How to have your cake and eat it

FADDY diets can work, but only in the short term. Cutting out whole food groups or food types such as carbs, dairy or wheat will eventually take its toll — if not on your appetite, then on your energy levels.

Ultimately, the downfall of many trendy diets is that they are too limiting in the foods they allow and thus they require truck loads of self-discipline to succeed. But what if you could eat anything you like and still lose weight?

That’s the principle behind food swapping, a tried and tested approach to sensible eating that can shift pounds but means that, within reason, you have your cake — and eat it.

The concept of food swapping is not new. For years, dietitians, nutritionists and healthy eating advisers have urged us to switch calorie-dense for nutrient-dense foods. And in my 20 years of research as a health journalist, I have spoken to countless scientists who think the same. Too many of us have lost our way in the maze of dietary advice and no longer know how to choose and buy food to suit our needs and nutritional requirements.

We live in a world where sugary cereals laced with synthetic vitamins contribute a significant chunk of our nutrient intake, where desserts are high in salt, pizzas are loaded with sugar and where a sweetened tin of baked beans can count as a vegetable.

As the choice of foods available to us have expanded beyond expectation, so too have the lists of scientific-sounding ingredients designed to trick our palates into craving more of them. Did you know, for instance, that the wholesome-looking yoghurt dessert you pick up at lunchtime could contain more fat and calories than a quarter-pounder burger?

Or that a low-fat-looking coffee drink might be more calorific than a bowl of trifle topped with fresh cream? A bag of ready salted crisps probably contains far less salt than your sandwich, and your high bran breakfast cereal more sugar than a chocolate bar.

Yet by becoming more aware of what you eat it is possible to achieve and maintain a healthy body without having to survive on rocket leaves.

Losing weight is not just about keeping tabs on calorie, fat and sugar. What I quickly discovered is that by swapping unhealthy options for wiser, more nutritious choices metabolism can be boosted, hunger satiated and body fat reduced. And where food swapping differs from other diet approaches is in its free reign — no food is banned. You lose weight by making educated decisions and informed choices.

What matters is that you make wiser and healthier choices each time you eat breakfast or lunch, a snack or a restaurant meal. Crucially, it is neither a short-lived nor a faddy approach but a life-long habit for weight loss that will prove indispensable to those who want to shed pounds and keep them off.

The more you food swap, the more you will learn to consume meals and snacks that leave you satiated so that you don’t crave a sugary-burst when energy levels plummet. What’s more, the food choices you make will have health benefits beyond improving your size and shape: swap foods appropriately and your skin and hair will gleam, your body will become adept at warding off bugs and viruses and, in time, you will build resilience to a range of more serious illnesses and conditions that have the potential to kill. Making straightforward and informed decisions about what you eat means that, in short, you need never starve, skip meals or fall into the hunger trap of yo-yo dieting again.

* The Food Swap Diet by Peta Bee is published by Piatkus and is available online (littlebrown.co.uk)