I guess that eating healthier and getting slimmer are some of the top New Year resolutions for many people. How many of you have recently thought about that after all the excesses during Christmas time? But, dieting in London or even eating more healthily is something that I find really hard to do here.

I have been thinking lately about the reasons that may make me feel it is hard for me to do that to try and beat bad habits more effectively. Wondered if any of you feels or has ever felt the same?

Here we go:

• Pressure, life in the city.
  Eating compulsively is so commonplace these days. I did not want to admit to this, but it is quite comforting eating just anything to relieve our frustrations or other bad feelings. Trust me, I love doing my circuit training at the gym, but it is so easy to just grab anything, including veg sometimes. It´s all about chewing something.

  Possible solution: relax more.

• Cold weather.
  Hot cocoa, fatty soups and stews, pies… There´s nothing I can do to beat cold weather and the need for comfort food. Yesterday, I took a walk through the food stalls in the Leather Lane market. There were luscious pieces of fruit that look so tasty – but not as fitting as cous-cous, stews, hot wraps, etc.

  Possible solution: keep on looking for less fatty and sugary alternatives that are easy to find.

• Lack of time.
  Something that I find hard to explain to visits is that everything in London is done earlier than at home. This is due to day light being shorter here. So, I find that it is harder to fit in the many things that I need to do. If anything overruns, I can´t usually stop for a proper meal, so I grab anything.

  Possible solution: have carrots or similars at hand. Even carrots are getting expensive. 

• Food availability.
  How nice it is not to have to travel miles and miles to get a pint of milk. What I find the most is pie shops, pizza shops, etc. That is, lots of carbos. Or is it that when one is hungry sees loads of carbos everywhere? They are usually cheaper and I get full more quickly.

  Possible solution: I tried to plan my meals. But, it works only partly, because I do lots of stuff with friends outdoors.

Dieting must be harder for those who have to be on the spotlight all the time. I´ve heard of people doing the most outrageous diets, and I wondered if that´s more to do with saying anything to keep media world happy.

For example, this maple syrup diet. I just wish it would work! Some people dislike it too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJMmUw9t2Ao