The TV chef has released an important announcement regarding his health, admitting the clock is ticking for him to stay strong
TV chef and host of Saturday Kitchen, Matt Tebbutt, has candidly shared his personal health battle.
The 51-year-old confessed that he feels he’s “losing the battle” in keeping up his sprightly on-screen persona.
On Gabby Logan’s podcast The Mid-Point, Matt discussed the necessity of transforming his lifestyle, particularly after enduring a “relentless” 14-year spell managing a pub in Abergavenny, a Welsh market town, with his wife Lisa.
“I fight getting old. Let’s just put that out there,” he declared unequivocally. When probed by Gabby on his methods of combatting age, Matt gave a humorous reply: “Well, I’m fighting it. I mean, I’m slowly losing that battle.
“But I’m fighting it like, ‘Yeah, I want to do this. Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s go to this party and then go out afterwards and then do three days on the trot at a festival’ and things like that. And I’m realising it’s quite draining at 51.”
In a further revelation, Matt shared that he has reduced his meat intake, stating: “I’ve noticed I’m a carnivore. I eat quite a lot of meat, but I’ve lessened the amount I eat. I eat a lot more vegetables these days. I eat a lot earlier than I ever have done.
“In terms of other stuff, I’m eating more pulses. If I want to go healthy as it were, I’ll reach for an Ottolenghi book [referring to chef Yotam Ottolenghi] and go into that.”
Besides embracing more pulses in his diet, Matt has reduced his alcohol consumption, focused on cooking fresh meals, opted for nuts as snacks and limited his bread intake, reports the Wales Online.
Matt also shared his affinity for exercise, stating that he goes regularly to combat the signs of ageing.
Since 2016, Matt has been at the helm of BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, stepping into the role after James Martin, who moved on to host ITV’s Saturday Morning with James Martin.
On his prior experience before becoming a full-time TV personality, Matt reminisced about the time he and his wife Lisa managed The Foxhunter Inn in Nantyderry, seven miles south of Abergavenny, from 2001 to 2015.
Acknowledging the strains of running a small family restaurant, he shared on the podcast: “Those little family-run restaurants are relentless. You know, you’ve got a day off on a Monday – that’s when you do your orders and you’re washing. And if you’ve got any time, you go and have lunch.
“And then at the end of the day, you get back in and you get ready for, you know, getting back in on Tuesday. And that’s it. We used to have two weeks off a year.”
After a significant stint of dedication, Matt shared the pivotal moment he and his partner decided to part ways with their pub – an event that aligned with his engagements presenting Saturday Kitchen.
“And then I reached the age of 40 and I thought, ‘You know what, I got offered something else. I’m going to take this’. And we took that leap into, I said, ‘Let’s walk away from this now’.
“Fortunately, it’s turned out well, but that was quite a leap of faith right then. But I think, you know, that’s what makes life interesting, doing those things.”
Saturday Kitchen is on next Saturday (March 22) at 9.30am on BBC One