DAN HYDE: Too little, too late for the millions tricked by dodgy pension promises

By Dan Hyde for the Daily Mail
Published: 11:49 GMT, 8 November 2012 | Updated: 16:43 GMT, 8 November 2012


Finally something is being done to stop salesmen tricking savers into pensions which are doomed never to deliver.

From 2014, pension providers will banned from advertising ‘unrealistic’ returns of up to 9 per cent a year. Instead savers will told to expect just 5 per cent a year on average - and certainly no more than 8 per cent.

It will at a stroke wipe hundreds of thousands of pounds off today’s lofty estimates of how much a pension will be worth at retirement.

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Gambling on the future: Investors lured with promises of high returns are being given unrealistic expectations.

The Daily Telegraph reported on this fallout - on its front page, no less - as if it was a negative. The truth couldn't be more different. The move to cut so-called 'projection rates' by City regulator the Financial Services Authority is crucial in stopping millions of savers being misled.

Richard Eagling, head of pensions at data analyst Moneyfacts, says: ‘This is somewhat overdue given that pension returns have generally lagged for a while. For too long these projection rates have given hopes of unrealistically high returns. Pension savers will now be given a more accurate picture of what they need to save for retirement.’

Today savers are told their pension will grow a minimum of 5 per cent a year, an average of 7 per cent, up to a maximum of 9 per cent.

But with markets wobbling violently since the financial crisis, such returns are now wildly optimistic.

The 200 biggest pension funds have grown just 2.56 per cent a year on average since 2007.

The 10 biggest pension funds have returned just under 1.98 per cent.

The £16.4 billion Standard Life Managed One fund - the second-largest - has grown just 1.88 per cent a year on average.

It reflects a worrying trend for investment returns. The average has dropped considerably since the financial crisis. Over the last ten years, for example, the average stands at 6.83 per cent. This slowdown has symmetry in the wider economy.

Developed nations are already full to the brim: there are already too many cars on the roads, too much unnecessary clutter in our homes, too many companies competing to sell the same worthless stuff to us over and again.

That's why washing machines, TVs, clothes, shoes, you name it... aren't made to last these days. If they did, we'd have fewer reasons to spend money.

Yet we simply can't keep splurging like we did in the hedonistic boom years. Demand is running dry - and not just because household budgets are being squeezed by soaring energy and food prices.

Simply put, if we want to 'return to growth' we are going to have to find a new way. And this must not be fuelled by a return to free-flowing credit, either. The economic crisis was the splash of freezing water we needed to appreciate the danger of binging on borrowed wealth.

So savers are getting a ‘false impression’ of what returns will be like in the future, the FSA says. From 2014 it will force pension companies to use projections of 2 per cent, 5 per cent, and 8 per cent.

The impact will be dramatic. For example, a 7 per cent growth rate would give a 22 year-old earning £30,000 a year the impression that his pot will be worth £540,663 at age 68, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. If the new 5 per cent average growth rate is used, this figure will fall to £334,709.

Thankfully the regulator has taken action before 11 million more people are misled. These are workers - most of the young - about to be signed up to a pension automatically at work as part of a new government scheme to get us saving.

Don't get me wrong - getting Britain saving is absolutely crucial. The more honest we are about how hard it's going to be, the better.

But for those already sold down the river, it'll feel like like another affront. In the late Eighties and early Nineties, unrealistic returns as high as 13 per cent were used by crafty salesman to flog pensions.

Many hard-working Britons were tricked out of generous final salary schemes by insurance companies' door-step staff, who prowled the streets en masse. The policies sold have failed to deliver.

The average annual return over the last 25 years of the 39 biggest funds is just 6.27 per cent, according to Moneyfacts. Some have returned next to nothing. Others have done well but seen the fund decimated by eye-watering charges. Millions of victims are now retiring with just a fraction of what they were promised.

This injustice was passed over in a major mis-selling review by regulators at the turn of the millennium. That investigation looked primarily at whether sales practices were sound, rather than the failings of the regulator itself in handing the sharks wildly unrealistic returns to use as bait.

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Jane Clarke: Brush your teeth or you'll get scurvy!

Updated: 21:20 GMT, 19 January 2009

Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week, Jane explains why the elderly have trouble getting the vitamins and minerals they need...

Such was the shocking state of people’s teeth in Georgian times that it was not uncommon for a bride-to-be to have her teeth removed as a pre-wedding present. To have them all ripped out was seen as far preferable to enduring the pain and ugly appearance of a mouth full of decaying teeth.

You might think this is a horror story from the past, but according to Angus Walls, a dental professor at the University of Newcastle, in 1998 only 20 per cent of people over the age of 85 still had their natural teeth. That’s roughly the same number as 30 years earlier.

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Professor Walls unveiled these shocking statistics at the British Nutrition Foundation’s conference on Healthy Ageing last week. While he predicts that the number holding on to their own teeth should gradually rise to 40 per cent over the next few years, that still leaves 60per cent having to rely either on dentures or nothing at all (few elderly people can afford more permanent measures such as implants).

Elderly people in care homes are particularly
at risk, and I suspect financial cutbacks at the moment will put dental hygiene at the bottom of their list of priorities.

One dentist I know recently told me a horrifying story about one care home, where the staff admitted they only cleaned residents’ teeth every five days.

Of course, it’s not just the elderly in homes who need good dental care.

You might be forgiven for thinking that teeth are a cosmetic issue, but you couldn’t be more wrong.

It’s important to preserve your teeth, because if you lose them, however much dentures have progressed, nutritious eating becomes more difficult.

Many people with dentures will tell you that eating a salad, lettuce in particular, is never possible as the leaves get stuck.

Many also complain of ulcers from dentures rubbing on their gums — this matters, because the way your mouth feels has an enormous impact on your appetite.

I suspect that’s why so many elderly people are often underweight or malnourished — the notion of tucking into an apple or a slice of seedy wholegrain bread is a non-starter if you have poorly fitting dentures.

Our intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, a vital source of vitamin C, is a particular worry.

This vitamin is not only essential for healing, but when its levels drop (and they can plummet in the elderly who live in care homes), this can lead to scurvy, the disease sailors used to get where gums become weak and bleed and the skin develops sores.

A lack of vitamin C also has serious implications for the body’s ability to absorb other essential nutrients such as iron, which we need for energy. Vitamin C’s healing properties are even more important for an elderly person, who is far more likely to suffer from bedsores, cuts that won’t heal and all sorts of health problems that require the body to have a nourishing diet.

You also need to be aware that medications such as the laxative Senokot (doled out to elderly people who struggle with their bowels) and many liquid pain-killing medicines are full of sugar and/or have a syrupy consistency that makes them hang around in the mouth for a long time, raising acid levels and increasing tooth decay.

A word of warning, too, about meal replacement drinks such as Fortisip, used widely for elderly people with poor appetites to give them a boost.

These drinks are packed full of sugar and tend to be left by the person’s side for sipping constantly day and night — this means the mouth doesn’t get any respite from sugar and the resulting high acidity levels, which rot the teeth.

Dental hygiene is incredibly important. We need to treat our teeth as a precious part of our body. Regular teeth cleaning and dental check-ups are essential — if more people did this, there wouldn’t be so many people going in to old age with dentures.

It is true vegetables are a better form of fibre than salad? If so, why is this? I thought cooking destroyed all the nutrients. Helen Scholfield, by email

WHILE dark green, leafy salad such as rocket is good for you as it contains vitamins and minerals such as folate, vitamin C and selenium — all good for the heart and immune system — it won’t provide you with as much fibre as vegetables.

So if it’s fibre you’re after then, yes, it’s better to eat a portion of broccoli instead. Also, salads contain a lot of water, which waters down the fibre content.

As for cooking, unlike vitamin C, which deteriorates with time and heat, fibre doesn’t.

So you get as much fibre in a portion of apple pie as in an apple. Cooked vegetables and fruits can also suit some people better, as cooking softens the plant cell walls (where you find the majority, but not all of the fibre) so it feels much easier to digest.

So at this cold time of year tuck into vegetable curries and fruit pies.

VEGETABLE CURRY

SERVES 4
A delicious vegetable curry will provide lots of fibre

1 large onion; 5 garlic cloves; 1/2in ginger root, peeled and chopped; 2 green chillies, chopped; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp hot
chilli powder, or to taste.

2 tomatoes, chopped; juice of lemon; 6 cardamom pods; 6 whole cloves; 200ml vegetable stock; freshly ground pepper; 1 cauliflower, cut into florets; 600g other root vegetables, cut into bite-sized pieces; 100g natural yogurt; coriander

Puree the onion, garlic, ginger and chillies in a food processor. Heat the oil in a large, thick-based pan and add the cumin, turmeric and chilli powder. Stir, then add the puree.

Cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes, lemon juice, remaining spices, stock and seasoning. Stir, add the vegetables, cover and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are done. Five minutes before the end of cooking, remove lid and allow remaining liquid to thicken. Drizzle with the yogurt, scatter with coriander, and serve.

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Leftovers: good for your health AND your wallet

Updated: 22:35 GMT, 10 November 2008

Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week Jane explains the health benefits of leftovers and how Wensleydale can help cut your salt intake...

There's one skill I wish hadn't disappeared from our kitchens - the one our grandmothers had of turning leftovers into a hearty meal.

Delicious chicken soup would be made from bones that apparently had nothing left on them; aromatic bread pudding produced from a stale loaf, eggs and dried fruit; and mouth-watering bubble and squeak concocted with the Sunday roast's leftover cooked vegetables.

Instead, we have become disgracefully wasteful, turning up our noses at leftovers. It's been estimated that the average household throws away £420 of food a year - families with children chuck out £610 worth.

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Leftover nutrition: When you re-heat fruit and vegetables, all you're losing is a little vitamin C and a small amount of B vitamins, which you can easily make up for in the rest of your diet

Last week, it was reported we're wasting more than £5 billion a year buying sandwiches for lunch instead of using the previous night's dinner leftovers or food languishing in our fridges.

Apparently, we could all save more than £3 a day if we packed up cold meats and yoghurts and took them to work.

Quite apart from the money saved, nutritionally speaking, eating leftovers is fine. When you re-heat already cooked fruit and vegetables, all you're losing is a little vitamin C (it's heat and time sensitive) and a small amount of the B vitamins, but you will make up for them elsewhere in your diet.

The fibre content is just as high. And the flavours can be better second-time round. For instance, when you make bubble and squeak, the taste can be more intense as the water content will be lower.

And, if you've stored cold meat and gravy with cooked vegetables, such as potatoes, they will all have infused their flavours and you'll have less need for salt.

Beta-carotene, an antioxidant vitamin that helps reduce risk of cancer, is more easily absorbed from cooked carrots and tomatoes than raw. And people with sensitive digestive systems can find cooked vegetables easier to digest.

Protein from meat and fish doesn't change when you reheat it - yes, it can be a little tougher to chew because it's slightly drier, but you get round this by adding gravy to a minced meat pie, and milk or stock to a chicken pie.

Nutritionally, you glean just as much beneficial protein (good for your
immune system, energy and healthy hair) from a rissole of minced roast chicken and mashed potato with a crunchy oat topping as you would from the roast chicken the day before.

However, care must always be taken when re-heating food; it must be piping hot all the way through to ensure any bacteria - which can cause food poisoning - have been killed.

If you can't stand re-heated, mushy vegetables, make a quick vegetable soup. Simply heat up stock (from a cube) and add the leftovers, plus a tin of beans such as butter or kidney beans or lentils.

Heat for ten to 15 minutes and then blend in a food processor. Stale or old bread makes good croutons to thicken it up or use leftover potatoes.

For those who work in an office, invest in a thermos flask and take soup into work.

At this time of year when we're craving something hot and warm for lunch, last night's leftovers could provide a delicious, nourishing lunch that's free - all you could ask for.

Cutting down salt? Reach for the                 Wensleydale

My doctor has told me to cut down on salt. As I have always been a lover of cheese, do you know of any that are low in salt? Eddie Heywood, by e-mail.

Jane says... Most cheeses score highly on the salt scale - it is needed to bring about the chemical changes that turn milk into cheese.

It also adds flavour and acts as a preservative.
Wensleydale and Lancashire have lower levels than blue cheese, such as Roquefort. See www.britishcheese.com. Soft and fresh dairy cheeses, such as ricotta, tend to have less salt, as do soft varieties of goat's or sheep's cheese.
For example, Ricotta has 0.25g of salt per 100g, compared with, say, cheddar, which has 1.8g per 100g of cheese. Roquefort has a huge 4.2g per 100g  -  we're only meant to eat 6g of salt a day.
With harder, higher-salt cheeses, such as cheddar and parmesan, savour just a matchbox-sized piece. Or, eat it with an apple or salad and drink lots of water. The water, and potassium in the vegetables and fruits, helps your body get rid of excess salt, reducing side-effects such as raised blood pressure.
Below are a couple of recipes using ricotta: a classic savoury fritter, which doesn't need salt as the peas and spinach give a strong enough flavour; and a lemon pudding, a lighter version of a baked sponge pudding.

SPINACH, PEA AND RICOTTA FRITTERS                      

MAKES 8

250g baby spinach, washed and drained (or frozen spinach, thawed);100g fresh peas (or frozen peas, thawed); 2 eggs, beaten; 5 tbsp plain flour; 2 tbsp porridge oats; 250g ricotta; freshly ground black pepper; vegetable oil

Heat a large frying pan and add the fresh spinach, tossing until the leaves wilt. Add the fresh peas and cook for a couple of minutes. Drain well, squeezing to remove excess water. If you're using frozen spinach, ensure it's well drained. Place the spinach and peas in a bowl (if using thawed frozen peas, add them now) and add the eggs, flour, oats and ricotta.

Season with black pepper and mix well. Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and drop in large spoonfuls of the mixture - like making drop scones. Cook for a couple of minutes, then carefully flip over and cook the other side for another couple of minutes until set and golden brown. Remove and keep warm while you make the rest of the fritters.


LEMON PUDDINGS                                                           

SERVES 6

100g ground almonds; 400g ricotta; 250g golden caster sugar; 125ml fresh lemon juice; 3 medium eggs; 2 lemons, quartered; 15g toasted flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 200c/400f/gas 6. Lightly grease 6 x 150ml metal pudding moulds or ramekin dishes and line bases with circles of baking paper. Put ground almonds into a bowl and beat in ricotta. Add 100g of sugar, 2tbsp lemon juice and eggs and continue beating until mixed. Spoon mixture into moulds. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes, or until pale golden. Put the lemon quarters into the oven at the same time. Then, remove the puddings and lemon wedges from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Put remaining sugar into a small heavy-based pan with 6tbsp water. Heat gently until sugar dissolves, then boil for five minutes until syrupy. Dip base of the pan into cold water to prevent further cooking, then stir in remaining lemon juice. Loosen edges of the puddings with a round-bladed knife and up-end them on to serving plates. Reheat lemon syrup and pour over puddings. Serve warm, scattered with almonds, and squeeze juice of baked wedges over top.

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A simple recipe for beating panic attacks

By JANE CLARKE

Last updated at 09:08 19 December 2006

Jane Clarke's books are read by millions and she acted as adviser to Jamie Oliver on his School Dinners programme. Here she answers your questions on panic attacks and the benefits of nuts:

My GP says I've been suffering from panic attacks. When one comes on, my heart races, I sweat and feel incredibly anxious. Although he has suggested medication, I wondered if there is anything diet-wise that can help.

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Melody Thompson, by e-mail

This subject is very close to my heart, because about five years ago I found myself in a similar position. I was shocked to discover how frightening panic attacks are, and how debilitating. They are also very common: as many as one in ten people experiences a panic attack at some point in their lives.

The symptoms you describe are typical and are caused by an adrenaline rush. After the attack, it's common to feel utterly shattered. It's important to stay in contact with your doctor, because sometimes it is necessary to have medication and/or psychological support, such as cognitive behavioural therapy.

I found that dietary changes made a big difference. First, avoid caffeine. My first panic attack occurred during a horrible experience when I was strip-searched by El Al at Tel Aviv airport, Israel.

I had drunk strong, black coffee with sugar - and caffeine, especially when you're dehydrated (as I was) is the worst thing for any anxiety state.

Some people seem to be absolutely fine drinking strong coffee and tea, but for others, drinking anything stronger than a weak tea when they're stressed is like pouring oil on fire. So try to give up caffeinated drinks (which can include cola and some sports drinks) and see whether this helps you feel less anxious.

Certain herbal teas are traditionally associated with relaxation. The most popular is chamomile, but lemon balm and lemon verbena also help.

Alcohol may or may not help. A glass of wine can help us to relax - but sometimes alcohol has a habit of exaggerating the mood you're in. So if you're already feeling anxious, it can make things so much worse.

It's worth keeping a diary of what you eat and drink for a couple of weeks, and recording how you feel as well, to see if alcohol (or caffeine, or indeed any food in particular) ties in with anxiety.

You should also look at how well balanced your diet is (a food diary can help you here). People who eat small, healthy, nutritious meals are, in my experience, less likely to suffer from anxiety than people who eat fast food and very little fresh produce - especially if they're overdoing the high GI (glycaemic index) foods.

These foods give you a sugar high, and, as with caffeine or alcohol, if you're under stress, can make you feel 'wired', in turn exacerbating your anxiety. So avoid the high GI foods listed below and incorporate more of the lower or medium GI sweet-tasting foods.

High GI foods:

Honey, sugar, chocolate, still and fizzy sweet drinks, bananas, watermelons, figs, dried dates and raisins, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, squashes, parsnips and swedes, white and wholemeal bread, rye-based crispbreads, couscous, rice cakes and whole-grain cereals (including bran flakes), popcorn (including plain). Medium GI foods:

Grapes, oranges, fresh dates, mangoes and kiwi fruits, raw carrots, sweetcorn, peas, potatoes apart from mashed), white and wholegrain pasta, porridge, oatmeal, wholegrain rye bread including pumpernickel), brown white rice.

GI foods:

Apples, pears, peaches, grapefruits, plums, cherries, dried apricots, avocados, green, leafy vegetables and most other vegetables (but see above), lentils and beans, soya products.

I eat nuts for enjoyment and nutrition. However, I do not know what quantities I should be eating. What do you suggest?

John Curtin, Harpenden, Herts.

Nuts make a nutritious snack, whether you choose to eat them whole or in a spread such as the classic peanut butter, hazelnut or cashew nut butter.

I love nut spreads on toast, and use them in cakes as a healthy alternative to normal butter. Nuts and nut butters are a great source of monounsaturated fat. Use these instead of saturated fats such as butter to help reduce your levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and prevent your arteries from clogging up.

Nuts and nut butters don't contain any cholesterol. Because they contain protein, they are a good food for vegetarians and vegans. The amount of protein varies slightly; the peanut, for instance, is about 25 per cent protein.

Nuts are rich in vitamin E (good for heart health), zinc (good for the immune system and fertility), selenium (important for a healthy immune system) and some B vitamins (good for the heart).

The walnut is particularly rich in omega-3 fatty acids, so is useful for people who don't eat fish. Use walnuts in salads, or grind into a powder and mix with a little olive oil and then stir into pasta with crumbled goat's cheese and spinach. Delicious! You could also use walnut oil.

Nuts are low GI, which means the energy they provide is pretty long-lasting. That's why popping a little nut butter on porridge or toast makes for a gold-star breakfast.

Interestingly, the peanut is not in fact a nut but a member of the legume family, along with peas, beans and lentils. Admittedly, it contains a lot more oil and fat, but, like beans, lentils etc, it is a good source of both soluble and non-soluble fibre, which reduces LDL and keeps your gut moving in the right direction.

The word 'butter' can make dieters freak, but there isn't actually any butter in peanut butter. That's why it makes such a good sandwich filling for people with high cholesterol.

And bear in mind that a tablespoonful of peanut butter contains only about 120 kcal - roughly the same as a large banana. Butter has the same amount of calories but contains more fat - and saturated fat at that.

Some nuts, such as Brazils, contain saturated fat, but this doesn't put me off them because the health benefits outweigh this.

Sometimes, nuts and nut oil can become rancid. The oil within the nut reacts with the air causing oxidation, which turns the oil into unhealthy, heart-damaging fats. You can easily tell when nuts have turned rancid, as they taste bitter; but as long as you eat them before their use-by date they should be perfectly healthy.

Finally, some people find eating more than a handful of nuts can aggravate IBS symptoms or cause indigestion.

And you're best giving salted nuts a wide berth generally, as they are unbelievably high in salt (which can cause high blood pressure) and, as manufacturers often add oil, can be very oily.

As for quantities: I eat a handful of mixed nuts every other day, but particular favourites are almonds, because they're rich in calcium (good for bones).

A small handful of nuts can contain anything from 160 to 200 kcal. If you're watching your weight, have a few nuts a day rather than a whole packet — they're very moreish, and you could find 500 kcals have slipped down without you realising.

Jane will answer a selection of readers' questions in Good Health every Tuesday. Send your nutritional queries to Jane Clarke, Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or e-mail jane. clarke@dailymail.co.uk Jane cannot enter into personal correspondence. Please include contact details (not for publication).

Her replies cannot apply to individual cases and should be taken in a general context. Contact your GP with any health problems.

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JANE CLARKE: Bake your own bread to stop feeling bloated

 It'll take years to pay back public, says RBS as state-backed lender slumps to £3.5billion loss  Updated: 00:21 GMT, 4 November 2008
Updated: 22:21 GMT, 9 March 2009

Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week, Jane explains the multiple benefits of baking your own bread...

Bread has been a staple of our diet for so long that it's easy to forget what a delicious food it can be. But there's nothing better than a crusty loaf - especially one fresh from the oven (which is why the aroma of freshly baked bread is sometimes used to seduce people into buying a house).

The advent of bread-making machines has made home baking a popular option, although personally I prefer to knead the dough myself; pummelling the dough is a good stress-reliever, and making bread by hand means you can put in a layer of all sorts of things, from fruit purees to savoury tapenades, and mould it into whatever shape you fancy.

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Bake your own! The real value of making bread yourself is that you can decide exactly what goes into it

The other thing about making your own bread is that you know exactly what's going into it. For baker Andrew Whitley, author of Bread Matters, this is a real issue. Like many other bakers, he's concerned about the nutritional value of some bread made for supermarkets.

He says that some of it is made with flour so processed that virtually all the fibre has been removed; furthermore, the bread is low in nutrients such as vitamin E (vital for heart health), calcium (for bones) and B vitamins (energy and immune system).

The irony is that bread must contain calcium and B vitamins by law, so the manufacturers then have to add the nutrients back to the flour before it's made into loaves. But why add something back in that should have been kept there in the first place?

Processed white bread is a particular problem as it often contains all sorts of enzymes

(proteins that speed up the breadmaking process), additives and preservatives that make the bread last several days before it starts going stale. Why do we need to clutter a perfectly good foodstuff with all this rubbish?

Also, the baking methods many of these large bakeries use means the bread is cooked so quickly the resulting loaf is more doughy and dense - it's hardly surprising, then, that some people find some brand-name breads make them feel bloated and sleepy after eating. This can be avoided by buying bread made by a local baker, as smaller bakeries use slower methods that aggravate the stomach less.

But, of course, there is a problem with making such sweeping generalisations. For the wholemeal sandwich you wolf down at your desk during the week could also leave you feeling bloated, while the crusty white you have at the weekend doesn't. This is because your stress levels, rather than the bread, are causing the problem - when you're relaxed, your gut digests food better, regardless of the type of bread you eat.

Nonetheless, Whitley is right to call for better bread-making methods and stricter legislation that dictates what can and can't be added to our bread. Only then will larger manufacturers have the incentive to investigate better, more healthy production methods.

In the meantime, it's worth making your own bread, especially nowadays when we're all watching our purses.

There are many different types of flour available in the shops, and even better is to buy from mills where flour contains all sorts of grains and seeds. Try ordering online from mills such as www. shiptonmill.co.uk or www.organicmill.co.uk.

You can add almost anything to the mixture - olives, herbs, dried fruits or nuts - or make a brioche-style loaf using milk as a base in which to warm the yeast.

When it comes to yeast, the secret is to watch the temperature of the liquid you add to it. A common mistake is to have the liquid either too hot (this will 'kill' the yeast and leave your bread hard and as flat as a pancake) or too cold (so preventing the chemical process needed to produce bread that's fluffy in the middle and crusty on the outside).

Adding something sweet such as malt or honey to the liquid will also act as a food for the yeast and encourage it to grow.

And it really is worth the effort - while it might not sell your house, it will certainly cheer your spirits.
Bread Matters, by Andrew Whitley, is published by Fourth Estate (£16.99) 

Can peaches and pears make me fat?

Which foods should I eat to support the adrenal glands? I have an underactive thyroid and was told by a nutritionist to avoid peaches and pears. Janett Robinson, Romford, Essex

Jane says... An underactive Thyroid ( hypothyroidism) is very common, especially in women, with symptoms from hair loss to low mood and weight gain. There's a lot of rubbish spouted by some nutritionists and websites who blame the problem on iodine deficiency. This might be the case in the Third World, but in the UK you seldom, if ever, find anyone deficient in iodine. And there is no evidence that peaches, pears or any specific foods ('goitrogens') inhibit the thyroid gland. You also ask about your adrenal glands (which sit next to the kidneys). Some people say a stressful lifestyle puts a strain on these glands, but again there is just no evidence for this. Unless you have been diagnosed with an adrenal gland problem by an endocrinologist, I'd concentrate on what is known to make a difference to how you feel. With an underactive thyroid this means thyroxine, a well-researched and recognised treatment which should take all the symptoms away. However, Thyroxine sometimes leaves patients still struggling with weight, feeling cold and a little low, so you need regular blood tests to check your dosage.

It's also important to stick to a wellbalanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables and wholegrains, to ensure energy levels and moods are as consistent as possible.

BROWN RICE AND BROAD BEAN 'RISOTTO'
Serves 4

50g Parmigiano Reggiano; 500ml chicken stock; 3 sprigs fresh rosemary; 1 chopped onion; 200g brown basmati rice; 350g frozen broad beans or peas; 25g butter

Melt butter in a pan and fry onion over a low heat for about 10 minutes or until soft but not coloured. Add rice and rosemary and mix well to coat in the butter. Pour in chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

Five minutes before the end of cooking add the broad beans or peas. Cook for a further 5 minutes, then remove and discard rosemary stalks. Season and serve scattered with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.

PEAR AND BLACKBERRY ALMOND STRUDEL
Serves 4-6

750g ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced; 200g blackberries, fresh or frozen; 50g ground almonds; 50g golden caster sugar; 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon;12 sheets filo pastry; 2tbsp sunflower oil; 1tsp finely grated orange zest; 1tbsp sesame seeds; 2tbsp honey  

Preheat oven to 190c, gas mark 5. Mix pears, blackberries, ground almonds, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Unroll the pastry, but keep covered with a clean damp cloth. Mix oil and orange zest in a small bowl. Place 3 sheets of pastry-slightly overlapping, on the work surface, brushing lightly with the zesty oil. Cover with another 3 overlapping sheets, brush again, then repeat with 2 more layers of 3 sheets each.

Spread fruit down the length of the pastry to within 3cm of the edges. Fold the 2 shorter sides over the filling, then roll up from a long edge. Transfer to a large oiled baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, mark the top in a diamond pattern, taking care not to cut all the way through. Brush with a little oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden and crisp. Transfer to a serving plate. Warm the honey and drizzle over the strudel. Serve warm or cold.

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JANE CLARKE: Just one carrot could change a tubby child's life

Updated: 01:26 GMT, 10 February 2009

You can't have missed the Department of Health's new campaign to get families - especially children - to eat healthier food and take more exercise.

There's certainly been a fuss about the slightly naff use of the number 4 in the Change4Life campaign.

But the campaign itself is one of the first Government initiatives I think will actually do some good  -  and that's because it will appeal to children.

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Willpower: Hopefully children will find the strength to make even the smallest change to their diets

First, one complaint. Some people may balk at the fact that the campaign is partly funded by the very food and drink companies we so often lambast for producing sweet, fatty and highcalorie products.

And, indeed, I think some of them have very underhand practices when it comes to seducing children into wanting the foods they make.

Nestle, one of the companies backing the Change4Life campaign, is carrying a promotion on some of its cereals and cereal bars - all you have to do is collect tokens and your child's school will receive free educational books.

How simple! But while it might hook your kids in, many of these products - the high-sugar ones - are exactly the kind I keep telling you to not touch with a bargepole.

It takes a lot of willpower and arguing for a parent to say: 'No, you're not having that.'

The last thing we need is more pressure from children. But while I abhor such tactics, and these companies shouldn't be let off the hook just because they're backing the campaign, I don't think it should overshadow the campaign's aim.

And the resources it offers, particularly the website, work well. This carries lots of the usual advice about healthy eating and exercise, but what really stands out is the questionnaire, which offers tailored advice about improving diet and lifestyle for your children and family.

you answer the questions - ranging from how many portions of fruit and veg you've eaten that day to whether you've had biscuits, cakes or crisps and/or a home-cooked meal - then two weeks later, you receive personalised advice through the post.


Although the questions are slightly simplistic - after all, our diet varies from day to day - they also ask whether children walked or were driven to school, and whether they watched TV or played games after breakfast. This plants the seeds of how things could be improved when it comes to exercise.

The tailored advice is what sets this obesity campaign apart from others, which offer only general advice. But first, you've got to get people on the website, and the beauty of this campaign is that the marketing material - including the website - is aimed at children.

For example, a Morph-lookalike character suggests that instead of snacking on a biscuit or cake, your child should choose a piece of fruit. If we get even one child educated early, that's enough in my book.

I'm often dismissive of health campaigns, as they tend to be misguided. But I feel this one has a chance of appealing to young children, who we need to target to reverse our catastrophic levels of obesity. Obesity leads to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and unhappiness.

As a child who carried a bit of puppy fat, I was bullied at school, and it was horrible. How do seriously overweight children keep going when their peers can be so cruel?
If looking at www.nhs.uk/Change4Life gives any child the strength to make even the smallest change to their diet and move around more, it's worth it.

I am 40 and have developed spots on my face, as well as the dreaded cellulite elsewhere. What can I do to improve my skin? Sally Crawford, Kent

How annoying for you! But it's not uncommon - unfortunately, skin doesn't obey any rules of 'thou shalt not get a spot after teenage years are past'.

Check with your doctor that you don't have a hormonal imbalance, as this can be responsible for unexplained spottiness.

Contrary to popular thinking, spots and cellulite aren't caused by too much alcohol, bad food or caffeine per se, and there aren't any specific cellulite-banishing foods, despite the claims made for things such as grapefruit.

What will work is drinking 2.5 litres of water, ideally, a day - this helps the gut work more efficiently and a sluggish gut can sometimes explain why spots appear unexpectedly.

Also keep a food and drink diary for a couple of weeks, because the reality of how much fresh fruit, vegetables, wholegrain and lean protein you eat could be different from what you think.

Carrots are cheap and plentiful, so try my soup, and for some skin-improving zinc and fibre try my honey and banana muffins as a treat.

HONEY MUFFINS
Muffins: Quick and easy

180g each plain flour and wholemeal flour; 2tsp baking powder; 1tsp bicarbonate of soda; pinch of salt; 100g golden caster sugar; 200g chopped walnuts; 100g unsweetened muesli; 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten; 120ml vegetable oil; 100g honey; 3 large bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 190c/gas mark 5. Line a muffin tin with 12 large muffin papers. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt, then stir in the sugar, walnuts and muesli. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, oil, honey and bananas. Tip wet ingredients into the dry and mix, but do not overwork . Add 1tbsp of milk if mixture is too stiff. Spoon into the muffin papers. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the muffins are well risen and golden brown.

CARROT AND ORANGE SOUP

SERVES 6

Good-sized dash of olive oil; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1 clove garlic, finely chopped; 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped; 2 sticks green celery, finely chopped; 700g organic carrots, cleaned, chopped; 1 large orange; 1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock; black pepper

In a large pan, heat the olive oil and add onion and garlic. Fry for a few minutes, until golden, then add the potato, celery and carrots. Turn down the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Grate the orange zest and stir about 2tbsp of it into the vegetables. Add the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, liquidise, add the orange juice and season with black pepper.

Yum: This soup will warm you up


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Jane Clark: Yes, there IS such a thing as a free lunch

 

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Anyone who read of the shocking hospitalisation last week of author Nicholas Evans after he ate some wild mushrooms might well have been put off foraging in woodlands and hedgerows ever again.

In fact, blackberry-picking is already a dying tradition, it was reported last week.

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Yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch, says Jane Clark

It's such a pity, because foraging is a satisfying way of getting delicious, nutrient-rich food for free (indeed, wild blackberries are often far more tasty than many cultivated fruit).

With mushrooms, of course, you need to know what you're doing. Nicholas Evans, who wrote The Horse Whisperer, ate Cortinarius speciosissimus -  or the Fool's
Webcap mushroom  -  on holiday with his family in Scotland.

But he was unlucky, for although there are some extremely poisonous mushrooms and toadstools around (which can cause kidneys and other organs to fail, and even be fatal), most are perfectly safe.

As long as you have a good guidebook to make certain your fungi are edible, they can make a quick, cheap tea.

I suspect another reason people fear wild food is that we've become afraid of dirt. We're so used to perfect-looking supermarket produce that carrots with their leaves and stalks attached are as far as many will go in earthiness.

However, what we risk with our obsession with 'clean' food are allergies and conditions such as asthma.

The body needs to be introduced to dirt and germs from an early age, as this helps it develop a normal immune reaction to everything around. By 'protecting' our bodies, we are in fact priming them to over-react  -  hence the current rise in allergies.

Some people also fear our fields and hedgerows are covered with so many pesticides and chemicals that we'd poison ourselves if we ate a freshly picked, unwashed blackberry.

This is nonsense. While tucking into bramble fruits from the side of a busy road wouldn't be great, because of contamination from car pollution, peaceful hedgerows are often unsprayed; and even when they are sprayed, this country has some of the lowest levels of pesticide residues on food.

The idea that the Europeans are much less aggressive with their crop-spraying isn't true  -  another reason to buy and pick your own British produce.

So even though it's best to wash any food first (to remove small insects), when it comes to blackberries and edible mushrooms, pick and cook away.

Finally, while you're by the blackberry bush, you'll often see nettles, which have an affinity for brambles. If the shoots are young and small, and you have gloves, pick them and use them in soup as you would spinach or watercress.

The soup  -  a traditional Scandinavian dish  -  is rich in iron, vitamin C and fibre. And trust me, it tastes fantastic.

Do you have a nutritional question?

Jane will answer a selection of readers' queries every week.

Write to Jane Clarke, Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or e-mail jane.clarke@dailymail.co.uk.
Jane cannot enter into personal correspondence. Please include contact details.

Her replies cannot apply to individual cases and should be taken in a general context. Contact your GP with any health problems.

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JANE CLARKE: Ban meat from hospital meals? That's just tripe!

Updated: 01:05 GMT, 3 February 2009

Hospital food is often dreadful, as anyone who's been a patient - or who's visited someone at meal time - will know only too well. The fact is that what you eat in hospital will play very little, if any, part in your recovery.

It is shameful, really, that at a time when patients need the right nourishment more than ever, all too often the NHS lets them down.

So my blood really boiled when I read the latest ridiculous suggestion - that patients should be served less meat and dairy produce (if you've just had an operation, you'll need to hold on to your stitches) in order to reduce their carbon footprint.

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Hospital food: Patients can feel let down with the dire food the NHS sometimes has to offer - but it doesn't have to be like this...

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for doing as much as we can to reduce the carbon footprint - whether it's buying locally grown food, or using the car as little as possible. But there are so many more important things that need to be done in hospitals before they start thinking about environmental issues.

And one of these things is improving the food. If patients were served good, nourishing food, as opposed to the often grey, unappetising and heavily-processed stuff they're given, they would recover far more quickly. The problem is that hospitals frequently rely on food from outsourced companies, which is then reheated on site.]

When I worked as a hospital dietitian, the food was prepared on the premises by dedicated chefs who took pride in looking after patients (they got to know their names) - especially those with special meal requirements, such as needing a diabetic or high-fibre diet.

Food was prepared fresh daily, so meals contained more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. And as the meal wasn't made 200 miles away in a factory, it was far more likely to look and smell edible.

These days, it's quite common to be admitted to hospital to be served what the bed's previous occupant had ordered, whether appropriate for you or not.

I know of many patients coming round from a serious medical procedure to find themselves served a heavy fried lunch. Not only is it unappetising due to the nausea of a general anaesthetic, but if they ate it, this lunch would cause great discomfort to their gut, already traumatised by surgery.

A sick body needs something light and appetising, but nutrient-rich to help it get better. This means protein, such as chicken, fish or red meat (it is protein's job to help heal the body). I'm not suggesting steak - chewing a large chunk of meat is not the right thing when you're in hospital; but minced lamb or beef in a tasty shepherd's pie, a simple fish pie, or chicken soup are easy to eat with just a fork or spoon if you're feeling weak - and are just what the dietitian and doctor would order.

Patients also need dairy because it's an important concentrated source of protein, B vitamins and zinc (incredibly important for the immune system and repairing bone). When we're ill, our requirement for most nutrients increases, especially if we run a temperature or are recovering from surgery.

A meal containing just fruit and vegetables - even if there's protein in the form of lentils, beans or soya - is not as energy or protein-dense as a meat meal, so you'd have to eat quite a lot more of this.

Instead of announcing green initiatives, the NHS needs to invest time, money and expertise into getting the basics of hospital food right. And if it needed a cost incentive, the fact is that the better someone is fed in hospital, the quicker they will recover.

In order to pull hospital food out of the doldrums, we need the right expertise. By that I don't mean a celebrity chef - their presence tends to result in the main issue being sidelined - but someone who understands that the right foods, not illthought out fancy dishes, are what patients need to help them recover.

George Bennett, Wirral, Merseyside.

Breakfast can be a bit of a challenge to keep interesting, but it does affect how you will eat for the rest of the day. And if you start on a boring note, you're more likely to want a calorific treat later on. Hopefully, the two recipes below will stimulate your taste buds. Both the porridge and the wholegrain eggy bread contain high-fibre cereal grains - important ingredients to get your gut moving.

Add fluid to the fibre - simply drink a glass of water when you're eating - to help the fibre swell, stimulating your sluggish gut to form a stool which is easy to pass. Water is the best fluid - hot or cold - but try to get 2.5 litres a day.

Other grains and foods high in fibre are brown rice, wholegrain pasta, barley, quinoa, spelt (a good grain to use in bread and muffins) and porridge. Wholegrain and oaty crackers are other excellent sources, and the traditional laxative fruits such as figs and prunes are good to have as a snack or chopped up to sweeten cereals.

Spicy porridge: warm and tasty

SERVES 2-3

80g jumbo organic porridge oats; 280ml semi-skimmed milk; 3 large green cardamom pods; 1-2 bananas; 4-6 dried figs; a little runny honey; 2-3 tsp roasted sesame seeds

In a bowl, mix the oats, milk and cardamom pods. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 90 seconds. Remove and let the porridge settle for one minute. Discard the cardamom pods and divide the porridge between your serving bowls.

Top each serving with a few slices of banana and a couple of chopped dried figs, drizzle with a little runny honey, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve at once.

Eggy bread: otherwise known as French toast

SERVES 2

2 Lion Mark eggs; 4 tbsp semi-skimmed milk; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 3 handfuls frozen or fresh berries; juice of half an orange; 1tbsp oil; a small knob of butter; 4 slices of wholemeal bread (not too thick, so it can cook all the way through); 1 banana, sliced; 2 dollops natural organic yogurt.

In a large, shallow dish, whisk together eggs, milk and cinnamon. Put berry fruits in a small saucepan with the orange juice. Place over a very low heat until juices start to run, then simmer for a couple of minutes while you make the eggy bread.

Put oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, and while waiting for the butter to melt dip your bread into the egg mix, making sure each side soaks up the mixture. Fry the bread for a couple of minutes on each side until golden. Serve with the banana, cooked berry fruits and a dollop of yoghurt.

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Don't waste your money on vitamin pills

By JANE CLARKE, Daily Mail

Last updated at 17:03 09 February 2007

Jane Clarke is Britain’s leading nutritionist. Her books are read by millions and she acted as adviser to Jamie Oliver on his ground-breaking School Dinners programme.

As well as being an advocate of healthy eating, she passionately believes that many of our illnesses can be treated through our diet. Every Tuesday in Good Health, she will be answering your questions.

Could you recommend a good all-round mineral and vitamin supplement? I’m 48, of slim build and have no major illnesses, but I want to try to stay healthy. What would you suggest?

Kate Jenkins, London.

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Frankly, I would save your money — whatever the pill manufacturers say, few of us actually need supplements. I never take them.

People are often seduced into buying pills because they’re worried that food has fewer nutrients than it used to.

The best source of vitamins and minerals is freshly-picked produce.

In an ideal world we’d all grow our own fruit and veg and use them straight from the garden.

Instead we have to rely on supermarket produce that’s been kept in cold storage, sometimes for months on end, and transported great distances.

But while this does reduce the levels of some vitamins, the difference isn’t significant enough to worry about.

Provided you eat a varied diet, including five portions of fruit or vegetables a day, your body doesn’t need extra help from a supplement (and remember, achieving your ‘five-a-day’ can be as easy as having a fruit juice and some frozen vegetables thrown into a soup).

But what if you don’t get the five-a-day — is a supplement a good back-up?

The fact is you glean far more vitamins and minerals from food than from a pill, because the body absorbs food better.

Nature makes its task easier — for instance, milk contains calcium, as well as lactose which help us to absorb that calcium.

So really, it’s better to eat a balanced diet than to rely on a pill. And as long as you are having at least one portion of oily fish a week, you don’t need a fish oil supplement either.

That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with taking a supplement. But what does worry me is that it’s so easy to exceed the recommended daily allowance (RDA).

When you read the labels, some products contain three or four times the recommended amounts.

For some vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, this isn’t a problem because the body can easily get rid of the excess.

However, it can be harmful to take too much of those the body stores, such as vitamin A or iron — so unless you’re prescribed a specific dose by a doctor, or a dietician or registered nutritionist, you shouldn’t regularly exceed the RDA.

There are some people, however, for whom supplements are recommended. For example, women who have heavy periods can benefit from iron supplements.

Women who are pregnant, or planning to become pregnant, are advised to take 400mcg of folic acid a day, as well as eating foods that are rich in folate such as breads and breakfast cereals, with added vitamins, dark green leafy vegetables, oranges and yeast extract.

Folic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, in unborn babies.

Pregnant women are also advised to avoid supplements containing vitamin A, including fish liver oil supplements, because too much of the vitamin could harm their unborn baby.

Anyone over the age of 65 and breastfeeding mothers should take 10mcg of vitamin D each day.

The vitamin is essential for maintaining healthy bones and while we obtain some from our diet, the main source is sunlight — the body synthesises this to produce vitamin D.

Our skin’s ability to do this is reduced with age, which is why older people can benefit from a vitamin D supplement. So, too, would anyone who rarely gets outdoors or who covers up in the sun.

Smokers could also consider having 2,000mg of vitamin C a day — perhaps divided into two 1,000mg doses as 2,000mg is quite a hefty amount and could upset some stomachs.

While giving up cigarettes would be better, this mega dose of vitamin C can help to counteract some of the damage.

But you don’t seem to fit any of these special criteria, so I’d just concentrate on ensuring that your diet is well balanced.

My mother, who is in her 80s, has recently developed bad breath. Her dentist assures her that it’s not a dental problem. She is very embarrassed about it. What can we do to rebalance whatever is off track?

Eloise Smith, by e-mail.

The dentist should always be the first port of call for halitosis — so often it can be the result of a gum infection that needs prompt action.

But once a dental problem has been eliminated, the next step is to focus on the gut; it might surprise you to learn that constipation, for instance, can cause bad breath.

Get the gut moving and the situation can be greatly improved.

Your mother should drink plenty of water — 2.5 litres a day. This does sound an awful lot, and it isn’t always possible, especially for older people with continence problems.

But it should be easier if she staggers her intake throughout the day.

She should also gradually boost the amount of fibre in her diet: this means fresh and dried fruits (especially figs and prunes).

Vegetables are also good — even tinned and frozen ones can be useful and practical, and in the case of frozen frequently have more vitamins and minerals in them than fresh ones.

Pulses (such as beans and lentils) and wholegrains (porridge, wholemeal bread etc) are helpful for getting the gut moving.

She could also try drinking green tea, or chewing herbs such as mint and parsley, and fennel seeds.

A blocked nose can also cause bad breath. Breathing through the mouth dries it out and so it produces less saliva — one of saliva’s main constituents, oxygen, helps keep the breath fresh.

So perhaps your mother could try some drops of Olbas Oil on her pillow at night or on her handkerchief during the day, to keep her nasal passages open.

Some people believe that cutting down on dairy foods such as cheese and milk helps reduce catarrh — and therefore improve breath — but there is no evidence whatsoever for this and elderly people shouldn’t cut out such a valuable source of the mineral calcium.

Then there is the possibility of a food ‘intolerance’ causing your mother’s bad breath.

This is a very controversial subject; many doctors and scientists dismiss it as a nonsense while their patients insist that certain foods really do make them feel ill.

While I do believe there is something in it, many people self-diagnose food intolerances.

And if they’re not careful they can end up eating a very unbalanced diet, which of course causes other problems such as fatigue and feeling depressed.

So I suggest that asking for professional help from a dietician (see bda.uk.com).

Sometimes medication, and vitamin and mineral supplements, can affect breath; if your mother is taking these, discuss this with her doctor.

Finally, some people just have more of the bad-breath-causing bacteria. But avoid using mouthwashes as in the long run they can make the mouth drier — and therefore more malodorous.

Again, the solution is to drink plenty of water to flush the mouth out, and to chew parsley and mint.

Sometimes there just isn’t the time to cook a meal from scratch, and ready-meals are the obvious solution. But these are often high in fat, sugar and calories.

Each week I will explain the simple changes that will make your ready-meal as ‘healthy’ — and guilt-free — as possible.

Fish pie is a great way to boost your fish intake but be warned, many ready-made pies — including this one — don’t actually contain much fish (the fish content here is just 21 per cent).

This means you’re not getting enough protein and will end up consuming far more fat and calories than you think.

The salt and fat is usually found in the sauce, so remove some of the excess if you can — although difficult with this particular pie.

Then make this meal more nutritionally balanced by cooking some frozen peas (for Vitamin C) and hard boiling an egg (for protein).

Crumble the egg, then stir it with the cooked peas into the pie before eating.

Serve with broccoli or spinach — both are easy and quick to cook from frozen — for some added fibre and Vitamin C. The spinach will also give you iron.

Jane will answer a selection of readers’ questions in Good Health every Tuesday. Send your nutritional queries to Jane Clarke, Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London

W8 5TT, or e-mail jane.clarke@dailymail.co.uk

Jane cannot enter into personal correspondence. Please include contact details (not for publication).

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Bloated and painful gut? Blame the junk food diet

 

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Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week Jane explains how junk food harms our digestive system and reveals the healthiest foods to snack on after a heart attack...

When did we stop realising that what we do - or don't - put into our body is bound to have an impact on our digestive system? I ask this because I've noticed a rise in the number of teenagers brought to me by their parents convinced their children have irritable bowel syndrome caused by food allergies.

There's no denying the symptoms of IBS can be extremely uncomfortable: wind, bloating, pain, constipation, or the opposite (having to rush to the loo).

The problem is the food allergy theory. Although this can cause IBS, food allergy itself is extremely rare. However, many people leap on the idea and start busily cutting out major food groups - invariably wheat and dairy - which is completely the wrong thing to do.

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Junk food diet: Many teenagers think they have an allergy to wheat or dairy and cut out important food groups to try and identify the problem food, but this can really mess up their diet

Teenagers can end up getting in a real mess with their diet - if they think they have an 'allergy' to wheat or dairy, they can end up going the whole day just having drinks and crisps and anything sweet they can grab.

As a result, they'll be missing out on a major source of fibre, a lack of which can actually be the main cause of their symptoms - constipation or stomach aches!

And if they cut out dairy as well they run a big risk of depriving their bones of essential calcium, increasing the chances of brittle bones later in life.

The first couple of decades of life are when they build up strong bones, so teenagers need a regular hefty source of calcium (ideally a glass of milk, some cheese and a yoghurt every day).

Instead, teenagers often rush out of the house with no breakfast, grabbing a fizzy drink or a chocolate bar and having little more than a bag of chips or crisps all day, followed maybe by a beef burger or a fatty ready meal in the evening. No wonder their gut is windy and painful and they don't go to the loo properly.

Rather than cutting things out of their diet, it's about establishing a healthy diet in the first place. Give them a good month or so of breakfasting on high-fibre cereal/porridge (one of the microwave instant ones will do), perhaps with some chopped fruit, e.g. a banana, on top, or a couple of slices of wholemeal toast.

Make sure they drink water throughout the day instead of fizzy drinks, have a sandwich or a good school meal for lunch (or soup with bread, if they're able to open a tin at school), and a meatandtwo-veg or a rice/potato-based meal in the evening. This will soon lead to improvement.

If you suspect wheat irritates your child's gut, don't cut it out completely, but perhaps avoid providing it (in pasta or bread) with every meal - it could just be that their body doesn't like too much of any one type of food.

If they have pasta in the evening and their gut is upset, that isn't down to an allergy to wheat; rather that they would be better off with risotto or jacket potatoes - too much of anything isn't good for us.

Ninety per cent of the teenagers with IBS-type symptons I see get better when they eat healthily.

 Sensible snacks after a heart attack

I had a heart attack last year and am trying to cut out sweets and fattening snacks. I've tried replacing them with fruit and nuts, but have found that both of these give me really bad stomach ache. Is there anything that I can take to stop this, or any suggestions on an alternative? Graham Houghton, Hampshire.

Jane says... After a close call with your health, it's only right to look at your diet with a new perspective - making changes can be the deciding factor in whether you're unlucky enough to have another heart attack. You don't mention your weight, but I suspect you'll be keeping it in check, which is vital as it will not only reduce the strain on your heart, but will also lower your blood pressure, in turn reducing your risk of future heart attacks and stroke.

You need to watch fat in your diet - go for vegetable fat, which is better for your cholesterol levels. Too much 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol can start depositing in the blood vessels, leading to increased blood pressure.

Choose fats from nuts, olives and other vegetable sources such as hemp and sunflower oils, which increase 'good' cholesterol levels.

For snacks, have a few nuts - unsalted. They can be exceedingly calorific, so don't eat loads.

Try a small handful, say six Brazil nuts, perhaps with an apple, as the combination of something fresh (also high in vitamin C) with nuts means it's satisfying and will keep you going until your main meal.

Eating too many nuts and fruit can give you stomach ache - cooking can make these easier to digest. Why not try making flapjacks full of seeds and oats (both are good for the heart, and there is fibre and omega-3 in the seeds)?

This should keep you satisfied for longer than a chocolate bar, so you'll be less likely to over-eat at mealtimes.

BAKED APPLES                                                                 

SERVES 4

4 medium Bramley, or other cooking apples; 55g sultanas; 55g dried unsulphured apricots, finely chopped; 25g currants; 25g dried figs, stalks removed and finely chopped; 1 tablespoon pure fruit apple and pear spread (or no added sugar jam); 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Mix the filling ingredients together (everything bar the apples) and leave for 20 minutes. Wash and core the apples, then cut in half.

Place the apple halves, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Top with filling, cover with foil and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until soft.

FLAPJACKS                                                                       

MAKES 36

350g butter, plus extra for greasing; 225g demerara sugar; 50g golden syrup; 50g pure fruit spread, e.g. apple and pear; 100g smooth peanut butter; 450g rolled jumbo oats; 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds; 3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Butter two 28 x 18cm Swiss roll trays and line with baking paper. Melt butter in a large pan over a low heat, add sugar and syrup, fruit spread and peanut butter and stir over the heat until smooth. Add oats and seeds and mix well. Spread in the trays and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Mark into bars and turn out when cool.

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