Page 16 - Healthy food

‘I HAD A LIGHTBULB MOMENT’

DR MICHELLE BRAUDE trained I GREW UP IN SOUTH AFRICA, where episode finally gave me the conviction
as a medical doctor at UCL London healthy food and an outdoor lifestyle to practise what I already knew: that
and completed a BSc in Nutrition are the norm. I had a passion for both. expert nutritional advice from a doctor
at King’s College When I studied medicine in London we would not only be helpful but essential
London. She now had just a couple of hours on nutrition, in future healthcare. Moreover, I knew
runs her own private which didn’t seem nearly enough. On I had to build on this idea.
nutrition practice, The a placement in a GP practice in 2011, I could see advice about nutrition was
Food Effect, in London. I saw so many people coming in with a neglected area – people can, of course,
Her new book is high blood pressure, raised cholesterol get to see dietitians in hospital but the
The Food Effect Diet and type 2 diabetes and the GPs would average person who is just overweight
(Piatkus, £13.99). just write them a prescription. or has slightly raised blood pressure
My lightbulb moment came when I doesn’t, so a preventive opportunity is
saw a 15-year-old girl who had multiple missed. In the short term, it may seem
health problems, including shortness of cheaper for the NHS to medicate
breath and exhaustion. She was severely people than discuss their diet with
anaemic and was being prescribed iron them, but they need advice about their
pills – but no one had told her about the diet much earlier on to prevent these
importance of eating iron-rich foods. problems developing. Even healthy
Her diet seemed to consist almost people need advice about helping to
entirely of white bread, pasta and prevent cancer – the slim people who
crisps and she never ate any fruit, eat too much meat, for instance.
vegetables, dairy or protein. This I decided to set up my own nutrition
practice to help people improve their
^ It’s cheaper in the health through diet. I don’t believe in
short term for the NHS quick fixes, where you drop 5lb in a
week, but my patients definitely feel
to medicate people better within three to four weeks – they
have so much more energy, for a start.
than to address diet _ I find my patients are very confused
about diet – I’ll ask them what they have
tried before and they mention the
Cabbage Soup Diet, Atkins, Dukan, etc,
which they found unsustainable as these
are all about cutting out food groups.
People are confused by information
put out on social media, too – such as
the Instagram users who swear by
spoonfuls of coconut oil in their
porridge (yes, it’s healthy in small
amounts but it also contains lots of
calories). There is just so much
conflicting advice out there.
The weight-loss advice I give is simple.
It’s not about cutting out any one food
group, but eating the right carbs, fat
and protein, avoiding processed foods
and teaching about portion sizes.
I’ve got hundreds of clients who have
achieved big weight losses, improved
their cholesterol and blood pressure
and even managed to come off their
type 2 diabetes medication. For me,
nutrition is more satisfying than medicine
– it combines all my passions.