You Are What You Eat

This article is about the UK television programme. For the 1968 film, see You Are What You Eat (film). For other uses, see You Are What You Eat (disambiguation).

You Are What You Eat
Genre	Documentary
Starring	Trisha Goddard Dr Amir Khan Gillian McKeith
Narrated by	Paul Shelley
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	60+
Production
Producer	Anna Richardson
Running time	30mins (inc. adverts)
Original release
Network	Channel 4 (2004–2007) Channel 5 (2022–)
Release	Original series: 29 June 2004 (2004-06-29) – 2007 (2007) Revived series: 5 January 2022 (2022-01-05) – Present (Present)

You Are What You Eat is a dieting programme presented by Trisha Goddard and Dr Amir Khan on Channel 5. The show originally ran from 2004 until 2007 on Channel 4 with controversial host Gillian McKeith.

Original Run (2004-2007)

The show originally ran for 4 series on Channel 4 with Gillian McKeith as host from 2004 until its cancellation in 2007.

The show often uses shock tactics to get the participants to lose weight. In each episode, all food eaten in one week by the person(s) taking part is placed on a table to highlight problem areas of their diet. Another technique is the analysis of the participant's faeces by McKeith to detect certain problems and make them known to the person involved. This aspect of the show gained McKeith the nickname "The Awful Poo Lady". Emphasising the possibility of the participant's death is sometimes used, with references to children they might not see growing up or a mock grave being prepared. Generally, editions would have these scenes in the first part of the show followed by the participant's attempts to follow McKeith's diet and exercise regimes in the second. The fourth series was expanded from half to one hour programmes, with the contestants moving to McKeith's London house and being visited overnight at their homes for inspection.

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Host
1	29 June 2004	2004	Gillian Mckeith
2	2005	2005	Gillian Mckeith
3	2006	2006	Gillian Mckeith
4	2007	2007	Gillian Mckeith
5	5 January 2022	present	Trisha Goddard and Dr Amir Khan

Specials

Date	Entitle
29 July 1989	The Best of Blind Date
22 September 1990	The Best of Blind Date
9 February 1991	The Best of Blind Date
20 October 1991	Blind Date Wedding of the Year
1 January 1994	The Best of Blind Date
12 February 1994	Wedding & Best of the Rest
31 December 1994	10th Anniversary Show
13 September 1997	Blind Date Exclusive
21 March 1998	Blind Date Classics
20 June 1999	Blind Date Wedding 1998

International versions

Localized versions of You Are What You Eat were produced by Viasat and aired in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Viasat was the first company in the world to adapt the format locally. MTV3 also produced a local version of the show in Finland. The show was a success and it was the frequently most viewed show in Finland. A local version as well as the original one was also aired in Belgium.

Controversy

In the first series of the show, McKeith was sometimes referred to as "Doctor", and she has continued to use the title in some media, although the later series referred to her as a "holistic nutritionist", using the title "Ms. Gillian McKeith" at some points. It emerged in December 2005 that Gillian McKeith has no accredited doctorate. McKeith received her PhD via a distance learning programme from the American Holistic College of Nutrition, Alabama, which later became the Clayton College of Natural Health before closing in 2011. The Clayton College of Natural Health stated that it was "accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board". However, this accreditation was never recognised by the U.S. Secretary of Education.

McKeith is also a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, a controversial organisation which seeks to enhance the reputation of Nutritional and Dietary Consultants by consolidating them into a professional organisation. It offers examination and certification, or association membership which does not require an examination but requires the payment of the $60 membership fee.

Revived Series (2022-)

On 4 January 2022 it was confirmed that the series would be revived on Channel 5 starting on 5 January with Trisha Goddard and Dr Amir Khan taking over Gillian McKeith who presented the original series on Channel 4. On the announcement of the revived series Goddard said "I never looked at any of the previous shows. I’m more into understanding people. TV’s moved on since then. We are more aware now that if someone’s got a problem with food it’s usually a demonstration of something deeper”.

Khan also added in regards to previous host Mckeith McKeith: "I try to avoid anything she tweets really because we are on very different paths.

"I didn’t watch her shows much. I remember her going into people’s houses with a Tupperware of poo and sifting through it and thinking, 'This is gross'. It’s a different kind of show this time, I think most people will see that. It’s a far more scientific approach. I know through my job that shock tactics don’t work. It’s about understanding people’s lifestyle. One of the approaches Trisha and I had is that a lot of diets and exercise regimes are based on people of a Caucasian background. So this time we had people on from a black [or] South Asian background”.

Bibliography

• You Are What You Eat - 80 Simple, Healthy Recipes (2022)

Title

You Are What You Eat was also the title of an American film from 1968. The phrase "You are what you eat" was first expressed by Ludwig Feuerbach in 1863 (German: Der Mensch ist, was er iszt.).

External links

• You Are What You Eat at IMDb