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Eating a certain amount of fat is part of an overall balanced diet and healthy eating plan. When people are overweight they usually look to a completely fat free diet to lose that extra weight but that can be counter productive. If you go too far in terms of eating zero fat then you can force your body into starvation mode where it starts to use muscle tissue for energy instead of your natural fat reserves. The simple fact is that most people eat too much fat and/or too much of the wrong types of fat and that's something which you do need to change and you'll feel better for it.

For most people reducing their fat intake is part of the process of losing weight and to simply look better. But losing weight and controlling your fat intake goes beyond the simple aesthetics of looking slim. In fact having excessive amounts of fat on your body can lead to heart disease, diabetes and dramatically increase your risks of developing certain types of cancer.

There's a big, big difference between a healthy fat intake and eating large amounts of fatty foods that clog up your arteries and help you pile on the pounds for everyone to see.

But controlling the amount of fat they eat is where most people struggle and also where most people fail. The problem is that foods with fat in them taste really good and particularly fatty meats. A grilled chicken breast is tasty but a crispy chicken 3-piece with gravy tastes a whole lot better so people tend to follow their taste buds when it comes to eating.

One simple change you can make is to just use the low-fat versions of foods that you normally use. So for example instead of full fat milk you choose the low-fat variety or go even further and skimmed milk or soya milk. If you're a big fan or rice and pasta you can reduce your fat and carb intake with both of these by simply changing to whole meal varieties of pasta and rice and then same thing applies to bread – whole meal bread is simply far, far better for you than white bread. Flour isn't naturally white by the way – it's a brown color so that means white bread has been treated and added to in order to give it that color.

One of the single best ways to change yourself from a fatty diet to a low fat diet is to grill or bake all your meals. So instead of fried chicken and fries you bake some skinned and boned chicken breasts that have been sprinkled with some black pepper and lemon juice to season. Your side order is now a baked potato served with some fresh homemade salsa instead of a portion of onion rings.

By baking or grilling your meals you instantly remove all the fat or butter that they're normally fried in which means your fat intake drops dramatically and this alone can be enough to get your cholesterol back under control and you're still getting a very healthy meal that will please your taste buds too!

And if nothing else cut out all junk food and fast food from your diet. Unless the restaurant has the fat content listed for each meal then you can safely assume that your meal has been soaked and cooked in trans fats which are the worst types of fat it's possible for you to eat.

Did you know that a single large fast-food meal can account for almost 75% of your recommended calorie intake for an entire day? Yes that burger, fries and shake is so heavily soaked in trans fat and other fats that to maintain a healthy weight you'll be able to eat very little extra for that day. And the worst part? You're hungry again 2 hours after that fast-food meal right?

A healthy home cooked meal will keep you full for longer, allow you to stay in control of your fat intake and cost far, far less than the junk food you just ate for dinner.

Unless you've been living on another planet or haven't really been paying attention to your nutrition at all during your life then you'll have heard about the 5-A-Day plan which is basically the US Government's recommendation that the average person should consume roughly 5 servings or fruits and vegetables each day.

Now I know you're sitting there going "Five servings? Am I meant to spend my entire day eating?" That's not how it works though and when you take a step back and look at how you might go about achieving the 5-A-Day recommendation you'll be surprised at how easy it can be for you.

But why should you eat more fruit and vegetables than meat each day for example? To understand this we need to look back into the history of humans. We were hunter-gatherers once upon a time and lived an almost nomadic lifestyle. Because of this we tended to live off whatever the land could provide us with to top up what food we were able to hunt.

So our diet would have consisted of a small amount of meat and a lot of fruit, nuts, berries and root vegetables. Our modern diet has turned that on its head with our diet being made up of a lot of meat and almost no fresh vegetables to speak of – everything is processed, packaged or tinned.

So overall the food you now eat is far more convenient for you because you don't need to go hunting for it or gathering it up but convenient food is rarely healthy and that's why the Five-A-Day principle makes so much sense.

You can get your day off to a great and energetic start and in full compliance with the Five-A-Day plan by having a large glass of fresh fruit juice or a large fruit smoothie each morning. The Five-A-Day plan means you need to eat roughly 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables each day so a fruit smoothie will allow you to meet most of your fruit requirement for the day and it will keep you full until lunchtime too.

When it comes to eating enough vegetables you can bring some carrot or celery sticks or other crudité to work with you as a snack instead of hitting the vending machine for some chips or a candy bar at the first sign of hunger. Sure that candy bar tastes good but it also means you've just earned yourself another 30 minutes on the treadmill to work it all off again. This means you're hitting your vegetable intake target and you're also eating a snack that has zero calories in it too so it's a real win-win for you here.

And then when it comes to dinner time you just need to make sure that you're mixing up your vegetables and not just relying on potatoes to fill the gap. Not every vegetable will taste great to you initially but the more you eat them and the more health benefits you get them from them the more you realize you should have been eating more vegetables with your dinner years ago.

If you tend to eat out a lot either through habit or just as a necessity of life then there's no reason why you can't follow your healthy eating plan there too. You can start your meal with a vegetable soup, followed by some baked chicken or steak with a baked potato and some carrots, mushrooms and broccoli with just a drizzle of garlic butter and then finish your meal with a fruit salad. Doesn't that sound delicious?

Once you set your mind to eating healthily and following the Five-A-Day plan you'll find it's a whole lot easier than you might ever have imagined. 

Possible damage from competition

Most of us have learned in our lives that competition is a healthy thing. We learn at school to compete on sports teams and when we transition into the business world, we are told that competition is great for consumers. However, when we realize that competition is little more than a contest between two people with the same ideas or the same product, competition doesn’t seem like as much fun as it did in school.

Competition starts at a young age

Remember when you were a child. If you were an only child, chances are that no one else was vying for the attention of your parents or grandchildren. However, those who came from bigger families were almost always competing with siblings for attention. This type of competitive spirit results in being an angry child, or acting out in a manner that drew more attention. The theory was better negative attention than no attention.

Schools pit students against each other on the sports field, in class and in other areas – whoever does the best “wins” and the others lose.  Remember that competition often breeds jealousy; jealous behavior often results in people becoming distrustful and suspicious.  Typically, these are not necessarily qualities we see as acceptable in most people, and even less acceptable when we see ourselves having these traits.

What we use to compete

Unfortunately, competition isn’t always who does the best job on a task or who offers the best product in business. Sometimes, seeking the competitive advantage means that we have to offer something additional in the form of a lower price, a “bonus” or some other token that shows we want someone’s business (or attention) more than our competitor. The good news is that we each have our own set of talents and if we learn to use them, chances are that we’re more likely to do well.

The key to making competition work

We have no problem cheering on our favorite sports team, celebrating complete strangers winning an Olympic metal or feeling good when our neighbors are doing well with their jobs or their children are thriving. Just think about how we can turn this into a competitive advantage in business!  There are opportunities to learn from the success of others. We can turn a competitive spirit into a learning and growing experience and be happy for those who are successful.

Competition doesn’t mean that you have to win every time! Turn your competitive nature into a positive learning experience by accepting others success and being happy for them. Surround yourself with successful people and be happy for them. The more you do this, the more likely you are to find that you feel happier and more successful.  Turn your work environment into one where everyone is striving for a single goal – rather than competing against each other. Chances are that if everyone works together towards a common goal, the group overall will be more successful.  Do your best every day to celebrate the success of others and your success won’t be too far away.