When I became pregnant with twins at the age of 33, I was advised by a midwife that if I wanted healthy, normal-weight babies I needed to gain five stone. Being a diligent and obedient sort of person, I did it, and my babies weighed 8Lb 3oz and 7Lb 2oz when they were born at 39+3 weeks gestation, but their size came at a price. To go from nine to fourteen stone in under nine months I ate not only a huge number of calories, but also a huge amount of fat…

After some feedback and discussion, I have now removed the section from the information sheet/Terms and Conditions that asks people not to talk about their consumption of cooked food at the festival. Perhaps the way I wrote it sounded a little militant, and I didn’t mean it to come across that way. If it did then I am very sorry.

That said, I would just like to say something about why it was there in the first place…

Some of you will know about this already, but some of you are completely new (welcome… we are so happy to have you here!!), and so I thought I would take a moment to explain how the Welsh Fruit Festival has come about.

I set up U-Turn Health in 2023 with a view to offering online coaching, courses, and possibly retreats relating to the low fat, high raw, plant-based (aka fruit-based raw vegan) diet for health and wellbeing.

The UK Fruitfest has been running for the last 12 years, organised by the fabulous visionary Ronnie Smith. I have been to this event six times (my first was in 2019), and in 2024 I also had the great opportunity to go to the Woodstock Fruit Festival in Florida…

Pumpkins are out!!! 🎃🎃🎃

Did you know that pumpkins are fruits?!?!?

But if you prefer your fruits more juicy, what better than making a plate of these little pumpkin cuties with your little ones?!?!? 👶👶👶

To the best of my knowledge, and I would seriously love to be proved wrong here, I am currently the only medical doctor in this country who is even attempting to follow a fruit-based raw vegan diet while working night shifts in an NHS hospital.

Sometimes I fail.

When I was younger I thought I was invincible. I thought nothing could hurt me or stop me. I thought I had a will and a shell of steel. I thought if I set my mind to something I could just do it. No chance of failure…

Meet the team! Yep, that’s your host busy dying her hair pink and eating watermelon!!

Also pictured:

Rhiannon Van Der Griffin, general manager and front of house @happyonfruit

Wendy van der Grinten, produce manager and general advisor @healthy_by_wendy

Tineke Verdonk, chef @tinekeverdonk

We still have some roles that need to be filled. Let us know if you would like to join the team…

One of the great things about fruit festivals is that you get to wear lots of silly hats…

…and then you get to post lots of pictures of yourself wearing silly hats all over social media!!