Svelte Sawalha's food for thought

The thought of turning 50 might lead many women to mid-life crisis, comfort food and fear of hot flushes - but it doesn't worry bubbly presenter and former Celebrity Masterchef winner Nadia Sawalha.

In fact, she's positively looking forward to reaching the milestone.

"I'm excited about being 50," she reveals. "I dreaded 50 in my teens and my twenties, but now I feel I've got another whole lifetime to lead."

It wasn't all plain sailing during her younger years. She faced traumas, including three miscarriages, body image issues and a shortlived first marriage - but now the smile is broader than ever as she looks to the future.

With a thriving career as a regular presenter on ITV's Lorraine, Sunday Scoop and Loose Women, plus several food columns and the release of her latest book Greedy Girl's Diet Second Helpings!, the world's her oyster.

She's not sure yet how she's going to celebrate her birthday with her husband, television producer Mark Adderley, and their two daughters Maddy, 11, and six-year-old Kiki, plus two older stepdaughters.

"I haven't had a birthday party for 30 years, so I'm seriously considering having a big party with amazing food, fire-eaters and belly dancers, but then I might chicken out, because what if people don't turn up? I'd be so embarrassed and mortified.

"I'm thinking of sending out the invitations now, so there's no time to chicken out," she says. "Or I might just go off with my husband and the girls to somewhere gorgeous, but I definitely want to do something."

She says she's not worried about ageing - because she can live vicariously through her 20-year-old stepdaughter.

"She's just so beautiful and strong, I love to listen to every detail of what she's doing and I live vicariously through her when I'm sat in the kitchen, but I'm so glad I'm not 20," she says.

"It's like when she tells me she's going to a rave at New Year, I think, 'I'm so glad I'm staying in with my kids!'"

Sawalha's admitted that her weight's yo-yoed over the years, and things reached a head when she was trying to cope with the heartache of three miscarriages, going back to work so soon after Maddy was born and finding her frantic schedule overwhelming.

"I felt fat, unconfident and guilty for being at work and not with my baby. So I did what I used to do then when I was unhappy... I overate," she has previously said.

"Nobody ever mentioned my weight but it was, 'Oh, isn't she jolly' - a euphemism for fat bird. I knew what they were thinking, so I wouldn't look in the mirror. But the weight wasn't just on the surface, it was a sign of what was going on underneath."

A period of psychotherapy followed - and now it's a genuine smile which lights up the screen.

And she remains one of the few women to go on a diet and stay slim long-term.

The self-confessed 'greedy girl' lost three-and-a-half stones and kept the weight off, selling the secrets of her success in her first book, Greedy Girl's Diet, which sold in its millions.

Her follow-up, Greedy Girl's Diet Second Helpings!, features chips and sauces, peanut butter and banana toasties, bacon and egg muffins and other foods not normally associated with dieting, but Sawalha swears by her approach.

"This is the food I've eaten for the last three years, this is the food I lost three-and-a-half stones with and kept it off."

She tried all the 'cutting out' diets over the years and none of them were effective long-term.

"I did every single one of those diets and I was just dieting my way to obesity, because when I came off them, I put all the weight back on, plus a bit more. There has to be a way that you can eat forever."

Coming from an Anglo-Arab 'foodie' household, food and family have always been intertwined in her world - and she's keen that the body issues she has faced in the world of celebrity don't affect her daughters, so has no qualms about showing them how make-up artists can transform a dowdy mum into a glamour queen.

"I was on Lorraine last week and my 11-year-old daughter came with me. She sees how you are transformed. I wake up looking like death warmed up and she says, 'Mummy, it is like magic'.

"I'm in a really privileged position because they (her daughters) know the con of the media and that people are made-up to look so much more beautiful than they are, so they're not messed up about images in magazines.

"It's always interesting taking them to work and seeing what they observe and what they don't."

She continues: "People say to Maddy, 'What's it like having a mum who's a TV presenter?' and she can't identify with what they mean.

"I used to have the same thing with my sister, Julia, when she was at the height [of her fame] with Press Gang and Absolutely Fabulous, but you can't answer. She's just my sister."

Now, she's hoping to spend more time with her loved ones.

"My daughter Maddy's letter to Father Christmas started off, 'I hope you're not too stressed with all the work you've got on'.

"In the run-up to Christmas, my husband Mark and I were so busy because we've got our own production company as well. I was doing Lorraine, Loose Women and finishing off the book, working six days a week.

"That little note made me think, 'Right Nadia, you're stopping over Christmas'. I lay around and watched films back-to-back and ate cheese, Branston pickle and crisps. Maddy said to me, 'It's been so nice to see you relax'.

"TV is only TV," Sawalha adds. "When you end your life, nothing is going to be written about anything you did, but who you cared for and the time you spent with them will last forever, passing on through generations. She taught me a great lesson.

"I am determined this year to spend more time [with my family]. We as parents will often say, 'Oh, I'm terrible, my poor kids, I don't do this with them', but think about 'poor yourself' as well - because if you miss out on your kids, you miss out on a lot."

:: Greedy Girl's Diet Second Helpings! by Nadia Sawalha is published by Kyle, priced £14.99. Available now