I was a comfort eater, a secret eater and miserably unhappy for all of my teenage life. Since becoming a parent something clicked for me. I want to be around for my son for as long as I can be.

I don’t want him to grow up seeing food as the enemy and as a reason to hide his emotions. Slimming World has changed everything for me and I want to help others do the same.

It really amazes me how people wave goodbye to their favourite foods when they start a new “diet”. The very act of moving away from the foods you enjoy the most feels like punishment.

I think this is what makes Slimming World stand out so much for me. It was the only plan I could ever follow long term because it allowed me to have all of my favourite kind of foods. Of course, with any healthy eating plan compromises and changes must be made but I was really surprised by just how easily I could whip up a Slimming World version of my favourite kind of food. Foods that I always deemed “bold” and foods that were causing me to pile on weight had suddenly become foods that were helping me lose weight and feel great. Another benefit was that the whole family were eating this way which made us a healthier unit overall.

Here are my top tips for making any recipe Slimming World-friendly

1. For mince-based dishes like meatballs and homemade burgers go for less than 5% fat minced beef. That means the meat is completely free. You can add all kinds of herbs and spices and whip up a beautiful sauce using fresh ingredients. Oven baked meatballs are a favourite recipe in our house. We serve with pasta, side salad and grated cheese on top.

2. Thinking for a couple of minutes about the “bready” part makes a huge difference. If you wanted to make fajitas you could easily make the filling completely free and full of speed food but the regular white tortilla wraps will cause you a problem. Why not save your healthy extra B that day for dinner time and go for one of the healthy extra B wrap options? I do this when we are having burgers too. It’s so worth saving my healthy extra B for a burger bun (my favourite is the Irwin’s 60g wholemeal bun from Iceland). That morning, I’ll have fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and something like a big omelette and salad for lunch.

3. Simply swap oil for Frylite. So many recipes call for a couple of tablespoons of oil. Olive Oil and Rapeseed oil have tonnes of health benefits but on the Slimming World plan, they will cost you syns. If you don’t want to use your syns on oil just swap the oil element for Frylight. I recently made a gorgeous Salsa and literally omitted the olive oil and added a couple of spoonfuls of water. It didn’t need the oil with all of the tasty tomato juice.

4. If the recipe traditionally does not include vegetables do not worry. I can totally see why someone might not want to add vegetables to a recreation of their favourite Indian dish for example. Keep it authentic but serve on your plate with one third speed food. It’s as easy as a bag of salad or some chopped up vegetables. They’ll only compliment it and make the meal go further.

5. Keep an eye on measurements. For cheesy dishes, if you are careful enough, you can work it so that one portion is that day's healthy extra cheese. If not you’ll be able to syn it easily once you know the exact measurements of foods that have a syn value.

6. Don’t be afraid to have less. If something works out high in syns and you don’t want to use that many, simply have a smaller portion but serve with a big plate of free foods to keep you nice and full. The key is to always fill up on free foods.

7. If a recipe calls for cream or coconut milk swap for Quark or a thick coconut yoghurt. Hint – only add quark or yoghurt before serving and when it is off the heat to avoid curdling. I use the Glenisk 0% fat strained coconut yoghurt for my Thai green curry.

8. Dishes with breadcrumbs can be recreated using breadcrumbs made with wholemeal bread. These can easily be worked into the plan. I’ve made breaded cod for fish and chips and breaded chicken kiev and both turned out great.