25 stone is the amount of weight the average woman will yo –yo in her lifetime. Yet another reason to forget that cabbage soup/grapefruit diet that’s impossible to stick to and slows down your metabolism (fat burning) and deprives you of nutrients you need to lose weight and feel and look good.

Q: My problem is lack of libido. I am 54yrs, have been married 30yrs and love my husband. I am fit and active and not stressed. However, when it comes to love making I find my mind is willing but my body isn’t, in that I don’t seem to have any natural physical desires or sensations (without a lot of stimulation). My husband complains that he always has to initiate our love making sessions and this is true.

I enjoy the closeness of love making and I enjoy the actual sex once I get going, but I know my husband is disappointed that I can’t approach him. I am also worried that this imbalance will eventually cause problems in our relationship.

I’ve read that Testosterone Cream is very helpful in my predicament and wondered if you would recommend this and also where I could purchase this from. I’ve looked on the Internet but can only find suppliers in the USA.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated and I think your response will be of interest to many other women.

A: This is a very common problem for women after the menopause. Some women have gone on HRT to try and solve this problem and it has not made any difference. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that there was no difference in women taking HRT compared to a placebo in terms of sex drive and factors effecting quality of life such energy, depression, sleep etc. I would not recommend the use of testosterone. It is not available to purchase in the UK for a very good reason, because it is a drug, a hormone, and should only be used if given on prescription.

Even when prescribed, it can give unwanted and unpleasant side effects including deepening voice (as one woman who came to the clinic had experienced), loss of head hair (male pattern baldness) and increase in body hair.

Make sure you eating a good diet and that your blood sugar is balanced. Although you mention that you are not stressed, the adrenal glands will be overworking if your blood sugar is fluctuating. The adrenal glands produced androgens, male hormones, so you want them to be working effectively.

Take a good multivitamin and mineral designed for the menopause, containing good levels of zinc and boron (e.g. MenoPlus) which are important for the production of sex hormones. Studies have shown that the amino acid L-arginine can be helpful in increasing libido because of its ability to enhance nitric oxide (do not arginine if you suffer from herpes as it can trigger the virus).

Herbs, such as American ginseng and damiana, can also be helpful for increasing sex drive, together with ginkgo biloba which improves circulation an blood supply to the sex organs. If you feel dry during intercourse, which can put some women off sex, then use a natural lubricant like Sylk (see Resources Page).

Q: I hate the taste of food without salt. Why and how can I cut back?

A: Substituting salt with herbs and spices could be a lifesaver. New research from the Harvard Medical School has indicated that cutting your salt intake to 7g a day will reduce your risk of developing heart disease by 25 per cent. Currently guidelines on daily amounts of salt are 6g – about a teaspoon – which may not sound like much but any more than that is known to contribute to health problems such as hypertension or high blood pressure, kidney damage and strokes.

You also need to bear in mind that one slice of pizza contains around 1 g and even a serving of plain yogurt may contain 0.5 g so it is easy to exceed the recommended amount.

On food labels, you may find salt listed as sodium and to work out the salt content you need to multiply this by 2.5. You do need to stop adding it to your food so get rid of your salt shaker and try using fresh or dried herbs, spices, lemon juice or balsamic vinegar instead.

If you are used to the salty taste give yourself time to adjust by cutting down so you gradually lose your taste for it. If you’ve given up sugar in your drink you’ll understand how this works; your taste buds adjust after a few weeks and when they have adjusted you just don’t want to go back to a cup of tea with sugar as it would taste too sweet. It’s the same with salt. Once you starting cutting down you’ll wonder how on earth you enjoyed eating food that tasted so salty.