Khellaf Amélie - Balance your life: a 6-week eating and exercise plan for a calmer, healthier you

Over the past few years Ive made a lot of big changes to my life. I made it my goal to slow down and spend a bit more time focusing on whats important. These days, in addition to many other things, I run a pub in West Sussex. That role, combined with taking part and coming runner-up in Celebrity Masterchef in 2014 furthered my interest in food.

Making changes

When I was modelling I saw food as fuel, but now, working with chefs and growing more aware of the importance of what we put into our bodies, Ive really begun to explore the benefits and dangers of the foods we eat, as well as my eating habits. My attitude towards food has changed and Ive begun to see its health-giving potential, but I didnt really know where to begin with making, and therefore benefiting from, these changes in my everyday life. Were bombarded with so many mixed messages about whats good for us, and whats not, that making healthy choices can feel like a minefield.

A big birthday this year also made me sit up and take notice of my body in ways I never had before. Ive been on a mission to boost my energy and mental clarity, and to ease some of the anxiety I often feel. That is whats made me embark on Amlies programme. I love Amlies promise of achieving the balance so many of us need in our lives.

Find your balance

We live in a time where we constantly feel pressure to be perfect and to get it right. But its all about having a lifestyle that you make work for you, not that you have to conform to. Amlies programme is realistic for a 40-year-old mum, or any woman for that matter. She believes you dont have to beat yourself up for being a real person. If you give in to temptation one day, you just know you need to do a little bit better the next day. The programme isnt off-puting and you can enjoy the process and your life while youre at it.

I hope you find as much success with Amlies programme as I have. Just remember, the most important things are to be kind to yourself and find your natural balance.

As a personal trainer I want to help you to lose weight and feel better in yourself without starving you or making you feel terribly frustrated.

If I could choose just one mission in life it would be to help people make peace with food and exercise, and encourage them to realize that looking after yourself is not just a matter of aesthetics. A healthy body gives you a healthy mind, and vice versa; its a two-way relationship. However, when it comes to your nutrition and fitness, as an adult, you need to exercise some discipline and control over your day-to-day choices.

Eat right

The eating plan Ive devised minimizes sugar intake in all its forms, and that means refined sugar and carbohydrates. Eating sugar will not only make you fat, but it will also make you crave even more sugar. My method shows you how to prepare meals and generally eat foods that score low on the Glycaemic Index (GI). Foods that score high on this index, such as white bread and pasta, contain carbohydrates that cause blood-sugar levels to shoot up at a very high rate in your system. When this happens, you get hungry, you get anxious, you want more sugar, and in time you store all the unnecessary energy generated by the sugar as fat and you gain weight. Thats without even talking about diabetes, high cholesterol, and the other myriad health problems that come with prolonged high blood-sugar levels. For all these reasons, it is important to avoid eating high-GI foods. Eating low-GI foods, which feature in my plan, minimizes any rise in blood-sugar levels, and even stops them going up.

However, if it were as easy as explaining the science and simply avoiding high-GI foods, few people in our society would have issues with weight gain due to consuming too much sugar. Yet just a glance around will tell you this is not the case. This is because, as a species, we are hard-wired to crave sugar in all its forms. Babies will usually take something sweet over something bitter or tangy, as sugar is a key fuel for their growing brains.

More insidiously, in our society, sugar is everywhere. As children, were given sweet treats as a reward. This continues into adulthood, when the most easily available foods are often high in sugar. The reality is that sugar in all its forms is like an addictive yet legal drug. Many processed foods even most savoury ready-meals actually contain refined sugar, so my plan completely cuts them out. Conversely, cooking with low-GI foods will help you lose the sugar habit and restore your enjoyment of eating real food. Ultimately, youll find that you reach the point where tasting something very sweet actually burns your mouth.

A balanced approach

The key is to bring your brain with you on your journey. As the name of the book implies, my method promotes a balanced way of eating, where you can have all sorts of foods and enjoy delicious meals. The method doesnt ban any food apart from processed food. It helps you make the right choices and understand that everything is linked: your body reacts to everything you put into it, and so does your mind. And you can still have a little bit of most things, but not too often.

The plan is flexible, of course, but bear in mind that everything you put into your mouth will have an impact on its outcome. If you want this six-week plan to work for you, you need to be very mindful of what you eat from the start. Make sure your meals are balanced, that you eat enough vegetables and protein, that all your carbohydrates are wholegrain, and that youre cooking these properly. For example, even wholegrain pasta should be served al dente so it doesnt cause a spike in your blood-sugar levels, while fruit should not be eaten too ripe.

Find your passion

As for exercise, its okay not to be in the mood every day to kill it while working out. We are not machines, we are all different ages, and many of us have busy lives. But you should try to be as active as you can. After the six weeks are over, I urge you to go and find something that you really enjoy doing. Perhaps on one day do a dance class, on another day do some strength training, and another day take a bike ride with the kids. Stay active and always bear in mind that being sedentary and static will work against you 100 per cent. The little things make a difference: get off the bus one stop early; ban the lift and always take the stairs; get out and get fresh air at lunchtime. Just move. Be active not hyperactive and feel free to experiment.