This new ‘no calorie’ food is just as good as it sounds, dieters

If you want to lose weight you have to cut calories.

Science shows that if you're burning more than you're eating, the weight will start to fall off. Simple. But anyone who has ever started cutting calories will know that you're often left feeling hungry. Have you ever eaten a salad that has left you feeling full, happy and satisfied? That's what we thought. Rather than letting hunger get the better of you and send you scrambling for the takeaway menu, Japan might just have a brilliant solution. It's an almost zero-calorie, zero fat food to pack out your meals and make them filling. Japan has already given the world a taste for nutrient-rich, low carb seaweed - but the latest export is another ancient natural Japanese health food called Konnyaku. It's made from the konnyaku potato and mixed with natural calcium. The reason it's so low calorie - about 5 cals per 100g - is that it's 97 per cent water and the rest is natural fibre. Fibre is one of the key nutrients that helps people lose weight and it stabilises blood sugar and helps you to feel full. It comes in jelly-like block form or the more palatable-sounding noodle form, known as shirataki noodles. Stick as much of this as you want in stir fries, sauces, curries and soups because you're not going to have to count as many calories as you would normally. Konnyaki has been around for 1,500 years but why they've only just thought to start selling it over here in the UK, we'll never know. You'll now find Yutaka Konnyaku brown and white varieties and shirataki noodles in most major supermarkets at £1.60 a pop. Happy eating folks.