Diet with ELLE

I have the prospect of a bikini this Christmas with my OH and his four brothers. I am not going to be the chubby one on the beach, hence my need to shift this extra muffin top before I squeeze into my Heidi Klein number.

There’s an intense 7 day period of just protein rich foods (beige in colour, so not exciting in any way) followed by another three steps where other foods are slowly re-introduced into my diary. It’s a best seller among the Chic Parisiennes. If its ok for the cheese and wine obsessed nation, I think I can give it a go.

To be honest I was sold as soon as I saw the title, I quite fancy a month long wine diet. On closer inspection I discover that there is more to it than knocking back glasses of alcohol, in fact the diet recommended by Roger Corder is not too dissimilar to what I already eat. For the next month I will be eating a balance of healthy fats, carbs and protein with lots of fish, vegetables, wholegrain foods, pulses, seeds and nuts. Where does the wine come in to it? In the form of a glass a day – the procyanidins and polyphenols provide protection to blood vessels and according to Corder, this is key to a healthy diet. I’m not one for strict diets and daily exercise but I would still like to get in a good place before the excesses of Christmas, this could quite possibly be my ideal diet.

I find it tough to eat a balanced diet, let alone drink the recommended 8 glasses of water a day. Luckily Dr Murad's The Water Secret diet combines the two as it is about getting the water you need through choosing moisture-rich foods (this way the water is packed with

naturally occurring nutrients). The idea is that you eat a great diet and drink the odd glass of water, rather than having a bad to moderate diet and drinking eight glasses of H2o that add nothing but basic hydration . The aim is to intelligently hydrate every cell in your body; the result should be a leaner figure, great skin and bags of energy. Here's hoping.

With less than eight weeks until Christmas I have reluctantly accepted that it’s now or never if I want to shift some pounds in time for the obligatory Christmas photos. In my quest to find the perfect plan to adopt I came across James Duigan, a personal trainer for over 10 years and the man behind ‘The Body’ (aka Elle Macpherson). He has put together a 14 day Kick Start regime combining a meal plan, designed together with nutritionist Alice Skyes, with a simple-to-complete, eight minute daily exercise.

The aim: to cut out anything toxic to the body which could lead to it storing excess fat and encouraging the body to instead reach its full, lean potential.

Well, if it’s good enough for Elle…