YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    The Slim Down

    • Fight off the big February freeze with a hot and healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert (all for less than 400 calories each!)

      Breakfast

      Warm morning muffins

      Dark, cold winter mornings getting you down?  Then bake up a batch of these little high fibre, low fat, slow releasing, super healthy beauties.   Warmed in the oven for a couple of minutes and served with a cup of freshly brewed coffee they'll take your breakfast times to an all new dimension.

      [Related feature: The world's top 10 most filling foods]
      [Related link: Buy bakeware]

      Preparation time: 12 minutes

      170 g dried apricots, coarsely chopped
      170 g unsweetened muesli
      250 g self-raising flour
      1 teaspoon baking powder
      250 ml unsweetened apple juice
      3 tablespoons vegetable oil
      100 ml honey
      1 large egg
      a 12-hole muffin tin, lined with
      12 paper cases
      Makes 12

      Put the apricots, muesli, flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and stir. In a separate bowl, mix the apple juice, oil, honey and egg. Fold into the dry

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    • Almost half of all men and a third of all women in the UK are overweight.  A shocking statistic in itself.  However, when you consider that between the ages of 55 to 64 this figure rises to almost 80% of men and 70% of women things start to get really scary - and it's a problem that isn't going to go away.

      In fact, over the past forty years obesity rates have trebled, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has doubled and the incidence of heart disease has increased by a massive 25%  - and things only look set to get worse.  So why are we facing the biggest obesity epidemic ever known?  What's really causing our bellies to balloon and our girths to grow?

      [Related feature: Can you spot the healthier option?]

      Research shows that although exercise and activity play a vital role in our battle against the bulge the amount of calories we use on a day to day basis has not declined that much over the past forty years.  Certainly not enough to account for the sudden increase in obesity

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    • Fresh fruit comes packaged as nature intended and therefore it contains all the vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals and antioxidants you might expect.  Fruit also contains water — and lots of it.  An apple for example is approximately 85% water and grapefruits, water melons and strawberries all contain over 90% water by weight.

      This water content can not only contribute to your daily fluid requirement but it also adds bulk and volume to the fruit which helps to make you feel satisfied and full  - a real plus point for anyone looking to control their weight.

      As the name suggests, dried fruits have had most of their water content removed.  This, in effect, concentrates the remaining nutrients into a smaller volume which is why dried fruits, weight for weight, are often richer in fibre, iron and other key vitamins and minerals.  However, this also means dried fruits will also be richer in calories and sugar.

      [Useful: The best foods to make you feel fuller for longer]

      This is partly

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    • Want to look great for summer but can't bear the thought of another diet?  Take a look at Rachael Anne Hill's no-nonsense, top tips for fast, healthy, weight loss.

      Take up juggling
      No, not the ball throwing variety - I'm talking food juggling instead. Juggling the ingredients of your favourite meals by reducing the carbohydrate content slightly and increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables can be a highly effective way of cutting calories and controlling blood sugars whilst doubling your nutrient intake into the bargain.

      For example, a spaghetti bolognaise made in the usual way of frying mince and onions, adding a tomato based sauce and serving on top of a plate of spaghetti amounts to approximately 600 calories.

      If however, you juggle the ingredients by using 50% less meat and spaghetti and add in more vegetables in the form of peas, sweet corn, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms and grated carrot (which dissolve within the cooking process to give the tomato sauce a fabulous, smooth,

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    • You've stopped putting sugar in your tea or on your cereal and you switched to diet drinks long ago so you don't eat much sugar right?  Wrong!  Yahoo nutritionist, Rachael Anne Hill explains why.

      Sugars are carbohydrate and like all carbohydrates they are ultimately broken down into glucose which is what provides the body with energy.  However, healthy eating guidelines recommend that we should limit our intake of simple sugars (the type extracted from sugar cane, beet or honey and added to manufactured foods) to a maximum of 10% of our overall calories (approximately 50g per day for the average woman).  This is because too much refined sugar not only rots teeth and increases our intake of 'empty' calories (calories without many additional health benefiting nutrients) it also plays havoc with our ability to control blood sugar levels which can lead to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

      More recent research into the effects of sugar on health have found it also stimulates the

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