The working landscape is finally getting better at nurturing women’s success – the recession has stung women less (the number of men in work has fallen by three per cent whereas the number of women has only fallen by 0.8 per cent). And according to recent forecasting statistics from the Europe Business School we can expect double the number of female MPs, 100 per cent growth in women-owned start-ups and 11 per cent more female millionaires a year over the next decade. About time.

Safe to say that girls are doing better at school than boys, and that more girls are going to university. It’s a fact that women’s brains are equipped with certain emotional intelligence that often makes them better leaders and managers.

Yet we do still live in a world where most countries, corporations, religions and academic establishments are run on an old patriarchal system with very few women at the top and where there is indeed a glass ceiling.

Recent research stated that in this current economy, an increasing number of households in the US and the UK have women as the major wage earners. And more young dads are happy to stay at home with the children if their partners are the high flyers of the family.

As more women take leadership roles, I feel it is important for us to have the confidence to lead with new values and a passion to create change. For too long women have felt they need to behave and dress like men, particularly in business, rather than acknowledge the differences in the way we communicate and relate to others.

We are living in a time of economic meltdown; drunken children on the streets of Britain killing each other; unnecessary wars and sexual violence used as a weapon against women and girls all over the world.

It is a time for a new way of being – and I believe it is women that can lead the way to this revolution. It is women from the grass roots who can show us the way to create a community that supports and nurtures each other, instead of exploiting and hurting each other.

I believe that women are often choosing not to break open the glass ceiling because traditional organisations don’t generally reflect the feminine way of living and working. And, of course, our own lack of self-confidence can often hold us back.

It’s not just about being available for our children and working in our own time – which the new technology allows us to do. It’s about bringing the feminine strengths and principles into the workplace. Multi-tasking, intuition, relation building and nurturing are not qualities that have been taken seriously in traditional business or the political world.

So women are starting their own businesses, working from home or getting involved in the running of their communities rather than become part of a national political machine that is archaic and out-of-date to the population’s needs.

We want to live in a more harmonious way as part of a cooperative society which is organic and evolutionary based on the principles of the sacred feminine. First and foremost, it’s cooperation between male and female. As women, we know that the best and most efficient way to get things done is to work together, and that means living and working with men in harmonious coexistence, valuing the perspectives and strengths of both sexes, and creating a higher quality of life for all.

It must also be a world of cooperation between business and community, human beings and the planet, national governments and non-governmental organisations, young and old, spirituality and science and our inner and outer selves.

• www.seednetworkingforwomen.com.

You can’t get much healthier than you, right? You check food labels for nasties, buy organic, avoid allergens, exercise regularly and take a few supplements just to ensure you’re getting everything you need. As far as you’re concerned there aren’t many people who take their health as seriously as you do. But is your healthy lifestyle actually doing you more harm than good?
Eating disorder charities are reporting a rise in the number of people who are becoming obsessed with their diets. As many as 20 per cent of young women practise unhealthy patterns of purging, and binge-eating according to eating disorder charity Beat (Beat Eating Disorders). But it’s not just teenagers who face problematic eating habits. Now a new disorder is emerging affecting older age groups. Called orthorexia nervosa, it’s characterised by an obsession with eating a pure and healthy diet.

Dangerous obsession
‘Orthorexia tends to affect the worried well,’ says dietician and eating disorder specialist Ursula Philpot of Leeds Metropolitan University. ‘They have relatively few health problems and like to take care of themselves. They tend to be well educated, middle class, 20- and 30-somethings, and they spend time researching their health on the internet.’
You don’t have to be underweight to be suffering from disordered eating or exercise patterns. ‘People with orthorexia can look normal or be overweight,’ says Philpot. ‘They won’t necessarily be restricting calories, but are more concerned with the quality of the food they put into their bodies. They refine and restrict their diet based on what they consider to be “pure” foods – often cutting out food groups such as wheat, dairy or meat.’
Taking your healthy lifestyle to extremes doesn’t even have to involve food. You may eat well, but find yourself addicted to exercise. Scientists from Tufts University in Massachusetts found that excessive exercise sparks a reaction in your brain that is similar to that caused by drugs such as heroin. And this addiction is becoming more common, especially among men.
Experts at Winchester University found that men are becoming increasingly anxious about their appearance and feel pressured to be fit and toned, especially if they read a lot of men’s magazines. A recent survey carried out by Beat found that 50 per cent of people with an eating disorder also said they had a problem with over-exercising. ‘We see this a lot with men, who feel pressured to change their body shape through diet and exercise,’ says Mary George, spokesperson for Beat.

Who’s to blame?
In the past the fashion industry has been targeted for our obsession with being super-skinny, but there are hopes that things are on the verge of changing. ‘We were greatly encouraged last year by the British Fashion Council making moves to support models from a diverse range of ages and shapes,’ says George. ‘But there is still a long way to go, and we could certainly do without the constant criticism that certain magazines and newspapers throw at celebrity role models.’
It’s not just celebrity magazines that are making us self conscious about our figures, diets and lifestyles either. ‘Newspaper scare stories frequently tell us that ‘ham is bad for your health’, or ‘wheat will make you ill’ and some people take on these stories and adapt their diets without weighing up the evidence,’ says Ursula Philpot.
Taking care of your health certainly isn’t a bad thing – especially when you consider that 24 per cent of people in the UK are tipping the scales at obese levels and many more of us are heading in that direction, according to the NHS. Plus two thirds of us are not doing enough exercise, says a survey by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Eating well and going to the gym won’t do you any harm – but if you start to take things too far it can become a problem.

Dying to be healthy?
Extremely restricting the amount of calories or fat you eat could result in severe weight loss and malnutrition, it could lead to fertility problems and in some cases even fatality. ‘Trying to stick to a rigid ”pure” food diet could be the start of all sorts of health problems,’ says Philpot.
She warns that if you cut out dairy and don’t get enough calcium from green vegetables and other sources, you could end up with osteoporosis. Ditch meat without replacing the iron and you risk becoming anaemic, and take the low fat message too literally and you’ll be deficient in essential fats which could spell bad news for your brain, joints and body in general. In short, if you remove any food group without carefully managing your nutrient levels you risk becoming malnourished.
You might think that you make up for deficiencies in your diet by taking plenty of supplements – but do check the recommended dose. ‘Taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is a good option because all of the nutrients are balanced so they can be absorbed at optimal levels.’ says Rachel Di Leva, nutritionist for the Health Supplements Information Service. Make sure you get good advice on supplements – and always check the packaging information.
Pounding your body into the ground at the gym isn’t good for you either. ‘Over-exercising can lead to serious complications later in life,’ says Julia Bishop founder of Move Your Butt personal training. ‘You’re at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis, and could experience joint problems due to excessive wear and tear, stress fractures, muscle injuries, high blood pressure, headaches and fatigue. Plus women could experience complications with their menstrual cycles which could affect their fertility.’
If you suspect that you’ve become more than a little obsessed with your healthy lifestyle (see box below), ask for help. See your GP or a dietician for advice on what is and what isn’t a balanced diet and exercise routine. ‘Orthorexia is not yet officially diagnosed as an eating disorder,’ says Philpot. ‘But a dietician would be able to give you sound advice on what really is healthy.’ Try to read around the newspaper headlines and visit the Food Standards Agency (www.food.gov.uk) and NHS Choices (www.nhs.uk) for sensible health advice based on real research.
‘Keep in mind that your body gets fitter and stronger when you rest and not while you are actually working out,’ says Bishop. ‘To get the most from workouts you should take a minimum of one full day’s rest between exercise sessions.’
Taking a balanced approach to diet and lifestyle is the safest route to good health.

Are you at risk?
How do you know if you’re being obsessive? Answering yes to these questions might mean you need to step back from your extreme lifestyle and give yourself a break.

• Do you avoid eating out with friends for fear of having to explain away your food choices or portion size?
• Do you never let yourself have a ‘bad’ or blow-out meal?
• Do you spend all your time planning your next meal or reading food labels to check that what you’re eating is additive free? l Do you go to the gym or exercise daily without fail?
• Have you lost alot of weight?
• Do you get frequent headaches, feel fatigued or have trouble sleeping?
• Do you feel emotional or irritable?

Words: Rebecca Speechley

Yes
Folic acid is a B vitamin which is essential for the health of a developing baby, reducing the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida.
While the vitamin occurs naturally as folate in foods such as beans, lentils, brown rice and leafy green vegetables like spinach, a lot of people don’t get enough of this nutrient in their diet.
Folic acid is sometimes added to foods by manufacturers to improve the nutritional quality of certain products, such as bread and breakfast cereals. ‘As many pregnant women require extra folate and aren’t getting enough from their diet, supplementing is necessary,’ says Dr Sian Astley, a research scientist at the Institute of Food Research. ‘The research showing that taking folic acid pre-conception and in early pregnancy is watertight – the vitamin is important for the correct development of the spine and brain of the foetus very early in pregnancy.’
Current government advice in the UK is that all women thinking of having a baby should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day from the time they stop using contraception until the 12th week of pregnancy.
While a recent Australian study found that folic acid may cause asthma in the children of women who take it in pregnancy, this was only in those who took it in late pregnancy (between 30 and 34 weeks). And experts say the study isn’t reliable. ‘The research was based on a postal questionnaire so it may not be dependable,’ says Dr Roger Bayston, President of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida. ‘This means it isn’t possible to pinpoint any problems to folic acid.’
He points out that while asthma is a treatable condition, spina bifida, which causes everything from stillbirths to severe paralysis, is extremely serious. ‘The benefits of taking folic acid in early pregnancy outweigh any potential risks.’

No
Taking folic acid in early pregnancy is beneficial to an unborn child, but taking it after 30 weeks of pregnancy might not be a good idea. As well as the recent study published in late 2009 from the University of Adelaide in Australia, which showed that folic acid taken in late pregnancy may increase the incidence of asthma in children by 30 per cent, another study carried out in Norway found a similar effect.
The problem appears to be caused by folic acid being digested differently to folate. ‘Folate is broken down by the stomach, whereas folic acid, which is broken down by the liver, floats around in the bloodstream until the liver deals with it,’ explains Dr Astley.
It is thought that when folic acid is floating freely in the blood it has the potential to cause allergy-encouraging reactions in developing babies. ‘It is a complex process and another study done in 2008 also supports the theory,’ adds Dr Bayston.
The evidence against folic acid isn’t clear cut though. ‘Other studies show folic acid might help prevent cancer,’ says Dr Bayston. Thankfully, there is no controversy about folic acid when it is obtained as folate from food.
‘It is a fast moving area of research and isn’t black and white,’ adds Dr Astley. ‘The jury is still out.’

Healthy Verdict
The study which linked asthma to folic acid only referred to late pregnancy. Women are still advised to take folic acid before conception up until the 12th week of pregnancy. The research proving the benefits of folic acid in preventing neural tube defects is strong and we advise following government guidelines to protect your developing baby.

Yes

When the FSA report was published, the Soil Association, the UK’s leading organic organisation was disappointed. ‘The report disguised the fact that, in the case of almost every nutrient the researchers looked at, organic food came out better,’ says Clio Turton from the Soil Association. ‘For example, beta-carotene levels were 53.6 per cent higher and flavonoids were 38.4 per cent higher than non-organic versions of the same food.’ The Soil Association also discovered results from a major EU-funded study looking at organic and non-organic food were ignored. ‘This study found higher levels of nutritionally desirable compounds such as antioxidants and vitamins in organic food,’ says Turton.

However, the Soil Association is very keen to point out that there are bigger benefits to going organic than just your health. ‘Consumers who buy organic products are not just avoiding pesticides (the average apple may be sprayed up to 16 times with as many as 30 different pesticides), they are supporting a system that has the highest welfare standards for animals, bans genetic modification, synthetic fertilisers, the routine use of antibiotics and increases wildlife on farms,’ says Turton. The report also failed to address the long-term effects of pesticides on human health. They cite a 2006 report by the European Commission, which reported links between certain cancers, male infertility and nervous system disorders and pesticides.
One of the major reasons for going organic is the environment. ‘Organic systems, which are holistic and work with nature, are leading the way for a low-carbon farming future. We encourage the use of solar-powered fertility through crops like red clover that fix nitrogen into the soil, rather than relying on oil-based inputs such as fertilisers,’ says Turton. ‘This is better for our health and the health of the planet.’

No

A report commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine decided that organic food is no healthier and provides no significant nutritional benefit compared to conventionally produced food. ‘The review compared the nutrient content of organic and conventional food and assessed the nature and importance of any differences,’ says Dr Michelle McQuillan, an organics expert from the FSA.
The agency has said that it commissioned the research in order to provide consumers with accurate information about the food available to them, based on the most up-to-date scientific evidence. ‘The Agency supports consumer choice and is neither pro nor anti organic food,’ adds McQuillan. ‘We recognise that there are many reasons why people choose to eat organic, such as animal welfare or environmental concerns.’
Critics have said the report leaves out some studies and fails to address the issue of pesticides being used on conventionally grown food. However, McQuillan points out that their findings were based only on studies that met the minimum basic research criteria. ‘Unfortunately many studies were of very poor quality and were deemed unsatisfactory,’ says McQuillan. ‘What’s more, the paper did not look into pesticides as they are rigorously assessed and any residues found in food are closely monitored. The use of pesticides in conventional food production does not pose an unacceptable risk to human health and helps ensure a plentiful supply of food all year round.’
The FSA has emphasised that what is most important for them is that people eat a healthy balanced diet, low in sugar and salt, and that you aim to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day – whether organic or conventionally grown.

Healthy verdict
Healthy believes you need to look at the bigger picture when it comes to organic food. The issue of whether organic food is more nutrient-rich than conventional food or not, should not blind you to the other good reasons for going organic. It seems clear that taking small steps towards increasing the amount of organic food that you eat today could have a big impact on the environment of tomorrow.

Yes
Though puberty has got younger and life expectancy has increased (to 83 for women), the menopause still takes place around 51. And for those women who have missed the baby boat, they have no alternative but to turn to IVF.
There is no age limit in the UK set by the fertility watchdog the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) but the NHS will only fund treatment up to the age of 40, and in practice most private clinics have a cut-off of 45.
As Peter Bowen-Simpkins of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) says, ‘Women over 50 should not be offered IVF. There are considerable risks, among them high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, poor placental function and possible neurological problems in the baby. But there are exceptions. Say a woman with cancer at age 48-49 had stored embryos prior to treatment and been given the all clear at 53, we would support her in having a baby.’
A cornerstone of UK law is the welfare of the child, considering factors likely to cause serious physical, psychological or medical harm. This is something that Bill Ledger, professor of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University, believes is crucial. ‘This supports helping women to conceive with donor eggs up to their early 50s, with a reasonable likelihood of the child growing up with its mother.’
So is it selfish to have a child at 60? ‘Yes,’ says Bowen-Simpkins. ‘Women forget that the child has got to be parented and, if the mother dies, that responsibility passes to other family members.’ As Professor Ledger says, ‘Just because we can do something doesn’t make it wise.’

No
When Elizabeth Adeney, the UK’s oldest mother at 66, gave birth to son Jolyon this year, she said, ‘It’s not my physical age that’s important, it’s how I feel inside.’
But Italian fertility specialist Professor Severino Antinori says, ‘The maximum age for a woman to have a child should be 63 – the child needs a mother for the first 18-20 years.’ By the time Jolyon is 18, Adeney, now 67, will be 85.
One of Professor Antinori’s success stories is child psychiatrist Dr Patricia Rashbrook, who gave birth to Jude three years ago at the age of 62. Dr Rashbrook, a mother of grown-up children, chose to have another child to fulfil her 60-year-old second husband’s dream of becoming a father. Accused of selfishness, Dr Rashbrook responded that they wouldn’t have gone ahead if they’d felt they wouldn’t be good parents.
As 60-plus mothers are a new phenomenon, there hasn’t been enough research to back up claims that age shouldn’t be a bar to IVF. However, a 2006 study from the University of Southern California investigated 49 women who had given birth at 50 or over after treatment with donated eggs. The research concluded that, both physically and psychologically, mothers in their 50s are just as healthy as those who start families earlier.
As Sarah Vine commented in The Times after the death of Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, ‘Every day thousands of people give birth for all kinds of selfish reasons. Deciding who should be able to have children is a dangerous activity. It is a terrible shame that two children have lost their mother, but that doesn’t mean they should never have been born.’

Healthy Verdict
Ten years ago, this debate wouldn’t have taken place, but given the advances in IVF and the rising trend for older mothers, perhaps we need to look at our attitude to older women in general. Providing she is in good health, financially secure and has a strong family support system, should a woman have the right to choose when she has a child?

Yes
‘Two thirds of the UK population are currently overweight and around a third of these are obese, so there’s no doubting that there’s a weight problem in this country and something needs to be done,’ says Dr David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum. Alli is a weight-loss drug that inhibits fat absorption, so that 25 per cent of all fat that you eat goes straight through your digestive system without being absorbed. For every 2lb you lose, Alli helps you lose another 1lb. It’s a lower dosage over-the-counter version of Orlistat, a prescription weight-loss drug for people with a BMI of over 28.
‘Research has shown that consumers are spending millions of pounds each year on fad diets. Medically proven licensed products give them the option of something which can genuinely support meaningful weight loss,’ says Dr Haslam. For best results you need to follow a low-fat diet, as eating fatty foods will cause unpleasant side effects including oily diarrhoea that may leak.
‘People need to understand that Alli doesn’t make weight loss inevitable, it just makes it easier,’ says Dr Haslam. ‘If they choose to eat fatty foods, despite the advice that they are given from both the pharmacist and the literature that is handed out, then they’ll have to accept that they’ll suffer the side effects afterwards.’ Dr Haslam also believes that the effectiveness of the pill far outweighs the cost (approximately £50 for a month’s supply) and lack of face-to-face care that you get from a doctor-prescribed medication.
‘The introduction of Alli into the marketplace has meant that people who may have been too embarrassed to go to their doctor for help, are now going into pharmacies instead,’ says Dr Haslam. ‘For many, losing weight through weight-loss pills can become the catalyst to improvements in their overall health and self-esteem.’ And that, in turn, could help keep weight off.

No
‘As soon as you make any kind of medication available over the counter as opposed to on prescription, it will be open to abuse,’ says Fiona Taylor from Dieticians in Obesity Management (DOM UK), a specialist group of the British Dietetic Association (BDA). ‘No matter how many specifications are required of you, or how much training is given to the pharmacists, if someone is determined enough, they will obtain medications such as Alli whether they need it or not.’
Many dieticians worry that people will see Alli as a magic bullet, and believe taking a tablet a day will solve all their weight worries. ‘Drugs do not necessarily deal with the underlying reasons for weight gain. People often eat for a psychological reasons and behaviour therapy delivered by a trained professional is the real key to helping people deal with the issues that have caused weight gain in the first place,’ explains Taylor.
Other concerns about Alli being given over the counter include the ease with which people who don’t need it could obtain it. Pharmacies that stock the drug aren’t required to weigh people in front of them, and may have to trust that the customer is telling them their true weight. The ease of availability of the drug could mean that people with eating disorders could get an overweight friend to buy it for them. As soon as Alli went on sale, websites sprang up offering the drug at a cheaper rate. This could prove dangerous, as there’s absolutely no guarantee that the drug you get sent is even the genuine thing.
‘While we should welcome new ways to tackle obesity, we need to wait until there’s been a full review of the Alli support programme, when the results of real life users who take the pill have been fully investigated,’ says Taylor.

Healthy verdict

There is a place for the use of weight-loss drugs like Alli, and we agree that it can be the first step towards tackling a serious issue. However, we believe that educating people to follow a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of exercise is the most effective way to lasting weight loss. And tackling the psychological issues behind weight gain is essential.

Words: Hannah Fox

Through a misconceived over-use of medical procedures and high technology, we humans are busy trying to live longer and faster. The trouble is, we seem to be sadder, sicker creatures because of it. Depression, dementia, anxiety and obesity are all rife. This is quite likely because, as a good rule of thumb, living is improved by quality not quantity… improved by breadth and depth and varied colour… by slow’n’savouring, not by greed’n’speed.
I would argue there is no activity that isn’t improved by slowing it down to at least half or even a quarter of our regular pace. Exercising, eating, speaking, sex… they are all dramatically improved by taking our own sweet time. Simply breathing slowly (perhaps seven seconds in, nine seconds out) is one of the most self-calming activities, particularly when combined with consciously relaxing all of our body’s muscles. And just as a relaxed body is flexible and fast, likewise a calm and relaxed mind can move faster and further than a tense one, to solve problems or learn new things. In pursuit of such benefits, rather than telling ourselves to ‘Slow down!’ like the irritable voice of some hyper-anxious parent, it’s better we set ourselves the positive goal of doing an activity in sensuous and considerate ‘slow motion’.
All that said, creating a better life balance is one of the fundamental strategies for wellbeing, so let’s not forget that swiftness has its place. But what exactly should we seek to speed up? When it comes to making choices about everyday items, we will find it faster and less tortuous if we have rules for ourselves: I’ll just look in three shops, and that’s it. The internet tells us the lie that we can, if we check through several dozen brands, find the very best one. But surely there are other priorities for our time? Good enough can be fine. Better we make it our rule to choose between three and then completely ignore the other possibilities.
Learning to actively ignore things is a very useful skill with a range of applications. Just because we have a phone, doesn’t mean we have to answer it, or leave it on. Just because someone sends us an email, doesn’t mean we have to reply… ever. We can delete the enquiries, the feeble chatter, and by doing so make time for the people and jobs that we deem important, rather than let ourselves be bullied into prioritising what some bored or urgent people want to bother us with. Technology firms tell us that ‘faster easier’ high-tech communications are somehow better, but I’ve seen nothing to support that. Quite the opposite, in fact. Taking our precious time and trouble to write a pen and paper letter sends a far more memorable message.
Though the advertisers tell us ‘It’s good to talk (or email)’, the evidence of our own hearts tells us it’s far far better to be with someone in flesh’n’blood so we can share adventures together. And this is surely because shared adventures are the very building blocks of close relationships, even if that adventure is simply cooking together or a walk in the park. The good news is we can increase the savouring of our special relationships, simply by learning to use the off/delete/ignore button far more often.
The bottom line is we need to rethink what we could call our ‘relationship with life’. By being cheek-pinkingly honest about our heart-felt priorities – the who and what we really care about – allows us to better cherish those things most dear to us, and to delete the rest without a qualm. Underpinning such a clear-cut approach is the following affirmation: we are not machines, and shouldn’t be competing with them. Rather, we should be trying to be everything a machine is not. Our role as a living, feeling creature is to be passionate, irrational, personal, non-linear, messy and surprising. So, why not try out a low-technology week, switching your whole way of doing things to ‘slow-motion and savour’ with a view to monitoring the improvements in the achievements you really value, and your treasured relationships. See what happens to you, and with whom?

Dr Nick Baylis (www.nickbaylis.com) has lectured The Skills of Well-being at Cambridge University for seven years, and is author of The Rough Guide to Happiness: Practical Steps to All-round Well-being (Rough Guides, £10.99).

In my job, I see a lot of statistics and talk to a lot of people in the food industry and the medical profession, as well as anti-obesity campaigners. These knowledgeable people all agree that something radical has to be done to stop the problem before the National Health Service reaches breaking point. What really upsets me is that more and more of the people being seen in hospitals for weight problems are children. If we’re being brutally honest with ourselves (and quite frankly we need to be), we have to face up to a few simple facts: these kids aren’t cooking for themselves; they’re not paying for all the junk piled in the shopping trolley; and they’re most certainly not organising those weekend takeaways – adults are. By far, the biggest enemy to a child’s health is an open and constantly accessible snack drawer. This causes more problems then you could dream of. Please, if you’ve got an open one… lock it up!

I don’t know what the answers are; I wish I did. No one parent does, but, like so many other problems, I believe a great place to start tackling childhood obesity is in the home. Because of my School Dinners campaign, I get asked for advice about kids and food all the time. One thing I can say wholeheartedly is that doing little things often is far better than trying to do big things once in a while.

People tend to think I’m bringing up my own kids on a strict diet of home-grown cabbages and carrots. I can assure you that isn’t the case. I grew up loving chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks as much as the next kid, but I also loved my pastas, salads and fresh fruit. The great thing about food is that there’s a place for all of these things – we just need to rediscover our common sense and realise that it’s all about balance and knowledge.

Getting children involved in cooking is, for me, the Holy Grail. When adults make the effort to get kids involved in cooking, they are sharp, interested and they get it. I’ve always found shopping for food a great place to start. Never mind if they whine for the sugary snacks – ask them to search out the best bits of veg for you, look for the ripest fruit or help you pick out some tasty cheese. Once you’re home, let them pod the peas, pick the herbs or wash the veg. While the dinner is cooking, tell them what’s going on in the pan; let them taste stuff and tell you if it needs salt, pepper, drizzles of this or squeezes of that. The sense of ownership they’ll start feeling over the food they eat, not to mention the cooking skills they’ll absorb along the way, will (hopefully) be the beginning of a normal, healthy relationship with food.

If they’ve made a salad, but then decide to kick off at the table and won’t try it, that’s fine. After they’ve made it a few times and it’s sitting in the middle of the table looking all fresh and beautiful, their curiosity will eventually win out and they’ll want a taste… and that will be their choice. All you can do as a parent is keep opening up the world of food to them, and hope that one informed choice will lead to thousands more in their life – and help make that life a long, happy and healthy one.

Words: Jamie Oliver

Like most discerning novice environmentalists, my own shade of green has depended largely on the practicalities of being eco friendly within a young and – if you include all our pets – fairly large family. So giving up my washing machine or buttered, non-organic marmite crumpets has been out of the question. However, providing my children with a relatively chemical-free home and diet, and finding energy-efficient alternatives that do exactly the same job as their energy-consuming counterparts has been a pretty effortless task.

In most cases, reducing your eco footprint is simply about re-thinking the way you shop and, more importantly, how you perform the most mundane day-to-day tasks. Even something as simple as the way you throw away your rubbish can have a massive impact. Recycling may not sound like planet-saving stuff, but when you consider that for every tonne of paper recycled, 15 trees are saved, or that recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a TV set for an hour and a half, it soon becomes a worthwhile exercise.

The more you look at the implications of the daily choices you make, the more obvious it becomes that making a greener choice brings with it a whole load of personal and environmental benefits.

Take energy efficiency for instance. Going the full hog by installing some underground heat source pumps or solar panels, no matter how environmentally efficient and ultimately cost effective, is still prohibitively expensive for most. But switching to energy-efficient light bulbs that use 80 per cent less electricity and last much longer than normal ones or insulating your loft properly, can go a long way towards reducing your own carbon emissions and household bills.
What we eat and how we source it is equally important. One of the most pleasurable aspects of becoming a greeny is finding the very best homegrown products. Food is, I have found, the very best way to entice your offspring into going green – as nothing seems to inspire children more than making as much mess as possible in the kitchen or watching strawberries sprout.

Although most European foodies will turn their nose up at the notion that we Brits are just as capable of producing fantastic cheeses, sweet seasonal fruits, flavoursome vegetables and succulent organically reared meat, I say British is best. For those in the know, there is nothing like doing your weekly shop from a local farmers’ market or using specialist high-street shops that stock local or locally reared produce. Buying as directly from the producer as possible means you have a say in the quality of what you are buying and are not just dependent on often-misleading supermarket labels.

The good news is that being green is no longer about compromise. You don’t need to aspire to living in a self-made home, with a compost loo and no central heating. Going halfway isn’t a cop out. If there is one thing I’ve learned in my experience, it’s that collectively, the small changes we can all make to our daily habits can make a big difference.

Words: Sheherazade Goldsmith