Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, September 4, 2023 i Woman's Own

I love a quiz, and I can bet that the one on p22 – What really turns you on? (ooh la la!) – will be an eye-opener for many. On p28, we’ve got no-needle facelifts – the simple skincare tweaks that make a big difference. I read this one twice! And, on p44, whisk yourself away to sunnier climes with a look at adventures in Vietnam. Getting away from it all really is the best, and there’s not much that beats doing it with your favourite person! On p58, we meet a 40-something Swifty (I know one of those!) who has stopped at nothing to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s tour next year, and on p43 we tackle the hot topic of mullets! Could you cope with your partner choosing…

From hosting Loose Women and covering King Charles III’s coronation for ITV News to taking on jungle life in last year’s I’m a Celebrity, Charlene White has become a regular face on our screens over the past few years. But how well do you really know her? Here, the mum-of-two, 43, tells Woman’s Own all about life behind the scenes with the Loose Women, juggling home and work life and why she’s not ready to take on another reality show just yet… Hi Charlene, how are you? I’m OK, just very busy! Every weekend is busy and during the course of a normal day on Loose Women we’re all running around like headless chickens getting stuff ready for the show. Speaking of Loose Women, what’s your favourite thing about being…

WHAT TYPE OF MAN IS YOUR PARTNER? Categorising men will hopefully help to pave the way for healthier relationships, apparently… Scientists say all straight men fit into three categories. And no, they’re not: ‘Bearable’, ‘Blithering Idiot’ and ‘Just Give Me Strength’. Evidently, they are more complicated creatures. ‘THERE ARE THREE NEW CATEGORIES NOW’ So, which one are you lumbered – sorry – thrilled to have sharing your home? Well, the researchers studied 92 heterosexual men from diverse cultural backgrounds and found all of them had one of three distinct styles of masculinity. Now excuse me for thinking that 92 random blokes isn’t exactly a huge number to research when you could have just asked a bunch of women for free but, hey, let’s not question the experts. So, what are…

Do you often prioritise your partner’s needs between the sheets? Or maybe sex is simply a way for you to have some fun. We all have a different approach to intimacy and this reveals a lot about how you express yourself in a relationship. ‘Sex personalities* can be used to understand yours and your partner’s styles,’ says sex and relationship therapist Kate Moyle at Lelo. Plus, it can help you to strengthen your bond. Take our quick test to discover what motivates you in the bedroom and get the expert tips that will help you to enhance your sex life. Take the quiz Circle the answer that best applies to you… 1 WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF A SEXY DATE? ● A candlelit dinner and good conversation. ▲ Showering my partner…

Niggling back pain keeping you up at night? Sore knees making stairs tricky? Chronic pain affects a quarter of Brits* and it can have an impact on everything from how much sleep you’re getting to being able to enjoy intimacy. Finding a remedy can be difficult – more than 27%** of those living with arthritis say they’ve not yet found a medication that works for them. The good news? There are plenty of natural ways to beat pain. Here’s how… 1 SWITCH UP YOUR SLEEPING POSITION Whether you’re tossing and turning all night, or wake with back or neck pain, the way you’re catching those ZZZs might be to blame. Side sleeper? Place a pillow between your knees to prevent the lower spine from twisting. If you’re…

Sweet potato, spinach and chickpea curry PREP TIME: 30 MINSCOOK TIME: 45 MINSCALS: 657 FAT: 28GSAT FAT: 16G CARBS: 75G SERVES 8 A thrifty curry makes a comforting dinner after a long day, plus you’ll have plenty left over to freeze. YOU WILL NEED Vegetable oil, for cooking1tbsp ground cumin1tbsp garam masala1tsp ground turmeric1tsp ground coriander2-3 fresh red chillies, finely chopped or 1tsp chilli flakes5 garlic cloves, crushedLarge knob ginger, gratedJar Indian-style curry paste at your preferred spice level (approx 280g)4 medium red onions, cut into half moons3 sweet potatoes (around 1.5kg), peeled and cut into 2cm chunks4 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes2 x 400g tins full-fat coconut milk4 x 400g tins chickpeas, rinsed and drained450g fresh spinach or 200g frozenCoriander leaves, roughly chopped, to serve (optional)Rice and naan, to…

Teens have always loved pranks. But the days of harmless joke calls at sleepovers are long gone. Online pranksters are going to increasingly cruel and dangerous extremes to get laughs from legions of teenage fans. TikToker ‘Mizzy’ has made headlines recently for his offensive and upsetting pranks, including walking into strangers’ homes uninvited. Although his videos have gained him a legion of followers, they have also landed him in trouble with the police. Earlier this month he was even spotted on London’s Oxford street after it was thrown into chaos when scores of young people gathered there following a viral social media post that urged people to steal from JD Sports’ flagship store (Mizzy himself has denied having anything to do with the incident). Beyond encouraging their young viewers to…

DERMOT O’LEARY The 50-year-old presenter was joined by his wife Dee at Glastonbury, where he mixed business with pleasure, switching between the party animals and the airwaves to host his BBC Radio 2 show. FEARNE COTTON If boozing in a muddy field is your idea of hell, unlike most festivals, Fearne’s Happy Place leaves visitors feeling refreshed at the end of the weekend. From yoga and mindfulness classes to massage and an ‘energy studio’, it’s no wonder the writer and podcaster, 41, looks so relaxed! JOSIE GIBSON Forget camping, it’s all about glamping for Josie! Pop-up tents were a no-go for the This Morning star, 38, as she enjoyed a weekend in the countryside partying at Oxfordshire’s Wilderness festival, where boutique accommodation options include luxury teepees and a Bedouin-style boudoir.…

As the countdown begins to join ‘the queue’ I feel my adrenaline pumping. There are 4,895 people in front of me, Ticketmaster tells me. I have been waiting for this moment for weeks. Finally, I am allowed through to the online booking area but the only tickets available are for the VIP packages. I panic. I really can’t afford to spend that much money for just one night but then I remember all the times I have sung along joyfully to Wildest Dreams, Out of the Woods and Anti-Hero. These songs have become the soundtrack to my life. And I think about the look on my nine-year-old daughter Jemima’s face when I tell her we’ve got tickets to see our favourite singer-songwriter. I decide to go for it and purchase…

Strolling along the silky-soft white sand and hearing the sea break gently on the shore, I squeezed my partner Daniel’s hand and sighed happily. Then, before I knew what was happening, Daniel dropped down to one knee and pulled out a ring. ‘Will you marry me?’ he asked, looking up into my eyes. ‘Of course,’ I stammered, gazing down as he slid the sparkling solitaire onto my finger. ‘I FELT LIKE MY WHOLE FUTURE WAS IN QUESTION’ We were on holiday in Mexico in March 2020 and, despite being together for nearly five years, we’d never talked seriously about marriage before. We were happy as we were – so I’d thought! But now that Daniel had proposed, I was delighted. Even when lockdown was announced just days later, and we…

IS MY HEART OK? Q A few weeks ago, I was reading your page and you mentioned a Couch to 5K app. I’ve been thinking I need to get fitter for a while and it spurred me into action, so I have downloaded the app and I’m really enjoying it. I also invested in a home blood-pressure monitor. My blood pressure is fine, but my heart rate seems quite low at 40. Is this a worry? A Forty beats per minute is quite low and could mean that the electrical messages between the chambers of your heart that control heart rate are not working as well as they should. This can be easily checked with a heart tracing (ECG) at your surgery, so speak to your doctor who will be…

Wash and glow Before you invest in high-performance skincare, you need to get your basics right. If you don’t cleanse properly or slough away dead skin cells with regular exfoliation, the active ingredients in your skin creams can’t penetrate properly to work their magic. Garnier Hydrating Deep Cleanser, £7, Tesco, delivers a deep-down, pore-purging cleanse. Follow with Fresh Elements Sunshine Tonic Glycolic Toner, £8.50, M&S, to swipe dead skin away, leaving brighter, smoother-feeling skin in its wake. Drench yourself Let’s be real – no topical moisturiser is going to funnel volume back into wrinkles the way a needle will, but piling on moisture will help to plump fine lines temporarily so skin looks smoother. Enriched with hyaluronic acid (a molecule that can absorb up to 1,000 times its own…

CLUES & ARROWS Fill in the clues in the direction of the arrows. Sudoku To solve the puzzle, each 3 x 3 box, each column and each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9. Wordsearch Which of these art-related words translates into French as toile and into Spanish as lienzo? The answer is the one missing from the grid. BRUSHCANVASEASELERASERKNIFEPAINTPALETTEPAPERPENCILROLLERRULERSPONGESTENCILTAPEWATER CROSSWORD ACROSS 7 Truck (5)8 Actor and rapper whose films include Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon (9)10 Emblems (6)11 Mentally sound (3,5)12 Bony piece of pork (5,3)13 Charged particles (4)15 The _, 2022 animated film starring 8 Across, 28 Across, 19 Down and 24 Down (3,4)17 Boffin (7)20 Association of countries (4)22 Openly (2,6)25 US lifeguard TV series (8)26 Reciprocal (6)27 Prison chiefs (9)28 Anthony…

Have you heard about? WEEKEND WORKOUTS CAN BOOST HEART HEALTH Pack all of your exercise into the weekend? It’s just as beneficial as working out every day, says research*. People who worked out intensively a couple of times a week reduced their risk of heart attacks by 27%. This exercise pattern also helped protect against heart failure, stroke and irregular heartbeat. Aim for at least the NHS recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week. It worked for me Anca Matthews, 44, Hampshire ‘Last year, I noticed that my mental function was no longer as strong as it used to be – I was finding it difficult to absorb information. I now take Mindful Extracts Organic Lion’s Mane (£22.99, mindfulextracts.co.uk), which is nature’s brain-boosting super mushroom. My focus has improved…

He’s become fake Q Two years ago, I split with my ex. Post-divorce, we got on until he started changing everything about himself. He now looks and acts like a different person. He has a younger girlfriend and is very into the gym. I find the new him very fake and superficial. I want to tell him he’s trying too hard for a 51-year-old man, but I don’t want to appear like the bitter ex. How do I handle this? A It’s never easy when someone you know well goes through a huge life change, and it’s even more complicated when that person is your ex. It can feel threatening, especially if he’s become someone very different from the man you loved. Rather than thinking about everything you want to…

READER QUESTION Q My daughter’s moving away to university soon. Do you have any tips on how she can manage her money? A The most important place to start is for her to calculate a realistic weekly budget and think about how she’ll track her budget throughout her time at uni – whether that’s on a spreadsheet, by using pen and paper or using a budgeting app. You’ll find a detailed guide on all of this in the student budgeting planner guide at moneysavingexpert.com. Go green for less Get 15% off beauty, hair and skin products at Counter Culture when using offer code MAG15 at counterculturestore.co.uk until 10 September 2023*. Also, with each order you make, Counter Culture will protect five trees in a tropical rainforest, working with climate action…

ARIES 21 Mar – 20 Apr The Moon in your sign on 2 September makes it a good time to channel your energy into starting a new exercise routine, a fun project or a personal transformation. TAURUS 21 Apr – 20 May On 4 September make sure you can rest, relax and reflect. Pamper yourself, listen to calming music or even treat yourself to something nice. You deserve it. GEMINI 21 May – 20 Jun You crave variety. It is also important for you to connect with new people, so try an activity this week that will expand your tribe and help you develop fresh ideas. CANCER 21 Jun – 22 Jul Think about what motivates you most, then try to focus on that this week. Push yourself out of…

THE VINTAGE DRESS SHOP IN PRIMROSE HILL by Annie Darling (£9.99, PB, Hodder & Stoughton) Sophy Stevens is desperate for a new start, after finding herself out of a job and a relationship in quick succession at the age of 30. Her sights are set on Australia, the home of the grandparents she’s still never met. Sophy plans to surprise them on their wedding anniversary – if only she can find the funds for the trip. To make some cash, she plans to spend a few months working at her unreliable father’s clothes shop in Primrose Hill. Despite her low expectations, she’s blown away by the hidden treasures of the Vintage Dress Shop, and the dazzling gemstone specialist who works there… A delightful romance. NO WORRIES IF NOT! by Lucy…

THE WAN THAT WE WANT! As a DJing regular, This Morning fashion and foodie favourite Gok Wan is living his best life. He headlined Manchester Pride this bank holiday weekend and is set to bring the curtain down on Ibiza at the end of the party season next month. ‘The atmosphere is amazing,’ he tells me. ‘I must have been out there 10 times this summer.’ From experience there’s no greater joy than tearing up a rug with Gok spinning the discs. THE RIDDLER My GMB pal Ranvir Singh is filming a new series of her hit quiz show Riddiculous next month. ‘That’s with a double D, Rich, just like me,’ she quips. The riddles have proved a hit with viewers, but Ranvir’s had her knuckles rapped by her bosses.…