Eating for Health

It was a pleasure to talk with Thivi on my podcast this week about all things skin.

Dr Thivi Maruthappu MA MBBS FRCP PhD is a leading Consultant Dermatologist and expert voice in the field of Skin Nutrition. She studied Medicine at Oxford University and holds a Certificate in Nutrition Science from Stanford, USA.

With over a decade of experience as a Dermatologist, Thivi trained at many prestigious centres and for several years led the care of patients with severe and advanced skin conditions at Barts Health NHS Trust, one of the largest healthcare providers in the UK.

Drawing on her clinical acumen as well as the latest cutting-edge advances, Thivi has carefully curated a 360°approach to skin health, that is much sought after in her Practice.

Dr Thivi is a dedicated academic researcher, who has published widely in prominent medical journals and her scientific advances have garnered numerous accolades and awards from the British Association of Dermatologists and the Royal Society of Medicine. She recently became the first Dermatologist to receive funding for Skin Nutrition research at King’s College, London.

An authority on all things skin, Dr Thivi is invited to lecture nationally and internationally by both her Medical and Nutritionist colleagues. She is frequently featured in the media, including The Sunday Times, Vogue, The Guardian and BBC Radio and works with international brands such as L’Oreal and Procter & Gamble to provide an Expert insight into media campaigns in addition to charitable endeavours for the British Skin Foundation.

In her free time, you’ll find Thivi in the kitchen, happily experimenting with new recipes to share with her husband and three sons.

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It was such a privilege and pleasure to talk with Dame Prue Leith DBE on my podcast this week. We talk about so many different topics including school food, hospital food, Michelin Stars, school cookery lessons and more. 

Prue Leith’s career has included her own restaurants, catering and cookery school businesses; she’s been a board director of companies such as British Rail, Halifax, Safeway, Whitbread, Woolworths, and Belmond (ex-Orient Express) Hotels.

She has published eight novels, a memoir, Relish and 14 cookbooks. Her latest cookbook, The Vegetarian Kitchen, which she co-wrote with her niece Peta Leith, was published in 2020.

Prue is probably best known for her role as a judge on The Great British Bake Off, but she has also been a judge on The Great British Menu and My Kitchen Rules. She has also taken part in Journey with my Daughter, co-presented Cook More, Waste Less and presented Prue’s Great Garden Plot.

Prue has had a deep involvement with education and the arts: she chaired the first of the companies charged with turning round failing state schools and was Chair of the School Food Trust, responsible for the improvement of school food and food education. She started and led the campaign for contemporary sculpture to be exhibited on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. She has been active in many charities and is the Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She was an advisor for the Government’s Hospital Food Review.

Among her awards she has a DBE, 12 honorary degrees or fellowships from UK universities, the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the year, and her restaurant, Leith’s, won a Michelin star.

She is married with two children and four grandchildren.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

This week I’m joined by Professor Amanda Kirby, who started her career as a GP, then worked in adult psychiatry and stress management, but changed her career when her second child was diagnosed with dyspraxia (developmental co-ordination disorder), at the age of 3. Her family is very neurodivergent, with children and adults diagnosed with dyslexia, autism, dyspraxia, developmental language disorder and ADHD, providing her with a unique understanding, insight and passion that continues to raise awareness.

Her experience and frustrations ( at times) as a parent finding her way around the health and educational system led to her consequently starting up an interdisciplinary specialist centre for parents, and children in Wales more than 25 years ago in order to be able to provide practical robust support.

Amanda has been on government advisory boards (e.g. Hidden Impairment National Group) as well as advising UK and international charities in the field of neurodiversity. This includes being a patron of the Dyspraxia Association in New Zealand, Chair of Movement Matters UK, and works with great UK charities including the Dyspraxia Foundation, British Dyslexia Association, North East Autism Society, and is a trustee of the ADHD Foundation campaigning to embrace neurodiversity.

Amanda is also a paid consultant for Equazen, producer of omega 3 supplements, and I talk with her today about the importance of omega 3, and it’s role in brain function and neurodiversity.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

This week I’m delighted to welcome two sisters Claire and Nicky, a stylist and former criminal barrister who founded the award winning clothing brand Tilbea. The brand was conceived after Claire had her first baby, and found a gap in the market for breast feeding friendly clothes, that looked and felt great. We are going to talk firstly about their breastfeeding experiences, about the importance and benefits associated with breastfeeding, and then find out more about their brand. I’m also really excited to launch a a giveaway to say thank you to the 10 thousand people following me on Instagram, and Tilbea have very kindly donated a stunning tracksuit. If you aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s still worth entering as they have different options, including a regular fit too. Have a look here and see my instagram for how to enter. 

For more information about breastmilk and the infant microbiome have a look at the health articles section on my website.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

I’m delighted to have Dr Chris on my podcast today to try to answer some topics that are frequently seen on social media. Chris is not only an NHS GP based in London, but he is also a director for the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, and leads the Physical Activity Specialist Interest Group. He is also a spokesperson for the Healthcare Workers Foundation, which is a charity set up by NHS workers during the pandemic for frontline key workers. He is a keen sportsman and can be found regularly appearing on TV, radio and the news. Follow him at @dr.chris.george on social media.

We talk about

· Obesity

· Reflux

· Candida overgrowth

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

I’m delighted to welcome Sarah Ann Macklin, a registered nutritionist and former fashion model on today to tell us all about her fascinating journey and omega 3.

First some background on Sarah, who founded the first not-for profit organisation in the fashion industry called the Be Well Collective and has her own nutrition practice. Her 13 years as a successful international model showed her how young women are expected to look and perform at their physical best without being offered nutritional guidance. For Sarah it was a serious oversight that models who were expected to conform to certain aesthetic standards were not being educated in achieving these goals by eating to enhance their health, wellbeing and mental energy. Sarah has published a book The Great British Veg Out to encourage people to eat their 5 a day.

Today on the podcast we talk about:

· Some nutrition myths and fads

· Omega 3

· Orthorexia

· Emotional eating and diet culture

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

Today I’m delighted to be joined by Dr Anisha Patel, or you might know her as @doctorsgetcancertoo. As the name suggests, she is GP, who has had stage 3B rectal cancer in 2018. Anisha just completed the London marathon and is over 2 years in remission post treatment.

As well as getting back to work post cancer, sharing her journey through cancer and the aftermath, she has been an avid health promoter, raising awareness of Bowel cancer, other cancers, screening and prevention, she also talks about cancer in the young to the public, health professionals and in the media. Anisha is a regular on Lorraine and part of the no butts campaign to highlight the symptoms of bowel cancer.

Breaking taboos and stigmas around health is so important and ensuring people have the right information to make decisions regarding their health.

When she isn’t working, Anisha loves cooking and experimenting with foods, spending time with her husband and 2 children and exercising! Today we talk about fibre, bowel health, nutrition, health promotion and her personal experience of cancer.

As a huge fan of bake off, I’m really delighted to have Kimberley Wilson, Bake off finalist on to talk with me today. More importantly though, Kimberley is a Chartered Psychologist and author of How to Build a Healthy Brain working in private practice in central London. She is a Governor of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Mental Health Trust and led the therapy service at Holloway prison for a decade, which at the time was Europe’s largest women’s prison.

If you would like to hear more from Kimberley, she co-hosts the podcast Made of Stronger Stuff alongside Dr Xand van Tulleken on BBC Radio 4. Follow her on Instagram and see her website for more information. 

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

Today I’m focussing on the menopause, something that affects all women, and indirectly men, but as yet doesn’t have the recognition and knowledge that it deserves. To talk about all things menopause, I’m delighted to welcome Dr Louise Newson, menopause specialist and GP.

On this episode hear us talk about:

Louise is such a busy lady, it’s difficult to know where to start. In summary, she is an advisor to the NHS and on the Clinical Steering Committee for NHSEI’s Menopause Improvement Programme and has also set up a not for profit company focused on research and education called Newson Health Research and education. Louise has authored the Haynes Menopause Manual, and also topped the times best seller list with her new book preparing for the perimenopause and menopause.

She is the director of Newson Health Ltd (www.newsonhealth.co.uk) She runs a menopause and wellbeing centre in Stratford-upon-Avon which is the largest menopause clinic in the world. She has developed the menopause information website www.menopausedoctor.co.uk and the free menopause app “balance” – www.balance-app.com.

Louise is the founder and a trustee for The Menopause Charity – www.themenopausecharity.orgwhich will support and empower women with evidence-based knowledge in many different ways.

She has recently launched the Confidence in the Menopause educational programme - www.fourteenfish.com/menopause/welcomeand is involved in research with colleagues in Warwick, Oxford and Liverpool Universities and London School of Tropical Medicine. Louise has contributed to menopause related articles in different newspapers and magazines and been on numerous radio and TV programmes. She also hosts a weekly podcast for women (entitled Newson Health).

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give me a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

I was delighted to welcome on this week, Dr Zarrin Shaikh a Consultant Cardiologist. Zarrin and I share the same ethos, and she is also a passionate advocate for optimising wellbeing to prevent disease and live happier, healthier lives.⁠

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Zarrin qualified from the University of Nottingham in 2001 and has been working on the frontline of the NHS since then. In 2008 the British Heart Foundation awarded her a grant to undertake a PhD researching sleep, cardiac physiology and lung disease. Her PhD sparked an ongoing interest in the role of sleep and heart health. In 2017 she qualified as a consultant and now works between the community and St Peters Hospital in Chertsey.⁠

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Throughout her years as a doctor, she has seen patients getting younger and sicker. Cardiac disease is still the world’s leading cause of death and in the UK kills more women per year than breast cancer. This motivated her to develop the Fresh Heart Project, a platform for positive, accurate health messages to address the root causes of heart disease. She shares evidence-based tools to refocus your energy and optimise your health without judgement and with compassion.⁠

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Find her at www.freshheartproject.com and follower her at @freshheartproject and @freshheartdoc⁠

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If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be delighted if you would give us a 5* rating and leave a review, so other people can find us too. Thank you!⁠

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