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The day culminated with Laura serving the children a dinner of chicken fingers and waffles in bed!
The doctors then followed the family around for one day, observing their diet and lifestyle. Dr Nina Byrnes noticed their shopping trolley did not contain one healthy piece of food, everything they buy is processed.
Cillian stays in his room for four hours from when he arrived home from school prompting Dr Nina to say ‘ The food is actually a secondary part to a family dinner, it’s about engaging with the family and knowing what’s going on in each other’s lives’.
Dr Sinead Beirne observed the family and noted there is only one vegetable in the fridge, a turnip next to an eight pack of beer. She found two soft apples stuffed at the top of the fridge commentating ‘ They’re proving unpopular in this house’.
After being monitored, screened and assessed, the news that was delivered to the McKeevers was shocking. Professor Niall Moyna who does testing said: ‘ Their health is certainly spiralling out of control, so they need to take a look at their overall lifestyle and make drastic changes’
Twenty-eight-year old Laura found out that her bad cholesterol is high and she has low levels of Vitamin B12, which puts her at risk of heart disease. She was also in the bottom 5 per cent of fitness for someone of her age.
John learnt that despite a high fitness level, he has a fatty liver and his triglycerides are through the roof, his body fat is 31 per cent – which should be 12-15 per cent for someone of his age. John is also spending over €15,000 on cigarettes and alcohol a year ‘ to effectively kill yourself ’ said Dr. Nina Byrnes.
As a direct result of his poor diet the parents are told that six year old Cillian is anaemic which is putting his heart under stress.
The four experts came up with a plan and over the following eight weeks the family worked hard to improve their lifestyle before they were re-tested to see if the change in their lifestyle has made an impact to their long-term health.
After the re-tests dad John had made great strides having given up cigarettes and alcohol as well as dropping nine pounds and reducing his body fat levels.
Laura had also quit the cigarettes but unfortunately failed to reduce her body fat having focused more on the rest of the family rather than herself during the eight weeks. However she had taken up a fitness class and was feeling more energised.
All four of the McKeever children saw improvements in their diets with the addition of fruit, vegetables and homemade meals rather than processed foods.