The key to planning and creating healthy meals on a limited budget is good forward planning and solid nutritional knowledge.

1. Always do a shopping list: Shopping without a sense of what you need – and don’t need – opens you up to all manner of temptation, and most of those tempting foods are not nutritious. In addition, picking up all those extra items can easily blow your food budget and leave you without the funds to plan those healthy, nutritious meals. A good trick is to keep a note pad near the table or refrigerator. Having the notepad within easy reach makes it easy to keep track of the foods you need to stock up on.
2. Never shop when you are hungry: The old advice to never shop when you are hungry is definitely true. Shopping when you are hungry is a sure way to give in to temptation, bust the food budget, and stock up on all the wrong foods.
3. Replace meat with pulses: Eating less meat and more beans and lentils is a good way to save money on your food budget while still getting the protein you and your family need. Eliminating meat also reduces your saturated fat intake. Try experimenting with some vegetarian recipes for interesting ways to use these non-meat alternatives.
4. Stock up on staples: One trick is to keep the refrigerator and the pantry well stocked with staple foods. Essential staple foods, such as wholemeal flour, rice, and pasta may often be on special offer. Stocking up on these essentials when prices are low is a great way to stretch any food budget. Keeping a good supply of staples on hand will avoid unnecessary trips to the shops. When staples such as bread, wholemeal flour, peanut butter, tinned organic beans, tinned organic tomatoes etc. are on offer be sure to stock up.
5. Stock up on fruits and veggies: Fruit and vegetables (excluding exotic / imported ones) are surprisingly cheap. An average piece of fruit costs less than most bars of chocolate or a bag of crisps – and provides more in the way of nourishment for fewer calories. Always best to choose fresh fruit and vegetables in season, not only are they cheaper they will also be most flavoursome and at their best. Markets also tend to be cheaper than supermarkets. Alternatively opt for supermarket branded tinned or frozen fruit and vegetables.

Q: I eat a healthy diet but often feel slightly nauseous on waking in the morning. I’m fine once I’ve had breakfast. Do you know why this could be?

A: As you feel fine after you’ve had breakfast, it is likely that you are experiencing symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia).

You have effectively gone through a fast from dinner the night before until you have breakfast in the morning which can be as long as 12 hours. If you are sensitive to blood sugar swings then you can experience feelings of nausea until the low blood sugar has been corrected by having breakfast.

You can test if this is the problem by having an oatcake or rye cracker within an hour of going to bed. If low blood sugar is the problem then you will not experience the nausea when you wake. Then you have to address the cause of the problem by eating little and often (every three hours) during the day and eliminating caffeine and sugar as this stops the blood sugar roller coaster effect.

People who are depressed, overly stressed, cynical and distrustful of others may have a greater risk of developing heart disease than those who have a more positive outlook, a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests.

Upbeat people have healthier hearts because they’re less likely to adopt unhealthy eating habits such as smoking and overeating, say researchers from the University of Michigan. People who were distrustful and cynical were at the greatest risk of becoming ill. Proof indeed that you should always look on the bright side of life!