Gina and Karol Daly, the fastest-selling Irish cookbook authors of last year, open up on how they lost eight stone between them eating delicious fakeaways.
The Meath natives, behind The Daly Dish book, aren’t trained cooks but their love of cooking bold dishes with no guilt attached has made them Internet sensations.
Gina, 40, said she spent a decade battling with her weight until she found Slimming World which inspired her love of whipping up guilt-free recipes.
Gina said: “I was tired of the meet and the veg every night.
“I really wanted to eat the bold food, more than just at the weekend from the Takeaway.
“We started basically seeing how we could make our favourite dishes, but on the healthier side, stripping back the fat on the meat, using less oil.
“Creating crispy textures using instant mashed potato because that’s a free ingredient on Slimming World.”
Gina’s recipes took off on Instagram amassing almost 200,000 followers.
She said: “Everything worked really well, because I was making them on Instagram the page grew really quickly.
“Then the book came along and now the second one.
Creating fakeaways is key: “The tag Line I used is bold food made healthy.
“The Chinese food or chipper food you really want to eat you can now eat it any day of the week.”
Naturally, Gina’s hubby started to lose weight as the pair started whipping up a healthy storm in the kitchen.
Mum-of-two Gina added: “I joined Slimming World when my little fella was 2, he’s 10 now, my journey has been up and down in the weight loss department.
Karol quipped: “Because Gina was so into the food, naturally myself and the kids ate the same food.
“They’re not calorie deficit recipes, but I guess it’s a new way of eating and educating yourself on food."
Gina added: “I wasn’t great on vegetables, I wasn’t great on portion control or anything like that.
“Karl started running and eating healthier too and he lost four stone.
“You’re not on a diet but you’re eating a healthy, well-balanced diet.
The book features everything from healthy burgers to yummy truck food.
Gina added: “It’s more of an inspirational book and it’s in keeping with the Slimming World ethos but I’m not affiliated with them at all.
“My page isn't about weight loss but it was more about inspirational recipes.
“I’m only human if sad and emotional things happen. I feed people, I try to create situations where everybody is together."
She gushed: “Like everyone else I put on the covid stone but I was comfy in myself and now I’m pregnant again, for me eating healthy was never about getting skinny."
Being a healthy weight is truly what inspires the happy couple.
Gina added: “I was 22 stone at one point, I was out of breath but during my pregnancy now my goal is maintaining a healthy weight.
“I lost 8 stone so I got down to 13 Stone 10 with a combination of Slimming World and my own recipes.
“If you want to lose weight you can, Slimming World was the only one that clicked with me, I don’t feel deprived and it inspired our book.”
- The Daly Dish Rides Again by Gina and Karol Daly is published by Gill Books, priced €22.99.
