British watercress farmers kicked off the New Year with a real life diet trial showcasing the effectiveness of their version of the Watercress Soup Diet, made famous by Liz Hurley. This activity launches their new PR campaign, "Watercress – a Super food for a Super You," and taps into the plethora of January healthy eating and diet features which appear in the consumer press. Developed by leading nutritionist Sarah Schenker, the diet trial saw phenomenal results with an average weight loss of 1stone 3lbs in just six weeks across a sample group of 11 volunteers. The top dieter Roy White shed nearly 3½ stone.
According to the NHS every year seven million Brits make a New Year resolution dedicated to getting healthy. Eight out of ten women beginning the battle of the bulge on New Year’s Day, and seven out of ten men doing the same. But many people fall off the wagon after a few months and find it too hard to sustain. The beauty of this diet from the Watercress Alliance is that it is devised to last only 6 weeks and the dieter generally sees results within the first week which motivates them to keep going.
The 2012 campaign, which was developed by Mustard Communications, aims to increase consumption outside of the spring and summer sales peak and to tap into the ongoing popularity of the classic watercress soup recipe.
Mustard Communications MD Wendy Akers said: "Despite being confident that the diet would work, even we have been astonished at how incredibly effective it has been. We have also found a rather desirable side effect – improvement in the skin of the dieters."
The Watercress Alliance is made up of Vitacress Salads, The Watercress Company and Bakkavör. MD of The Watercress Company Tom Amery said: "We’re thrilled with the result of the diet. Apparently the average person gains 7lbs over the Christmas period, so if you find your clothes a little snug in the New Year then try cooking up some watercress soup." Vitacress Salads’ Marketing Director Huw Griffiths added: "Hopefully this diet will encourage the nation eat a little more healthily, especially since it’s so easy to follow."
The Watercress Soup Diet has long been the preferred choice of Liz Hurley who claims that whenever she gets a hunger pang and is tempted to raid the fridge, she helps herself to a cup of watercress soup. The diet plan devised by Sarah Schenker is nutritionally balanced with a high carbohydrate breakfast, followed by watercress soup for lunch and then a high protein supper. There are other suggested meal ideas involving watercress, but watercress soup remains the key feature. All participants had to have watercress soup for lunch at least four days out of seven and, à la Liz, were encouraged to have a cup of the soup if they felt peckish between meals. The average daily energy (calorie) intake was 1000-1200kcal and never went below 800kcal. The 11 volunteers, whose ages ranged from 32 to 62 and included three male participants, collectively lost over 13 stone in the six week study period.
Star dieter Roy White, a 48-year-old site manager from Wanstead, dropped nearly 3.5 stones from 21 stone 5lbs to 17 stone 13lbs. He lost nearly 10% of his body fat and had a final BMI of 33.5 down from 40. He said: "I wanted to lose some weight and decided to give the Watercress Soup Diet a go. I made a large vat of the soup which I ate if I ever felt hungry between meals and I had the soup for lunch every day. I set myself the target of losing a stone in the first week - and did - so that spurred me on to lose another stone by week three. Roy added: "Not many men are prepared to join diet groups as they tend to be dominated by ladies, however, I know a number of blokes from my local rugby club who’ve been following my progress on Facebook and have expressed interest in losing weight. I’m planning to set up a Watercress Soup Diet club for them in the New Year and we’ll be shedding the pounds together."
HR Officer and mother of one Lisa Regan (42) and her sister Anita Baker (46) both lost over a stone on the diet. Lisa said: "I found the diet really easy to stick to. The meals were tasty and satisfying and it was simple to make up enough watercress soup to be eaten over several days. I didn’t eat much watercress before doing the diet but over the six weeks I’ve noticed that I feel more healthy and energetic and my hair and skin look better too."
