You might think the idea of eating Greggs products for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for an entire month was the premise of the sequel to Super Size Me, and it wouldn’t be an unreasonable assumption. But it couldn’t be more wrong, because Greggs – ubiquitous bakery, national institution and purveyor of the finest sausage rolls on the high street – has created a diet plan.
The Minimise Me plan maps out three meals and a snack for every day of the week, and is designed to be repeated for four weeks in a row for the full fat-busting effect. Greggs, which enlisted a dietitian to create the plan, claims you will shift up to 2lb (0.9kg) a week by following it, although the amount of pounds that swell Greggs’s coffers will naturally be far greater.
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In a bid to avoid being left behind in an increasingly health-conscious world, Greggs has created a range of products to meet the demands of today’s gym-going, protein-shake-swilling, quinoa-munching consumer. The Greggs Balanced Choice menu features salads, sandwiches, bakes and many more products that all come in at under 400 calories.
These products make up the bulk of the menu on the Minimise Me plan, but there is still room for the occasional sausage roll or slice of pizza. No steak bakes though, which is a shame.
VICE’s food website Munchies checked the credentials of the Minimise Me plan with dietitian and British Dietetic Association spokesperson Duane Mellor. The results were mixed.
Mellor says the diet should work in principle because it’s energy-controlled, so you should be in calorie deficit if you follow it (expending more calories than you take in – the fundamental basis of eating for fat loss). However, he doesn’t recommend it if you’re looking to eat a healthy diet in the long term.
"You're unlikely to meet your five-a-day on several of the days,” Mellor told Munchies. “The other thing to look at if you’re doing it long term is the amount of fibre. I would think things like the sausage roll and the bun for the egg roll are made with white flour and unlikely to provide a lot of fibre.”
There’s also only one sausage roll on the entire plan. No-one will be able to go into Greggs that often and only buy one sausage roll a week.
In conclusion, adopting a Greggs-only diet probably isn’t wise. You already knew that though, didn’t you?
