breakfasts DIABETES BUSTING

WHETHER you’ve been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, or you’ve already got type 2 diabetes, these delicious low-calorie recipes will help you to lose weight.

From filling breakfast, to speedy lunches and tempting dinners, they prove that you don’t have to compromise on the foods you love to get the health you want – and you can even eat pudding.

How you choose to shift the extra pounds is entirely up to you.

There are a number of options depending on how much weight you want to lose, and how quickly you want to do it.

The important thing is to first set your weight-loss goal.

If you’ve been told you have prediabetes, the evidence suggests you can return your blood sugar level to normal by losing about eight per cent of your body weight. So for a 10st woman, that would mean losing just over 11lb.

If you have type 2 diabetes and you want to put it into remission, losing at least 10kg (1st 8lb) – and keeping it off – can reverse the condition for the majority of people.

The evidence suggests that, in either case, it doesn’t matter how fast you lose the weight.

To do it, aim to consume 800 calories a day to reach your goal.

Alternatively, you could also choose an intermittent fasting approach, as with Dr Michael Mosley’s New 5:2 Diet. This involves restricting your calories to 800 a day for two days of the week, and eating normally for the remaining five.

Fast days can be consecutive or not. It’s up to you. But it is crucial to choose an approach that’s going to work for you so that you stick to it.

Once you’ve reached your target weight, simply follow the dietary recommendations from NHS England to stop the pounds creeping back on.

As a rule of thumb, stick to 400 calories for breakfast, 400 for lunch and 600 for dinner. But try not to exceed the daily totals – women are recommended not to go beyond 2,000 calories a day, and it’s 2,500 for men.

If you’ve been following the 800-calories-a-day diet, you will need to slowly work up to eating normally over a number of weeks.

For more information on both weight-loss options, more recipes and to purchase books, visit Dr Mosley’s website, thefast800.com.