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Cape Town – A book described as having “more twists and turns than a koeksister” has been released – and it centres on the murder of Professor Tim Noakes.
Writer and columnist, Paige Nick, penned 'Death by Carbs' after a pasta-loving friend said she could kill the scientist for his low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) 'banting' diet.
“People were really fervent in their beliefs about this. Everyone was talking about it, and was either pro or against it,” she said. “I decided to see the funny side to this craze.”
The book, which Noakes said left him “breathless right until the end”, sees one Detective Bennie September investigating the scientist’s murder.
The sleuth needs to determine who killed Noakes: Was it the widow or the ex-publisher who turned down Noakes’s bestseller? A co-author or the SnackCorp CEO? Perhaps it was the internet trolls and haters or the fans as “everyone knows how angry hungry people can get”?
Pro-banting audience
Nick was part of the mostly pro-banting audience who followed Monday’s Health Professions Council of SA proceedings where Noakes' conduct is being questioned.
Noakes – whose book The Real Meal Revolution promotes a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet – was called before the council after a complaint was lodged by the former president of the Association for Dietetics in SA, Claire Julsing-Strydom.
The complaint was prompted by a tweet Noakes sent to a Pippa Leenstra after she asked him for advice on feeding babies and on breastfeeding.
Her tweet read, "@ProfTimNoakes @SalCreed is LCHF eating ok for breastfeeding mums? Worried about all the dairy + cauliflower = wind for babies?? [sic]"
Murderous diet
Noakes advised her to wean her child onto LCHF foods, which he described as "real" foods.
His tweet read, "Baby doesn't eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high fat breast milk. Key is to ween [sic] baby onto LCHF."
He is accused of giving unconventional and unscientific advice, and of unprofessional conduct for dispensing the advice via social media.
Nick, who is also a follower of the LCHF lifestyle, said it has helped her lose 6kg in a year – quite an achievement for a type 2 diabetic, she pointed out.
The banting guru has even given the novel his stamp of approval. “I approached him before it was published for permission as his lawyers are bigger than mine and he dies on the first page,” Nick said.
“I didn’t hear from him for six weeks until he got back to me and only asked me to correct my reference to his weight as he would be slated if I made him heavier than the 81kgs he actually is.”
She describes her book as a humorous look at banting and the brouhaha surrounding Noakes.
And according to the foreword, Nick dedicates the novel to “anyone who has ever struggled to lose weight, and knows how murderous it can be”.
