Jamie Oliver has revealed he shed almost two stone by ditching fad diets and cutting down on just one type of food.
The TV chef, best known for his popular cooking shows on Channel 4 including Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals, and Jamie’s Ministry of Food, said by swapping out one element of his diet, he’s managed to inadvertently lose a lot of weight.
Jamie, who shares five kids - Poppy, 19, Daisy, 18, Petal, 12, Buddy, 11, and five-year-old River - with wife Jools Oliver, said dropping meat from his everyday diet really helped him shift the pounds.
“I pushed meat down, pushed veggie up, got more sleep and more movement,” he told the Radio Times.
The Naked Chef said when he began opting for healthier meals, as well as halving his portion sizes, he saw an immediate effect.
“I lost 12 kilos quite quickly and I didn't do it through not eating,” Jamie explained.
He recommended swapping meat for large servings of veggies, and urged people to start snacking on nuts as they’re hugely beneficial for heart health.
“Feed them to your kids as well,” Jamie recommended in the interview, which took place last year.
His love for veggies was reignited when he decided to create a cookbook full of delicious plant-based recipes, Ultimate Veg, which was released in August 2019.
Jamie also cut back on booze, and tried getting more sleep at night, which is hard when you’re a working parent with five kids.
But he now only drinks on a weekend after banning alcohol midweek, and said he’s now “more mindful” and has a positive “consciousness”.
Another super food recommendation was seaweed, and the award-winning chef said it was “the most nutritious vegetable in the world.”
Jamie’s also a big fan of a nutritious breakfast, and as he shared his wife’s recipe for granola on his website, he called it the “perfect portable breakfast”.
“Granola is a great way to enjoy all the different types of dried fruits, nuts and seeds that you might not otherwise get in your diet,” he wrote.
During an appearance on Loose Women in 2015, he told the panelists he’s been inspired to lose weight after years of trying to stay in shape, and said he realised he hadn’t spent any time looking after himself.
“I went back to school and started studying nutrition, started travelling to parts of the world to where people live the longest lives and started looking at their lifestyles,” Jamie explained.
