Simon Gault's health plan
A health programme co-run by Simon Gault gets Megan Wood rethinking everything she knew about eating
The promise
“Hey, Megs, do you want to trial a health programme run by Simon Gault?” If I had any idea what I was signing up for when I said yes to testing this programme, I’m pretty sure I would have run in the opposite direction, shoving a chocolate bar in my mouth in protest. Called The 4 Wheels of Health, it promises to be a complete lifestyle change, not a diet. And it promises a holistic, scientific approach to health ... but seriously, how many things claim to be “holistic” these days? Was this really going to be more than just a “try eating salad” diet plan?
The history
Simon Gault spent five years as a judge on Masterchef New Zealand. He admits that at the time he looked overweight. What the cameras didn’t show was that he was also battling type 2 diabetes. Living in denial for years, he got a big, scary wake-up call from his GP and decided to act. Gault explored the science behind fat and even put his own body to the test while filming the documentary Why are We Fat? Embracing his discoveries, he was able to lose a substantial amount of weight and even reverse his diabetes diagnosis. Gault teamed up with metabolic nutritionist Sean Robertson and their shared views on health gave birth to the 4 Wheels of Health — which I found myself (un)lucky enough to take part in.
The science
Almost daily, Robertson — who has a degree in biochemistry — would share live Facebook videos on the science behind the four “wheels” of the programme: sleep, TRF (time-restricted feeding), gut health and nutrition.
Rolling on with the first wheel, sleep, we’re told that getting good sleep will improve our blood glucose and insulin levels, making it easier to lose weight. TRF is an acronym that made me feel like a lab rat, for good reason I found out. Gault referenced a study where one group of mice were fed during a TRF trial while the others were left to graze all day. The mice ate the same number of calories but the TRF mice were thinner and had better blood glucose levels. The suggested TRF period was eight hours but longer fasts were also said to be highly beneficial. This is where I became a little sceptical and gave dietitian Andrea Braakhuis a call to find out more. Braakhuis is the Academic Director for the Master of Health Sciences in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Auckland. “There are some potential benefits to an approach like TRF, but I would be really hesitant to recommend longer fasts,” she said. “I would want to make sure [the person was] not pre-diabetic, had enough body fat, no kidney issues and didn’t have any existing issues around food.”
On the nutrition front, the main rule was no carbohydrates, very much like keto. The science claims that if you don’t feed your body carbs it will start converting fat to energy instead, which leads to weight loss. Braakhuis wasn’t convinced: “The evidence of keto is it helps people lose weight but the dropout rate is really high.” She also warned there are potential side effects: “One keto study showed that 80 per cent had headaches, nausea and vomiting.”
The reality
With two young kids the sleep week felt beyond my reach. I was determined not to fail this road test completely though, so I focused instead on the nutrition side, cutting out carbs almost completely and sticking to a 10am-6pm eating window. I even did three 24-hour fasts — and I didn’t hate it! I found it easier to adapt my diet than expected, cauliflower was my best friend and I ate lots of eggs, seeds and nuts. And bacon. And cheese.
The verdict
I am not one for weighing myself. In fact, I had to buy scales for this road test. At the end of the four weeks I climbed on to the scales and waited. I had lost 4.5kg! This was a fantastic result for me.
Some group members were on their second or third programme and had lost 12kg or more. One woman dropped 17kg and had to buy an emergency pair of pants when she was at work because hers kept falling down. That really was the clincher for me, the community. Total strangers from all over New Zealand sharing recipes, struggles, wins and losses.
At the start of the programme I was asked to pinpoint why I was doing this. My “why” was to feel better, lighter, stronger — and I do.
That is an addictive feeling which I am not giving up anytime soon.