Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: chocolate

  • Curious Habits: Why we do what we do and how to change

    Curious Habits: Why we do what we do and how to change

    Habits are actions we repeat on a daily basis, but why we do this is somewhat intriguing according to mindset coach Luke Mathers. He takes a look at some of the many habits we develop in his book Curious Habits: Why we do what we do and how to change which explores territory that more often than not puts up roadblocks on your life journey.

    Habits are learned behaviour, generally developed to find the easy way forward, but once embedded become something that is a not necessarily a terrific thing. He looks at the issue from the basis of curiosity: curiosity about ourselves as humans and how to use this innate skill to make positive change in our lives.

    Everyone has a habits both good and bad, but when they start restricting you becoming your best then something needs to be done about them. He says, if you could talk to yourself as a younger person what would you say to yourself and thank yourself for. It may be clichéd but it is also very telling, which begins the process of unravelling the many both good and bad habits gathered over the years.

    Luke Mathers talks from a personal basis as he managed to jettison an excellent career due to ‘habits’, which he was forced to confront and now uses this life lesson, along with evolutionary biology, neuroscience and Stoic philosophy to empower others to achieve their best.

    He uses the medium of humour, weird and wonderful facts, even Instagram, in conjunction with science to present the basis of change, what can be done and why you, or rather your brain, has decided that right where you are, in your zone of comfort, surrounded by your habits, is the right place to be, whether it is or not.

    Science and research says that at least between 40-70 percent of what we do is habitual, which is astonishing. Naturally, we like to keep the habits that make us feel warm and terrific and would love to get the ‘bad’ habits out of the way, but a dose of honesty is required to be able to reset the body and brain to achieve the best.

    Curious Habits: Why we do what we do and how to change Is certainly a book for the curious, those wondering why and the many who are simply ‘curious’ about how the body works.

  • The Chocolate Factory Ghost

    The Chocolate Factory Ghost

    Archie McBudge is just an ordinary sort of kid whose life has turned upside down recently. His father has died and he and his Mum are finding life different and not too great at all. He gets a letter from the lawyers asking them to travel to Honeystone Hall in Scotland to collect his inheritance.

    Of course he and his Mum are completely confused as to what could possibly be an inheritance, as the letter says ‘all his earthly possessions’, but what was it exactly that his as it turns out, Great Uncle Archibald McBudge, had to leave.

    When they get to the village of Dundoodle, deep in the remote highlands of Scotland they meet Mr Tatters, the lawyer, who tells Archie he has inherited the world famous McBudge Fudge Factory, all the shops, Honeystone Hall and a painting of Great Uncle Archibald, who while he may be dead, still has a part to play in Archie’s inheritance.

    Nothing though is a simple as it seems, as Archie has to discover the hidden secret to the fudge before he can legally claim his inheritance, as well as become Chief to the Clan of McBudge, a huge honour.

    David O’Connell has set the scene well for rip roaring mystery adventure filled with ghosts, good friends, bad relatives, mysterious happenings and a huge and possibly haunted house to keep the reader well entertained and guessing what is going to happen next.

    As this is what could be considered as the first book in a series, perhaps there is a little too much adventure to be found in the pages, but then there is the challenge of book two. What could possibly happen next as Archie’s seriously unpleasant relatives are not about to let Archie inherit all they consider they rightly deserve.

    Young readers will get a great deal of enjoyment out of this new adventure story with a very interesting cast of characters.

  • The Longevity List

    The Longevity List

    The list of what is good and what is not, marketed to encourage the modern person to live a long and productive life, is one that is continuously growing; but what is truth, fiction or good marketing is often difficult to discover and so we travel along, believing exactly what!

    Professor Merlin Thomas takes a number of the wonderful myths and realities of the longevity quest and places them firmly under the spotlight of common sense, exploding many, concurring on some and laughing at others, but all the while delivering a good dose of reality on how we choose to live, exercise and eat.

    Chocolate, beloved of pretty much everyone, is the first food item to be investigated with the myth of cutting down your consumption of chocolate will do wonders, under the microscope. Oh, dear!

    Each of the 17 items to come under scrutiny has its own chapter beginning with a number of the most common beliefs, such as, in the case of the hallowed Chocolate: Why is chocolate a bad thing? Answer – It isn’t (except for dogs) where it rates as a poison! Another common belief to be shattered is, ‘Can chocolate improve my sex life?’ Check out the answer.

    #4 Do I really have to….. Lose the Waist, answers so many questions we have never liked to ask, but always wonder about, such as beer bellies, man-boobs and why being overweight can be a killer.

    Cut of the Starch rates in at #8 and deals with carbs, GI, fibre and will eating the crust make the hair curl, which is an oldie but a goodie.

    Each of the chapters answers various regularly posed questions with humour and solid fact. In the case of Chicken Soup being used to cure a wide range of ailments from the common cold to the blues, sadly it has been proven it simply relates to eating something warm and wonderful, which is often better than anything else on those days when all you really want is a little bit of comfort food – warm, hot and delicious. Great for the mental health and comfort of the sufferer!

    Dipping into the various chapters as required will bring with it a serious and yet light hearted education encouraging you into taking a good look at you – the person who overeats chocolate, does not do enough exercise, is looking for a quick heath fix, loves Chicken Soup and concludes with the very real benefit of Finding Love, the perfect partner and finally answering the time old question, ‘Is there an elixir of love?’

    Professor Thomas suggests, should we really want to make changes in our life, changes which will aid a long and happy lifetime in good health, begin with a simple list of things needed to be done. With list there is a beginning and end which, as you strike out your latest successful achievement offers encouragement that you are one step closer to THE END of the list and a huge step closer to longevity.

  • The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

    The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

    Dragons are fearsome creatures who think nothing of having a delicious bit of human for dinner, or sending out a fiery breath simply to keep things in order down in the human world far, far below. 

    But what happens when you are considered far too young to venture forth, your scales have not hardened enough to protect you from the sharp arrows and you are bored, bored, bored with playing in the jewellery pile and the lovely, shiny, sparkling gold coin collection in the cave. Your brother, Jasper, who is older than you, is a nerd and no-one believes you are capable of being at least a little bit independent.

    Well of course you decide one afternoon, when the elders are all asleep, to take a risk and go along the tunnel that you know leads out of the safety of the mountain and simply have a look. But the look turns into far more when things begin to go horribly wrong.

    When Adventurine slips, tumbling down the mountainside, she realises she is in trouble but decides to try and take home something for her efforts. She scents a human and sets off to track him down. The young man, who as it turns out, is brewing something in a pot over the flames, is terrified she will eat him, but convinces her to let him share the special drink.

    One whiff of this rich, warm, dark velvety, chocolaty drink followed by a sip and then another sip, finds Adventurine hooked for life on chocolate. The chocolate drink has been spiked with magic, and when she comes too she discovers the young man is a food mage, and as all good dragons learn, mages and their magic are to be feared. She then discovers the magic is changing her from a dragon to a mortal, with her scales changing from the lovely vivid hues of a young dragon, to the boring, mundane colours of the human.

     And that is when her troubles really begin as she discovers she now has to survive in the horribly, awful, world full of strangers but can no longer work up a good blast of fire or a huge puff of hot air for protection. What is she to do!

    She finds herself a victim of greed and deceit, discovers a true friend in the most unlikely of places,  before she discovers the place she passionately wants to work, a place where she can learn more about the wonderful thing called chocolate that seems to have her under its spell.

    When chocolatier Marina, who makes the best chocolate in Drachenburg, and is co-owner of The Chocolate Heart, agrees to give Adventurine a try out as she has just sacked her last apprentice, her adventure into the very real world of humans begins.

    This is a wonderfully warm, rich, deliciously entertaining, tale based around the values of family love, true friendship, determination, consequences, and of course, the power of chocolate!

     

  • Holistic Nutrition

    Holistic Nutrition

    Any book that tells you to eat dark chocolate has to be good, indeed encourages you to eat chocolate, in moderation of course, is definitely good, but let us not digress, there is more to this than the simple things of life like chocolate; this is the handbook to good health and a happy lifestyle you may have been looking for. Straight up Kate Callaghan’s sense of humour comes to the surface when she states if you are looking for a quick fix to ‘washboard abs and a thigh gap’ put the book down and walk away because you won’t find it here.

    Should your particular goal in life be to lead a healthy, happy lifestyle, maintain a healthy weight, have hormones which are happy and behaving as they should, read on and enjoy the journey to good health.

    Speaking from experience Callaghan says following latest fitness trends, eating regimes and allowing the stress placed upon all women to always be slim, trim, fantastic and eventually overstress, does not do any favours for you, your health or your self-respect. All it does is lead you down the pathway to serious health issues which will eventually have to be corrected; particularly should you be a young woman trying to become pregnant, or an older woman struggling to understand the vagaries of menopause.

    In this well researched and presented guide to having a healthy, happy body, along with a healthy happy mind, regardless of your age, moderation is the key.   If you are a fitness nut, learn to train smart rather than run your body to exhaustion, if you are sedentary take a serious look at how much exercise you need a day to maintain a healthy balance. Eating correctly, which is not really that hard to manage, also plays a big part in healthy bodies and hormones and should also be considered, along with all other aspects of your lifestyle, such as sleep and simply having fun and enjoying what you are doing.

    Issues such as Carbs, to have or not to have, the Gut, the importance of maintaining a healthy gut, Protein, once again how much and the best source, Training, how much and how often and Stress Management are all explained well and comprehensively. If you did not ‘get it’ before, you most certainly will understand these important aspects of health after you have read the chapters.

    Callaghan advocates that a balanced approach to your health is required, which as you progress through what could be considered a retraining manual for the rest of your life, you will understand that ‘wellness’ is the new happiness and should be taken seriously, but also with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour and a down to earth manner, to help you keep the balance on your journey to a happy, healthy woman who is totally enjoying life.