How can I make healthy meals?

It's easy to get into bad habits with food, such as missing breakfast or skipping meals, but this can affect your health.

Making time to prepare healthy, nutritious meals can change the way you look and feel. In many cases you don't have to give up the foods you love, you just need to eat them less often or choose the healthier varieties.

We need to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day to help prevent heart disease and some types of cancer. Despite what you read in magazines, we also need to eat carbohydrates for energy. About half of the food we eat should be carbohydrates, ideally ones that are high in fiber such as whole wheat bread or brown rice.

As well as healthier meals, we should also drink about eight glasses of water a day and cut back on caffeine (tea, coffee and cola) and alcohol.

Breakfast

Making time for breakfast is very important - it provides us with energy and makes it easier to resist snacking before lunch. Healthy options for breakfast include fruits and low-fat yogurts, but you also need carbohydrates to keep energy levels topped up until lunch. Porridge or cereal (with no added sugar) and low fat milk is a good choice.

If it's cooked properly a full English breakfast doesn't have to be bad for you. If you grill the mushrooms and tomatoes and scramble or poach the eggs, you immediately cut out the fat used in frying. Choose low fat sausages, cut the fat from bacon before grilling, and swap white toast for whole wheat.

Lunch

The sandwich is a big favorite at lunchtime, and can be healthy choice if made with whole wheat, seeded or multigrain bread and the right fillings. Try tuna, low-fat cheese or chicken (with no skin) and cut out the mayonnaise. Jacket potatoes and salads are nutritious options, but go easy on the butter, mayo and dressings.

For variety, try soup packed with lots of vegetables, pita breads filled with salad or roasted vegetables, or cold pizza on a thin base topped with lots of veg and not too much cheese.

Swap chips and chocolate for fresh fruit, yogurt and low-sugar cereal bars.

Dinner

Begin by introducing jacket potatoes (without lots of butter!) and phasing out chips, steaming your vegetables to keep the nutrients locked in, and swapping to whole wheat pasta and bread. Stop adding salt to your food - flavor your meals with herbs and spices, and choose tomato-based sauces rather than creamy ones. Turkey is a better option than beef or pork as it's lower in fat, and there are lots of different types of delicious fish you can try.

Instead of takeaways, make your own pizzas, curries and stir fries at home. You can cram them full of tasty vegetables and keep the sauces low in fat.

When it comes to pudding, fruit is a great choice - try making a fruit salad for variety. If you have rice pudding, make it with low fat milk and add fruit instead of sugar or syrup.

Yogurts, ice-cream, and custard are available in low-fat versions and you probably won't even notice the difference. Just make sure that they haven't got lots of extra sugar added. You can still have treats now and then, but choose the healthier options - remember to read the label.