How can we sustain a healthy diet?

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken cut through the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.

In this episode, Chris and Xand turn their attention to food. It’s January, and many of us have resolved to “eat better” but why does it so often feel like an uphill battle? Why do we crave certain foods and not others? And what does a genuinely healthy relationship with food look like?

They explore the science behind how our brains and bodies respond to food, and why willpower alone is rarely enough when it comes to eating well. From ultra-processed foods that trigger addictive-like responses to the influence of marketing, availability and convenience, they unpack why eating well is about much more than individual choice, and what actually helps us eat well in the long term.

Joining them is Ashley Gearhardt PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, whose research focuses on how certain foods can trigger addictive processes and how food advertising activates reward systems in the brain. She also developed the Yale Food Addiction Scale, a widely used tool to assess signs of addictive-like eating behaviour.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Professor Ashley Gearhardt
Researcher: Samara Linton
Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Social Media Producer: Leon Gower
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby

At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4