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The Eatwell Guide

Series investigating the world of food and the stories behind what people eat. Sheila Dillon questions whether the Eatwell Plate is giving us good dietary advice.

Sheila Dillon questions whether the government's Eatwell Plate that's issued to the medical profession and used as public guidance for a balanced diet could actually be harming us. An increasing number of medics are abandoning the plate because they say it still promotes dangerously high levels of starchy carbohydrates and processed foods that contain high levels of the sugars that cause many of today's chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra author of the Pioppi diet is campaigning to change the official advice and says that a healthy diet and lifestyle are the key to reducing disease and the need for medication, but he says that vested interests from the food and pharmaceutical industries make some of these healthier choices more difficult to achieve. Dr David Unwin is a GP who has seen a huge spike in patients presenting with Type 2 Diabetes since he began practicing forty years ago. He advises lifestyle changes that include abandoning the Eatwell Guide and cutting out the starchy carbohydrates, processed foods and sugars and has seen a reversal of the disease in a significant number of patients.
Sheila also visits Tameside Hospital in Greater Manchester which is overhauling its canteen food and vending machine produce to reduce processed carbohydrates and sugary drinks and snacks. In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the NHS the hospital will go completely sugar free on July 4th.
Is it time to revise the Eatwell Guide and what will it take to do so?

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

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30 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sheila Dillon
Interviewed Guest Aseem Malhotra
Interviewed Guest David Unwin
Producer Maggie Ayre

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 Jul 2018 12:32
  • Mon 2 Jul 2018 15:30

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