Men 18-39

What do Madonna and Christina Aguilera have in common?

They both hate smoking.

About 21% of Brits aged over 16 are smokers. And of those aged 20 to 24, an estimated 28% smoke. That means that kissing a quarter of the population of Britain may feel like kissing an ashtray. It’s not just your breath that smells. Smoking dulls the skin, causes wrinkles around the mouth and makes you look older.

Now that you can't smoke in enclosed public places, it's even easier to stop smoking. You’ll be healthier, have more money, your clothes and breath won’t smell, you’ll look better and you’ll probably live longer.

It is estimated that every year in England, nearly one in five deaths in adults aged 35 and over is caused by smoking. According to doctors, there’s hardly any part of your body that isn’t damaged by smoking. But if you stop now, your risk of many diseases will begin to decline.

Half the risk of a heart attack

So what happens to your body when you quit? Within a year of stopping, the risk of a heart attack falls to about half that of someone who continues to smoke. Within 10 years of stopping, the risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker.

Even if you don’t give up smoking for yourself, you could do it for your family and friends. Non-smokers who breathe in second-hand smoke inhale more than 4,000 chemicals, at least 50 of which cause cancer. For non-smokers, breathing other people’s smoke means an increased risk of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Some people try cutting down rather than giving up entirely, but this is harder to do than it sounds. Nicotine can be addictive, and for some people it’s difficult to stop completely. But that’s the only way to quit.

Top tips for quitting

• Contact your local NHS stop-smoking services for help.
• Plan ahead to help you cope with stressful situations.
• Pick a quit date that will be stress-free and stick to it.
• Take it one day at a time.
• Pair up with someone else who wants to stop so you can support each other.
• Avoid situations where you might be tempted to smoke.
• Keep track of the money you’re saving and treat yourself.
• Remember, there's no such thing as having just one cigarette.

Takeaways are often cheap, convenient and satisfying but, unfortunately, they're not always very healthy.

Some takeaway meals can push you over your recommended daily maximum amount of salt and fat, which can lead to a variety of health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Some takeaways and restaurants now list calories on their menus, which lets you opt for something with fewer calories.

Below are some tips on foods to avoid and healthier options when ordering your favourite takeaway.

Fish and chips

There are lots of ways of making your trip to the chippy a healthier one. Have a portion of baked beans or mushy peas with your fish and chips. Watch out for other foods that are high in fat, such as pies and sausages.

The thicker the chips the better because they absorb less fat. Try to have a smaller portion or share your chips. Ask for your fish and chips without salt – if you want some salt then add a small amount yourself.

Don't eat all the batter around your fish because it soaks up a lot of fat. If available, have fish coated in breadcrumbs as it soaks up less fat.

Fish and chips that are cooked in oil at the right temperature taste better and absorb less fat. So watch out for soggy batter and chips because this is often a sign that the oil wasn't hot enough.

• Try to avoid: thin-cut chips, pies such as cheese and onion or steak and kidney, jumbo sausages.
• Healthier options: fish coated in breadcrumbs, mushy peas, thicker-cut chips without salt.

Italian

If you're having pizza, choose lower-fat toppings, such as vegetables, ham, fish and prawns. You could ask for some extra veg on your pizza to bump up your daily fruit and veg portions. But if you don't want to increase the saturated fat content and number of calories in your meal, don't ask for extra cheese.

With pasta dishes, if you want a lower-fat option then go for a sauce that's based on tomatoes or vegetables rather than cream.

If you're having a starter or a dessert then you could go for a smaller main meal such as a starter-size pasta with a side salad – Italian restaurants often serve two sizes of pasta dishes.

Rather than garlic bread, which often contains a lot of butter (and is therefore high in fat), you could try bruschetta, which is a tasty ciabatta bread toasted and topped with fresh tomatoes and herbs.

• Try to avoid: large deep-pan pizzas, pizzas with the crust stuffed with cheese, triple cheese with pepperoni pizzas, creamy pasta sauces, garlic bread.
• Healthier options: small or medium pizza with a thin base and vegetable or lean meat topping, tomato-based pasta sauces, bruschetta.

Chinese

Anything that’s battered or marked as "crispy" on the menu means it’s deep fried. Watch out for starters such as prawn crackers and spring rolls because these are generally deep fried. Anything in batter will be high in fat. Sweet and sour pork is usually battered.

Steamed dishes are the best option, but stir-fries are fine because they're usually lower in fat and include vegetables.

• Try to avoid: sweet and sour battered pork balls with special or egg fried rice, prawn toast, spring rolls.
• Healthier options: crab and corn soup, steamed dumplings, steamed vegetables and plain boiled rice, steamed fish, chicken chop suey, Szechuan prawns.

Thai

Try to stick to stir-fried dishes or steamed dishes containing chicken, fish or vegetables instead of curries.

Thai curries, such as the popular green and red curries, contain coconut milk, which is high in saturated fat. If you choose a curry, try not to eat all the sauce. Have some steamed rice with your meal instead of egg fried rice.

• Try to avoid: fried rice, fishcakes, spring rolls, prawn crackers, satay skewers with peanut sauce and sweet and sour dishes.
• Healthier options: clear soups such as tom yum, salads, stir-fried meat, fish or vegetable dishes, steamed seafood dishes, such as fish or mussels.

Indian

Try to avoid anything that’s creamy or deep fried. To reduce the amount of fat in your meal, choose dishes with tomato-based sauces, such as tandoori and madras, plain rice or chapatti. Also choose plenty of vegetables, including lentil side dishes (known as dhal).

• Try to avoid: any creamy curries such as korma, passanda or masala with pilau rice, naan, bhajis, pakoras and poppadoms.
• Healthier options: tandoori or madras with chicken, prawns or vegetables, plain rice and chapatti.

Kebab and burgers

Doner kebabs can be high in fat. For a healthier option, go for a shish kebab, which is a skewer with whole cuts of meat or fish and usually grilled.

If you’re having a burger, avoid breaded or battered chicken or fish patties, extra cheese, bacon strips and high-fat sauces such as mayonnaise. Instead, go for a regular, single-patty hamburger without mayo or cheese and have with extra salad.

• Try to avoid: large doner kebab with mayonnaise and no salad, burgers with cheese and mayonnaise, thin-cut chips, chicken or fish patties deep fried in batter.
• Healthier options: shish kebab with pitta bread and salad, grilled burgers made from lean fish or meat (beef or whole chicken breast) and without cheese and mayonnaise.

Many doctors now believe that when it comes to your health, your waist measurement is important.

While knowing your body mass index (BMI) is a good way to decide if you're overweight, it doesn't tell the whole story.

BMI is a measure of how healthy your weight is for your height. You can work out what your BMI is by using our BMI healthy weight calculator.

If you have a high BMI, you're likely to be carrying extra fat. But your health could be at greater risk depending on where you store that fat.

Having a large amount of tummy fat (compared to fat around your bottom or thighs) makes you more likely to develop diabetes and heart problems.

A healthy waist circumference for men is less than 94cm (37 inches), and for women it’s less than 80cm (32 inches).

Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t easy, but it has many benefits. You may only need to make small changes to your lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight.

Why lose weight?

Obesity causes 9,000 premature deaths in England every year and reduces life expectancy by an average of nine years.

It's also linked to serious health problems and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancers of the breast, colon and prostate.

Most people who are overweight can blame their excess weight on eating more calories than they burn.

That means there are two main options if you want to lose weight: eat less or do more physical activity. The best way to lose weight is a combination of the two.

Weight loss tips

You can reduce your risk of obesity-related health problems by losing weight through eating more healthily and doing more physical activity.

There are many articles to help you attain a healthy weight in our lose weight section.

You can cut down on calories by making simple healthy food swaps in your everyday diet.

It’s not just small changes to your eating habits that can make a big difference. Getting more physical activity also helps you shed the pounds. You can do it in just three short bursts each day with these ten-minute workouts.

Even if you're well on the way to your target weight, there'll be plenty of temptation to overindulge. See our tips on how to avoid the diet danger zones.

One excuse for choosing a quick, fat-laden supper is that healthy eating is expensive. Learn how to eat well on the cheap, saving the pennies as well as calories.

Two-thirds of dieters regain all the weight they've lost within four years. For advice on how to stop piling the pounds back on, read about how to lose weight for life.

If you are worried about your health have a look at the Man MOT, a confidential online surgery where you can talk to a GP anonymously.