Diet tips

At the start of a diet, people most certainly look at food store and big brand food items labelled 'low in fat'. To do this is far too often a miscalculation, in that an item could be significantly reduced in fats, but nevertheless elavated in calories and carbs.

Some low carbohydrate diet guidlines:
* Replace sugar with splenda. Most recipes that require sugar can be modified to make use of a sugar replacement instead. It is not exactly the same so you will have to do a bit of trial and error and it might not be perfect for every dish, but it gives very good results once you get the measurements right.

* Food labels can be misleading Watch out for food packaging that claims to be 'low carb' - check the nutritional information figures on the back of the tin or packet. Many are only marginally decreased and in some cases still higher than a competitors standard brand. In addition, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' does not always mean 'low carb' - usually the carbs are identically the same.

Healthy foods with carotenes
(includes parsley, kale and tomato puree)
These plants are rich in the carotenoids believed to play a role in helping prevent cancer, spefically cancer of the lungs. The majority of these also have a low calorie count, so should be a part of every diet.