Nadiya Hussain: 'I've spent a lifetime feeling bad about my body'

The former Great British Bake Off winner, 34, said her life is "all about balance" and that she exercises where she can and loves being able to eat what she wants afterwards.

She told Radio Times magazine: "I've recently decided not to follow anyone on social media who talks about dieting or weight loss.

"I've spent a lifetime feeling bad about my body and my hang-ups and what I eat.

"But I'm 35 this year and, given my family history, I won't make it past 70 so I'm halfway there.

"I want to enjoy the rest of whatever I've got.

"I just love what I do and I hope I keep doing it for years to come, and I will look after myself to help that to happen."

Hussain's latest project is a television series and accompanying book aimed at simplifying things in the kitchen.

She insists there is nothing wrong with cooking cheaper ingredients or frozen and canned foods and that society has become "pretentious".

"When you're in the public eye, there's a pressure to conform, so to write a book and make a series about the way I live and the way I cook has been so liberating," she said.

"It's easy to be pushed and shoved, but I'm not easily manipulated. I think 'no' must have been my first word because I don't let anybody tell me what to do!

"There's nothing wrong with using frozen and canned food. There's nothing wrong with using a microwave."

"There's nothing in this series I'm ashamed of," added the mother-of-three.

"It's the way I cook.

"What's happened to society is we've become really pretentious.

"But there was a time in my life where I really had to choose between boiling potatoes and paying my gas bill, so I'd buy a can of potatoes.

"We need to step back, stop being pretentious, and think about the fact some people struggle for money.

"Why not use cheaper ingredients? If something doesn't poison us, I think we should eat it."

This week's Radio Times is out on Tuesday.