Meet The Food Medic… junior doctor by day and Instagram fitness queen with 110,000 followers in her SPARE TIME
THERE is a new kid on the healthy-eating block.
Dr Hazel Wallace, or The Food Medic, is taking the diet world by storm.
On the surface, she looks like any other fitness guru flaunting her toned body on Instagram, but Hazel Wallace is actually a junior doctor working shifts in University College Hospital in central London.
And she doesn't promote the expensive and hard-to-find foods that her rivals do either.
In fact, most of her posts on her Food Medic blog are simple foods like shop-bought chicken and vegetables you can get in your local supermarket.
"I love eating wholefoods, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, but on the flipside I’m not the type of person who will say no to wine or chocolate even if it’s full of refined sugar and transfats. What I promote is balance," 26-year-old Hazel told
Her blog and Instagram is packed full of food that is healthy and looks delicious - and is something a health conscious but time poor person could put together quickly.
There's homemade chilli with butternut squash noodles, poached eggs on toast with mushroom, kale and asparagus and peri-peri chicken with turmeric cauliflower just to name a few.
The fitness fanatic has become so popular, attracting more than 110,000 followers, that she has landed sponsorship deals wit Sweaty Betty and Origins.
Now she has penned a book, The Food Medic, Recipes for Life and Fitness, which comes out in May.
Writing about the book on her blog, Hazel said: "I like to think of myself as one of the first of a new generation of doctors.
"It is my mission to combine my knowledge as a doctor and a personal trainer, with my passion for nutrition, to debunk the myths that are out there, simplify healthy eating, and help people live healthier, happier, and longer lives.
"The benefits of eating well and exercising often extend far beyond looking and feeling great. With the right food, we can actually prevent and even reverse certain illnesses and disease
"The big diseases of today are diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
"What do all of these diseases have in common? They are all linked our lifestyles – the food that we eat, how often we exercise, and even the stress that we experience.
"The Food Medic isn’t simply a book with a collection of recipes that will just help shift a few stubborn pounds before a holiday; it is about health, confidence, happiness and feeling great for good.
"This is not a diet book, this is the book that will stop you ever having to buy another diet book again!"
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Hazel attributes her ability distinguish fact from fiction in ever-changing world of dieting to her analytical mind.
She told The Times: "The biggest thing about having a medical background is it allows me to critically analyse papers.
"There’s so much online at the moment and you need to know how to pick out the good evidence from the bad."
"The biggest myth is around gluten. Can I have carbohydrates after 6pm? Will fat make me fat? All these messages are flying around and causing confusion.
"It needs to be stripped back and brought back to basics so people can make their own judgements."
Brought up in Dundalk, Ireland, with her two older sisters, Hazel decided to go into medicine after losing her dad to a stroke when she was 15-years-old.
It was during her time studying medicine at Cardiff medical school in 2013 that she set up her blog.
She achieved a graduate degree in medicine in 2016.
Now she posts something most days, fitting it into her hectic schedule as a trainee doctor, and still manages to go to the gym three times a week and hopes to encourage other people to live a more balanced lifestyle.
"The Food Medic is a product of who I am and what I do; I’m a practising doctor with a special interest in nutrition, and a qualified personal trainer," she said.
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