Nigella Lawson slams dieting as she’d ‘rather have more flesh and eat more food’

Nigella Lawson has slammed diet culture as she admitted she’d “rather have more flesh and eat more food”.

The TV chef, 64, shot to fame back in 1998 with her debut cookery book, How To Eat. Just a year later, she launched her own Channel 4 cooking show, Nigella Bites – and has captivated viewers ever since. Nigella has insisted that the issue around body image and weight was “hard to resist” but doesn’t pay any thought to it.

It stemmed from her mother’s relationship with food as she explained: “My mum had a problematic relationship with food and I did think, ‘I don’t want to be like that’. I would rather have more flesh and eat more food.” Nigella, who recently hit out at weight loss drig Ozepmic, added: “The real truth is you have to work out what matters to you in life and what matters to me is eating. It is the way I celebrate life.”

“If I did not make every meal something that I really want to take pleasure in I think I would feel overwhelmed with lassitude, slight depression and disconnection,” she said in conversation with food critic Jay Rayner at The Barbican in London. “I don’t have a particularly fancy palette – I love all sorts of foods – and I don’t really want restaurant fine dining. I adore restaurants and I am inspired by chefs, but I don’t want to cook like one. I love stirring a pot!”

Nigella has opened up on her relationship with food
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Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The TV star has hit out at diet culture
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Getty Images North America)

Earlier this month, Nigella opened up on her daily diet as she addressed the weight loss drug Ozempic trend. She has denied taking the weight loss drug, which was originally intended for diabetes patients and others with debilitating weight issues. In recent months, several celebrities have been accused of taking the drug, including the Kardashians, while others like Kelly and Sharon Osbourne have been open about their reliance on Ozempic after they both lost a staggering amount of weight.

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Nigella insisted that she would never dream of taking the drug, given the fact she loves food too much to stop eating it as much. She has also spent a huge amount of time instilling in others that food is fuel and not an enemy. “I read something once where someone said, ‘I was on Ozempic and it was the first time I didn’t think about food all the time’. But, I take great pleasure in thinking about food all of the time,” she said.

“It doesn’t do to be too judgmental about other people’s medical decisions. I imagine if they are prescribed [weight-loss jabs] by doctors because they are pre-diabetic or something, then that’s something [different], but they are not for me. I have spent a lot of my life trying to help people not feel that food is the enemy. And I am always someone who would prefer to think about what I add to my diet than what I remove,” Nigella told The Times.

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