Many of us, if we were honest, would admit to being at least a bit envious of Hollywood stars. They seem to have it all. They have either hit the genetic jackpot or are fortunate enough to be “put together” for special events by a team of professional stylists, trainers and makeup artists. Always slim and perfectly toned, the prevailing thought is that there must be some secret that only they are privy to.

Well, the truth is, there is no secret. Hollywood stars and starlets work extraordinarily hard to stay in shape and eat in such a way that they always look their best. They have to. Their livelihood depends on it. Now, I’m sure not every Hollywood actor, actress or heiress goes about this in a healthy manner, but some do.

Their approaches and ’secrets’ seem to be a mixed bag. In essence, they are a bit all over the place. To give you a glimpse into the world of Hollywood dieting, here is a quick run-down of how stars claim they keep their weight down and their appearance up.

Jennifer Lopez or ‘J-Lo’, the newest judge on the popular television show, American Idol,  purportedly consumes 8 small meals a day. Alicia Silverstone refuses to eat meat. She is a vegan.  Demi Moore follows a high-protein diet. Claudia Schiffer is an admitted green-tea drinker. Nia Peebles stays away from protein. Melanie Griffith likes smoothies and Dianne Sawyer is a fan of cabbage soup. The point is, there is little consensus in Hollywood about what works and what doesn’t. One star consumes a strict protein diet and another avoids protein like the plague. As stated above, its a mixed-bag. There is one thing, however, that they may have discovered and which accounts for their plethora of dieting approaches. Everyone is different.
What works for one person, may not necessarily work for another. Once a person figures out what their body responds to best in terms of food and activity, they will be able to create an effective “plan of attack.”  This often takes a bit of trial and error. It may also require that an individual takes some risk, try new things and give an approach that they hadn’t in the past, a try.

The next time a fabulous looking celeb graces the television screen, instead of wondering what his or her “secret” is, a person should begin developing their own. They should work hard to identify the foods and exercises that will provide them with the best results and then apply them. Before long, they will have their own admirers, wondering how they did it.

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My husband and I have got a week off together and so we’ve done a lot of going out and eating at restaurants and ordering take aways when we are too tired or too lazy to cook as a treat! But this does mean higher calorie foods and because I still have a cold, exercise is few and far between right now!

There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself, but that’s what it should be…a treat. Something every now and again. We hardly have take aways or eat out now because of money mainly, but this week we are truly treating ourselves as we want to relax as much as possible and have a good time.

So when ordering your meal at a restaurant or ordering your take away, you don’t have to go for the most fried most fattening thing! For Chinese, I love sweet and sour chicken or pork when the meat is deep fried first and then have egg fried rice with prawn toasts….loooads of calories! Instead of having that, I’ll have a simple non fried chicken dish with steamed vegetables and add a little sweet and sour sauce to it for the flavour I want. Plain boiled rice might not be as interesting or tasty as egg fried rice, but if you want to keep down the calories, it’s a good way to go! With Indian food, have something that’s not in a thick creamy sauce as they’re the ones that have a load of cream and yoghurt inside! Have a chicken tikka and vegetable rice instead. It’s still tasty and cutting back on extra calories!

There’s nothing wrong with having that deep fried sweet and sour chicken or chicken korma every now and again though. Another way to have exactly what you want is to control your portions. Have your korma, but share it with someone else to lower your portion size. Have less sauce and replace it with some vegetables.

I don’t like not being able to have the foods I love, and you can start feeling low if you can’t have chocolate bar every now and again! But controlling your portion sizes and checking the ingredients can really make a huge difference. Also, changing what you order from your local take away or restaurant will still be a really nice treat but still keep the calories lower than what you might normally have.

And don’t be afraid to ask which dishes are lower in fat or ones that contain no cream, butter or the likes to help cut down the calories!

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