“This year I’m going to lose weight.” It would have to be one of the top New Year’s resolutions – and it should be banned! Just the thought that tomorrow you can’t have dessert, chocolate or whatever happens to be your particular weakness is sure to ruin any New Year celebration. And if you are anything like me, thinking you are not allowed something only makes you want it more!

I call it the DIG cycle. You Deprive yourself of the ‘naughty’ foods which leads to obsessing so much about them that you finally Indulge. Even as the first forbidden mouthful passes your lips, Guilt sets in and you resolve to Deprive yourself again.

So how can we lose or control our weight without becoming caught in the DIG cycle? Here are my top ten tips…

Fish has been known as brain food for decades, if not longer. Now we have the science to prove it. The WHO and FAO jointly recommend that pregnant and nursing mothers eat seafood twice a week to optimise brain and nerve development in the growing fetus and infant.

For toddlers and older kids it’s all about creating healthy habits. Whatever food kids learn to enjoy will be the food they most likely choose once they leave home. Teach your kids to love seafood. Don’t give up at the first screwed up nose. Set an example. Make it a habit. How about making Friday ‘Fish Day’?

Thank goodness – Australian bananas are finally affordable again! Today I bought a bunch for the same price as what just one cost a few months ago. I dumped them in the fruit bowl and with great nutritional joy told my family: “Eat as many as you want!”

To celebrate I whipped up a banana berry smoothie – perfect for a filling snack on a hot Sunday afternoon.

• 1 banana
• 1 cup frozen berries (the more you use, the thicker the drink)
• 2 cups reduced fat milk
• 3 generous tablespoons plain yoghurt (I use Jalna biodynamic organic)
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• Optional: 2 tablespoons chia seed (for some ALA omega-3′s)

Blend in electric blender and enjoy! The finished article is pictured above.

Which food pops into your mind when you read each of the following words?

Omega-3
Zinc
Vitamin C
Iron

My guess is the answers to the first three would have been in order: fish, oysters and oranges (or kiwifruit). What about iron? Did you say beef or lamb? I would have too until recently when I did some work for Aquaculture NZ and discovered that New Zealand’s Greenshell Mussels have three times more iron than beef.

Just five Greenshell mussels provide as much iron as eating a man-sized 300 grams of rump steak. This is fantastic news for the less carnivorous of us. Five Greenshell Mussels provides