Bodies beautiful: (left to right) Catherine Zeta Jones, Demi Moore and Sting

Raw foods

• Who is on it: Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Sting, Donna Karan

• How it works: Raw foodists believe that cooking food destroys its nutritional value, hastening ageing. On this diet, you cannot eat anything heated past 118 degrees.

• Look up: Raw by Roxanne Klein and Charlie Trotter; www.living-foods.com

The Zone

• Who is on it: Jennifer Aniston, Cindy Crawford, Catherine Zeta Jones

• How it works: The Zone is a physiological state in which insulin and eicosanoids, governed by the food you eat, are maintained within zones that are not too high, nor too low. You have to balance the basic food groups: 40 per cent carbs, 30 per cent fat, 30 per cent protein.

• Look up: The Zone by Barry Sears; www.zoneperfect.com

Perricone Prescription

• Who is on it: Heidi Klum, Kim Cattrall, Julia Roberts

• How it works: By eliminating foods over 50 on the glycemic index and by increasing your intake of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. Avoid starchy foods and refined sugars, potatoes and juice.

• Look up: The Perricone Prescription, by Nicholas Perricone; www.perriconeprescription.com

Life Choice

• Who is on it: Laura Dern, Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones

• How it works: This is a low-fat diet that comprises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and soy products. The programme is built upon advice for preventing and reversing heart disease, but is marketed as a weight-loss diet. But it does not limit the amount of food you eat ? it only recommends that you ?graze? all day rather than eat three big meals.

• Look up: Eat More, Weigh Less by Dean Ornish; www.ornish.com

The SouthBeach Diet

• Who is on it: The Clintons, Bette Midler, Nicole Kidman

• How it works: The trendy Miami hot spot helped inspire this diet for the beautiful people. For the first two weeks, dieters will have to say goodbye to cocktails, refined foods and potatoes, fruits and sugars. Weight is expected to come off the stomach first, because when you do not eat sugar, you do not produce insulin, which is responsible for controlling fat in your middle.

• Look up: The SouthBeach Diet by Dr Arthur Agatston; www.southbeachdiet.com

Macrobiotic diet

• Who is on it: Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Joe Pesci

• How it works: The diet consists of grains, oats, rice, corn and barley, eliminating dairy and meat. You divide your daily proportions along these lines: 10 per cent soup; 30 per cent veggies, 10 per cent beans and sea veggies, and 50 per cent whole grains ? plus a bit of seafood, fruit, and nuts.

• Look up: The Macrobiotic Way, by Michio Kushi; www.macrobiotics.org

The also-rans

• Carol Vorderman’s detox: Cuts out caffeine, booze, meat and dairy products, and favours raw fruit and vegetables as well as lots of nuts and seeds. Ask Kim Wilde.

• Glycemic Index (GI) diet: Followed by Kylie Minogue. Processed foods and carbs are off-limits, but the diet allows red wine and dark chocolate.

• Blood type diet: Followed by Martine McCutcheon. Did you know that Os are “hunters” best suited to a meat-heavy diet, while As should be largely vegetarian?

• Food combining: A favourite of Liz Hurley. The basic principle of this diet is that you do not mix food types. For instance you avoid eating carbs and proteins together. And have fruits separately.

• Weight Watchers: Bit of an oldie but still in use (Fran Drescher and Kate Winslet are on it). Foods are assigned point values based on their number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of fibre. Eat anything you want, but stay inside your daily point limit.

Shoppers’ guide

Just because the stars can act, sing, and look glamorous doesn’t necessarily mean they are qualified to advise you on nutrition. But they bring out books and CDs on the diets they endorse, all the same. Keep these points in mind before you buy them.

Avoid anything that sells food products and supplements that go with the programme. Sometimes these diets can be very expensive and not everyone can afford these foods, nor are these foods available in every neighbourhood.

Avoid any plan that hawks one specific nutrient — whether protein, carbohydrate or fat — as a saviour or remedy for weight loss. There is no miracle food.

Celebrity plans have a tendency to promote a very quick fix, are hard to stick by and are touting all types of products. When the author doesn’t have a degree in health, this can be very scary. Read the author biography to see if this person has clinical experience. Where did he or she work? If it’s someone with a PhD, find out what its in, it could be in history — not anything pertaining to your body.