Diet secrets of the slim and famous

Meet the celebs\' diet gurus

With the world\'s best nutrition experts on speed dial, it\'s no wonder the stars manage to stay in shape. And now we can share those secrets with you...

Jennifer Aniston

Secret: Always bite before you buy.

The Gurus: Sisters Jewels and Jill Elmore are personal chefs to many of Hollywood\'s elite and authors of \'The Family Chef\' (Celebra Books, £17.45). Jen refers to the period before she met them as ‘culinarily challenged\'.

The diet: Jewels and Jill recommend shopping in local markets, so you can touch and smell the fruit and veg to get the tastiest ones on offer (making you far more likely to eat them). But if you\'re not sure, \"Rather than take a chance buying a dozen cobs of corn that look good but might not be, Jill invests in buying a single eat. She\'ll take a few bites in the market before deciding whether to buy more,\" says Jewels.

Hilary Swank

Secret: Before you eat anything, ask yourself: \"What is it about this food that makes me a better me?\"

The Guru: Nutritionist Oz Garcia (www.ozgarcia.com) works in both London and New York. \'Sex and the City\'\'s Kim Cattrall is also a client.

The diet: Food can do so much good for your body - boost your thinking, lower your risk of disease, improve your skin, yet many of us eat foods with no nutritional benefits. Before you put anything in your mouth, ask yourself what it\'s going to do for you. If the answer is nothing, reach for something else. Top on Oz\'s must-eat list are fruit, veg and fish. \"Everyone should become a fishatarian. Eat less meat, less poultry and more seafood,\" he tells us.

Elle Macpherson

Secret: Drink a green coloured juice every day.

The Guru: Amanda Griggs, nutritionist and colonic specialist, who is based at London\'s exclusive Balance Clinic (www.balancetheclinic.com).

The diet: \"Green fruit and vegetables are packed with chlorophyll, which not only increases oxygen levels throughout your body, giving you energy, but also releases carbon dioxide, helping to prevent disease from taking hold,\" says Amanda. While any blend of green fruit and vegetables will give you what you need, Amanda\'s perfect juice includes kale, celery, apple and lemon blended together. Try 1 handful of kale, 1 celery stick, ½ medium pineapple, 1 apple and a dash of lemon juice.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Secret: Leave a 12-hour gap between dinner and breakfast the next morning.

The Guru: Cardiologist Dr Alejandro Junger is based in New York and is the author of \'Clean: A Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body\'s Natural Ability to Heal Itself\' (HarperOne, £14.99).

The diet: According to Dr Junger, the biggest threat to your body is the number of toxins you put in it each day. \"Your body detoxes these best at night, but if you eat late then have breakfast early, it must concentrate on digesting instead,\" he says. \"By leaving a 12-hour gap, your digestion finishes in plenty of time for your body to fire up its detox system and tackle the daily onslaught.\"

Madonna

Secret: Learn to make a great soup.

The Guru: As a caterer, Kumud Gandhi has cooked for Madonna and Gwyneth. Now she runs The Cooking Academy (www.thecookingacademy.co.uk), which also teaches the nutritional and medicinal properties of food.

The diet: \"Soups are filling, very nutritionally dense and low in calories,\" says Kumud. \"Lentil soups are particularly healthy - and a handful of croutons or a side salad can add some crunch if you like to chew something in a meal.\" She also suggests adding celery to soup to boost its flavour and using thyme or sage to help power up your digestion, ensuring you take in the maximum nutrients from your meal.

Jennifer Lopez

Secret: Look at your hand before you put anything on your plate.

The Guru: Todd DeMann is CEO of the Freshology diet delivery service (www.freshology.com) that\'s currently keeping half of Hollywood in shape. \'Ugly Betty\'s Vanessa Williams has also tried its meals.

The diet: \"Portion control has got completely out of hand nowadays,\" says Todd. \"We have all forgotten how much we should be eating, but if you get portions right you can control your weight, without deprivation. Your hand is an excellent guide - proteins such as meat should be the size of your palm; carbs should be no bigger than your clenched fist. Fill the rest of your plate with non-starchy fruit or vegetables - and it\'s easy.\"

Nicole Kidman

Secret: Stay away from white foods.

The Guru: Raw food chef Jill Pettijohn (www.jillpettijohn.com) has ‘cooked\' for stars, including Tom Cruise and fashion designer Donna Karan.

The diet: \"White bread, white rice, pasta, sugar - not one of them does anything positive for your body,\" says Jill. \"They trigger fluctuations in your blood sugar that can leave you drained of energy and see you reaching for more nutritionally poor foods.\" She\'s also not a fan of dairy, another white food, claiming that up to 70 per cent of us have problems digesting it, which leads to health problems, including fatigue and bloating. \"Goat\'s milk is often much easier for people to digest,\" she tells us.

Mel B

Secret: Eat raw food during the day and cooked food at night.

The Guru: Geeta Sidhu-Robb is the founder of Nosh Detox Delivery (www.noshdetoxdelivery.com). Singer Rachel Stevens is also a customer and it\'s rapidly becoming the British A-list way to slim.

The diet: Geeta says her food plan suits modern life better, as it means you can enjoy a hot meal with your family in the evening. \"Your digestive system works on a 24-hour cycle,\" she explains. \"It starts strong but slows as the day goes on. By the evening, high-fibre foods, like raw fruit and vegetables, can be hard to break down, but cooked foods are easier, ensuring you get maximum benefits from what you eat.\"

Jemima Khan

Secret: Buy two lunches.

The Guru: Tim Bean runs the Institute of Physique Management (www.iopm.co.uk), a full-service gym, and wrote \'Turn Back your Age Clock\' (Hamlyn, £12.99).

The diet: \"The most important meal of the day is the one that none of us have - the one about 4pm,\" says Tim. If you have lunch at 1pm, then dinner at 8pm, that\'s seven hours without food. Instead, Tim suggests you eat four 350-400 calorie meals a day. \"So, when you buy one lunch, pick up another to eat later - something like a small sushi pack or grilled chicken wrap. This will stop you reaching for empty foods, like chocolate, and help you control your food intake when you get home.\"

Our token man: Hugh Jackman

Secret: Don\'t waste calories on bland food.

The Guru: Jennifer Irvine is the founder of The Pure Package (www.purepackage.com), a London-based diet delivery service.

The diet: \"So many of us do this - we\'ll eat a piece of tasteless low-fat cheese instead of a quality Stilton, or have cheap chocolate instead of a rich dark version - but often it\'s a waste of effort. You feel far more satisfied if food is flavourful, so generally you\'ll eat less of it,\" says Jennifer. \"The same goes for eating foods out of season - you\'ll get more pleasure from a sweet tomato eaten in summer than a bland one in winter. Why waste your daily calories on something that doesn\'t taste amazing?\"