People don't need to banish bread, pasta and potatoes from their diet to lose weight, Masterchef presenter Greg Wallace has said as he revealed the secrets behind his five stone weight loss.
The former greengrocer, 59, shook up his diet after hitting nearly 17 stone, with a dangerously obese BMI, and doctors warned him he was at risk of having a heart attack.
After trying 'all the diets under the sun' and none of them working, he said the secret to his slimming success was cutting out takeaways, chocolate and crisps and 'eating proper meals', rather than removing carbs from his diet.
Gregg said the Mediterranean diet, which is full of whole grain carbohydrates, is 'the best you can have' and pointed to France, Italy and Spain where they consume lots of bread, potatoes and pasta but are 'all slim'.
The fitness fanatic also said that hitting the gym isn't vital to losing weight and urged people to instead add movement to their day through a walk, swim or
Theanex testimonials even table tennis, to maintain their weight loss.
Gregg Wallace, pictured, weighed almost 17 stone when doctors warned him he was heading for a heart attack with sky high cholesterol levels
Wallace, pictured left, was almost 17 stone when he was told he had to lose weight. Now he is around 12 stone, pictured right
Discussing his new podcast, A Piece of Cake, on BBC Radio 2's Michael Ball Show yesterday, he said: 'There's so much conflicting information out there, it's hard to know what to do.'
In one episode, Dr Giles Yeo, a world-renowned geneticist from the University of Cambridge and author of Why Calories Don't Count, said that exercising to lose weight is the 'silliest thing you can possibly do', according to Gregg.
Gregg used the example of a 250 calorie chocolate bar.He said: 'As he quite rightly pointed out, you'd have to be on a treadmill for 30 to 40 minutes just to get rid of the chocolate bar. That's without the takeaway pizza, the half bottle of rose and some chocolate biscuits on the sofa.'
Gregg launched his own weight loss business, Gregg Wallace Health (GWH), four years ago, which shares advice and recipes to help people lose weight.