Well I survived, but it was Hell. I'm talking about last Friday's 'fun' shopping trip. Four hours of elbowing through crowds, standing outside a changing room while Lara tried on twenty party dresses before buying the first one, nearly losing the children, walking past pubs without going in... I tell you, I must have been a murderer in my past life for this to happen to me. Still, I'm back in one piece (though the mental scars will last fo ..

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Before I get on with today's letter, packed with the best reader tips from my email inbox… I urge you to look out for Sunday's Good Life Letter, as I'll reveal details of an exciting new service. I've been sitting on this news for a while, and to be honest I'm dying to tell you right now… But NO. I don't want to tell you until it's actually 100% ready to go. All I can say it that it's a vital extra service to add to your Good Life Letter ex ..

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If you've been following my letters over recent weeks, you'll know that I'm banging the drum about buying local produce. In fact, I'm convinced that making sure your fresh food comes from a local supplier is more important than worrying about whether it's organic or not. Which is why this letter from fellow Good Lifer Penny interested me so much... Dear Ray Dandelion is now coming out in the garden don't dig it up, eat it - put leaves in ..

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Can you cast your mind back two Fridays ago? Don't worry… this isn't a test. Sometimes I can't remember why I stepped outside the front door. No, I just want you to think back to an email I wrote you. It had the subject line: 'Will Al Capone be your new doctor?' In the email I talked about how you should try as much as possible to eat natural, fresh food, rather than rely on artificial products. After all, it's not as if you can fake fresh ..

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It's all over the place, this weather of late, isn't it? Each day, I go for my 'healthy' stroll (including a pint of bitter at my favourite pub, but hey, I deserve it after an walk… and like I always say, the Good Life is all about BALANCE!) But I have never quite get the clothing combination right. It's sunny when I leave the house, in a light jacket and a hat. Then the wind starts up, so I am walking with one hand clamped onto the hat. Then ..

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It was a simple question for a 10 year old to ask: “Why is it that grandma doesn't eat very much?” Little did the young Ray Collins realise that the answer would strike fear into his heart. …That his mum would launch into a description of how his grandmother once had an ulcer in her tummy. …And how that ulcer EXPLODED one day, leaving a hole in her stomach. …And how she was found on the kitchen floor and had to go to hospital where they t ..

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I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners. On the plus side, the principle ingredient, aspartame, is 180 times sweeter than sugar. This means you can use a tiny quantity to sweeten your drink, without all the pesky calories. On the downside, however…. Almost as soon as it was launched onto the food market, aspartame revealed more side-effects than one of Dr Jekyll's potions. In 1996, the American programme '60 minutes' looked at 164 studies into ..

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I hope you've given the search engine on this site a try. (It's to the left of this article!) It's a great way to find out my opinions and research results on a huge variety of health problems. And if you're feeling 100%, you can also relive my awful jokes and ridiculous stories! Of course, the Good Life Letter is more than just “Ray Collins”. A lot of it is really written by you, my readers. For instance, I received so many fascinating email ..

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When I first started the Good Life Letter, I wrote an email on irritable bowel syndrome. But back then there were only a handful of subscribers. Which is why I can't resist telling the same story that I told a few years ago, concerning an old colleague and his spot of bowel bother. ------------------------------- Why Dave went AWOL ------------------------------- Alistair, Dave and I had been working late at the office, preparing a very import ..

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I realise I've been conned. This morning I was having breakfast with the kids. I had my usual two slices of toast and orange juice, while they tucked into some honey-flavoured cereal. Now, honey can't be bad for you, right? Surely honey is positively good for you. What's more, this cereal was fortified (yes, fortified!) with vitamins and minerals. It all sounds pretty good, until you take a closer look at the packet… You see, this cereal was ..

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