You can stay slim and healthy forever if you think of what you eat as part of a greater, holistic life plan. If you try to diet in isolation from the rest of your life, it won't last. Treat the ten points here as your mantra.
1. Remember that food is your most important tool in keeping yourself strong and healthy. Don't let anything pass your lips unless it's making a valid contribution to that philosophy.
2. Let your diet become part of a cleaner, more natural and purer life in other ways- such a lifestyle will make it easier for you to stay with your new eating habits.
3. Balance yourself - if your life is in harmony, it's only then that you'll no longer need food as a crutch. Enjoyment of good food is fine; obsession with eating poor food is not.
4. Take time to plan, prepare and eat your food. What you eat is as important as your work, your sleep, your play - so don't feel guilty about devoting time to it.
5. Eat regularly preferably five times a day, so that you never allow yourself to get too hungry. And when you do eat, stop eating just as you start to feel full.
6. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Have fruit and vegetable juices instead of caffeine and colas.
7. Eat at least a third of all your food raw - this will ensure a high intake of fruits, vegetables, and the vital enzymes and chemicals they contain. It will also stop you from over-eating.
8. Take exercise every day to help metabolise your food, to oxygenate your body to help you to feel positive about yourself. Vary your exercise as you would vary your choice of food.
9. Be kind to yourself - eat the foods you really enjoy and live the life you want to lead -it's your life, not anyone else's.
10. Be strong in yourself - saying 'no' to food you don't want or need is neither a sin nor impolite. Saying 'yes' to food you don't want or need is hurting only yourself.
One final word - whenever you feel that life is so full and busy that making time for yourself and your body's wellbeing is too hard, remember this: your number one priority is you in good health and spirit. Only from that can the rest follow in harmony.