THIS Morning has been slammed by horrified fans after promoting a “dangerous” 500-calorie-a-day fasting diet on the show today.
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were joined by royal nutritionist Gabriela Peacock on the daytime show.
Here she plugged her new book, which pushes for people hoping to lose weight to fast for three days a week – with women advised to consume just 500 calories a day, and men 600.
This is just a fraction of the recommended daily calorie intake, which is 2,000 calories a day for women, and 2,500 for men.
Gabriela explained: “I love intermittent fasting, it means restrictive calorie intake for three non-consecutive days a week, it’s not about starving yourself – it’s just restricting your calories.”
Phil talked viewers through her recommended 500-calorie diet, which was a boiled egg for breakfast, large bowl of veg with a small grilled chicken for lunch, and a large vegetable soup for dinner.
She then shared: “It is definitely doable, you don’t really fast – you’re just restricting yourself. It makes the body resilient, it’s incredibly healthy, has numerous health benefits, and is very sustainable.”
This Morning viewers at home were outraged by the advice, and flocked to Twitter to share their reaction to the segment.
One wrote: “Do better ITV. This is dangerous to put on TV. This is why there’s so many uneducated people risking their health for unrealistic goals.”
Another agreed: “Why are they encouraging this sh**? Body positivity over dodgy diets any day.”
A third seethed: “#ThisMorning don’t promote starvation diets! 500 calories a day for women is below EU guidelines!”
One more echoed: “500 calories a day isn’t enough at all. Don’t listen to this woman, calling herself a nutritionist is a joke.”
