INTERVIEW
Surrey’s Premier Lifestyle Magazine
Man on a mission
Dr Michael Mosley talks to James Rampton about his forthcoming theatre tour, Trust Fast Health with Dr Michael Mosley.
Q Michael, what inspired you to go on tour for the first time?
A For some reason, about a year ago, BBC Worldwide asked me to do a tour of Australia to promote a new book, The Clever Guts Diet. I played some really big venues with 2,000 seats.
Q Was it nerve-wracking?
A Yes. It was unbelievably scary. I normally only perform to three people in a TV studio, and if that goes wrong, you can do it again and again. But I had huge nerves on the tour of Australia. I’d stand there in the wings thinking: “Blimey, that’s a lot of people, and they are all here to see me! Why am I doing this? Why did I ever agree to this?” It gave me a whole new respect for stand-up comedians.
Q So how did it go?
A It went remarkably well. You realise that people have come along to the show because they like you, and they tend to be very warm. The time on stage just flew by. It was really exhilarating. Now I can’t wait to do my Trust Fast Health tour around the UK.
Q Do you relish the prospect of a Q and A with your audience at the show?
A Yes. This will be a very interactive show. We don’t want lots of questions about ingrowing toenails, but I’m sure that people will ask very insightful questions. It’ll be great hearing what people find funny and curious.
A For some reason, about a year ago, BBC Worldwide asked me to do a tour of Australia to promote a new book, The Clever Guts Diet. I played some really big venues with 2,000 seats.
Q Was it nerve-wracking?
A Yes. It was unbelievably scary. I normally only perform to three people in a TV studio, and if that goes wrong, you can do it again and again. But I had huge nerves on the tour of Australia. I’d stand there in the wings thinking: “Blimey, that’s a lot of people, and they are all here to see me! Why am I doing this? Why did I ever agree to this?” It gave me a whole new respect for stand-up comedians.
Q So how did it go?
A It went remarkably well. You realise that people have come along to the show because they like you, and they tend to be very warm. The time on stage just flew by. It was really exhilarating. Now I can’t wait to do my Trust Fast Health tour around the UK.
Q Do you relish the prospect of a Q and A with your audience at the show?
A Yes. This will be a very interactive show. We don’t want lots of questions about ingrowing toenails, but I’m sure that people will ask very insightful questions. It’ll be great hearing what people find funny and curious.
Q Are you also looking forward to meeting your fans?
A Yes. I’ll be signing books after the show and people can come and talk to me. I love chatting. I really enjoy finding out what’s going on with them. People often stop me in the street. It’s a fantastic feeling when people tell you that you have helped to turn their lives around. There is great power in taking control of your own life.
Q What will you be discussing in the show?
A First I trained as a doctor, but now I’ve been in telly for 34 years as a science journalist and behind the scenes. In that time, I’ve seen a huge revolution in medicine and personal health. That’s what I’ll be talking about in the show.
Q What has changed most dramatically in that time?
A A number of things have overturned ideas we all previously believed. For instance, a lot of things we were told about diet have turned out not to be true. On my first day at medical school, the Dean said to us: “You’ll study here for six years, but within ten years most of what you’ve learnt will be out of date.” He was right. The medical world’s understanding of diet and fitness is changing very fast, and that’s what I want to tell people about. There is a vast gap between what medical experts know and what the general public know. It’s a ten year gap.
Q Can you give us an example of a medical revelation you will be making in Trust Fast Health?
A One of the big myths is that a fast diet won’t work. But all the evidence now is that rapid weight loss is effective. Your weight loss at two weeks will predict your weight loss at four weeks and six weeks. The only thing that matters is that it’s a good diet. Bad diets will always fail. There are 20,000 different diets out there and most of them are terrible.
Q You have had enormous global success with your 5:2 Diet. What inspired you to invent it?
A Six years ago I discovered I had Type 2 diabetes. My dad died from it. He did a lot of crazy diets and none of them worked. That led me to find out about intermittent fasting. Then I made a BBC documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer, about my search to reverse diabetes, which led to me finding out about the 5:2 Diet. That propelled me into the limelight. I then produced another BBC documentary, The Truth About Exercise, and that was very popular too. It blew away a lot of myths.
A Yes. I’ll be signing books after the show and people can come and talk to me. I love chatting. I really enjoy finding out what’s going on with them. People often stop me in the street. It’s a fantastic feeling when people tell you that you have helped to turn their lives around. There is great power in taking control of your own life.
Q What will you be discussing in the show?
A First I trained as a doctor, but now I’ve been in telly for 34 years as a science journalist and behind the scenes. In that time, I’ve seen a huge revolution in medicine and personal health. That’s what I’ll be talking about in the show.
Q What has changed most dramatically in that time?
A A number of things have overturned ideas we all previously believed. For instance, a lot of things we were told about diet have turned out not to be true. On my first day at medical school, the Dean said to us: “You’ll study here for six years, but within ten years most of what you’ve learnt will be out of date.” He was right. The medical world’s understanding of diet and fitness is changing very fast, and that’s what I want to tell people about. There is a vast gap between what medical experts know and what the general public know. It’s a ten year gap.
Q Can you give us an example of a medical revelation you will be making in Trust Fast Health?
A One of the big myths is that a fast diet won’t work. But all the evidence now is that rapid weight loss is effective. Your weight loss at two weeks will predict your weight loss at four weeks and six weeks. The only thing that matters is that it’s a good diet. Bad diets will always fail. There are 20,000 different diets out there and most of them are terrible.
Q You have had enormous global success with your 5:2 Diet. What inspired you to invent it?
A Six years ago I discovered I had Type 2 diabetes. My dad died from it. He did a lot of crazy diets and none of them worked. That led me to find out about intermittent fasting. Then I made a BBC documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer, about my search to reverse diabetes, which led to me finding out about the 5:2 Diet. That propelled me into the limelight. I then produced another BBC documentary, The Truth About Exercise, and that was very popular too. It blew away a lot of myths.
Q Why did the 5:2 Diet become so popular?
A People didn’t know you could diet by intermittent fasting. But the fact that I managed to lose twenty pounds and reverse diabetes by following the diet was pretty compelling. The book’s been a New York Times’ bestseller, published in 42 countries and sold three million copies. It triggered an enormous amount of research. I want to share the latest research with the audience. I’ll show them people whose lives have been transformed by 5:2.
Q Do you think Trust Fast Health can help to change people?
A Yes. You start the journey by coming to a show like this. That inspires you to look further and find a supportive community. I’m a big fan of websites – they create a fantastic community. We’re social animals and can get huge support from people who have been through the same thing. This show is a starting point.
Q What do you hope that audiences will take away from Trust Fast Health?
A I hope that they’ll have a really good laugh – humour is incredibly important. But most of all, I hope they’ll be inspired and think: “Golly, I really want to find out more about this.” People are very interested in this stuff and know it can alter the trajectory of their life. They want to know more about it. My show will give them more information, loads of interesting insights and lots of surprises. People are not going to be told the same old nonsense – they’re going to learn stuff that will blow their socks off. At the end of the show, I want people to turn to their neighbours and say: “Blimey, I never knew that!”
Q Finally, you feel very passionate about exploding health myths in Trust Fast Health, don’t you?
A Absolutely. People are confused because there is an awful lot of nonsense out there. I want to cut through all that and show people where the truth really lies behind all those bewildering newspaper headlines. I want to debunk all those myths in Trust Fast Health. I’m 100 per cent evangelical about this. I’m on a mission!
A People didn’t know you could diet by intermittent fasting. But the fact that I managed to lose twenty pounds and reverse diabetes by following the diet was pretty compelling. The book’s been a New York Times’ bestseller, published in 42 countries and sold three million copies. It triggered an enormous amount of research. I want to share the latest research with the audience. I’ll show them people whose lives have been transformed by 5:2.
Q Do you think Trust Fast Health can help to change people?
A Yes. You start the journey by coming to a show like this. That inspires you to look further and find a supportive community. I’m a big fan of websites – they create a fantastic community. We’re social animals and can get huge support from people who have been through the same thing. This show is a starting point.
Q What do you hope that audiences will take away from Trust Fast Health?
A I hope that they’ll have a really good laugh – humour is incredibly important. But most of all, I hope they’ll be inspired and think: “Golly, I really want to find out more about this.” People are very interested in this stuff and know it can alter the trajectory of their life. They want to know more about it. My show will give them more information, loads of interesting insights and lots of surprises. People are not going to be told the same old nonsense – they’re going to learn stuff that will blow their socks off. At the end of the show, I want people to turn to their neighbours and say: “Blimey, I never knew that!”
Q Finally, you feel very passionate about exploding health myths in Trust Fast Health, don’t you?
A Absolutely. People are confused because there is an awful lot of nonsense out there. I want to cut through all that and show people where the truth really lies behind all those bewildering newspaper headlines. I want to debunk all those myths in Trust Fast Health. I’m 100 per cent evangelical about this. I’m on a mission!