So far so good with my New Year's resolutions. I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since New Year's Eve and I'm feeling mighty clear-headed.

I also got tricked into advanced yoga by a friend (she said it was easy) and despite being the most uncoordinated girl in the room, I'm still going.

In a quest to rejuvenate their livers and drop a few pounds, most of our friends have given up booze for January. Some of my girlfriends are on fitness drives too, so there's always someone to exercise with. And although we may occasionally get distracted and have a natter, having company keeps us all motivated.

While you're establishing a new habit, it's motivating to be accountable to others. Even if you have a hundred reasons why you don't want to go out and exercise, the fact that you'd be letting your friends or colleagues down, just may be the thing that forces you out of the door.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be putting this group training and motivation to the test. I'm taking a quick break from writing this column to lead a six-week optimum nutrition and weight loss course.

Food for Thought will resume in the second week of March, when I'll let you know how we got on. One of the things I'll be emphasising in the course, is how important it is to avoid unhealthy snacks.

Although occasional cookies or candies can seem insignificant at the time, they really rack up in many people's diets. As well bumping up saturated fat and sugar intake, these kind of snacks often provide "empty calories" ? none of the nutrients that your body needs in order to thrive. I do think snacks are a good thing ? eating little and often is a great way to speed up metabolism. However, to be beneficial, snacks need to be healthy.

The best kind of snack combines complex, slow-releasing carbohydrate (e.g. wholegrains) with quality protein (e.g. low fat cottage cheese or unroasted nuts). This combination of carbohydrate and protein helps to slow the rate at which the glucose is released from the food.

A slow, steady release of glucose results in a sustained energy release ? leaving you more satisfied, and less likely to reach for sugar or caffeine throughout the rest of the day.

Ideas for healthy snacks include:

Small handful unroasted almonds and an apple

1 tbsp. hummus and carrot/celery sticks

low fat cottage cheese with ten Kashi TLS crackers

Almond butter on wholegrain toast or Ryvita crackers

Plain, live yoghurt with nuts and berries

However, there are days when something this healthy just doesn't quite cut it. If you have an irresistible chocolate craving, instead of breaking your healthy resolutions, try the Luna or Kashi Go Lean bars from Down to Earth instead.

Although they contain some sugar, they also contain wholegrains, fibre and protein. And if you want something sweet, but not necessarily chocolately, then try out this recipe below.

I made these sticky raisin bars up after looking for a healthy snack bar that contained no artificial anything. Yes the molasses is sugary but it also contains lots of iron and other minerals. The jumbo oats are useful for lowering cholesterol and providing fibre and the ground almonds bump up the protein content.

What began as a very random experiment, actually ended up being really tasty, so much so that the husband has asked me to make more.

He hates caving in to my healthy influence, so they must be good.

While I would encourage you to have lots of the healthy snacks listed above, it's also okay to have these occasionally too ? so long as you cut them up into the correct portion sizes. Please note that I wouldn't recommend them for diabetics.

? cup Earth Balance dairy-free margarine

? cup molasses

2 tbsp. fine brown sugar

2 tbsp. water

? cup dried plums (or prunes), roughly chopped

? cup raisins

1 egg, beaten

1 ? cups jumbo oats, preferably organic

1 cup ground almonds

Tin: 11 x 7 inch, rectangular baking tin or square equivalent

Grease the tin, preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the margarine, molasses and sugar in a non-stick pan over a gentle heat. Chop up the plums, beat the egg ? set to one side.

Once the mixture has melted, take off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the raisins and chopped plums and stir into the cooling mixture. Once cooler, add the water and beaten egg ? mix well.

Then add the oats and ground almonds ? mix well till all the oats are covered with the molasses mixture. Press into the tin, smooth down evenly and bake for 30 minutes.

When cool, cut up into 15 portions. Wrap individually in parchment paper, and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.