(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-15 10:55

If you're looking to shed a few kilos, forget about going on a diet.

Instead, try the "anti-diet".

Confused? You needn't be. It's actually all rather simple, according to Sherry Strong, a nutritionist, chef and "food philospher".

Ms Strong created the anti-diet when she ballooned to twice her current weight while working as a chef, before going back to school to study nutrition.

The anti-diet is all about changing your philosophy on food - and it doesn't require you to go on a "Biggest Loser"-style exercise spree. You simply need to reduce your intake of chemicals and refined goods - and a good start is buying more fruit and vegetables from farmers' markets.

Unlike farm-fresh fruit and vegetables, Ms Strong said most food purchased at supermarkets contained at least one of five heavily-refined products linked to heart disease and diabetes.

"Chemical processes are heavily used to produce refined sugar, refined salt, grains, hydrogenated oils and almost everything else we eat," she said.

While exercise was an important feature of remaining healthy, Ms Strong said people would be better off instead using the money they spend on gym memberships on organic, healthy food.

Spending hours in the gym can instead be replaced by accompanying your children on after-school sport, or by cooking, eating and exercising as a family unit.

"By having positive role models, children can grow up with a greater appreciation of what healthy food actually is," she said.

And that's not just good news for your waistline - it's good news for the family unit.