281: Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed - from MasterChef winner to NHS campaigner

<div>Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed's career has taken her in all sorts of different directions.<br> <br> </div> <div>She is a junior doctor working in the NHS, an author, and of course she won <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t1k5">MasterChef</a> in 2017.<br> <br> </div> <div>But her passion for good food doesn't stop there, Saliha co-founded the <a href="https://www.nohungrystaff.co.uk/">No Hungry NHS Staff </a>campaign.<br> <br> </div> <div>It's about making sure NHS staff have access to hot, affordable, nutritious food - whatever time of the day or night they are working.<br> <br> </div> <div>In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, Saliha says she sees <a href="https://foodmatterslive.com/discover/podcast/exploring-the-link-between-nutrition-and-health-in-later-life-food-podcasts/">the impact bad diet has on people's health</a> every day in her NHS work.<br> <br> </div> <div>That's mainly in patients (she specialises in digestive disorders), but also the short-term impact of staff going hungry or being forced to eat poorly.<br> <br> </div> <div>She's also keen that, when it comes to diet-related health outcomes, prevention should be given more prominence.<br> <br> </div> <div>Saliha believes as much attention should be paid to what people eat in the years before they become ill, as the medicine they are given once a problem emerges.<br> <br> </div> <div>Listen to the full episode to hear her views on nutrition as medicine, why she's celebrating what she calls a "new age of curry", and how winning MasterCher in 2017 changed her life - it involves pyjamas and slippers!<br> <br> </div> <div> <strong>Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed, chef, author, campaigner<br> </strong><br> </div> <div>Saliha is a junior doctor working in the NHS. She graduated from <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">Kings College London</a> in 2012. Starting her career at St Mary’s Hospital, she has subsequently worked in Hillingdon Hospital and Watford General Hospital.<br> <br> </div> <div>She is training to specialise in Gas