Diet queen Amanda Hamilton accuses rival of creating drama without solving eating disorders

Published on Saturday 25 April 2009 20:00

SCOTLAND's TV diet queens have become embroiled in a carrot juice catfight.

High-profile nutritionist Amanda Hamilton has aimed a broccoli spear at rival Gillian McKeith for "harassing" her on-screen patients.

The Something For The Weekend star has taken her fellow Scot to task for "making drama" rather than tackling the root causes of overeating.

Hamilton spoke out ahead of launching a new BBC show, Teen Detox, where youngsters with health problems are taught to cook and eat nutritious food.

McKeith shot to fame in the Channel 4 series You Are What You Eat, where she berates the obese and pores over their bodily waste in a bid to shame them into changing their lifestyle.

The Perth nutrition guru's demeanour and boot camp-style solutions have inspired a spate of similar shows.

But Hamilton finds the concept of on-screen humiliation decidedly unpalatable. The 34-year-old said: "That all started from the Gillian McKeith era.

"But it has never been the way that I have worked.

"I have often been asked to take part in programmes which are similar, but always said no. You are not solving the problem, you are just making drama.

"Harassing people to lose weight makes interesting TV, but I think it is far more profound and far more moving to actually tell people how to get to the bottom of their problems."

The GMTV nutritionist feels You Are What You Eat, and other shows which have aped its format, often fail to address people's emotional reasons for eating unhealthily.

She said: "You have got to look at their emotional journey as well as their budget and lifestyle. It is so much more fulfilling if you genuinely help a person understand what is going on with them."

Hamilton was unsure as to whether You Are What You Eat's hectoring and humiliating ethos was down to its host or its producers.

She said: "I don't know Gillian McKeith personally. I don't know whether it is down to her or what the programme makers want her to be like.

"I have always wanted to represent myself as me, rather than some sort of character.

"I take part in the programmes that allow me to do that and turn down the ones where I can't."

McKeith's breakthrough series garnered large ratings, and her spin-off book sold more than one million copies and topped best-seller lists.

Her reputation as a ferocious but effective taskmaster was strengthened when she managed to make Michelle McManus, the 22-stone winner of Pop Idol 2, shed six stone by ditching junk food and alcohol.

On one occasion she told one couple who fed crisps to their baby that they should be "arrested and locked up for child abuse".

But Hamilton believes a more softly-softly approach, as employed in her latest series, is ultimately more effective, particularly with youngsters.

"We are looking to work with young adults, not against them.

"We are here to help them, not to lecture them.

"It struck me that it is important to make young people aware of the issues surrounding their health, without being Big Brother-ish."

In Teen Detox five adolescents with health problems are taken to a health spa in Andalusia in a bid to wean them off their bad habits.

Many of them had no experience of eating freshly cooked meals and instead existed entirely on microwave meals and processed snacks.

Hamilton said: "We got them tasting real food and real fruit and vegetables for the first time. They really got it and we were in tears by the end because of all the changes."

In the first of the series the burger-loving youngsters are stunned to discover they are being put on a temporary diet of nothing but fruit smoothies.

Similarly, jaws drop when the Scot advises them to have colonic treatments to wash impurities out of their bodies.

Among them is Dundonian Katie Brady, who volunteered to take part in the show after being unable to shake her weekly consumption of two litres of vodka, eight litres of cider, plus numerous shots and cans of lager.

Brady, who is now 20, said: "The show saved my life. If I hadn't done Teen Detox, I would have died of liver failure or something worse."

McKeith is no stranger to controversy and was denounced as a "charlatan" by John Garrow, professor emeritus in human nutrition at London University, who claimed her approach was unscientific.

The nutritionist was unavailable for comment yesterday but has previously brushed off criticism saying: "There are always going to be people who try to bring someone down for speaking in a certain way. I expect to be criticised for that. But, at the end of the day, my results are phenomenal".

&#149 Teen Detox is on BBC 2 on Tuesday at 9pm.

From the health spa…

Amanda Hamilton, born: North Berwick, 1974

Television shows that she has appeared on: Something For The Weekend, This Morning, Richard And Judy, How To Live Longer, Trading Up, Should I Worry About, GMTV, The Spa Of Embarrassing Illnesses, LK Today, Inch-Loss Island

Bestselling books: Spa Detox

Most likely to say: "Detox will change your life"

Scatological interests: Advocates regular enemas to wash out toxins

Surprising fact: Studied Ayurvedic medicine and yoga in the Himalayas

…to the boot camp

Gillian McKeith, born: Perth, 1959

TV shows: You Are What You Eat, Gillian Moves In, Supersize Vs Superskinny, Three Fat Brides One Thin Dress, Feel Fab Forever, Good Morning With Anne And Nick, GMTV, Good Morning America, Loose Women.

Bestselling books: You Are What You Eat, Boot Camp Diet, Food Bible, Slim For Life, Wedding Countdown Diet.

Most likely to say: "If you carry on like this you're gonna die."

Scatological interests: Analyses stool samples for signs of bad diet and ill-health.

Surprising fact: Hosted a Philadelphia radio show entitled Healthline Across America.