With Love Island returning to our screens, healthy recipe box service Green Chef, reveals Brits’ attitudes towards crash dieting to achieve the ultimate ‘summer body’. New research reveals half (50%) of Brits feel pressured to achieve a summer body, with a staggering 64% of women admitting to trying heavily calorie-restricted diets in the past. It’s not just women who are feeling the pressure, as 28% of men claim they’re likely to try a crash diet this year.
The burden to achieve a summer body hasn’t surpassed Gen Zs either, with almost a third (32%) of 18-24 year-olds revealing they compare their bodies to others on social media and a fifth (22%) agreeing they feel a lot of pressure to look a certain way. Interestingly, when quizzed on why they diet, over half (67%) of people stated they wanted to feel confident on summer holidays, notably whilst in their swimwear. Perhaps not surprising given that 'The Love Island Effect' is currently in full swing.
Others (39%) attributed their reasoning to improve their mental health but, ironically, almost a third of people (30%) also stated that thinking about dieting is stressful. So it’s no surprise that 81% of those who have previously undertaken a diet have stopped early.
40% of men and women claimed to find diets hard to stick to, with 23% citing lack of variety of food being a predominant obstacle. That might be why the last few years have seen a massive surge in the popularity of recipe box services, such as Green Chef.
Green Chef specifically caters to those who are looking for specialist diet plans, offering five different preferences including vegan, vegetarian, Keto, flexitarian and lower carb, taking the stress out of diet plans, no matter your preference.
Anna Tebbs, Head Chef and Registered Nutritionist at Green Chef said: “Understandably, the summer months often call our eating habits into the spotlight, with our findings demonstrating the pressure people feel from shows like Love Island. What's crucial is that people are viewing healthy eating as a long-term lifestyle choice, with variety and meal inspiration as the key drivers of keeping things interesting to help make it so.
“This is why, when developing recipes at Green Chef, it’s important to us to offer a range of delicious, nutritionist-approved meals which can tie into people’s lifestyles. Our recipe box supports a variety of diets including low carb, balanced and keto, making healthy eating fun and effortless.”
To support this, Green Chef has launched a collection of dietary-specific recipes to show that it’s possible to stay on track all while eating delicious meals packed with a variety of flavourful ingredients.
Recipes include:
· Vibrant Vegan Mango & Tamari Poke Rice Bowl (Vegan) - Packed with tasty plant-powered ingredients, this vegan recipe is the perfect thing to cook any day of the week
· Lemon & Zahtar Trout (Flexitarian) - For the days when you just need a bit of balance, this healthy recipe is bound to hit the spot. Not only does it look good, but it'll also make you feel good too
· Roasted Confit Duck Leg (Keto) - Whether you're giving keto a go for the first time, or have been following it for a while, this recipe fits the bill. Simple to cook and full of flavour, it's bound to become a favourite in no time
