A.   Monounsaturated fats have only one double bond in their carbon chain (hence the term "mono"), while polyunsaturated have two, three or more of these bonds ("poly" means many). Understanding this difference in their structure will help us understand the role they have in our health.

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!

Catherine Saxelby's Complete Food and Nutrition Companion - The Ultimate A-Z Guide. This new book contains over 500 entries on 400 pages with tons of food facts, colour pictures, handy charts and tip lists. It's written in an alphabetical A to Z format from Acai to Zinc. It's the nutrition reference book to end all reference books!  Available from June 2012

On food labels in Australia and New Zealand, nutrition figures are presented in a standard table format called the Nutrition Information Panel or NIP. This important panel shows the quantities per serve and per 100g of the food or 100mL if liquid. If you can understand the numbers on it, I find it's an invaluable aid to assessing any food.

 Just like yards became metres and pounds became grams, so calories have become kilojoules. Kilojoules are the metric equivalent of calories and have replaced calories in almost all countries. Yet they're very confusing, especially to my US visitors who have always only known calories (lucky for me, I grew up with calories then had to learn kilojoules!)

I'm often contacted by journalists or media for a comment or my take on a hot new issue in food and nutrition. Or some new diet book that's just come out. Here I've summarised the latest things I've said in magazines, newspapers and online. It's my take on everything from the obesity crisis to cutting back on sugar.

I'm always looking to ways to boost my energy level. While no food can guarantee this, I've found seven that are critical to the supply of energy in the body and the peak functioning of your brain. If you're constantly tired or lacking in energy, check your diet for these seven.

As working women, fatigue, stress and lack of energy face us every day. When you're juggling kids, home and work, the causes are not surprising - long hours, more demands on us as individuals, lack of sleep or broken sleep, no time for ourselves, no time for just "chilling out".