Then-president Donald Trump presents fast food to be served to the Clemson Tigers football team to celebrate their Championship win The reasons the UK has led the way in adopting the SAD diet are two-fold, according to Henry Dimbleby, cofounder of the Leon restaurant chain and author of the National Food Strategy. They’re also cheap and convenient. “Refined wheat, sugar and vegetable oil are the cheapest foods,” says Dimbleby. “A lot of these foods are things mixed in different configurations with a little bit of flavour added.”

The Kitchen Prescription: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: 101 The Kitchen Prescription: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: 101

These foods have led to the disease of civilisation we see today: heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol problems and, it’s thought, certain cancers. She’s seen people whose autoimmune health conditions have reversed because of what they perceive as changes in their food levels. Eating well doesn't need to be dull food and deprivation - it should be eating a wonderfully varied, vibrant and exciting range of foods. In The Kitchen Prescription, gastroenterologist Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed draws on her love of good food and her expertise in gut health to create 101 recipes that are easy to make, incredibly delicious to eat and will effortlessly keep your gut and digestion in tip-top condition. To celebrate the publication of The Kitchen Prescription, we are gifting someone a virtual fridge exploration with Saliha, and a goody hamper full of gut health-friendly items. During the 45 minute session with Saliha, you will take her through your fridge and she will suggest ways to improve what is in there for optimum gut health.Eating well doesn’t need to be dull food and deprivation – it should be eating a wonderfully varied, vibrant and exciting range of foods. In The Kitchen Prescription, gastroenterologist Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed draws on her love of good food and her expertise in gut health to create 101 recipes that are easy to make, incredibly delicious to eat and will effortlessly keep your gut and digestion in tip-top condition. I’ve recently been involved in a campaign called 24/7 NHS food which aimed to make food available for NHS staff overnight. This campaign taught me that food poverty is very real, and it affects people from all different strata of society, including our staff. I think it is brilliant that the Trust is making a conscious effort to produce healthy and nutritious food for staff on a budget. It is one of the core things we can do for staff well-being; well-fed staff will lead to a better performing workforce and boosted morale. In 2017 you were crowned winner of the BBC’s MasterChef. How did you discover your passion for cooking?

The Kitchen Prescription pre-order competition | Hachette UK The Kitchen Prescription pre-order competition | Hachette UK

I'm Saliha's biggest fan. I love cooking her recipes, learning as I go about the intricate power of our glorious guts. Saliha always keeps it simple. Cook with joy, variety, abundance and cook for you and for others. Her work in the kitchen, in the hospital, in NHS canteens and in the wider community is to be hugely admired! -- Melissa Hemsley Second, there have been few books that focus gut health and how to steer your food to help your biome. Dr Ahmed writes as a doctor but also as an experienced and talented chef. This is the kind of food I want to eat, if it helps my health that’s an added bonus. Fabulous recipe book - the photographs are stunning and the food theory is so interesting. My copy arrived yesterday so today was Masala Cottage Pie (gorgeous) and I'm already putting together a menu for the rest of the week.I’m excited to try the recipes in this book having read through the theory part first. It looks as though this is going to be a whole new approach to cooking. The recipes look good and the photos are lush. While change is possible, it’s also important not to blame people if they struggle to break free of their dependency on SAD foods, both from an economic and mental-health perspective. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown As an NHS gastroenterologist, Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed has spent her career working against the standard American diet and trying to educate patients about how to eat healthily. Our bodies were created for periods of hunger and starvation. They’re made for processing plants and natural foods,” she says of the mismatch between our biology and SAD foods.

Doctor’s Kitchen 3-2-1: 3 fruit and veg, 2 servings, 1 pan Doctor’s Kitchen 3-2-1: 3 fruit and veg, 2 servings, 1 pan

The consequences in the US are already dire; 70 per cent of the population is overweight or obese, and 40 per cent have metabolic syndrome, which means they suffer from obesity, bad cholesterol or elevated blood sugar. Seventy-three thousand limbs are amputated every year in the US because of diabetes. We’ve embraced the SAD diet in the UK faster than anywhere else in Europe, with the exception of Malta (an island with which the UK has long had a close alliance). What a great book! I have read many health cookbooks and many of them are off putting or preachy or require you to accept a dietary principle that you don’t believe in. This book avoids those tropes and traps.

In 1950, 1 per cent of the UK population was obese. Today it’s 28 per cent. The corresponding figure is in the teens in Spain, Italy and France – although they are arguably on the same trajectory, just a little bit behind us. McDonald’s is now France’s biggest restaurant group. I’m not a vegetarian,” she says. “I eat a small amount of meat, but the majority of food I eat is fruit and veg, nuts and seeds, legumes and pulses and spices, all from scratch. The more we can do that, and the less we have sweet, sugary beverages and ultra-processed foods, the better it is for our long-term health.” We need to stop bombarding children 24/7 with food adverts. Also, culturally, in schools and hospitals and at home, we need to start cooking better.” If you’re attempting to make a change in your own eating patterns, Mahmood-Ahmed cautions taking up a restrictive diet, in favour of eating a lot of whole foods.

Saliha Mahmood Ahmed Collection 3 Books Set (The Kitchen

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