People.co.uk - BIG FAT TRUTH ABOUT GILLIAN MCKEITH'S FOOD

via people.co.uk

Diet guru Gillian McKeith has made a fortune selling her own range of "healthy" food - but much of it has more fat, salt and sugar than mainstream brands she slags off on TV.

Multi-millionaire McKeith launched the nosh after she shot to fame by humiliating overweight punters on C4's You Are What You Eat.

The 49-year-old brags her food is healthier than its rivals on supermarket shelves.

But nutrition experts insist her claims are empty boasts and say they are "appalled" by her advice to wannabe slimmers.

McKeith - who famously likes to poke around in clients' poo - labels her products with her name, photo and the motto "Wishing you love and light".

She has urged Brits to shun scores of household name brands because of the amount of salt, fat, sugar, preservatives and other chemicals in them.

And she warns on her website: "Too much salt is reckoned to be responsible for about 35,000 heart attacks and strokes a year."

Yet her Organic Quinoa Flakes cereal contains twice as much salt as Coco Pops.

Her Organic Haricot Beans have more than twice the fat content of Heinz Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce.

Her "healthy" Goji Berry Bar has almost as much sugar as a Cadbury's Flake, while another food bar has more fat than a Snickers ice cream. And her Organic Hemp Bread Mix has almost four times the fat of a Kingsmill Great Everyday Thick Sliced White loaf.

McKeith has sold more than three million books thanks to her her food range and TV shows, which also include Supersize vs Superskinny on E4.

But the presenter, who owns a mansion in north London's plush Hampstead, is no stranger to controversy. Two years ago she agreed to stop calling herself a doctor because the qualification from a US college was not an officially recognised medical degree.

And her diet advice has repeatedly sparked outrage from dietary experts.

Amanda Wynne, of the British Dietetics Association, has said of McKeith: "We are appalled. It's obvious she hasn't a clue about nutrition."

And her colleague Kathy Cowborough said: "There are obviously health problems associated with getting too much salt, sugar and fat."

But McKeith's spokesman Howard White dismissed the criticism, insisting: "Gillian does not do nutrition by numbers.

"What she's proposing is a change of lifestyle - that's what it's all about.

"We have had hundreds - if not thousands - of testimonials from people around the world who Gillian has helped."

He added: "When you are different and you're against the medical establishment, there is a chance some people won't agree with it.

"But the bottom line is the average person who truly does it Gillian's way will be better off for it."

You have to be suspicious of Scottish people bearing gifts. Sounds like a Get Rich Scheme rather than a get fit scheme.

Posted via web from poobumwee's posterous

Salt Kills Shock Exclusive

I am shocked I am still alive when I read stuff like this and think about my DIEt as a child.

From the Australian

Children as young as four are at risk of developing high blood pressure and eventual cardiovascular disease because of high levels of salt in many processed foods. Even some foods that parents regard as healthy - such as breakfast cereals, cheese, ham and processed meats - are so loaded with salt that young children can easily eat well above their safe daily limit before they have started their evening meal, experts have warned.

The National Heart Foundation will today warn parents to be more vigilant about how much salt their children eat, saying too much puts them at risk of long-term problems and makes healthy home-cooked food taste bland by comparison. If this happened, children were more likely to reject the home cooking and seek more processed, energy-dense foods.

The foundation said a four-year-old who ate cereal for breakfast, a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and just 25 grams of savoury biscuits for an afternoon snack would have eaten, before dinner time, nearly three times the amount of salt needed for an entire day.

Post-mortem examinations of four-year-old children in Britain have revealed signs of early vascular disease, according to Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School in London. A recent study conducted by Professor MacGregor showed for the first time that if children reduced their salt intake, there was a significant fall in their blood pressure.

"If you cut your salt intake, do more exercise, eat more fruit and vegetables and lose weight, that will cause substantial reductions in blood pressure, and will probably prevent you having to take tablets later in life (to control raised blood pressure)," he said.