BE SAFE, BE gLOVE...

Today I wanted to write a more serious post about something that concerns every woman and something we should be making sure we are doing correctly and more often. BE gLOVE is the new breast self-examination glove that is clinically proven to be as effective as mammography (but should not replace any regular mammography checks that you do have) and is more effective than using your bare hands to check for lumps.

Picture courtesy of BE gLOVE.

BE gLOVE carried out a survey on women aged between 36-60 and here are some of the shocking findings:

- 55% had no idea how to undertake a breast self-examination.

- 88% had no idea that pushing too hard on your breast could mean you push the lumps away.

- 70% of women undertake a breast self-examination a couple of times a year when they should be doing them on a monthly basis as early detection of lumps is linked to an improved survival rate.

As women, we know we should regularly check for lumps and although the prospect of finding a lump is frightening, if we do find one, the earlier it is detected the higher the chance of survival. As daunting and as straight to the point as it is, it is really important that as women we check for lumps on a regular, at least monthly basis and that we check correctly. I try and check as often as I can, but I will be the first to admit it is a scary thought, the prospect of finding something and immediately thinking (in politer words)...crap!

I received BE gLOVE to try out for myself and I have it in a noticeable place to always remind me to use it. It is a soft, ultra-thin, polyurethane pocket, that has a liquid substance inside the side that touches your skin. I have tiny hands so the glove was massive on me and took a while for me to get used to because obviously when handling the glove with the liquid in and standing upright the liquid just goes to the bottom of the glove, so I kind of had to get the knack of levelling out the liquid within the glove to do the examination without the liquid just going to the bottom of the glove. If you decide to purchase one of these, initially you will know what I mean, but you should soon get the hang of it. It might be better to use whilst lying down to be honest, I usually stand up but I might try lying down whilst using it in future to see if that helps.

The glove reduces friction between your skin and fingers so it just glides smoothly and with ease over your skin. The glove also has a 'lock and enlarge' mechanism, which means that it locks your skin in place and magnifies your sense of touch 15 times, so even the smallest of lumps can be found. It also stops you pushing any lumps away. You can definitely feel the difference between using the BE gLOVE and using your fingers. Using the glove provides a much lighter, smoother examination.

In a clinical study, women who performed an examination using BE gLOVE detected 100% of the breast lumps identified by mammography, whilst those using their bare hands detected only 50% of the lumps. I think this is an amazing piece of information and just encourages me to keep using the glove rather than my own hands.

You can find out more about BE gLOVE and how to use it on their website. Or give them a tweet @BE_gLOVE.

You can purchase BE gLOVE for £24.95 from their website and have it delivered to you within 3-7 working days :).

If you go ahead and buy BE gLOVE, let me know how you find it :).

Thanks so much for reading!
Gem XxOo
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The Most Important Meal Of The Day...

Ever since I was little I have always heard people around me saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To be honest, I'm not one of those that has breakfast every single morning, I never have and I wonder if I'd feel any different if I grew up eating breakfast every single morning :/.

I don't often feel hungry first thing in the morning, I manage to have a cuppa most mornings but that's about it. If I do eat breakfast in the morning it usually takes me ages to eat (it's taken me about 20 minutes to eat a piece of toast before). Also, if I do eat breakfast I'm either at one end of the scale or the other...granola, muesli or fruit or a full English breakfast. I do eat breakfast cereal or bars as a snack though if I'm hungry throughout the day and strangely, sometimes I just fancy it, over anything else. I also want to know what the novelty is in eating breakfast when you're away on holiday, there's something different about it, the wanting to get up for breakfast before you start your day. Is anyone else like this? I know my mum is the same, but not everyone I know is.

The point of this post is that I wanted to feature one of my favourite breakfast brands...Jordans Cereals! They have cereals and cereal bars, but if you like muesli, granola and oat based cereals, they have a fab variety to choose from, including Super Granola, Crunchy Oat Granola, Muesli, Country Crisp, Porridge, Wheat Germ and Wheat Bran, Breakfast Bars, Luxury Breakfast Bars, Frusli Breakfast Bars and Original Crunchy Breakfast Bars.

My favourites are the Super Fruity Granola (honey baked wholegrain British oats mixed with raspberries, redcurrants and pomegranate) and Country Crisp Real Strawberry (crunchy cereal clusters made from British wholegrain oats with chopped hazelnuts, crispy rice, coconut and silky smooth strawberries). I have tried several of their range, but these are my definite favourites! I always feel healthy and like I have eaten well after I've finished. The fruity varieties are definitely my faves rather than the nutty or chocolate varieties.

Pictures courtesy of Jordans.

I love how their cereals and cereal bars don't contain artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, salt or genetically modified organisms. Their products are also grown to high environmental standards and the company is strict on using as many natural ingredients as they can. You can read more about how Jordans came to be here.

I usually buy Jordans from Morrisons but most of the major supermarkets stock the cereal including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Co-Op, Waitrose, Somerfield and Budgens.

I'd love to know your breakfast habits...do you reach for the healthy options or the not so healthy options?

Have you ever tried Jordans? Let me know what you think of their varieties and your fave, if you have one!

Thanks so much for reading!
Gem XxOo