml wine (1.5 units), or 1 pint of 4 % beer (2 units). Check out Drinkaware for more information Drinkaware infographic units

For me there are a few key things I would like people to understand regardless of how many units they drink.

I have worked with 1000’s and 1000’s of people over the years a lot with drinking problems, after all it is our biggest problem when it comes to drugs. Yes I am calling alcohol a drug because that is exactly what it is. A legal drug and let’s face it one of the most harmful drugs in lots of ways. There is a risk ...

Listen to my recent UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace.

click here to listen UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace

Talking all things alcohol, health, mental health.

If you want support to be able to stop drinking, then message me.

Or if thats a bit forward check out my Free videos