This is up on a few walls. Don't know what it means.
This is up above the toaster. I know what it means.
This is the legendary Pritt Stick. It's been stuck on the ceiling for about 4 years. A man called Shrimp threw it up there after he had drunk some beer.
And this is a painting by a good man called Ben Harris. It depicts a talking duck wearing a trilby.
Like any good company we tend to pin a lot random rubbish and thoughts to our walls to decorate the place a bit. And to help with that looking away from your computer screen and focusing on something at a distance thing.
So here's some thoughts for your Thursday, feel free to print them out and pin them to your walls. Then take a picture of it and get your friend to put it to their wall, by the time we know it it could get like that weird infinite mirror illusion you get in lifts and stuff. Let us know if that happens, we like stuff like that.
Our Anthony is running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the National Autistic Society and to spice up his sponsorship a bit, he's given everyone who sponsors him a little chilli plant to nurture.
The person who grows the biggest plant by the time he crosses the finish line will win a special prize and the coveted title of Champion Chilli Grower 2009.
To say the competition in Fruit Towers is hotting up is an understatement.
Rosie has not one but two plants on the go and has enlisted the green fingers of Atha and his special worm juice to grow the biggest chillies.
'Worm juice' is not actually liquidised worms but the nutrient packed digestive liquid that worms produce when you use them in your compost heap.
Atha made a special trip to Kings Cross just to get a bottle. Not like they're taking this too seriously or anything.
Over in Unit 5, IT Sam is keeping his chilli plant under a light at all times and coaxing it to grow big and strong through growth affirming mantras and positive visualisation ( chilli plant screensavers on loop).
Mr. Ed is simply 'leaving it to Nature' (although he's been seen cradling and softly singing to his plant, a la the Athena ad).
Becca's chilli plant (a.k.a Fairuza) is doing very well in reception. Becca takes her outside everyday to get a bit of fresh air but is having to keep a close eye on her progress, due to repeated sabotage attempts from IT Sam.
Meanwhile, Jan's chilli plant is not actually on his desk. That's because where he sits is not 'the optimum spot for growing prize winning chillis.' Having surveyed the whole office for photosynthesis potential, he has chosen Helen's east facing desk for it's positioning and proximity to a window (without being in direct sunlight).
And no one is really sure what Reece is doing to grow the biggest chillis in the building but so far it seems to involve a pulley system, special gloves and night time watering in a black polo neck.
We'll keep you updated on the plants' progress as it happens.
Meantime, if you've got any chilli growing tips for our growers or anti-chafing inspirational power ballads for Anthony, please post them below.
This week's question comes from Richard who asks what the ORAC content is of our pomegranate, blueberries and acai smoothie . I'm afraid I'm going to have to go a bit geeky on you for this one.
Firstly what on earth is an ORAC? ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity and is the method of measuring anti-oxidants in foods. ORAC results are often presented as something known as Trolox equivalents (TE) and the units are in micromole per gram (umol TE/g).
And what is an anti-oxidant exactly? Anti-oxidants are natural chemicals found in food, especially fruit and veg. They help to neutralise free radicals which can cause damage to the body's cells. A free radical is an unpaired electron (so it has a negative charge). An anti-oxidant can neutralise the negative charge and so stops damage.
There are various families of anti-oxidants found in fruit. These include flavanoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins, and vitamins A, C and E. Pomegranates, blueberries and acai all contain good levels of anti-oxidants and this smoothie contain over 3000 umol per 250ml which is pretty good for a little bottle. And if that wasn't good enough this smoothie also gives you 2 portions of fruit.
innocent is coming up to it's tenth birthday this year, and like any 9.82 year old worth their salt we're starting to reminisce a bit. Lessons learnt, stories accumulated, favourite colouring pens lost, that sort of stuff.
There'll be quite a lot of reminiscing in our new book when it comes out but for now here's a couple of blasts from the past closest to my desk this morning.
Here's one of our old posters from back in 2004, a vintage year in posters for us.
And here's Rich, Adam and Jon in the park, looking a bit younger than they do now. Only a year or two, but younger.
Hello there. I'm Sustainability Lou and my job at innocent is to work with people across our business to ensure we're all working as sustainably as we possibly can.
This year, my number one priority is water.
At the moment I'm having to do some pretty tricky sums in order to calculate the water footprint of our smoothies; involving quite a lot of head scratching, pencil chewing and some fairly hefty spreadsheets.
So why all the hard sums? Well, we all know water is a precious resource which is increasingly scarce in many regions of the world, including several parts of the UK. By working out how much water we use as a business, from farm to fridge, we can both improve our water management practices and also identify and protect the regions in our supply chain displaying the greatest water stress.
If you fancy having a go at working out your own water footprint for yourself or the place you work, check out the Water Footprint Network website here. Alternatively, there are some great tips on how to reduce your own personal footprint here.
Soon as I've done all my sums and figured out how to put them into Excel, I'll let you know what our water footprint at innocent is and how we plan to make our water shoe size that bit smaller.
Our friends at Helsinki Foodstock Oy now have their very own innocent grassy area in their office.
As well as the easy chairs, daisies and top of the range Scandinavian furniture, they also have their own bananaphone.
You can call it anytime you like on +358 20 771 6565, to find out what the Finnish for boysenberry is or just to get the insider info as to whether there really are hippos living in them there Finnish forests.
Do you remember those trees down the road from Fruit Towers that went into camouflage? I've just realised the very same ones do fireworks as well, just look at them go.
If your imagination isn't feeling that vivid today then let photoshop do the work for you.
This week's question from Emma made me really really happy as she asked me "What are lentils and how they are different from beans?".
Since lentils are my favourite food (yes, really) and we've just launched our brand new Indian Daal veg pot, there seems no better time for me to focus on these little beads of goodness.
So a lesson in lentils.
Lentils, beans and peas are collectively known as pulses. The term 'pulse' refers to edible seeds that grow in pods. A bean is the name for large plant seeds of the family leguminous. Lentils are a particular type of bean grown for their lens-shaped seed.
All pulses (except for soya beans) have pretty similar nutrition.
Pulses:
1. Are naturally rich in protein and fibre. This can help to keep you full so is a great slimming aid.
2. Contain the type of fibre that lowers cholesterol, helping to look after you heart.
3. Contain slow release carbohydrates to help keep you going throughout the day.
You had to write your own WLTM ad in no more than 90 words and the best one would win pride of place on one of our bottle labels.
After sifting out the rude and slightly stalkerish entries, we managed to whittle it down to two winners.
First up was this entry, penned by Looby:
Hello. Are you normal? When I say 'normal', I mean, you know, 'normal'? Of course, it'd be nice if you have a sense of humour, some friends, a job, a car, maybe a house, aspirations, dreams, ambition etc, etc. I'd like to get married and pop out a baby before I'm 80, so if you're interested please reply to Box 36.
And then this one which was composed by Richard:
WLTM Nicole from the Renault Clio ads (circa 1992) and re-enact said ad, only with me taking Papa's place and us not being related. Feel this is a reasonable request. Please reply to Box 184.
Thanks to every one who entered and a big well done to both Looby and Richard. Keep your eyes peeled for their words of wooing on a shelf near you very soon.
Meantime, if you're still looking for love, why not GAFYK, maintain a GSOH and remember to LOL everytime someone attractive makes a joke. KWIM?
GAFYK - get away from your keyboard GSOH - Good sense of humour LOL - Laugh out loud KWIM - Know what I mean?
This dog is not really a big fan of orange, health and safety always comes first though.
Today is the second day of March which means two things, spring and the announcement of February's rate and review winner. Ceri's pipped me to the post with the first spring blog post of 2009 (I'm normally down the park with a camera quicker than a March hare in, umm, March).
So onto our rate and review winner. This month it goes to Fredi from Winchester who pointed out on our mangoes & passion fruits page that not everyone can drink orange juice.
We've been messing about with orange free smoothies in the kitchen for sometime but can now say that it won't be very long at all until Fredi can try her very first innocent smoothie. Thanks for giving us the extra impetus Fredi. We'll be in contact to arrange getting a box of orange free innocent shaped things to you very shortly.
Sans means 'without', you learn something new everyday. Unless you already knew this, in which case I'm wearing green and blue striped socks today. So now you all know at least one new thing.
This week's big health question to Dr Shilpee is from Amy: I eat too much and I'm starting to feel fat and bloated. :( Can I stop the doughnuts? What can I eat for snacks instead?
Most of us get a bit hungry between meals and it's not unusual to feel peckish at 11am and/or 3pm. It's also a fact that most folk are like Amy and love doughnuts. If we could get away with we'd all be chowing down on those lovely jammy delights everyday. Unfortunately donuts contain around 300 kcals each with about half of the calories come from fat so it's not the best food to be snacking on.
As a general rule you should be getting three quarters of your daily calories and nutrients at breakfast, lunch and dinner. This means you can get a quarter of your energy and nutrients in snacks which you can spread out throughout the day (that's about 500 kcals in total for a woman). Eating crisps, sweets and chocolates as an occasional treat is fine but these snacks contain lots of energy but few nutrients (things vitamins and minerals) and fibre (which can help you to feel full). You need to make sure that your snacks have lots of good nutrition as well as calories.
The best foods to snack on are -
1) fruits - whole fruit, dried fruit and smoothies are a great way to tide you over. Fruit contains fibre which can help you to feel full as well as lots of good things like vitamins and anti-oxidants.
2) low fat yoghurts, rice pudding and thickies - these are relatively low in calories but contain lots of calcium for healthy bones. The protein in these foods can also help you to keep full.
3) rice cakes, crackers , fruit loaf and cereal bars - these contain starchy carbs which will pep up your energy levels but not overload you with calories
4) nuts and seeds - a handful is just enough to give you an boost and some healthy oils too.
I'm a grazer and find that eating little and often really works for me. If you let yourself get too hungry you may find that you gorge at the next meal. Everyone is different though and I'd love to get your views.
A few weeks ago, I was on holiday in Malawi myself and was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with Joseph and Joseph from Microloan to see some of the great work they're continuing to do out there.
The Microloan Foundation provides small loans and business advice to women in Malawi and Zambi which allow these women to start up small businesses in their local communities, selling rice, tomatoes, bananas and so on.
The women then form small groups and are collectively responsible for re-paying the loans. This helps them learn about money management and means they receive a lump sum at the end with which to improve their family and community lifestyle.
One of the loan agreements
I met Joseph and Joseph in Rumphi, Northern Malawi, to attend a repayment meeting in a local village. These meetings take place fortnightly and each member of the group is expected to repay their share of the loan and make their savings.
Having driven for an hour along a dusty track, we were greeted with the sound of singing from the women, who were singing about how grateful they were to Microloan for improving their lives.
After the repayments had taken place, we then had a Q&A session where I got to find out how the opportunity to run their own businesses had affected their lives. All the women agreed unanimously that their lives had changed for the better as they were now able to provide for their families, without having to solely rely on their husbands for support.
Annie told me that her biggest wish for next year was to save up enough money to buy a proper bed, instead of the mat she currently sleeps on.
Last year, Microloan made 22,000 loans to 11,000 women like Annie, helping them set up profitable businesses and accumulate around about £15 in savings each. £15 might not sound like a lot but these savings helped look after 66,000 dependents.
This year Microloan are looking to expand in Malawi, Zambia and Namibia with the aim of helping over 100,000 people work their way out of poverty by Christmas.
So hopefully, along with Microloan's support, Annie will be sleeping soundly and comfortably come December.
The theme for today's Cheese Club was Cheese dans le Noir.
Members were blindfolded with paper towels
Then served a variety of cheese
Asked to savour, deliberate and not slobber
Challenged to eat salad, serve chutney and select crackers (without getting any down their jumpers)
And provide Tom no end of amusement as he served them bits of butter instead of cheese.
Of all the cheeses served, the winning cheese was Montgomery's Cheddar and ne'er a more fun lunchtime was had in these fair grassy halls, than with a few lumps of cheese, some cherry tomatoes and a big fat wodge of blue toilet roll.
Well for those of you who came along to our fete last summer, you might recall this handsome chap as Mr. Rod Thomas, who was strumming his ukulele at about 2 o'clock on the Sunday on The Acoustic Bandstand stage.
As well as working the sports casual look rather well, he's also just won Best Ukulele Video of the Year award , which features another rather fetching jumper and some very friendly socks.
You can listen to more of Rod's ear candy here or simply just kick back and watch his award winning video (and jumper) below:
Every now and again we have a hunt about on the marvelous youtube to see if anyone has tagged a video with anything to do with us. It's normally worth a root about as you can come across some little gems like this, this, this and this.
And now let us please present to you this wonderful homemade animation that's brightened up our Thursday morning no end.
Could you feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'?
Ah Morten. He was cool (and very healthy looking) when I was a lass.....
Anyway I'm going to answer Nikki's question on eating healthy in her teens. It can seem a little bit of a struggle (I certainly remember being permanently hungry and having a thing for flakes and frazzles) so here's a bit of info on what's happening to your body at this time and what you should try and eat.
Adolescence is a time of rapid growth which means your energy and nutrient needs are fairly high. This means it's really important that you get enough good nutrients (things like vitamins, minerals, omega-3 oils) as well as energy (which comes from carbohydrate, fat and protein).
Before adolescence your body fat is about 15% but during adolesence this increases to about 20% for girls and decreases to 10% in boys. Boys put on more muscle than girls and this is why their energy and protein needs are greater.
The principles of healthy eating are remain the same throughout teenage and adult life which means teenagers should also follow the eatwell plate. However there are a couple of nutrients to watch put for:
1. Teenagers need more iron to help with muscle development and growth. After girls start their period they need more iron than boys. Dietary surveys have shown that some young girls have worryingly low levels which can lead to anaemia. Apart from meat a great way to get iron in the diet is a fortified breakfast cereal with a smoothie or orange juice. This is because Vit C helps your body to absorb the type of iron found in breakfast cereals.
2. In adolescence you need to make sure you get enough calcium for bone growth and strength. If you don't get enough calcium now you could run the risk of getting osteoporosis later in life. Make sure you get 2-3 portions of dairy or a fortified soya product (if you don't eat dairy) a day. This means you should try and get at least a glass of milk, a yoghurt or thickie and a match-box piece of cheese a day.
3. If you eat too much junk food you'll could run the risk of getting too much energy and not enough nutrients. Make sure you get eat lots of starchy carbs, get plenty of fruit and veg, 3 portions of dairy and 2 servings of protein such as meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
Oh and make sure you get enough exercise. This will help your mood, overall fitness and will help make your bones nice and strong too.
Gemma on sneak preview
Tracey on friday the 13th
vequinoxina on sneak preview
Dora on sneak preview
Dora on sneak preview
Sally on google kat
lucy on freaky friday
Baaaaarbara McGinlay on freaky friday
emma on hot competition