1. Keep a Food Diary

Writing down every bite and sip in your food journal can be an invaluable tool for a successful diet. It can help you track what you are eating, and make you understand how much you are really consuming. Try writing down the calories net to each entry too.

2. Keep Snacks in the House

A common mistake of most dieters is to take all snacks out the house. Models know that snacking throughout the day is actually a key element of successful dieting. Everyone gets hunger pangs – just make sure that when you lose your willpower its with healthy, low-fat snacks rather than pizza or icecream.

Great ideas for healthy snacks are low-fat yoghurt, sweet potatoes, edamame and salted popcorn. Try to carry snacks with you when you leave the house too. A healthy nut bar in your purse will prevent you from stopping in at McDonalds on the way home.

3. Quit the Emotional Eating

Let’s face it life is difficult! Many of us make excuses that bottle of wine or box of chocolates on a bad day. Perhaps you’ve lost your job, broke up with your significant other, or had a disagreement with a friend. Learning to deal with the pains of life without turning to food is an important habit to create.

Try to get stuck into doing something you love, like a hobby or your favorite exercise, when life deals you a blow. Alternatively, consider seeking professional help with emotional eating issues.

4. Don’t Order the Sauce

Believe it or not, restaurant food doesn’t have to be a dieter’s nightmare. Dishes like salads, grilled meat and fish are perfectly fine for calorie-counting diners.. as long as you don’t put a thick, creamy sauce on top of them.

Order dishes without sauces if you can. If you really have to, go for something light like a soy sauce or vinaigrette. In an Italian restaurant, try the sauces with a tomato base as they will generally be lighter.

5. Grill, Baby, Grill!

OK, baking and steaming are fine too, but you get the point! You have to steer clear of fried food if you want to lose weight. When you cook, try to use the absolute minimum of oil. Many foods contain natural oils that speed the cooking process anyway, there’s just no need for spoonfuls of cooking oil.

6. Spice It Up!

Boost your metabolism with spicy food, it really works! Spicy food can make you feel more full, and it also gives your system a kickstart, forcing it to burn more calories. You have to be careful though – lots of spicy dishes in restaurants are extremely high in calories.

Add ingredients like black pepper, ginger and chilli peppers to your home cooking for a flavourful way to increase your weight loss.

7. Frozen Fruit

Before you go to bed at night, throw some fruit in the freezer. It can be grapes, berries, or whatever’s left in your fruit bowl just sliced up. The next day you have a nutritious, healthy snack ready for you.

There are two reasons why this is a great diet tip. Firstly, you will be forced to eat the frozen fruit slower than if it were at room temperature. Secondly, the lower temperature makes your body work harder, increasing your metabolism and helping you to burn off more fat.

8. Drink Lots of Water

When it comes to weight loss, water is a model’s best friend. Staying fully hydrated will increase your metabolism, stave off hunger pangs, improve your complexion and slow down the aging process. What’s not to love?

9. Green Tea

Studies have shown that drinking green tea between meals results in weight loss. Its not just the caffeine either, so coffee is no substitute. Buy some green tea and give it a try – it has plenty of other health benefits besides weight loss so you have nothing to lose.

10. Ditch the Mayo

In every model’s list of foods to avoid, one of the tops spots is always taken by Mayonnaise. Low in nutrients, high in fat, adding Mayo to your sandwich can turn a healthy treat into a high-calorie nightmare! Try mustard instead, its much healthier and will help keep your snacks low in calories.

Dining at Okku is a more intimate experience than some of its peers. The dark, funky interior is split in two by a fibre optic style wall that acts both as divider and light source. The bar, full of hot young things, sits on the upper level while the main dining area is downstairs. Music is a mixture of world beats and Latin lounge provided by a live DJ.

After the waitress guided us skillfully through the menu, we settled on a few appetizers to start off. As at Zuma, dishes arrive as they are prepared, so you know everything that reaches your table is freshly made.

First up was the Spicy Rock Shrimp. Always a personal favourite, it was surprisingly sweet, deliciously crunchy and had a little wasabi kick at the end. Next was the Aubergine Shigiyaki, glazed in a sweet miso sauce and boasting a generous portion of firm aubergine meat. Last to arrive was the ‘O-style’ Yellowtail Carpaccio, wafer-thin and beautifully presented, with a topping of spring onions and a dash of wasabi.

Although our eyes kept wondering over the page to the Black Cod, we decided to hold off and try a couple of the waitress’ recommendations first. The Sashimi Salad came loaded with tuna, salmon and hamachi, all fresh and full of dense flavour.  The Scallop Ceviche ‘On The Shell’ was another highlight, a tasty combination of scallop, onions and avocado with a zesty sauce.

There’s one final question that every lover of contemporary Japanese cuisine will be asking – how does the Black Cod at Okku compare to Nobu and Zuma? The answer is – very well. Offering a citrusy variation on the traditional miso sauce, Okku’s interpretation tasted lighter yet still had that melt-in-your-mouth quality. Crispy on the outside but soft and flaky in the centre.

Fully sated, we skipped dessert and enjoyed one last drink at the bar to reflect on the meal. The friendly bar staff were happy to chat with us, reflecting the excellent service throughout.

With a nightclub vibe to complement its excellent food, Okku is a welcome addition to Dubai’s growing list of Japanese restaurants. The cozy atmosphere contrasts nicely to some of its peers in this city, and reminded both me and my dining companion of evenings out in New York. Okku seems destined to become a regular meeting spot for Dubai’s trendiest foodies.

As ever, the truth is somewhere in between. Most expat residents and visitors happily co-exist with locals, finding that local customs hardly restrict their lifestyle at all. As a general rule, be polite and considerate and you’ll be just fine.

Alcohol

Contrary to what you might read in the UK or elsewhere, Dubai’s rules on alcohol consumption are very relaxed. Although residents need to license to buy alcoholic beverages in shops like MMI and A&E, anyone of legal age can buy a drink in hotel bars and restaurants.

Drinking alcohol in public is frowned upon so you won’t find any open street bars. In fact, even carrying alcohol around can get you in trouble, so make sure it is covered at all times. The staff at the off-license won’t let you leave the premises without a brown paper bag wrapped around all your purchases.

Appearing drunk in public is also frowned upon so try to behave yourself when you step out of the bar! And if you take a day-trip to Sharjah, remember that alcohol is completely forbidden there. Even driving through Sharjah with alcohol in your car can get you arrested.

Clothing

Most of the restaurants in this guide are based in hotels, where a looser attitude towards clothing prevails. As soon as you step out of the hotel however, be prepared to lose the revealing clothing and put on some more respectful attire.

This does not have to mean covering up fully, but you should avoid strappy, short dresses and mini-skirts. Try to wear tops with sleeves, combined with longer dresses or jeans. This applies particularly during Ramadan, when the utmost care must be taken to respect local Muslims. 

Public Behaviour

As mentioned before, the ‘Sex on the Beach’ scandal thrust expat behaviour into the spotlight in Dubai. Even kissing in public is disallowed – an Italian couple was fined nearly $4000 for kissing in a taxi in 2004. This rule applies to any public place, including hotel bars, clubs, restaurants and even the beach.

Visitors can get in similar trouble for public drunkenness, although it will only be a problem if you’re actually doing something wrong at the time. Always remember to be respectful.

It never really gets cold in Dubai, although wearing shorts in the evenings can become a little uncomfortable around December/January. The biggest problem usually is the heat, with temperatures reaching over 50 degrees Celsius in the middle of the summer.

Here is a rough guide to how the weather will affect your dining experience:

 Dec-Jan

Eat outside during the day, but you’ll need trousers and a light sweater at night.

 Feb-Apr

Perfect weather for outdoor dining in the evenings, sometimes a little too hot during the day. 

Jun-Aug

Too hot to eat outside during the day, but some evenings will be OK. In the heat of the Summer, it can get to hot to be outside at all, except maybe on the beach.

Sep-Nov

Perfect weather again for outdoor dining in the evenings. Some days will be cool enough to have an outdoor lunch.