A SLIM ankle has been a mark of beauty for centuries. So it was only a
matter of time before the cankle – the calf merging with the ankle  claimed its place beside the muffin top, love handle and saddlebag as another problem area we are expected to sort out.

Here Sun fitness expert NICKI WATERMAN – who has guided the workouts of slim-legged stars such as Denise Van Outen, Rachel Hunter and Kelly Brook – and Sun nutritionist AMANDA URSELL tell you how.

OFTEN, especially if you are slim yet still have cankles, salt is the culprit.

When we eat more salt than our bodies need, we store water to help dilute the salt levels in our blood and keep them within normal limits.

This water can pool around our ankles, which leads to a loss of definition of this area.

A low-salt diet may not get rid of cankles completely but it can help to stop them “bloating” which is a good starting place.

Currently women in the UK eat an average of around 9g of salt a day in our diets. The Government recommend that we should reduce this to 6g a day.

If we can take this even lower and get right down to 3g, experts believe we can lose up to ONE AND-A-HALF LITRES of excess water.

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Not only does this show on the scales as a 2lb TO 3lb weight loss, it can help you to de-bloat in lots of areas including your tummy, wrists and ankles.

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in potassium, can also help naturally balance body water.

Around 70 per cent of our salt intake comes from processed foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, ready meals, takeaways, soups, pies, biscuits and cakes.

An important factor to keep in mind when buying prepared food is the way salt is labelled on the packaging.

Some nutrition charts tell you the grams of salt the product contains. Others tell you the milligrams of sodium.

To convert milligrams of sodium into grams of salt you need to multiply the sodium by 2.5. For example: 1g of sodium = 2.5g of salt.

On a nutrition label a product containing 0.25g of salt (0.1g of sodium) is “low”. A food containing 1.25g of salt (0.5g sodium) is high.

The best advice is to get back to basics and to start eating simple home-made meals and snacks.

Below is a low-salt diet plan to cut down to just 3g of salt daily.

As far as fluid intake is concerned, it is a myth that drinking too much water leads to fluid retention.

If your kidneys are in good working order, this is not the case.

Try to drink water at and between meal times and stick to around three to four cups of caffeine-containing beverages such as tea and coffee during the day.

Green tea is believed to help to speed the metabolism and burn fat. The effects are probably quite minimal but drinking three or four cups a day will certainly do no harm. And green tea is rich in potentially health-boosting antioxidants. Steer away from smoothies, fizzy drinks, squashes and alcohol. They all add unnecessary calories if you are trying to shed weight.

A natural tendency towards having cankles can be made worse if you are carrying excess weight because it increases a tendency to swelling and an accumulation of fat in this area.

The meal plans below, which help to lower salt, are also around 1,250 calories and will assist almost all women to shed a good 2lb of body fat per week.
 The more weight you have to lose, the more weight you will shed initially.

A combination of fat and water loss can lead to a weight loss of 5lb to 6lb within seven days and hopefully a sleeker silhouette to your ankle, just like the shapely pins on Kylie Minogue.

Try Amanda's meal plan

Day 1

Breakfast: Porridge with a banana and sprinkling of toasted sunflower seeds.

Mid-morning: Handful of dried apricots.

Lunch: Plain pasta mixed with drained tuna, tomatoes, cucumber and red, yellow or green peppers.

Mid-afternoon: A handful of unsalted cashew nuts.

Dinner: Jacket potato with ricotta cheese, mixed with cooked frozen sweetcorn and lots of your favourite salad with balsamic vinegar. Big fruit salad with plain yogurt for pudding.

Total: 1,250 calories and 3g salt.

Day 2

Breakfast: Sugar-free muesli with skimmed milk and a grated apple topped with a blob of fromage frais.

Mid-morning: A pear and a banana.

Lunch: Rice salad made from boiled and cooled rice with cooked chicken, peas and other favourite vegetables.

Mid-afternoon: Total 2 per cent fat Greek yogurt with runny honey.

Dinner: Grilled lean steak with boiled new potatoes and your favourite vegetables. For pudding, baked apple with low-fat custard.

Total: 1,250 calories and 1g salt.

Day 3

Breakfast: Two Oatibix with some berries such as chopped strawberries and skimmed milk.

Mid-morning: Slices of melon and grapes.

Lunch: Couscous with chickpeas (canned in water and drained) plus vegetables of your choice such as mange tout and aubergines.

Dinner: Plain noodles with grilled salmon steak, served with roasted vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms.

For pudding, mango and pineapple salad with fromage frais.

Total: 1,250 calories and 1g salt.

Nicki's workout

NICKI SAYS: I found combining cardio, jumping and stretching with weight training gives you a great cankle-blasting workout.

My programme includes daily brisk walks of 30 to 60 minutes and a series of squats and lateral jumps, ankle circles, calf raises and downward dog yoga poses.

Give it a try.

1. Move in bed before you get up: When you wake up in the morning lie in bed and circle your feet. This will get the blood circulating and warm up your ankles for the day ahead.

2. Stretch out before your shower: Once out of bed, stretch those calves.

Stand on the stairs or any incline and let your heels hang off the edge. Raise and lower yourself slowly.

You will begin to feel the stretch in the back of your calves.

Hold a wall for balance and keep your abdominal muscles tight.

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3. At work: Elevating your legs at the office may not be a possibility.
Instead try resting your elbows on your knees. Now lift your heels as high as they will go, while digging your toes into the floor. Lower them back to the floor and repeat several times during the day.

4. In the evening when you get home, do the heel/toe walk:

Find a space wide enough to walk comfortably up and down and about five metres long.

Stand at one end of this space and walk to the other on your heels, then slowly lower on to your whole foot.

Turn around and walk back to the start on your toes, then slowly lower back on to your full foot.

Repeat this until until you can feel your calves and ankles aching and make a note of how many times you walked up and down. Do the same amount of exercise every other evening and increase the repetitions each week.

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5. Do the “plié squat” on tip-toes in front of the telly: Stand with feet wider than shoulders, toes out at a comfortable angle, hands on hips.

Rise on to the toes, bend knees and lower as far as possible into a plié squat, keeping knees in line with the toes. Press back up.

Try to stay on your toes the entire time. Repeat 20 times. Aim to complete three sets.

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6. Jump squats: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, keeping knees slightly bent. Squat slowly then jump off the ground, landing back in the start position. As you land, make sure your knees are bent to absorb the impact. Aim for three sets of 15 reps, taking three seconds to squat down and one to jump up. Breathe in as you slowly lower your body and out as you jump.