Gillian McKeith is a Scottish television personality and writer. Her book You Are What You Eat sold over two million copies by 2006 and was the most cited non-fiction library book in the UK from July 2005 to June 2006. She was convicted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in November 2006 for selling unproven herbal sexual aids.
Gillian McKeith Personal Life
Gillian McKeith was born on 28 September 1959 in Perth, Scotland, United Kingdom. Her father’s name was Robert McKeith, he was a shipyard worker, whereas her mother was an office worker. Robert was a long-term smoker due to which he got diagnosed with esophagus cancer and hence died in 2005.
As a child, Gillian used to eat a lot of junk food. She often talks about her diet as she used to have meat thrice a day.
Previously, Gillian used to add the academic title “Doctor” to her name but she stopped in 2007 when a complaint to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority was filed against her.
Gillian McKeith Career
McKeith first moved to the United States and hosted a syndicated wire program called Healthline Across America. Before the UK local elections in 2002, McKeith stood as a candidate for the Conservative Party in the London Borough of Camden. It was said that McKeith wanted to become the replacement MP for Hampstead (then the Hampstead and Highgate constituency). However, McKeith withdrew her application a few weeks later and did not stand in the 2002 Camden election.
Her book You Are What You Eat sold over two million copies by 2006 and was the most cited non-fiction library book in the UK from July 2005 to June 2006. Book of her presentation of the Channel 4 series You Are What You Eat, which aired until 2007, where she tried to encourage people to lose weight and make lifestyle changes. In 2006, nutritionist Ian Marber described her as passionate about her beliefs and considers her a kind of health televangelist.
The fourth series, titled Gillian Moves In: You Are What You Eat, featured two people in each episode staying with McKeith in a house in London with “nowhere to escape”. First, she showed each subject their typical weekly food intake. The food was placed on the table in a cold, frozen, and unpleasant state. Subjects were often shown emptying the screen into garbage bags. According to Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph, she was seen “yelling at weeping fat women as they forced them to eat quinoa and undergo the frequent colonic irrigations which his good self urged her to administer”. She then advised on diet and exercise and banned alcohol. After the training, the participants were allowed to return home and had to follow their new regimen for eight weeks. When they disobeyed, McKeith would move in with them to make sure they followed her advice. At the end of eight weeks, participants were shown to lose weight and said they felt healthier. In her book You Are What You Eat, McKeith recommends the examination of the tongue, the mapping of acne, and the detailed examination of feces and urine as indicators of health.
She claims that many external parts of the body indicate the disease: “I always think of the tongue as a window to the organs. The extreme end correlates with the heart, just below the lungs. The right side shows what the gall bladder is and the left side the liver. The middle shows the stomach and spleen, the back the condition of the kidneys, bowels, and uterus.” These statements have no scientific basis. McKeith’s website sells books, advice, club members, food, and accessories.
She was convicted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in November 2006 for selling unproven herbal sexual aids. The products “Fast Formula Wild Pink Yam Complex” and “Fast Formula Horny Goat Weed Complex” were advertised as shown in a controlled study to promote sexual satisfaction. The MHRA found that McKeith “sold the goods without a statutory license, making medical claims about their effectiveness”. The products were later withdrawn from the market. McKeith’s website indicated that the sexual aids had been phased out due to European Union regulations. Goldacre contacted the MHRA, who said the removal had nothing to do with any EU regulations. In 2007, McKeith presented Three Fat Brides, One Thin Dress for Channel 4, a competitive version of You Are What You Eat, in which three women compete for a designer wedding dress.
In addition to her TV shows, she occasionally appears in other shows as well. She competed on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars singing her rendition of “The Shoop Shoop Song”. She also appeared on E4’s health show Supersize vs Superskinny. In 2009, she appeared on Canada’s W Network in an article entitled Eat Yourself Sexy, in which participants claimed to have experienced a decline in sexual attraction or sexual development when McKeith used the same practices as in You Are What You Eat.
In November 2010, she appeared in I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in the British version of the film. In January 2016, McKeith appeared on Celebrity Big Brother as a short-lived housemate sent to “cleanse” the contestants. In 2023, she will appear on I’m a Celebrity… South Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McKeith opposed the shutdowns and promoted anti-vaccination and COVID-19 conspiracy theories. She expressed her belief in a looming conspiracy of “martial law” and “fascist tyranny”. She encouraged his followers to reject vaccinations, calling them “clot bags” and instead suggested, without evidence, that diet could confer immunity against infection, drawing criticism from the British Nutrition Foundation and the British Dietetic Association.
In May 2021, she participated in an anti-vaccine protest at the Westfield shopping center in London. She appeared at another rally in July 2021 alongside conspiracy theorists David Icke and Piers Corbyn and again at the London protests in December. In November 2021, she posted comments on Twitter suggesting that sperm from unvaccinated men is better than sperm from vaccinated men, without any medical basis for these claims.
Gillian McKeith Net Worth
Gillian has a net worth of £4.8 million. Her main source of income comes from being a non-fiction author. Her book, the health guru and Nutritionist First was a household name in the 2000s. Her book You Are What You Eat, sold over two million copies by 2006.
She also earns by being a TV personality.
Gillian McKeith Relationship
Gillian is married to Howard Magaziner, an American lawyer. The couple met in Edinburgh, where Howard was spending a year studying. At the time, he managed a chain of health food stores in the United States, which she joined. The couple has two daughters: Afton Magaziner and Skylar McKeith.
Gillian McKeith Education
Gillian graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Linguistics in 1981, before moving to the United States where she worked in marketing and international business. In 1984, she earned a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. She claims to have received a master’s degree in holistic nutrition in 1994 and a doctorate in the same field in 1997, both through distance learning programs from the non-accredited American College of Holistic Nutrition, and later Clayton College of Natural Health in Birmingham, Alabama.
Gillian McKeith Health Condition
Gillian suffers from scoliosis. She said that there is not a moment in her life when she does not suffer from pain due to scoliosis.
Gillian McKeith Health Advice
McKeith’s advice is mainly alternative medicine with no scientific basis. She recommends a detox diet where “the top 12 toxic horrors to avoid” are: smoking; caffeine; alcohol; chocolate and sweet snacks; bar snacks such as chips, nuts, and pork scratchings; processed meat; white bread, white pasta, white rice; products with added sugar; takeaway and prepared meals; table salt; saturated fats; and carbonated drinks. McKeith recommends a plant-based – seafood – diet that is high in fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and tofu, and low in processed and high-calorie foods, sugar and fat, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, and white flour, and attachments.
Goldacre writes that she finds it offensive that the British media is “full of people who assume the mantle of scientific authority but misunderstand basic aspects of biology.” She cites as an example McKeith’s recommendation to eat darker leaves because they are rich in chlorophyll, and writes that her claim that it “actually oxygenates your blood” is false because sunlight is not normally found in the human gut.
McKeith’s advice in her book Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae is also controversial. Jan Krokowski of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency wrote a private letter to New Scientist saying that “blue-green algae known as cyanobacteria are capable of producing some very powerful toxins that are harmful to human and animal health and can cause illness and death.” In response to McKeith’s critical claims: “I’m on a campaign to change the nation, and fortunately or unfortunately, that puts me in the spotlight. But change doesn’t happen without some resistance.”
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Gillian McKeith Physical Stats
| Height | 4 ft 12 in / 152 cm |
| Weight | 101 lb / 46 kg |
| Hair Color | Blonde |
| Eye Color | Hazel |
Gillian McKeith Wiki/Bio
| Name | Gillian McKeith |
| Full Name | Gillian McKeith |
| Date Of Birth | 28 September 1959 |
| Age | 63 (as of 2023) |
| Birthplace | Perth, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Profession | television personality and writer |
| Nationality | scottish |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Zodiac Sign | Libra |
| Gender | Female |
| Parents | Father- Robert McKeith
Mother- N/A |
| Siblings | N/A |
| Partner | N/A |
| Spouse | Howard Magaziner |
| Children | Afton Magaziner, Skylar McKeith |
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