No fruit for ten years, a junk food diet and a 50-a-day cigarette habit... but David, 66, still insists he's as 'fit as a fiddle'

David Jeffries, 66, calls healthy food tasteless and he feels better than ever

He refuses to eat from his vegetable-obsessed son's allotment



Father-of-two puts 28-inch waist down to dancing in his living room



A 66-year-old man who has lived on takeaways, chocolate, and cigarettes for more than 10 years claims to be fit as a fiddle.



David Jeffries has not eaten a piece of fruit for more than 10 years but insists he has never felt younger, boasting a slender 28-inch waist.

Blasting health experts' advice as 'rubbish', the father-of-two fits five packs of cigarettes a day into his diet of traditional meals such as fish and chips, steak and kidney pies, roast beef, and sausage, egg and chips.



Fit as a fiddle: David Jeffries grew up eating vegetables but shunned them more than a decade ago for fast food

'Healthy': The father-of-two from Redditch near Birmingham blasts health experts' advice as 'rubbish'

For exercise, he dances in his living room and runs every day - but claims his pulse is hardly affected by physical activity.

'I never listen to experts. The world is full of them - and that’s why we’re in such a mess,' says Mr Jeffries, who lives in Redditch, Worcestershire.

'I hate the taste of fresh fruit and vegetables, I find them tasteless.

'The only way to make vegetables taste of anything is to put salt on them, and the experts say salt is bad for you, too.

Traditional dinners: Mr Jeffries refuses to try his son's allotment-grown food, preferring sausage, egg and chips

Snacks: Mr Jeffries, a former newsagent's manager, eats a Bounty bar in the morning and smokes 50 a day



Mr Jeffries, whose vegetable-obsessed son runs an allotment, has a particular aversion to cabbage, lettuce, apples and oranges.



And aside from an occasional beef curry, he avoids foreign foods.

He insists the key to keeping fit is daily exercises to music and tending the garden.



'I’m one of the fittest pensioners going,' he insists.



'I sit in my armchair, put on some loud obnoxious music and I just punch and kick the air for around 20 minutes. It's quite something to witness and people don't understand what I'm doing, but it works all my joints and muscles and I think its the secret to my great physical form.

THE DAVID JEFFRIES DIET

BREAKFAST OPTIONS

Cheese on toast

Bacon sandwiches

Bacon and sausage sandwiches

Traditional English fry up



LUNCH

Ham, cheese, and Branston pickle sandwiches



DINNER OPTIONS

Beef and Yorkshire puddings (no vegetables)

Faggots and mash (no peas)

Fish and chips (no mushy peas)

Bacon, sausage, eggs and chips



SNACKS

One Bounty bar after breakfast Two Kit Kats in the evening with a cup of tea



DRINKS

Builders tea

'I do this as often as I can, and after just a 20 minute blast I can feel my neck muscles, arms, legs, have all had a good workout and it certainly gets the blood flowing.



'Then every morning I run the quarter of a mile down to the shop to get a newspaper.

'I don’t get out of breath. I have tinitus, so I can hear the pulse in my ear, and when I stop after a nice jog, I listen to my pulse it's barely raised.'



Mr Jeffries, who has been married to wife Dawn for 42 years, admits his tastes became fussier after he suffered two heart attacks 10 years ago.

However, despite curbing his taste in sweets and cakes, he said the attacks made him feel even younger.

'I actually died for a few seconds in the back of the ambulance and had to be resucitated,' he said.



'I had a blockage in my artery that was hereditary. It was nothing to do with my diet or the cigarettes.

'Since the heart attacks I feel younger than ever. I feel like I have been reborn.'

David, who grew up in Sheldon in Birmingham with his parents and two sisters, recalls that as a child he would often eat fruit and vegetables.

'We would eat whatever was available,' he says.



'Fruit and veg were a lot cheaper back then. I used to like bubble and squeak with the fried potato and vegetables, but not anymore.

'They don’t taste the same as they used to.

'Besides, a little of what you fancy does you good. It hasn’t done me any harm.'



David believes that obesity is nothing more than an evolutionary change, and experts should stop interfering in peoples’ diets.

Slender: He attributes his 28-inch waist to gardening, running, and dancing to music in his living room

'We are told we evolved from apes,' he argues. 'But where is it written that we will remain as we are today?

'We could evolve into 30-stone monsters and there is nothing that we can do about it!'

Nigel Penny, Lecturer in Applied Human Physiology at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Health said: 'I would definitely not recommend anyone pursue a diet like David’s.

'I think the facts speak for themselves. The fact he had two heart attacks 10 years ago is largely due to following such a diet, rather than a hereditary predisposition.