She celebrated turning the big “5-0” in May, and TOWIE narrator Denise Van Outen reveals she has a new lease of life to go with her milestone. The star – who is mum to 14-year-old daughter Betsy with actor Lee Mead – admits she felt “sluggish and heavy” until she took up intermittent fasting. The trend, which sees people only eat during specific hours of the day and then fasting outside of these hours, with some fasting for 16 hours and eating within an eight-hour window, has devotees including Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. And Denise, who found fame on C4’s The Big Breakfast in the Noughties, says fasting has given her a spring in her step.
“I’ve been doing it for the past couple of years and it’s made such a difference,” Denise tells Closer. “I realised I was lacking in energy in the day. I’d get up and think, ‘Right, I’ve got to have breakfast – it’s the most important meal of the day’, but actually I wasn’t hungry at all. I was trying to make myself eat for the sake of it, and then I’d get into a bit of a slump. I find if I eat anything too heavy in the morning, I just feel tired throughout the day. Betsy’s noticed the same, we can’t eat as soon as we get up.”
She adds, “Intermittent fasting really works for me. My first meal is much later, I don’t get those afternoon slumps now, and it’s boosted my energy. I don’t use it as a weight-loss tool, but more an energy thing – and I can feel the difference.”
As well as switching up mealtimes, the actress says she tries to cook from scratch more often. She explains, “I’m definitely much more health-conscious with age, I used to run around here and there, but now I make time to cook fresh meals and eat seasonal veg. I’ll batch cook and freeze dishes too. I’m really careful not to waste any food and use up everything, as there’s only Betsy and me. With use-by dates, I’m a bit old-school like my grandma used to be, if bread is a bit stale, we’ll toast it, and with cheese, I’ll cut the ends off. It’s just about stretching food further and I’m trying to educate Betsy on that too.” She laughs, “We went through a stage where she kept throwing things out once she’d seen the use-by date, and I’d have to say. ‘Betsy, it’s fine, that’ll last for another three or four days!’”
Her typical daily diet consists of a bowl of granola, Greek yoghurt along with fruit mid-morning and, for evening meals, Denise says she’s a “huge fan of the air-fryer”, and enjoys making chicken or fish with Greek salads. In the winter months, she enjoys Shepherd’s or cottage pie. She adds, “Betsy loves getting involved with preparing meals, having a say about what we’ll make and chopping up salads. We eat quite healthily. If I get peckish during the day, I like snacking on Zespri kiwis because they’re packed with vitamin C. I’ve got a really balanced diet but you have to eat according to your mood; sometimes on a rainy day, I love to have cheesy beans on good old buttered toast with a cup of English tea!”
While she’s made intuitive changes to her diet, Denise has adjusted her sleeping patterns too. “It’s so important to get a good night’s sleep, I try to get to bed at the same time every night because your body benefits from consistency. I’ve also learnt I don’t even need that much, I can function really well on five or six hours a night. If I have eight hours, I feel sluggish and don’t have any energy! It took me ages to work that out.”
Denise also says fitness is key to her overall wellbeing, and after falling in love with golf since taking it up on her 40th birthday, she says it maintains her fitness and keeps her mental health in check too. “I just so enjoy it, it’s outdoors-y, social and I like the competitive aspect,” she explains.
“Golf keeps me mentally fit and well, I switch off and go in a zone. Whatever troubles I’ve got or if I’m stressed, in that moment all you’re thinking about is getting a good shot and nothing else. When I go on holiday now, I try to find a golf course where I can play. I love power walking too. I live in the country, and I’ve got two dogs that are always wanting to go out!”
And while she was known as a “party girl” in the ’90s, Denise says she’s cut back on alcohol too as she’s get older. “I don’t drink while I’m working, as a rule. I DJ and go to festivals, but I only have a drink when I’m off the decks. Nine times out of 10 I’m driving, so I’m not drinking, so I probably drink less than I used to.”
She adds before laughing, “I still like a good night out! Listen, I like a rosé blush in the summer, a red wine in the winter, and a tequila shot on a night out!”
Sara Jubb, a qualified Nutritional Therapist with Plantfood Coaching, told us, "Like Denise, many of my clients report feeling much better with intermittent fasting and there’s plenty of research to suggest that it can play a role in lowering the risk of some chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and dementia. The benefits are thought to derive from a process in the body known as autophagy, in which the cells are essentially cleaned out and repaired. Autophagy can only happen in a fasted state. If you want to try fasting, a gentle way to start is to ensure that you get a full 12 hours overnight when you don’t consume any calories. Try this for a couple of weeks and then gradually increase the fasting time to a maximum of 16 hours.
"Please note that intermittent fasting is not suitable for pregnant women, people with a history of disordered eating and people with type 1 diabetes."
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