Richard Branson's breakfast key to being same weight at 74 as he was at 24

Sir Richard Branson has explained his diet and how he keeps healthy and fit at 74
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Businessman and TV personality Sir Richard Branson has revealed his special diet to have the same weight aged 74 as he had in his early 20s - and explained breakfast is the key. The founder of the Virgin brand routinely fasts for 16 hours of the day, often missing dinner, to restrict his calorie intake.

He has given up caffeine and alcohol except for “a glass of champagne on special occasions” and enjoys cycling endurance races. He told The Times : “There’s no reason your body can’t be the same as a 30-year-old when you’re well into your seventies — if you respect it.

“When I reached 50 I saw friends either looking after themselves or letting themselves go — and I’ve lost a lot of those friends over the years. So I took the first route and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I love this sort of endorphin rush.”

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Sir Richard said that the first meal of the day is the most important: “In my early years I ate whatever was put in front of me. Since the age of 50 or so I’ve had a nutritionist tell me what’s healthy. So now my breakfast will be things like nuts, Greek yoghurt, chia seeds, avocados, scrambled eggs, sourdough bread, smoked salmon, half an apple.

“I have quite a big breakfast because by then I would generally either have played a singles match or have done the bike ride.”

Branson is very disciplined about alcohol. “I stick to fizzy water with a slice of lemon and I’m usually in bed by nine or nine-thirty.” He takes statins to cut cholesterol and every six months does blood tests to track his good and bad cholesterol levels, as well as his blood sugar levels. “I treat my body a bit like you treat an MoT with a car.”

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By careful eating he has reduced his weight to the same as it was in his early twenties — 173lb, just over 12st. “In the past few years I’ve realised how much better I feel when I eat well — salmon, grains, vegetables, soup, sushi. I’ll have sugar-free puddings, which taste just as good as puddings with sugar. I’ll treat myself occasionally to my wife’s shepherd’s pie or fish and chips and peas — so I’m not completely fixated on everything being absolutely perfect.”

He takes a prescription drugcalled metformin which lowers blood sugar levels. It is mainly used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but preliminary studies suggest it may slow ageing and increase life expectancy by acting on blood sugar, and through antioxidant effects and better blood vessel health. “If there’s one pill worth asking your doctor about, I would say it’s metformin,” Branson says.

He insists he is not fanatical about fitness. “I just see myself as somebody who’s throwing myself into life. I am doing, I suppose, three or four hours of fitness a day, but in a fun way. If I go to the gym I’ll make sure there’s somebody with me I can interact with. If I go on a bike ride I’ll go with someone I can have a natter with. I play tennis with people who are hopefully better than me. So I don’t think of all this as fitness.”