The Food Hospital UK tv programme

Did anyone see the piece about Maryn the Fruitarian guy who was on this evening's episode of the Food Hospital.

Maryn looked a great example of health and fitness however, according to the Food doctors, his scan showed that his bones were those of a 50 year old (Maryn is in his early 30s I believe).

The only explanation they came up with was that he wasn't getting enough protein or that it was genetic.

Maryn wasn't at all phased by this and simply said that if he carried on feeling this good he would carry on eating this way.

They also made comments on the amount of sugar he was taking in plus the amount of iron (I think they said iron) that was in excess in his body and that it would be stored in his liver.

They didn't seem at all impressed by the fact that he was the healthiest looking individual that they had had on the programme so far.

What did others think of it?

Helen

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on September 27, 2012 at 7:40am

didn't see the program but who knows what his bone density tests were prior? Dr. Ruth Heidrich has had plenty of bone density scans and her bones are as dense as a healthy 30 year old and she is in her 80s! She is 24 years lf vegan and 12+ years lfrv.

http://www.30bananasaday.com/video/fruit-greens-good-bones

80/10/10 Bone Density Test

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Permalink Reply by Alex Pence on September 27, 2012 at 8:15am

Iron stored in his liver? What nonsense lol. Your body regulates the uptake of non-heme iron so any excess simply passes through yo.

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Permalink Reply by Star Khechara on September 28, 2012 at 4:00am

there is a genetic disorder called haemachromatosis that makes iron store up in the liver - so maybe they meant that? But you would know if you had it

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Permalink Reply by TetrisKing on September 27, 2012 at 9:10am

Hey,

Maryn here.

I have not watched the episode, but I will tell you of my experience. The show was edited from 4 hours of filming.

I was approached to do the show and was very reluctant at first. They wanted me to try and prove a point, I told them I was just happy doing this for myself. After I turned it down twice, they ended up begging me and I agreed, purely as I believed they had some good intentions, given the nature if the show.

My blood tests came back perfect, apart from high iron levels. They suggested it could be genetic. I am not at all concerned.

Regarding my body scans. These were performed in a mobile truck outside of Luton by an obese man with no medical qualifications. He had been told about my diet and proceeded to give me dietary advice prior to the scan, including suggesting I take whey protein supplements like the Saracens rugby team do! He subsequently analysed the scans and gave his results to the production team. He had decided that my bone density was low for my age and proportions, but i assume he had already decided this prior to prrforming the scan. I have never had any bone or joint problems, and do not really care about these results. They suggested it could be lack of exercise or genetic. The only exercise I do is weights and swimming, so I have very low impact exercise habits. No mention was made on the show that my body fat and muscle mass were in the very healthy range.

Now onto the filming. This was supposed to take an hour, but ended up being extended to four as the producer was trying to find a way to pin something on me. The camera men were complaining that it shouldn't have taken that long. I was bombarded with questions and quack information regarding human digestion, insulin production and fat storage. I wish they had kept in the part where the doctor told me I would get fat eating this way! They prob edited out the part where I referred to Dr. Doug Graham as a long term example of this lifestyle.

When the doctor and nutritionist could not find any flaws in my health or argument, they went away to discuss something. They came back and tried to imply that I had a psychological disorder or eating disorder known as orthorexia. When I replied that they had asked me speak to a psychologist prior to filming as part of their legal requirements (to assess my mental state and relationship with food - which was deemed normal), they gave up and stopped filming. They actually hadn't expected me to be someone who knew what they were doing with their health. At first, the nutritionist said she could not grasp how I was so healthy, how it was possible to be so eating this way. It was against everything she had learned. She referred to me as an enigma and 'fascinating' at one point. I just laughed and replied that there are many shining examples of this lifestyle working, and advised she check out 30bananasaday.com for a whole community of healthy people. I assume they edited that out too.

It seems that they chose not to use me as an example to help others eat healthier, which is essentially what their program should be about (at least I thought it was when I agreed to be a part of it). This is most likely as this would debunk ALL of the advice they had given to patients so far, and also begs the question - who is paying the piper?

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Permalink Reply by BananaMan on September 27, 2012 at 9:44am

Hey Maryn, I saw this show tonight and it was plain to see that they were stumped for ways to try and somehow portray your diet as unhealthy. That's really pathetic of them from what your saying above. One of them made a comment that as you get older you could become less tolerant of sugar. What a ludicrous suggestion. The body runs on sugar. And of course they edited out any mention of Dr Doug as an example of someone in their 50's whose thriving on this lifestyle.

This is the show. Forward to 31 mins to see Maryn's section:

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Permalink Reply by NathanB on September 27, 2012 at 1:57pm

Good on you for making the effort. I think you came across really well despite the one-sided editing. Can't believe they filmed for 4 hours for such a short segment! All publicity is good publicity though, right? Whenever I've seen the program before they seem to recommend dairy and salmon to everyone, so probably couldn't expect much open-mindedness.

I'm sure you could use the 'body scan' results to justify a proper bone density test on the NHS, might be interesting to see if the show results were exaggerated.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Angelo on September 27, 2012 at 2:39pm

After knowing your intentions Maryn, thank you for doing the show. Its good to know you wanted to help everyone by getting this information out there. I am not at all surprised to hear that they tried to make this diet sound crazy and unhealthy, the funny part is it took them 4 hours to get a small unconvincing segment that it was unhealthy.

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Permalink Reply by Only Everywhere on September 28, 2012 at 2:52am

Even though they tried to spin it that you weren't eating properly, you look extremely healthy regardless- clear skin, good shape, grounded etc. At the end of the segment, they even say "at the moment, you're healthy" not "OMG, you're fruitarian and your test results show you're deathly ill!", which was probably what they'd been hoping to say.

I think a lot of people who know nothing of high fruit diets, let alone veganism, will still come away thinking you looked really healthy, so good job, despite the show being jerks :)

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Permalink Reply by Esra on September 28, 2012 at 5:17am

Wow...what bs!!!

It's great that you went on though...at least some people got to see that there are people that eat only fruit and look amazingly healthy.

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Permalink Reply by Ronnie Smith on September 28, 2012 at 7:23am

awesome Maryn great to hear your side, so funny that they are saying TOO MUCH iron haha, thought you need red meat for that! they're faces were so annoying and patronising the whole way through, i had to share on Facebook

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Permalink Reply by Ian Tennant on October 4, 2012 at 7:21pm

Hey Maryn, I appeared on the Food Hospital last year as a 'Raw Foodist'....and shared your experience how they edited and twisted footage to tell their own story.

Ian