THE FAD CONTROLLER

A cook with a background in biochemistry, Anthony Warner – better known as the Angry Chef – uses science and sharp humour to debunk nutritional misinformation. Now, in a new book, he takes on the weight-loss industry

A chef with a background in biochemistry, Anthony Warner debunks dietary nonsense

Anthony Warner has a degree in biochemistry and a quarter of a century’s experience as a chef. Last year, his book The Angry Chef became a bestseller. The Truth About Fat (both books on Oneworld) is due for release in 2019.

Are you still angry?

My first book exposes fad diets and explains why the science behind them almost never adds up. I also try to tell people that they shouldn’t really be feeling guilty about food and shouldn’t develop obsessive food rules that say, “This is bad and this is good.” (1) But then people turn around and say, “That’s all very idealistic, but there’s an epidemic of obesity. People are getting sick, and it’s costing billions of pounds.” I’ve been accused of making those problems worse!

So you’re seen as a villain because you’re “anti-diet”?

Well, obesity is a vastly complex problem. It’s just not enough to offer simple answers like, “You should just never eat processed food,” or, “You should only shop locally.” With my new book, I want to explore this at length, because I can’t explain it in a tweet or a blog post. There are so many people profiting from selling simple messages about obesity: “All you have to do is cut carbs.” “Don’t eat sugar.” Those messages are always flawed. I want to expose them and show why they’re flawed. We have to try to understand it in a different way.

Who are your targets?

Anyone who says that obesity is easily defined. Anyone who says it has a simple solution. Anyone who says it’s just a matter of willpower. Anyone who says it’s easy to lose weight – you just have to eat less and move more. Those range from opinionated individuals and New-age diet gurus right through to major companies.

But isn’t “Move more and eat less” good, basic advice for a wide audience?

I’m just saying it’s overly simplistic (2). It’s like telling someone who’s drowning that they should just swim a bit more. And it can be damaging to a person’s psychology: people are being made to feel like they’re failures. Society is telling people they’re not losing weight because they are weak-willed and fundamentally are not good people. I’m really troubled by that. The implications can be quite unpleasant.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve found out about fat?

How much the body will adapt to a reduction in the number of calories we eat. The body doesn’t know what weight we want to be. It wants to be a certain weight. For example, common in a lot of public health information is the idea that creating a deficit of 3,500kcal over the course of a week will lead to a weight loss of 1lb. The reality is that when you cut calories from your diet, when you try to lose weight, your body will resist and drop its metabolism. You’ll feel pretty rubbish. Your body doesn’t like losing weight. Research into metabolism and how we resist weight loss shows that those figures don’t add up. So, people cut calories, don’t lose weight and feel like they have failed.

How can we make people feel successful?

I think we have too much guilt. We stress too much about the food we eat. We imagine that people’s bodyweight is an expression of their moral character, but it’s a heritable characteristic. That’s not controversial, but it’s largely ignored. Hair colour is 100% heritable, height nearly as much, and bodyweight – studies show – is about 70% heritable. Maybe if people with a large weight realise that, they’ll start to live their lives better and make themselves healthier, rather than giving themselves impossible weight-loss targets (3).

What about the links between obesity and socio-economic status?

That’s not quite as stark as people perhaps imagine, but there is some evidence to support that. Certainly, in this country, it’s only really true of women. Women living in poverty are more likely to be larger, but men are overweight with roughly the same prevalence across socio-economic groups. The figures do show that the experience of poverty can lead people to gain weight for a number of different reasons. The Marmot Review, published in 2010, looked at health inequalities in the UK. It concluded that if we want to address health inequality, we need to address financial inequality. Unfortunately, that’s a very difficult thing to do. So, easier paths are taken: telling people they’re making the wrong food choices, or, “Let’s tax alcohol so poor people can’t afford it.” I’m not sure that’s making people’s lives better.

How are you trying to make their lives better?

I’m telling them the problem with fat and obesity is far more complex than anyone will have you believe. And the reason why other people want you to believe it’s simple is that, generally, they’re trying to sell you something.

Which means your book will be free?

I am selling my book, but I could make a lot more money selling a diet book. I have enough publicity now to know how to create a diet book that would sell, I think. But I’d never do that.