Can your diet really boost your health so much that you can use food as medicine?
After qualifying in the semi-finals of Master Chef in 2012, Seed’s GP and Nutritional Therapist, Dr Ashvy Bhardwaj, talks about how this popular show fuelled her passion for using food as medicine.
How did you end up on Master Chef?
- I had always loved cooking and my husband at the time pushed me to enter. I didn’t hear back and forgot about it. Many months later, I received an invite for an interview. The rest is history!”
What did you most love about being on the show?
- It was a massive learning curve for me in so many different ways. I learned to make many foods from scratch such as pasta, ice cream and puff pastry. As an Asian person used to cooking heavily with spices and marinades, I learned that food could still have lots of flavour without these when the food was good quality.
What do you feel helped you excel in the competition?
- One of the first dishes I made was saffron-infused haddock with seasonal vegetables. I realised the judges liked that I was using ingredients that were both seasonal and locally sourced. I continued to do this throughout.
- I made wild trout with salsa verde, caramelised beetroot, sticking to British dishes and ingredients. This was the first time in my life that I had seen what proper fish and meat looked like. I was used to buying from supermarkets rather than butchers and local farms. It was very eye-opening. I could see and taste such a huge difference in quality and value for money.
Did this change how you shopped for food?
- Yes absolutely! From then on, I started to buy food from my local butchers and fish mongers, and veggies that were seasonal and from the UK. I still struggle to understand why we buy food from all over the world when we can source it from our own back yard. Food loses so much freshness and nutritional value through the transportation process and of course it’s also really bad for the planet!
How did it feel to get to the semi-finals?
- It was amazing to get that far but unfortunately, I suffered a miscarriage so I was unable to continue. I moved to Australia shortly after that and was offered a place on the Australian version but at this point, I had other ideas.
What did you learn most at Master Chef?
- The biggest learning curve for me was learning about where and how to source good quality, nutrient-dense foods and ingredients. Through the many rounds, I learned how eating the right foods rich in vital nutrients is not only fundamental to health but the taste is so much better too.
- Before the show, I had been over-weight for a long time so I learned that food wasn’t just about calories, it was about nutritional content. I started applying that knowledge in my practise as a doctor. The first person I fixed was a diabetic about a year after Master Chef ended. By making simple tweaks to her diet and lifestyle such as reducing/changing her carb intake, adding certain supplements and taking regular exercise, we were able to reverse the disease.
- Master Chef enabled me to combine my love for food with my love for medicine to help my patients get better.
How do you use food as medicine?
- According to Wikipedia, ‘medicine is the science and practice of establishing the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention of disease.’ There’s this huge movement against the phrase ‘food is medicine’. However, I have seen first-hand how specific foods, consumed in the right way, can heal you.
- I know that food, along with other lifestyle factors, can have a very positive or negative inflammatory impact on the body. Now I know where to remove negative foods and increase positive foods to get positive results.
How can anyone say food is not medicine when doctors around the world have reversed disease by changing their patients’ diets!
Ashvy Bhardwaj is a GP and Nutritional Therapist for Seed Beaconsfield.
For more information or if you wish to book a consultation with Ashvy, please email ashvy@seedwellness.co.uk or visit www.seedwellness.co.uk/ashvyBhardwaj/