 Toyah was featured in Sunday's
'Observer', talking about her eating
habits (shark cartlilage?, eeek it's
enough to put you off your breakfast!). A
nutritionist gave his opinions on her
diet... The musician and
actress likes to live healthily by eating
rice cakes and shark cartilage. Our
nutritionist Dr John Briffa approves.
'Now
I'm in my forties, I try to stick to a
diet that keeps my weight down and my
hormones balanced as I think it's good to
pre-empt certain things. I've studied
nutrition since I was 23 and I began to
find that a lot of my eating habits were
to do with boredom and frustrations
rather than hunger. When I was thirsty I
would eat rather than drink. The main
offender in our culture is that we don't
drink enough water so now I don't drink
tea, coffee or alcohol and a lot of H2O.
By getting rid of certain things in my
diet my body has changed shape and I have
more energy.
I try
to eat small meals throughout the day. A
lot of my time is spent with film crews
and they eat three really big meals a
day, which is what I actively avoid, so I
carry rice cakes to dip in Marmite. Lunch
usually consists of soup and granary
bread (hopefully from a bakery in
Evershot in Dorset). I'm not great at
eating greens because my schedule doesn't
give me time to cook, so spinach soup is
a good option. I drink soya milk because
it lowers cholesterol, it helps to
balance hormone levels and you're not
dealing with animal fats. I'm not
vegetarian. I eat what I crave, but most
of the time I don't crave meat.
What I
do crave is chocolate. I'm capable of
eating a box of chocolates a day, so
dates with sunflower seeds and carrots
with raisins are a good way of snacking
without feeling guilty. My tablets are a
kind of food supplement. I started taking
Revi-Face a year ago, a supplement that
contains shark cartilage and encourages
the collagen to keep replacing itself and
I'm hooked. Imedeen is another skin
supplement based on fish products. It's
expensive but I feel that it's an
investment. Getting older doesn't worry
me, what does is getting unfit. It's sad
that you don't need to eat so much and
you need more exercise and sleep, but I
won't sell myself short.
Toyah
Willcox will be performing in the Here
and Now Tour 2002 this April.
Dr John
Briffa's verdict:
Soya
milk - Provamel Soya Fresh - Cow's milk is a
major cause of symptoms and illnesses
related to something known as 'food
intolerance', plus, a significant
proportion of the population (mainly
non-Caucasians) cannot digest the milk
sugar lactose, and may have symptoms such
as bloating and wind some time after
drinking milk as a result. I'm not
over-enthusiastic about cow's milk and
believe that non-dairy substitutes such
as soya milk are better for many people.
There is also some evidence to suggest
consuming soya products may reduce the
risk of heart disease and certain
cancers. However, soya is believed to
impair the absorption of certain
nutrients, including iron and zinc,
therefore, I think Toyah might do well to
take a decent multivitamin and mineral
supplement.
Granary
bread - When eating a grain, it's
generally best to eat it in as unrefined
a form as possible. Wholegrain products
contain more fibre, are more nutritious
and release sugar more slowly into the
bloodstream than their refined
counterparts. The problem with 'granary'
bread is that the wholemeal flour content
can actually be quite low. Overall, I
think a 100 per cent wholemeal bread or
whole rye bread would be a better option
for Toyah.
Marmite
-
Marmite is actually made from a yeast
waste that is generated by the brewing
industry. What I have found in practice
is that people who like to eat Marmite
have symptoms that suggest they have too
much yeast in their system. Telltale
signs of excess yeast include abdominal
bloating and wind, athlete's foot and
thrush (especially in women). I don't
know enough about Toyah to make any firm
recommendations here, but my feeling is
that she'd be a lot better off dipping
her rice cakes in guacamole or hummus.
Dates -
Dates
are a decent sort of food; they're quite
a good source of vitamin C and potassium
and high in fibre too. My only slight
reservation about them is that they're
really very sugary. Let's get this in
perspective though: compared to biscuits
and cakes they are way ahead in the
nutritional stakes. Toyah might benefit,
however, from swapping some dried fruit
for fresh.
Fresh
spinach soup - I agree with
Toyah; fresh soups are a good way of
getting relatively nutritious food into
the system with minimum effort. Soups
have another boon in that they're
relatively easy to digest, making them a
good option for a quick lunch or late
evening meal. Spinach soup is as good as
any and is likely to be rich in several
important nutrients including lutein
(which appears to reduce the risk of
cataracts forming in the lens of the
eye), folic acid and magnesium.
Sunflower
seeds - In their raw (unroasted) state,
sunflower seeds make a healthy snack food
or addition to cereals and salad. They
are rich in healthy fats known as
essential fatty acids that are important,
among other things, for maintaining the
health of the heart and circulation.
Sunflower seeds are also a good source of
the mineral zinc, which plays a part in a
multitude of body processes including
fertility and immunity. Big tick for
sunflower seeds.
Organic
carrots - You don't need me to tell you
that carrots are a healthy food. But,
just for the record, they are high in
fibre and particularly rich in the
anti-oxidant beta-carotene which appears
to help protect us from major killers
such as heart disease and cancer. Over
the last few years conventionally grown
carrots have often been found to be laced
with pesticide residues. Bearing this in
mind, Toyah's tendency to go for an
organic variety makes good sense.
Green
& Black chocolate - Everyone should
have a bit of treat now and again if they
want to. A little bit of what you fancy
and all that. Actually, I think this
particular brand of chocolate isn't too
unhealthy. It's organic for a start, and
being mainly made out of cocoa solids is
actually quite low in sugar. Go on Toyah,
treat yourself.
Imedeen
(skin supplement) - Imedeen's main
ingredients are proteins and substances
known as 'glycoaminoglycans', both
derived from fish. These fishy extracts
are believed to feed the deeper layers of
the skin, thereby helping to keep it
plump and wrinkle-free. Actually, there
is some experimental evidence that
Imedeen does improve the condition of the
skin in time. Bearing in mind she takes
Revi-Face too, Toyah does seem to be
taking a belt and braces approach to
protecting her skin from the ravages of
time.
Interview by Chloe
Diski
|
Oh dear!! At the weekend while
going through my old cupboard at home I
found a bundle of Toyah drawings I
'created' when I was a teenager. I think
at the time I intended to send them to be
included in the 'Intergalactic Ranchouse'
Newsletter's fan art section but,
luckily, for some reason I didn't.
Possibly because I couldn't afford to buy
a Star Bar and a stamp, and back
then my stomach always came first, yep
before even Toyah!!
Toyah continues to be mentioned
here, there and everywhere because of her
association with, and participation in,
April's forthcoming 'Here And Now' arena
tour. Martin Fry of ABC, also appearing
on the tour, was a guest on Open House
on channel 5 this week. While talking to
Martin about 'Here And Now' host Gloria
Hunniford gave Toyah a big mention. 
Toyah is featured in the
recently released book 'The Art Of Dexter
Brown' by Robert Edwards & Toyah
Willcox (first mentioned on Dreamscape in
August 2001). Dexter Brown is famous for
painting and drawing racing cars but he
also created some beautiful Toyah art in
the early 80's. The picture used on the
sleeve of Toyah's 1980 live album 'Toyah!
Toyah! Toyah!' is a Dexter composition
and there is also two of his works
included in 'The Changeling' songbook
from 1982. Toyah contributes the
introduction to the new book and also
included is some of Dexter's excellent
Toyah artwork. The book is available to
buy online from 
A recent interview with Toyah,
who presented the 'Six Of The Best'
Awards on Anglia TV.
The Furter
Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes is now
available to buy on audio cassette. Toyah
plays Gloria Wilson in the story 'The
Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria
Wilson', one of five stories in the
series. The series is due to be broadcast
on BBC Radio Four sometime soon (Feb or
March) and was recorded in October 2001. 
Yet another interesting online
Toyah item. I'm not sure how long this
has been hanging around at the BBC
Education website but I only discovered
it a few days ago. 
Toyah has
confirmed that she will open on 2nd of
September 2002 in Northampton in Calamity
Jane, the story of the 'mad, bad and
dangerous to know' cowgirl, made famous
many years ago by Doris Day. 
Sabine Bode,
longtime Toyah fan from Germany, has
emailed me asking if I could mention
something about a Toyah Fan Meet to
coincide with April's 'Here And Now'
Tour. Sabine is planning on going to
Wembley or Brighton so if anyone going to
either of these dates would like to meet
up, you can contact Sabine via her email
address: Sabine.Bode@t-online.de