Actress and TV presenter Nadia Sawalha found that the key to losing weight was eating exactly what she wanted. Chris Price caught up with the former EastEnder.

The eureka moment for Nadia Sawalha’s lifelong love-hate relationship with her body came as she chased her three-year-old daughter up the stairs.

Giggling Kiki was filled with boundless energy and Nadia, then aged 45, was puffing and blowing at the thought of having to get down the stairs again.

Then came the realisation that sounds too good to be true. Kiki had enjoyed a breakfast of homemade buckwheat pancakes, blueberries and thick creamy Greek yogurt while Nadia had a mug of tea and half a chocolate digestive. She was not fuelling her body right.

Three years later, her new cookbook, Greedy Girl’s Diet, has all the secrets to how she lost – and kept off – three and a half stone. Her husband did not even know he was eating diet food and lost two stone. “I know what women want to eat when they want to lose weight,” said Nadia, who won Celebrity Masterchef in 2007. “People hate to eat what is deemed diet food.”

The book sold 25,000 copies in under a week, which is not surprising considering it includes fish and chips, curry, pasta, risotto and cake – but with a quarter of the calories. “How can anyone resist that, huh?” she asked with a big laugh.

“It takes a long time to put weight on so don’t be in a hurry with a quick fix diet. Take a little time, eat good food and fall in love with exercise.”

Exercise is the other big key to her svelte appearance. The 48-year-old – whose father is actor Nadim – runs three or four times a week and always does pilates twice a week. She has run the London Marathon the last two years, in aid of north Kent charity EllenorLions Hospices, for which she is an ambassador.

“Today I was in a rush so I did a DVD. It is hilarious. You jump about on your own like an idiot,” said Nadia with another cackle. “Because I eat well, four or five times a day, I have got lots of energy. My body is fuelled the whole time.”

That is the crucial difference between the former EastEnders actress now and before her light bulb moment.

She said: “Every single diet book, I bought it and I did it, but I dieted my way to obesity because after every one, I put it all back on and a little bit more.

“When I bought all these diet books I would get to the exercise bit and miss that out. I say in my book ‘please don’t skip this section’, and I know because I’ve done it.

“You have to think ‘I’m heading towards 50 now, do I really think that I’m going to choose the clothes I want to wear without doing any exercise?’ Eventually you just have to say ‘stop being a stupid cow’. Batman and Superman are not going to fly through the window and make everything all right. You have got to do it yourself.

“A lot of fat people are really under nourished. You can consume thousands of calories in a day and not have anything that is good for you. My message is, don’t cut out fat because it will make you want to kill people, don’t refuse carbs because it will make you suicidal. Have all these things but just have a bit less.”

Nadia admits her book is just common sense – “I just exercised more and ate less” – so how does she view herself before her big life change?

“When I look back I try not to be cross with myself because that is a really easy thing to do,” she said. “As women, we do that far too much. Don’t think ‘Oh God, why didn’t I exercise more? Why didn’t I eat like this?’ All those years of self-loathing.

“I allow myself a few moments of that but then I have to get back to: I feel great, life is brilliant, I have got a great family, I love my job and I love my exercise and to inspire other women.

“Rather than feeling any regret I try to look forward and think, I want to be running a marathon when I’m 70.”

What's next for Nadia and Julia?

Nadia Sawalha has been a presenter for 14 years but more acting work could be around the corner.

Her husband, Mark Adderley, has written a sitcom about the showbiz industry and Nadia is desperate to be in it, as is sister Julia, famous for her role as Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous and Dorcas in Lark Rise to Candleford.

She said: “We are sucking up to Mark quite a bit at the moment. I am really excited about the possibly of doing a bit of acting now. I would like to try my hand again. At stage school a lot of people said to me ‘You’ll really come into your own as an actress in your 40s’ so who knows?”

Nadia said there is no real reason why she has pursued a presenting career.

She said: “I left EastEnders and went straight from that into Loose Women and people just seemed to like me and then I just got offered one job after another with no space in between.”

Sinless spaghetti bolognese

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

400g minced turkey or lean minced beef

1 tablespoon tomato purée

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g mushrooms, chopped

2 bay leaves

200g wholewheat spaghetti

2 tablespoons freshly grated

Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan and fry the onion and garlic over a low heat until soft but not coloured. Add the celery and carrots, reduce the heat and cook until soft.

Remove the veg from the pan, put in the minced turkey or beef and fry over a medium heat until lightly browned. Return the vegetables to the pan, add the tomato purée and stir for about a minute. Pour in the tomatoes, bring up to the bubble, season with salt and pepper and stir in the chopped mushrooms and bay leaves.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Drain the spaghetti, toss it with the sauce and grate over the parmesan.

Nadia Sawalha will be signing copies of her book Greedy Girl’s Diet, at Waterstones in Bluewater on Saturday, January 19, from noon. Call 01322 624831. It is published in hardback by Kyle Books and costs £14.99. Waterstones will be selling the book for £8.99 on the day.