Friday's target: eat good fat

Today, make sure you don't neglect your fat requirements.

Why? Fat may be high in calories (1g fat contains 9 kcal), but it's essential for the body. For proof, we should get 25% of our daily calories from fat! A very low-fat diet can cause mood swings, bad skin, joint pain and - yes - weight gain. If you eat good fat, though, you'll actually lose weight because healthy fat slows down the passage of sugar in the blood.

How? Ideally, 20-25% of our diet should be made up of good fat, i.e. essential fatty acids (nuts, seeds, oily fish, rapeseed oil and walnut oil) and monounsaturated fat (extra virgin olive oil).

Reduce your intake of less healthy types of fat (found in dairy produce, butter and meat) to a minimum. Eat oily fish at least twice a week, and have a few nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds) with every snack.