Peanut butter lovers...this one's for you 🥜♥️

Peanut butter cookies (no added sugar)

I've said many times I'm not one of those accurate cheffy type recipe creators who weighs everything accurately - crazy me. This was another 'let's make it up as we go along' recipe. But it turned out pretty good. Don't be scared to experiment when it comes to cooking - what's the worst that can happen?
Stevia is a sugar alternative that is one of the better alternative sweeteners. It's a natural South American sweetener that is around 30-40 times sweeter than sugar gram for gram. Like all 'new' health products, the verdict is still out on the overall health benefits but there are no known side effects currently known unless eaten in excessive quantities. As it contains zero calories, it may be a healthy option for those trying to lose weight and diabetics. That said, this recipe would still be fairly low sugar if you switch for regular sugar.

Ingredients: Makes 16 small cookies

100g oats (I used M&S Scottish whole oats)
100g peanut butter (I used Whole earth crunchy but you could use anyone you like)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
splash of milk or milk alternative
4 tbsp stevia (or sugar)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more if your a big fan).

Cream the peanut butter and stevia (this means whip it up in a frenzy!). Then add the egg and keep the frenzy going. Next add the oats, baking powder and milk. If you want less 'flapjacky' cookies this is where you can put everything into a food processor so you get a smoother cookie. Otherwise mix well.
Lightly grease a baking sheet with coconut oil or butter and put drops of the cooking mixture onto the tray. Cook in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for around 8-12 minutes (depending if you want flapjacky or crunchy!). Cool on a wire tray.

A day in the life on a Pilates retreat!

This year will be the fifth year that I'll be returning to the beautiful island of Mallorca to run my Pilates and nutrition retreats. Each time I come back I fall in love a little more with the island. As a teenager I’d had family holidays to the Balearics but it wasn’t until I returned for my first retreat to Deia with Bloom Retreats that I truly appreciated how special a place it really is. 

Deia, now famous for being the location for filming of the Night Manager is a stunning artists’ village, a world away from hectic city life. Everyone notices this special, tranquility almost immediately. 

What does a typical day involve? 

8.30am

Wake up and have a cuppa and a snack (yes we serve real tea and real coffee - I'm a big advocate of balance and enjoyment so there are no strict rules on what you can and can’t have on our retreats!). 

8.45am

Make our way to our beautiful Pilates spot outside by the pool or in the holistic garden. The temperature is usually perfect at this time in the morning and we do our Pilates class listening to the sounds of cockerels, donkeys and cicadas. 

The first Pilates class of the day is a chance to energise, stretch and get ready for the day - whether that is a day of lounging by the pool or a day hiking in the nearby mountain range. Either way, you take it at your own pace. 

10am 

After class we’ve all worked up an appetite so we go straight to brunch, which has been prepared by the amazing Monika.  This typically consists of local fruit, goats cheese, avocado, grilled tomatoes, my homemade granola and a selection of local breads. 

11am 

There are optional activities during the day - one of my favourites being a walk over the mountains to a gorgeous port called Soller. We stop for fresh orange juice on the way at a stunning rest point and once we get to Soller we have a picnic on the beach (or some people prefer to choose some local tapas). 

3pm 

In the afternoon those who want to can hire paddle boards in the sheltered bay of Soller - it’s the perfect place to try paddle boarding for those who haven't before.

Once we get home at around 6 everyone is usually pretty exhausted so we have a gentle stretch and relax before another delicious dinner cooked by our incredible professional holistic chef Nicola (www.nourishbynicola.com) 

Ruth’s retreats in Deia runs will be from the 18th - 24th May (6 nights) and the 1st - 7th October (6 nights).  Prices start at £875 for a shared room. For more information please visit www.ruthtongue.com or email ruth@ruthtongue.com

Pumpkin pie smoothie bowl

As you can see from previous blog posts I'm a little obsessed with pumpkin pie - I think it's the mix of the spicy, creamy and sweet that gets all my taste buds tingling.

Now obviously we can't have pumpkin pie for breakfast (well, not every day anyway) so as I had some Libby's pumpkin cans in my cupboard I thought I'd experiment with a pumpkin pie smoothie bowl. And it was so good. And quick. It's definitely going to be the bridge between my summer smoothies and wintery porridge bowls.

Ingredients:

100g tinned pumpkin (1/4 of a can)
300ml almond milk (or any other milk of choice)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
sprinkling of ground ginger
a drop of vanilla essence
1 tbsp chia seeds (this makes it nice and thick and more smoothie bowl than smoothie)
1/4 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I just used this for the sweetener but you could use 1/2 tsp of stevia or add more protein powder for a bigger protein boost)
Cacao nibs and dessicated coconut to sprinkle on top

Blitz all the ingredients in a nutri-bullet or high powered blender for around 30 seconds.

Pilates in the Wilderness

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited back to teach Pilates at Wilderness festival and what a weekend it was!

Outfit by LuLu Lemon

I'd been up-graded to the big top and pitched as a 'master class' so nerves were a little higher than usual - especially when I arrived and saw that both classes were sold out. But once I got into the beautiful Sanctuary yurt where I'd be teaching I knew that it was going to be FUN!

Friday afternoon's class was an energising core strengthener to get everyone ready for the weekend but by the Saturday's class I focused more on those stretches needed when you've been sleeping in a tent for two nights (lots of spine twists and neck releases!).

My favourite part of teaching was seeing such a range of people - from mums and daughters, to couples, to hen do's and people just turning up for a lie down!

Other highlights from the weekend were a SUP yoga class with Rosie Markwick on the lake, a Rocket yoga class with the brilliant Marcus Veda and of course loads of dancing with my girls. Oh and how could I forget? The salted caramel espresso martini from the Lavazza tent was to die for.

Glitter courtesy of the Mermaid Cave

Outfit courtesy of Jilla Active

Recovery time with sis

Worst part of camping - glamping next year!

Retreat recipes - vegan energy balls

There's no need to fork out on expensive healthy vegan snacks when you can whip some up in minutes. The best bit about these nutritious protein balls is that you can substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you find in your cupboard or supermarket (within reason of course). One of our attendees suggested adding rum to the cacao balls, not a bad shout!

We made ours using the amazing Vitamix  but you can use any high powered food processor or blender.

Most of these will keep in the fridge for around a week, or can be frozen.





Simple apricot coconut balls

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of soft dried apricots (or if using the harder ones, soak in a little boiling water for around an hour before to plump up!)

½ cup desiccated coconut

An additional ¼ cup of desiccated coconut

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

Blend the apricots and 1/2 cup of coconut in a food processor, until they are combined and smooth in texture. You may need to add a little extra water.

Place the additional ¼ cup of coconut onto a tray or large plate.

Roll the apricot mixture into balls (about a heaped teaspoon per ball). Place the balls onto the tray where you put the additional coconut. Roll the balls until they’re all covered in coconut. Serve straight away or place the apricot balls into an air tight container and refrigerate.


Lime and matcha bites 

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted cashews

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Juice and zest of 2 limes

2 tablespoons syrup (malt, honey, coconut)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder (optional)


Blend all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Roll into small balls and place on aluminium foil on a baking sheet. Refrigerate until set and keep refrigerated until ready to eat. You can roll in extra desiccated coconut to finish.

Apple pie bites

Ingredients

1 cup pecans or walnuts

1 cup dried unsweetened apple rings (or 2 fresh apples, decored and quartered)

¾ cup pitted dates

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch of himalayan salt

1/2 tsp ginger


If using fresh apple, blitz in the food processor and place between a few sheets of kitchen roll to absorb the excess moisture. Break the nuts down in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until a dough forms. Roll into balls. Refrigerate.

Raw cacao coffee truffles

Ingredients

1 cup pitted Medjool dates (about 15 whole dates)

½ cup almonds or other nuts

¼ cup raw cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder if you can’t find raw)

2 tablespoons ground coffee

1 tablespoon chia seeds or other seeds (optional)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla essence


Combine all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until the almonds are in very small pieces and the mixture holds together when squeezed. Using wet hands, form into twelve 1-inch balls.

Stop and reassess

What are you doing for yourself? 

It’s all too easy, particularly in the run up to Christmas to put ourselves at the back of the queue when it comes to priorities - the yoga classes go out of the window, the festive food and drinks flow, sleep is at times just an added bonus, and the stresses of managing a personal life, work life and holding everything together can at times feel too much. 

On top of this, when we’ve finally made it through the stress of Christmas and New Year we’re told we should be hitting the gym, cutting out carbs and making plans to take over the world in 2017. 

So let’s just stop for a minute. Stop and reassess.

When was the last time you had a day for you? A whole day dedicated just to you. Where you weren't thinking about your kids, or partner, or work, or friends, or where you weren’t thinking about fitting in that run before going to a nephew’s birthday party and then rushing round the shops before they closed? The chances are it’ll probably be a while ago. 

We’ve got the perfect way to start your year with some well deserved self-love. What does this mean? It means looking after you so that you can be the best possible version of yourself for 2017. Benefitting not just you, but everyone else around you.

I’ve teamed up with two amazing women, Lucy Faulks, life coach, meditation and mindfulness practitioner and founder of Technotox and Tanja Mrnhaus, leading stylist at IDCouture to put together a day you’ll leave feeling inspired, motivated and a whole lot healthier in body and mind! And we’re not only bringing this day to London, but also to Manchester. 

Reflect, Recharge, Redefine will be held on Saturday 28th January at the Greenhouse in Homerton. A day combining Pilates led by myself, confidence and styling workshops with Tanja, mindfulness meditation and personal goal setting for 2017 with Lucy, vegan cookery, healthy food and drinks provided by CPress all day and the chance to meet some other like minded people.

Reflect, Recentre, Recharge will be held on Sunday 8 January at Yoga Central in Manchester.
A day combining Pilates and a ‘food for mood’ workshop to ensure you’re eating the right foods to maintain optimum health and energy. Mindfulness meditation for stress reduction and a values and meaning workshop to set personal, meaningful goals for 2017, plus healthy food and drinks provided.  Sponsored by Northern Power Women. 

The details

Where? London - The Greenhouse, Homerton. 

Manchester - Manchester Yoga Central 

When? London - Saturday 28th January, 10am - 4.30pm

Manchester - Sunday 8th January 11-4.30pm

Tickets? Are limited so get yours here 

London https://redefine2017.eventbrite.co.uk

Manchester https://recentreandrecharge.eventbrite.co.uk

About the organisers:

Ruth Tongue

One of the Sport Stylist ambassadors, Ruth Tongue is an MSc qualified nutritionist and STOTT Pilates teacher and has been working in health and wellness for over 10 years. She works with athletes, footballers, children and businesses to improve diet and health. As a nutritionist and health expert, Ruth contributes to many national and international publications such as Top Sante magazine, Running Fitness magazine and Women’s Fitness, as well as regularly appearing as a nutrition and health expert for the BBC. Ruth teaches Pilates across London as well as running regular retreats and events in Mallorca, the South of France and most recently Mexico! 

www.ruthtongue.com ruth@ruthtongue.com 

Lucy Faulks

Lucy Faulks is CPCC life coach and member of the ICF, running coaching programmes for both businesses and private clients. She Founded Technotox - A Wellness Centre for the Mind in 2015 and runs workshops, courses and classes on emotional wellbeing and the building blocks of happiness. She is also a mindfulness practitioner and has written articles for Everyday Mindfulness and Mindspace. 

www.lucyfaulks.com | www.technotox.com 

Aubergine and lentil curry (quick I promise!)

Today was a lazy work from home pyjama Monday - that means I couldn't be bothered to leave the house and stock up the fridge. SO it was a case of Ready Steady Cook - what could I make with red lentils, onions, celery, aubergine, chopped tomatoes and a cupboard full of spices. It had to be curry. And this one took less than 45 minutes from start to finish and was super simple.


Ingredients: Enough for 4 servings

1 onion, chopped,
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 inch ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1 aubergine, cut into chunks
2 cups red lentils
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp curry paste (I only had red thai curry paste in the fridge but any would work!)
1 tsp garam masala powder (or regular curry powder)
1 pinch of Himalayan rock salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp coconut sugar (or any other sugar or sweetener - honey or granulated sugar would be fine!)
1 tbsp coconut oil
Any other veg you want to add!

Method:

1. Rinse the lentils and cover with water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for around 15-20 minutes until soft.
2. In the meantime, melt the coconut oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, celery, garlic and ginger. Saute for around 10 minutes over a low heat.
3. Then add the aubergine (if you've had time, salt these first to draw out some of the moisture and then rinse salt off before adding). Cook over low heat for around 5 - 7 minutes (adding a little water if starts to dry out).
4. Next stir in the curry paste, spices, salt and sugar. Cook for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes and cooked lentils. Stir well, cover and cook over a low heat for around 15-20 minutes.
5. Serve with fresh coriander and your choice of veg, rice, chapatti or alone with a dollop of natural yogurt - call me weird but I also like to add a poached egg to my curries!

Tomato soup with a kick

Whenever I'm ill or feeling in need of a hug in a mug (oh god, did I actually just write that? yes i did) Heinz or Campbells Tomato soup is the only thing that does it for me. But feeling virtuous today I decided to make my own tomato and lentil soup. Obviously with added chilli as I am a chilli addict.
Really easy to make and can be frozen or kept in the fridge for a few days.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 celery sticks, roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

150g split red lentils

1.2 litres reduced salt vegetable stock

400g can plum tomatoes 

2 tsp tomato purée

1 tsp dried chilli (less if you don't like the hit)

Any dried herbs you'd like to add (I used something called 'Grandma's salt' from Tiger of all places!)

Method:

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat for 7–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften. Stir in the celery and carrot and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, cumin, chilli and coriander and cook for a further minute, stirring constantly.

Add the lentils, stock, tomatoes with their juice and tomato purée . Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then half-cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 25–30 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are soft. Blend using a stick blender and serve!

Kicks n Giggs

So last night I was invited to the Asics Secret Gig at uber cool Mangle in Hackney.

There'd been a lot of hype about who the top secret headliner was going to be - and I wasn't disappointed. Well..to be honest, once I'd googled him I wasn't disappointed (massively showing my age and lack of musical cred right now).

With the moscow mules flowing, and my amazing new Asics Gel Chameleon trainers in hand (they actually change colour), Giggs appeared and the night took off.

I was obviously more interested in the photo booth ;-)

But heading home before midnight, just call me Cinderella meant that I was up bright and early for tennis game in my new kicks.

I am beautiful cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 egg

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup spelt flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp vanilla protein powder (optional)

1 tbsp lucuma powder

1/4 cup honey, coconut sugar or sugar of choice

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

2 tbsp I Am Beautiful superfood blend (you could also use raw cacao or superfood powder of choice)

1 tbsp raw cacao nibs (optional)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)

Method

Beat the coconut oil, egg and sugar. Then add the rest of the ingredients, adding as much or little of milk as needed. You want the mixture to be sticky but not runny. 

Grease a large baking sheet with coconut oil and drop cookie dough onto sheet. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C (350 F) for around 12 minutes - until edges are golden brown. 

About

I Am Beautiful Powder is a blend of 13 beautifying superfoods - it contains pea protein, rosehip, lucuma, camu camu, goji berry, acai, beetroot, green leaf stevia, matcha, moringa, sea buckthorn, schizandra and shilajit. It’s 100% vegan and contains just 34 calories per serving. It makes a great addition to smoothies, porridge, juices, or is perfect for baking! Get yours here www.naomis.kitchen

Berry-coco cheesecake — probiotic, raw, vegan, check.

This weekend I hung out with my fab friend and amazing pro chef Nicola Orr and we got stuck into some recipe planning and testing for my upcoming retreat in Mallorca!  

We’re both big fans of cakes with more to offer than a sugar hit so we tried a probiotic, raw, vegan blueberry cheesecake. And trust me - it tastes better than it sounds!

Why raw? 

While I wouldn’t recommend a fully raw diet, eating plenty of raw foods means you’ll benefit from eating whole, unprocessed foods which have the maximum nutrients in tact. Cooking and other processing techniques often destroys many vitamins and minerals that - vitamin C found in blueberries for example is destroyed by heat. 

Why probiotic? 

Probiotics are the lovely friendly bacteria that help to keep all of your body’s functions in check. These bacteria help to fight the ‘bad’ bacteria in the body (particularly in the gut), reduce inflammation, and they’ve even been shown to boost happiness and mental health and help you to stay a healthy weight!

Probiotics are found in foods in natural yogurt and kefir, tempeh and miso and fermented pickles like kimchi. This cake uses a probiotic capsule which is then left overnight with the cashew nuts to ferment - so not only are you benefiting from probiotic bacteria, but the fermentation also starts to break down the nuts so they're easier to digest! 

So how did we do it? (Recipe adapted from oosha.co.uk) Serves 12

For the filling:

250g cashew nuts

1 tsp probiotic powder (or 2 capsules)

water to blend

150g xylitol or coconut sugar

25ml lemon juice

50g cacao butter

50g coconut oil

1 serving of blueberry jam (see section below)

• Soak 250g cashew nuts in water for a couple of hours. 
• Blend with 1 tsp of probiotic powder (or if you have capsules, 2 capsules) and a little water. I used a strong food processor but you could also use a Nutri Buller/Ninja. 
• Keep blending until smooth - stirring the edges when needed. This takes longer than you think!
• Transfer to a bowl and cover with clingfilm (pressing film right down on cashew mix) and keep in a warm place overnight.

To make the crust:

150g mixed nuts

150g desiccated coconut


75g coconut sugar

2 tbsp lucuma (optional but gives it added sweetness and an extra anti-oxidant boost!)

1 tsp vanilla essence or powder (optional)

25g cacao butter, melted

15g coconut oil, melted

60ml water

Press down into tin

In your high powered food processor or blender, blitz the nuts but keep a bit of chunk. In a large bowl stir in the coconut and then add the lucuma, vanilla, melted cacao butter and coconut oil. Adding enough water to make mixture sticky but still crumble-like. Using your hands mix it all well. 

Line a springform tin with clingfilm and then press the mixture down until really compact and then put in the freezer to harden while you finish the filling. 

To make the blueberry jam:

Stir jam regularly

250g frozen blueberries

juice of 1 and a half lemon

zest of one and a half lemons

25g xylitol or coconut sugar

In a heavy based saucepan, add all of the ingredients and heat over a medium heat for around 30 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid burning. You want most of the liquid to evaporate so you end up with a thick jam-like texture. Leave to cool.

For the filling:

Blend cashew with jam

Put your fermented cashew mix in the blender and add the blueberry jam. Blend well. Then pour in your melted cacao butter, coconut oil and lemon juice. Keep blending until you have a really smooth texture (you don't want a grainy cheesecake). Taste and add a little more lemon or zest if needed (we added more as it was quite sweet). 

Pour into tin

Pour the filling onto the crust and then freeze for around 4 hours. When ready to serve, decorate with a little coconut and fresh blackberries or blueberries. 

Enjoy x 

Is 'clean-eating' all that's wrong with our attitude to food?

Many of you will have seen the BBC One doc last night 'Clean Eating's Dirty Secrets' and as a nutritionist with a qualification not bought off the internet ;-) I thought I'd share my thoughts on the #cleaneating phenomenon.

Eating Clean has taken over from veganism, raw food and Paleo in the 'buzz diets' of 2016 and you only have to take a look at Instagram to see how many people have jumped on the clean bandwagon. But what does eating clean actually mean?

There's no one set definition but clean eaters generally avoid the following:

• refined sugar 
• wheat
• dairy
• gluten
• alcohol
• caffeine
• any processed foods

The hardcore clean eaters will also not eat any animal products, grains and certain types of higher sugar fruit or vegetables. Others will eat animal products providing they're organic, grass-fed or free-range.

So in essence, many of the concepts of 'clean eating' are pretty sensible - eat whole foods, avoid processed foods, and don't drink too much caffeine or alcohol. All good so far.

What isn't so good (in my opinion) is the use of the word 'clean'. This implies that any food not on the 'ok list' is somehow dirty, sinful, unpure, bad, naughty and should come laden with guilt. With so many pressures already on us, do we really need to be feeling bad because we had a glass of wine after work or a slice of white non-spelt real toast for breakfast with actual bacon and actual ketchup?
And on the flip side should we feel any purer, better, more worthy than others because we had a green smoothie for breakfast rather than a croissant?

Unfortunately I do agree with the BBC doc that the extreme clean eaters are suffering from a new kind of eating disorder and due to the sheer number of followers it now seems that these obsessive habits have been normalised. So while I'm not saying that following the general principles of 'clean eating' is harmful, to stick to them so rigidly that you feel guilty if you don't, to miss out on a social life because it doesn't fit with your food plan,  to harm your long term health for short term gains and to miss eating the foods you actually love, definitely isn't good for your health or happiness.

While I may be guilty of posting #proteinbites #greenjuice  on #instafood from time to time I would always hope that my message of happiness over denial and balance and moderation over strict rules is the one that shines through.

I'd love if we could ban the phrase 'clean eating' and let's get back to focusing on enjoying the foods in a way that we know that will make us feel good now and in the future - whether that's chocolate or cauliflower rice!

I'd love to know your thoughts on this too - feel free to comment below.

How the body responds to the mind

The body is not stupid - in fact, it's pretty damn clever.

I've been thinking a lot recently about the link between what's going on in our heads and how that manifests itself in our bodies.

This past couple of weeks I've never felt such a strong link between physical and emotional happiness - and it's even made me reassess my whole outlook when it comes to what I'm practising, and preaching.

Over the past week, without going into too much detail, I haven't been the happiest of bunnies - and this has triggered a week long sore throat and lingering cold, a spasmed lower back (that I've never had before), breakouts, dry skin and poor sleep. *Plays small violin*

What's so interesting is the change in these conditions (particularly the pain) when I'm around positive, loving people, or listening to my favourite music (old school garage of course). Yet the increase in pain when I'm alone, feeling sad, or around people giving off negative vibes is way more than just a coincidence.

This is something that was spoken about at a great workshop I went to on Friday night, led by Tanya Goodman Bailey of The Belly Love Method. (Yes it was a wild Friday night out, exploring my digestion!) Tanya highlighted so many interesting links between digestive health and emotions, the management of pain, and simple techniques such as singing and using body scans to reduce and even eliminate pain completely.

While it's nothing new, the idea that your body is simply a reflection of your mental wellbeing, and that we can actually not only create pain, but also eliminate pain with the power of the mind, it's made me even more passionate that when it comes to health promotion if we can address what's going on in our minds, the rest will just follow naturally.

So with that in mind, I'm off to meditate for a few minutes before dinner with some people I love.

Here's to a happy mind in 2016.

Ruth xxx

My Sunday hanging out with Martina - Aloha!

Last Sunday I was lucky enough to be invited by Maui Jim sunglasses to the Wimbledon Club for a day of tennis, cream tea and sunglasses - how could I refuse?!

On arrival the weather was looking a bit dodgy but luckily we were provided with tea, sandwiches, and a whole host of cakes before having to head out onto the courts - I'm pretty sure this is how Roger prepares for most of his big games. I made sure I wasn't snapped devouring the red velvet cake, us nutritionists have a rep to protect!

So carb-loaded and raring to go (I managed to resist the pre-match Pimms), we headed down onto the courts where the pocket rocket that is Martina Hingis was waiting to whip us into tip top tennis shape.   What a power house she is - you can see why despite being half the size of Serena and Venus she's just won two doubles titles at Wimbledon this year having come out of retirement for the second time!

Showing Martina how it's done!

We then sweated it out on the courts for a couple of hours - no wonder tennis players have such amazing legs, it really is quite a workout! By which time we'd earned some well deserved Pimms and more cake, strawberries and cream (Sundays are nutritionist's days off ;-) )

We were then treated to our choice of the gorgeous Maui Jim sunglasses (could this day get any better?!)

Oh yes it could, Hawaiian dancing anyone?

 A fantastic day all round and I've genuinely not taken off my Maui Jim's since - love them! http://www.mauijim.com If you're not familiar with them.

Thanks to everyone at Maui Jim and the Wimbledon club - and well done Martina for doing the double this weekend! (I knew my coaching tips would pay off).