Lie – Of Course I Don't Lie

I've always considered myself an honest person, but apparently I'm not. A recent survey revealed that each of us tells on average four lies a day, and what I'd always considered as simply being economical with the truth is, infact, a lie.

It seems the most common untruths are that we feel "fine" when actually we don't, and if someone asks our opinion on an outfit we are somewhat careful with our response. After all, how many men do you know who dare honestly respond to, "Does my bum look fat in this?"

Statistics are strange things and vary depending on whom you ask, but this survey said seventy-five per cent of men lied more than women, and overall, two-thirds of us didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about it.

"Untruths", "porky pies", "lies" or whatever you choose to call them oil the wheels of social discourse and we would have far fewer friends if we always told the truth. I don't know if you ever saw the film Liar, Liar with Jim Carey but certainly life was a lot smoother for him when he stopped telling the absolute truth.

Apparently we learn to lie as babies. I know that seems hard to believe, but the experts say when our little angels cry for no reason it's because they want attention and their noise makes us believe there is something wrong. They are, infact, lying to us. Who'd have believed it?

Anyway, we lie to protect our fragile egos but not everyone is good at it. Men fare worse as they demonstrate tell tale signs like sweaty palms, hot flushes and strange hand/face gestures; or they embellish their stories and give too much information.

Women can usually tell when a man is lying but it's far more difficult the other way round. Maybe, they just never suspect the female to be devious, or just don't take any notice of their partners' body language, etc.

Of course, that's assuming the lie is being told to your face, and I have to say there are some people who make a living out of lying. Having been the victim of two incredibly clever and plausible scams, when the "liars" looked me in the eye, shook my hand and then defrauded me of thousands of pounds, I often wonder how they sleep at night.

As the victim I felt hurt, sick and humiliated, and sadly I've reached the point where I don't trust anyone any more. It's a shame, but a reflection on our society.

In the newspapers and on the television there are repeated cases of vulnerable people being scammed, People lose their life savings, and often it destroys their health and will to live. Some people have even taken their own lives because of such despicable acts.

When I worked as a secretary for a lawyer there were many bitter disputes between friends and family because of money lent and never repaid. It ruined relationships, and whenever I came across them I always thought of my dad's wise words "Never a borrower nor a lender be".

Recently I heard of a young student who's had his university course blighted by some "lady" claiming to be studying medicine at Birmingham. It seems they met at a party and "hit it off", if you see what I mean and continued their "relationship" via the internet as he was in a different location.

A few days after the party she told the student she'd been mugged in Nigeria and had lost all her money. The smitten student cabled her his grant money, which she promised to repay upon her return to UK, and guess what? Yes, she disappeared along with the money. Unsurprisingly, the free yahoo e-mail address is no longer valid and the police can't do a thing about it.

The young male student is now finding university somewhat more frugal than he had anticipated and struggling to provide the course books he needs. Meanwhile, the medical student, if indeed she is one, is probably having a fine old time.

So, here's a warning. If you see a slim, brunette, white girl with a Birmingham accent and a free e-mail address, calling herself Jane Smith (I know!) who claims to be studying medicine and is pretty flush with cash, and free with her favours at parties, be very wary. She obviously cried a lot as a baby because at the tender age of twenty-two she's certainly a master at lying.

How To Tell If Somebody Is Lying To You Within 60 Seconds – Without Even Listening To Them

Food – What Can We Eat?

Recent surveys have shown that one in four of us are completely confused with the official guidelines on healthy eating.

Take red meat for instance. Does it cause cancer or is it good for us? Is alcohol bad or good in moderation and should you stop drinking if you're pregnant. How about tea and coffee – is the caffeine bad for us or not?

Then of course, there's chocolate. Do the feel good factor and antioxidant properties in some brands make it worth risking all those calories.

We all know processed food contains lots of saturated fat, salt and sugars, as well as colourings and flavourings so we shouldn't eat too much of it, but we're now told we shouldn't eat the good old English breakfast either.

Bacon, sausage, egg, beans and toast should be relegated to the dustbin apparently. Instead we should eat fresh fruit and cereal, but even that is often full of hidden salt and sugar.

It is difficult knowing what you should or shouldn't eat and most people don't have the time to read the packaging. Even if you did you'd probably be confused, as each manufacturer seems to have a different method of describing the contents. The simplest to understand are the traffic light symbols, which show red, amber and green, as most people understand that red means stop, amber means be cautious and green means go.

We should, for the sake of our health eat plenty of fruit and vegetables because they contain chemicals to prevent cancer. They also fill you up without providing too many calories which is great. If you can afford organic food it's even better because not only do they taste better, and have more natural vitamins and minerals, they are grown without harmful chemical pesticides and fertilisers. This means they don't add to the daily toxic build-up in your body. Unfortunately they are in the wrong price range for most people on a limited budget.

There is no question we are getting bigger and childhood obesity levels are rising. This will inevitably have health consequences and it is partly our modern lifestyle which has created the problem. Apparently we now live in an obesegenic environment.

When food was scarce we had to use a lot of energy to get it, but now we are surrounded by high-energy foods and labour saving devices so it's really hard to get rid of those excess calories.

Another problem is the lack of facilities to be able to exercise safely. Many of the school playing fields have gone and cycle paths are not traffic friendly. Few children are encouraged to go out to play because of the fear of muggings, gangs, paedophiles, drugs, etc, and that's in daylight hours.

I It seems to me though, there's no point getting obsessed with food otherwise you just end up miserable. If you like something, eat it but do so in moderation and stop when you feel full.

If you are one of those people brought up to believe you must eat everything put in front of you because of the plight of the starving people in other countries, then use smaller plates and eat slower. It may sound simple but it works. I've tried it.

You end up eating less, but feel full because you've taken the time to actually chew and taste the food, and also chewing releases a chemical in your brain which tells your stomach you are full. Clever, eh?

It also prevents food waste because even if you do leave something on your plate it unfortunately won't help the starving millions.

A True Weight Loss Story