Californians may be beautiful, but it comes with a price: more gym and fewer carbs.
(photo by John Guenther)

Landing at LAX and stepping out into the gorgeous glow of the Southern California sunshine has to be one of the happiest moments in my life. You see, I've been living in a country where there are cloudy skies at least 350 days a year and well, England is not mistakenly associated with rain. But for you lucky lucky Californians who think I'm crazy to worship the sun so much, let me explain the difference.

The sunshine is not just the weather, it's a way of life here, in the same way that rain reflects the lifestyle in the UK. And the biggest difference in lifestyle is the Californian health kick. Every other girl and boy is a real-life Barbie and Ken, with the blonde hair, great tan, white teeth and toned bodies, and I'm suddenly quite wary of being the odd one out.

But here's the good thing - no longer am I craving hot stodgy food and lots of wine to alleviate the suffering of cold, wet weather. The heat and sunshine has transformed me from a carb-filled comfort eater into an Acai-Super-Oxidant-with-a-3G-charger-super-boost smoothie drinker, and I love the change. My beach cruiser is my new car, the gym is my new bar and there doesn't seem to be a gram of fat in my all-natural fruit smoothies (I hope!).

But whilst healthy eating (and in some cases, not eating) and clean living seems like a good way forward, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic for home. Endorphins don't give me quite as much of a buzz as a nice large glass of zinfandel rose wine and sugar rush from fruit smoothies only keep me charged for a short time before I'm craving solid food (and those tacos start looking real good).

In a moment of weakness, I devoured an entire bag of cheesy puffs without thinking (I know, total OMG) and then noticed the nutritional info - 600 calories and a million grams of fat (OMG overload here). This can obviously, only mean one thing to a newbie Californian. For my dinner today, I am going to the gym.