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Why you can trust us

The Healthy Food Guide experts believe that making small diet and lifestyle changes brings the best long-term gains. This is how we help you move to a healthier way of life…

Your say

This month you’re sharing ways to keep weight-loss on track and boost flavour

Health bulletin

The latest need-to-know from the world of diet and fitness

Why you should create a home for friendly bacteria

The secret to overall good health may live in your gut, according to research scientists – and the best way to keep it healthy is to eat a varied diet with a wide range of foods

20 foods to boost your gut health

Increase the variety in your diet with a rainbow of plant-based ingredients, and the diversity of your gut bacteria will also increase (along with beneficial molecules such as short-chain fatty acids, which can affect your mood). Try these top choices from registered nutritionist Miguel Toribio-Mateas to feed your gut

BOWEL CANCER PREVENTION and RECOVERY PLAN

Experts say up to 20,000 of the 42,000 cases of bowel cancer diagnosed every year in the UK could be prevented by diet and lifestyle changes. We asked the experts for their healthy checklist

MENOPAUSE and the HEAT of the MOMENT

Some symptoms are hard to talk about, but you don’t have to face them alone, says Dr Dawn Harper. Whether you’re suffering a relationship-busting loss of libido or those well documented hot flushes, there’s help out there

The no-hangover guide to SUMMER DRINKING

Relaxing in the garden, outside the pub or watching the sunset from a rooftop bar, it’s all too easy to have one too many. Use our expert guide to keep control while still enjoying the fun of an alfresco tipple

UPDATE YOUR DRINKS CABINET

Our pick of the new low- and no-alcohol drinks and mixers, plus some low-sugar wines and beers

Healthy TONIGHT!

We’ve mapped out a weeknight menu that keeps a check on saturates, as well as delivering low-cal versions of favourites like skewers, burgers and pasta

6pm panic

Satisfy that takeaway urge with our hearty healthier curry

Dinner for one

This spicy fish ‘pasta’ takes care of four of your five-aday. Feel free to add more!

DEMAND a LUNCHTIME RISE

Swap a dull sarnie – and save money on ready meals and deli salads – with our healthy, do-it-yourself quick-prep lunches. Book your slot at the microwave and toaster and you’re all set

Enjoy a week in the MED

With our pullout booklet this month (see p66) mapping

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

Cheese and soured cream balance the heat of the chilli in Mexican dishes, but both can push calories and saturates over the top. Our version keeps these – and salt levels – in check

CONFECTION PERFECTION

These pretty morsels will add the perfect flourish to your garden party – or keep them in the fridge or freezer for healthier snacking

POPS of COLOUR!

Pull out the lolly moulds and make a cooling batch of our yummy, low-calorie fruit pops

YOUR DIET PLAN

The delicious, nutritious and versatile way to lose weight

YOUR WAY

and keep it off for good

NOW KEEP GOING…

PICK ONE Breakfast

Pick and mix your meals

PICK ONE Lunch

Weight-loss star

She only signed up to a gruelling boot camp for the sake of her friend, but it gave reader Lucy the jumpstart she needed to lose 5st. She’s now helping others follow suit

The meat-lover s HEALTHY

Despite Britain’s unpredictable summers, on average we enjoy nine barbies each year. Given that our favourite food to throw on the coals is still meat, dietitian Juliette Kellow gives us the lowdown on which type is the healthiest – and explains how to barbecue safely

BARBECUE GUIDE

Low intakes of iron, which puts them at risk of iron-deficiency

THIS VS THAT

Swapping that monster helping of takeaway chips for a healthier portion of home-cooked oven chips or sweet potato wedges is a step in the right direction. But which is better? Dietitian Jennifer Low makes a nutritional comparison

SMART VEGETABLE SWAPS

B ROCCOLI SALES SHOW IT’S THE UK’S favourite vegetable

Don’t let it go to waste…

If you grow your own veg or buy them from a local source, chances are they’ll come topped with a bunch of foliage. These green parts are too tasty (and nutritious) for the compost heap. Here’s what you could be missing out on…

IDENTIFY YOUR & lose weight for good

Pinpointing your personal eating style makes you more likely to get to (and stay at) your target weight, says Dr Meg Arroll, co-author of new book The Shrinkology Solution

EATING STYLE

Feedback – scales tipping in the right direction, clothes

FIGHTING the 21st CENTURY SLUMP

Good posture doesn’t cost ya, they say… And slumping in front of a computer or checking your phone as you walk not only make you look bad, but could also be harming your health, says Leah Hardy

WHAT TO DO… FIX YOUR BAD HABITS

Bob Chatterjee, consultant spinal surgeon at Harley Street Spine and spinal lead at The Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, says most people don’t realise the effects of poor posture on their health – or that it’s possible to reverse them.We asked personal trainer Patrick Fallis for some correcting exercises…

WALK & STAND TALL

Good posture is vitaI when it comes to looking eIegant,’ says Diana Mather, director and senior tutor at etiquette consultancy The English Manner (theenglishmanner.com). ‘It’s even more important as you get oIder. No matter what you do to your face, if your posture is bad, you will look old.’ Here are her tips on how to look gracefuI in every situation…

Take the plunge Watersports

On a beautiful British summer’s day, what could be

FREE! Pukka 7 day herb kits

Two 7 Day Kits, each with 7 organic herbal tea sachets

References

Your guide to the research behind this month’s stories

Nutrition lowdown

We cut through the science to help you work out how our recipes – and the foods you buy in the supermarket – fit into a balanced, healthy diet

How to man up and lose your beer belly

In eight weeks Jon Lipsey, fitness magazine editor and author, went from chubby to chiselled. Here’s how…