It’s time to ease up on heavy winter root vegetables and switch to light spring greens instead.

Why not make a pot of fresh strong green soup with nettle and garlic to flush out your liver and boost your vitality levels? Or you could throw together a salad containing watercress which is brimming with both zinc and calcium, minerals crucial to boost your energy.

A new study has found that dieting provokes cravings for ‘forbidden’ foods like chocolate.

Psychologists at Hertfordshire University found that dieting is counterproductive as it increases cravings for foods slimmers tend to avoid. So don’t diet but lose weight by eating healthily and also exercise.

Recent studies have turned peanut butter into a health food by showing that peanut products can actually lower your LDL or “bad” cholesterol as effectively as olive oil. But go for the old-fashioned or “natural” kind.

Other brands that use partially hydrogenated oils to give their butters a creamy consistency and keep the oil from separating can raise your cholesterol. Other nut butters are equally as good so try almond and cashew nut butter.