The fish and chip diet!
New slimline takeaway boxes to fight obesity
YOU’D think a meal best known for its indulgent grease would be off the menu for slimmers.
But it’s fine for even dieters to eat fish and chips, say experts – as long as the portions are cut to around 600 calories.
Nutritionists believe offering smaller versions of our favourite takeaway meals could be key to reducing levels of obesity.
Researchers at Newcastle University found that shrinking portions can drastically reduce calorie intake, while also keeping customers happy. They teamed up with an independent fish and chip supplier to develop a portion with around 600 calories – 1,000 less than a traditional serving.
These were offered at a dozen fish and chip shops in the North East, alongside normal menus. The ‘ Lite- BITE’ meal boxes included 5oz of fish and 5oz of chips, both fried in vegetable oil, as well as a pot of mushy peas.
It typically cost about £4 – around £1.60 less than full- size options. The study, published in BMJ Open, found one in five bought the smaller boxes, while two in five said they would consider it.
Surveys and interviews indicated customers were pleased with the smaller portions and takeaway owners were happy to sell them. Jackie Pearson, of fish suppliers Henry Colbeck Limited, said more than 250 shops were using the boxes and that 700,000 had been sold in the past year.
Public Health England suggests adults should consume no more than 400 calories for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 600 for dinner.
The rising number of fastfood outlets has been blamed for fuelling the obesity crisis, with two-thirds of adults and a third of children now overweight or obese.
Lead researcher Louis Goffe said: ‘There is a demand for smaller portion meals and we hope this will act as a template for others in the fast-food sector to follow.’
The truth about Britain’s spiralling obesity crisis has never been starker — or more chilling. Today, an estimated one in four adults and a fifth of ten to 11-year-olds is classified as obese, crowning the UK the sixth fattest nation in the world.
The spread of fast food chains, prevalence of cheap convenience food and a lack of education have all been blamed for our ballooning waistlines. But experts say the real reason is to do with portion size.
Since the Forties, portion sizes have increased exponentially. An average meal in 2019 is more than three times the size it was in our grandparents’ day, packing in more than triple the calories.
And our plates have grown, too, to accommodate our escalating appetites. Research shows there’s an 8cm difference between the size of an average dinner plate in the Forties and the crockery we use today.
Food historian Rebecca earle, of the University of Warwick, says. ‘Recipes that in the eighties might have been expected to feed four people are now feeding two.’
In his new documentary, Britain’s Fat Fight, celebrity chef hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall raised startling questions about modern-day portion sizes. ‘The supersize idea, which started in fast food outlets, has barged its way into our homes,’ he says.
here, we present the rise of obesity on a plate, by comparing roast dinners through the decades. All meals pictured are shown on a modern-day, 28.5cm plate.
1940s: RATIONING
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 20.5cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken drumstick, 120g boiled potatoes, 50g boiled carrots and peas, 120ml chicken or beef stock gravy DESSERT: Bread and butter pudding (150g) DRINK: Glass of water TOTAL CALORIES: 694
RATIONING was introduced in 1940, shortly after the start of World War II. Butter, milk and lard were all on the list of rationed foods, meaning a standard roast dinner lost the richness it previously had.
Gravy was made by watering down the fat from roasting meat, while mushy vegetables came in small portions.
Potatoes were served in abundance. Convinced they were a healthy addition to the daily diet, the Government financed an 87 per cent increase in production.
Bread and butter pudding was a favourite, made from stale bread, grated suet, reconstituted egg powder and marmalade.
‘This was the era when the idea of eating everything on your plate emerged,’ says dietitian Dr Sarah Schenker. ‘Food was more valuable, you couldn’t afford to let it go to waste, and chances were it wasn’t enough to fill you up anyway.’
1950s: DRIPPING IN FAT
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 22cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken thigh, 80g roast potatoes (made with dripping), 100g boiled carrots and peas, 100ml gravy, 65g homemade Yorkshire pudding DESSERT: Tinned pineapple (120g) with custard DRINK: Tea with milk and sugar TOTAL CALORIES: 787
AS FOOD became more abundant (rationing ended in 1954), portions grew steadily — and roast dinner became more of a treat.
Potatoes were roasted in meat dripping, which was no longer needed to make the gravy because cooks turned to oxo stock cubes.
With milk and butter back on the menu, so, too, were Yorkshire puddings. And with only 20 per cent of women in work, homecooked food was the norm. historian Dr Ken Albala says: ‘I was cooking from a Fifties- era cookbook recently which suggested a recipe could feed six. I think it would feed two today.’
A tin of Del Monte pineapple was a welcome after-dinner treat, and most meals were served with milky, sugary tea.
1960s: CONVENIENCE
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 23cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken thigh, 100g roast potatoes, 120g boiled carrots and peas, 100ml gravy, 90g homemade Yorkshire pudding DESSERT: Jelly and ice-cream (150g) DRINK: Can of Coca-Cola (330ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 964
BRITAIN embraced convenience food in the Sixties. By 1962, a third of all UK homes had a fridge, and people spent 28 per cent of their income on food (compared with 12 per cent today).
‘In the Sixties there was a rise in disposable income and an increase in technology in the kitchen,’ says food historian Dr Polly Russell.
‘Food became about display and what it looked like, as well as what it tasted like.’
As potatoes and vegetables became more abundant, people put more on their plates.
Dinner parties were on the rise. People still spent time cooking, with the average meal taking an hour to prepare (compared with 13 minutes today). Foreign foods began appearing on supermarket shelves, as did cans of Coca-Cola.
1970s: JUNK FOOD
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 24cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken thigh and leg, 100g roast potatoes, 120g boiled carrots and peas, 100ml gravy, 90g homemade Yorkshire pudding, small serving of homemade stuffing DESSERT: Slice of black forest gateau (100g) DRINK: Glass of lemonade (230ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 1,198
FAST food had a lot to answer for in this decade, sending portion sizes rocketing as people tried to recreate the high-sugar, high-salt meals they ate in restaurants.
By now, some British households had a microwave, and there were more women in work than ever (40 per cent), leading to a rise in processed and frozen foods.
‘We were eating more junk food, fried food, high-calorie sodas and calorie-laden desserts,’ says Dr Albala. ‘At fast food restaurants, the portions were much larger.’
McDonald’s made its UK debut in 1974. The average weekly wage was £40, but fast food was cheap.
1980s: PILING UP
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 25cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken breast and leg, 100g roast potatoes, 100g roast carrots, 30g peas, 100ml gravy, 90g homemade Yorkshire pudding, medium serving of homemade stuffing DESSERT: Slice of arctic roll (60g) DRINK: Glass of fruit juice (230ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 1,348
The rise of the microwave in the eighties saw a boom in supermarket meals. ‘There was more disposable income and less time, so the ready-meal industry stepped up,’ says Dr Russell.
The problem with this, however, was that many people stopped paying attention to portion sizes.
Dr Sarah Schenker says: ‘People either ignore or don’t see the tiny lettering on the packet that says “serves two”. They wrongly assume they can eat the whole thing, so they’re consuming double.’
Plate sizes increased by 1cm from the previous decade and, as homeowners began eating out of plastic containers, they used plates differently — piling foods on top of one another rather than side-byside. Vegetables were roasted rather than boiled, and meals were accompanied by sugary fruit juices, then seen as a health food.
1990s: READYMADE
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 26.5cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken breast and leg, 120g roast potatoes, 100g roast carrots, 40g peas, 120ml gravy, shop-bought Yorkshire pudding, medium portion of shop-bought stuffing DESSERT: Chocolate fondant pudding (130g) DRINK: Alcopop or non-alcoholic equivalent (275ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 1,512
A GENERATION of fresh-faced TV chefs — such as Jamie oliver and nigella Lawson — reignited people’s desire to cook at home, but midweek meals were still convenience-led.
hull-based Aunt Bessie’s was founded in 1995, meeting the demand for quick, cheap foods.
Quantities for an average roast
dinner were on the up: people wanted more potatoes, more vegetables, more gravy — and bigger portions of stuffing and Yorkshire puddings.
Shop-bought, rather than homemade, these were packed full of far more salt and sugar than we would add at home — not only making them less healthy, but encouraging people to eat more.
Comparisons of foods from today and 1993 show just how much appetites have changed: a pizza in 1993 weighed roughly 200g (460g today), while an individual chicken pie weighed 160g (250g today).
Chocolate desserts were ontrend, but rather than homemade cakes, people ate supermarket bought sponges designed to be heated in the microwave and scoffed hot.
Alcopops, pre-mixed drinks with less than 5 per cent alcohol, were introduced to the UK in 1995.
2000s: EXTRA LARGE
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 27cm ROAST DINNER: Chicken breast, leg and wing, 130g roast potatoes, 100g roast carrots, 40g peas, 120ml gravy, two shop-bought Yorkshire puddings, large portion of shop-bought stuffing DESSERT: Slice of fruit cheesecake (100g) DRINK: Can of energy drink (330ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 1,705
The post-millennium generation wasn’t afraid of splashing out, with people piling food on to their plates in a celebration of gluttony.
Roast chicken recipes from 2000 suggest cooking two birds for a family, to ensure there was enough meat to go around.
‘If you fill a plate right to the edges, people feel like they’re getting more for their money — and they’re inclined to eat it all,’ says Dr Schenker.
Convenience foods were cemented as a favourite of British households, with 90 per cent of people buying ready-prepared ( often frozen) packets of vegetables at least once a week.
Fast food chains brought in ‘extra large’ portions; research identified almost 150 such portions appearing across the high Street between 2000 and 2009.
But the warning signs were already there. According to a 2004 report by the house of Commons health Committee, 22 per cent of the over-30s were classified as obese in 2002, and doctors had started reporting cases of type 2 diabetes in children.
TODAY: HUGE PLATES
AVERAGE PLATE SIZE: 28.5cm ROAST DINNER: half a chicken, 130g roast potatoes, 120g roast carrots, 50g peas, 140ml gravy, two shop-bought Yorkshire puddings, large portion of shop-bought stuffing DESSERT: Sticky toffee pudding and ice cream (180g) DRINK: Glass of wine or nonalcoholic equivalent (250ml) TOTAL CALORIES: 2,212
WITH an increase of 8cm in plate size and a staggering 1,518 more calories per meal compared with the Forties, it’s no wonder modern Britain has an obesity problem.
Indeed, a serving of roast dinner amounts to more than the whole daily recommended calorie intake for a woman — 2,000 calories.
‘It’s not uncommon to see one chicken feed two people,’ says Dr Albala. ‘ It fed a family in the past.’
Today’s plates are piled high with fatty meat, oily potatoes and vegetables and oversized portions of synthetic Yorkshire puddings and stuffing. The whole thing is then drowned in gravy and washed down, more often than not, with alcohol.
‘ even wine glasses have got bigger,’ says Dr Schenker. ‘We need to go back to separating things into portions, rather than covering the plate with food.’
In almost 80 years, roast dinner has gone from a humble meal to an exercise in excess, meaning many Britons are eating themselves into an early grave.
Portion sizes are out of control.