Forget the Mediterranean diet, my ‘Nordic plan’ is the easiest way to get slim this winter. Here’s how you can lose 7lb in just a month – and protect your heart and gut while lowering your cholesterol

As the evenings draw in and the air begins to chill, our natural instinct is to eat food that comforts us and fills us up. But that doesn’t have to mean stodgy carbs or ultra-convenient UPF. Far from it.

I’m from Denmark, and here in the Nordic countries we’ve been eating in much the same way for generations. Ours is a diet based on the produce and plants of the northern hemisphere: whole grains, root and green vegetables, fatty fish, poultry and wild game, berries and herbs.

Today scientists are discovering that this traditional way of eating brings many of the same health benefits as the more famous Mediterranean diet, helping protect the heart, nourish the gut and lower cholesterol. And it can also help you lose weight, even in the winter months when we crave cosiness.

We Danes might have invented hygge – but our version of comfort eating is about slow, super-nutritious food, not high-calorie pastries and cakes!

As a food writer and chef, I’ve cooked and consumed the cuisine of many different countries, and spent much of my adult life trying to keep my weight under control.

Yet I always knew that counting calories didn’t work because if it did, my husband – who never counts them – wouldn’t be skinny, and I wouldn’t have been on a permanent diet, often unsuccessfully.

Since 2023 however, when I was 59, I decided to go back to my roots and it has been a lot easier. Following the diet of my ancestors, I now, at 61, maintain a healthy weight that makes me happy – without thinking about calories, without fad diets or meal replacements, and while eating delicious food every day. Not only that, but I’ve improved my arthritis and lowered my cholesterol. I have even just gone through menopause and unlike many women who gain weight, I have managed to lose some instead. How? Read on to find out…

Why Nordic Diet works so well

The secret isn’t complicated. There’s no way around this inconvenient truth: to lose weight we have to eat less, which means sometimes we need to feel hungry.

Since I wrote my first book, Eat Nordic, The Ultimate Diet for Weight Loss, Health, and Happiness in 2016, the diet landscape has changed radically.

Nowadays people use fat jabs to help get over that hunger, but the healthy wholefoods that make up the Nordic diet – alongside my own Scandinavian lifestyle hacks – can have a similar effect, making us feel fuller and more satisfied with smaller portions. Unlike weight loss drugs, they also give us the nutrition we need for healthy skin, bodies and muscles.

Feeling fuller for longer helps us stop snacking. So I recommend eating two to three times a day with gaps of four hours in between meals to give your system a rest.

I promise that if you eat according to the Nordic diet principles, you will lose weight – I suggest aiming to lose 1lb to 2lb (500g to 1kg) a week, or 7lb a month. That way you will not feel starved or exhausted. Be patient if nothing really happens in the beginning; just stick with it and the weight will start coming off – and will stay off.

No grains, no gains

One of the most important parts of the Nordic diet are wholegrains, specifically those suited to cool climates – spelt, rye, oats and barley, all of which in their wholegrain form are high in fibre, which helps you feel full. Eat them in salads, porridge or for dinner instead of potatoes or rice. If you have high cholesterol, eat oats every day, as they are proven to help reduce it.

Avoid mass-produced bread, which has little fibre or nutritional value and is full of additives to make it last. Bake your own Nordic rye bread instead or buy from an artisan baker.

Time to veg out

For weight loss and gut health, Danish scientists have found that the optimum diet involves eating 300-500g of vegetables a day – that’s about half to 60 per cent of your diet. The Nordic diet favours cabbages of all kinds. White, hispi, red, Savoy – together with their close relatives, kale and Brussels sprouts are all on the menu.

Root vegetables are also important, especially in autumn and winter. They store well, and are versatile, filling and fuelling. Don’t just stick with the usual potatoes and carrots: try beetroot, radishes, turnips, celeriac, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, salsify and kohlrabi. Garlic and onion are also an important base for Nordic cooking all year round, both when it comes to flavour and nutrients.

Fish and fowl

In the Nordic countries we love oily fish like herring, salmon and mackerel, but we also have wonderful cod, lobster, haddock, mussels and oysters. They are a great source of healthy fats for skin and brain health, plus vitamin D. I suggest eating fish at least twice a week. Tinned fish such as sardines are also an excellent choice.

Fish is excellent for weight loss because the high protein content is naturally filling without making you feel weighed down.

If you don’t fancy fish then I recommend red meat. Yes, that’s an unusual take nowadays but it’s very much part of the Nordic plan.

Try to go for something free range. Animals bred free-range on pasture generally have a better flavour than meat from animals reared in pens or stalls and are leaner too.

Game meat like venison and pheasant is seasonal and the best variety is available in the autumn, so take advantage while you can.

As for chicken, always buy free-range or organic. It’s more expensive, but our whole philosophy should be one of quality first even if that means reducing how often we eat it.

Take your pick

The Nordic diet is full of berries. Obviously, strawberries and raspberries are summer fruits, but the autumn is primetime for harvesting our super-berries: lingonberries, cranberries and bilberries. In the cool Nordic nations with the long, light days and nights they get a lot of light but not a lot of warmth. So, they grow slowly, and are smaller, lower in sugar but bigger in taste than the ones flown in from hot climates to supermarkets.

But you don’t have to scour specialist shops: all berries are healthy due to their particularly high levels of antioxidants. The healthiest way to eat them is raw.

Handfuls of herbs

Herbs are vital in everyday cooking, adding flavour and freshness. Popular garden herbs in Nordic cuisine include dill, parsley, chives, mint, tarragon, chervil, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary. To get the most nutritional benefit, you have to eat large amounts, so put handfuls in soups, sauces, pestos or salads. A Nordic tabbouleh with spelt grains is the perfect base.

Gut instincts

Nowadays, we also understand more about the gut microbiome than we did when I wrote Eat Nordic. Good gut bacteria play a major role in helping us achieve a healthy weight, and fermented foods feed them.

My favourites are homemade sourdough rye bread, yogurt and skyr (Icelandic high protein yogurt), plus my own homemade fermented cabbage which I eat with salads.

And finally cutting out processed foods is vital. That way we reduce mindless snacking and don’t overwhelm the good gut bacteria with chemicals.

Follow these top tips to start eating like a Scandi – and lose weight!

It’s great outdoors

In Scandinavia, we love the outdoor life and try to exercise outside every day. Hate the gym? Walk more. Build activity into your day. In the warmer months, I power walk and do a general workout with weights at home 4-5 times a week and I garden daily. In winter, I change my routine and start going to the gym instead. Being active improves your body’s physical and mental state, so it is a win-win situation.

Sleep is vital. When we are sleep deprived, we feel hungrier and crave sugary, fatty foods.

Cupboard clear-out

Start your new diet by going through your cupboards and phase out your convenience items – ready meals, canned soups, snack bars, milk chocolate, fizzy drinks, crisps, cereals containing sugar. 

Then restock your cupboards with real food: spices, good oils and vinegars, whole grains, oats, nuts, flours, mustards.

Plan what to eat for the whole week ahead – I like to do this on a Sunday – and then only go shopping twice so I spend time in the kitchen. 

Shopping when hungry or on the spur of the moment means the wrong things end up in your basket. You’ll save money this way too.

Forget teas-on-knees

In the Nordic countries we believe that eating together at a table is important. Even if you are alone, set the table and present your food with care. Don’t eat in front of the TV ‘teas-on-knees’ style as the distraction will mean you won’t focus on and enjoy your food as much and will find yourself looking for treats in the fridge later.

Eat slowly

Weight loss medications work by mimicking our natural fullness hormones, but we can use time to create the same effect. When we start to eat, it takes time for our body to send signals to our brain to say that food is coming, which wakes up your digestion and sends messages to say when you are full.

But if you eat a plate of food in five minutes, there’s barely time for your body to respond. How many times have we eaten something too quickly, then realised we are over-full?

Instead take at least 20 minutes to eat each normal-sized meal. This is hard in the beginning (I know from my own experience) but it will definitely pay off.

I used to put my watch next to the plate to make sure I was taking enough time as I ate.

Step up to stop craving

Feeling peckish between meals and find yourself craving unhealthy food? This may sound crazy but try running up and down the stairs ten times. Bursts of intense exercise rapidly suppress the hunger hormone ghrelin and hunger pangs disappear.

Take time off

Don’t start a new way of eating when you are very busy or stressed. I sometimes advise people to take a few days off when they start – if you are rested and less stressed, you tend to feel less hungry and enjoying non-food recreational treats will help you feel less deprived.

Beat temptation

Make sure you always have something safe to eat if you are hungry and tired.

Put carrot batons in cold water in the fridge. Always have a stock of nuts in the larder so you can grab a handful. Don’t worry about the calories.

Nuts have many benefits in the form of healthy fats, minerals, vitamins and fibre and studies show they can contribute to weight loss, so they are ideal for snacking while you are getting used to your new pattern of eating. Prepare a large coleslaw with cabbage and carrots and dress with lemon juice and a little olive oil… then eat as much as you like.

Joy of cooking

Home cooking is at the heart of the Nordic diet. Today it’s common to hear people say they don’t have time to cook, but we all have the same 24 hours.

When we think about how much time we waste on our phones, mindlessly watching Netflix, and all the other distractions we become addicted to, we realise there is always time to spend in the kitchen. You can still listen to music, a radio drama or podcast while making meals.

Eyes on the prize

None of this means you can’t indulge ever again. Nobody can keep to a diet if the food isn’t good. I’m all for having fun, wonderful food and nice wine.

I am talking about changing your habits and your palate, so you end up preferring real-tasting food that’s good for you.

After a few weeks without a lot of the UPF you were used to – crisps, chips, fizzy drinks, sugar in everything, heavy sauces – you’ll stop wanting to eat them.

I promise they’ll simply lose their appeal. Real flavours from real food can truly change your preferences.

Trine Hahnemann’s latest book is Midnight Sun: A Scandinavian Cookbook for Long Summer Days (Quadrille, Penguin Books) is available on the Mail Bookshop.

@trinehahnemann

As told to Leah Hardy