Dear Healthy Friend,

What New Year's resolutions did you make this year? Commit to watch your finances? Maybe start saving for that rainy day? How about weight loss? I'm 100% certain this is one of (if not the) most popular "things to do in 2011" and I'm sure it's on your list too... It's a tough battle... And it's also probably the first one of your resolutions to dissapate into thin air... But that's where I come in...

I'm sure you've tried all the pills, potions and preparations to fight off the Christmas cheer firmly planted around your mid-section in previous years... But this year's going to be different... Because I've got the exeprt's secrets to share with you... And not just for weight loss either... But for weight maintenance too... Keep reading...

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. I once saw a t-shirt that said "I fought anorexia and won!" and, as amusing as it is, it's no laughing matter... Excess weight can lead to a myriad of health problems, keep reading to find out how you can "Fight obesity and win!"

P.P.S: Send to a friend! Please send your friends and family these health tips and advice! And if they want to subscribe all they need to do is click here!

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The secret to successful diet maintenance
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls

Anyone can shed a few kilos - the hard part is keeping the weight off for good.

A new study lights the way to post-diet success and all you need to do is avoid the sugars and other bad carbs that probably led to your weight gain in the first place.

Easier said than done, I know - but maybe this study will help give you the motivation you need to finally win the battle of the bulging bellies. Researchers have found that the greatest post-diet success comes to those who stick to foods low on the glycaemic index (low GI foods).

Those are generally the low-carb foods that won't cause spikes in blood sugar levels.

The researchers followed 773 overweight and obese adults from eight European countries who lost an average of 11kgs during two months of low-fat dieting.

Then, they placed the dieters on one of five different "maintenance" plans: Low protein, high glycaemic; low protein, low glycaemic; high protein, low glycaemic; high protein, high glycaemic; and a control group that didn't follow any single plan.

After six months, most of them regained a little weight. But the ones who followed the high-protein, low-glycaemic diet regained 1kg less than those who ate more carbs and less protein, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study suffered from a high dropout rate - just 548 of the dieters were able to stick with it until the end. But again, the low-carb eaters did best: Just 2% of them dropped out, versus 37% of the high-carb, low-protein dieters.

The one flaw here is that the glycaemic index isn't always the best way to look at carbs. For example, ice cream and peanut M&Ms rank relatively low, but that doesn't make them healthy.

If you want an easier time choosing your foods, ditch the charts and get back to basics. Pass on all the bad carbs - especially sugars, starches and refined grains.

Even healthier whole grains can sabotage a diet, so limit them - and even then, only eat them after you've reached your weight-loss goal.

And whatever you do, don't let those sugars sneak back into your life - that's how dieters fall off the wagon.

In addition to successful weight loss, low-carb diets can also help you lower your blood pressure, keep your cholesterol levels within a healthy range and even lower your risk for diabetes and heart disease.

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Fitness helps beat everything

New studies find that simple ordinary exercise - nothing intense, nothing that'll break the bank and certainly nothing that'll break a bone - can help prevent everything from dementia to the common cold.

And it all starts with a brisk walk... A new analysis of 40 papers on fitness published between 2006 and 2010 finds that a simple daily hour-long walk or bike ride could reduce cancer risk up to 16%.

But it gets even better than that - because the analysis also found that daily exercise can slash the risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, diabetes, depression, obesity, high blood pressure and more.

In all, researchers found two dozen physical and mental health benefits from daily exercise... And they say their analysis in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, finds that overall health can be influenced by everything from where you live to pure luck - but of all the factors within your control, regular exercise is the second most important thing you can do for yourself.

The most important one is smoking - so if you've got a tobacco habit, there's one more reason to make kicking it your other resolution.

But let's get back to that exercise, because another new study finds that people who engage in regular aerobic workouts and consider themselves to be physically fit have stronger immune systems and suffer from fewer colds.

In fact, the study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who exercised five days a week were half as likely to experience cold symptoms as those who were less active.

What's more, the patients who rated themselves as "most fit" and those who got the most exercise each reported less severe symptoms when they did get sick. When you consider that the average person gets between two and four colds a year, that's a pretty significant benefit.

So now that you have some reasons to exercise, find something you love - and start doing it... Even if it's just that daily walk around your neighbourhood.