The importance of having a good diet, eating healthily and the benefits of taking in a well-balanced range of nutrients is hardly news, and yet it’s managed to hit the headlines again thanks to a Food Standards Agency (FSA) report revealing Britain’s unhealthy food habits. From extreme slimming to junk food binging, the results are the same – disappointing.

The report found that teenage girls are amongst one of the worst groups in the UK when it comes to Omega 3 and Iron intake, found in oily fish and red meat or wholegrain cereals respectively. Low intake of such essential nutrients can lead to anaemia, heart problems and complications with the nervous system. Experts have linked the nutritional deficiencies with obsessive food habits such as extreme fad diets, used by many in an attempt to reach ‘size zero’.

In stark contrast their mothers were taking in half the amount of sugary drinks, sweets and chocolate, a fact indicative of statistics that have shown a third of teenage girls to be overweight, with around a fifth being clinically obese. Girls are also consuming more alcohol and cigarettes than their male counterparts. Everything in moderation is a notion many would appear to have forgotten.

As usual there’s a lot of talk about miracle diets. From Gordon Brown adopting the Japanese banana diet to Margaret Thatcher eating eggs. So which work, and which are wishful thinking?

Although the Japanese are famed for living longer, and healthier than Westerners, it’s important to remember that whilst a banana contains more nutrients than the doctor-avoiding apple Mr Brown’s policy of up to nine a day can lead to indigestion and flatulence. On the other hand, hidden in and amongst personal papers written in the run-up to Mrs T’s historic Prime Ministerial victory was a diet plan akin to Atkins involving a mammoth 28 eggs per week, which is some cholesterol intake indeed.

Experts stand by their usual recommendations, which contrary to popular belief include 5 steps to a healthy diet – not 7 – and boil down to variety, and common sense. Don’t eat too much of one thing, and don’t forget to eat what you need, not just what you want.

Whilst various plants and herbs can improve your body’s ability to absorb essential ingredients, there are some rules to abide by whatever your size or gym attendance is like. Ensuring you have the right calorie intake to match how active you are; remembering your 5 portions of fruit and veg per day; having around a third of your food as ‘starchy’- i.e. pasta, rice and bread; cutting down on sugar and reducing your salt levels should set you on the right track.