Diet witch with a healthy appetite

Unlike Mother Hubbard, Nikki Hart has a fully stocked and diverse range of products on her cupboard shelves. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

The evil diet witch isn't harbouring a single cream cake, chocolate bar or fizzy drink in her kitchen cupboards or fridge. Damn. There's no chance we can give dietitian Nikki Hart the telling off she gives people on the television show Eat Yourself Whole.

She's even got the perfect excuse for a bit of sneaky chocolate eating - she's 21 weeks pregnant. Not that you'd notice. She's so svelte, she just looks as if she's had a modest roast dinner when she reveals the top of her maternity pants and tries hard to stick her tummy out.

"I've got good genes - 50 per cent of this is your parents so you need to blame them for half of it. The other half is totally your environment."

Hart, dubbed the "evil diet witch" by a client and friend, has only ever tried fad diets as part of her research as a student, instead relying on sensible eating to keep her healthy.

"I just found them restricting and awful and I've always thought if I wouldn't let a child do it, then why would I do it? Diets also have a tendency to eliminate food groups, which is wrong."

For clients at her Ponsonby Rd practice and on the television programme, she advocates weight loss of between 300g-500g a week.

Anything more and people feel deprived.

"Good nutrition doesn't allow you to fail. It's taking normal food and moving it sideways so it's going from dark blue milk to light blue or a high-fat cheese to a low-fat one. It's not eliminating the product altogether."

In New Zealand National Heart Foundation terms, low fat is 5 grams of fat or under per 100 grams. She gets so consumed reading food labels to find out fat, sugar and sodium content (often increased to give low fat foods flavour), her partner won't go to the supermarket with her any more.

Another trap for beginners is not understanding serving sizes on the labels.

"There's no such thing as bad food, it's the bad amounts we eat," says Hart. "One of the jumbo cookies that you can buy equals nine chocolate chip biscuits. It horrifies me."

Hart's advice is never to skip breakfast, eat a rainbow of colours, recognise portion sizes and throw out the scales.

"They can determine how you feel in your day. You shouldn't base that on a number on the scale and I think a lot of women get trapped by that."

She believes food is a pleasure.

"Life's too short to be eating food you don't like but I don't think it's about eating carte blanche.

"You have to have some understanding of what you need and that's where we've kind of lost our way. Yes, we've got beautiful food, and yes we should try it, but we don't have to try it all at once."

What do you always have in your fridge and cupboard?

Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Anchovies, olives and capers to jazz up tomato-based pasta sauces. Pesto, wholegrain mustard, parmesan, curry paste, honey, Anathoth jam, Nutella, Vegemite, milk, yoghurt, Yakult fermented milk drink, sweet Thai chilli sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soda with a twist, cranberry juice, pita pockets, Vogel's bread, baked beans, rolled oats, light toasted muesli, canned fruit in clear juice, canned tomatoes, creamed corn, beetroot, canned salmon, tuna, sardines, basmati rice, pasta, lentils (great for winter soups), Campbell's real stock, frozen berries, low fat icecream, dried fruit, nuts, pancake mix, Lisa's hummus and babaganoush.

What are your secret indulgences?

Chocolate-dipped ice cream at the movies and a freshly baked Danish and decaf flat white at Il Forno while scanning the newspaper on a Saturday morning.

What do you eat if you can't be bothered cooking?

I try to cook most nights but if I'm dashing out straight from work I might zip home and have baked beans on toasted Vogel's or grab a chicken pita from my favourite kebab cafe, Fatima's; handmade ravioli from Il Forno, or fresh soup from the supermarket with toasted Vogel's.

Perfect low-GI snack food?

A slice of fruit toast lightly spread with margarine and small low-fat hot chocolate.

What's your favourite restaurant?

I can't go past the duck at Cibo's. They don't even ask me what I am having at Prego - it's always the pan-fried fish of the day. And smoked chicken kumara gnocchi at Vivace.

Who would you most like to make lunch for you?

I'd like to be in the kitchen preparing and chatting to Annabel Langbein. She knows New Zealand food and loves using local, seasonal produce.

What would you never eat?

Food is a basic need and I would eat just about anything except the food on Fear Factor.

Top five low-fat indulgences?

Calci-yum chocolate dairy food, pink and white marshmallows, frozen yoghurt, mango-citrus frappucino, hummus and pita chips for pre-dinner nibbles.

What are your nutritional no-nos?

Don't take an iron tablet if you feel tired. Get a blood test.

Iron overload has the same symptoms as anaemia. Don't cut out carbohydrates as you could end up eating more calories in other foods, such as fat hiding in bigger meat portions.

What's your exercise regime?

Now I am pregnant I can't mountain-bike or snowboard, so it's walking 40 minutes three to four times a week and yoga once or twice week.

Have you been known to eat takeaways?

Absolutely. There are many great places to get healthy fast food. East and Otto Woo are great options for a good dose of vegetables.