It’s really swings and roundabouts. First it was salt, then fat, now it’s sugar but when the late Dr Michael Mosley says “sugar”, I take notice. For almost two weeks I have been following his advice in The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet and it’s working.

Already I am pretty sure my tummy is flatter. It amazes me when anyone says, “Sure you’re grand just as you are.” No, I’m not. I don’t weigh or measure but I know I’m dragging myself around, there’s too much of me.

This isn’t an ego thing although I would like to look like Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County. The nearest I got to glamour was in London when a taxi driver was convinced I was Dame Judi Dench: “I don’t often get a titled lady in my cab.” I denied his mis-recognition but he wouldn’t have it and wouldn’t take the fare.

• Six of health champion Michael Mosley’s top Just One Thing nutrition tipsOpens in new window

No, I want to lose weight to take the strain off my heart and my hips. A recent X-ray suggests I have problems and will soon have to consider a replacement - hip, not heart. Soon? I don’t think so, unless my ship comes home and I can ‘go private’.

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