Annabel Karmel Interview Read on to hear the best-selling author's views on child nutrition and healthy meals.

Annabel Karmel - you are an acclaimed expert on child nutrition. What was your initial inspiration for wanting to let parents know how to create healthy and interesting meals for their children?

I lost my first child Natasha at the heartbreakingly early age of 13 weeks after she contracted a viral infection. Though the illness was not diet related, Natasha's loss made me even more determined to give my second child Nicholas, the best possible start in life. It was Nicholas who gave me my first experience of coping with a fussy eater and my interest in the whole subject of nutrition was born out of my own frustrations with feeding a child who would only eat a very limited range of foods.

I wrote my first book on feeding babies and children over 14 years ago and that became and international bestseller and started a whole career. I have now written 12 books on the subject of child nutrition. I work closely with experts in this field including Great Ormond Street Hospital For Sick Children .

This latest version of Feeding Your Baby and Toddler has been revised and updated - can you tell us how the book has changed from the original?

I have added more than 85 delicious new recipes and I have revised many of the original recipes to make them even tastier than before. There are now two completely new sections in the book, providing recipes to tempt fussy eaters and ideas for healthy snacks, picnics and lunchboxes. There are new baby puree recipes and many more recipes to appeal to the whole family as well as many more vegetarian dishes throughout. In addition, all the nutritional information has been completely updated in accordance with the latest research into child nutrition.

This is a complete guide to feeding your child from weaning to family food and there are now more than 200 recipes in the book.

Some parents may be surprised to find fairly 'sophisticated' foods (such as trout and lamb) in your recipes. Do you believe that if children are introduced to stronger flavours early enough, they are less likely to become 'fussy eaters'?

I think that if babies are brought up on processed baby foods for most of the first year it can become difficult to get them to move on to family meals because they are not used to the taste of fresh foods. Also if a toddler's diet is restricted to stereotype 'children's foods' like burgers, chicken nuggets and chips they can become very set in their ways and will soon only accept a few safe foods. It is much better to try to give young children a wide variety of foods when they are young and children often have more sophisticated tastes than we might imagine. I remember that when my daughter was two she loved eating olives!

A lot of my inspiration comes from popular dishes from abroad . Children tend to like recipes like Egg Fried Rice, Singapore Noodles, Teriyaki Beef Skewers, Yakitori Chicken, Paella and Enchiladas and I have devised quick and easy recipes to make these that are very popular.

All my recipes are tested on a panel of children after all they don't care how healthy something is, they will only eat it if it tastes good !

Finally - Feeding Your Baby and Toddler contains a wealth of nutritional information. We've seen many reports that child obesity and unfitness are on the rise - what advice would you give to parents who are concerned about their child's eating habits?

In the UK more than one in five children under the age of four is overweight and nearly one in ten is classified as obese. Thanks to the popularity of computer games, television and videos, children are only too happy to stay in their rooms moving nothing more than a few fingers on a keyboard. Its really important to encourage children to be more active - provide play equipment such as a climbing frame or trampoline and encourage family activities like bicycle rides, roller blading, ball games or just a walk in the park.

Whether it is a pack of chicken nuggets or the special children's menu in a restaurant, children's food is generally over processed and high in saturated fat, sugar or salt. Children who are overweight should not be put on a restricted diet instead they should be encouraged to follow a healthier diet with lots of fresh foods like fruit and vegetables. Choose a high fibre breakfast cereal rather than a sugary one, cut out fried foods like chips and give jacket potatoes instead. Char-grilling food on a ridged pan is a tasty way to prepare chicken, meat and fish and uses minimal oil.

Try to cut out biscuits and crisps and give healthy snacks like vegetable sticks , salads, pita pockets with tuna, dried or fresh fruit etc.. Encourage your child to drink water rather than fruit juice or fizzy drinks