Butter on the Crumpets

Throughout my 20 year career in the media I've covered hundreds of health stories.

Many of them have focused on how certain foods can reduce the risk of certain diseases - I've always been a firm believer that there is a cure in nature for everything, we just have to find it.

So cutting down forests at rate of knots and causing species extinction is just a stupid thing to do - not just for the planet, but also for human-kind.

I also believe that nature, and natural food is the secret to maintaining a healthy weight.

Of course, I am no scientist, I read a lot, I cover many stories but at the end of the day I can only share what I have witnessed and what works in my own life.

Firstly let me say I really like food. I spend a lot of my weekends cooking, and like nothing more than throwing a dinner party and trialing new recipes on my friends.

My personal opinion is that the proliferation of processed food is the cause of many health problems in our society. Processed meat, processed cheese, canned goods filled with preservatives, additives and the like - how are our bodies supposed to "process" these?

I'll be the first to admit I've been on the odd diet over the years to shed a couple of kilos, but now I've come to the realisation that it's not necessarily about calories - for me, it's all about the quality and freshness of the food I eat.

I try to avoid processed meat and opt for free range goods. Although I wish I had the willpower to be vegetarian, I acknowledge that I do enjoy a good barbie (without the highly processed sausages). And, although free range is often more expensive - I just buy less of it and bulk out meals with vegies.

I eat butter - it's natural, just churned cream. I use lots of olive oil in cooking, and eat full fat unprocessed cheese.

I use real sugar, if I want a biscuit, I will make them from scratch with flour, butter and free range eggs - cheaper and better for you.

I admit to occasionally partaking in artificially sweetened products and fast food - but I do try to eat what nature provides rather than what a lab produces.

So, bottom line - I think we all get a little hung up on low fat, low sugar and low g.i, when I think we should be concentrating more on "whole" foods - natural produce.

Also, if we are going to eat animals I'm pretty sure those that've had a good, free range existence are going to be a lot tastier than those who've been raised in factory farms, stressed out and unhappy.

I also think most things, like alcohol or that store bought chocolate cake is ok in moderation.

People often ask me if I have to watch my diet carefully because of the job I do - my response is "not really" - I will have a bit of butter on my crumpets and not feel one pang of guilt.