Dr. Gilvarry’s passion for food Ieads to first book
Dr Paula Gilvarry has had a lifelong passion for food; in fact, she even ran a highly successful, acclaimed restaurant alongside working as a public health doctor. But like most passionate relationships, Paula and her food have had their ups and downs.
As a doctor, wife, mother of two children, Paula has learned a thing or two about food over the years. But there is one thing she knows for sure: diets do not work. By the summer of 2017, Paula’s weight issues were no longer just a nuisance. Her hips, knees and back hurt; she struggled to climb the stairs, and she developed atrial fibrillation (AFib) – a fast, irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots and stroke. It was then that she knew she had to change her relationship with food and follow the advice that, as a doctor, she had been telling her own patients for years.
Cutting out food wasn’t an option, so instead she changed the types of food she ate, adapting all her favourite recipes to suit her new weight-loss regime. In just one year, Paula has lost five stone through diet alone. She has reduced her risk of AFib by 40%, and her blood pressure and cholesterol are back to normal. She is excited for her demanding lifestyle: looking after her hens, two Labradoodles, vegetable garden, and still cooking up a storm for friends, family, and visitors to The Yeats Experience, which she runs with her husband, Damien, at their Sligo home.
Doctor on a Diet is for anyone who wants to lose weight and keep it off, without sacrificing taste or flavour.
At the launch of her book last Thursday at The Model, Dr. Gilvarry said: “I cannot believe I’m standing here. It has been an incredible year. I am in a really good place at the minute.
“This was a long time in gestation, I’d been talking about writing a book for a long time.”