Kick start to a healthier new you

Still not quite sure where to start? Over the course of this series, I will outline a seven-day meal planner. In addition to the meal recommendations, I have outlined an exercise plan to help you feel healthier, happier and more in control.

7am: Morning exercise (see below) followed by a cup of warm water with a squeeze of lemon, plus 1 cup of nettle tea.

7.30am: Go for a brisk 30-minute walk.

8.15am: Breakfast - large punnet or two of blueberries.

10.15am: Mid-morning snack - 1 cup raw almonds steamed for 2 mins, and 3 or more stalks of celery.

12 noon: Go for a brisk 20-minute walk.

12.30pm: Lunch - tuna fish on spinach leaves, plus 6 cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with fresh dill and dress with fresh lemon juice.

3pm: Mid-afternoon snack of steamed almonds and 1 raw red pepper (deseeded).

6pm: Dance to loud music for 20 minutes.

6.20pm: Dinner - small veggie juice made with 1 cucumber and 1 celery stalk. Miso soup (available from healthfood stores) with added tofu pieces and chopped spring onions. Organic turkey or chicken with steamed carrots and broccoli and 1 tbsp miso soup as gravy, served with a big handful of mung bean sprouts and herbal leaves, OR Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie.

Shepherd's Pie recipe: (serves 4) Peel, chop then steam 4 sweet potatoes for 15 mins. Mash and set aside. Heat a little water and 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan. Add a crushed garlic clove, 1 sliced onion, 2 sliced sticks celery and a bay leaf and simmer for 3 mins. Add a small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced, and heat for a further 3 mins. Pour in 450ml vegetable stock and bring to boil, then simmer gently for 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Add 420g tin 'no added salt' kidney beans, drained and rinsed, 2 sliced red or yellow peppers, 4 halved tomatoes, 2 sliced courgettes, a chopped head of broccoli and 3 medium carrots, sliced. Simmer for a further 5 mins. Stir in 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley. Add 1 tsp arrowroot to thicken. Transfer vegetable mix into a baking dish. Mix a little of the cooking liquid and a dash of tamari sauce into the mash and use to top the vegetables. Bake for 15 mins at 200c/400f/GM6.

8.30pm: Evening exercise (see below). 9pm: Evening snack of 1 or 2 fresh raw peaches.

Day Two

7am: Morning exercise.

7.15am: 1 cup of warm water with a squeeze of lemon, plus 1 cup of dandelion tea.

7.30am: Go out for a brisk 30-minute walk.

8.15am: Breakfast - 1 bowl of any type of melon or pineapple, followed by a bowl of quinoa porridge made by boiling 2 cups of water, then adding 1 cup quinoa grain and a pinch of bouillon powder to season. Bring back to boil and simmer on a low heat for approx 7 mins. Switch off and allow to sit for 15 mins before eating. (Reserve some porridge to add to your lunch.)

10.15am: Mid-morning snack of pumpkin seeds and 1 or more small whole cucumbers, skin on. 12 noon: Go for a brisk 20-minute walk.

12.30pm: Lunch - 1 or 2 whole soft, ripe avocados sliced up on a bed of the leftover quinoa from breakfast. Decorate with pumpkin seeds and 1 tbsp flax seeds. Serve with a heaped handful of raw or lightly steamed green beans.

3pm: 1 or more raw yellow peppers.

6pm: Dance for 20 minutes.

6.30pm: Dinner of aduki bean casserole with millet mash and onion gravy.

Aduki Bean Casserole (serves 4). Soak 1 cup of aduki beans in 3 cups water before cooking. Place beans and water in a saucepan and add a vegetable stock cube. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins (if you add a strip of kombu seaweed now, it will release fantastic nutrients into the stew - you don't have to eat the seaweed to get the nutrients, either). Halfway through the 30 mins, add a small squash, peeled and chopped. After the 30 mins, add a peeled and sliced onion, 2 sliced carrots and a handful of chervil. Garnish with a head of sliced chicory, a huge handful of sprouted seeds and a handful of radishes.

Serve with millet mash and onion gravy. Wash a cup of millet and drain. Add a pinch of salt and 21/2 cups water, then bring to the boil. Thinly slice a small cauliflower and add to water along with the onion gravy.

For the gravy, warm 1 tsp olive oil in a pan with a little water and add two peeled and thinly sliced onions. Simmer for 15 mins. Add 2 cups spring water. Combine 2 tsp tamari sauce with 1 tsp arrowroot and enough cold water to dissolve. Add this mixture to the onion and water mix and stir over a medium heat until thickened and clear.

8.30pm: Evening exercise. 9pm: Handful of raw hazelnuts.

Day three

7am: Morning exercise.

7.15am: 1 cup warm water with a squeeze of lemon, plus 1 cup fennel tea.

7.30am: 30-minute walk

8.15am: Breakfast - blend 1 mango, 1 peach and 1 banana and pour over punnet of raspberries.

10.15am: Handful Brazil nuts. 12 noon: Brisk 20-minute walk.

12.30pm: Lunch - haricot bean salad (serves 4). Toss together a can of drained 'no added salt' beans, a chopped celery stick, 3 chopped baby gherkins, a sliced red and yellow pepper, salad leaves, a sprinkle of sunflower seeds and dress with vinaigrette, OR Aduki Bean casserole left over from yesterday's supper with dark green salad leaves. 3pm: Small container of cherry tomatoes with 1 fennel bulb. 6pm: Dance for 20 minutes.

6.30pm: Dinner - lemon sole (or any other fresh fish) on a bed of steamed florets of broccoli, carrots and basil. Serve with raw mangetout.

8.30pm: Evening exercise. 9pm: Snack of 1 or more apples.

Morning exercise

This will help you to become more balanced and energised first thing in the morning, which means you will be calm and relaxed, making it easier to control your appetite.

Step One: Find Your Emotional Centre. Sit on a chair and really feel the sensation of your feet pressed flat on the floor - it will help to ground you.

Take your right hand, and with the palm fully open, place it on the area just below your navel. That's your central core. Feel your centre with your hands for a couple of minutes and listen to your breathing.

You are free to remove your hand, but use all of your senses to stay with your core. Sit quietly for one or two minutes and think about your emotional centre.

Step two: Free The Energy. Remain in the chair with feet flat on the floor. Find your emotional centre again, using your mind. Now visualise an imaginary thin white beam emanating from your emotional centre. Now visualise the white light moving to the right of the emotional centre toward your right leg. The light will then move down your leg towards your right foot. Imagine the beam starting to travel between your feet to the sole of your left foot, then up through your left knee, along the thigh and back to the emotional centre.

Do this exercise several times in a very slow, flowing movement.

Many scientific studies prove that our body's cells and molecules 'listen' to the messages we express about ourselves, and respond accordingly. If we constantly tell ourselves we are too old, too tired or too overweight, our bodies will adopt the same attitude of downward spiral.

This five-minute exercise is designed to promote positive thoughts, assist digestion, calm nerves, help burn fats, break down carbs, induce sleep and balance the thyroid, stomach and bowels while harmonising your physical, mental and emotional health.

Evening Exercise

Step One: In a quiet room, take your shoes off and sit on a dining chair, feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful white light beam entering your body through the top of your head.

Step two: Slowly, deeply and gently inhale and exhale. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

On your first long exhalation, quietly and slowly say the words 'I love me'. Let the words almost end up as a hum as you slowly breathe them out.

Slowly inhale again, and on the exhalation say 'I am a being of love'. On the next exhalation, say 'Calm'. Breathe in again and on breathing out say 'I feel fabulous'. Do this three times.

All the while, imagine a beautiful white light shining through the inside of your body and emanating outwards.

Once you have performed the breathing and words, remain seated and do nothing. Just 'be' for a couple of minutes.