"I dropped a dress size
by ditching lettuce for chocolate!"

But can it really work?

Slimline Ali Cockayne has dropped a dress size after a revolutionary blood-test diet told her she should give up lettuce and eat more chocolate!

As a nutritionist and fitness expert, Ali had been puzzled by her tiredness and fluctuating weight.

Then, when she was on holiday in Barbados last Easter, she noticed that, bizarrely, she had a problem with salads.

Ali, 35, explains: "Because it was so hot, I ate lettuce twice a day - for lunch and dinner. Rather than feeling healthy with all that salad, I actually ended up feeling like a wet lettuce myself.

"On top of that, I'd begun to notice how much my weight was fluctuating. Some days I'd have a flat stomach, others I'd feel bloated and heavy. I'm a healthy, active person and I sleep nine hours a night, yet I still didn't have enough energy!

Then Ali, who lives in Gloucestershire with her six-year-old son Henry, from her relationship with former England rugby captain Will Carling, remembered a weight-loss plan tried by her sister Michelle and brother-in-law, footballer-turned-TV-presenter Gary Lineker.

They had tried the Novo eating plan by a company called Immogenics when it was devised and launched in Holland several years ago, and were both delighted that they lost weight with it.

When Ali discovered it was becoming available in the UK, she had the blood test done earlier this year - and has dropped from a dress size ten to a size eight.

She says: "It's hard to believe that lettuce can be bad for you, but it's one of several apparently healthy foods that just don't agree with my system. I've discovered that beetroot, parsnips and sweetcorn don't suit me either, although you'll probably find them on the list of approved foods on most diets."


Novo - a miracle diet?

Ali had to give a sample of blood, which was analysed, and then she was given a list of foods that were safe to eat, those she should avoid and those she could reintroduce at a later date.

She says: "My list of foods to avoid included oats, wheat, rye, tea, coffee, sweetcorn, pears, parsnips, beetroot, lamb, pork, cod, salmon, white grapes and lettuce - when I heard that, I suddenly made the connection and I realised what had caused me the problems.