Crossword Genius

Vocal rebuke after country's exchanging leaders for health food (5,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tiger nut

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'vocal rebuke after country's exchanging leaders' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'health food' is the wordplay.
'health' becomes 'tiger' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'food' becomes 'nut' (type of food).
'tiger'+'nut'='TIGER-NUT'

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for tiger nut that I've seen is " something to eat".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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