How often have you wished that you had a rewind button for life? Wouldn?t it be great? No more parking tickets, hangovers or saying the wrong thing. Even better, no more disastrous fashion mistakes or hairstyles ... of which I have a pretty comprehensive record! In fact, I remember that aged 12, I would spend hours blow-drying my fringe and then gelling the ends down to the side of my head. I thought it looked fabulous at the time, but pictures of me during that year are now banned from our house.

However, whilst hair disasters for humans are pretty much a run-of-the-mill experience, I never imagined that my dog could suffer the same fate! Poor Jasper (the golden retriever) thought he was off on a ?Very Exciting Adventure? when I took him to the groomers on Monday morning. He was getting so hot in his thick coat, that I thought it only fair to take him for a trim! So I dropped him off, asked them to take the weight out of his coat and arranged to pick him up at lunchtime.

However I really must learn to be more specific. I returned to collect a fairly unusual looking dog ? apparently mine! Same furry face, same bushy tale ... but a grade one cut all over his body. Now half retriever, half labrador, it seems we have discovered a new breed ? the lesser know Golden Labriever. My husband is horrified (of course, since then, the whole idea of having him clipped has been deemed mine alone ...) and Jasper looks a little miffed too.

But not to worry. The world is full of inventive breeds after all ? for example the labradoodle (labrador/poodle mix) and the Shitzpoo ... a shitzu/poodle mix, with a great name! So although I would rewind the situation if I could (and book him into Strands instead), the moral of the story is not to avoid the groomers (because to be fair, they are technically very good), but just to be clear on exactly what it is you want!

Now here comes my tenuous link to nutrition. The other advantage of a rewind button would be to undo all that dietary damage we do during our weaker moments. The problem is that although many people have the long-term goal of losing weight and getting back into shape, they find it hard to make the right decisions in the short term. For many people that say ?I?ll start my diet tomorrow?, tomorrow never comes.

So this month I want to help you set realistic and achievable goals for yourself, and let?s start with just trying to have a healthy lunch every day. So many people go wrong at lunchtime, eating a meal that?s high in fat, heavy in carbs, that piles on the pounds and makes them feel drowsy all afternoon. Chicken fried rice, fried chicken, mac n? cheese and burgers are all common lunches, but best avoided if you want to optimise your health and your weight. The best alternative, especially now that summer is here, is to choose a healthy salad instead. The problem is though that so many people find a salad doesn?t fill them up. There is a solution however!

Every healthy salad should include some quality protein (chicken, tuna or salmon for example) and some carbohydrate. It sounds odd to put carbs in salad, but a small amount (what you could cup in the palm of one hand) of potato, beans, lentils or pasta, helps to create a satisfying, yet healthy snack. So, an example would be: salad leaves, cucumber, tomato, chicken and chickpeas. For those of you who are still freaking out at the prospect of adding carbs to your salad, try having fruit afterwards instead. Fresh fruit provides you with complex carbohydrates that release glucose nice and slowly into your system if eaten with a meal containing protein.

If you haven?t had time to make your own salad, or if you did, but left it in the fridge at home (hate it when that happens), there are several great salad bars in town. My current favourite is the L?Oriental salad bar, because they have a huge range of options and everything is really fresh (no black bits in your avocado here!) However, if you do have time to make your own, or if you fancy a salad at the weekend, try out this one below. It?s really tasty, low in saturated fat and jam-packed with nutrients too!