The Fast Diet or 5:2 diet as it's well known is quickly becoming a lifestyle choice for many. Involving just two days a week of 'fasting' (eating 600 calories or less), the health benefits and results for those trying to lose weight are putting other diet ideas to shame.
Mimi Spencer is a Fast Diet follower and wrote the book alongside Dr Michael Moseley. Here, in an extract from her new book The Fast Diet Recipe Book (RRP £14.99, Amazon ), she shares her three recipes for a nutritious, low calorie salmon dish.
Broken salmon fillet, with cucumber and dill
Calorie count: 257
1 salmon fillet (100g)
salt and pepper
50g round lettuce, leaves washed and dried
50g cos leaves, washed and dried
50g baby spinach
¼ cucumber, quartered, seeds removed and sliced
For the dressing:
2 tbsps low-fat yoghurt
juice of half a lime
Handful of fresh dill
Season the salmon and steam until opaque. Set aside to cool. Mix the dressing ingredients.
Put leaves and cucumber on a plate and break the warm salmon into pieces on top. Dress and garnish with more dill and lime wedges.
O’Kelly fish
Calorie count: 318
Serves four
400g trimmed green beans, blanched and refreshed
200g broccoli florets, blanched and refreshed
200g asparagus spears, blanched and refreshed
juice of 2 lemons, plus husks
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
30g black Greek olives
4 vines of cherry tomatoes, vine included
4 salmon fillets (100g each)
Preheat oven to 200ËšC/400ËšF. Place blanched veggies and seasonings in a large roasting pan, squeezing the juice of 1 lemon over them. Drizzle with olive oil. Scatter in the olives and
place vine tomatoes on top. Lay the fillets, skin side down, as a top layer, and squeeze over the second lemon, throwing in the husks. Oven roast for 20 minutes. The tomatoes and lemon will have made a wonderful juice to spoon over the fish.
Poached, with greens and a tomato-anchovy dressing
Calorie count: 321
½ fennel bulb, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1 salmon fillet (100g)
100g green beans, steamed but still al dente
100g sugar snap peas, also lightly steamed
For the dressing and garnish:
1 ripe tomato, finely chopped
1 anchovy fillet, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsps olive oil
handful of torn basil leaves
Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the fennel, salt and pepper and bay leaf and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the salmon, cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Remove the fish and break into bite-sized chunks. Serve on the steamed beans and sugar snaps, along with a little fennel from the pan. Drizzle with dressing and top with torn basil leaves.