Diets pile on the pounds in the New Year

Sixty three per cent of British people believe that the New Year’s resolution to lose weight adds to their weekly shopping bill. A survey by British Lion eggs has found that, at the time of year when finances are most stretched, the extra expense of buying diet foods just adds to January woes.  

But many diets are an expensive rip off and slimmers’ good intentions rarely last very long. One third of women say they’ve given up on their diet within the first week, with the first weekend proving the most challenging time to willpower.

Experts agree that there’s no need to contribute to the £2 billion UK diet industry to succeed with losing weight. Most nutritionists advise that the best diet is to eat plenty of natural, fresh foods, cooked well.  Eggs – nature’s original functional food - are well and truly back in fashion and, with just 80 calories per medium egg, are worth their weight in gold for dieters, despite only costing a few pence each. 

Unsurprisingly most people (31.2%) said they missed chocolate the most when on a diet, this was closely followed by fast food such as chips, burgers and pizzas with 16.4% saying they felt deprived without their regular fix. To help those missing their favourite pizza, British Lion eggs has developed the Pizza Omelette, a delicious low fat alternative which takes just minutes to prepare and costs just a few pence. Compared with a regular cheese and tomato pizza, the Pizza Omelette contains less than two thirds of the calories and has 31% less fat.

Half the UK population has been on a diet in the past year (49.5%) and one in five has tried two or more diets. Although 70% of men are obese or overweight*, women are most likely to try dieting with 57.5% saying they had been on at least one diet in the past year and one quarter (24.6%) saying they had tried two or more. Despite this effort though, 90% of people who diet end up putting the weight back on**.  

Cath Macdonald, nutritionist comments: “There is overwhelming evidence that fad diets don’t work and many of them are very expensive. This cost is the last thing most people need in January when faced with the Christmas credit card hangover and may mean that good intentions don’t very long. It is much better to adopt a balanced diet which will leave people feeling satisfied rather than deprived.

“In fact, recent research from University College London found that eating more protein, including foods like eggs, reduces hunger and food intake - great news for those trying to lose the extra pounds piled on over Christmas. Eggs are one of the cheapest proteins as well as being packed with essential vitamins and minerals so including them in a healthy eating plan won’t put a strain on the purse.”

Always choose eggs bearing the British Lion mark, which guarantees that the eggs are produced to the highest standards of food safety in the world.  All Lion Quality eggs come from British hens and have a date stamp on the shell to show that they are fresher than required by law.

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For further information contact the British Egg Information Service on 020 7808 9790.

Survey conducted by Tickbox, 19.12.06 – 21.12.06 with a sample of 980

*source: Health Survey for England (Joint Health Surveys Unit, 2002)

** Aston University and the Western Human Nutrition Center 2004

Key Research Findings At A Glance

Survey conducted by Tickbox, 19.12.06 – 21.12.06 with a sample of 980

• 29% of all people give up their New Year’s resolution to diet in the first week.
• 32.3% of women give up their New Year’s resolution to diet in the first week.
• 31.2% of people miss chocolate the most when they are dieting.
• 16.4% of people miss fast food such as pizza, burgers and chips the most when they are dieting.
• 49.5% of the UK population has been on at least one diet in the past year and 19.8% have tried two or more diets in the past year.
• 63% of people said that dieting adds to the expense of the weekly shopping bill.