Nearly a million Scots keep secret stashes of chocolate in the house.
New research has shown up Scotland’s secret snacking sins amid growing concerns about a health crisis fuelled by unhealthy eating.
The research has also shown millions of adults, too lazy to cook for themselves, are pigging out on takeaways and even eat their kids’ leftovers in restaurants
FortuneGames.com interviewed 2,000 adults aged between 18-65 about their guilty snacking secrets amid growing concerns of a health crisis fuelled by unhealthy eating.
The results painted a worrying picture of a nation hooked on takeaways and sugary snacks, with almost a million people keeping secret stockpiles of chocolate around the house to gorge on when their partners are out of sight.
Of those polled, around one in four confessed to regularly munching an entire pack of Pringles by themselves, with one in five said they scoffed an entire packet of biscuits while having a cuppa.
A quarter said they regularly order unhealthy takeaway because they are “too lazy to cook” while one in six hide chocolate around the house from their partner — with women twice as likely to keep a secret stash.
The data comes as the Scottish government is again being urged to bring forward a bill aimed at banning multi-buy offers on junk food.
Campaigners are concerned that illness caused by bad diet is heaping additional pressures on NHS Scotland at a time when resources are already stretched to breaking point.
Eating on the run and giant food portions were also among the trends which emerged from the research, with McDonald’s breakfasts and an extra slice of cake or scoop of ice-cream making the top 10 of snacking sins.
One in seven also confessed to eating cereal in the evening, something which can cause overproduction of insulin due to the high sugar, low-fibre make-up of many of the major brands.
Lee Whitbread, CEO of FortuneGames.com, said: “Everyone likes to indulge from time to time but during lockdown many of us were reaching for the snack drawer more than we should.
“This data should focus minds on the enormous challenges Scotland faces if it is to kick its junk food habit into touch and embrace healthy living.”
Scotland’s snackng sins:
• Ordering takeaway because I’m too lazy to cook
• Having an extra scoop of ice-cream or slice of cake
• Eating entire pack of Pringles by myself
• Eating an entire packet of biscuits with cuppa
• Keeping secret stash of chocolate
• Eating cereal for dinner
• Eat childhood foods like spaghetti hoops, fish fingers
• Grab breakfast from McDonald’s
• Eating Nutella from a jar
• Eating kids’ leftovers in restaurant
