The best place in the world to stay slim and healthy is Lech in Austria. I go twice a year. Every winter I ski there with my husband Mike and during the summer I take a group of my slimming club ladies. The two seasons are so different. In the summer it is like something out of the Sound of Music and during the winter it's a perfect winter wonderland.

I've been skiing for 20 years but I am still not very good. It's exhilarating, tough and I love being active. Skiing gives you a reason to get up and do something. It's a healthy sport and tremendously challenging physically. When the sun is shining and you are skiing down those beautiful slopes, it's beautiful, fantastic. And then you can eat well in the evening as you've been active all day. It's very good for the legs but also for the arms, especially if you keep falling over like me. But before you go, strengthen your muscles by imagining you are sitting on a chair with your back against the wall, and walk up and down stairs a lot.

Lech is the most magnificent ski resort - and is where Prince Charles skis. It's shaped like a huge basin, so you can ski down from the top to a village, then go across the road, up a lift and ski back to Lech. It's like a massive circular tour and you don't have to go on the same run twice. It's a skiers' paradise.

For breakfast we eat muesli soaked overnight in yoghurt, so it is lovely and soggy by the morning. At lunch time we have goulash soup and in the evening we have a five-course dinner which is delicious. I try to make sure they are fairly small portions and I don't add butter to anything.

Interview by Gavan Naden