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The past few weeks I’ve been starting my day with the most amazing power smoothies. For the recipe thanks must go to my personal trainer Rich. But I feel compelled to share: people of the Internet this is what you should be having each morning to get things off to the perfect start.

First up, purchase one of these little puppies from Argos.

Then this is what you put in it:
- 250g of Oats
- Banana
- Handfull of Blueberries
- Handful of Brazil Nuts
- Handful of Hazelnuts
- Handful of Pumpkin Seeds
- Spoon of smooth Peanut Butter
- One scoop of Protein Powder
- Tiny bit of Strawberry flavouring
- Ice
- Water

Then you hit the smoothie button and the magic happens. Delicious and nutritious!

I find it quite hard to relax and switch off from work, but one of my new years resolutions was to try and do just that, particularly at weekends.

So this weekend I’m visiting my sister Sarah and her boyfriend Erik in Switzerland. I arrived Sat afternoon into Geneva, caught a train high into the mountains to meet them and have spent an awesome 24 hours in Verbier. 

Verbier is clearly a resort unaffected by the credit crunch.  It’s all a bit sloaney and very very British and American. It reminds me a bit of my Exeter days but with a cast of people 10 years older: think of lots of very middle class (but not necessarily that bright) peeps in turned up rugby shirts drinking wine and talking a bit too loud.   City Bankers with neurotic wives and 1 new born baby.  That sort of thing.   The atmosphere is quite contagious though:  I’ve never done the whole ski holiday thing, and a part of me can’t help feeling I have missed out a bit.   So perhaps another thing to sort this coming year?

Soon we will drive back down to Geneva in time for a drink and a mooch. I fly back tomorrow AM landing  just in time for work. 

 
It’s been great. Mountain air and snow creates an amazing atmosphere and is a total change of scene. Sarah and Erik have been great hosts. It’s enabled me to clear my head, and I know come Monday AM I’m going to be twice as focused as I normally am.

It also reminds me how spoilt we are living in the UK. Talk to someone who’s just moved here from Australia and they can’t understand why we don’t visit Amsterdam, Prague and Italy every other weekend. With Easyjet and short flying times, I think they have a point.

I flew into Geneva which is a flight time of 1hr 20 and my fare was under £100, flying on the very civilised SwissAir from the very civilised London City Airport. Granted I am lucky to have people to stay with on arrival, but in the current climate you can get bargains on accommodation in most European cities so I’m definitely going to be doing more of this sort of thing in the future.

The other side effect of this trip has been that I’ve resolved to learn some form of snow based propulsion. Based purely on how cool/good looking the people at City Airport carrying Snowboards vs skis were I think I need to learn to Snowboard.

So on the to-do list for this week is some investigation into  lessons at the Snow Dome in Milton Keynes, with a view to flying back here soon to try it out for real. Stop laughing at the back, I think Snow Boarding could be my secret hidden sporting talent!

Those of you who know me in the real world may have heard me announce (more than once): “I’m going to get fit and do the London Marathon”.

Often, this announcement is made after I’ve drunk a few glasses of white wine and it has been known for me to utter it with cake/finger food/pizza in hand.

It is true that I’ve been saying this for at least the past 5 years and it’s also true to say that it’s developed a hollow ring to it. But fear not earstwhile blog reader: I’m not going to shout this out loud in the real world, but between you and me I want to make good on former proclamations!

Every journey starts with the first step and I have made that first step: I’ve joined a new gym: Market Sports in Shoreditch. But more than this, I’ve started going each morning.

I’m already feeling a lot more healthy and less tired: it’s still a novelty at the moment though and the true test is going to come in the next couple of weeks: will leaving my flat at 6am still seem such a good idea then? I’ll keep you posted via this blog!

One good thing about my new gym though is that it is quite small and always fairly busy. The reason this is a good thing is that it actually forces you to do some exercise! Previously, I’d been a member of the much bigger, much more luxurious (and much more expensive) Virgin Active Broadgate.

The Virgin Active is a lovely gym: modern, big changing rooms, lots of equipment and a massive members reception area with comfy sofas.

The problem is all of that stops you exercising. Market Sports has everything you need in the way of equipment but it’s size and footfall means that you have to get changed quickly (as there isn’t a huge amount of space in the changing rooms), and you have to occupy yourself on a machine of some description as there isn’t those massive empty spaces to walk around in Virgin has. Spend too long reading a notice board and you’ll quickly become in the way of someone wanting to get past. Try and sit in reception for a rest and you’ll be a sweating wreck next to someone filling out their application to join.

As I say: this is a good thing! I’ve been a member of around 10 gyms in London and Market Sports is my favourite by far.

Stay tuned to see if my health plan continues to stay on track!