Mary Berry explains the one food TV legend always avoids as she gets older
TV legend Dame Mary Berry has shared her secret to staying sprightly as she ages, revealing that she steers clear of processed foods. The beloved Great British Bake Off icon, who celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year, is admired for her enduring presence in the culinary world.
During a chat on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast, the mother-of-three explained her preference for fresh produce over processed options, highlighting her enjoyment of selecting her own ingredients from butchers and supermarkets. The esteemed former Bake Off judge Mary remarked: "I avoid processed foods. Absolutely definitely. I love to shop at a farm shop and I don't mind knobbly vegetables.
"I go to my supermarket, I go to the butchers. If you go to a butchers you'll get advice as well as well as good meat."
Having graced our screens as a judge on Bake Off from its inception in 2010 until 2016, Mary has also penned upwards of 75 cookery books across an impressive career spanning over fifty years.
Despite her remarkable vitality, which sees her thriving into her tenth decade, Mary confesses there's one modern health craze she hasn't quite embraced, reports Surrey Live.
The star baker admits she's "not a huge lover of kale," despite the vegetable's reputation for offering numerous health benefits such as bolstering immunity, supporting bone and heart health, and potentially lowering cancer risk.
Mary shared with the podcast listeners: "I don't go with the trends. I'm not a huge lover of kale. I use to give that to my pony.
"I love cabbage. I'll promote that or watercress and all those sort of things." This follows after Mary made a poignant health confession while struggling at a public event.
The incident occurred at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards, where the former Great British Bake Off judge was bestowed with a special award. However, she reportedly had difficulty with the noise from the animated crowd.
The respected chef, who took to the stage at The Royal Exchange in London, asked the audience to reduce their noise level, highlighting the importance of the occasion.
Dame Mary, who recently marked her 90th birthday and is presently working on a new project with the BBC, stressed that it was vital to "must hear every single person" before revealing to the crowd that she was "deaf", as reported by the Mail.
According to the publication, she implored: "Please do keep it very, very quiet. It's such an important occasion, and you must hear every single person that comes up here.
"I'm deaf and there are maybe one or two others that also find it difficult to hear everything."
In past conversations about her health, the television chef reflected on how she was "lucky" to have contracted a mild form of polio at the age of 13, prior to the availability of a vaccine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
13 hours ago
- BBC News
'Our children dey die before our eye': Rare video show how civilians for locked down Sudan city dey suffer
Di women for di community kitchen for di war torn Sudanese city of el-Fasher siddon togeda in desperation. "Our children dey die bifor our eyes," one of dem tell BBC. "We no know wetin to do. Dem dey innocent. Dem no get anytin to do wit di army or [dia paramilitary rival] di Rapid Support Forces. Wetin we dey suffer worse pass wetin you fit can imagine." Food dey very scarce for el-Fasher, di prices of food don go up to di point wey be say money wey we dey use buy food for one week, na only one day food we fit take am buy now. International aid organisations don condemn di "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war". Di hunger crisis dey worse wit di outbreak of cholera wey dey sweep through di squalid camps of those wey di crisis displace. Di medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday, 14 August say Sudan dey experience di worst cholera outbreak di kontri don see in years, wey di ongoing civil war cause. Sudan don record nearly 100,000 cases and 2,470 deaths ova di past year, authorities say di current epicentre na near el-Fasher. BBC don get rare footage of pipo wey still dey trapped for di city, wey one local activist send to us, na one freelance cameraman feem di video. Di Sudanese army dey battle di Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more dan two years afta dia commanders gada stage coup and later fall out. El-Fasher, for di western Darfur region, na one of di most brutal frontlines for di conflict. Di paramilitaries tighten dia 14-month blockade afta dem lost control of di capital Khartoum, earlier dis year. Dem step up dia battle for el-Fasher, di last foothold of di armed forces for Darfur. Di fight-fight escalate dis week into one of di most intense RSF attacks wey di city don witness yet. For di north and centre of of di kontri wia di army fight to get back territory from di RSF, food and medical aid don add to di civilian suffering. But di situation dey very serious for di conflict zones of western and southern Sudan. For di Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen for el-Fasher late last month, volunteers bin turn ambaz into porridge. Dis na wetin dey remain from peanuts afta dem don extract di oil, dem dey normally feed am to animals. Sometimes, dem dey get sorghum or millet but on di day dem feem, di kitchen manager say: "Flour or bread no dey." "Now e don reach di point wey be say na ambaz we dey chop. May God deliver us from dis wahala, nothing dey to buy for market," e add. UN don double dia appeal for humanitarian pause to allow food convoys enta di city, as dia Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett for dis week again beg di warring sides to observe dia obligations under international law. Di army don give clearance for di trucks to enta but di UN still dey wait for official word from di paramilitary group. RSF advisers say dem believe say dem go use di humanitarian pause carry food and weapons for di army "besieged militias" wey dey inside el-Fasher. Dem also claim say di the paramilitary group and dia allies dey set up "safe routes" for civilians to comot di city. Di RSF bin issue one statement to deny di widespread allegations say dem dey target civilians for el-Fasher, dem claim say local armed groups for di city dey use civilians as human shields. For residents of di city, di battle na to remain alive wen dem begin attack and hustle for any food dem fit get. Local responders fit receive some emergency cash through one digital banking system, but e no dey go very far. "Di prices for markets don go very high," Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for di Norwegian Refugee Council tok. "Today, $5,000 [£3,680] dey cover one meal for 1,500 pipo inside one single day. Three months ago, di same amount fit feed them for one week." Doctors say pipo dey die of malnutrition. E no dey possible to know how many - one report wey quote one regional health official put di number at more dan 60 last week. Hospitals no fit cope. Few of dem still dey operate. Dem dey short of medical supplies to help di pipo wey dey starve, and those injured for di continuous attacks. "We get many malnourished children wey dey admitted for hospital but unfortunately, we no get any single sachet of [therapeutic food]," Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, one paediatrician for di Al Saudi Hospital tok, e say five severely malnourished children currently dey for di ward and dem also get medical complications. "Dem just dey wait to die," e tok. Wen hunger crises hit, those wey usually dey die first na di most vulnerable, pipo wey no dey healthy or those wey dey suffer from pre-existing conditions. "Di situation dey very worse, e dey very terrible," di doctor tell us for one voice message. "Di children of el-Fasher dey die on a daily basis sake of lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, di international community just dey look." International non-governmental organisations wey dey work for Sudan issue one urgent statement dis week wia dem declare say "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break di civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion". Dem tok say "unconfirmed reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to di suffering of civilians". "No safe passage dey out of di city, as roads dey blocked and those wey try to run dey face attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," di organisations tok. Hundreds of thousands of people bin run earlier, many of dem from Zamzam displaced persons camp wey dey di edge of el-Fasher, wey di RSF seize for April. Dem land for Tawila, one town wey dey 60km (37 miles) west of di city, weak and dehydrated, wit accounts of violence and extortion along di road from RSF-allied groups. Life dey safer for di crowded camps, but disease dey kill dem - most deadly of all: na cholera, wey polluted water dey cause. Destruction of water infrastructure plus lack of food and medical care trigger di outbreak. Flooding for di rainy season come make am worse. Unlike el-Fasher, for Tawila aid workers at least get access, but dia supplies dey limited, John Joseph Ocheibi, di on-site project coordinator for one group wey di name na The Alliance for International Medical Action tok. "We get shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to fit deal wit dis situation," e tell BBC. "We dey hustle for resources to see how best we go fit respond." MSF project coordinator Sylvain Penicaud estimate say na only three litres of water each pesin fit get per day for di camps, wey e say dey "way below di basic need, and e force pipo to get water from contaminated sources". Zubaida Ismail Ishaq dey lie down for di tent clinic. She dey seven months pregnant, she dey weak, skinny and tired. Her story na tale of trauma wey many pipo know. She tell us say she bin dey do business wit di small money she get, bifor she run comot from el-Fasher. Armed men on di road to Tawila capture her husband. Her daughter get injury for head. Zubaida and her mother catch cholera shortly afta dem land for di camp. "We dey drink water wey we no boil," she tok. "Nobody dey to give us water. Since we come here, I no get anytin." For el-Fasher, many women wey dey di clustered soup kitchen beg us for help - any kind of help. "We don tire. We want make dem lift dis siege," Faiza Abkar Mohammed tok. "Even if dem airdrop food, airdrop anything – we dey completely exhausted."
BBC News
21 hours ago
- BBC News
Hospitals not treating enough patients to keep up with demand
The NHS waiting list in England has seen a small rise in the past month, with experts warning hospitals are not treating enough patients to keep up with the end of June, the list stood at 7.37 million, a rise of 10,000 on it is still down on last year's figure of 7.62 million, internal documents seen by the BBC, suggest one factor is patients being removed from the list without being treated. This can happen legitimately when patients pay for treatment privately or recover – but experts say it shows the NHS is struggling to keep government said it was trying to ensure all patients who need care get it as soon as possible. The NHS has been encouraged to weed out patients who do not need to be on the waiting list, described as "validation" by officials, for a number of years. Financial incentives are paid for the number of patients taken off and can also include patients who have can make services more efficient, as it means hospitals are not unnecessarily chasing up patients who no longer need treatment. Unreported removals Internal documents showed that, during March and April, the waiting list was brought down by 100,000 through weeding out patients. Without this the list would have Nuffield Trust think-tank said the true number being removed could be even analysis showed an average of more than 200,000 removals a month over the last two years. The think-tank claimed that, on top of validation, computing errors could mean some patients are being automatically removed in error, creating an additional waiting list that does not show up in the Becks Fisher, from the Nuffield Trust, said: "It would be easy to assume that recent reductions in the waiting list are down to the NHS treating a bigger number of patients each month but our analysis shows that presenting progress in this way is a mirage."The NHS is actually still treating fewer patients than are being referred."She said while this waiting list "validation" exercise was "absolutely" the right thing to do in many cases, there needed to be greater transparency and understanding about just what is happening behind the government said unreported removals were only a small factor in the progress being made on the waiting list, saying the NHS was still managing to treat an increasing number of the waiting list through the validation process was vital and ultimately improves productivity, they argue.A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Our drive to clear the huge waiting list backlog we inherited includes making sure all patients are getting the right treatment as quickly as possible."
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Councils turn down swimming pool temperatures to cut energy costs
Swimming pool temperatures have been turned down as councils grapple with rising energy costs. Some 15 per cent of councils have turned down the temperature of pools they run across leisure centres and other facilities since 2020, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) response. The Local Government Association (LGA) linked the reduction to the financially 'fragile position' of authorities. Five of the authorities laid part of the blame on sustainability and net zero targets, the BBC reported, with critics saying they feared it could put people off swimming. Tiffany Watson, who used to swim to help her muscular dystrophy, which is muscle weakness that worsens over time, urged councils to reconsider the move. Out of 256 councils across the country, 39 admitted they had reduced the temperature of their pools in the past five years. Some 33 local councils had reduced it permanently, in at least one main pool, or a learner pool. However, no council lowered the temperature below the guidelines issued by the Pool and Water Treatment Advisory Group, the standards body for swimming pools in the UK. South West England had the highest percentage of councils that had reduced their pool temperatures, with 27 per cent of authorities making the change. More than 30 of the local authorities admitted they had done so due to energy price hikes following the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The price of electricity has risen since 2019, more than doubling in that period from 12.9 p/kWh to 28.39 p/kWh in 2023. A spokesperson for the LGA said that 'rising energy and operational costs' had forced councils to reduce, or close altogether, their leisure facilities. A Department of Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said the government was 'absolutely committed to building a healthier nation and reducing pressure on our NHS'. The department said that they were working with the sport and leisure sector as part of a £400m pledge to support grass roots facilities, promote 'health, wellbeing and community cohesion' and help 'remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups'.
