What’s healthier than a box of chocolates and lasts longer than a bunch of daffodils?

A bumper box of Liberti magazines, of course. We may be a little biased, but 50 copies of the UK’s best women’s magazine for just £50 is too good an offer to turn down. Especially when you know a single copy normally costs £3!

Two major events are on the horizon – Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day – and both require us to be loving; but not necessarily in the conventional way…

Maybe you know a bunch of single women who feel neglected every February 14 or a group of mums at a toddler group who would love an extra gift come March 10.

Maybe you host a ladies’ book club? Or the women you work with have become disillusioned with the ‘get thinner, be more beautiful’ magazines they normally read.

Perhaps you are hosting a Valentine’s meal and want your female guests to take something home with them. Or you’d like to hand out a copy to every woman in your church on Mother’s Day…

Whatever you’re involved in, this is a great opportunity to bless the women in your life. And if you don’t know 50 women, hand them out to some you don’t know and you’ll soon extend your friendship group!

Personally, I’m not the romantic type, but I love the idea of dishing out copies of the mag to 50 of the women in my life. The best part is, Liberti makes a great gift for young women and the slightly mature; for the single and the attached; for mothers and potential mothers.

Articles in the latest edition include:

I’ll have a pee please, Bob An interesting take on the Toilet Twinning initiative.

Hands up for Tanzania! A really insightful piece on the work of Five Talents in Tanzania and beyond.

What’s so special about Justin Bieber’s mum? An article about Pattie Mallette, who is far more than just the mother of a teen sensation.

A week in the life of a social entrepreneur A glimpse into the life of Anne-Marie Wilson, who is passionate about ending female genital mutilation.

Swapping her Manolos for flip flops The tale of former fashion editor Charlie Davies, whose new designer label is helping those in need.

Plus you'll find all the regular columnists and the latest on entertainment, fashion, health, movies and sex.

Click here to order your bumper pack today!

(PS - you can still buy chocs and daffs - they make an excellent accompaniment to a copy of the mag!)

New Year, new you!

It’s coming to that time of year where the turkey has been gobble gobbled and the last of the mince pies has been scoffed. Delicious as they were, we’re all starting to loosen our belts a bit and lose the odd button.

So as New Year approaches, many of us will be detoxing and – horror of horrors – debating a return to the gym. And what’s wrong so with that?

Well, nothing really. Sensible dieting and exercise are good for us all, whether we’re in shape or not. But what happens when losing weight becomes an unhealthy obsession? With many people already suffering from eating disorders in the UK, the pressure to lose weight can prove too heavy a burden for some.

Thinking along these lines, Women and Equalities minister Jo Swinson has written an open letter to magazine editors asking them not to promote post-Christmas ‘miracle’ diets. Pre-empting the avalanche of fad diets that surface at this time of year, she encouraged publications – including women’s magazines – to "celebrate the beauty of diversity in body shape, skin colour, size and age" instead.

Co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence, Ms Swinson suggests “fad diets and fitness myths” can promote unhealthy body image and be harmful to dieters’ physical and mental health.

"I am sure that you want to promote a healthy lifestyle for your readers but at this time of year in particular far too much of magazine coverage tends to focus on irresponsible, short-term solutions and encourages readers to jump on fad diet bandwagons,” she writes in the letter.

"As editors you owe more to your readers than the reckless promotion of unhealthy solutions to losing weight.

"If your aim is to give practical, sensible advice about losing weight – and not how to drop a stone in five days – you should encourage reasonable expectations, instead of dangerous ones, along with exercise and healthy eating."

The editorial team at Liberti magazine takes this very seriously. Every issue contains nutritional and fitness advice because this is something our readers have asked for. However, our experts always focus on the positives – which foods you should eat to achieve a more balanced diet, and the types of exercise that would work best for you, for example. If you’re looking for motivation to shift a few pounds, I’d definitely advise you to check it out (and that’s not just because I work for the mag!).

But more than that, Liberti encourages women to enjoy a lifestyle that is positive all round, not just looking at the physical, but fully embracing life and all that it has to offer. Our team of writers discuss ways to develop emotionally and spiritually, as well as looking at tons of ways to reach out to people in our communities and across the globe.

If you’re looking to make some changes this New Year, forget the fad diets and the punishing exercise regimes and get Liberated! January needn’t be a time of bleakness and giving things up; it’s about establishing what our purpose in life is and pursuing this purpose with great gusto.

Wishing you a very happy New Year from all of us at Liberti xxx 

Could women's magazines be making matters worse for us girls?

I read a really interesting blog this week, and I felt it was extremely relevant in terms of our vision here at Liberti. 

Entitled “Women’sMagazines and the Cult of Hypocrisy”, Laura Bates complains of “a disturbing and growing trend of women’s magazines affecting a superficial stance of concern about issues that they themselves are often guilty of causing or exacerbating”.

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve said on several occasions that I avoid most women’s mags at all costs because they make me feel inadequate and insecure. One minute they’re deriding celebrities for their spots or cellulite and the next they’re showing airbrushed images of how they think we should all look. And woe betide you if you don’t look perfect, because you’ll never get that job you want or the man of your dreams…

Laura gives a great example of this. “Last week, two editions of Now Magazine appeared on newsstands in the UK,” she writes. “The weekly issue featured a dramatic photograph of model Abbey Crouch, emphasising her prominent collarbones and hollow thighs.

“The headline read ‘Oh no! Scary Skinnies’, while a caption warned: ‘Girls starving to be like her’. Inside, a feature revealed that ‘worryingly, pro-anorexia sites are using her figure as a skinny role model’.

“The other magazine was the Now Celebrity Diet Special. Its cover was emblazoned with a photograph of the same model in a glamorous bikini, under the headline: “Bikini body secrets…stars’ diet and fitness tricks REVEALED.”

According to Laura (and I fully agree): “There is an undeniable disparity between the caring, concerned tone magazines adopt, and the actual pictures and features they continue to publish week in, week out.”

The blog points out that 75% of teenage girls feel depressed, guilty and shameful after spending just three minutes leafing through a fashion magazine, and that a coroner recently held the fashion industry and photographs of wafer-thin girls “directly responsible” for the death of 14-year old schoolgirl Fiona Geraghty, who had bulimia.

“It is time for women’s magazines to stop pretending to advocate for solutions and admit they are part of the problem… Women’s magazines must pay attention to their legacy,” she writes.

When Bekah Legg took over Liberti magazine, her vision was to produce a women’s magazine that was interesting and engaging, but one that would build women up rather than tearing them down. It’s about empowering women to become all that God created them to be – regardless of how they look.

Most women I know have things about their appearance they would like to change, but Liberti encourages us to focus on faith, family and freedom for women across the globe rather than spending all our time wishing we looked like Abbey Crouch (or not!).

Liberti discusses issues such as eating disorders, domestic violence, racism, death, relationships, poverty, human trafficking and many others in a frank, informative way. Rather than focusing on me, me, me, it is designed to get us thinking about our God-given purpose within a world that has so many problems and prejudices. 

There’s no airbrushing or attempts to do others down to make our readers feel better about themselves (which clearly doesn’t work, anyway). Like Laura, we want to leave a lasting and positive legacy for our readers and they people they connect with.

If you're fed up with the typical women’s mags on the high street, why not give Liberti a read? It costs just £12 a year to subscribe and will arrive right on your doorstep every three months!