Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed is a gastroenterologist and the 2017 MasterChef champion. She talks to Sarah Maber about combining her passion for good food with her expertise in gut health
I was on maternity leave from my job as a junior doctor when my husband put in my application for MasterChef. It changed my life. Suddenly, I had two careers... I was a chef as well as a doctor! Everyone kept saying: ‘You’ve got a get-out clause, you can leave the NHS.’ But I always thought that food and medicine had such a beautiful synergy and I wanted to explore that.
So I didn’t leave medicine. In fact, I specialised and became a gastroenterologist, which is a very natural fit with food. I’m basically a doctor of the digestive system dealing with digestive health… the two are so closely aligned.
Over the years, I’ve become a more experienced chef and a more experienced clinician. My interests and knowledge have culminated perfectly in my new book, The Kitchen Prescription (Yellow Kite, £25). This is how I cook at home; the principles of healthy eating that I use when I cook for my family. The premise of the cookbook is that you do not have to deprive yourself, diet, or go hungry. These recipes will help you to improve your health, all while eating delicious food and learning the key principles of gut-healthy eating.
COOK, COOK, COOK!
When you start unpicking it, you find that many illnesses have a root in poor eating patterns. So a lifelong habit of eating well could have really far-reaching consequences for your health. In fact, there’s not a single system of your body that doesn’t benefit from good nutrition. I always say to people: ‘You should cook, cook, cook – and eat a diverse range of foods.’ I encourage a certain pattern of eating that I think will be beneficial – that is, a predominately plant-centred diet, with loads of fruit and veg, but also wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds and spices, and fermented foods.
The more of those you can get the better! Diets based on ultra-processed foods – where you have very low fruit and veg or fibre consumption, or a reliance on processed meats – are the sorts of eating patterns you’d ideally want to avoid. A lot of people really struggle with the concept of food avoidance, thinking: ‘I shouldn’t be eating this, this is bad for me.’ It’s actually quite destructive. Instead, let’s think about all the amazing things we can eat and how good they are and how good they will make us feel! The more we eat in this way, the more benefits we’ll observe in terms of symptoms and weight – and it becomes a cycle where the positivity and feedback we get then helps us to eat well, so our reliance on other food goes right down.
Kimchi and pineapple virtue bowls
‘Virtue bowls are an easily transportable lunch option and are open to
