2/2/04 Monday - Western Mail article - First press release in Wales. View article
4/2/04 Wednesday - On the Edge HTV programme recorded - First recorded TV
show
5/2/04 Thursday - On the Edge aired
2/3/04 Tuesday - Dunstable Gazette article - First home town press release. View article
14/3/04 Sunday - Wales on Sunday first article - First serialisation. View article
15/3/04 Monday - London Book Fair Book launched
22/3/04 Monday - Real Radio interview - First recorded radio interview
28/3/04 Sunday - Wales on Sunday second article - First with Suzanne (trial
model for the diet). View article
5/4/05 Monday - WH Smith made the book their book of the month in Wales for
May - First award
5/4/04 Monday - Jamie Owen show BBC Radio Wales - First live radio broadcast
5/4/04 Monday - BBC Wales news - First recorded news programme, first time
on BBC
7/4/04 Wednesday - Delivery from distributors - First edition
11/4/04 Sunday - Sunday Post article - First press release in Scotland, Amazon
rating leapt to 103. View article
15/04/04 Thursday - Real Radio interview on women, food and depression
27/04/04 Tuesday - Real Radio interview for news feature on supermarket exercise
trolleys
06/5/04 Thursday - Real Radio interview on Carol Vordeman's new detox book
22/5/04 Saturday - WH Smith Cardiff First book signing
27/5/04 Thursday - Real Radio interview on Government white paper on obesity
01/6/04 Tuesday - Western Mail magazine, WM, feature on Zoe and the book. View article
29/6/04 Tuesday - Real Radio interview on Atkins and fertility
14/7/04 Tuesday - Real Radio interview on the pressure to slim after pregnancy
27/9/04 Monday - Real Radio interview on supersize confectionery bars
1/10/04 Friday - Double page feature in Essentials Magazine. View article
1/10/04 Friday - Book review in Spirit Magazine. View article
12/10/04 Tuesday - Front page banner headline and double page feature in Daily Express. View article
19/10/04 Tuesday - Real Radio interview on mens' expanding waistlines
1/11/04 Monday - Triple page feature in Spirit and Destiny Magazine. View article
17/11/04 Wednesday - Real Radio interview on portion sizes.
25/11/04 Thursday - Centre page feature in Daily Mirror. View article
28/11/04 Sunday - Double page feature in Sunday Express Magazine. View article
09/12/04 Wednesday - Real Radio interview on strokes and how diet can help.
22/12/04 Wednesday - Real Radio interview on what to eat on Christmas day.
January 05 - New Year New You. Is this the diet to end cravings? North East Health Magazine View article
07/02/05 Monday - Full page feature in Western Mail. View article
23/02/05 Wednesday - Real Radio interview on cartoon characters on children food.
09/02/05 Wednesday - Real Radio interview on can burgers be better than sandwiches?
22/03/05 Tuesday - Full double page feature in Reveal Magazine - National weekly. View article
29/03/05 Tuesday - Real Radio commentary on Jamie Olivers pettition to Downing Street.
05/04/05 Tuesday - Full double page feature in Reveal Magazine, Victoria Beckham's weight loss secrets- National weekly. View article
07/04/05 Thursday - BBC Radio Wales commentary first ever eating disorders residential centre in Wales.
07/04/05 Thursday - ITV commentary first ever eating disorders residential centre in Wales.
22/06/05 Wednesday - South Wales Argus - 'Zoe finds Write Way to Health'. View article
December 05 - Allergy Magazine - 'My food intolerances helped me beat bulimia'. View article
Feb 2 2004
Rhodri Owen, The Western Mail
ZOE HARCOMBE understands the irony of being a former anorexic and bulimic who has just written a diet book.
But, she says, it's the very fact she has a real understanding of the terrors of being both under-weight and over-weight that qualifies her to have a valid opinion on the subject.
Zoë, head of personnel at the Welsh Development Agency in Cardiff, has just written her first book on dieting Why Do You Overeat? When All You Want Is To Be Slim?
It's something the 38-year- old says she has been meaning to do for some time, as she has been fascinated with food for most of her life."
My brother was diagnosed as a diabetic when he was 15 and I was 13 and this had a huge impact on the family.
"Suddenly we had to learn how to inject him with insulin and learned all about sugar and carbohydrates and so on.
"I was a typical 15 year-old, 5ft 2in tall, with the usual amount of puppy fat, when I bought my first diet book and started counting calories. Before I knew it I had dropped from a healthy 8.5 stone to a not very healthy six stone."
It was only when Zoë started suffering gynaecological problems that she became aware that she had anorexia
."Twenty years ago anorexia was not talked about in the way it is now," she explains. "My mother could see what was happening, but was not aware of the games anorexics can play, with regard to hiding food and pretending you've already eaten."
For Zoë, coming face to face with the knowledge she was anorexic, was a turning point."I was shocked into looking after myself better," she says.But gradually the pendulum swung and she found herself over-eating, until she was diagnosed as bulimic.
Her condition sparked an interest in the psychology of eating and when she married in her 20s she found it helped her place a greater emphasis on safeguarding her health.The inspiration to put pen to paper came while she was watching television one day, in particular GMTV's InchLoss Island and ITV's Fat Club.
"There was this dieter from Cardiff on Fat Club, and they were selling him the low-calorie theory. The poor guy was desperately trying to get slim and fighting his cravings and the people on TV were telling him to eat low-fat foods. But they were really not helping him."
"It's been said that 95% of people on low-calorie diets put their weight back on. This spurred me on to write."
I'd been away on holidays and people were telling me they couldn't understand why I could eat so much and still be so tiny. But it's not about how much you eat, it's about how you should eat.
"There are two main rules in her diet plan, which she developed by using her husband Andy as a guinea pig. And, yes, he lost weight, too."
Firstly, do not eat refined carbohydrates. For example, white rice or white bread, as opposed to brown rice and brown bread (with no sugar). And, secondly, don't mix fat with carbohydrates. That's why the Atkins Diet works so well.
"The calorie theory just does not work," she adds.
"Look at America. The low-fat nation is the fattest nation on Earth, whereas the French eat fat but not so many carbohydrates and they are the slimmest nation."
The much-talked about Atkins Diet may work, she says, but she doesn't think it is healthy in the long term.But why should anyone believe in her diet theories? What is her pedigree in the subject?
It comes down to personal experience, she answers.
"Looking at other people's studies and diet books I suddenly thought, 'When did this person last suffer from anorexia? What do they know about terrible cravings'?"
Feb 2 2004
Catrin Pascoe, The Western Mail
ON Zoë Harcombe's diet, this would be an average day's eating plan: BREAKFAST:A 'fat' breakfast would be eggs, bacon, kippers, omelettes, etc.A 'carb' breakfast would be sugar-free cereal with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, fruit, whole-wheat toast, etc.n LUNCH and EVENING MEAL:A 'fat' main meal would be meat, fish, cheese, eggs, milk, salad, vegetables.A 'carb' main meal would be brown rice or brown pasta with vegetables such as veggie chilli or butter-nut squash curry with brown rice or a baked potato with low-fat cottage cheese or salad."It's okay to combine non-refined carbohydrates and fatty foods on the same day, as long as you allow four hours in between each," explains Zoë."You can even have an occasional glass of wine with a main meal as food has to be enjoyable."
Zoë appeared on the HTV programme “On the Edge”, hosted by Mai Davies on Thursday February 5th 2004. The programme was a discussion forum on obesity. Other attendees included:
- Simon Payne from ITV’s fat club,
- Dr Richard Stott from the National Obesity Forum,
- Professor Jonathan Richards from Diabetes UK.
The web links for Diabetes UK and the National Obesity Forum are on the links page
DUNSTABLE GAZETTE
2nd March 2004
A former Dunstable student who spent years battling eating disorders has now written a book to help others.
Zoë Harcombe, formerly Zoë Dent, was the first Northfields Upper School pupil to graduate from Cambridge University.
Now she has drawn on her own experiences for her new book “Why do you overeat? When all you want is to be slim.”
Zoë, 38, now living in Gwent with her husband, Andy, left Northfields in 1983 with a scholarship to Cambridge to read mathematics.
It was the beginning of what seemed like a bright future but Zoë faced a struggle with eating disorders for the next ten years.
She had already been suffering anorexia before entering the prestigious university and was to experience bulimia and food cravings to rival any drug addiction before finally taking control of her eating habits in her late 20’s.
She said “As I continued to overeat, despite desperately wanting to gain control over my eating, I used my mathematical brain to ask the very logical question – Why do we overeat, when all we want is to be slim?”
Zoë said through extensive research and her personal experience she was able to identify three well-documented medical conditions, which cause uncontrollable food cravings.
“I was diagnosed with the first of these whilst studying at Cambridge - Food Intolerance,” she said.
“The second condition was discovered in my early 20’s as I passed out on the tube on the way into work some mornings. This was Hypoglycaemia.”
“The third condition completed the jigsaw and this was diagnosed and treated by a nutritionist when I was in my late 20’s – Candida,” she added.
Zoë explains in her book how people develop these conditions, how they can overcome them and therefore overcome food cravings.
However, the Northfields ex-pupil said most modern diets concentrate on calorie control.
“Calorie counting just slows our metabolisms down and many people now put on weight eating the same quantity that used to make them lose weight,” she said.
“Calorie counting also weakens our immune systems and makes us far more likely to suffer the three conditions – Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia – that cause uncontrollable food cravings.”
Zoë also talks about the effect carbohydrates have on our weight and why the Atkins diet has been so successful.
She said “As anyone who has tried the Atkins diet knows, the secret to weight loss lies with carbohydrates and insulin, not with cutting out fat.”
“But people don’t have to go that far. Anything that cuts out nature’s finest treasure - fruit – cannot be healthy, or good for our enjoyment of food.”
Zoë is now the executive director for human resources for the Welsh Development Agency following a successful career, which has taken her all over the world.
She decided to write the book and share her knowledge to help others combat their eating disorders after pressure from friends.
She said “I could have written this book ten years ago, but it was not until my friends and colleagues got fed up with me being able to eat so much without putting on weight that they badgered me into sharing the secret.”
“Why do you overeat? When all you want is to be slim” is published by Accent Press and is available in all good book shops, price £9.99.
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