Woman loses 31kilos on WW2 diet

Carolyn Ekins weighed 25st at her heaviest but shed the pounds by ditching modern junk food for old classics like mock turkey, Spam fritters and Lord Woolton pie.

 

The World War Two enthusiast came up with the bizarre experiment after struggling to pay her bills and lose weight.

 

Inspired by her fascination with the Home Front, the 48-year-old read old pamphlets and ration recipes produced by the wartime Ministry of Food.

 

The thrifty dishes saw Carolyn's weekly £70 food bill drop to just £14 - saving her almost £3,000 over 12 months.

 

Ms Ekins, a social media administrator, said: "I struggling financially as a single mum I also had a weight problem that was severely impacting on my life.

 

"I had been cooking ration recipes for fun and it struck me that it might be an interesting way to get healthy and save money."

 

A weekly adult ration during the war allowed for 100g of bacon and ham, up to 226g of minced meat, 50g of butter, 50g of cheese, 100g of margarine, 100g of cooking fat and three pints of milk.

 

It also included 225g of sugar, 50g of tea and one shell egg or one packet of dried eggs every four weeks. Families would also have bread, oats, fruits and vegetables.

 

"At first it was strange adjusting to this from a modern diet full of additives, perservatives and flavour enhancers," added the mum of three.

 

"I was so used to that that it was a bit of a shock to the system at first. All of a sudden I was transported back 60 years to a rations diet that was very meagre and not very flavourful.

 

"To begin with I felt it was really bland but after a week or two I really began to appreciate it because my palette had changed."