The secret to safe weight loss is a healthy lifestyle consisting of a good diet and exercise. That is more effective than trying to lose fat fast with a fad diet. People who lose weight that way usually put the weight back on when they come off the diet. Here are some tips for healthy eating and safe weight loss.

It's a good idea to eat lightly at meal times and combine that with well-chosen snacks in-between This is better than eating one or two big meals a day because it spreads the intake of nutrients throughout the day.

The snacks should to be low in calories and rich in nutrients. The most effective ones include vegetables (preferably raw such as carrot and celery sticks), skim milk, fruit and dried fruit, wholemeal bread with fillings like cheese, peanut butter and lean meat.

Beware the type of fat that you eat because polyunsaturated fat lowers the amount of cholesterol in the blood whilst saturated fat raises it.

Avoid cordials because they normally contain a lot of additives and fewer nutrients than a juice. It's OK to drink fruit juices that have been frozen and concentrated because this does not effect the nutritional value of the juice very much.

There's an ancient story told of a king who had lots of slaves. The ones who worked at the Palace were allowed to eat the same rich food that the king ate. Five of them didn't want to eat the rich food and asked instead for "a vegetable diet and water to drink". The result was that they looked better and healthier than the slaves who ate the King's rich food.

So eating fresh fruit, vegetables and whole foods is definitely good for us and it's a good idea to incorporate them into our diet but how

can we know which ones are the best for us?

Well there is an easy way to tell the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables - by their color.

The following list shows which colors have different nutritional benefits. The different colors of foods make them look more appealing but can also tell us which foods have disease prevention qualities.

GREEN:

Green vegetable like cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts contain indoles which are good at detoxifying and encouraging hormone balance. It is believed that they help prevent breast cancer.

YELLOW:

Yellow fruits and vegetables contain beta cryptothanxin which helps prevent heart disease. It is contained in oranges, pineapples and peaches, apricots, nectarines, yellow grapefruit, yellow passion fruit and yellow peppers.

ORANGE:

Orange fruits and Vegetables contain beta carotene which combats several major diseases and slows aging. It is found in yams, carrots, papayas, mangoes and also in green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

RED:

Red fruits and vegetables contain lycopene which is a potent antioxidant and helps prevent heart disease and cancer. It is contained in watermelon, pink grapefruit and tomatoes.

PURPLE:

These contain anthocyanins which help prevent heart disease, cancer and even eye diseases. Fruit and vegetables conaining anthocyanins include eggplant and grapes.

However, if you currently don't eat much fresh fruit and then you start to include it in your diet you will notice at first that you need to go to the toilet more often. This is a good sign and shows that the fruit is causing your body to eliminate waste and toxins. Things will soon settle down again.

So why not try the above fruits and vegetables in your snacks. The result should be that like the servants in the ancient story you will look better and healthier and experience safe weight loss instead of risking the bad effects of trying to lose fat fast with a fad diet.