Despite regular warnings from doctors, four in five adults fail to eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, according to research conducted by the National Charity Partnership.
Many blame the cost of healthy food and the time needed to prepare it, finds the study of 2,000 people.
The effects on health remain a big concern for two thirds of respondents, while two out of ten say fruit and veg is simply too expensive to be viable as a daily lunch source.
Around 41 per cent manage just one or two portions of fruit and veg each day.
Babs Evans, of the National Charity Partnership, says, ‘If our eating habits don’t change, the UK is heading towards a major health crisis. Millions risked type 2 diabetes and heart heart disease, both largely preventable.’
SmallBusiness.co.uk wanted to find out what neglecting a healthy diet means to office workers and delved into the lunchtime habits of staff members.
A spokesperson for Leeds-based flooring provider bestatflooring.co.uk says the company’s operations manager will only eat Pot Noodles, while the accounts assistant goes to the opposite extreme, eating a single apple for lunch every day.
‘Worryingly, the website manager orders Haribo by the kilogram from Amazon which gets delivered within the hour from the warehouse located on the outskirts of the city,’ the source adds.
Tom Bourlet works for event organiser TheStagCompany, based in Brighton. He reveals, ‘I’m trying to bulk up, so at the moment I am cooking a roast dinner each evening, then using all of the leftovers for multiple meals throughout the day, which I prepare in the office kitchen. I guess it isn’t considered normal to eat multiple roast dinners each day, but oh well!’
However, the excesses of his diet are somewhat offset by the Pure Gym below the office, which Bourlet reveals he has ‘slowly become addicted to’.
Our own SmallBusiness.co.uk editor Ben Lobel is a big fan of bread, consuming at least ten slices for his lunchtime sandwich. ‘It’s can’t be ideal,’ Lobel says. ‘However adding some salad into the mix at least puts some nutrients into the diet!’
Further reading on employee health
