SHE MAY be hailed a celebrity weight loss guru, but Amelia Freer does not believe in ‘diets’. As her new book Cook.Nourish.Glow. is published, the nutritional therapist tells Taste why we all have time to cook from scratch and eat healthily.

Amelia Freer has one word of advice for convenience food fans who say they ‘don’t have time to cook from scratch’.

“If you don’t have time for health, you need to eventually make time for disease.”

It’s a stark warning from the no-nonsense 40-year-old nutritional therapist, blogger and author, but she’s passionate about inspiring positive change.

Freer knows from experience the impact eating badly can have.

In her mid-20s, while working as Prince Charles’ personal assistant, she survived on a diet of pre-prepared food and sugary tea, and was plagued by IBS and acne.

“I was always getting ill, I was always run down,” she recalls.

“I think a lot of people aren’t healthy,” she adds.

“As humans, we tend to make do and put up with bad health, you get used to it, as opposed to saying, ‘No, I deserve to feel excellent, I deserve to have optimum health’.”

Freer eventually quit her job and enrolled on a four-year nutrition course, which changed her life.

“I started to learn about nutritional therapy, which is working with individuals to help improve their health, through the use of food.

“t’s amazing how quickly someone can feel better, above and beyond weight loss - they feel a lot better with various symptoms when they improve the quality of the food they’re eating.”

She’s not a fan of our reliance on sugar but neither does she like the word ‘diet’.

“I don’t endorse or support any diet. If someone comes to me wanting to know about a diet, then I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed. Everyone’s too quick to turn things into extremeness and fads, and I think that’s really disappointing.”

“If you want to be healthy and you like to have your piece of cake, it’s much better to have that slice, sit down with it and actually enjoy it,” says Freer.

“Rather than this unconscious picking, where you feel a bit guilty and don’t realise how much you’re eating. If you’re going to have them [treats], do it in a healthy way.”

So there you go, permission to eat cake (sort of) - and be healthy.

Cook. Nourish. Glow. by Amelia Freer is published by Michael Joseph, priced £20. Available now