You’re familiar with intermittent fasting, but have you heard of OMAD+B? Consisting of one meal per day plus breakfast, you get all the advantages of intermittent fasting, but undertaken in a sustainable, manageable way. So, you’re on a mission to build a leaner, meaner you? But feel overwhelmed with all the fad diets and science? The simple OMAD+B could be just the answer. Say no to hunger pangs and the temptation to indulge. Say yes to saving time and money, say yes to needing a new closet of clothes, say yes to losing weight and keeping it off.

In both the UK and the USA, as well as globally in general, obesity is a serious public health issue. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the UK are categorized as overweight, with more than a quarter being classed obese, according to the NHS Digital. In the USA, more than 70% of adults are overweight or obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that since 1975, the prevalence of obesity has almost tripled globally, with more than 1.9 billion persons worldwide being overweight in 2016: more than 650 million of them were obese. An increased risk of various prevalent diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, is linked to being overweight or obese. According to research, being overweight also increased a person's risk of developing COVID-19 complications and was associated with a higher risk of developing serious disease and death from COVID-19.

It’s easy to get confused between an intolerance to lactose, a component of cow’s milk, and an allergy to milk. Both are fairly common, but each has a different body response and therefore needs a different approach to treatment. We’ll take you through the key differences, so you know the signs to spot if you or someone you know shows symptoms and will give you advice on what to do.

Many medications do contain lactose. Read below for specific information for those who have lactose intolerance.

The concept of a keto diet (short for ketogenic) is for fat to provide the bulk of your daily required calories – about 80 to 90%. Protein provides a small proportion, and carbohydrates provide a smaller proportion still. This can come from certain fruit, vegetables, and dairy. The idea behind it is for your body to switch to using energy from fats rather than carbohydrates as the fuel. This lowers the sugar level in your blood and increases the production of ketones, a chemical made by your liver as it breaks down fats. Ketones give this diet its name. Initially, the diet was developed as a medical intervention to help lower the number of seizures in some people with severe epilepsy. It's still used in some treatment programs, but it's not common and must be led by an epilepsy specialist and a nutritionist or dietician. Diabetics need to lower their blood glucose level, so a ketogenic diet could be beneficial in those with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. But any long-term impact and effectiveness still need to be determined. And it does bring side effects, which can have implications for your health, so it's important to speak to your doctor or specialist doctor before starting this diet, and it should be monitored by a nutritionist who will need to tailor the diet to you.

Having hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid gland, requires changes to medication and close monitoring throughout pregnancy and afterward. With the right treatment, you should be able to expect a healthy baby and a healthy you right up to term and delivery.

Having an overactive thyroid gland, or hyperthyroidism, during pregnancy requires close monitoring under specialist supervision. There's no reason you shouldn't expect a healthy you, a healthy baby, and a normal delivery. It's best to seek help early – ideally before you conceive – and keep up with recommended blood tests and medication changes throughout and after pregnancy.

You may need to follow a gluten-free diet if you have been diagnosed with celiac disease (an autoimmune reaction to gluten), you have a wheat allergy, or you have reason to believe you have a gluten intolerance. Gluten is found in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye. These are the basis of pasta, bread, pastries, biscuits, beer, couscous, and breakfast cereal, and they can be used as a thickening or coating agent in many sauces, soups, or ready meals. Oat products may also cause symptoms to flare for some people. Excluding gluten products mean you need to find alternative sources of a number of vitamins. This includes most of the B vitamins, which are crucial for creating and maintaining cells in the body to keep tissues healthy; carbohydrates, which provide energy; and fiber, which helps food move along the gut, ensuring nutrients are absorbed and preventing constipation.

People with diabetes have high blood sugar (glucose) levels that can cause damage to their feet. High blood sugar levels can damage nerves in your feet (peripheral neuropathy), making them less able to feel pain, cold, and heat. As a result, foot problems can go unnoticed. Therefore, complications are more likely due to a lack of prompt treatment. High blood sugar levels can also damage blood vessels, leading to plaque forming inside them (peripheral arterial disease). These narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to your feet. A reduced blood supply to your feet means they can’t heal as well as usual. Therefore, effective foot care is essential in diabetes. Effective foot care is crucial in both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Foot problems include blisters, cuts, athlete’s foot, corns, calluses, dry skin, verrucas, in-grown toenails, and fungal nail infections. In extreme cases, the resulting complications can include bacterial infections, ulcers, gangrene, and even amputation.

Food intolerance is when your body struggles to digest food or a component of food, and this causes uncomfortable or unpleasant physical symptoms. It is different from an allergy and is not life-threatening like an allergy can be. The most common culprits are dairy (lactose), wheat or gluten, and caffeine. The most common symptoms of food intolerance are stomach pain, bloating, excessive gas, and diarrhea. In some instances, food intolerances can lead to mild skin symptoms such as rashes or itching but these differ in severity from allergic reactions. Suppose you were to suffer symptoms of an allergic reaction, not an intolerance. In that case, there is the potential for something called anaphylaxis to develop, which is life-threatening and can develop quickly. The symptoms may include coughing, wheezing, or having noisy or fast breathing. You may see the face, lips, and tongue swelling, but the risk is if the throat swells, blocking the airways. Food intolerance symptoms are not very specific and commonly can be caused by other conditions such as stress, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and food allergies.

A food allergy occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly thinks proteins in food are a threat, and it launches an attack that we experience as unwanted symptoms. These vary depending on the food and the type of allergic response. Common foods that cause allergy include milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, gluten or wheat, shellfish, white fish, soy, sesame, and some fruit. Common allergic responses include gut problems, skin reactions, and hay fever-like symptoms. Severe reactions include symptoms related to breathing or swelling around the face or mouth, and these require immediate medical attention. If you suspect a food allergy for yourself or your child, you may wish to get tested. This can be done via your doctor, who usually refers you to an allergist. Let's take you through some of the tests and whether they are worthwhile or not. Unfortunately, any results require interpretation along with symptoms – they're not black and white, and you can't say if an allergy is definitely present or absent. Keeping a food diary can be useful alongside tests and noting any symptoms-related patterns.

Food allergies are on the rise and can cause a great deal of alarm, particularly to parents. How do you know if you or your child has an allergy? Let's take you through the most common food allergies and how you can spot the signs. An allergy to a particular component in food prompts the immune system to go into overdrive, causing symptoms in the gut, skin, and airways. Food allergies are common in young children, but most grow out of these as their immune system develops. Reactions vary from mild to severe. They may be as common as affecting one in 10 adults, and up to half of these were reported to have had a severe reaction, according to one study.