by Sandra Piddock

Created on: November 16, 2009

When I visited my Rheumatology consultant last week, I was delighted to discover that, in the 4 months since my last appointment, I had lost 14 pounds in weight without even trying. I've given up on diets over the years - I'm on such a cocktail of drugs for my 3 types of arthritis that losing weight seems to be an impossible dream these days.

The consultant asked what I'd done to lose this weight, so I'll tell you exactly what I told him. We spend most of our time in Spain, and we swim a lot, walk a lot and eat mainly salads and fruit, as it's usually too hot for full blown meals. Before the choruses of 'Ican't/ don't want to move to Spain' start, let me tell you that the 4 month period in question was divided equally between warm, sunny Spain and cold, wet England. So climate doesn't come into the equation here.

I think what has happened is that my body has become used to receiving less food, and so doesn't require as much fuel these days. We all know that the body goes into starvation mode when we start a diet, and the metabolism slows down and hangs onto the food. However, my change in eating pattern has evolved gradually, so my body hasn't gone into a state of panic wondering where the next meal is coming from.

So my first tip would be, cut down your food gradually. Normally have 4 potatoes? Try 3, and have an extra helping of vegetables to make up for it. Or change to a slightly smaller plate, so you still have a full plate, but there's less food on it. In Spain, sliced bread comes in smaller servings than in England, but it's also slightly thicker, so it fils you up for fewer calories. Wherever you live, you should be able to buy a small loaf for your sandwiches.

In Spain, although you can buy butter, it's not so tasty as the butter we're used to. The Spanish don't really do butter - they prefer ali oli (garlic mayonnaise) or tomato salsa, which is grated tomato with a little olive oil, pepper and garlic. As a result, I never put butter on my bread now. I grate garlic into a low fat mayonnaise, and spread that or tomato salsa on my bread. It's really tasty, and very low in fat.

If we do cook meals in Spain, it tends to be outdoors on the barbecue, so the only meat I've been eating is lean grilled pork, chicken and beef. Lamb is very expensive in Spain, so we never buy it. It's also quite high in fat content, so there's another clue to my weight loss. Lamb is my favourite meat, and we used to have it at least twice a month. Grill or barbecue meat, or if

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