Nigella Lawson has been officially announced as the new judge of The Great British Bake Off, taking over from Prue Leith who stepped down after nine years in the role. ‘I am giddily grateful for the opportunity,’ the beloved chef said.
Over the years, exercise has helped the 66-year-old maintain her health and wellbeing. ‘I do yoga three times a week,’ she told Good Housekeeping. ‘I have to do something I enjoy, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. The older I get, the more I realise I have got to do lots of stretching. So even if I’m not doing yoga, I make myself do lots of stretching.’
In particular, Nigella favours ‘a rather slow form of yoga called Iyengar’ that highlights precision and correct positioning when performing postures, often using props like blocks and belts as support. For her, fitness is as much about overall wellbeing as it is about physical results. ‘As you get on in life, you value feeling well as opposed to looking well. Yoga certainly makes you feel great, and you want to carry on feeling great. I just do a bit in a very slow way – sometimes lying down.’
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When it comes to food, Nigella values a nutrient-rich diet, but – predictably – is not interested in long-term restriction or cutting out foods she enjoys: ‘I love kale and I’m an avocado obsessive,’ she told GH. ‘But life is about balance, it’s not about being smug.’
To that end, she doesn’t want continual indulgence, either. ‘I wouldn’t want a life where I lived on chia seed pudding, just as I wouldn’t want a life where I lived on eggs Benedict or steak and chips.’ As for her go-to dishes, she sticks to tradition: ‘I’m never going to complain about having a pie! Roast chicken is my favourite.’
Nigella also emphasises the impact that her hectic schedules had her day-to-day health. ‘When you film, you get so tired,’ she told The Mirror. ‘There’s something about lack of sleep and stress that just makes me put on weight, even though my eating doesn’t change.’
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