A specialist sports and exercise physician who is the founding partner of Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne and Professor of Sports Medicine at La Trobe University.
A founding Executive Member of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians, he served two terms as President and played a key role in establishing sports medicine as a medical specialty in Australia. Peter is the co-author of the widely used text book Clinical Sports Medicine, and has been team physician for professional football clubs, national athletics, swimming, soccer and men's hockey teams: Socceroos Team Doctor, 2010 World Cup in South Africa; Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at Liverpool Football Club; Australian cricket team doctor 2012-17, and a consultant to the Melbourne Football Club in their premiership year, 2021.
Peter is the co-founder of the public health campaign SugarByHalf and is committed to the challenge of improving the nation's health with improved diet and increased physical activity. His best selling book 'A Fat Lot of Good' was published in 2018. He is also the Founder and Chair of Defeat Diabetes, an app/web-based program, aimed at improving diabetes control through diet. His latest book 'The Diabetes Plan' was published in March 2023.
Peter shared his personal experience transitioning to a low-carb, healthy fat diet in 2012 after being diagnosed with pre-diabetic conditions including fatty liver. He described how the diet change led to significant weight loss, losing 13Kg, improved health markers, and the resolution of his fatty liver condition over three months.
He discussed the rise in obesity, Australia being in the top 5 countries with 1 in 2 women, seven in 10 men and one in four children being obese. With type 2 diabetes, there are 280 Australians diagnosed every day. Peter attributed this rise to the changes in 1980s dietary guidelines which arose from 1976-1980s data that encouraged low-fat foods. He explained how the food industry replaced fats with sugar to maintain flavour.
Peter highlighted the high sugar content in various processed foods and beverages:
Boost Juice Blueberry Blast Low Fat Smoothie: 22tsp
Mountain Dew (440ml): 19tsp
Coca Cola (440ml): 16tsp
Red Bull (250ml): 13tsp
Powerade Mountain Blast: 8.5tsp
Sunchill Orange Juice (300ml): 7tsp
Lipton Peach Ice Tea (500ml): 6.5tsp
Just Juice Apple (200ml): 5tsp
BBQ sauce: 125 teaspoons=497gm!
Peter recommended eating real, unprocessed foods and avoiding ultra-processed items, suggesting a low-carb diet as a healthier approach. He also criticised current medical advice for diabetics, arguing that the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is inappropriate.
On May 9, Get Real About Food FED UP Peter discussed his journey from believing medical advice for 30 years to becoming an advocate for low-carb food after personal experiences. He described his charity "Sugar by Half" which has reached half a million students with educational lessons, and his book that became a bestseller.
Peter shared details about his "Defeat Diabetes", an app and web-based program which has helped 15,000 people, but faces challenges from the medical profession, but has received positive feedback about low-carb approaches from a doctor who credited the program with saving her life.
Processed foods include Sugar, Vegetable oils, Grains.
Ultra processed food examples:
processed meat such as sausages and hamburgers
breakfast cereals or cereal bars
instant soups
sugary fizzy drinks
chicken nuggets
cake
chocolate
ice cream
mass-produced bread
many "ready to heat" meals such as pies and pizza
Peter's message: Just Eat Real Food (JERF).
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