Q&A with ‘Medicinal Chef’ Dale Pinnock
Q&A with ‘Medicinal Chef’ Dale Pinnock
WHL took 5 with ‘Medicinal Chef’ Dale Pinnock to talk the power of good nutrition.
Q What prompted you to start paying attention to what you were eating?
A Basically because of really bad acne. From the age of about 10 or 11, I started getting really bad acne and went to many different doctors. I tried all different lotions and potions but nothing really worked. When I was about 15 years old, while round a friend’s house one night, his mum lent me a book on nutrition. I read this book cover to cover and changed everything pretty much overnight – as it gave me the ‘aha!’ moment that actually I was in control of my own health. So that was it. I changed my diet straight away and the transformation was unbelievable on a multitude of levels. I saw first-hand how much a good diet can really change your life.
Q Why did you decide to pursue a career in nutrition?
A I chose to pursue this career because to be honest nothing else really captivated me and gave me the level of passion that nutrition does. It is one of the most fascinating subjects on the planet.
Q What inspired you to put together your first cookbook?
A I knew I wanted to write books literally from day one. That was a big goal from before I actually started doing my first degree. I began by writing eBooks and selling them on Amazon before I actually got a proper book deal. So rather than sitting around and waiting for it to happen I actually just made it happen myself.
Q Who is someone you are inspired or influenced by and why?
A There have been a few influences. People like Dr Alex Richardson, Gary Taubes, Aseem Malhotra, Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi. I have to be honest though: in the commercial nutrition world as it is at the moment, there really are very few that I think are stepping up to the mark. There is too much focus on fashion and aesthetic. We need to push that aside and just look at the science – not what gets the most Insta-likes!
Q What would you say to those who think eating well is too hard?
A I think really that’s a reflection of the person’s expectation. Many people try to change everything overnight and drastically change their lifestyle and then they wonder why they fall flat on their face. The key is just to change things little by little, small steps. This way you gradually move towards a new lifestyle rather than suddenly giving it a drastic overhaul in one go.
Q What do you think is a major health benefit of nutrition that people might not know about?
A I think it’s near impossible to actually put this in a single sentence, as there are so many fast benefits of good nutrition. Nutrition basically represents that one aspect of our own health care that we can exercise ultimate control over. It’s the one thing we can do to actually look after ourselves. Many of the big health problems that we face in the UK today have a large dietary component. Especially when we look at issues like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even many cancers.
Q What are your top 5 healthy foods and why?
A Oily fish, because omega-3 fatty acids are one of the most vital substances to health and something that are massively deficient in many people.
Greens of any description, because magnesium deficiency is a huge issue in this country as none of us like to eat greens.
Red onions, because they are very high in a group of compounds called flavonoids. These have been widely studied in the UK and we know that they have some very powerful benefits to heart health.
Green tea, because it has antioxidant and thermogenic properties.
Any non-starchy vegetables, because these really should be the basis of every single meal.
Q What do you think is the main reason why healthy eating is so popular now?
A Again, I think there are multiple reasons. I think a big one is the fact that a lot of people have woken up to the reality that diet has a huge impact on our health.
Also one of the contributors obviously is social media, and this is one that I have mixed feelings about. It’s great that it’s getting people switched-on to new ideas and to eating healthier, but the real downside is that it is so greatly based on aesthetic, fashion, fads and a lot of very shallow things. Unfortunately, many of the people who happen to tick those aesthetic boxes are now being treated as nutrition experts in the popular press, regardless of their actual qualifications, and I think that represents a very big problem. I think that’s a great disservice to a lot of people.
We need to be very careful where we actually get our health information from. Just because someone looks good in a yoga pose or whips up an impressive looking green smoothie, doesn’t make them a nutritional authority, just an enthusiast! I genuinely am very happy that healthy living is no longer the weird “alternative” lifestyle it was when I started back in the late 90s, but I think we are at a time where we need to be extremely careful, and it does need to be policed a little.
Q What’s your top tip to stay motivated to eat well?
A I think the best motivation is noticing how good you feel when you’re eating better. Once you start to feel really, really good in yourself, and once you start to have lots of energy and feel more upbeat, you wouldn’t want to go back.
You can buy Dale Pinnock’s book The Medicinal Chef: Power of Three for £13.60 on amazon.co.uk
Dale will be appearing live at BBC Good Food Shows 2016.