To get the svelte figure, start in the kitchen. Slimming down is about taking in less calories, while you burn more calories through exercise.

For a food lover, the dieting part is tough. Exercise is easy, using the stairs instead of the elevator, getting off a stop or two before your actual destination and walking the rest of the way, all these add up helping you burn the calories.

Dieting, or consuming less calories requires discipline, or does it?

My mom is svelte. She eats what she likes. I was slim too, when I lived with her. Her style of cooking made all the difference.

Dieting is not about denying yourself your favourite food. Sooner or later, you'll feel so deprived, you end up binging.

A smarter way to go about this is to take a look at how you prepare your food.

Do you deep fry your food? Do you love crispy, oily fried stuff?

That could be part of the problem.

Maybe you have been dieting by eating lots of salad, heaping your favourite salad cream on it. Salad is great but salad cream contains so much hidden fat. With all the calories in most salad creams, you might as well have a full 5 course dinner instead.

Do you binge on ice cream? Sweet, delectable desserts that are oh so creamy?

Let's start with crispy foods. If you absolutely love dining on crispy meat, try roasting the meat instead. The oil in the meat itself is enough to cook the food with. No need for additional oil.

My mom had a turbo broiler. That was excellent for for cooking chicken wings. Our toaster was used to give food that crispy effect you can't get from microwave ovens. Now there are ovens that do both. A great way to make food crispy without resorting to deep frying it.

Grilled food is yummy. Again, by grilling, the meats cook in their own juices. No need for additional oils that characterize deep frying. We use an oven with grill functions to grill chicken wings, roast meat, the works. Again, no frying needed. Use an oven to do that.

If you must have a crispy snack, the latest snacks in the supermarket feature freeze dried slices of fruit and vegetables which are just like potato crisps. Or go for unbuttered pop corn, freshly popped in the kitchen. Make your own using a popcorn machine but skip the butter. Use salt or herbs to season it instead. Or if you must, sprinkle honey or cocoa powder on it before eating.

On to the issue of salads. Salads are good, if you pay attention to the dressing you put on it. Avoid mayonnaise. Try a herbal vinegar instead. Or if you can't stomach a salad without the cream, try steaming your vegetables instead. Steamed corn tastes great. Sprinkle a little salt on it and avoid the butter. Actually, steamers are vital in the kitchen of anyone who wants to lose weight. A steamer makes preparing a healthy, slimming, tasty meal so easy.

A svelte 60 year old told me how she stayed so slim and healthy. She has steamed fish and rice for most meals. Fish contains less fat than meat. Chicken meat itself is ok, but the chicken skin is laden with fat. Regular meals based on steamed fish are an excellent way to slim down. All you have to do is to season the fish with soya sauce, a slice of ginger, sesame oil and steam it. Eaten with steamed vegetables and steam rice, you have a tasty, healthy, low fat meal.

If you absolutely love ice cream, switch to low fat frozen yogurt instead. You can buy that at the supermarket or make your own using a yogurt maker. The great thing about making your own yogurt is you decide exactly what goes into it. You could use low fat milk, and all your favourite fresh fruit, then freeze the yogurt when it is done, for a creamy, fruity treat. You could add cocoa powder and honey to it. Just use your imagination for a really yummy, healthy treat.

Please note that when you switch to healthy, lower calorie foods, avoid increasing the amount you eat, no matter how yummy the food. 10 helpings of a 100 calorie snack is 1000 calories, so watch how much you eat.

Invest in these equipment to revamp your kitchen for a slimmer you.

The writer is the webmaster of Kitchen which helps you find your kitchen essentials online, easily.