My name is Kate and I am a comfort eater...

For as long as I can remember I have had a sweet tooth. I have on too many an occasion, replaced meals with cake and quite frankly feel a little twitchy if there is no chocolate in the house.

Partner a sweet tooth with cold viruses, a stressful time at work, an ill and teething toddler and a general feeling of tiredness means that my diet has not been as healthy as it could be in the past few weeks. Healthy eating has been ignored in favour of food that requires little or no preparation (hello oven pizza!) and I have found it very easy to go to the cupboard to get out any food with a high sugar content and devour it within seconds. There is only so long however that I can do this before my body makes a protest. Last night , it protested and I realised that I need to stop eating so much junk food and eat something with vitamins in!

The stupid thing is that I feel so much better when my diet is better. I probably wouldn't be feeling so sluggish now if I hadn't eaten for comfort rather than nourishment.

Don't get me wrong I am never going to be someone who drinks vegetable smoothies or cuts out chocolate and caffeine from their diet (a huge well done if that's you though!) but I do need to get a better balance. Despite enjoying fruit and vegetables, for some reason I find it so much easier to go for the chocolate muffin rather than the pear sat next to it.

I am also becoming increasingly aware of the example that I set for O. As she grows and no longer remains in the place that I put her down, I am all too aware of her beady little eyes peering in to the kitchen as she watches me scoff a heaped spoonful of Nutella from the jar. I want her to be part of a family that eats healthily and in moderation. I recently watched a programme exploring obesity and tooth decay in children and I found it terrifying. It certainly reminded me of how much O will learn from me and that I want my influence to be as positive and healthy as possible.

I suspect that this will be an ongoing theme for me and I am sure that there will be times when I once again eat too much junk, but for now I have a homemade vegetable pasta bake cooking away which feels like a step in the right direction.