Dame Mary Berry, the beloved British chef and former Great British Bake Off judge, shared a straightforward but powerful secret to ageing gracefully: avoiding processed foods. Celebrating her 90th birthday earlier this year, Mary emphasizes the importance of a wholesome, natural diet in maintaining good health as she ages.
In a candid conversation on the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast, Mary said, “I avoid processed foods. Absolutely definitely.” Processed foods encompass a wide range of items altered during production, from ready meals and snacks to foods containing preservatives or artificial flavor enhancers such as added salt or sweeteners.
While processed foods are already worth cautious consumption, Mary’s approach goes further by steering clear of ultra-processed products, which often contain numerous artificial ingredients like emulsifiers. Scientific studies have consistently shown that ultra-processed foods can negatively impact health and accelerate ageing.
READ MORE: Somerset Funeral Notices: Heartfelt Tributes to Cherished Locals, Including Beloved Pub Landlady
READ MORE: Somerset Village Pub The Swan Temporarily Closes Its Doors
Instead, Mary prefers fresh, whole foods. She explained, “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 butcher’s, you’ll get advice as well as good meat.”
With a career spanning decades and more than 75 cookbooks to her name, Mary Berry knows food and health trends inside out—but she doesn’t follow every new fad. “I don’t go with the trends. I’m not a huge lover of kale. I used to give that to my pony,” she admitted. “I love cabbage. I’ll promote that or watercress and all those sort of things.”
While kale is celebrated for its heart-protective and cancer-fighting properties, cabbage also boasts impressive health benefits, including being packed with vitamin C and helping to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation.
Mary’s focus on wholesome eating comes alongside her personal health journey. She contracted polio at the age of 13 but was fortunate to experience only a mild case. Polio, before the vaccine era, could cause serious complications like muscle weakness and paralysis, especially in the legs, and could become life-threatening if respiratory muscles were affected.
Despite early health challenges, Mary’s commitment to nourishing, natural foods has clearly played a role in her vitality and longevity, serving as an inspiration for healthy ageing.