Michael Moseley 'Just One Thing' on Radio 4

You won't find many serious scientists with much time for him. All he's really done is find a way of publishing books and make millions for himself. No respectable scientist would do that

He doesn't pretend to be a serious scientist. But he is very good at reading and understanding science and presenting it to a wider public in a way they can appreciate it.

As for the phrase All he's really done is find a way of publishing books and make millions for himself. No respectable scientist would do that Of course Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox, David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin are none of them scientists of any repute.

There are now several Professors for the Public Understanding of Science who have worked long and hard to get the attitude you quote out of science. How dispiriting to see it cropping up again, even among elderly women!

Professor Roy Taylor has just published a book about the original diet and is donating the proceeds to Diabetes UK, who made the original research possible through grants. That's the work which Mosley is now exploiting to make money for himself.

I think you've misunderstood the idea of standing on the shoulders of giants. Newton's discoveries wouldn't have happened without prior knowledge, but he develop that knowledge into something new and significant.

M0nica

*grow stuff* He piggy backs on people who have done serious research.

Of course he does, that is how research progresses. It was Isaac Newton, himself, who said If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

I made a good career from what he does, but not in the media - having an area of expertise and then drawing together the research into that subject, evaluating it and validating it then giving it to someone else who needs it in the form they require it.

I am with MayBee70 ^I think a tv presenter that can produce programmes that are watched by many people and encourage people to improve their health can only be a good thing.^

MOnica What he does is worse than that. From what I've seen, he's a reasonable presenter, but he's no expert. In the case of the 800 diet, he's copied the work which was done by diabetologists at Newcastle University over many years. You won't find many serious scientists with much time for him. All he's really done is find a way of publishing books and make millions for himself. No respectable scientist would do that.

Kim19 It is interesting that a fasting regime has had the same effect on both of us - breaking the link between seeing food and and instinctively needing to eat it.

Michael Moseley, somewhere has written about how fasting, in any form, reshapes our attitude to food. A number of other medical and mental advantages are also associated with intermittent fasting, no matter how we do it.

Totally agree with Monica that we all have to find the eating regime that suits us and then to completely alter the amount we eat of no matter what. After many trials and failures, the 8:16 worked for me. Post that, the quantity I have ended up eating on a daily basis is about half of previously. Would never have believed that would be the case. Don't deprive myself of a single item but only ever seem to want a little no matter how enjoyable it is. Confess to not understanding how the change took place but it certainly was a gradual conversion. So inwardly content that I never put back any of my original loss. Improvements in quality of life are immeasurable.

grow stuff He piggy backs on people who have done serious research.

Of course he does, that is how research progresses. It was Isaac Newton, himself, who said If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

I made a good career from what he does, but not in the media - having an area of expertise and then drawing together the research into that subject, evaluating it and validating it then giving it to someone else who needs it in the form they require it.

I am with MayBee70 I think a tv presenter that can produce programmes that are watched by many people and encourage people to improve their health can only be a good thing.

I know someone who always finished of her shower with a blast of cold water, while living in her own home.
She is now still going strong at 98 but living in a care home so may not be having the cold blast these days.

Casdon

He is a qualified medical doctor, but was disillusioned by medicine following a stint as a junior in Psychiatry presumably as a senior house officer, and has worked in medical journalism ever since. I don’t think it’s fair to be sniffy about a perceived lack of qualifications, and he doesn’t take personal glory for work that isn’t his own as far as I could find, he just attempts to present the information in a way the public can understand.

Don’t watch his programmes if you don’t like him - I found the insomnia programme he did very helpful though.

I don't watch them or read any of his books, unless I'm really bored, so it's not a problem.

growstuff

I hope there was a health warning that cold showers can be dangerous for those with high blood pressure.

I was just going to say that Growstuff or with any cardiovascular condition.
I read somewhere that he had a ‘turn’ one day while swimming in cold water.

Muse, nothing, but nothing will ever stop me enjoying my food.

It is the same with any diet, once you hit target, if you go right back and eat the way you used to, the weight will go back on. You have to realise that you need to change your eating patterns for life, it doesn't mean never eating another chocolate or biscuit, just telling yourself that one is sufficient.

For me the severing of that link, as distinct from me making the break, has been the biggest bonus of the 5:2.

However I do not think that the 5:2 diet is a universal panacea. I think it is very much a question of you need to find a diet that suits you in every sense, you can follow it without problem and your whole body physically and mentally is relaxed with it. DD for example is very successfully following a low carb diet. She enjoys it and it is working. She finds the 5:2 off putting. I did once try a low-carb diet and I felt really ill on it. It lasted less than 10 days.

He is a qualified medical doctor, but was disillusioned by medicine following a stint as a junior in Psychiatry presumably as a senior house officer, and has worked in medical journalism ever since. I don’t think it’s fair to be sniffy about a perceived lack of qualifications, and he doesn’t take personal glory for work that isn’t his own as far as I could find, he just attempts to present the information in a way the public can understand.

Don’t watch his programmes if you don’t like him - I found the insomnia programme he did very helpful though.

I think a tv presenter that can produce programmes that are watched by many people and encourage people to improve their health can only be a good thing.

I find him smug too. Mr Know-it-all.

MawBe

He may well know what he is talking about, but I just find him smug!
He seems to have blossomed as a healthy living guru over the last couple of years, but he doesn’t inspire me!

I agree with you. He doesn't look particularly healthy either.

The VanTulleken brothers are my favourite TV doctors.

Oooops! Typo! Professor Roy Taylor.

LadyGracie

Dr Michael Mosley qualified as a doctor 25 years ago but doesn’t practice.
DH and I started the Fast 800 diet in February, I’ve lost 17lbs and DH 21lbs.

You can thank Professor Roy Strong from Newcastle University for developing the diet.

LadyGracie

Dr Michael Mosley qualified as a doctor 25 years ago but doesn’t practice.
DH and I started the Fast 800 diet in February, I’ve lost 17lbs and DH 21lbs.

Michael Mosley studied medicine, intending to become a psychiatrist.

I find the title of this radio show rather annoying.

It is not just one thing - it builds up into loads of things.

And yes, I too used to like him and his quest for understanding. It felt as though he was on a journey... but now I do find him smug.

Dr Michael Mosley qualified as a doctor 25 years ago but doesn’t practice.
DH and I started the Fast 800 diet in February, I’ve lost 17lbs and DH 21lbs.

It was Professor Roy Taylor from Newcastle University who first developed the 800 calorie a day diet for losing weight.

I hope there was a health warning that cold showers can be dangerous for those with high blood pressure.

MawBe

He may well know what he is talking about, but I just find him smug!
He seems to have blossomed as a healthy living guru over the last couple of years, but he doesn’t inspire me!

I find him irritating. He piggy backs on people who have done serious research. Mosley has never qualified as a medical doctor or scientist. He's a media "personality".

MOnica. The one day week has helped to maintain the weight loss then.

I was talking from personal experience, knowing someone who stopped the diet altogether. A close friend did it when it came out and lost the stone she wanted. She'd also been exercising. She struggled to keep to the 5:2 diet after an injury which meant she couldn't exercise. Over the following six months she put it all back.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, so to speak with how you look at food on your plate. I hope you still enjoy the taste of food even though you've no desire to eat it.

Muse I did the 5:2 diet back in 2014 when it first came out. I lost 2 stone. That was 7 years ago and I haven't put any of it back on. I do try to continue to do it one day a week with moderate success.

My problem was not so much what I ate, but how much and I now instinctively eat less and seem to have broken the link between see food - eat it. I can now see food on a plate and feel no desire to eat it, even when I am hungry.

Another fan here!
Love the trials he does backed up by science.

DM has swapped pain killers for turmeric in food down to his study & the aches I had in my hands have gone completely.

The different diet ideas he presents show there's a healthy diet option for all.
Cold showers: Filed to the back of my brain for when I might need it.