Opinion: So-Called "Clean" Eating

I was on the sofa the other night, scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I came across a link a girl I used to go to college with had shared. Entitled “Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets”, the screen cap showed a young girl unknown to me (who, it turns out, is Grace Victory: “the internet’s big sister” and UK lifestyle and advice blogger with 106,000 Instagram followers and 209,600 YouTube subscribers…oops) holding a green smoothie and a plate of that hipster go-to of the moment - avocado on toast. The original Facebook post was by a girl I don’t know, who’d written a rather long paragraph about how “dangerous and unhealthy” she feels the clean eating regime has become, from personal experience with it. I was a bit skeptical at first - the clue is in the name, how bad can clean eating really be? - but the original poster claimed to have come to this conclusion from studying nutrition, and my curiosity was really quite piqued, so I clicked on the link. I figured I would watch the first five minutes or so and see whether it would be worth a watch. I ended up stuck to my iPhone screen, watching the whole thing right through to the end. It’s a really fascinating and somewhat unnerving look into a fad that seems innocent on the surface but actually harbours some disturbing information that definitely isn’t advertised under #cleaneating. I’m always a bit wary when writing these opinion posts, because I don’t want to pretend I’m some huge expert and expect some people will be offended by what I say, but I think this is an important issue that needs more coverage. 

Travel: Bristol

Why have two cocktails when you can have four (for the
price of two?!)

So my trip to Bristol was far too short, especially once I'd realised how well this city and I would get on! I was visiting a friend who's just moved there, but she had an exam the following Tuesday, which meant that I didn't go until Saturday afternoon, to give her time to revise. We'd booked a table at Turtle Bay, a Caribbean restaurant that has an amazing 2-4-1 happy hour - a rare find on a Saturday night! Apparently it's a chain (normally when I go somewhere new I like to find a more local place to eat), but we couldn't resist BOGOF cocktails! Apparently neither could anyone else, because the place was rammed! We managed to grab some drinks just before happy hour ended, and even a seat to drink them at while we waited for our table. It’s a good job we did, because the trip seemed a little wasted once we realised just how hot all the food was! Neither of us are big spice people but we figured that if we went for some safe options (i.e. nothing with the words “chilli” or “jerk” in them) we’d be okay. Uh-uh! Cue lots of water-downing. So, whilst I could appreciate how quick and fresh the food appeared, the experience was kind of wasted on us.

Dashing through the snow

Although it already seems like a lifetime ago, I'm still buzzing from the festive season! I had a really good time celebrating with family and friends - especially as my boyfriend arrived for a two week visit on Boxing Day (he's American so we don't get to spend much time together)! That's the reason for my absence from the blog in the last few weeks, but now that we're back from a few days in Prague (more of which later!) I wanted to post a little round-up of how I spent the holidays. 

Café review: Caracoli (Guildford, Surrey)

Once again I found myself in Guildford this Friday! In order to get the biggest bargain on a pair of shoes from Urban Outfitters, I had to return two pairs and re-buy them instore, so I was back again this week to return the last pair! Wanting to try somewhere different - as always - I did a bit of research and came across some great reviews of coffee shop/food store Caracoli.