The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet

This is a finger prick test you can do yourself (you can buy reliable digital blood sugar monitoring kits at chemists and online) or you may prefer to ask your doctor to do it. It should be done in the fasting state, i.e. first thing in the morning, before breakfast, when you have not eaten for at least eight hours. If it comes back abnormal you wi

Beetroot, apple and

Griddled chicken on white bean mash – 440 calories Serves 2

Steak with crème fraîche and peppercorn sauce – 510 calories Serves 2

numerous trials have shown that “more rapid and greater initial weight loss is associated with lower body weight at the end of long-term follow-up”. In other words, if you want to diet successfully it can be better to lose weight quickly than slowly.

Apple, mango and hazelnut – 180 calories Serves 1 150g plain yoghurt 1 apple, cored and diced ½ mango, peeled and cut into chunks 1 tbsp skinned hazelnuts Place the mango and hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse a few times to form a rough paste. Place in the bottom of a dish, add the chunks of apple and top with the yoghurt.

Mexican hash – 340 calories Serves 2 1 red chilli, slit lengthways and deseeded 1 tbsp rapeseed oil 200g baby mushrooms, halved 1 garlic clove, chopped 1 tsp Cajun seasoning 200g tin black beans, drained and rinsed 2 eggs 1 ripe avocado, chopped Lime wedges Salt and freshly ground black pepper Slice half the chilli into strips and set aside; finely

Have a drink, but not too many. Try to average no more than one to two units a day (a small glass of wine or shot of spirits is 1.5 units) and cut back on beer – it’s rich in carbs, which is why it’s known as “liquid toast”.

Chickpea and hazelnut salad – 270 calories Serves 2