Increased
consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates has sent rates of heart
disease, as well as obesity and type 2 diabetes, rocketing.In fact,
when Dr Malhotra began his own extensive research, after his
burger-and-chips revelation in 2010, he was fascinated by the way
attention had been focused on a fatally flawed message: reduce fat
consumption and cholesterol levels.
The more he investigated, the more convinced he became that this fear
of fat was to blame for increased consumption of sugar and refined
carbohydrates, and it is this which has sent rates of heart disease, as
well as obesity and type 2 diabetes, rocketing in tandem.
By
reducing intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates, I’ve seen type-2
diabetes reverse, something we were taught at medical school couldn’t
happen
Dr Malhotra has now distilled his expertise into an easy-to-follow 21-day plan called
The Pioppi Diet,
which is published on Thursday, and which we will be showing you how to
follow in tomorrow’s paper. Its central message is to stop fearing
saturated fat and cholesterol. Stop counting calories. And start
considering sugar as public enemy number one.
Professor
David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, has praised the plan
as “fearless” for questioning ingrained nutritional guidelines, which
have actually “underpinned the obesity epidemic over recent decades.”It takes its name from a small Italian village where the locals not
only tend to live longer - the average man has a lifespan of 89; many
live to 100 - but do so without contracting the chronic diseases of
ageing, such as type-2 diabetes and dementia, that the rest of the world
accepts as
inevitable.
Consultant cardiologist, Dr Malhotra travelled to Pioppi to discover the inhabitants' secrets. The
doctor’s interest in Pioppi was two-fold. The locals’ way of life was
clearly fascinating: was it just diet which kept the population so well
for so long, and could lessons be extrapolated for the wider world? But Pioppi also has a sort of iconic significance. It was the home
from home for American physiologist, Professor Ancel Keys, who first
developed the idea of a Mediterranean Diet as being the ideal eating
plan, in the Fifties. Pioppi is even protected by UNESCO as a result
.
The word diet as we understand it is a misinterpretation of the Greek word 'diatia', which means lifestyle
But Ancel
Keys was also famous as the man who demonised saturated fat, theorising
that it was the cause of blocked arteries and, as a result, heart
disease – a position Dr Malhotra no longer agreed with.
Visiting the village with filmmaker Donal O’Neill to make a documentary called
The Big Fat Fix in 2015 he was able to examine the Pioppians more closely.And possibly the most important lesson Dr Malhotra learnt as he did,
was that the word diet as we understand it is a misinterpretation of the
Greek word
diatia, which means lifestyle. Eating olive oil and fresh fish
was just part of the Pioppians’ wider picture, he concluded, which
included habitual daily movement, lack of stress, good quality sleep,
and a sociable, inclusive society.
Eating olive oil and fresh fish was just part of the Pioppians’ wider picture “Yes, the local eat pasta – but only in small quantities, and they
rarely touch sugar. They only eat dessert on a Sunday, pizza once or
twice a month. They take time over lunch. They don’t have a gym in
Pioppi but they are constantly on the go.”
It’s a prescription, he believes,
that could be life-changing back in the UK if followed. “When we
recommend food and lifestyle changes, reducing intake of sugar and
refined carbohydrates, patients achieve a fast result, definitely within
21 days.
I’ve seen type-2 diabetes reverse, something we were taught at
medical school couldn’t happen.”
Yes,
the local eat pasta – but only in small quantities, and they rarely
touch sugar. They only eat dessert on a Sunday, pizza once or twice a
month. They take time over lunch. They don’t have a gym in Pioppi but
they are constantly on the go.
Dr
Malhotra practises what he preaches, having completely overhauled the
eating habits he developed growing up in Stalybridge, Cheshire. “I was a
proper sugar addict: Coco Pops for breakfast, a KitKat and a packet of
crisps in break time at school. Luckily I was sporty, but I was always
hungry so I snacked all the time. That was normal, wasn’t it?”
Although a
talented cricketer, he had been drawn to medicine, cardiology in
particular, due in part to the death of his older brother at 13 from
heart failure, caused by a virus.“Amit, who was two years older than me, had Downs syndrome and he
taught me about compassion. His death was just bad luck, but it had a
real impact on me.”Both of their parents were GPs; in fact his father later taught Dr
Malhotra to cook, meaning he enjoyed a reputation at Edinburgh
University where he began medical studies, as “the guy who cooks the
best chicken curry”. He adds: “But I didn’t appreciate how impactful and
important food was to health. And we didn’t learn anything about it at
medical school. I always ate dessert and chocolate.”
A
fter cutting out sugar, bread and pasta, Dr Malhotra shed a stone in weight from his midriff Within
weeks of cutting out the vast quantities of sugar, bread and pasta he
had been consuming from his diet, he shed a stone in weight from his
midriff - a happy “side effect” of a healthy lifestyle which “reduces
the chance of heart disease, dementia and cancer, too.”“Diet is the number one issue,” he adds. “More than physical
inactivity, smoking and alcohol, it contributes to more disease and
deaths.
This should be the message from doctors: that food
is medicine. And if we all took up the challenge, the effect on the NHS budget would be transformatory too.”
Of
course, not everyone will find it easy to transform their entire diet
and lifestyle. “Healthy food needs to be made affordable, for a start.
And we know that certain groups find this harder than others. If you
work a night shift – as I know – you are more likely to eat sugary
processed food. So we need to get rid of vending machines full of
chocolate bars and ban junk food in hospitals.”He thinks “bold” chief executives could even end the coffee shop culture in hospitals, which sees staff and patients alike hooked up to endless lattes and muffins.
"Healthy food needs to be made affordable, for a start.There are also those who overeat
for emotional reasons. “Comfort eating ties into stress which is itself
a massive risk factor for many diseases. So we need to deal with that,
whether that’s by offering mediation, yoga or Pilates classes. Or
encouraging more social interaction and friendship off line.”Lastly, he points out, “There is no such thing as a healthy weight,
but a healthy person. That is what we should all be aiming for. Living like a Pioppian would mean a reduction in the 20 million deaths worldwide caused by
cardiovascular disease. Plus obesity reversed and levels of type 2
diabetes declining. That’s my ultimate dream.”
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