Healthy eating tips from a supermodel

Model menu

What do supermodels eat? For some, it’s obviously not much. But for ex-model-cum-author Sophie Dahl, eating well has become a major career move.

The former size-14 model who caused a sensation with her voluptuous curves has recently released Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, a cookbook/memoir that describes her relationship with food as both a model and long-time cook. In the following excerpt, Dahl shares her tried-and-true tips for healthy eating.

Hidden sugar

There is a lot of hidden sugar in things that you wouldn’t assume have sugar. Some soy milk is loaded with cane sugar, as soy is not naturally sweet. Better to use a brand that has no sugar or one that is sweetened with brown rice syrup or fruit juice.

The myth of low-calorie/low-fat

The same is true of a lot of low-fat/low-calorie products, as food manufacturers traditionally make up for the de?cit of fat and calories (and taste) with sugar, which leaves you with an insulin spike, and wanting more and more still.

Craving something sweet

I think it’s far better to have some quality high-cacao dark chocolate, or a small bowl of good ice cream (one without corn syrup and a busload of weird additives) than an entire packet of low-calorie biscuits. The chocolate tends to satiate that craving, whereas a poor alternative will just leave you hungering for more. A small bowl of good, rich, dense vanilla or chocolate ice cream or gelato will greet a sugar craving admirably. A massive bowl of light-as-a-feather low-fat ice
cream, crammed with chemical binders and high-fructose corn syrup, will do nothing but give you a bellyache and have you longing for sweetness an hour later.

Bready things

The same goes for bready things, and you can tell quality by simply picking it up in your hands. The weightier a bread product is, the higher the concentration of whole grains and good stuff in it, as a rule. A piece of poor-quality heavily processed bread will feel as if it could ?oat away like a dandelion, but will have the opposite effect on your body. Once you learn this, it’s an easy science.

Considered alcohol

Diet books will tell you to lay off alcohol if you have weight to lose, as alcohol is ?lled with empty calories. One glass of something won’t hurt. Copious glasses of spirits mixed with sugary ?zzy drinks or juice won’t help the cause. Have one glass of wine, or vodka with fresh lime and soda.

From Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Copyright © 2009 by Sophie Dahl. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Sophie Dahl’s recipe for lettuce soup

Try this fresh soup on a cool spring day-it’s a recipe Sophie learned from her mom.

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