Aero ad: the bubble's burst

I don't know about you but I don't like the new Aero chocolate bar ad where some bemuscled hunk with no shirt on talks about how the bubbles are formed. "I didn't know that was how they made the bubbles," enthuses one girl, while another says "oh -were you listening to him?"

In print ads in magazines, they have the same hunk and presumably his charisma is supposed to be so compelling that we remember and associate it with the TV ad.

I find this "reverse sexism" pretty tired and trite for today. When Diet Coke started the "Diet Coke Break" a few years ago, which was built on the same premise, it seemed more zeitgisty and rule breaking. Now, it's just me too. Women are still used to sell cars and auto parts in men's magazines but there would still shrieks of outrage, and complaints to the ASA, if an ad like the Aero ad ran with a partially clad woman and two leering men.

I thought about showing a picture of the guy but then I would be guilty of what the Daily Mail and the News of the World do: run a critical article but then feature gratuitously a picture to feed the frenzy. So instead here is the Cadbury's gorilla.

Chocolate advertising has become as difficult as car advertising. There are no big innovations and really everything has been done. So the ads have to try to capture some of the emotion around the experience. Or, as Aero are trying to do, create some stand-out. I like the way Galaxy positioned their chocolate around relaxation, sinful luxury and reading. All good things we associate with chocolate. Their sponsorship of the Richard & Judy book club plays into this.

I am less impressed with the Cadbury gorilla - although all the guys at the ad agency love it (though I wonder if that's because they are in the industry, rather than a chocolate eating member of the public). I wonder where they will take it. It was also too derivative for me of another campaign where a man is seen playing the drums, and when he turns round, you realise he's quite old. I can't remember the brand, but the message was clear: challenging perceptions.

Testing: Eve Lom

Occasionally I get a bee in my bonnet about wanting to use an entire, co-ordinated theme of skincare products. Thus it was that last week I was in Selfridge's buying the Eve Lom range.

Now I don't know why I succumb to this sort of behaviour. There is really no reason to use an entire range from one manufacturer, even though they like to insist that the products work better together.

When I've done this before, it hasn't always been successful. I remember spending literally hundreds on products from the Kanebo range, and the Dramatically Different range from Clinique a few years ago. Neither gave any improvement. Deep down I believe that how your skin looks is hereditary, coupled with what you eat and drink. I try not to drink too much alcohol - it really has a bad effect on my skin - and I try to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, plus I take certain vitamins and supplements. But nonetheless, I am still a sucker for marketing. So what provoked the Eve Lom assault?

Lately my nose has been a bit red, which, as I don't drink very much, I put down to inflammation or irritation. I've been using a Vichy cleanser, a Mignon toner (which is marvellous for preventing spots) and a Decleor moisturizer, plus a weekly exofoliation with a Murad product. Anyway, something among that little lot has been disagreeing with my skin.

I've often read rave reviews about the Eve Lom cleanser, which comes with a muslin cloth. I've only had it for a few days but I have to say it's really fab. The cleanser is a fairly thick balm which you apply to your face. You then hold a hot cloth against your skin for five seconds, three times, then removing the cleanser and finally closing the pores with the cloth soaked in cold water. The hot and cold water treatment feels lovely, and my skin seems to be looking less blotchy and irritated.

Eve Lom only prescribes moisturizers if the skin really needs them. I did buy the moisturizer but I'm not slathering it on for the sake of it. So far, my skin seems moisturised enough (it tends to be dry on the cheeks). The eye serum doesn't seem as good as Decleor Hydrotenseur. That really does give a lifting effect. And I'm quite disappointed with the hand cream. It feels nice, though smells a little strange, when you first apply it, but after 30 minutes your hands feel parched again. I can't really give an opinion yet on the cuticle conditioner. I still have to test the Rescue Mask. It is apparently very good for congested skin, a problem I suffer from occasionally. More later!

Guilt free meals for big appetites

As promised, here are some of my tips for overcoming the biggest issue facing most dieters: hunger.

It's very depressing to look at what you're supposed to eat when you're dieting. Matchbox size cubes of cheese. Palm of the hand sized protein (as if a steak is that small!).

As I mentioned below, I find calorie counting works well for me and I use the Nutracheck website which also advises you on the fat content and how many portions of fruit and veg you're having a day.

I usually have All Bran with stewed blackberries for breakfast; a mid morning treat of a skinny latte; soup and a slice of Burgen soya and linseed bread for lunch; an afternoon snack of a banana or a Sainsbury mini houmous pot with an organic pitta, and for dinner, something along the lines of:
- Sainsbury Taste the Difference thick cut oven chips with a TTD chunky cod loin in breadcrumbs with half a tin of mushy peas. If you compare calorie content in the supermarket, you'll see that many of the so-called "Be good to yourself" meals have the same, or sometimes more, calories than the "Taste the Difference" range. The oven chips are slightly higher in calories and not so good! So make sure you do the comparisons.
- Sainsburys Mushroom Stir fry with 100g turkey breast, sliced, and half a container of Sainsburys Green Thai stir fry sauce. This is wonderfully satisfying: you get a huge bowlful, it goes a long way towards your "5 a day" and it's really quick to make. I like to have it when I get back from aqua aerobics.
- Sainsburys Taste the Difference slightly smoked salmon fillet with a small jacket potato and 45g of grated cheese; carrots, peas and runner beans.

I make sure I don't go over 1400 calories a day. Last week I lost three pounds but it's more usual to lose one to two, depending on how much exercise you do. If you have a lot of weight to lose, you'll lose much bigger amounts each week in the first few weeks.

Soup for lunch is a healthy, quick option. I sometimes make my own and freeze some it: Gillian McKeith has some great recipes. Or if I'm in a rush, I'll buy Covent Garden soups which have healthy ingredients (no E numbers) - but make sure you check the calorie content as some of them have a lot more than others! Tomato and chunky vegetable is a nice one.

I absolutely adore cheese and houmous, so I have to make sure I include these, in very small quantities, otherwise my diet fails. Sainsburys now do a three-pot set of mini houmous pots, which is excellent news. They're 90 calories each. If I'm running out of calories, I eat a pot with cucumber crudites and cherry tomatoes, as pitta breads are higher in calories than the actual houmous.

I get my cheese fix in a cheese & onion sandwich on Sundays served with Quavers which are fairly low calorie for a snack (88 calories).

Don't make the mistake of going for foods marked "low fat" for slimmers. Quite often these have more sugar, or sugar substitutes, in them to make up for the lack of fat. I'm a big believer in going for the "real" thing - such as butter and not those disgusting tasting spreads - but in small quantities. That's what successful dieting is all about, let's face it.

Sometimes I cook from scratch and create my own recipes. You can enter these into Nutracheck and it will store the recipe and give you the calorie total. I make a good spaghetti bolognese with decent quality steak mince (not the low fat steak - it has no taste) cooked on its own to get rid of the fat; oions, garlic, mushrooms, red wine, herbs, tomato puree and a tin of tomatoes, and then adding a little Sainsburys Be Good to Yourself bolognese sauce. The drawback with this is that by the time you've added a small amount of pasta, you have a fairly high calorie meal, so I only have it if I've skimped on calories during the day.