What do you call the EATWELL PLATE?

Tell me what is wrong with it, if it is not listed below

• Some items in the fruit and vegetables section could go in the carbs and starches

• Some items in dairy could go in there too- contain carbs. As in fruit yoghurts.

• The words are not equivalent- fruit and vegetables are at least foods, but the others are macronutrients.

• Carbs and starches as a group- but carbs consist of starches and sugars, and surely they should list the foods like bread, pasta, and potatoes.

• Sugars and fats are NOT the same- one is a component of a macronutrient-carbohydrate and 1 is a macronutrient lumped in the same section

• Dairy and meat contain fat and protein and are in a different section to the fat.

• Look at the small sugar and fat section and there are coke, chocolate and sweets recommended in it.

• Remember carbohydrates are non essential.

• The same goes for dairy- it is non-essential and many societies live without it, and some people do not eat dairy foods at all.

• Surely there are 9 food groups- meat, fish, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, grains. There are 3 macronutrients and only 2 are essential- fat and protein. A person needs enough protein and fat and they can get those from a variety of sources.

• One final point is that this is one suggestion for all people from 2 to 102 regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, dietary restrictions, pregnancy of not, weight, waist circumference, drugs, activity level to name a few. Compare a slim active fit 5 year old with an overweight immobile diabetic with leg ulcers. Do they both need the same types of food and would they each thrive on them? Surely the whole idea is bonkers.

• This cannot be logical  and we have been working with this for years to no avail. In fact, I do not use it because I have never found it helpful.

• If you think that a large proportion of the green section are carbohydrate foods, and some of the blue section, and at least half of the purple section, our Eat well plate is advising about 75% carbohydrates, and none of them are essential.

• The problem is that all our lifestyle advice is currently derived from this and I am certain it will be making fat people fatter and causing them harm. I am particularly concerned about the harm to children as a safeguarding GP and regard this as a type of institutional or governmental harm that we have a duty to alert the authorities to, and put a stop to locally, even if the national guidance does not change.

Dr Jo’s question number 1 -What happens to overweight people or diabetics if you feed them large quantities of carbohydrate foods such as bread and potatoes? Answer-They put on weight if they are fed carbohydrate foods because they cannot process starches and sugars properly and in a diabetic person’s body they turn to fat.

Dr Jo’s question number 2- WHO WROTE THIS? Who devised the Eat Well plate and do all countries use it? Answer it was written with considerable food industry help and has no scientific backing.

Dr Jo’s question number 3-Tell me which name would you think best for this plate?

• EAT BADLY plate- thanks, Zoe Harcombe!

• Food sellers plate

• Food manufacturers’ plate

• Pro-inflammatory plate

• Confuse ‘em all plate

• Get addicted to carbs plate

• Let’s get fat plate

• Sumo plate.

• Fatten ‘em up plate

• Get fat, sick and take drugs to cure yourself plate

• Obesity plate- create, not cure

• Eat well, get fat plate

• Get nice and slim plate

• Food consumers plate

• Nice and clear plate

• Bad science plate

• The why bother they don’t listen and so it’s not working plate

• The once sick, need drugs plate

• The where’s the alcohol plate?

• The Who Profits plate?

• The food-sick-drugs plate

• The Eat Well for whom? Plate

Dr Jo’s Question number 4,5 6 and 7! How do Sumo wrestlers get fat(they eat lots of carbs) and at what age do they die on average? 63 years How does it compare with the Halton and Japanese averages for men? 73-80 in Halton, and 78 in Japan when I looked. Do you think that Sumo wrestlers eat foods containing a high proportion of fat? No they have lots of carbohydrates and protein.

Are we seriously still using the EATWELL plate?

24% of year 6 children and 35% of adults are obese in Halton. What % are overweight nationally? 60%

We are told that obesity is a complex problem but this “let’s get fat plate” advice will make it impossible to become a normal weight. If I ate like this I would become fat, and get progressively fatter over time. It needs to be scrapped.

Dr Jo’s solution- Let’s keep it simple

EATWELL PLATE Rest In Peace

Eat real food

Don’t buy or eat false food

If you crave it or you’re intolerant of it, or have an ethical objection to it, don’t eat it.

Real food is less addictive than false food so you do not need to worry about portion sizes.

People may not heed this advice but we may as well set a gold standard, and keep repeating the message.