More and more people are saying that "diets don't work", but they should really be saying that diet plans don't work. Obviously, diet plans may work whilst they're being followed, but many people find that following a diet plan is stressful and requires a lot of willpower. Some people are very motivated, and follow a diet plan for long enough to lose a considerable amount of weight, but then regain that weight when they stop following the plan - and how many people want to follow a diet plan for the rest of their life? You should be able to choose what you want to eat - to suit how you feel, where you are, and who you're with. No diet plan, no stress.

The aim of this free website is to help people to create their own healthy, balanced diet, and make achieving and maintaining a healthy weight as stress-free as possible. If you need to lose weight, then your diet is unbalanced in one  or more ways - e.g. it may include an above normal amount of fat, 'added' sugar, or alcohol - so logically, following a balanced diet will result in weight loss. You needn't consume a below normal amount of fat, or buy expensive sugar substitutes or low-carb versions of normal foods.

The information needed to create a healthy balanced diet is provided on this website, and it is recommended that dietary changes are made gradually. This approach is unlikely to result in rapid weight loss, but gradual changes are less stressful, and are more likely to result in permanent weight loss.

You cannot know if you are following a balanced diet just by counting calories (kcal). For example, you could just eat 2 x 100 gram bars of chocolate in a day, which would typically be about 1,100 calories - a low daily amount of calories - but you would also be consuming about 80 grams of fat, which would include about 50 grams of saturates, which is very unhealthy. That may be an extreme example, but one 'fun size' confectionary bar, containing only 98 calories (kcal), also contains 2.7 grams of saturates, which is rather high for such a tiny snack which will provide only negligible (if any) amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and is also unlikely to satisfy hunger pangs for very long.

This website includes a guideline which explains what the key points of a balanced diet are, and there are also guidelines for fat, sugar, salt, and alcohol consumption. There are suggestions for what to eat and drink at different times of the day, but these are provided to show that following a balanced diet needn't be stressful, or unrealistic in the long-term. Although the 'Mediterranean diet' is an example of a balanced diet which is often recommended for its health benefits, a balanced diet can include traditional British fare, such as cheese on toast, as well as cuisine from any other country or region. Plenty of people from around the world live long and healthy lives without ever consuming any olive oil.