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Thread: Food Hospital - Channel 4

  1. #1
    neil's Avatar
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    Default Food Hospital - Channel 4

    Has anyone watched the Channel 4 TV program "Food Hospital" ? The idea of the program is by eating more healthily people will be able to improve their health. I watched the 2nd episode tonight and they are asking for volunteers either through the website or a iPhone app so I downloaded the free app to attempt to complete the questions. I only got as far as the part where they give the choice of three diet options 1. Traditional 2. Vegetables, fruit and low fat (including fish, poultry and milk) 3.Sweet and savoury (including red meat ). No Vegan or Vegetarian option so I was unable to continue with their food experiment. With the NHS being one of the supporters of the series they should have included a Vegan and vegetarian choice

    http://foodhospital.channel4.com/

  2. #2
    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    I watched it last week and the nutrition research they have done is half assed in my opinion. I think they are relying more on what they are told about nutrition than researching themselves.
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    i watched it last night and i think it is pretty basic science and food nutrition knowledge. All the diets seemed sensible (sans the fish and flesh bits).

    i was thinking, cynically, that obviously if people are more informed about dietry choices for health that again, people have their own health in their hands to some extent and forking out more to improve your diet may in the longterm, save the health service and government from forking out more to try and cure the after effects.

    mildly entertaining but missable.

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    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    I haven't seen the programme but I read this article in the paper yesterday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...?newsfeed=true

    Rather along the same lines as Cedar, my thought was that if eating more protein etc controls migraines it seems as if GPs should know about it and tell their patients, rather than just dishing out pills. It seems strange that nutritional advice is still seen by the health service as an afterthought or specialist area, seeing they are supposedly keen on preventing rather than curing illness.

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    leedsveg
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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    Quote harpy View Post
    It seems strange that nutritional advice is still seen by the health service as an afterthought or specialist area, seeing they are supposedly keen on preventing rather than curing illness.
    Just what I said to Mrs Lv after watching last night's programme. I'm sure that I read some years ago that trainee GPs are only given a half days course on nutrition. What absolute barking madness.

    Leedsveg

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    neil's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    Quote leedsveg View Post
    Just what I said to Mrs Lv after watching last night's programme. I'm sure that I read some years ago that trainee GPs are only given a half days course on nutrition. What absolute barking madness.

    Leedsveg
    A GP told me she got 2 weeks nutrition training but maybe it's varied a lot over the years.

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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    doctors are not nutritionists, although some may be enlightened regarding food as medicine.

    they are more chemists than anything, understanding the deficiency and result effect which needs correcting with a chemical answer like supplements.

    now i'm not saying supplements are wrong to be prescribed, indeed i am on them myself, on a prescribed basis but it would be nice if doctors had the time, energy and interest in holistic medicine rather than simply ********* (oh, now i can't think of the word....old age...)

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    cedarblue37's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital -Channel 4

    Quote neil View Post
    A GP told me she got 2 weeks nutrition training but maybe it's varied a lot over the years.

    i did a vegan and veggie nutritional therapist diploma ages ago. although it's not an accredited diploma, i reckon i am more qualified than some docs.

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    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    Obviously the health service needs specialist dieticians as well, but the migraine advice sounds like something the GPs could dish out as a fact sheet or something, before or when they prescribe the pills. (Or maybe they do and people don't take any notice?)

  10. #10
    Crusty Rat
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    Or maybe they're more interested in pushing pharmaceutical products.

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    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    ^ I don't think GP's want to 'push' pharmaceuticals. It's not in their interest. The only reason I can think that they might be encouraged to give out pills is because most patients feel that their problem has been taken seriously if they can walk out with a prescription.
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

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    foxforcefive's Avatar
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    Quote Risker View Post
    ^ I don't think GP's want to 'push' pharmaceuticals. It's not in their interest. The only reason I can think that they might be encouraged to give out pills is because most patients feel that their problem has been taken seriously if they can walk out with a prescription.
    True dat. If anything GPs are incentivised to prescribe fewer medications, especially expensive non-generic ones. (I come from a very medical family and worked in a GP surgery for several years). I think one barrier is that research on the effects of diet is very very complex; it's incredibly difficult to see if effects are really due to food intake and not confounding factors. We know in broad swathes what works (low fat, high fibre, a varied diet of fruits and veg, etc) but it's v hard to pinpoint effects. Although I haven't seen this show, so I don't know what kind of nutritional advice they're giving.

  13. #13
    Crusty Rat
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    This is just my experience, maybe it's because I live in a fairly poor area and they're pushed for time or just don't care, but I think it's generally the way mainstream medicine goes.

    I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, handed a prescription for citalopram (a hideous drug) and told to come back in a month. Each month I came back, had the same/worse symptoms and they upped the dose. After a few months I said I was sick being constantly drugged but they told me to keep taking them for at least another six months.

    I thought "fuck that" and binned 'em, started eating better and exercising more and feel way better than I ever did on those bullshit things.

  14. #14
    leedsveg
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    Default Re: Food Hospital - Channel 4

    Quote Crusty Rat View Post
    This is just my experience, maybe it's because I live in a fairly poor area and they're pushed for time or just don't care, but I think it's generally the way mainstream medicine goes.

    I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, handed a prescription for citalopram (a hideous drug) and told to come back in a month. Each month I came back, had the same/worse symptoms and they upped the dose. After a few months I said I was sick being constantly drugged but they told me to keep taking them for at least another six months.

    I thought "fuck that" and binned 'em, started eating better and exercising more and feel way better than I ever did on those bullshit things.
    Crusty Rat. I'm afraid that your experience is not uncommon (per Mrs Lv who works on a telephone helpline for an organisation affiliated to MIND). The same happened to me in 1973 when I was mildly depressed. My doctor (who was a fat, cigar smoking geezer) prescribed Haloperidol, a very strong anti-psychotic drug. After a few weeks of taking it and feeling worse not better, I too binned the tablets and have never looked back. I think I perhaps needed just a bit of counseling but this was not readily available in the 1970s.

    Anyway well done CR for sorting things out with healthy eating and exercise.

    Leedsveg

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