Eating the right food to lose weight is one thing but just as important is eating the right food to keep you healthy. Sure you'll feel fitter when you lose weight but that doesn't mean you are healthy or that your body is functioning properly. We live in the age of processed food which is not good for you. Nearly everything you see in a food store nowadays is processed stuff. The makers have played around with the original so much and added so many preservatives, flavours, artificial tastes and colourings to it that it's a wonder it can be classified as food. That includes those frozen and takeaway meals too Sometimes I think food manufacturers are more occupied with the colourful packaging than the contents. After all, they're in it for the money.

But we should eat to be healthy. No matter how much you might like it, the processed stuff is not good for you. You need to think fresh food - fresh meat, vegetables and fruit. It's still around. You can still buy it. And it's  the real thing. People have been living on it since civilisation began.

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At Last! The Truth About Processed Foods: Eat a good, balanced diet. This is vital to good health. Our food does not just provide the energy we need for daily living, it also provides the raw materials for healthy cell turnover and fuels our natural repair system.

Fruit and vegetables are nature's anti-aging remedy, protecting us from many of the diseases we associate with later life. I cannot stress how vital this is; being overweight will seriously reduce the chances of a healthy older age as there is a greater risk of heart disease, stroke, arthritis and diabetes.

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While nicotine patches enable smokers to kick the butt, the latest fad  is weight loss patches, already popular with celebrities including Paris Hilton.

The patches look like a 2in square sticking plaster and can be attached to any part of the body. The sticky pads are claimed to suppress hunger pangs and help the body burn off fat.

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1. I recently started exercising and so I indulge in my favourite foods. Why is it that I have gained weight? It is a myth that if you exercise, you can indulge and eat whatever pleases you. Even with exercise, you must follow a low-fat diet and combine it with regular exercise, to knock off weight and keep it off.

Learn to re-educate your appetite so that you are in control of it. The easiest way to know if you are really hungry is to wait a while before you eat. Give yourself 20 minutes, if you are still hungry, it means your body needs the food. If not, it's a craving and you can control the urge to eat.

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Expectant mothers who eat for two could jeopardise their health for decades, doctors warned last night. Women who put on too much weight in pregnancy are more than four times as likely to be obese 20 years later as those who follow doctors' guidelines.

Being obese can take nine years off a person's life and raise the risk of health problems including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, infertility, depression and some cancers.

Experts said there had been too much emphasis on ensuring babies were born at a healthy weight and not on the health needs of mothers.

The news came as it also emerged that men who are obese at 20 are twice as likely to die young. The research on mothers-to-be questioned the traditional approach of encouraging them to eat more.

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Women who eat a high-fat diet during pregnancy may put their child at risk of birth defects, a new report has found. British researchers carried out a study on mice which showed a pregnant mother's diet could affect the genes of her unborn child, influencing types and severity of birth defects, such as cleft palate and congenital heart disease.

"These are very important findings as we have been able to show for the first time that gene-environment interactions can affect development of the embryo in the womb," said study leader Jamie Bentham of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford.

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A group of British researchers suggest that consuming a Vitamin D rich diet will benefit pregnant women in preventing infantile diseases such as rickets and infantile hypocalcaemia. Researchers from the University College London Institute of Child Health revealed that Britain was the only country in the list of 31 that does not officially recommend vitamin D for pregnant women.

In fact the National Institute of health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) suggests that pregnant women should not use vitamin supplements even as Department of Health advises that would-be mothers should make sure that they consume at least 10 grams of vitamin D each day.

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Eating a healthy and balanced diet incorporating lots of fruit and vegetables will help maintain healthy eyes. Try to limit your alcohol intake.  Have regular check ups with an optician - everyone is at risk of eyesight problems whatever their age. Visiting the optician regularly means eye conditions can be identified in the early stages and action taken. Between 50-75 years of age, you should have an eye check at least every two years.

Ensure that when reading/working you have adequate light.

Always look after contact lenses as detailed by your optician or ophthalmologist.

Never sleep with contact lenses in your eyes unless advised to do so by your optician.

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Do women really need to eat any differently than men — we’re all humans, right? True, but a woman’s nutritional needs are more specific than a man’s.

Pam Peeke MD, MPH author of Fight Fat After Forty  and Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Maryland School of Medicine explains why.

“Women are special. They have unique nutritional requirements to keep them energized and focused, especially as they age. And, that means over the age of 30 years! Here’s a great list of foods that every woman needs to incorporate into her weekly diet to guarantee that as each year goes by, she stays as healthy and fit as she can.”

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It is well-known that olive oil and a Mediterranean diet are associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, but a new research offers a surprising reason why: These foods change how genes associated with atherosclerosis function.

Knowing which genes can be modulated by diet in a healthy way can help people select healthy diets," said Maria Isabel Covas, a researcher involved in the work from the Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group at the Institut Municipal d'Investigacio Medica in Barcelona, Spain.

"It is also a first step for future nutritional therapies with selected foods," she added. Scientists worked with three groups of healthy volunteers. The first group consumed a traditional Mediterranean diet with virgin olive oil rich in polyphenols.

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