Brits admit to over indulging
Once in a while, surely it’s ok to break from the healthy diet and treat yourself?
Well of course it is, the problem is, a new Love Your Gut survey has exposed that some of us, like our junk food a little bit too much!
In fact, last year’s city of culture, is this year’s city of junk as it’s been revealed that Liverpudlians eat more junk food than any other people in Britain.
Residents of the north west city scoff six chocolate bars or cakes, six biscuits and four packets of crisps each week – an average of two fatty snacks each day.
And on top of that, they treat themselves to a weekly takeaway meal as well as one time-saving ready meal as well as four fizzy drinks and six alcoholic drinks a week.
It would seem that people in Wales are also tempted by junk, as those in the capital city of Cardiff confessed to munching on 14 cakes, chocolates bars and biscuits each week, making them second unhealthiest, followed closely by those from Belfast.
But if you want to join the healthy brigade then it may be an idea to move to East Anglia. People in Norwich were found to be the healthiest in the country – eating just three packets of crisps and four biscuits a week.
Second place went to people from Portsmouth, followed by Plymouth, Leicester and London.
Of course treats are fine every once in a while but having large amounts of junk food, week after week can be bad for your whole body.
This is a view echoed by Dr Simon Gabe, Consultant Gastroenterologist at St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow. He says; “The long-term health implications for people eating too many of cakes, chocolates, crisps and fizzy drinks can be quite serious. Diabetes, obesity, joint problems, high blood pressure, heart disease are just some of the problems people might encounter if they eat too much of this sort of food.
“I am not suggesting that people shouldn’t eat things they enjoy, just have a banana instead of a piece of cake, a small bag of nuts and raisins instead of a bar of chocolate and by making a simple change like that once or twice a week, they can do themselves a lot of good.
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Some good news, is that people do seem to be identifying they have a problem – almost two thirds of people have said that they do eat too much junk food and more than a third owning up to supping too many fizzy and alcoholic drinks.
So what can we do to get ourselves back on track? Well it can be simpler than you think. We need to think about eating more fruit, vegetables, starchy fibre-rich foods and fresh products and fewer fatty, sugary, salty and processed foods.
To understand more about a good digestive diet, and to get a free diet and health plan book, go to www.insideoutdiet.co.uk