Just under two-thirds of UK consumers plan to eat more fruit and vegetables in 2015 – making it the most popular way to change the approach to food in the New Year.
This is closely followed by having less fat and sugar, according to research by market research analysts Canadean, with 58 per cent of consumers who want to change their diets resolving to ‘eat less fat’, and 53 per cent to ‘eat less sugar’ in 2015.
Next to exercising more regularly, controlling portion sizes and limiting intake of processed foods are also seen as important methods of living more healthily.
Healthy eating is the number one resolution for consumers in the UK, above saving money and cutting stress.
Canadean also foundthat almost half of women (44 per cent) make resolutions to eat healthier in the new year, compared to 27 per cent of men.
The young are also more likely to be mindful of starting the year off healthily, with the motivation to eat better-quality food peaking among consumers aged 18 to 34, and falling thereafter.
Losing weight is a key goal for consumers, but so too is achieving a general feeling of wellbeing, with both goals motivating a similar number of consumers to try to eat healthier.
Catherine O’Connor, senior analyst at Canadean, said: “It will be important to present consumers not only with low-calorie options, but also with holistically wholesome fare and ingredients offering positive nutrition.”
However, she added: “A quarter of all those who are trying to eat healthily in the New Year will abandon those efforts within a couple of weeks, with this number rising to nearly half within a month.”
