Skip Channel4 main Navigation

|Powered By Google


You Are What You Eat
Mandy Maidment

Mandy Maidment is a 41-year-old single mum who lives with her six-year-old daughter Caitlin in Southampton. Mandy is 5ft 3 and tips the scales at 17 stone 10 lbs. As a busy mum Mandy says she doesn't have time to cook proper meals for herself and her daughter. Consequently she sometimes gets through as many as ten takeaways a week.

Mandy says that her 'open and pour' approach to food allows her to spend more time with her daughter. Unfortunately that time together is usually spent eating all the wrong foods, and although they are as close as can be, with her comfort eating ways, Mandy is setting Caitlin a terrible example.

Gillian shows Mandy all the food she has consumed in a week. It is an array of takeaways and convenience foods including two portions of madras curry, two portions of egg-fried rice, one king prawn curry, five spring rolls and three café fry-ups. To Gillian's horror Mandy says she could eat some of it now. Gillian tells her she is risking all kinds of health problems with a diet so high in saturated fats, not only for herself, but for Caitlin too.

Gillian plans an eight-week detox for Mandy of fresh foods and exercise. She wants Caitlin to benefit from Mandy's new lifestyle so she includes some child-friendly recipes for her to try. Gillian presents them with healthy alternatives of their favourite foods, such as home made baked beans and chicken satay and tells them with these food they will not need to comfort eat. Caitlin says it all looks nice and Mandy says she'll learn to cook like this for her.


Week one and Mandy and Caitlin have started walking more and are enjoying healthy snacks, but in the supermarket Mandy is having difficulty recognising some of the healthy foods. By week four Mandy is getting to grips with the new foods but Caitlin is giving her a hard time about the amount of time she is spending in the kitchen. In week five, the two of them are spending more and more quality, healthy time together, preparing food and exercising.

When Gillian returns at the end of the eight weeks, Mandy's hair and skin is glowing. She has lost nearly two stone already, dropping three dress sizes, and Caitlin has never been so full energy. They say this is just the start but they are well on their way to a healthy future.

Recipes, tips, quizzes and more
health profile
Ethical eating with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
What's your body mass index?
Take the food quiz and find out
Feast on fabulous fare from Gordon Ramsay
Turn back time with tips from Nicky and the 10 Years Younger team