you are what you eat

[Metz]

Has anyone bought the cook book and tried any of the recipes?

[Ethel]

No I haven't and I wouldn't.

She is not a medical doctor and I don't agree with her using that title.

Her book is available from the public library though.

[paddy_36]

Ethel - why should she not call herself doctor if she has a PhD? After all, doctor is an honourary title for medical doctors...

[paddy_36]

Honorary, my apologies.

[Ethel]

She bought her PhD from an Amercian Correspondence course and has no background in science. That is why I object to her calling herself doctor.

A quick overview of "Dr" Gillian McKeith's qualifications looks like this:

* First degree in Language and Linguistics from Edinburgh University
* Masters in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania

(Notice that Gillian McKeith doesn't have a first degree in any scientific subject, or anything even remotely connected with medicine or nutrition...)

* Masters in Holistic Nutrition from the American Holistic College of Nutrition (now Clayton College)
* PhD in Holistic Nutrition from the American Holistic College of Nutrition (now Clayton College)

The Holistic Nutrition degrees were obtained as paid, correspondence courses from a non-accredited institution (see below). It's also important to keep in mind that you can get a masters and PhD in "Holistic Nutrition" from this institution, as Gillian McKeith did, with no previous scientific background whatsoever. That's right! In relation to previous degrees, the entry criteria for the Masters course just specify that you have "a bachelors degree", which can be in any subject: History, Music, Medieval Knitting...

I confirmed this with Clayton College, who replied "You can enter our Master's degree programs with any Bachelor's degree. The prerequisites will give you all the science you will need". So there you have it, you might never have studied science since school days, yet you can get a masters and PhD in Holistic Nutrition with no further science education required, you just complete a few warm-up science courses to kick off your masters, then on to the PhD!

[JamesEverton]

Worse than her dodgy qualifications is the fact that an awful lot of what she says is just made up too:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980, 1285600,00.html
http://www.jmdl.com/howard/rants/Gillian_McKeith.html

She's pretty much the embodiment of the word 'charlatan'.

[Ethel]

Well said James.

[Metz]

Thanks for the info... don't think i'll bother! But what does surprise me is that at the end of the prog it says something about consulting your dr before you start a diet and that people on the show did ... surely their own drs would tell them not to try this diet of hers?

[Ethel]

Metz - her diet won't do harm - it won't poison you or leave you malnourished.

So a gp has no reason to tell the patient not to follow it.

But if you look at any crackpot diet, or exercise programme, it will ALWAYS tell you to seek your GPs advice. This is simply to cover there own backs in the case of any negligence claim.