What should we be eating? Dr Andrew Weil from College of Medicine on Vimeo.

Dr Andrew Weil talks about the anti-inflammatory diet – for longevity, health and reducing the burden of disease. He says the diet should emphasise variety and pleasure in food. If we take things away from people, we must be able to give something back that gives equal pleasure.

There’s a great deal of evidence for the healthiness of the Mediterraean diet, but this should be seen in the context of the lifestyle that goes with it: including exercise and eating as a social activity.

Dr Weil also talks about the controveries around different food groups – particularly the uncertainties around saturated fat where, he argues, the jury is still out. However, he thinks we have ‘moved out of the ultra-low fat era’ – the kind of fat we eat is more important than the total amount of fat. Obesity rose sharply in the period where low fat diets were promoted because quickly processed carbohydrates replaced fats in supermarket foods. He explains why good quality olive oil is particularly beneficial.