Being told she would have to appear on Studio 10’s morning show to promote her first cookbook was all the encouragement Bridget Davis needed to lose excess weight.
The well known chef and mother-of-three was the heaviest she had ever been at 90kg and was terrified of appearing before a crowd in 2018.
‘I thought I was going to look like an elephant up there,’ the 44-year-old told FEMAIL, particularly as she’d already been told ‘the camera adds 10 kilos’.
She had a little over a month before she was due to appear on the popular Australian TV show and set to work researching ways she could safely – and healthily – drop the weight.
Being told she would have to appear on Studio 10’s morning show to promote her first cookbook was all the encouragement Bridget Davis needed to lose excess weight
‘I thought about going to the gym and exercising like a crazy person but I don’t really like those kinds of workouts,’ the Sydney-based chef said.
‘So I started looking into gut health and realised this could be the way to do it. I eliminated gluten, sugar and dairy and instantly felt lighter and less bloated.
‘In just over three weeks I lost 12 kilos so I knew it was working.’
She limited her fruit intake to just one apple a day and stopped eating honey, maple syrup and artificial sweeteners.
She did it! Ms Davis (pictured centre) appeared on Studio 10 to launch her cookbook
‘In just over three weeks I lost 12 kilos so I knew it was working,’ she said
Ms Davis began to notice that she picked up the natural sweetness in foods you otherwise wouldn’t think could be sweet – like cabbage.
‘I make a seaweed-based soup and leave the shredded cabbage to soak on top… and I can really taste the sweetness!’ she said.
For breakfast she would start the day with chicken breast, turkey meatballs or prawns because the protein would sustain her until mid-morning.
‘Lunch is the heartiest meal of the day for me so I’ll have something like a cottage pie,’ she said.
‘I use a very lean beef mince, lots of spices and top it with roasted garlic cauliflower mash.’
Dinner is something ‘quick and easy’ like a stir fry that she can make in 10 minutes or less.
‘So I started looking into gut health and realised this could be the way to do it. I eliminated gluten, sugar and dairy and instantly felt lighter and less bloated,’ she said
In total she lost 30kg eating this way and has maintained her goal weight for at least eight months, slowly reintroducing small amounts of sugar and dairy.
But one of the best things to come out of her journey was her Facebook page Bridget’s Kitchen, which Ms Davis used to share recipes she was eating on her lifestyle.
Now, with 60,000 followers, the chef has reintroduced good quality dairy like certain butters and cheese, but steers clear of cow’s milk.
‘I also cook with avocado oil and coconut oil now,’ she said. ‘But I stay away with gluten because it still doesn’t agree with me.’
For breakfast she would start the day with chicken breast, turkey meatballs or prawns because the protein would sustain her until mid-morning
Ms Davis knows how important diet is when it comes to weight loss because her journey was 100 per cent based on the food she put in her mouth.
But as Australia edges closer to the cold depth of winter – and hunger increases – the 44-year-old said there is a way to have your cake and eat it too.
‘If you’re wanting something comforting try oven-roasted meatballs.
‘You can even put some mozzarella cheese in there to make it even tastier,’ she said.
Despite having once cooked for Oprah, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern and King and Queen of Tonga, Ms Davis said she feels nervous cooking for anyone.
But one of the best things to come out of her journey was her Facebook page Bridget’s Kitchen (pictured with her husband)
‘Lunch is the heartiest meal of the day for me so I’ll have something like a cottage pie,’ she said (pictured right)
‘While you definitely feel there is additional pressure I get just as nervous serving for six people coming to my house for dinner,’ she said.
‘It’s always about the meal you’re creating and not just about who for.’
Earlier this year the chef won a world Gourmand cookbook with her second cookbook Breakfast Around The World.
That same book was also named by UNESCO as one of the most influential cookbooks of the past three years, and is currently on display at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.