How to stay slim on 36 cakes a day
HER job involves tasting 36 cakes a day. So how on earth does Mary Berry manage to keep her trim figure?
The answer, according to the 81-yearold queen of cakes, is simple – soup and salad.
With the latest series of the Great British Bake Off under way, petite Berry says counting calories, filling up on vegetables and using a smaller plate were also essential steps in maintaining her waistline while judging all the sweet treats on the show.
The star of the hit BBC1 programme says sugary drinks should be banned – she won’t give them to her grandchildren.
She tells Good Housekeeping magazine: “I have soup at lunchtime and I know exactly how many calories are in that soup. I don’t have bread with it, but I may have a salad if it’s very hot.
“I’ll have a couple of starters if I am at a hotel in the evening. That’s it. Otherwise I will put on weight because I am having to taste 36 cakes a day. It’s my job. Freak diets, I don’t think work. It’s control. Have a smaller plate. I have mountains of vegetables. I have twice as much as my husband does.”
Healthy eating is clearly a passion for Berry, who thinks deep-frying food is unnecessary and whose five grandchildren drink only water.
“We need to teach parents about the right foods to give children. It’s difficult.
“Many people think children must have chips. I don’t think any household should have a deep fat fryer. I never fry a doughnut! I think it’s quite unnecessary. If you want a doughnut, go and buy one once in a blue moon.
“It’s about everything in moderation. It isn’t what’s in children’s lunchboxes – it’s when they walk around the cor ner from school with money they’ve been given and buy all the other things.
“I honestly think there shouldn’t be sugared drinks. All my grandchildren drink water all through the day. I’ve just had them to stay and at breakfast they have water. They don’t even know what sugary drinks are.”
Berry has been married to Paul Hunnings since 1966 and says the key to their harmonious union is her ability to be quiet and listen.
“My husband always says women talk far too much. We have a lot of peaceful times.
“We’re very happy together. We don’t argue. My father said to my husband: ‘Never go to bed on an argument. Always get it right before you go to bed.’ It’s quite true.”
Berry has credited her mother Majorie’s enthusiasm for cookery and the kitchen for her long life. Her mother lived until the impressive age of 105.
Berry confessed to considering the reaction of viewers when considering her diet.
“I eat carefully because people don’t want to see a large person judging cakes.” – Daily Mail