You Are What You Eat is a British reality dieting programme in which presenter Gillian McKeith uses shock tactics to get the participants to lose weight.
The series originally aired in the UK on Channel 4 from 2004-2007. The fourth season was entitled You Are What You Eat: Gillian Moves In.
You Are What You Eat airs in South Africa on DStv's BBC Food channel.
A rebroadcast of Season 4 premiered on BBC Food on Friday 1 August 2008, at 22h30. There are eight hour-long episodes in the fourth season.
Repeats
Saturdays: 08h30, 14h30
Synopsis
Is your fridge stocked full of fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meats or is it full of fat-filled, overly salted processed convenience foods and abandoned take-out containers?
If we truly are what we eat, what do your eating habits say about you?
Holistic nutritionist Gillian McKeith works with unhealthy eaters to break a lifetime of bad habits in eight weeks.
Methods
The show often uses shock tactics to get the participants to lose weight.
In each episode all food eaten in one week by the person(s) taking part is placed on a table to highlight problem areas of their diet.
Another technique is the analysis of the participant's faeces by McKeith to detect certain problems and make them known to the person involved. This aspect of the show gained McKeith the nickname "The Awful Poo Lady".
Emphasising the possibility of the participant's death is sometimes used, with references to children they might not see growing up or a mock grave being prepared.
Generally, editions would have these scenes in the first part followed by the participant's attempts to follow McKeith's diet and exercise regimes in the second.
The fourth season was expanded from half-hour to one-hour episodes, with the contestants moving to McKeith's London house and being visited overnight at their homes for inspection.