The canary in the coal mine with Dr. Amy Godfrey:

In this first episode of Gut the System, I walk and talk with Amy Godfrey, a former anaesthetics and insensitive care doctor. After 13 years training and practising medicine in the NHS, Amy became disenchanted with the healthcare system and was struggling to have the impact she intended to have. She found that the majority of her time was taken up treating patients with life changing but preventable conditions. Amy wanted to change that but it seemed impossible to do whilst working from within. So, she gave up her UK medical license in favour of working further 'upstream', for a venture capital firm called The First Thirty. And it was here that she found a way to have a greater impact on more people's lives. Here are a few of the interesting topics we cover: 

• Preventative medicine - what to look for and which metrics to use, in order to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases
• Shakira
• The strains and stresses of working in the NHS
• Linking the dots between how we produce food, what we eat and how we feel
• The mandate of The First Thirty
• Big food's role in transitioning our health and food system
• Productivity being linked to our physical and mental health
• And of course UPFs - ultra processed foods

The first episode of a series is always a difficult one to pick but Amy's episode, for me, is a testimonial to the poly-crisis we, as a society, are sleep walking into. We've dangerously lost the connection between our food and health. As the old add-age goes 'you are what you eat' and we are becoming processed. Luckily there's a growing swell of nutritionists, doctors, farmers and entrepreneurs who are waking up to this reality. I wanted to air Amy's episode first because she so eloquently lays out why we need to sit up and pay attention but also draws you in with her can do positive attitude. The main take away for me? If our highly trained and sought after medical professionals are leaving the NHS, we need to ask why. We need to take action. If I've said it once I've said it twice, Amy is the canary in the coal mine.

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Show notes:

• The First Thirty
• Groundswell
• Dr. Chris van Tulleken study
• Norman Borlaug
• RFSI
• Pasture Bird
• Walking effecting depression
• French children don't throw food

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Contact the show:

• Harry Farnsworth - Host
• Ned Sedgwick - Producer

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