Nick Yates: Man the cheering stations?

The news that London Pride is to provide three official 'cheering stations' around the Marathon course provides scant consolation for me this week. People should be more inclined to come along, support me and make the titular encouraging noises providing they are fuelled at the bars the brewer promises. But will I even be running?

I have a blister the colour of a glass of burgundy on my right foot, and a physiotherapist has told me that I should lay off training for the near future out of fear that not doing so will aggravate a knee injury and cause more long-term damage.

Covering the miles required in preparation seems to be taking its toll on one of my team mates too. Fuller's press officer Tony Johnson has had concerns about shin splints, poor guy.

Still, while we're laid up, we can at least pay attention to other things. Health experts recruited by Fuller's and another London Marathon sponsor Flora have loaded me full of advice on how to stay fit. This should benefit everyone, not just hopeful Marathon runners.

Eating a healthy diet is the big one, and pubs can help with this by bearing the following in mind when designing menus:

• You should be eating at least five portions of fruit and veg every day

• The bulk of most meals should be starch-based (cereals, potatoes, rice and pasta)

• Cut down on fatty foods - cheese, fried food and butter. According to Flora, over 80 per cent of the UK population eat more than the recommended level of saturated fat. Replacing butter with Flora, which contains 78 per cent less saturated fat, can help your customers to health

• Try to avoid adding salt

• Meat eaters: Choose lean meat

• Include 2-3 portions of oily fish every week

They also recommend exercising regularly. For ever-busy publicans, the advice to exercise for at least 30 minutes on five days or more per week may seem tough to fit in, but rest assured that this doesn't need to be anything daunting - it can be a brisk walk.

Lastly, two tricky ones for pubs. Cutting down on the booze and the fags. While the first may run contrary to the aims of pubs, the second at least has been made more likely by certain decisions made recently by our government.

Here's hoping following this advice will mean anyone who comes out support me on the big day will have something to cheer about from their cheering stations.