Health and Fitness: Appetite for reconstruction

Good things come in small packages Here's a useful trick for staying satisfied without consuming large portions: chop high-calorie foods like cheese and chocolate into smaller pieces. It will seem like you're getting more than you actually are.

Get water-wise Make a habit of reaching for a glass of water instead of a high-fat snack. It will help your overall health as well as your waistline. So drink up. Add some zest to your six to eight glasses a day with a twist of lemon or lime.

Herb it up Stock up your spice rack and start growing a small herb garden on your kitchen windowsill. Spices and herbs add fantastic flavour to foods without adding fat or calories.

Slim down your soup Make a big batch of soup and refrigerate it before you eat it. As it cools, the fat will rise to the top and can be skimmed off the surface.

Go American, and doggie-bag that dinner At restaurants that you know serve large portions, ask the waiter to put half of your main course in a takeaway box before bringing it to your table. Putting the food away before you start your meal will help you practise portion-control.

Don't multi-task while you eat If you're working, reading or watching TV while you eat, you won't be paying attention to what's going into your mouth – and you won't be enjoying every bite. Every time you have a meal, sit down. Chew slowly and pay attention to flavours and textures. You'll enjoy your food more and eat less.

Taste something new Broaden your food repertoire – you may find that you like more healthy foods than you knew. Try a new fruit or vegetable (ever had plantain, pak choi, papaya or starfruit?).

Leave something on your plate at every meal One bite of bagel, half of your sandwich, the bun from your burger. See if you still feel satisfied after eating just a bit less.

Get to know your portion sizes It's easy to underestimate how much you're eating. So make sure you know. Ask how much is in a serving, read the fine print on labels, measure your food. And learn portion equivalents: one serving of pasta, for instance, should be around the size of a tennis ball.

Ask for what you need Tell your mother-in-law you don't want second helpings. Ask your other half to stop bringing you chocolates. Speak up for the place with great salads when your co-workers are picking a restaurant for lunch. Whatever you need to do to succeed at weight-loss, ask for it – make yourself a priority and assert yourself.

TOP 10 FOOD MYTHS

by the Food Standards Agency

The experts are always changing their minds about what healthy eating really is

It might seem as though nutrition experts regularly change their minds and don't agree with each other. But, in fact, the main messages about healthy eating have stayed the same for some time.

For example, the message to reduce the amount of fat we eat has been the same for more than 15 years, and we were being told about the importance of fruit and veg as long ago as the Second World War. Though it was a time of food shortages, the advice was to 'dig for victory' and grow our own food for a healthy diet.

Choosing healthy food to eat is very limiting and it's boring too

It's true that we shouldn't eat too much of certain foods, or eat them too often, such as those high in fat or sugar, but there are lots of interesting foods we should be eating more of, such as oily fish and fruit and veg.

And eating healthily doesn't mean cutting out all your favourite foods, it's just about getting the balance right.

Healthier foods are always far more expensive than other foods

Although it's true that some healthier ingredients can be more expensive than the unhealthy ones, often you only need to use them in very small amounts. And sometimes choosing the healthy alternative can actually save money.

You can make meat go further by cooking it in casseroles or stir-fries with cheaper ingredients such as beans, pulses or seasonal veg. Basing your meals on starchy foods such as rice, pasta or bread is not only a good idea for a healthy balanced diet, but these foods are also good value and can make a meal go further. A good way to save money is to cook batches of food and freeze it in portions.

Having a traditional cooked breakfast in the morning is bad for you

If you grill lean bacon, poach eggs and include baked beans, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms cooked without fat, and serve it with thick crusty bread, you'll have a delicious cooked breakfast that is also healthy and balanced.

If the label says 'low fat' or 'reduced fat', then the product will always be a healthy choice

To claim that a product is 'reduced fat', the amount of fat must be at least 30 per cent lower than in standard products. But these types of foods tend to be high in fat and energy in the first place, so the 'reduced fat' version can still have quite high amounts of both.

Foods labelled 'low fat' or 'reduced fat' aren't necessarily low in energy. The fat is replaced by other ingredients, so the product can end up with the same or an even higher energy (calorie) content.

If you want to have the healthier option, it's best to choose a vegetarian dish

Some vegetarian dishes contain a lot of fat, especially if they're made with lots of cheese, oil, pastry or creamy sauces, or if they have been fried. So they aren't necessarily a healthy option.

Red meat is always very high in fat and poultry is always low in fat

Removing visible fat can make a big difference to the fat content of meat. In fact, lean red meat is quite low in fat at 4g-8g per 100g.

When the lean and fat components of meat are blended together in mince or meat products, this can make the fat content much higher. Meat products, whether they have been made from red meat or poultry, can also be high in fat because of the other high-fat ingredients they contain, such as the pastry in a meat pie or pasty.

Drinking ice-cold water uses up more calories and helps you lose weight

Drinking water that is ice-cold doesn't use up any more calories than drinking water at room temperature. If you do want to lose weight, it's important not to go on a 'crash diet'. Losing weight takes time. The most effective way to lose weight – and keep it off – is by changing your lifestyle for good.

If a child refuses to eat fruit or veg, then it's best not to serve them again

It's better to show children a new food a few times before you give it to them to taste. Offer new food to children as often as possible. If they refuse the food, wait a few days and then try again.

If a child seems reluctant to eat certain fruit and vegetables, try different types instead, or mix them with foods they already like such as yoghurt, rice or mashed potato. You could also encourage children to help prepare new foods – research suggests they will be more likely to eat them. Try not to get into confrontations about food because this will make matters worse. Instead, offer your child a variety of foods.

Dried fruit doesn't count towards your five-a-day

As part of a healthy, balanced diet, we should be eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day, whether it is dried, fresh, frozen, canned or juiced. Dried fruit such as currants, sultanas, raisins, dates and figs provide energy in the form of sugar and are a good source of fibre. They also contain vitamins and minerals, but not vitamin C, which is found in fresh fruit.

A portion of dried fruit is one heaped tablespoonful. This is smaller than a portion of fresh fruit because it's based on the equivalent weight of fresh fruit. So dried fruit does count towards your five-a-day, but remember that it's better for your teeth to have it at mealtimes rather than in between meals.