British model-turned-writer SOPHIE DAHL is set to publish a collection of healthy eating recipes to help women lose weight.

The former plus size catwalk queen - granddaughter of the late children's author Roald Dahl - sparked controversy in the U.K. when she dramatically lost weight, shrinking from a curvy size US 14 (UK size 16) to a slender size six (UK size eight).

And now she is hoping her book - her third literary effort - will inspire other curvaceous women to slim down.

She says, "I wanted to write a memoir about food, a recipe book that gets over the message that you don't have to starve yourself to be reasonably skinny.

"You can eat quite happily and the more you obsess about it, the more of an issue it becomes.

"It's an anecdotal book about how to be slim - and still eat. Healthy breakfasts, lunches and suppers, and some fattening puddings. Easy, simple home cooking that's healthy."

And although her extreme weight loss sparked reports she had developed an eating disorder, Dahl insists she is perfectly healthy.

She adds, "I slimmed down naturally. Good old-fashioned exercise."

The book, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, is due out in early September.