As a child I absolutely loved the Indianised version of egg fried rice my mum cooked for us. I used to live with my grandma who had Christian neighbours who made the most amazing macaroni soup. I suppose I didn't have a typical Indian palate.

My mum is extremely aware of the cardiac problems in my family, so she makes sure we have a lot of vegetable oil, and even though a lot of dishes use coconut milk in Mangalore, where I hail from, she replaces that with normal milk, which is lower in cholesterol. We have a lot of masala at home. We go easy on it though, to make it easier on the digestive system, and to bring out the taste of the vegetables.

I love Chinese food, like steamed dim sum, and I can have noodles morning, noon and night, hot or cold. I like food that's very simple on the digestive system - I tend to keep it light. I love Japanese food too - sushi, sashimi and miso soup.

I've never believed in dieting, but there are people out there who have problems. My advice would be don't ever stop yourself to a point where you start craving something because you end up bingeing. I think the key word is moderation.

If your insides are not well looked-after, then your outsides are going to suffer. It's like a glass that's not cleaned from the inside. Whatever you do to polish it from the outside it's still going to look dirty. So that's the analogy. You have to eat right, eat healthy and, yeah, sometimes go for it. For me, Sundays are a special day, because that's when I go all-out. I like chocolate cake, but who doesn't? Milk chocolate. Indian sweets - oh it's terrible, I have a real sweet tooth, and everyone in my family suffers from diabetes, but on Sundays I can't stop myself.

In my industry, you have to look good and glamorous, so there's a lot of pressure to eat well. But I believe in feeling healthy, which for me means, in a typical day, low carbs.

I have Honey Nut Loops for breakfast, and a cup of tea, with milk and brown sugar, which I switched to a couple of years ago in the belief it would be healthier. For lunch it's brown rice, or Indian bread, and a dhal or chicken curry. For dinner I have a salad with beetroot and beansprouts and lettuce. And an omelette with mushrooms. I don't snack - that's the worst thing to do. But I have four meals a day.

I was the self-proclaimed cook in the Big Brother house. I do enjoy cooking, it's very therapeutic. I do a vegetable pilau, and a very good chicken curry.

Seven years ago I gave up carbonated drinks, and I was very successful. I loved all the colas. Now I drink a lot of green tea and hot water. Chocolate is maybe my only vice. In particular Godiva's champagne truffles. Or Dean & Deluca vanilla cupcakes. Just thinking about them - oh my gosh!

Vegetable pilau

The vegetable component of this dish will provide some much-needed nutritional value in Shilpa's diet, too much of which provides precious little other than the generally disruptive carbohydrate it contains.

Honey nut loops

This cereal, mainly composed of grain and sugar, will cause Shilpa's blood-sugar levels to sky-rocket.

Noodles

Noodles, like rice, are almost exclusively carb, and not ideal for someone with a family history of diabetes. It's curious that Shilpa appears to believe that eating healthily means 'low carbs' (which I'd agree with), and then eats a diet full of the stuff.

Chicken curry

Relatively rich in protein, this will do little to upset Shilpa's blood-sugar and insulin levels. More of this sort of fare, and less rice and bread, is the way to go in the long term. Omelette and salad is another of Shilpa's better nutritional choices too.

Indian sweets

These sweet treats contain way too much sugar for my liking. Like a lot of what Shilpa eats, this food is likely to further push her down the path taken by her diabetic relatives. As she says, moderation is the key: the less she eats of this stuff, the better.

Brown rice

Brown rice releases its sugar more slowly than white rice, but in quantity still tends to disrupt blood-sugar and insulin levels. I'd advise Shilpa to fill up on slower sugar-releasing foods such as lentils (eg dhal), meat or prawn-based curries and vegetable dishes.

Godiva champagne truffles

Like the Indian sweets, this food is far from ideal for someone as seemingly health-conscious as Shilpa, particularly if they have a strong family history of diabetes. As with the Indian sweets - easy does it.