• Make the most of opportunities to recycle by cutting up old shirts to make dusters and cleaning cloths so you don’t need to buy synthetic ones.
• Mix one cup of salt, one cup of baking soda and quarter cup of cream of tartar to make an effective natural drain cleaner that won’t harm the environment.
• Do less ironing! If you hang them up to dry as soon as they’re washed, sheets, table cloths and pyjamas don’t need to be pressed.
• Always make sure the filter on your tumble dryer is clean as this will use less energy, and sort fabrics by type when drying. Lighter synthetics will need less time than heavy cottons, saving power. Better still, hang items on the washing line outside.
• Bicarbonate of soda is a great surface cleaner and shifts stubborn odours; simply sprinkle a little on a damp cloth. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant which is brilliant at cutting through greasy residues, and can be combined with lemon juice for a lovely citrus smell. Fragrant essential oils such as lavender and clove are natural antiseptics and good at clearing moulds and fungi in the bathroom. Natural beeswax and olive oil are excellent furniture cleaners. However, if time is tight there are a range of natural cleaning products that can help you beat the dirt.

It’s official: research published in April 2007 has confirmed what you probably already knew: crash diets just don’t work.

Losing weight takes time and patience. Although it’s been said over and over again it’s so important for weight management that it can never be repeated enough: crash diets, however tempting they may sound are not the answer.

Although you may lose weight initially the chances are you’ll end up putting it all back on again. Quick-fix and faddy diets don’t teach you how to change your eating habits on a long-term basis, which is what you really need to do if you’re going to keep the weight off. So forget about dieting, fad or otherwise, and think about a whole new way of eating. Successful dieters are not people who are on a diet at all but those who learn how to change both their eating habits and attitude towards food for the rest of their life.

To recap: the statistics on diet successes aren’t good and only a very tiny percentage of dieters achieve permanent weight loss. The key to losing weight and keeping it off is modifying the way you eat permanently. So to help you become one of those that do achieve permanent weight loss, here are my ten golden rules for healthy weight loss that you can trust to help you stay slim for life.

• Rule 1: Never skip Breakfast

The old saying that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ is certainly on the money when it comes to dieting. Nothing gets our metabolism (fat burning) going faster than breakfast after a good night’s sleep.

This is because sleeping causes our metabolism to slow right down and breakfast kick-starts it again for us. But always remember that just as important as having breakfast itself, it’s also important to choose healthy breakfast options such as wholegrain cereals like porridge, organic live natural dairy products like yogurt, organic eggs and fruit.

• Rule 2: Get plenty of sleep

New links to the importance of sleep to weight loss are being uncovered all the time. One case in point was a series of studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which showed that sleep loss can make weight loss far more difficult than it needs to be. So to make sure your weight loss doesn’t encounter any hidden barriers to success, get plenty of sleep.

• Rule 3: Eat regularly

Eating little and often will help curb hunger pangs and keep your blood sugar levels and fat burning metabolism steady, so make sure you have a selection of healthy snacks on hand. Aim to eat three small to medium sized meals a day, plus two or three healthy snacks and don’t go longer than three hours without eating.

• Rule 4: Don’t try to lose weight quickly

Gaining significant weight usually takes years and so losing a significant amount of weight takes time. Our bodies don’t like sudden and significant change; in fact they are built to resist it.

This resistance has a scientific name called homeostasis. If you try to lose weight too quickly, what happens? Your body automatically slows down its metabolism, that is, the rate at which you burn energy to survive and function. That’s homeostasis at work.

In addition to keeping your body from fighting against you on the weight loss front, losing weight too quickly doesn’t work because early rapid weight loss usually results from losing body fluid and muscle tissue which is not healthy nor helpful in your battle to lose weight. Rapid and significant weight loss from dieting alone is usually indicative of a very calorie restrictive diet which is also counterproductive because for most of us it is unsustainable and when the weight is gained again it goes on as fat.

So you actually get fatter after a diet and then the next diet has to be even more restrictive and so it goes on. You should be aiming for a weight loss of no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week and then it will be coming off as fat.

• Rule 5: Make fruits and vegetables your best friends

They are full of important metabolism (fat burning) and health boosting vitamins and minerals, and are also wonderfully low in calories. Make the most of them.

• Rule 6: Keep moving

Exercise keeps your metabolism up which is why weight training to build or maintain your muscle mass and aerobic activity like walking, jogging, cycling and swimming are so important when you want to lose weight.

Diet alone is not the best route to weight loss and to staying in an ideal weight range. To lose weight safely and keep it off permanently, always combine healthy eating and exercise. Around 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day is a minimum requirement so if you don’t want to join a gym, find ways to include more activity into your life, for example walking more instead of driving or taking the stairs instead of the lift.

• Rule 7: Don’t deny yourself the foods you enjoy

Most diets fail because they require us to eat plenty of foods we don’t actually like.

If we don’t like what we’re eating we’re not going to stick with our diet for more than a week or two. The key to successful weight loss is to reduce the amount we eat and introduce healthier options of the foods we like gradually into our diet over time.

Also don’t deny yourself the foods you enjoy. If you cut out all the foods you enjoy your diet is bound to fail. Moderation is the name of the game when it comes to healthy eating and long term weight loss. Think of eating well 80% of the time, the odd blip is fine.

• Rule 8: Watch what you drink as well as eat

As well as helping to keep us healthy, drinking sufficient amounts of water keeps us feeling full and stops us from feeling hungry, and when we drink plenty of water we usually drink less soft drinks, coffee and alcohol, all of which can add significant amounts of calories, not to mention additives and preservatives, to our daily intake.

• Rule 9: Avoid extremes of any kind

Balance is not only the key to a happy, healthy life; it is also the key to a healthy diet and weight loss. Be wary of any diets that are very restricted either in the types of food that you can eat or the amount.

Diets that are extreme in one way or another are likely to be very unhealthy at best and very dangerous to your health at worst. If you’re ever considering such a diet, which will probably promise very rapid and significant results, remember that your body is designed to maintain the status quo and the only way to successfully lose weight and keep it off is to make sure you get enough nutrients from a wide variety of foods.

• Rule 10: Streamline your cooking

Eating well isn’t just about the food you choose – how you cook it matters too. Here are some essential bits of kit that will help you make your cooking tastier and healthier.

• A set of good stainless steel pans means you are not using the unhealthy non-stick ones.
• An oil mister delivers the fine mist of oil – great for lightly coating your pans. It will give your food a crispy texture without leaving it swimming in oil.
• A steamer: Up to 70 per cent of vitamins B and C can be destroyed by boiling or overcooking vegetables in large amounts of water. Steaming helps preserve these vitamins and also the colour and flavour of the vegetables.

Bear in mind that if you have a lot of weight to lose, you’ve got a better chance of success if you get help.

Even if your weight isn’t directly affecting your health now, it is a great idea to get help in your battle against the bulge from either good books or professionals like nutritionists, who will give you a plan to follow and monitor how you are doing to keep you on track and help motivate you. (If you live near London or Tunbridge Wells you are very welcome to come in to the clinic to see one of my nutritionists for professional help.)

There may be an emotional component to your eating habits and these may need to be resolved if they are getting in the way of your weight loss. In addition to getting support, stress management is advised because stress is a hidden trigger for weight gain, especially around the waist. (See Is Stress making you ill and overweight).

Finally, don’t give up or panic when you have a bad day (because the chances are you will). Just start again the next day. One bad day will not ruin your healthy eating plan. Good luck with your weight loss and remember that if you keep in mind my ten golden rules of weight loss for life you are sure to be a success story in the making.

It’s spring! The flowers are blooming and many are yellow, the colour which research tells us makes us feel most optimistic and energetic.

A pot of daffodils will brighten your mood so put them on your desk or table. Research by Washington State University showed employees with blooms on their desks felt 10 percent less sleepy in one day.