Which doctors have criticised the Tayyebat Diet?

Dr. Waleed Shawqy, who calls it potentially fatal and has demanded an official investigation; Dr. Ahmad Abdul Malak, who flags the contradictory allowed list and the dangerous "pharma mafia" rhetoric; and cardiologist Dr. Jamal Shaaban, who warns that its tolerance of smoking and white sugar threatens the heart.

Has the Tayyebat Diet been scientifically studied?

No. It has never gone through a controlled clinical trial or peer-reviewed study, and the results people report are personal anecdotes, not scientific evidence.

Should I stop my medication if I follow the Tayyebat Diet?

Never. Do not stop or adjust any prescribed medication because of a diet; doing so without medical supervision can be life-threatening. Your doctor's instructions always come first.

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Tayyebat Diet Criticism: What Doctors Say Against the Awady Diet

Q: Is the Awady diet safe?

There is no peer-reviewed research proving it safe or effective, and critics warn that cutting eggs, dairy, legumes, and poultry all at once risks nutrient deficiencies — especially for children, pregnant women, and people with chronic conditions. Discuss it with your doctor before trying it.

⏱ 7 min read · 2026-07-03

Since the Tayyebat Diet of the late Egyptian physician Dr. Diaa Al-Awadi swept across the Arab world, opinion has split into two camps: devoted followers who call it liberating, and doctors sounding the alarm. This page gathers every major line of Tayyebat diet criticism in one place — no sugar-coating, no scaremongering — so you can answer the question people keep typing into search bars: is the Awady diet safe?

One note before we dive in: if you are new to the system itself, start with What is the Tayyebat Diet? or browse the full guide, then come back here for the other side of the story.

Is the Awady Diet Safe? Six Concerns Doctors Keep Raising

Before we get to the named critics, six core objections come up almost every time medical professionals discuss the system:

1) Cutting eggs, dairy, and legumes invites nutrient deficiencies

Most nutrition specialists rank eggs, lentils, and dairy among the most complete — and cheapest — sources of protein, vitamin B12, iron, and calcium. Removing all of them at once, with no individual medical reason, can open the door to genuine deficiencies, and the stakes are highest for children, pregnant women, and the elderly. The system, by contrast, classes them as "khabaith" (harmful foods); you can review the full list in Allowed and Forbidden Foods.

2) There is no peer-reviewed evidence

To date, the system has never been put through a controlled clinical trial. Without randomised, controlled studies, nobody can say with scientific confidence that the improvements followers describe come from the diet itself — rather than from dropping ultra-processed foods, the placebo effect, or other lifestyle changes made at the same time.

3) "Drink only when thirsty" contradicts the medical consensus

One of the system's rules is to skip daily water targets and drink only when thirst strikes. That advice collides head-on with guidance from the WHO and major medical bodies, which link consistent daily hydration to kidney health, blood pressure regulation, and cell function. The clash matters most for physically active people and anyone living in a hot climate — which describes a large share of the diet's Arab audience.

4) Banning chicken and shrimp has no basis in nutrition science

Global dietary guidelines place chicken, turkey, and shrimp among the best lean, high-quality protein sources available. Critics find nothing in mainstream research to justify their exclusion, and argue the ban narrows meal variety and raises food costs for families with no clear health payoff.

5) Raw vegetables are among the most beneficial foods known

Decades of epidemiological research tie higher vegetable intake — cucumbers, leafy greens, and raw carrots included — to lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and metabolic disorders, thanks to their fibre, antioxidants, and vitamins. The system's sweeping restrictions on raw vegetables run against that entire body of evidence.

6) The biggest danger: self-diagnosis and abandoned treatment

What worries doctors most is any diet being framed as a cure for chronic disease, because some patients respond by delaying or dropping their prescribed treatment. The risk is most serious for people with diabetes, autoimmune conditions, or digestive diseases — all of which need ongoing clinical monitoring that no eating plan can replace.

Awady Diet Dangers by Name: Three Doctors Who Went Public

The points above are general. Three physicians, however, have criticised the system openly, on camera, and by name:

Dr. Waleed Shawqy: "The Tayyebat Diet kills"

The loudest voice belongs to Egyptian physician Dr. Waleed Shawqy, who has stated publicly, more than once, that the diet is dangerous and could even be fatal. His case: stripping out eggs, dairy, legumes, raw vegetables, and poultry all at the same time can produce severe nutritional deficiencies and weaken immunity — and the danger multiplies for chronically ill patients who use the diet as a substitute for treatment. He has also called on health authorities to investigate how widely the system is promoted.

His alternative is personalisation instead of blanket bans: each person should work out — ideally with their doctor — which specific foods disagree with their own body, and cut only those. If milk troubles you, drop milk; if gluten harms you, avoid gluten. But denying entire food groups to everyone because some people are intolerant of them is, in his view, forcing the same template onto everyone, when a sound diet should be tailored to the individual.

Dr. Ahmad Abdul Malak: a contradictory list and a dangerous narrative

At the calmer end sits Dr. Ahmad Abdul Malak, a Kuwaiti family physician (@drdiverq8) who acknowledges the importance of nutrition and delivers his critique respectfully — yet lands two heavy blows:

A contradictory allowed list: how can a system permit canned juice, Nutella, and processed cheese — all industrially processed — while banning eggs, dairy, and vegetables, some of the most nutritious foods in existence?
The "pharma mafia" framing: painting drug companies as a mafia profiting from illness, he argues, effectively nudges people off their medications — a narrative he considers extremely dangerous. Food and medicine complement each other, and anyone promoting food-only fixes without sending followers to a doctor when needed is misleading them.

Dr. Jamal Shaaban: two gaps the heart cannot afford

Cardiologist and TV presenter Dr. Jamal Shaaban criticises the system from his own specialty — the heart and blood vessels — and flags two gaps he finds indefensible:

Tolerance of smoking: in his view, the system's leniency towards smoking contradicts every piece of modern evidence. Smoking is a leading cause of heart disease and arterial clots, and no food — however "pure" — undoes that damage.
Allowing white sugar: permitting large amounts of it damages the lining of blood vessels, especially the coronary and cerebral arteries, sharply raising the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The Egyptian Medical Syndicate Steps In

The dispute has not stayed confined to videos and posts: the Egyptian Medical Syndicate has taken legal action over some of the system's recommendations. Whatever those proceedings ultimately produce, an official medical body stepping in confirms that the controversy reflects genuine concern inside the medical profession, not just social-media noise — and it is a part of the story anyone considering the diet deserves to know.

What Does the System Say in Its Defence?

In fairness, the diet's advocates do not present its bans as arbitrary. They attribute post-meal symptoms to an exaggerated histamine response by the body, and build an entire theory on top of that idea — we unpack it in How the Tayyebat Diet Works. But it bears repeating: that explanation has never been tested in controlled studies, and it remains a view attributed to Dr. Diaa Al-Awadi, not settled medical fact.

The Bottom Line: You Decide — With Your Doctor

We neither endorse the system as a treatment nor attack it for sport; we lay out its content and its criticisms side by side so readers leave with an informed decision. If you are healthy and still curious, read how to start gradually first and talk it through with your doctor. If you live with a chronic condition, change nothing about your diet — and absolutely nothing about your medication — before consulting the physician who manages your care.

And after all this heavy debate, if you fancy a lighter moment: upload a photo of your plate to the Dr. Awady food judge and see whether it passes the "tayyebat" test.