Running With Arthritis - A Guide.

I've inherited my terrible joints from both sides of my family - I suffer from osteoarthritis in my knees, hips and spine, have hypermobility in most of my joints and my knees sit in the wrong place. Despite this, I love to run and generally be active, so I've compiled my top tips for running with arthritis, which I've found have worked well for me over the years.

Consult a doctor or physiotherapist. I can't stress this enough - I'm lucky enough to live in the UK and have free treatment on the NHS, but even if you don't have free healthcare, please do consult your doctor or physiotherapist. It's the most important thing - they will know whether or not your joints can tolerate the impact, if you should be on any other medication or supplements to help you, and any other considerations you should be taking into account - for example, I need to ensure that certain muscles don't get "too" strong and pull my knees further out of place.

Set a goal. I found this really helpful, because it allowed me to build up my activity and vary it according to how my joints were feeling. My ultimate aim is to run a marathon when I'm old enough, but this year I'll be running the Birmingham Half Marathon, and last year, I focused on 5km races (ParkRun is brilliant for these) and longer runs at my own pace, allowing me to run according to how painful my joints were, vary the intensity of my training and, of course, build up my mileage.

Strength train. Training with weights gives your muscles and bones a break from the repetitive motion of running, and it's especially useful for those of us with osteoarthritis - running too often can further wear the bone and cartilage down, making the pain worse. Another great thing about strength training for arthritis sufferers is that having strong muscles can help to alleviate some of the stress on the joints - in particular the knees. If you're seeing a physiotherapist, ask them about the best kinds of strength training you can do for your specific issues and activity level - as I said, I can't work on my outer quads (vastus lateralis) too much because of my knee positioning, and you yourself may have underlying issues like this, so it's important to seek professional advice.

Take it slow. Nobody expects you to go from nothing to running marathons in the space of a couple of months - even people without arthritis or joint problems would struggle to do this, and arthritis can, of course, be quite a setback - but it doesn't mean that you can't build up to running the same times as people with healthier joints! If your joints are especially bad one day, take a rest day - don't just neck a load of painkillers and run regardless. Pain is your body's way of telling you to stop - don't ignore it!

Nutrition & Supplements. I certainly find that, if my nutrition isn't in check, my joints feel far worse. Check that you're getting the right vitamins and minerals from your food, and if you have a diet which means you can't get these very easily (e.g; vegetarian), take supplements to get your RDA of everything. There are also some joint supplements which I've found to help - glucosamine sulphate is what most people find to work best, but there are tonnes on the market, so just find out what works for you.

Posture. Constantly checking your posture when you're running reduces the strain on your joints - it's particularly important if you have issues with other joints, such as your back and shoulders. Search Google for a guide on how you should be running, and try and stick to it as best as you can - it'll soon become natural to you, and you'll be able to run less painfully and without a lot of thought to it!

Good trainers. Trainers are the most important piece of running kit you'll ever own. Don't skimp on them. Get fitted at a proper running shop, have your gait analysed if possible - the way you run (specifically the way your feet land) affects all of your joints, and it's a big factor, for me at least, in the way my arthritis and other joint conditions affect me. You can get trainers which themselves correct your gait, or insoles from a pharmacy or podiatrist to do it, and running with a good gait helps to alleviate the pain from the arthritis.
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So, there are my top tips on running with arthritis (and a variety of other joint conditions!). Let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions for me to try out!

Reasons Not To Vote UKIP

Ah, UKIP, how I love thee. Non-homophobic (comparing equal marriage to incest, and stating that homosexuality is - and I quote - "not a lifestyle worthy of valid equal respect"), non-sexist (women with children "are worth far less" to businesses than men), and, let us not forget, non-racist (Lenny Henry "should go back to a black country"). As the European Elections draw closer, we are reminded how British politics could change for good, should people fall for their scaremongering. So, before you make your big decision, here are ten reasons why I, for one, shall never be a UKIP voter.

1 - Increasing defence spending whilst cutting public services.
Please don't get me wrong on this - my youngest stepbrother is in the Armed Forces, so I'm in no way anti-military. I just cannot see for the life of me how it is that a party can think that, when there are people sat on the streets who can't afford housing or food, it's a good idea to buy a load of aircraft carriers, just so that more unnecessary wars can be started and more lives can be lost. This is not the nineteenth century. Britain does not have an empire to win/protect/oppress, or any need for such a colossal and disproportionate increase in defence spending, whilst cutting education.

2 - MEPs who turn up to the European Parliament just 43% of the time.
Surely this one explains itself. If anybody in the real world had such a ridiculously low attendance rate to their job, they'd be sacked without a doubt. So why do we think it's acceptable for these politicians? Nigel Farage, for example, collects an annual EU salary of over £80,000 and, to date, has claimed more than £2 million in expenses. Wondering where our EU payments are going? Look no further than Mr Farage and his cohorts.

3 - Sexism.
I could make so many points on this that it would be a post in itself - some of UKIP's oh-so-brilliant ideas to date include scrapping paid maternity leave (because pushing a human being out of your vagina isn't at all difficult, and to Mr Farage's mind, women who want a family are "worth far less"), relaxing the law on rape to give more lenient sentences to men who rape their wives (because, according to a top party donor, wives have a duty to have sex with their husbands at any given moment), and MEPs who refused to back the EU resolution for equal pay for both genders. Can you imagine if any of the three "main" Government parties had policies like this, or candidates and donors with these extremist, sexist, discriminatory views? Why is that acceptable for UKIP?

4 - Climate Change.
UKIP intend to scrap all action on climate change - according to them, it just isn't happening! Let me phrase it to you like this - would you rather see some wind turbines on a hill or a sodding great power plant? Which is more harmful to the air you inhale? But according to UKIP members, the recent UK floods were caused solely by the backing of equal marriage by the government, not the jet stream changing course because of humankind's mindless consumption of energy.

5 - Made Up Statistics.
29 million Bulgarians and Romanians coming to the UK would be an excellent example, I feel. Five months into 2014, these people are yet to arrive, but apparently, they're coming for us - whatever that means.

6 - Scaremongering.
"Whose job are they after?". Well, I fully agree that immigrants could very easily take jobs in Britain if they're suitably qualified and willing to do the work - and no, this isn't business being "anti-Britain". This is business wanting the best employees for the job. If they were really worried about immigrants "driving down wages", they could campaign to have the minimum wage increased and enforced. If they were really worried, they'd have policies to ensure that British people could win these jobs, by having the best training and education - although UKIP would rather like to cut education spending and buy some lovely new war toys for Mr Farage to play with.

7 - Islam.
The so-called "Islamification" of Britain is, according to UKIP, a great problem. They want to ban the burkha - but they think that the opposite; the objectification of women every single day in publications such as The Sun, The Star and Loaded, is acceptable. Many Muslim women CHOOSE to wear a hijab or burkha - they're free to do so, in this free country. But women are pressured into getting their tits out for a newspaper or magazine, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is acceptable, apparently. If UKIP were truly as libertarian as they claim, they wouldn't want to ban women from dressing a certain way. And perhaps women wouldn't feel that they had to if they didn't live in a country where women are pressured into getting their tits out and displaying them for the pleasure of menfolk.

8 - Homophobia.
UKIP don't support equal marriage, even if churches are not forced into performing the ceremonies. Their candidate for the Newark by-election said that homosexuality was "abnormal and undesirable". As mentioned earlier, a member also blamed flooding on the legalisation of equal marriage. This would not be acceptable if it was in the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat party - and they aren't acceptable in a modern society, whatsoever.

9 - Cutting NHS Spending.
The simple fact of the NHS today is that we don't have enough healthcare professionals. That's why you have to wait so long to see your GP, or a specialist, or to have surgery. But UKIP appear convinced that it's possible for the NHS to improve with less money - meaning less nurses, doctors and surgeons, so longer waiting times and worse standards of care. The problems in hospitals of late are due, in part, to how pushed workers are - hit targets, fill in paperwork, look after an unrealistic amount of patients. That's why the NHS is failing. And voting UKIP can only make it worse.

10 - Elitism.
More grammar schools - that's one of UKIP's main education policies. Now, I go to a grammar school, but I studied at state comprehensives up until Sixth Form, and I can honestly say that my experience of the grammar school system is that it's elitist, completely anti-working class, and utterly stuck in the 1950s. Why is it that we think it's a good idea to entirely write off 11 year old children, based on their performance in ONE exam (which students with rich parents can be tutored to pass), and tell those who fail that they're never going to amount to much, because they didn't perform well enough on that one day when they were ten or eleven years old? It's ridiculous. And, may I ask, what does the privately educated Nigel Farage know about the real world of state education?

Toying With Veganism

For as long as I can remember, I've been a vegetarian - mainly on ethical grounds, but as I've got older, I've also realised the health benefits of not eating meat or fish, which is why I'm currently toying with the idea of veganism - better skin, improved digestion and less fat in my diet, just for starters.

Personally, I find that eating a lot of animal products - dairy in particular - doesn't agree with my body in the slightest. If I've been overindulging in products which contain dairy, I definitely find that I have far less energy, and that my skin looks much, much worse - after all, it's not particularly natural to drink the milk of another animal, and milk actually contains pus cells very much the same as those in spots (yeah, that put me off having a glass, too!). I'm also quite against the whole animal welfare side of it, too - which is why, when I buy milk, butter or cream, I always ensure that I'm buying it from the most ethical source possible, such as a local farm where I know for a fact that the animal welfare standards are high.

In fairness, I don't really use a lot of dairy - it seems strange to me, drinking and eating the milk of an animal, mainly due to the fact that I'm not actually a calf. The only dairy products I really use are butter (as an Irish girl, it's practically a diet staple to have a great hulk of soda bread and butter) the occasional bit of cream, in or with cakes, and milk in my tea - but, shock horror, I actually drink more herbal tea than the conventional cuppa nowadays, so I use very little in the way of milk. I do find the whole concept of dairy a little repulsive to say the least, which is why I try and avoid it as much as possible - I use almond milk in everything I can, and have soya yoghurt with my granola in the mornings, and I think, with a little willpower, I could probably cut it out all together quite easily.

My main issue, I'd say, is eggs. They're in Quorn products (vegan Quorn sadly doesn't exist in the UK), all sorts of baked goods (including an awful lot of healthy breakfast recipes such as banana pancakes) and they're a great source of protein for me after a long run or a tough gym session, and I'm yet to find a suitable alternative (though I am toying with the idea of egg substitute for baking). I'm not particularly enamoured with the idea of eating them - in concept, at least - but I've never really found enough products that don't contain them. As I said about dairy, I always get products from places where the animals are well treated - our neighbours have chickens, so we often buy eggs from them.

Over the next few months, I'll be experimenting with different vegan ingredients and recipes - and I'll post my findings and favourites on here as and when I find them. I tried some vegan French toast this morning, which was a surprising success, and as my aunt is vegan, she's a great source of knowledge on the best vegan products around. I even invested in a Vegan Baking book the other day on a bit of a whim, so I'll be trying those recipes out on my family, heaven help them!

Are you vegan, or thinking about becoming vegan? Let me know about your favourite products and recipes in the comments - it'd be really helpful as a vegan amateur!

Review - Laura Mercier Mineral Powder

I'm a nightmare when it comes to foundations - too much coverage, too many ingredients that I can't pronounce or, should all other requirements be met, the shade is almost always wrong.

So enter the Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Soft Porcelain - not too dark, too yellow, too pink, too heavy, containing too many weird ingredients which I can't pronounce, or too messy to apply. I've been wanting a new mineral foundation for a while, having settled into just using a bit of concealer set with translucent powder - I was looking for something to give me a little bit more coverage, but still look natural. So I wandered into Space NK and had a cursory glance around, before finding this powder on display. I was matched to Soft Porcelain - the lightest, neutral shade - and bought the pressed powder - as one of the sales assistants pointed out, I'd probably have ended up hoovering out my handbag every week if I had the loose powder knocking around in there.

I apply this over my under-eye corrector (Bobbi Brown Corrector) and concealer (Collection Lasting Perfection), using a Real Techniques buffing brush, and it gives just the perfect amount of coverage - it's difficult to describe, but it gives a pretty flawless finish on me, whilst still looking incredibly natural and "glowy". Because I have slightly oily skin, I like to mattify my T-zone using Vichy Dermablend powder, but if you have drier skin than me, this wouldn't be at all necessary - the glow is beautiful, but it's not a look that really suits me!

The mineral powder has wonderful longevity - I took the dog on a three hour walk in the countryside, and when I came back, only my hair looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards; my makeup still fully intact. It contains SPF 15, which is enough for some people on a daily basis, but I do prefer to apply a higher factor beneath my makeup because I'm as pale as a ghost, so I burn pathetically quickly.

My only issue is the price - £31 for 8.1 grams seems a bit steep to me, but I'm willing to let that slide due to the fact that a little of this product does go a long way, and I'm sure my little compact will last me a fairly long time due to this and the staying power of the powder.

So overall, I'm very impressed with my first foray into Laura Mercier products - the shade is perfect, and it looks incredibly natural for a foundation. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anybody on the lookout for a new foundation!