In a Nutshell: The Plant-Based Health Professionals UK Podcast

For our season finale we speak with the octogenarian vegan athlete Paul Youd, who discovered a new lease of life after choosing veganism at the age of 66. 

He now raises money for charities with his ultra-marathon and press-up challenges, and is well on his way to complete 100 ultra marathons before his 100th birthday.

We're sure you will be inspired by this conversation where we dive into how shifting to a plant-based diet cured Paul's arthritis pains, to his favourite meals and his biggest challenges, and of course the documentary showcasing his incredible achievements called ' More Like Paul'.

To find out more:

https://shortstopfilms.co.uk/more-like-paul

To buy tickets for the premier screening:

https://exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/more-like-paul

To connect with Paul on Instagram @youdpaul 

To read more about Paul's work and sponsor him :

https://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.com/2013/02/52-diet-cake-in-mug-vegan.html

And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast to be informed when we're back for season five!

For episode 15 we are joined by Plant-Based Health Professionals U.K. member, Ailsa McHardy, registered paediatric dietitian, and founder of Little Nutrition, to get her advice on food with a focus on children. 

Ailsa has over 14 years experience as a dietitian. We discuss trends in children's diets, healthfully bringing up children plant-based, fussy eaters, growth concerns, and, in seasonality discussions, the joys of salad and watercress.

To get in touch with Ailsa: www.littlenutrition.co.uk

Instagram: @littlenutritionwithailsa

The links to the Family and children's zone on the PBHP website and the  factsheets discussed:

https://plantbasedhealthprofessionals.com/kids

https://plantbasedhealthprofessionals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IronFactsheet201123.pdf

In this bonus episode Daisy and Clare talk to Georges Hayek, owner and general manager at Hayek Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. When you listen to Georges speak about the health benefits and the context for patient 'choice', you may wonder why we make such a meal out of hospital food in the UK and beyond.

Inspired? Help us take action on hospital food in the UK

https://plantsfirsthealthcare.com/

In episode 14 of this season we are joined by Cóilín Nunan, to discuss the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance and how the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to this silent pandemic.

Cóilín is the Policy and Science Manager of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, an alliance of seventy-one member organisations campaigning against the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming.

Cóilín breaks down how antibiotics are used not only to treat infections but also prevent disease in crowded, unsanitary conditions. This results in a breeding ground for drug-resistant bacteria that can affect both animals and humans.

This discussion highlights why we view the shift to plant-based diets as one of the key ways to drive down this overuse, and protect antibiotics for when we actually need them within healthcare.

Please share this episode widely to help raise awareness and be part of the change towards a better future for all.

To find out more about the alliance's work and to get involved: https://www.saveourantibiotics.org/

If you've heard that you'll get doughy trying to build muscle on beans, or indeed anything else that's made you doubt pulses even for a second, then this nugget's for you. Daisy and Clare discuss the nutrition of a range of legumes, as well as health benefits and environmental impacts, and how best to cook and eat them.

Didinger, C.; Thompson, H.J. Defining Nutritional andFunctional Niches of Legumes: A Call for Clarity to Distinguish a Future Role for Pulses in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Nutrients 2021, 13,1100. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041100

Mullins AP, Arjmandi BH. Health Benefits of Plant-BasedNutrition: Focus on Beans in Cardiometabolic Diseases. Nutrients. 2021 Feb5;13(2):519. doi: 10.3390/nu13020519. PMID: 33562498; PMCID: PMC7915747.

In episode 13 of this season we are joined by the Food Foundation's Rebecca Tobi, and Plant-Based Health Professionals UK's founder, Dr Shireen Kassam to discuss the latest Food Foundation report 'Meat Facts'.  

Rebecca is a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr), has a masters in Nutrition for Global Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and is the Food Foundation's Senior Business and Investor Engagement manager.

Rebecca's in-depth knowledge of the report, combined with Shireen's expertise on the health implications of eating red, processed, and other meats, ensure this is a really rich discussion. 

The UK may continue to ignore the health warnings that are associated with meat consumption but hopefully anyone who is listening to this episode will take action to curb their own consumption for individual and planetary health.

Find the full report  here: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/publication/meat-facts

The latest UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-2019-to-2023/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-2019-to-2023-report

The excellent Food Foundation Podcast, Pod Bites: 

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/podcasts

For this week's nugget we are joined by NHS dietitian Didem Varol, who guides us through the delights and challenges of opting for plant-based food when eating out in Turkey, or when re-creating Middle Eastern flavours at home.

Follow Didem on Instagram @plantgevity or find her at www.plantgevity.com

This week we are delighted to welcome Professor Paul Behrens to the Nutshell.

Paul is a British Academy Global Professor based at the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford where his research focuses on the impacts of food system transformations. 

His research and writing on food and energy systems, land use and climate change has appeared in scientific journals and media outlets and he is the editor and author of the textbook  ‘Food and Sustainability’.

As an academic with a background in Physics, Professor Behrens is an environmental expert, and he combines this expertise with a communication style that is accessible to all in his book ‘The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science’ which we discuss in this episode.

To buy the book:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/PaulBehrens

To connect:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-behrens-6b586427/?originalSubdomain=uk

Links to further information discussed in this episode:

https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/

https://en.fvm.dk/Media/638484294982868221/Danish-Action-Plan-for-Plant-based-Foods.pdf

https://www.carbonbrief.org/cropped/

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/author/zacharyboren/

https://www.ft.com/susannah-savage

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/arthurneslen

https://www.food.systems/

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/publication/meat-facts

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-05/TFF_Meat%20Facts.pdf

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/broken-plate

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2514664525000104

This week's 'nugget' episode showcases the work of Dr Camille Hirons, a GP with special interest in lifestyle medicine and reducing health inequalities.

Esselstyn CB Jr, Ellis SG, Medendorp SV, Crowe TD. A strategy to arrest and reverse coronary artery disease: a 5-year longitudinal study of a single physician's practice. J Fam Pract. 1995 Dec;41(6):560-8. PMID: 7500065.Buettner D, Skemp S. Blue Zones: Lessons From the World's Longest Lived. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;10(5):318-321. doi: 10.1177/1559827616637066. PMID: 30202288; PMCID: PMC6125071.The Core 20 NHS work on health inequalities:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/equality/equality-hub/national-healthcare-inequalities-improvement-programme/core20plus5/

Connect with Dr Cami:

https://www.lifestylemedicineaccelerator.co.uk/

On Instagram: the_lifestyle_med_gp

Get qualified:

https://plantbasedhealthprofessionals.com/iblm/iblm-certification

And to get tickets for the upcoming Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine in person and online conferences:

https://nlmc.org.uk/

This week we are pleased to be welcoming Dr Neal Barnard, M.D. to the Nutshell.

Dr Barnard has an incredible plant-based health CV including founding the Barnard Medical Center in Washington DC, which aims to make nutrition part of routine medical care, as well as working as adjunct Professor of Medicine at George Washington University.

He is however perhaps most well known for his role as Founder and President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ( PCRM) - an organisation advocating for preventative medicine, good nutrition and higher ethical standards in research.

He himself has led research studies focusing on the role of diet in problems such as diabetes, weight management, and chronic pain and as a result has produced a number of  fantastic studies, and books, and we had the opportunity to talk with him about his latest book 'The Power Foods Diet'.

Link to find out more about PCRM:

https://www.pcrm.org/

To buy Dr Barnard's latest book:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-power-foods-diet-the-breakthrough-plan-that-traps-tames-and-burns-calories-for-easy-and-permanent-weight-loss-md-barnard-neal-d/7616351?ean=9781538764954

Don't forget to get your tickets to this year's Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine Conference in London, by following this link:

https://nlmc.org.uk/

And if you enjoy this episode please don't forget to share, rate and review!