There is growing appreciation of the role of diet in determining our level of health. Evidence suggests that much of the food eaten, particularly in the Western World, can exacerbate many health concerns.

You can see, particularly from food scares, the value of getting back to basics, eating and cooking fresh natural unprocessed foods.

However, due to busy stressful lifestyles, sometimes this can become a real challenge and it’s easy to slip into eating unhealthy foods.

Our dietary needs are influenced by age, sex, and lifestyle. There are times when our nutritional requirements can be higher, for example after illness, diagnosis of a health condition, periods of prolonged stress, puberty, planning for pregnancy, pregnancy itself and the menopause. It can be difficult to get the nutrients you need from food alone and you may need some help from carefully chosen supplements.

You don’t want to be fanatical about your food, as that in itself is unhealthy, but you need to think about making what you eat count nutritionally.