Live webchat with Dr John Briffa Wednesday the 4 July 12-1pm

[RachelMumsnet]

In response to popular demand we're delighted to invite Dr John Briffa for a live webchat next Wednesday 4 July at 12 midday.

Dr John Briffa is a doctor, award-winning health writer, and former columnist for The Daily Mail and The Observer. He is author of eight books on nutrition and self-help. His latest, Escape the Diet Trap has been widely discussed across the Mumsnet Talk boards.

In Escape The Diet Trap, Dr Briffa says you can 'achieve successful, sustainable weight loss without consciously cutting back on food and without the need for exhausting exercise'. One Mumsnetter describes the book as '...brilliant. Really easy to read without being patronising, and an eye opener with all the studies he cites. Really makes me feel that I am following a healthy diet for the first time in ages'. and another says, 'His advice is smart, sensible and rooted in Proper Science - but it's still controversial. Perfect for a webchat!'

Join us over lunch (extra helpings appear to be acceptable ) at noon on Wednesday 4 July to chat to Dr John Briffa, or if you're unable to join us on the day, post a question in advance on this thread.

Vezzie, what PostBellum says, plus much more! I recommend everyone in the UK take vit D supplements, as sub-optimal levels predispose to autoimmune diseases, type two diabetes, depression, osteoporosis - I could go on. I put all my patients on a minimum of 3000IU per day.

DrBriffa I have been following BIWI's low carb bootcamp from the beginning and have lost 17lbs and gained a whole lot of energy. However I have found it very difficult to maintain my usual energy levels when I go for a long cycle. This doesn't apply when I do cardio at the gym but this is a session of about 45minutes as opposed to 3 hours when cycling. What can you suggest I do to improve my energy when cycling without going off my low carb diet?

The NHS has been advocating high carb, low fat for years and the more we seem to take this advice as a society, the fatter and sicker we seem to be getting. The way to eat is LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY! There is no one diet for everyone but increasing protiens and fats usually has a health giving effect and helps our body balance hormonally. Question- is the high carb diet that is reccomended by the NHS actually being dictated to us from the Pharmaceutical industry to make us fatter and sicker and keep their profits soaring higher as the health of our nation gets gradually worse? Do you thing the pharmasutical/NHS want us healthy?? there is no profit in eating healthy and drinking fresh water. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Hi Dr John
My DH and I are following the principles in your book. I am definitely addicted to carby foods especially sugar. My DH had high cholesterol (7 point something?) and has been told my doc to reduce it through diet. When he asked what diet she said airily, "Weightwatchers or Slimmining World." Both low fat regimens. Will following low carb and higher fat reduce his cholesterol? He needs to lose 4 stone, I need to lose a stone.
Thanks!

John is in the building and ready to start answering your questions. Welcome to Mumsnet John.

Hello everyone - nice to meet you all (sort of!)
I'm going to try and get through as many of your questions as possible, but please be gentle with me ;-)

Afternoon!

@letticepetticoat

Hello and welcome! I have been low carbing since February,have found it easy,have lost 2 stone and feel great! I have done a fair amount of reading around the subject and it all makes perfect sense to me,except everytime the media print sensational stories about 'low carb linked to heart attacks in women' etc etc, I can't help feeling a bit unsure! Can you point me in the right direction for reading about lonqer term effects of low carb/high fat woe? I am 70% convinced that this is my woe for life,but get a bit scared at times! Thankyou!

The 'scare stories' are based on what are known as 'epidemiological' studies which look at associations between things like diet and health. The problem is, these studies can never be used to prove anything. This is because of what are known as 'confounding factors'. For example, someone who eats a lot of red meat might be found to be at increased risk of cancer. But this association might have nothing to do with red meat, but be due to the fact that many people who eat lots of red meat are also not particularly health conscious and are more likely to smoke and drink and be sedentary etc.

A better way of discerning the real relationship between diet and health is to conduct clinical studies. When this has been done, lower-carb diets have been shown to improve disease markers (for things like heart disease) ACROSS THE BOARD, and I detail some of the evidence in my book Escape the Diet Trap. This evidence is, from a scientific standpoint, much stronger than the weaker and generally flawed epidemiological evidence that gets most of the attention!

Runs in late...

@annieapple7

Hi Dr John My DH and I are following the principles in your book. I am definitely addicted to carby foods especially sugar. My DH had high cholesterol (7 point something?) and has been told my doc to reduce it through diet. When he asked what diet she said airily, "Weightwatchers or Slimmining World." Both low fat regimens. Will following low carb and higher fat reduce his cholesterol? He needs to lose 4 stone, I need to lose a stone. Thanks!

The important thing, IMHO, is not the impact a diet (or anything) has on cholesterol, but the impact it has on HEALTH. But, just for the record, eating a diet more limited in carbohydrate tends to improve health markers including blood fat levels, weight, blood pressure and blood sugar levels across the board. I discuss some of this evidence (as well as why cholesterol is not what we should be focused on) in my book.

Would your answer to letticepetticoat also apply to the link between eating red meat more than 3x a week and cancer?

@SingingTunelessly

I've been low carbing for a few weeks now and love it!

Weight loss, improved hair and skin condition and energy levels through the roof. I have an underactive thyroid and was in despair at my tiredness, bloating and weight gain despite my level of thyroxine being stable for twelve months. All the doctor kept telling me was to increase my fibre, eat more vegetables and fruit, whole grain bread and pasta and the inevitable low fat mantra. I could weep for the time lost following that rubbish advice.

So, how can we get this message through to the medical world in particular? And how can I stop my friends recoiling in horror when they see me reach for the double cream and say "but you've lost so much weight you don't want to put it back on again by eating cream". . Or the classic "Are you trying for a heart attack?!" usually said jokingly but with an element of concern because of the rubbish press low carbing receives.

Looking forward to this chat.

Good question, though I'm not particularly concerned that this message needs to be embraced by health professionals, and that's because what we eat isn't really controlled by doctors and dieticians and scientists. I'm a great believer in people educating themselves (if they want to) and 'voting with their feet' by eating (and living) in a way which makes sense to them and works for them. What we health professionals have to say about it is sort of irrelevant, then.

@WEIGHTlossWIZZARD

The NHS has been advocating high carb, low fat for years and the more we seem to take this advice as a society, the fatter and sicker we seem to be getting. The way to eat is LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY! There is no one diet for everyone but increasing protiens and fats usually has a health giving effect and helps our body balance hormonally. Question- is the high carb diet that is reccomended by the NHS actually being dictated to us from the Pharmaceutical industry to make us fatter and sicker and keep their profits soaring higher as the health of our nation gets gradually worse? Do you thing the pharmasutical/NHS want us healthy?? there is no profit in eating healthy and drinking fresh water. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

I don't know whether there's some terrible conspiracy going on here or not. What I do know is that practically everything we're told by our Government, health agencies and health professionals and diet is just wrong and not supported by the science. On the plus side, it seems the truth is out there now, and more and more people are finding their way to it. Yay!

Who else - in the UK - apart from you and Zoe Harcombe, is advocating a low carb way of eating though? Because most of what I see in the media tends to still rubbish it.

@Whippoorwhill

So glad we are getting this web chat.

My husband and Mother in Law are both dealing, very successfully, with their Type 2 diabetes using a low carb diet. My MIL's Doctor is very anti this approach, despite her blood sugar being beautifully controlled and wants her to take Metformin and follow a low fat, high carb diet. He would also like her to take statins because as a diabetic she might be at risk of heart disease.

She has tried to talk to him about the research she has done but he is incredibly dismissive of this and she is starting to have a bit of a crisis of confidence as of course most of her friends think she should do what the Doctor says. At the moment she has a prescription for statins but hasn't had it filled.

Does Doctor Briffa have any advice that might make her feel better about what, to her, seems a very radical approach by not following her Doctor's advice?

My advice is for her to ask her doctor:

1. what the sense is in basing her diet on the very foods known to be most disruptive to blood sugar levels?

1. what good evidence there is that eating the way she does is harmful to health (actual evidence please, not conjecture)?

1. why she needs metformin if she has good blood sugar control?

1. what the evidence is for statins in women in terms of actual reduction in risk of cardiovascular events and overall risk of death?

If she does not get much joy here, is it possible she could find another doctor who embraces her approach for what it is (logical, effective and sustainable for controlled her blood sugar)?

@annieapple7

Would your answer to letticepetticoat also apply to the link between eating red meat more than 3x a week and cancer?

Yes. One major problem is once a food gets labelled as unhealthy people respond in broadly two ways

1. I'll do what I like thanks (and continue to smoke and sit for extended periods in front of the TV eating crisps)

1. Oh, better cut back because I value my health.

This phenomenon alone really compromises the relevance of the evidence, and even though scientists try to take 'confounding factors' into account during analyses, it's an imprecise science and what you end up with is only associations and no proof at all that one thing is causing another.

@BIWItheBold

Afternoon!

Just!

@QueenStromba

I've been following a low carb diet since September and by the end of the year I had lost 2.5 stone, cut my antidepressant dose in half and gone from a borderline pre-diabetic fasting blood glucose level of 5.6 to a pretty perfect 4.0. I've also discovered that I have issues with wheat - a little makes me windy and more than that makes me painfully bloated and wreaks havoc with my digestive system. I'm very good at avoiding wheat at home but I'm not so good at checking for hidden wheat in restaurant food. I know if I had a diagnosis of coeliac disease then I'd be a lot better at checking for hidden wheat but I'm not keen to eat a "normal" diet for six weeks in order to get a diagnosis.

My question is:
If I am coeliac would I do more damage to myself eating a small amount of hidden wheat maybe once a fortnight for the rest of my life or by eating a normal diet for six weeks in order to get a diagnosis?

Even if you eat wheat for a few weeks to get a diagnosis you may not get a diagnosis because you might be wheat sensitive but not have coeliac disease as such. I can't advise you personally, but generally I'd advise people who feel they have a problem with wheat or gluten generally to avoid it as much as possible.

Hi Dr Briffa and welcome .

I am currently changing over to vegetarianism. Can I follow this way of eating and go low-carb?

Thanks

@NotMostPeople

DrBriffa I have been following BIWI's low carb bootcamp from the beginning and have lost 17lbs and gained a whole lot of energy. However I have found it very difficult to maintain my usual energy levels when I go for a long cycle. This doesn't apply when I do cardio at the gym but this is a session of about 45minutes as opposed to 3 hours when cycling. What can you suggest I do to improve my energy when cycling without going off my low carb diet?

You might be running a bit low on carb, but the thing is, this shouldn't really be an issue if you've 'trained' your body to burn fat by keeping carbs low. Perhaps look at 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance' for more on this. Might give you some good ideas...

Who else - in the UK - apart from you and Zoe Harcombe, is advocating a low carb way of eating though?

BIWI, you are doing a pretty good job! I have you to thank for my svelte summer figure!

Dr Briffa, have you tried cauliflower base pizza (on BIWI's recipe thread), it is amazing, drools at thought of slice in fridge for after this chat

I've read your book, receibe your weekly emails and visit your blog and I've even met you in person!

Probably best to mention that I'm not a stalker, just interested in lots of thing you discuss.

So my question is, is there a resource where I can go for answers to questions like how do I know if I'm getting enough/eating too much salt? Can I really eat pork scratchings? How can I beat the sugar cravings that some days consume me?

@TodaysAGoodDay

Hi Dr Briffa and welcome .

I am currently changing over to vegetarianism. Can I follow this way of eating and go low-carb?

Thanks

You can do this, it's just harder than if you're eating a more omnivorous diet. The main thing is not to base meals on rubbishy starchy carbs that are disruptive to blood sugar, stimulate fat gain, and tend to precipitate hunger and food cravings.

I'm going to be naughty and ask another question.

This is Mumsnet afterall, how do you feel about introducing a low carb diet to children?

Thanks