Cape Town - The popular belief is that the Banting diet is a lifestyle plan for upper-middle income and wealthier families.
But one unemployed resident from Ocean View begs to differ.
Priscilla Clayton said Banting has in fact saved her about R400 a month on her grocery shopping bill, because curbing carbohydrates and eating food high in fat had resulted in her and her husband eating less.
Eat Better South Africa! – a team established by The Noakes Foundation – set off on a Banting on a Budget programme earlier this year to take the diet to low-income areas, where families often bought cheap food high in sugar and carbohydrates because of budget constraints.
Cape Town actress Euodia Samson showed people they could be Banting on a budget of R15 a day.
Doctors, nurses and educators held a five-week intervention in Ocean View for 45 people aged 30 to 60. By the end of the project, 98 percent of participants had lost weight.
Clayton said before Banting she had spent about R1 000 on groceries for her and her husband. But now she spent about R600 because she ate less and no longer bought the cakes and sweets she had craved before.
“My husband and I eat much less than we used to. The fatty foods keep us fuller for longer so we don’t have to snack and I also don’t crave all the sweet things I used to buy every day. I feel so much better about myself and I challenge anyone to tell me that Banting is for the rich because it is not,” Clayton said.
Samson said after forced removals many people had resorted to eating unhealthy foods as a way of coping with the trauma of losing their homes. These unhealthy eating habits had remained.
“People know the Banting lifestyle because that is how they lived in the past,” Samson said.
Another Ocean View resident, Nasreen Riley, agreed that Banting was cost-effective, but said it required patience as all meals needed to be prepared.
“If you are after convenience eating, then Banting will not work for you because it takes time to prepare healthy food,” Riley said.
The programme has kicked off in Delft and Lavender Hill, but Samson said the aim was to roll it out nationally.
Extreme Banter Darrol Fowkes said he ate a three-egg and fresh cream shake for breakfast, three blocks of fat for lunch and meat and vegetables for supper and the lifestyle had saved him money as well.