Yotam Ottolenghi: I tried intermittent fasting, and hated it. This is why we need to ditch the diets and go back to basics

Yotam Ottolenghi · 22 Mar 2025

Yotam Ottolenghi did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Eating regimes foster needless self-doubt about food.

Their wordsEating regimes foster self-doubt where there is no need for it.
Our reading
Diets are a trap that work by messing with your head.

Their wordsThe world of diets is a trap that locks you in by messing with your head.
Our reading
Food, not nutrients, is what makes you healthy.

Their wordsNutrients alone don’t make you healthy, but food can make you healthy
Our reading
Replacing fat with starch in foods has made people fatter and less healthy.

Their wordsReplacing one “bad” nutrient (fat) with another “good” one (starch) has, most likely, been a major culprit in making us fatter and less healthy.
Our reading
The Mediterranean diet does not fit people who do not live by the Mediterranean.

Their wordsThe trouble with the Mediterranean diet is that most of us don’t live in Crete, and we don’t necessarily have access to all the fresh ingredients that are cultivated there.
Our reading
There are no simple solutions in diet.

Their wordsThe idea that we can transform our diet in a radical way to make things simple – nutrients, Mediterranean, healthy, happy, satisfied – is an illusion. There aren’t simple solutions.
Our reading
What we eat should be taken out of most conversations about health.

Their wordsWhat we eat and when needs to be removed from most conversations about health.
Our reading
We already know best what to eat: the food we grew up cooking.

Their wordsWe know best what we need to eat – and when. The food our parents cooked for us, the meals we made together, the things that come naturally, instinctively, as we walk into the kitchen.

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