A. Often it’s just as hard to put on weight as it is to lose weight, particularly if you come from a family with a tall slender build which you’ve no doubt inherited. On the plus side, as you get older, your skinny build will become an advantage as you’re less likely to succumb to heart troubles or diabetes, conditions which are aggravated by being overweight.

A. Energy density means the ratio of kilojoules/calories you get from a given weight or volume of a food. It's really how many kilojoules/calories you can fit into a mouthful!

I love good food. It tastes delicious, adds pleasure to life and helps us celebrate good (and not-so-good) times. Importantly it gives our bodies the energy and nutrients to stay alive and thrive. Not to mention allowing children to grow properly or pregnant women to create a healthy new bub!

We all know exercise is important for health and that it needs to be done regularly. I know of no better way to force me to walk each day than our dog Archie. Without him, I'd already be a couch potato of extreme spud-ness! Here are 10 things I've learned from Archie, my high-energy cattle dog.

Why make your own salad dressing when there’s a whole aisle of them in all flavours and varieties in every supermarket? Here are six good reasons I think you should and I give you my easy, 4 ingredients, salad dressing recipe too.

I started my career in nutrition way back in the 1970s. Over the last 40 years I’ve seen hundreds of fads come and go and then, like a tired old rock star, make a come back. When I began my career the current fads were:

• The Atkins No-carb Diet. Dietitians were horrified. Now it’s back, this time better received though it’s still not a long term weight loss solution.
• Grapefruit for breakfast was supposed to melt away stubborn fat and make you slim (it didn’t but it’s still a super-healthy fruit to eat).
• Many women, popped little white tablets of saccharin into their coffee, as sugar was considered THE source of weight gain.
• Apricot chicken made with a packet of French onion soup mix was the ‘in’ 70s dinner party recipe.

Exercise. We know it's good for us. We know we need to do it regularly. We know we'll feel good after we've done it. But still we have to force ourselves to get up and get moving. Here's how I motivate myself to keep active and how I fit in things that keep me moving instead of being sedentary.

Eating a wide variety of foods is a key principle in nutrition. It’s so important that the official government guidelines on healthy eating state ‘Eat a wide variety of nutritious foods’ as their first guideline, ahead of guidelines that we limit saturated fat, choose foods low in salt, limit your alcohol and prevent weight gain.

I can't stress how much variety matters. Think swings and roundabouts! Study after study shows that those of us who eat a wide variety are in better health and live longer than those who don’t.