Diet guru Michael Mosley is touring with a new show. Jane McGowan joins the weighting list...
By March, many of us will have given up on our New Year’s resolutions. Long gone is the resolve to ditch the demon drink or the leftover Christmas chocs, as wine and wantonness return to grace our wintry evenings once again.
But for one man – TV medic Dr Michael Mosley – the situation is rather different. Far from relapsing into resigned, self-indulgent abandon, Mosley is on a tour aimed at getting the public to rethink its attitude to diet. Keen to “bust long-held myths”, he brings his stage show, Trust Fast Health, to Richmond and Woking this month.
“I love being in front of a live audience. It’s a chance to talk to people and answer their questions,” explains the 61-year-old. “I love feedback. A lot of people stop me in the street and want to chat about stuff, and I’m really open to that.”
And there’s a lot to chat about. Born in India in 1957, Michael studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford before embarking on a career in the City. But after just two years he quit his job, opting to study medicine with the aim of becoming a psychiatrist.
“I am really, really interested in what makes people tick physically and mentally, and banking just wasn’t doing it for me,” he admits. “Banking is about making money. I much prefer dealing with and thinking about human beings.”
Yet Michael soon became disillusioned with his medical career and went into television; where, after securing a place on an assistant producer scheme, he eventually managed to combine his newly acquired media knowledge with his scientific background.
“I began as a producer and director in current affairs, including on Newsnight, and then I joined the science unit where I worked on Tomorrow’s World.”
Over the years he was responsible for many acclaimed factual programmes, featuring the talents of John Cleese, Elizabeth Hurley, Sir David Attenborough and Jeremy Clarkson, before emerging from behind the scenes in 2007.
“I was actually asked to become a presenter,” he reveals. “I had wanted to do a series on the history of medical self-experimenters – how great turning points in surgery or disease had come about because of accidents or bizarre acts by doctors.”
His BBC bosses liked the idea but struggled to find a big name presenter. Then someone suggested that Michael himself should have a go.
“It was a bit like what happened with Sir David Attenborough,” he says. “Like me, he was in his mid-50s when he strode out in front of the camera. He’s one of my great role models.”
Since then Michael has presented countless shows, penned several books and become one of the nation’s most recognisable authorities on a diet. He is credited with inventing the popular 5:2 diet, which involves eating normally for five days of the week and fasting – sticking to under 800 calories per day – for the other two.
“That came out of a Horizon programme called Eat, Fast and Live Longer,” he explains. “I put together a package that had worked for me. There is no one diet to suit everyone, but there are principles that we should follow.
“The 5:2 works for lots of biological reasons and also because it’s practical. People can set aside two days a week and then enjoy themselves for the other five. Other diets are impractical – you have to abandon certain food groups or keep counting calories or units. Inevitably people then just give up.”
In his latest book, The Fast 800, Michael revives the case for rapid weight loss – or crash dieting.
“The key is to do it properly and safely. It’s like exercise: if you just go out there and embark on a programme, you are likely to hurt yourself. Well, it’s the same with weight loss. Preparation is all.”
Michael’s interest in diet was piqued when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2012. His father suffered from the same condition, dying at 74, and Michael was determined not to follow in his footsteps. Offered medication, he opted instead for a regime of healthy eating, fasting and exercise. Within months his blood sugar levels were under control – and, thanks to this lifestyle change, have remained so.
“Around one in four people with type 2 diabetes don’t know they have it. Pre-diabetes [the early warning sign] affects 30-40% of adults and almost none of them are aware that they are at risk. People need to know to spot the signs.
“Weight has such an impact on health, but there’s a real mishmash of information out there. People don’t know whether to eat fat and avoid carbs or to stick to low-fat. I’m all about myth busting. I’ll also be talking on tour about how weight affects the brain, and how food can help us fight dementia. But there will be a lot of humour too. I want people to be entertained.”
Dr Michael Mosley is at Richmond Theatre on Mar 18 and New Victoria Theatre, Woking on Mar 24. atgtickets.com
