Credo: Annabel Karmel

Writer and children's nutrition guru, 47

I believe...

Being a mother is the most important role in a woman's life. I was a musician but I felt strongly that I needed a career that fitted around my children. Writing did.

If you do something you love, you'll do well. Be led by this, not money.

After my first child Natasha died, I knew that unless I had another child I would never pull through. I took a fertility drug and luckily I was pregnant with my son Christopher within four months.

A bereavement like that makes you more fearful of loss. You always remember the huge pain.

When you lose someone it brings you back to religion because you hope God will save your child. And when He didn't I thought, I'll believe in God if He gives me another, and He did. Who else do you have to turn to?

If you are a good person, good things will happen to you. Try to be good to other people. That, to me, is religion.

Children should be fed oily fish regularly from the time they are weaned. A lot of children are put on Ritalin for ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder] when diet could make a big difference. The essential fatty acids in oily fish are crucial.

Women make better employees. My whole team is female. They work so hard and are so enthusiastic. And there is less ego.

You should keep your children close as they get older. Take your daughter to Topshop and watch DVDs with them.

Education is a great gift. No one can take it away from you, whatever happens.

You should be self-sufficient. A woman should not think she is going to be looked after by a man. You never know what is going to happen in a marriage.

I am a Taurus and dogged. When I wrote my first book, The Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, I was turned down by every publisher I approached. But a friend who was a book packager took it to Frankfurt, and Simon & Schuster bought it.

'The Mummy and Me Cookbook' by Annabel Karmel (Dorling Kindersley, £6.99) is out now