Scotland legend Christian Dailly is aiming to transform the health of the nation by helping Scots eat properly – after a report revealed only one in five have a healthy relationship with food.
The former Dundee United and Rangers player, from Dundee, retrained in sports science and nutrition after retiring from the game.
And the Tartan Army hero, who started all three games at the 1998 World Cup and is the 10th most capped Scotland player of all time, is now part of a campaign to educate Scots properly on healthy eating.
The study carried out by M&S, in conjunction with the Scottish Football Association, states more than two out of three Scots are overweight, with a third deemed to be obese and 4% classed as morbidly obese.
The report says poor nutrition is having an impact on the development of children, with five-year-olds in the UK up to seven centimetres shorter than across Europe.
The study, which was also carried out along with the English FA, states height differences are also notable between affluent and deprived areas of the country.
The ‘M&S Eat Well, Play Well Report’ reveals that only 22% of Scots feel they have a consistently healthy relationship with food, while 17% admit they lack the confidence in their knowledge to make healthy and balanced food choices.
More than a quarter of Scots skip lunch and a fifth dodge breakfast, while around a fifth of families have a takeaway at least once a week. After retiring, Dailly changed career and has spent the last 10 years training elite athletes.
And he said hard-up Scots should not be worried about being able to eat healthily during the cost of living crisis, as eating properly removes cravings for unhealthy foods.
He said: “It’s time there was information out there for people that was accurate. We want to make a big change and it’s about getting information out to people.
“I think this campaign is a brilliant way to start that process. It could be fantastic. Let’s use one of the most nutritious foods you can have – eggs. You buy 12 large eggs for about £3.50.
“They’ve got 90grams of protein, the entire amino acid profile that you require, and all the essential fats that you require for human health.
“Eggs are an unbelievable food stuff and kids and all of us should be having that type of thing every day. Buy a steak as well, for example. It’s about choices.
“A steak might be £5, but it’s just about the most species-appropriate food you could have. You might think it’s expensive, but you would go for a coffee and a cake and spend £7.50 or something.
“If you can take yourself back to those really high-density nutritious foods and get your system to regulate properly, it stops the cravings for some of those other foods.”
The 49-year-old won 67 caps in his career, winning the Scottish Cup with Dundee United, and Premier League, League Cup and Scottish Cup with Rangers.
He also played in the English top flight with Derby County, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United in his 22-year pro career, hanging up his boots aged 38.
He said: “If I knew what I know now, I probably would’ve been able to play longer but also I think I would’ve had nothing like the injuries I’d had.
“I had five knee operations before I was 20 – I played the last 20 years of my career managing knees that had no lateral cartilages. In the ’90s at Dundee United, I was told I required at least one to two bags of liquorice allsorts extra every day.
“The thought process at the time was the more energy you can get in the system the better, and it would be sugar. I would obey that and couldn’t understand why I started feeling worse and worse and worse over time.
“I’m a stronger man now than I’ve ever been in my life, which is quite cool when I’m about to turn 50. I quite like that. The nutrition is a massive part of that.”
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