\u201cI run an eating disorder clinic,\u201d she tells Emilie Lavinia on The Independent\u2019s Well Enough<\/a> podcast, \u201cand I see the harmful impact that that expectation can have \u2013 not only for the people following, but for the individuals themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Scroll through social media<\/a> and it\u2019s easy to believe that health is something performative. A perfectly plated, carefully curated routine that can be replicated if only you\u2019re disciplined enough. Lambert sees something else: comparison, competition and, increasingly, confusion. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a slippery slope,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can see why people do it \u2026 but the reality is it\u2019s so curated. Nobody who is working hard has the time to cook three perfectly balanced meals every single day in the way that these videos often portray.\u201d <\/p>\n Her refusal to play that game sets the tone for everything that follows. Because if Lambert has a central argument, it is this: we are more distracted than ever by wellness trends, and in the process, we\u2019ve missed what actually matters.<\/p>\n For years now, the conversation around health has fixated on protein<\/a>. High-protein snacks, protein coffees, protein yoghurts, protein everything \u2013 all promising strength, satiety, transformation. <\/p>\n Lambert is unimpressed. \u201cProtein hype has done so much damage to this country,\u201d she says plainly. <\/p>\n The problem, she argues, is not protein itself \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s important, we need more as we age\u201d \u2013 but the way it has crowded out everything else. Because while Britain obsesses over hitting protein targets, it is quietly failing at something far more fundamental.<\/p>\n Fibre<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve never had a problem with getting enough protein. It\u2019s never been listed as an issue,\u201d she says. \u201cWhereas fibre\u2026 I mean, 4 per cent is the worst statistic I think I\u2019ve ever heard in my nutrition career.\u201d<\/p>\n That figure \u2013 that only a tiny fraction of the population is getting enough fibre \u2013 underpins her wider thesis. This is not just a nutrient gap. It is a symptom of something bigger. \u201cWe\u2019ve grown up in a country that\u2019s lost food<\/a> culture.\u201d<\/p>\n That loss, Lambert argues, is visible everywhere: in what we eat, how we eat and how little we understand about either.<\/p>\n Lunch, for one, has quietly collapsed into convenience. \u201cLunch is where most people fall short,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s convenience foods on the go.\u201d<\/p>\n We eat at our desks. We snack instead of sitting down. We outsource meals to pre-packaged options designed for speed, not nourishment. Even the language around food has shifted \u2013 less about cooking, more about hacks. <\/p>\n At the same time, decades of diet<\/a> culture have warped how we think about eating altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always been, what can I take out?\u201d she says. \u201cWhereas, we\u2019ve missed the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n For Lambert, that mindset \u2013 calorie counting, carb-cutting, restriction \u2013 is not just outdated, but actively unhelpful. It strips food down to numbers and ignores what it is actually there to do. \u201cFood isn\u2019t numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n Her own experience bears that out. Before becoming a nutritionist, Lambert trained as a classical soprano, travelling the world and, as she now reflects, under-fuelling herself. \u201cI definitely had a form of disordered eating that was never diagnosed,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought products like Weight Watchers were healthy \u2026 I had no nutritional knowledge whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n It was only after stepping away from the music industry \u2013 \u201cmy mental health was poor\u201d \u2013 that she turned to nutrition, completing a degree and later a master\u2019s specialising in obesity and prevention. <\/p>\n The through-line, she says, is simple: she knows what it feels like to get it wrong. <\/p>\n Part of the problem, she believes, is that fibre has been spectacularly mis-sold. \u201cI think a survey recently [found that] 80 per cent of people thought that fibre consumption is just about your poo,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not, in other words, glamorous. It doesn\u2019t lend itself to transformation shots or viral before-and-afters. And in a culture driven by aesthetics, that matters. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not sexy,\u201d she admits. \u201cIt\u2019s so much more interesting to say high-protein\u2026 it\u2019s associated with aesthetic and muscle and gym.\u201d<\/p>\n Fibre, by contrast, has been left with the branding of prunes and punishment.<\/p>\n But the reality, she insists, is far broader and far more consequential. Fibre plays a role in heart health<\/a>, blood sugar control and the gut microbiome<\/a>; it feeds the bacteria that help regulate inflammation<\/a> and immunity. It is linked to brain health, too \u2013 \u201cWe know that you can live another five years with more fibre\u201d \u2013 and to mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n![\"Rhiannon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_1801.jpeg\")
Rhiannon Lambert on the Well Enough podcast (The Independent)<\/p>\n![\"Rhiannon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_9563.jpeg\")
Rhiannon Lambert with her book, The Fibre Formula, at parliament (Rhiannon Lambert)<\/p>\n