You Are What You Eat

An interesting show, but Gillian McKeith's advice is often misguided and flat out wrong. Anyone who is obese and changes their diet to what she preaches will lose weight because of an absence of calories. However, she continues to stress the saturated fats in red meat as being the death knell. Well, red meat is NECESSARY for a healthy diet, and saturated fat has been proved to have no effect on heart disease. She often recommends meals that are meatless and have incomplete proteins in them. She's flat out wrong on these ends.

If you really want to know more about the proper human diet, check out www.westonaprice.org for more details.

In order to overcome the difference of the effects of food from one human beings to another (nature versus nurture), identical twins were chosen in this study to eat either a healthy omnivore diet or a healthy vegan diet. The results are compelling and the documentary has shines a light on the effects of animal farming on the environment as well on humans. Educational about the impact of the food we eat on our mental, physical and sexual health. The livelihood of farm animals and birds as well as the danger to humans regarding ecoli and pathogens. Scientific and diverse.

The contestants cultural backgrounds are challenged and traditions analysed.

Within 8 weeks the people eating the vegan diet had a prolonged biological age, their 'bad cholesterol' went down and their chances of getting cognitive diseases such as the Alzheimer's or dementia was reduced. As well as the risk of stroke and heart disease and diabetes.

While the program is very interesting in that it shows people the error of their ways in eating a diet consisting of burgers and crisps, you need to take Gillian McKieths advice with a pinch of salt (pardon the pun).

Apparently, she has a slightly iffy doctorate - if you believe the article at http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/Nonrecorg/clayton.html. The same college has churned out people who have spouted such rubbish as:

"all cancers, AIDS, and many other diseases are caused by "parasites, toxins, and pollutants" and that they can be cured with herbs and a low-voltage electrical device, sometimes within hours"

"health and weight control depend primarily on proper balance between an alkaline and acid environment that can be optimised by eating certain foods"