It's not just about food

While a healthy diet is a vital ingredient in feeling youthful there are other things of importance. I have just spent ten days up at the Edinburgh Fringe festival working as a volunteer for a company that manages a venue. I worked in the kitchen, the cafe, box office, and did cleaning and leafleting. Most of the other volunteers were young enough to be my grandchildren. I spent a lot of my time on my feet, did miles of walking and running up and down stairs. I also ate like a horse - and arrived home weighing slightly less than when I went! So not CRd for that time. (Back on the straight and narrow as sson as I got back) But the huge buzz I got from the vibrancy of the place and the massive engery and enthusiasm was like an injection of youth!

On another subject - I have a small garden, and while I suppose I could fill it with vegetables I choose not to. I do grow fresh herbs, but I can get organic veg from the local farmers' market. In my garden there are flower beds, a rockery, hanging baskets and containers. It is a garden to give peace and visual pleasure. I enjoy being there and just pottering around tending to it. I am sure the feeling of contentment I get from the garden and also the gentle exercise contribute to my longevity as well as my diet.

At last - the CRONish pasty!

That traditional English dish the Cornish pasty is a nutritional mightmare. The filling isn't too bad, mainly vegetables with a little lean meat, but the surrounding pastry can add 450 to 750 calories per pasty depending on thickness, in the form of white flour, butter and lard. If you were an impoverished tin miner toiling 12 hours a day underground this may well have been the best you could get, but not now! I experimented using bread dough to replace the pastry - fiddly and not ideal. Then I hit on the solution - low carb tortillas. I used Mama Lupe's as that is the only brand I can get in the UK - by post from the low carb megastore. 60 calories each. Make your filling - my favourite so far is mashed sweet potato with chopped steamed leeks and grated Leskol (fat-free cheddar is something we can only dream of over here, and unlike soft cheeses you can't really make it at home). Put the filling on the tortilla - leave enough space so you can press the edges together. Now brush the edges with liquid eggwhite and press together. Pierce the pasty with a fork to let the steam out, put on a plate and microwave till hot.

My little furry friends

I adore kiwi fruit and I have always peeled them, then recently I read about there being a lot of nutrients in the peel. I looked at the peel. Not very appetising and some varieties are actually furry. Still, I washed them carefully and gave it a go. And do you know it was OK. A coarse brush will smooth out the furry ones. Not only do I no longer have the chore of peeling the slippery little things, but a kiwi has become an easily portable snack. And they're only £1 for a bowlful on the market!