Dr Ziauddeen, an honorary consultant psychiatrist and neuroscientist who works for CPFT’s community mental health teams in south Cambridge, discusses sugar in our diets in an interview with Radhika Sanghani for the BBC.
Radhika Sanghani gave up sugar entirely for two months. Dr Ziauddeen tells her: “You’re subscribing to a philosophy about eating rather than a scientifically guided way of eating, and it comes with varying degrees of problems. You have to be careful you’re not missing out on micronutrients like iron and vitamins. And being completely preoccupied with what you’re eating isn’t particularly useful for you – it takes time and mental resources away from other things you could be doing.” On the extreme end, he sees people so obsessed with what they eat that they develop psychological issues.
Dr Ziauddeen explains that the #nosugar diet is generally done by people who find it easier to go cold turkey. Some people find it easier to avoid eating an entire bag of chocolate buttons if they don’t eat any at all. But his advice is the same as my Year Six science teacher’s: eat a balanced diet.
