Is the message of this article. It suggests that dieters who join slimming clubs lose five times more weight then those who try to do it on their own. People who followed a Weight Watchers diet lost an average of 8.6lbs in 3 months compared with just 1.8lbs with those on DIY diets. The weight loss was also more permanent with those on a Weight Watchers diet, after 6 months they had lost an average od 10.1lb but those that dieted on their own had put 5lb back on.

The transport secretary has unveiled plans for harsher penalties for some driving offences such as using a mobile whilst driving and lighting a cigarette at the wheel. Sending a text message or making a phone call whilst driving will also incur tougher penalties. The current penalty for using a mobile whilst driving is £60 but this will be increased to £90. The number of penalty points offenders receive will remain as three. I wonder whether an increased fine will make people think twice about using their phone whilst at the wheel. Certainly judging by how many people I see doing it at the moment the current penalties don’t appear to be severe enough.

I have often wondered whether I could put my cats on the treadmill to lose a few pounds. Now a company has designed a pet treadmill aimed at cats and dogs. It is currently still only a prototype but looked quite interesting. It was built because the creator had an overweight cat that was unable to lose weight by changing the diet alone. One thing is not clear, how do you motivate your cat to exercise, perhaps a strategically placed out of reach biscuit?

A women has died after eating soup she had made with poisonous mushrooms. The woman picked death cap mushrooms mistaking them for an edible variety. The mushrooms are highly poisonous and there is no antidote. This particular mushroom is responsible for most cases of mushroom poisoning so it’s really worth knowing your mushrooms if you are planning on going foraging. If in doubt its probably best not to eat them.

I was promised many things on programmes such as Tomorrows World when I was younger, one thing I have been on the look out for is a flying car. This model is due to go on sale in 2015, although it looks more like a plane it has been billed as a flying car. Costing £190,000 the Transition is part private jet and part sedan. It has four wheels and wings that can fold up so it can be driven like a car. The car will be small enough to fit in a garage and won’t need a runway to take off. Anyone who wants one will need to have a pilots licence and pass a test complete with 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the car. Doesn’t that make it a plane then?

Says great British Bake Off presenter Mary Berry. She believes that modern parents are often too busy to teach their children how to cook, leaving children without basic skills and making them them more likely to eat junk food when they grow up. The solution she believes is to have cookery classes in schools.

Not having children of school age I assumed they still did cookery at school, we certainly did when I was a child. I’m not sure I picked up much from the classes, however, I do remember having a fairly limited grasp of cooking when I moved out of my parents home and for a long time I relied upon ready made sauces and convenience food. It was only really much later that I started to experiment with cooking and taught myself a lot from various books. I think I will make time to teach my children at least a few basic things, like how to boil an egg, make a white sauce, cook a roast dinner so they can manage to feed themselves when I am not around.

Living in Sevenoaks I was interested to see the town came third in a list of the 10 richest small towns in Britain. I am aware that parts of Sevenoaks are extremely affluent so wasn’t surprised to find that it made the list of towns where most millionaires are located. Perhaps less surprising is that Windsor topped the list and Weybridge came second. Ascot which I would have expected to feature somewhat higher was number 10. The full list is as follows:

1 Windsor
2 Weybridge
3 Sevenoaks
4 Beaconsfield
5 Henley on Thames
6 Marlow
7 Hale
8 Alderley Edge
9 Bray
10 Ascot (including Sunningdale)

I obviously live in an affluent area, now to work on that millionaire status. 

Exercise is something that although I quite enjoy it, I do find difficult to fit into my daily routine. Juggling two small children means that much as I try to find 20 minutes a day to run on my treadmill, in reality I often only manage it 3 times a week. I find it encouraging then, to read this article which suggests just 75 minutes of exercise a week can make a big difference to your health.

Whilst it is less than the recommended two and half hours a week, light exercise such as brisk walking can cut your risk of serious illness. I probably already do about 60 to 90 minutes of light exercise in a week, just getting to all of the baby groups we attend. Added to my more strenuous treadmill exercise I estimate that despite me thinking I get very little exercise I might actually surpass the recommended weekly amount in an average week. I do, however, tend to prefer walking everywhere if at all possible simply to give the children a little fresh air and particularly now that Penny likes to try walking by herself.

This article is interesting, it claims that children who spend more time playing outside have better eyesight than those who spend more time indoors. The article claims that short sightedness has increased by 65% since the 1970’s in the US and puts this down to the fact that children are playing outside less.

Personally I think this is a load of rubbish. The condition is largely hereditary. All of my family suffer from short sight and have taken various measures to control it, from glasses and contact lenses, to myself who decided on laser eye surgery to address the problem. Regardless of whether we played outside or not ( and we did every day) we would still have the problem. Now a parent myself I fully expect my own children to need glasses unless they are very lucky and have their father’s good eyesight. In my opinion the increase of short sightedness is more down to the increased use of computers, smart phones and games machines and less down to whether a child plays outside or not.

I try never to go shopping when hungry as I tend to buy all sorts of things I don’t need. Researchers have looked into exactly how much extra you are likely to purchase if you shop when hungry and it appears the figure is 18.6%. Shoppers who have not eaten before going shopping not only purchase much more food but also have a tendency to buy many more high calorie foods, in fact 31% more high calorie snacks. The message is clear, snack before you go shopping and you could save yourself some money as well as making healthier food choices.