Summer is the best season of all for diet foods. Out goes the bland and the boring (and the unhealthy!) and instead in comes this years fresh green leaves, fruits, shoots and roots.

They’re tasty, packed with goodness and can be bought just about anywhere - and many can even be grown at home.

First off salad.

Lettuce, chard, beet root, water cress, cucumber and so on are all on the menu so pile it on your plate.

A salad is a great summer food and can also be used to “bulk out” sandwiches and so on.

Indeed all vegetables can be used - from carrots to potatoes - though the more starchy items - such as new potatoes should only be used in moderation. Corn is a favorite of mine.

Into the mix bring fruit which tends to contain more sugar - which is why it tastes sweet - and so needs some controls.

But oranges, strawberries, pears, bananas, grapes, apples etc. can all count as a portion of carbohydrates.

Whilst some will disagree with me I also consume brown bread, cereal, tortillas and pitta breads as sources of carbohydrate - plus limited amounts of pasta, rice and my personal favorite - fat free yogurt.

In terms of protein any lean can be used - my own personal favorites being seafood, chicken and turkey. They’re lean and healthy and don’t forget that protein has been proven to reduce your appetite (as well as supporting growth and repair in your body and various other essential elements - for example it’s a constituent of DNA - the very string of life).

So don’t consider just having a salad; add some chicken or prawns etc. into the mix to add interest, balance your diet and reduce your appetite for a while.

Other suitable sources of protein are skimmed milk, cottage cheese, egg whites (not the yolks!) and soya proteins.

These are the main constituents but can be “spiced up” with moderate uses of low fat or fat free dressings, sauces etc.

A few of my more favored meals include:

Crab meat and salad with a dash of Marie Rose sauce in warm pittas

Prawns and fat free mayonnaise on a jacket potato

A bowl of cereal with ice cold skim milk and dried fruit

Turkey and cranberry sauce followed by a fat free yogurt

Scrambled egg whites on brown toast seasoned with black pepper and a little brown sauce

And so the list goes on.

This small number of healthy constituents (which makes grocery shopping nice and easy!) can be combined in a huge number of ways to produce dozens of different meals for you.

And if you need any further advice there are plenty of healthy cook books out there on the market these days.

Lastly don’t underestimate the use of meal replacement drinks (MRD’s) to help you eat healthily even when busy or tired.

Buy a pack of 12-18 and always keep one or two in your bag, desk or car just incase you get hungry and can’t find anything healthy to eat.

Lastly here’s one more tip - for some strange reason MRDs are tastiest ice cold straight out of the fridge.

So there you go - a useful list for dieters of summer foods that can be both tasty and help you lose weight rapidly.