GMTV's Kate Garraway's 'home cooking' diet was really delivered ready meals

By Elizabeth Sanderson

Slim: Kate shows off her new figure


When Kate Garraway lost 2st in just four months she proudly put it down to cooking healthy dishes and following a strict exercise regime.

But she forgot to mention that her dramatic weight loss was actually achieved without having to prepare the meals herself.

Instead she received free hampers of specially prepared low-calorie ready-made meals.

The 42-year-old GMTV presenter decided to lose weight after giving birth to her second child last October.

Last week she told New! magazine how she employed the services of a personal trainer, cut out chocolate and biscuits and followed a low-carb eating plan.

According to the seven-day menu planner in the article, dinner could be chilli con carne or chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta cheese.

In the article she was asked: ‘Was it a struggle to start cooking healthy meals for yourself?’ She replied: ‘Not really, because I got really into blending.’

But rather than cooking the meals from scratch herself, the TV star has had a free hamper of pre-prepared lunches and dinners delivered twice a week to her North London home for the past four months.

The first hamper delivery was on October 23 and she has since received another 32 at a cost of £48 each – which would have cost her a total of £1,584 if she had had to pay.

Miss Garraway is a columnist for the magazine, which devised the plan for her. The article suggested hers was a diet ‘which can work wonders for you too’.

But few women could afford the home delivery service providing the precisely balanced meals Miss Garraway enjoyed.

She described a typical day’s menu, saying: ‘It could be anything from vegetable curry with brown rice to chilli made using turkey mince which is low-fat and high in protein.’

But she forgot to add that all she had to do, after a hard day’s work, was take the cellophane off the forementioned meals and pop them in the microwave.

The presenter is married to the former Labour spin doctor, Derek Draper, and has two children, Darcey, three-and-a-half, and William, six months.

Bodychef, the company which provided the free hampers, had hoped that it would result in some publicity.

Last night Jayne Ritchie, who set up the business eight years ago, said: ‘I was shocked to open the magazine and see my seven-day menu but not see any reference to me at all. I was disappointed because I felt I’d made a real effort to help her. With Bodychef, all the portions are carefully controlled and everything is freshly cooked. It just makes it so much easier.


Ready meals: Jayne Ritchie thought the diet article on Kate would have acknowledged her firm


‘I’ve never met Kate Garraway but I always thought she was a real person and I liked her as a presenter. Now I have to say I’m not overly impressed.’

TV news presenters are not allowed to endorse products and in an email to Ms Ritchie on February 15, Miss Garraway wrote: ‘Thanks for all the food hampers, they are brilliant.

‘Even though I love the regime I do feel bad you are continuing to send me them, especially as gov [government] rules for news presenters means I can’t publically say I am using them, as that would be classed as an endorsement. Would it be best if we made this hamper my last?’

By then Miss Garraway was already 2st lighter.

Last night she was rehearsing for BBC1’s Let’s Dance for Sport Relief and was unavailable for comment.

However, a friend said: ‘She was lucky to have some food delivered to her but she didn’t mention it because she knew she couldn’t.’

Yet there would have been no harm in pointing out that she used a home delivery service, especially as it appears to have been a key part of her regime.

And the presenter has previously mentioned other products. In a feature on her wardrobe earlier this month she name-checked the designers Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Louboutin and Ted Baker.

A spokesperson for the magazine last night insisted that Bodychef knew they would not be mentioned in the article.

But Ms Ritchie said: ‘She can’t endorse products. I understand that. I didn’t expect to end up on the GMTV sofa or for her to become the face of Bodychef or anything.

‘But I had thought there would be some mention, if not for the company, then me by name. She mentioned her personal trainer in the article. Kate knows what she’s been doing to get the body she wanted.’


source: dailymail