What your doctor isn’t telling you about food

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Alive and Kicking with Clare McKenna 14 min 2 speakers 7 chapters transcribed 1 month ago

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What is Dr. Alan Desmond’s background and why is he an authority on food and health?

Clare McKenna 0:01

Alive and kicking with Claire McKenna on News Talk. Now, Dr. Alan Desmond is a consultant gastroenterologist who works for the NHS and his own private practice based in Devon. He's published numerous research papers and regularly lectures around the world on the benefits of a plant-based diet. His latest book, What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You About Food, is a look at how we are eating in the modern world, its impact, and the simple changes that make a big difference. And Dr. Alan Desmond is on the line. I now, Alan, how are you?

Dr Alan Desmond 0:35

Hi Claire, good morning, and thanks so much for having me back on your wonderful show.

Clare McKenna 0:39

Alan, this is a fantastic book. Um, and you do a great job of giving stark statistics and information that we need to sit up and take notice of. but also having an empowering sense of of of hope. That's not a that's not an easy thing to do. Were you conscious that you had to have both of those strands?

Dr Alan Desmond 1:01

Absolutely Claire. It's so important because overall this is a message of hope. The uh the underlying message can sound a little bit overwhelming, right? I mean, the the whole concept of the book, what your doctor is not telling you about food, the answer to that question is far too much. Um, unfortunately, in the twenty-first century, food has Has become our main driver of poor health. Now that can f sound a little bit abstract, but in real terms across Europe, around 800,000 people die every year because of the way our modern food system has reshaped what we eat. Europeans lose about 14 million years of healthy, productive life every year because of the food on our plates. And The you know, the high meat, low fiber, high junk food diet that we used to call the standard American diet, and then it became the standard Western diet, and now it's the standard global diet, is one of the major forces driving heart disease, increasing rates of type two diabetes, uh obesity, and increasing rates of cancer.

Dr Alan Desmond 2:11

So that can all sound a little bit depressing, can't it? But the the firm evidence-based approach that I take in the book is to educate, motivate, and support people because you can start changing the food you eat in your kitchen today, and it can make a tremendous impr uh benefit in terms of how healthy you feel today and in how many healthy, active years we all get to enjoy in the future. And that's why I wrote the book. It's basically takes the reader through fifteen conversations that I wish every doctor had the time and confidence to have with their patients.

How does the modern Western diet contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer?

Dr Alan Desmond 2:48

Uh, conversations that push back against the online confusion about food and health. But as readers or listeners to the audiobook will quickly realize these are actually conversations we should all be part of.

Clare McKenna 3:03

Yeah, and I I I always think this is quite nuanced and people are very overwhelmed. And I can nearly feel the the the eye roll. I mean, people are busy, they're doing their best, they're juggling careers, you know, family life, personal life, wh whatever life is throwing their way. Um, and there can be a whole host of reasons why people may slip into that high m meat, high fat. high junk food, low fiber diet that you spoke of. And it and it can feel almost finger wagging to them to be like, eat more veg and you know, sort yourself out. And that's not the that's not the that's not the message that that you want to give because

Dr Alan Desmond 3:41

My goodness, absolutely not. There's no finger wagging, there's no blame game here. One of the core messages of the book is that rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, various cancers, and other diet-related problems and diseases, the fact that these diet-related diseases are shortening the number of years that we get to enjoy a healthy life, our health span. Key message of the book is this isn't your fault, because this is the food environment that we live in. The food environment we live in is the driver here. It's not that people choose to eat unhealthy food, it's that the unhealthiest foods are the foods that are often the most affordable, the cheapest, the most heavily marketed foods.