James Martin’s horrific ‘heart attack’ experience was a wake-up call

British chef James Martin presented Saturday Kitchen for 10 years, from 2006 to 2016. Then a startling incident occurred, which led him to take time out for himself. “I was in Dubai for a food festival about six months before I left Saturday Kitchen,” he began. “There were 2,000 people in the room. I sat talking to this wonderful guy, same age as me, same kind of story about starting from nothing.

“You go, Woah! You spend your entire life at work, work, work, with no time for yourself and the people around you. So I made a decision to look at the way I lived my life.”

When James did leave Saturday Kitchen, he admitted he “wasn’t very well”, he had to have a “few operations”.

Witnessing a heart attack happening right in front of him, in addition to losing friends to other health conditions, really made James re-evaluate his priorities.

Without having good health, your life is on the line – so how can you make sure you minimise your risk of disease?

The health body recommends “plain porridge, plain wholewheat cereal biscuits, [or] plan shredded wholegrain pillows”.

“Swapping a bowl of sugary breakfast cereal for plain cereal could cut out 70g of sugar (up to 22 sugar cubes) from your diet over a week,” the NHS adds.

“Porridge oats are cheap and contain vitamins, minerals and fibre. Make porridge with semi-skimmed, one percent or skimmed milk, or water.”

James Martin’s Saturday Morning is on ITV for Saturday, October 1 at 9:25am.