Food has made me spiritual, says Oliver

Jamie Oliver has said that learning more about nutrition in recent years has made him “spiritual”.

The celebrity chef, food writer and restaurateur also said he will spend the next 12 years campaigning to improve the nation’s health in order to fight Britain’s childhood obesity crisis.

Oliver has taken the number one spot on a new list by well-being magazine Balance, which celebrates 100 “inspiring” people deemed to “make the world a better, brighter and more mindful place”.

He told the magazine, of his forthcoming health goals: “I have made a decision to go all-out for the next 12 years to get things where they should be.

“The statistics are really frightening. One in three step into secondary school as obese.

“And 85 per cent of those will be like that for the rest of their lives. You could easily go ‘Oh I don’t give a f***’. But, I do.

“It’s not because I am kind or clever but when you witness things, it changes you.”

He added: “I never used to be spiritual but ... I am now. I think nutrition has made me spiritual. The more I have learned.

“There’s no such thing as perfection and anyone who tells you they’ve got it is a liar.

“I think questioning things is always good.

“Knowing you could always do better feels like a good place to be.”

Oliver, who also appears on the cover of the new issue of the magazine, said that “self-care and self-love” are concepts he is warming to.

Picture: PA. Jamie Oliver wants to spend the next 12 years fighting childhood obesity.