Without paying attention to keeping yourself well, you may slip into more serious warnings of 'self-abuse' and progress to serious conditions like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. A few simple changes can make all difference to long-term health of your body, clarity of your thinking, strength of your emotional well-being and long-term viability of your self-propelled business!

Food is fuel

What you eat and drink provides your body with fuel to carry out all physical and mental activities that get you through each day, including breathing and blinking! Some foods, such as fruit and vegetables, provide excellent fuel, with lots of beneficial nutrients. Other foods provide body with poor quality fuel laced with undesirable chemicals, such as over-processed junk foods. What percentage of your current diet is providing fuel-efficient, nutrient-rich food? Find out by keeping a diary over following week - jot down everything you eat and drink and then analyze your fuel source. The better your fuel source, longer your life expectancy…

…So improve your choice

Choose meals and snacks that are kind to body, i.e. naturally-produced and chemical free. Fresh (preferably seasonal) fruit, vegetables and salads retain their nutritional content - they are 'living' foods. Avoid foods that have been over-processed, stored for too long or stored in contact with metal or cling-film. You could class these as 'dead' foods, with little to offer nutritionally. Variety is also vital, helping you obtain broad range of nutrients your body needs.

Less is more

Eating large meals puts a great strain on digestive tract. Choose smaller, more frequent meals, which help keep your fuel tank topped-up throughout day. And never forget that more you eat, more your body has to either burn off or store as fat. So eat to live - don't live to eat!

Be supportive

·Tell your child that he or she is loved, is special, and is important. Children's feelings about themselves often are based on their parents' feelings about them.

·Accept your child at any weight. Children will be more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when their parents accept them.

·Listen to your child's concerns about his or her weight. Overweight children probably know better than anyone else that they have a weight problem. They need support, understanding, and encouragement from parents.

Encourage healthy eating habits

·Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned). Let your child choose them at store.

·Buy fewer soft drinks and high fat/high calorie snack foods like chips, cookies, and candy. These snacks are OK once in a while, but keep healthy snack foods on hand too and offer them to your child more often.

·Eat breakfast every day. Skipping breakfast can leave your child hungry, tired, and looking for less healthy foods later in day.

·Plan healthy meals and eat together as a family. Eating together at meal times helps children learn to enjoy a variety of foods.

·Eat fast food less often. When you visit a fast food restaurant, try healthful options offered.

·Offer your child water or low-fat milk more often than fruit juice. Fruit juice is a healthy choice but is high in calories.

·Do not get discouraged if your child will not eat a new food first time it is served. Some kids will need to have a new food served to them 10 times or more before they will eat it.

·Try not to use food as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert. Kids learn to dislike foods they think are less valuable.