Nadia Lim's top tips for getting summer ready

  • 10/10/2018

Kiwi celebrity chef and cookbook author Nadia Lim has shared her top advice for feeling fitter and healthier as we come into the summer months.

The self-proclaimed 'nude cook' joined The AM Show on Wednesday to promote her new book Fresh Start Feel Good!, which is full of healthy and delicious recipes that are focused around nutrition.

Joined in the studio by her husband Carlos and their newborn son River, Lim joked that she was "really bad at timing" after she dramatically gave birth at home recently.

Her new book is a sequel to her Fresh Start cookbook, which was published three years ago, and is full of nutrition advice from the former dietician.

"I wanted to create something sensible and sustainable for people, that didn't have any weird diet rules," Lim explained.

She said her personal ethos is to include lots of vegetables and create "delicious, simple food".

"To lose weight, I hate the word 'diet'. Don't diet; flip the mentality on its head and instead think about all the delicious things you can be adding to your diet every day."

The Masterchef New Zealand winner offered some advice for those that might be nervous about getting into a bikini or shorts as the weather gets warmer.

"[The] first place I would look is where you're getting empty calories," she advised.

"That's calories that have no nutrition attached to them whatsoever - so fizzy drinks, drinks that aren't water, alcohol etc.

"The second thing is to bump up your vegetable intake. Vegetables have so much goodness in them, so many vitamins and minerals, but hardly any calories. And they help you feel full."

Lim said there's no one vegetable she would recommend, instead making sure you get variety in your diet, "so you're covering all your nutrient bases".

"Instead of thinking of numbers - on the scale, or how many calories you're eating - you want to focus on how you feel. Healthier, happier, fitter. If you focus on all of that then the weight loss will be a by-product."

Fresh Start, Feel Good! is on sale now at book stores nationwide.

Newshub.