Don’t eat your greens? A diet taking Yemen by storm has doctors worried

Published 3 July 2026 · health

Hospitals in Yemen report increase in workload after struck off doctor encourages diabetes patients not to take insulin. Taiz, Yemen – For the past few

Hospitals in Yemen report increase in workload after struck off doctor encourages diabetes patients not to take insulin. Taiz, Yemen – For the past few months, a sharp influx in diabetes patients at Taiz’s Republican Hospital has been driven by one thing: they decided to stop taking their prescribed medication and subsequently fell seriously ill. “We stabilise them in the emergency room and immediately refer them to specialised doctors within the hospital to provide the necessary care,” Dr Hamza al-Qusais, head of the hospital’s emergency department, told Al Jazeera. He explained that the patients were followers of a controversial diet and health philosophy that has taken Yemen and much of the wider Arab world by storm: el-tayebat, the Arabic word for ‘those that are good’. The diet was popularised by Diaa el-Awadi, a former Egyptian doctor who was struck off by his country’s medical authorities and had two of his health clinics shut down in March. Egypt’s health ministry cited him as a health risk after his opinions on diet and medicine became popular online through his viral social media videos and website. El-Awadi’s notoriety grew when two months later, after his media appearances were banned in Egypt, he died in the United Arab Emirates of a heart attack, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry. The news led to the spread of conspiracies – even as Egyptian authorities emphasised that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death – and that has only led to an increase in his popularity – and the number of sick diabetes patients arriving at the hospital in Taiz. Murad al-Adimi, a 67-year-old construction labourer who has battled diabetes for more than 15 years, is one of them. He used to take his medication daily until a friend recommended he take a look at el-Awadi and his diet. The former doctor said that diabetes patients didn’t need to take insulin, or their pills, contradicting medical advice. Instead, diabetes sufferers could simply go on his highly -restrictive diet, avoiding foods such as salad greens, citrus fruits, eggs and legumes, and they would eventually be cured.

Murad liked the idea. “The medicine is expensive, and I was thrilled to hear that simply avoiding certain foods would allow me to stop buying it,” he told Al Jazeera. One day without his medication quickly turned into 10. Murad felt fine. Overjoyed, he started telling his friends. Then he fainted. ‘It was a mistake’ Murad was rushed to the Republican Hospital, where he is now recovering after being treated by doctors. Walking with difficulty, he’s frustrated. “My happiness was short-lived,” he said. “I saved money on prescriptions, but I was about to lose my life. It was a mistake not to follow my doctor’s instructions.” “My advice to all diabetes patients is never to stop your medication without consulting your doctor, or you will fall victim to rumours,” he added. But saving money, even if it is by foregoing medication, is appealing in a country that was already the poorest in the Middle East before the civil war started more than a decade ago. “Most patients who stop taking their medication are either impoverished individuals who view the diet as an economic reprieve from high prescription costs, or those who lack the health literacy to critically evaluate online claims,” Dr Sadeq Aqlan, a cardiologist at the Republican Hospital, told Al Jazeera. “It is deeply disheartening to see them arrive in such critical states, requiring urgent medical examinations and aggressive therapeutic intervention to stabilise.” “People are free to follow any diet they prefer, but patients must never discontinue prescribed medications unless explicitly approved by their doctor,” he added. Restrictive diet The popularity of el-Awadi and his methods across Yemen and the Arab world continues to frustrate medical professionals, but it perhaps stems in part from the promise of agency, frustration at living with chronic illnesses, medication side effects and impersonal healthcare. Industrial food practices have also led to a worldwide weakening of trust in the groceries people buy. But social media in particular has allowed for unverified medical advice to spread – and the dangers are becoming evident. El-Awadi’s contestation that insulin is “poison” is an example of that.