W e all know that having an active childhood is generally a good thing for our children, but there are genuine health benefits associated with getting into exercise at a young age. Enjoying an active childhood pays dividends both in a child’s current health and in their long-term attitude to exercise.

If your teenager is planning somewhere exotic for their gap year, don’t forget to sort out the travel vaccines sooner rather than later. It is always worth consulting a travel clinic to ensure they have the right protection before travelling particularly for those heading to developed countries.

Pregnancy brings about significant physical changes that affect how your body functions over nine months and beyond. Generally, unless medical limitations indicate otherwise, women are encouraged to continue with or start an exercise programme and to keep moving.

With Shavuot approaching thoughts turn to all things dairy. And it is an area close to the hearts of many Israelis.

If I were to devise a diet plan that was built around a fallacy, or worse still, a biochemical impossibility, but the foods that were recommended were basically good, would that be dishonest? I grapple with this question when I read about the so-called “acid alkaline” diet. It is based on the theory that disease thrives in an acid environment but eating certain foods promote alkalinity.

Rachel Johnson got her first taste of Israel 30 years ago when she and big brother Boris spent their summer — she on a post-school gap year and he on a holiday while at Oxford University — working on a kibbutz.

“My father was married to Jenny Sieff whose father, Teddy Sieff, was the then head of Marks and Spencer,” she recalls.

The bread revolution seems to have left the UK’s kosher bakery market behind.

In the past 10 years, artisan bakeries have sprung up all over the country offering all sorts of breads from sourdough to spelt. Israel is regularly touted as one of the trailblazers in the new fashion for handmade artisan loaves — their bakers flocking here.