About

What is the Freshwell Low Carb Project?

The Freshwell Low Carb Project is an initiative set up by Dr David Oliver and Dr Kim Andrews at the Freshwell Health Centre, Essex, UK, to encourage the members of its community to live a Real Food Low Carb lifestyle, so they may be as healthy as possible. All views our own.

Why was the Freshwell Low Carb Project launched?

This project grew out of our concern about the rise in incidence of type 2 diabetes over the last few years, alongside the widely reported rapid increase in obesity in the UK population.

There is now strong evidence that these increases are linked to the large amounts of ultra-processed food, sugar, starchy carbohydrates and processed food we, as a society, consume. The problem with starchy carbohydrates is that, when eaten in excess, they tend to be quickly converted into sugar then into stored body fat.

The biggest problem by far is our ultra-processed food environment. We believe that the current UK National “Eatwell” guidelines are unhelpful and have only made the problem worse and that other chronic health conditions can also be exacerbated by the wrong diet.

The good news is that following a low carb lifestyle can significantly help overcome these problems. It can bring about significant weight loss and can lead to type 2 diabetes going into remission. It can reduce your long term medication requirements for a variety of conditions and give a much greater sense of well being.

This website has been set up to steer our patients in the right direction towards trusted information to help them start them on their low carb lifestyle. It is not intended as a detailed in depth guide, when there is already so much quality information available.

The story so far

At Freshwell Health Centre, we have been recommending a Low Carb Lifestyle since late 2018. Many of our patients who have adopted this lifestyle have already seen early dramatic results in health improvements, especially weight loss and increased energy levels.

We challenged our patients to lose a metric tonne of weight between them (the weight of a small car) and much to our delight, they achieved it in just over a year! We wrote a research paper about it.

Have a look at some of our early results and testimonies. If you have already benefited from a low carb lifestyle and would like to add your testimonials to encourage others, then please get in touch.

As the project has progressed, it has been embraced by our neighbouring practices. For patients at local practices that are members of the Colne Valley Primary Care Network, our Health and Wellbeing Coaching Team are available to offer support to assist you to make lifestyle changes based around the Freshwell Low Carb Programme. We are delighted that a flourishing low carb community of over 750 local members has developed as a result. Our mutually supportive low carb community are constantly learning from each other e.g. by exchanging recipes. Find out more about our delivery partners.

Please note, this website was initially set up as a resource for patients registered at Freshwell Health Centre. We are not in a position to advise patients registered at other GP surgeries. Patients registered elsewhere should seek the advice from their own doctors.