The diet tweaks that could save your life

One less shake of salt, one less dollop of mayo... Incredibly, just a few simple changes to your eating habits can make you slimmer and healthier...

Finally, the news we've been waiting for! You don't have to overhaul drastically what you eat or follow a punishing exercise regime to reap the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. Making just a few simple changes to your diet could help to improve your health dramatically. That's the message from a team of researchers from Oxford and Liverpool Universities, who studied the eating habits of people who had died from heart disease. They found that making just three easy diet changes - eating one gram less of salt, one extra piece of fruit or veg and swapping saturated for unsaturated fats - could save 19,445 lives a year. So with that in mind, here are 16 small changes you can make to your diet that could help you lose unwanted pounds and boost your long-term health.

1 Add a dash of chilli sauce to your meal. A recent scientific study found that after consuming meals containing chilli, people burned almost twice as many calories for the next few hours as a placebo group. And over a month, their bodies became more efficient at burning fat.

2 Fancy chips? If so, make your own, as frozen chips cool down the hot oil, which means they don't seal so quickly and will absorb more fat. Per 100g cooked portion, frozen fried chips have 273 cals and 13.5g fat, whereas home-made ones have only 189 cals and 7g fat.

3 Swap your regular tea for a cup of white tea (widely available). Made from the buds and early leaves of the same plants used to make black and green teas, white tea can help your body burn fat and prevent new fat cells from being formed.

4 Subtle changes to the ingredients of an omelette can cut 202 cals and 17g fat - but none of the taste. Instead of using two whole eggs and 60g of cheese, make your omelette with one whole egg and one egg white, plus 30g cheese.

5 Have an early night. If you get an extra hour-and-a-half of sleep, you'll probably eat fewer calories the next day. Scientists discovered people who averaged five-and-a-half hours' sleep munched 220 more daily calories - mostly in the form of snacks - than those who hit the sack early and slept about eight-and-a-half hours.

6 You'll eat 15% fewer calories if you sit down and eat more slowly. Scoffing a meal means that your hypothalamus - the part of the brain that senses when you're full - doesn't receive the right signals, which is why you may feel hungrier sooner. Time yourself eating a meal and then eat the same meal on another occasion, taking 50% longer. See if you feel fuller afterwards.

7 Have a yogurt for your dessert - it may help you shed pounds. When overweight people followed a balanced diet that included three daily servings of dairy foods such as yogurt, they lost 61% more fat - and 81% more fat around their waists - compared with those who didn't. The calcium contained in yogurt may hinder fat storage and boost fat loss by tricking the metabolism into working overtime.

8 Add cinnamon to your cereal or dessert. It seems antioxidants in cinnamon, cloves and allspice may prevent the formation of bad high blood sugar compounds that can lead to diabetes and related problems, such as heart disease. Herbs such as sage, tarragon and rosemary have a similar effect. Of course, the real keys to blood sugar control are eating healthily, exercising and keeping your weight down, but small tweaks can support your other efforts.

9 Swap beef for mushrooms in dishes such as lasagne and spaghetti Bolognese, and you'll naturally eat about 420 fewer calories. People in a US trial said the mushroom versions tasted just as good and kept them feeling full for as long as the beef ones. And not only did the mushroom-based dishes mean a lower-calorie meal, but the mushroom eaters also ate fewer calories throughout the day than the beef eaters.

10 Buy small (blue) plates. One famous study found that people ate more popcorn from a big tub than a small one, even when they thought it tasted stale. Try using large bowls for foods like salad and small ones for treats like ice cream. Research also shows that people consume fewer calories when eating from a blue plate. The theory is that very few foods are naturally blue, so seeing a blue plate sends a signal to the brain to be cautious when eating.

11 Shrink your serving spoons and bowls as well as your plates. When you use a large serving spoon and big bowls, you're more likely to help yourself to more food. Researchers found people served themselves at least 31% more when they use larger serving spoons.

12 Say no to liquid calories. We consume an average of 11% of our daily calories through juices, soft drinks, lattes and after-work wines. Switch to minimal-calorie or calorie-free drinks, such as tea, herbal tea and water, and you could lose 7lb in four months.

13 Use less salad cream. 1tbsp delivers around 0.5g of salt, so if you cut this from your meals every day, you'll save 3.5g a week. The average salt intake is currently 8.6g a day but we should aim to eat no more than 6g. Cutting your salt intake by 3g a day would result in a drop in your blood pressure, reducing your risk of stroke. Other ways to save salt: swap a packet of crisps (0.5g salt), for a yogurt pot and an apple (0.2g) or a ham sandwich (2.6g salt) for a jacket potato with water-canned tuna (0.1g).

14 Try eating a small salad before a meal. An American study revealed that women who ate a 100-calorie salad before their meal consumed 12% less - 107 calories fewer overall - than those who skipped the leafy appetizer. A similar study found that eating a 130-calorie vegetable soup before a meal resulted in 20% fewer calories consumed overall.

15 Start each meal with a glass of water. Dieters who did this lost more weight over 12 weeks compared with the dieters who skipped the water.

16 Keep the lights up when you sit down to eat at home. Dim lighting increases comfort levels and lowers inhibitions, which may encourage you to eat more. And don't eat in front of the television - this causes people to consume an average of 150 more calories than in quieter, less distracting environments.

10 ways to curb your cravings

Towards the end of the afternoon, many of us feel low on energy - and that's when we're more likely to succumb to a sugar stash. Here's how to curb your cravings and stick to your healthy diet intentions...

1 Keep goodies out of sight. The more visible sweets are - and the closer we are to them - the more we eat, so keep the biscuits as far away from your desk as possible.

2 Too often we'll skip breakfast or forget about lunch, only to have a craving strike later in the day. Think ahead and plan a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner that includes carbohydrates, protein and good fats.

3 Keep low-cal ‘finger' foods, such as grapes, berries or cherry tomatoes, on your desk to snack on. Or fill up on two crispbreads with cottage cheese.

4 Crave-proof your home and office. The simplest way to quash a craving is to ban crave-worthy foods from your environment. If you do buy biscuits or chocolate, choose small packages to avoid going overboard.

5 Eat every three hours. One of the biggest culprits is falling blood sugar levels. If you keep those levels steady, you simply won't crave the same things.

6 Chocolate isn't great for your waistline - two bites pack about 50 calories - but the dark kind may help you feel fuller. University of Copenhagen researchers found that people who ate dark chocolate had fewer cravings afterwards than those who ate milk chocolate.

7 How can you tell the difference between a craving and genuine hunger? Wait 10 minutes and see if your hunger has increased. If you're genuinely hungry, an apple will look tasty.

8 If your food cravings hit when you're anxious or stressed, seek consolation in other ways. Address your stress. What is it that you really need? A comforting conversation with a colleague, a walk or a shoulder massage from a friend may do the job.

9 Distract yourself. If you've been working in front of a computer but feel the need to eat, do something else. Make a phone call or read the paper. Changing your mindset might be all you need.

10 Go for a walk. If you exercise and your cravings aren't physiological, you'll feel better straightaway. If they are physical, you won't be able to get into your workout properly, which is a sign that you need to eat.