Fitness personality Joe Wicks has revealed that none of his four children has ever eaten at McDonald's. The 40-year-old, known as the Body Coach, shared the news while promoting his new cookbook, Healthy Start.
Speaking to Cathy Newman on Times Radio, Wicks said: 'They've never had McDonald's.' He added that he hasn't eaten there for the past decade, despite previously enjoying a sausage and egg McMuffin before his early morning boot camps.
Last McDonald's trip in 2015
Wicks explained that his last visit to the fast food chain was in 2015, the night he met his wife Rosie. 'The night I met her, actually, we're driving back from a rave, and we stopped at the 24-hour McDonald's in Wandsworth, and that was because she really wanted to have McDonald's. So that was the last time we had McDonald's,' he said.
The couple now share four children: Indigo, eight, Marley, seven, Leni, three, and Dusty, two.
Childhood diet influence
Wicks has previously linked his aversion to fast food with his own upbringing. He told RTE: 'I had a very unhealthy diet as a child. Any money that came through the door was not going on healthy protein sources and vegetables – it just wasn't. So I lived off ultra-processed food and frozen dinners.'
He added: 'My mum was 15 when she was kicked out of school and left home; she didn't have the skills and knowledge to cook – it was not in her vocabulary.'
Advice on snacking
In the interview, Wicks also shared his views on children snacking between meals. 'I think we live in an environment where we're taught to sort of give snacks and this sort of in between meals all the time, so constantly grazing and little children have quite small tummies,' he said.
'So try and avoid snacking, try to just wait,' he advised. His new cookbook focuses on 'nourishing, easy and enjoyable' recipes for families.
