LIVE Q&A: We Answer YOUR Top Wellness Questions

0:00Welcome to Catching Up With The Royals, a brand new show with me Richard Coles. And me, Emily Andrews. Every week we'll be going beyond the headlines, lifting the lid, and what life is really like behind the palace walls. Hello, sir. Good morning. I'm the Sun's new royal correspondent. Oh, he said, look at me up and down. Things are looking up. We'll be diving into the moments everyone's talking about. What does the world owe you if all of a sudden you've handed back your crown? Meghan and Harry can't keep hold of their staff. We'll reveal the secrets of an organisation usually shrouded in mystery and explore defining moments of royal history to see how the past still shapes the monarchy today.

0:38Now, you actually knew Princess Diana. I think one of the ways she acquired power was through that relationship with the present. But before that interview, no-one had really spoken and been so open. Was that a game-changer? So join us every week wherever you get your podcasts, on YouTube and on Saturdays on 5 as we catch up with the royals.

1:02Welcome back to this week's special episode of The Unprocessed Truth, where we're doing an amazing live episode with three amazing guests all at once, so we can get to the truth of what's really going on in the wellness industry and how you can stop being scammed by all the hype and the claims and the trends that just aren't true, so you can focus on real health and wellness. This episode is recorded on location in Shoreditch, so the audio quality may be a little bit noisy with a few chatters and bangs in the background, but please forgive us and we hope you enjoy listening.

1:39The part of the beauty of these events is getting you guys to join in and ask some questions. Be nice. Be nasty. Ask the real difficult questions and the truth so we can get some real answers that you might not get on social media. So we'll open it up to the floor and, yeah, fire away. So I know you touched upon how we're over-consuming salt and that's how it's one of the big problems in our diets nowadays. But at the same time, I noticed this big boom of electrolytes, which basically is salt. So I just wanted to hear your take on it. So, yeah, electrolytes, they are a new trendy thing. And I'm a girl that likes to take them from time to time.

2:19And let me tell you why. So, yeah, you're absolutely right in terms of we're all going to probably die from salt. And women, we are more likely to die of heart disease and cardiovascular disease. But do you ever see us dying of a heart attack on TV or movies? Never. It's always the man. So, yeah, it's probably going to be the thing that kills us off. So we should probably figure out whether or not salt and adding some electrolytes is going to get us there faster. But I'm pleased to say it probably won't. So when it comes to hydration, there is, you know, we are made up majority of the time of water, but there is no such thing as plain water inside our bodies.

2:53It's actually made up of things like salts and electrolytes, potassium, those kinds of things. And they help us absorb water. Now, they can be really helpful at certain times. You know, if you're in your active girl era and like, you know, sweating loads and all of these things. Also, when you're exercising around ovulation and things like that, we can typically lose more sweat during that time. But do you need to be taking electrolytes every single day absolutely not and some of them on the market are so high in salt it's alarming um so yeah long haul flights they can be helpful and i guess from time to time maybe after a heavy night um and things like that just to replenish what was lost you know you get electrolytes from your food if you know i call them like salty families you know how like some families just add salt almost immediately to their plate and other people are like i'm a salty family like we always have salt on our you know and I cook with salt and those kind of things so if you're doing that you absolutely don't need to be taking electrolytes every single day.

3:54Great answer next question. Just in reference to the salt do you not think there's a difference in terms of table salts and other obviously Celtic salts and Himalayan pink sea salt? I know that the Himalayan salts and it's like it's got more of these minerals and things but like you would be having to like chug salt to be getting that difference like from a little sprinkle here and there like i think the pink himalayan salt looks so cute though so if you want to do that honey you do that but um that is not going to move the needle in terms of your health can i add to that um i was going to add um another time when you do need electrolytes tell me when you have food poisoning oh yeah you have diarrhea you know diarylite yeah i'll do um it's a great question i think if people like the taste of the pink himalayan and then use less great because you'll be getting less sodium.

4:39But I just want to liken it to the whole sugar. So like if you get it from manukahony or date syrup, like cane sugar, organic cane sugar, sugar is sugar. And if you are getting your micronutrients from salt or sugar, then you've got like a major problem with your diet. So it's like it's the worried well, isn't it? But yeah, if cooking with coconut sugar makes you feel good, do. But it's the health halo effect, I would say. hi um this actually isn't for me because i have the luxury of working from home but i always think people who might have a really bad relationship with food might be ones who are commuting or working from an office and we're talking here at whole food and i do think the worry or the hard part is is when you're commuting and we talk about also like eat before two hours before bed and all this stuff and i think for the person who's got a really testing job and who gets in late and is kind of eating on the go but that person do you guys have advice for for them i think look time is a constraint and it's difficult and i've worked in the city and it's hard and i when i worked in banking i would basically eat out every day because i could and i had no idea what they were putting in my food but i guess the encouraging thing i see is more and more we demand less ultra processed foods more better foods and you've got brands like farmer j opening up real food shops where you can get meat and vegetables for lunch.

6:03Fantastic, right? Tesco, we were in there today and they've launched grain bowls, which is just vegetables, salad, grains, and a bit of meat. And they're cutting it out. M &S are doing a great job. They've launched loads of actual quick takeaway foods. You can get a piece of rye bread with avocado, peas, and salmon. And you can just buy that in M &S now and eat it in five minutes. So more and more, the more we demand, the better we're going to get fast choices because we do need them sometimes just to echo the whole um you know like that mns i think i can't remember what their glp1 range is called nutrient dense nutrient dense um same things have got small and mighty so working bariatric surgery with glp1s obviously i think it's great you're getting a really nourishing like mini meal and then you know if you're a normal person and you could just add some sides if people are having meal deals i mean the number one thing would be to prepare a healthy lunch you know on the morning bring it in or the night before but if you're having a meal deal nine times out of ten the main is always going to be ultra processed first of all you can make a more nourishing UPF choice you can go for whole grain bread or falafel or chicken with salad second of all you can make the sides and the drink non-ultra processed drinks are a major source of our ultra processed calories so you can can you go for water and fruit you're not telling them to prep a healthy lunch the night before you're just saying look just choose wiser sides and then on the nights that people have got a little bit more time, cook in bulk, cook once, eat twice, can they whack it in the fridge or freezer and it's just about taking these baby steps, you know if they're making a bolognese can they add a tin of kidney beans to make it go a little bit further, can they reheat leftovers in work the next day, so again it's just about meeting people where they are but yeah I am a fan of these ranges, so there are healthy foods but they often do come at a price point but that's where cooking at home and taking it in maybe even just once or twice a week once you've done it once or twice it's then easier to have it stack and to do it more often i think choosing where you get your sources of information from is key now because it's coming at you from all angles on digital so i would just be like because you mentioned oh should you eat two hours before bed and this and that just be careful who you're following because you can very easily be misfed the wrong information and start overthinking it in your head and develop a really unhealthy relationship with food and then i've done shift work in the past I've got friends that work in A &E and stuff and they're like it's just a load of bollocks I'm working 14 hours keep people alive I've got to eat in the night I can't be doing intermittent fasting so I think you have to think about your lifestyle and you can't put too much pressure on yourself to um to follow every single rule you've read on on the internet so yeah you've just got to be careful where you get your info there's just far too many and you've got the Brian Johnsons of the world who are all about living to 100 or what he wants 200 now I think he's a bit addicted to it but that's not health that's not wellness it's supplements it's 200 grand a year he spends on health treatments it's like crazy it's too extreme and he's probably so obsessed with it that he's ruining 100 % bad mental health to me it's not science well I mean he's trying to be so I know he's saying like I'm giving my body to science but I'm like I can't figure out what's working because you're doing everything so there are so many confounding factors so I'm like I don't know just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks at this point so I can't weave out what's actually having a longevity effect.

9:20Hi Emily. Amazing panel guys absolutely loving it. I have a question on these wellness trends so you know we have the electrolytes we have the protein high protein this we have probiotics prebiotics all the rest of it what I would really love to know from all of you is what is the wellness non-trend something that is longevity that's going to stay with us that should always be with us when we think about health and nutrition not a trend it's going to be here now and in the next 10 years what is that i think gut health is here to stay but the one i'm going to say because i want to put it on the radar of all the women in the audience is creatine because this has been something that has just remained as like just for men for bodybuilding if we think about pregnancy i mean is that not the definition of body building and there's like emerging evidence now like in animals obviously this is not for women to start taking creatine but actually for a woman throughout her life in terms of when you're premenstrual perimenopause and postmenopause there is incredible research coming out on creatine it's one of the most research supplements that we have if not the most research supplement and for women you know we have this fear of like oh we need to it's going to make us bulky and then we lose our hair and all these things and I'm like no it won't um and it is incredible for all the fast energetics in your body from gut health to brain health to bone health and we see that particularly for women during perimenopause and postmenopause you know bone density cardiovascular disease um really really um at risk of that and creatine in high amounts is now emerging as it could be the the helping hand that we need as women through the course of our lives um but if anyone is pregnant please don't start taking creatine that is like really in its infancy there i don't know if i should pick vitamin d or fiber both vitamin d um so i mean fiber yeah the research shows 96 of us are not eating enough fiber um i think the average intake is around 18 to 20 grams so the fiber message is definitely here to stay and like emily said we're only at the infancy on the power of the gut if you if you look after your gut it will look after you you know it what we know is that it's not just about the amount of fiber it's about different types of fiber to feed different gut microbes our gut microbes produce short-chain fatty acids which go all around the body and do amazing things so i think that research is going is emerging i suppose the gut health fiber message is going through and just the vitamin d i still don't think we shout about it enough everybody in this room right now should be taking a minimum of 10 mcg 10 micrograms also written as ug a day in the winter months most people actually should take it all year round dark skin if you work inside a lot you know if you live up north like me you never see the sunlight ever and even in clinic we do bloods if people have got body mass index above 30 nine times out of 10 they are low in vitamin d and vitamin d is so essential for many functions but for our immune system as well and and mood so i think the vitamin d i've got maybe hopefully predicting a trend yeah so just take your vitamin d well it's not cool is it it's not rice and mushroom no but look at the end of the day vitamin d is so fundamental chris what's yours um i think it's like eating whole foods and you don't have to be one of these that eat everything off a bloody wooden chopping board and uh which you see on social media but if you think back to like probably how my grandparents say it was just whole foods and they're still on the go and they're feeling good it's like there's a there's a generation of people that have never jumped on any of these trends of supplements and that because the supplement is to supplement a diet, you're back for whatever, other whole foods.

12:57So I think that trend will be here to stay because providing we're still growing fruit and vegetable in this country, eat seasonally, eat the whole stuff. When it built the British railway, meat and two veg, come on. Like we used to be good at shit and make stuff, but what's happened to us? But we can bring it back. Like real food is the way to go. Just to add to that, I would probably say sleep. Most of us just sacrifice our sleep, sit on our phones all the time and I know if I don't sleep I'm game over like I've been up since half seven this morning and been here all day talking to people filming all day I've still got energy I feel good but I make sure last night I was like guys I'm going home I was in bed by 9 30 because if I don't it's game over I can't function without proper sleep and that is just so fundamental it's free and this thing tells me it's also about consistency right like it's not oh tonight I'm going to bed at 9 30 tomorrow it's 10 30 the next day it's 11 30 you've got to be consistent because even if you're getting the seven hours and you're not consistent it fucks your circadian rhythm so sleep consistency will never go away and it's free for everyone I wanted to ask a question about probiotics I kind of have two parts to the question firstly I eat a really healthy diet I cook all my meals and I include some fermented foods but should Should someone that's eating healthily still supplement?

14:20And which is better, a tablet or liquid? Because certain brands both say that they've done studies and it's all very confusing, even for someone that knows, thinks they know what they're talking about. Yeah, look, my first like sweeping statement is if you don't know why you're taking a supplement, stop taking it. So vitamin D, you now know why you're going to take it. So this is now going to talk from a gut health lens with probiotics, fermented foods, probiotics. It's the Wild West out there. I get it. I worked in the probiotic industry for just over five years and it is heavily regulated. So my first thing I would say is if any supplement company is giving a health claim to their probiotic, they do not have a health claim.

15:06When it comes to choosing a probiotic, not all probiotics work in the same way. We're going back to football. so say if you're sounds like you're doing quite good I don't I'm not going to ask you about your bowel habits because that might be quite embarrassing but it sounds like you're doing all right but you're thinking okay do I need to bring in Messi or Ronaldo do I need an upfront player so what you would expect to happen is that you take that probiotic and it does what it's paid to do stick it in the back of the net hello health benefit from that probiotic but sometimes because our gut microbes and our gut microbiome is completely unique to us that means you taking a probiotic and me taking a probiotic, we might have totally different responses because sometimes a player comes into the side and they just don't mesh well, right?

15:47Like communication isn't there. The same thing with your gut microbes. They're not, it doesn't matter who's there. They're all competing for the same space and nutrients. So you'll take that probiotic and you might not see a benefit. So it is a bit of a guessing game. My first thing I would say is look for live bacteria, look for clinical evidence on the exact product that you are buying none of this science washing crap where they're just putting loads and loads of studies being like look this strain did that and this strain did that that doesn't matter actually it's actually that kind of thing is really misleading and it's something that is so frustrating because all of that bacteria now in that final product might not be working together if they have not tested that final product red flag and I know we like to ignore those but don't ignore this one okay so like make sure that you are looking for actual clinical studies done on the product that you're buying when it comes to probiotics this whole liquid capsule thing I mean it's all quite in my opinion airy-fairy as long as you're getting the clinical evidence also it doesn't matter if it's multi-strain or single strain for things like IBS we actually see single strain probiotics turn out better when it comes to probiotics you need to ask yourself why are you taking it and look for a probiotic that has clinical evidence for the health effect that you are looking for and you need to give it three months this is not like paracetamol and one and done you know the next day you're like oh my bowel movements are great it takes time for that bacteria to graft for you to start seeing the effect so unfortunately i would say if you are having a gut health issue speak to a dietitian or relevant healthcare professional that can guide you on probiotics because it should be and is heavily regulated whereby you shouldn't actually have access to a lot of these clinical studies because it should be safeguarded basically to healthcare professionals because even the term probiotic is not legally allowed in the UK and you see you type it into Google every single supplement company is using it but legally that is not allowed whereas you'll see the yogurt drinks on the supermarket because that is tightly regulated your Danans your Yakult things like that they are defined as probiotics, but legally they cannot use that on their product.

17:59So I'm sorry, I haven't answered this, but hopefully it helps you see how difficult this space is, how complicated it is. And any sweeping bold health claim when it comes to a probiotic, there isn't one. So don't fall for it. I was going to give a clear example of where, for example, I chose to use a probiotic. So I keep mentioning my son has got eczema, which is linked with food allergies. So when I was having baby two, I was like, are there any clinical studies to reduce the risk of eczema in my unborn child? And there was. So I took a clinically proven strain of probiotic. I actually sourced it from New Zealand, but it is in UK probiotics because you have to get it in the right dose.

18:40And I mean, this isn't N equals one study, but yeah, my daughter, perfect skin, no food allergies. So that's just a case by case scenario where I've got a problem and I'm going to try X. Obviously, you know, I was having a fairly healthy diet, not smoking, things like that. But yeah, just an example. I love that. But be intentional, right? Don't just get sucked into the fads and the hype. Yeah. But we've got time for one more question, guys. It's not really a question, but more like advice. Do you have any advice linked with like acne and your gut? So I've struggled with acne a lot for many years and I thought it was all down to like hormones and I went to get like my bloods done at the doctors and I came all back clear my thyroid was fine and he was like to me why don't you try maybe like a pre or probiotic and I was a bit skeptical because there's so many so at the moment I'm currently the only thing I'm kind of taking is kefir because I know like it's fermented and it's good for you but not really a question but just advice because I know like acne especially where I have it around the jawline can be linked to your gut?

19:47So yeah there is such thing as a gut skin axis and so this is really driven by your immune system so a lot of skin conditions like acne but also psoriasis, eczema, even premature skin aging are inflammatory in nature and what happens is in your gut 70 % of your immune cells live and there they are constantly communicating with your gut bacteria and it's actually your gut bacteria that train your immune system from birth. Now when it comes to inflammation we do see that sort of a gut dysbiosis whereby there's a tipping of the scales towards more bad bacteria, those that can be kind of pro-inflammatory, tips the scales compared to those good bacteria and just kind of like neutral bacteria.

20:29So when it comes to kind of skin health, I do always kind of say start with the gut to start controlling some of that inflammation. So you've got that kind of like anti-inflammatory diet, but really prioritising those kind of like whole plant foods. Interestingly, the other thing is dairy often gets a bad rep when it comes to skin. And actually, there is some observational evidence, which isn't, you know, the best gold standard, but it's what we have to rely on a lot of times in nutrition science. And it shows that individuals that do have a lot of dairy, but specifically skinned milk, as opposed to kind of whole milk, we do see that there is this relationship to increased risk of acne.

21:08now interestingly that relationship completely disappears when it is fermented milk so things like your kefirs your yogurts and everyone's favorite cheese so we can all go hell for leather on that but yeah if you take that approach you might see benefits there is this gut skin axis and you know your skin has its own microbiome and there's more and more sort of um skincare brands now that are using probiotics in their skincare and things so yeah something that i actually learned about the link between dairy and acne which i found interesting is that a lot of it was done in America and I didn't realize this you might know more but the way that farmers get the milk is very different in America they use a lot of antibiotics in their cattle in England and the EU things are very tightly regulated so if for example a cow needs antibiotics there's a washout period so we don't have those antibiotics and hormones in our milk system like there is in America so when you do lots of googling you think oh crikey actually it doesn't apply to us and just the other thing with skin a whole food diet naturally crowds out for example lots of sugary foods some sugar is totally a-okay it's when people have got you know when people are living on these energy drinks at the expense of whole foods so don't be afraid of dairy or sugar it's about that balance and moderation spend a fortune on skincare beauty makeup and all this shit but actually beauty is from within guys you got it you got it's beauty from within you you got no but seriously like the the food you eat the nutrition you eat is going to affect how your skin looks and feels so you're doing the right thing eating real foods and trying to figure it out what's causing that this lady had a question she did we have to go to this lady go on quickly go on thank you so much um you started talking about it earlier um there's a lot of saturation on the market about eating healthier and I think it's really aimed at people that are larger need to lose weight this is a general question for all of you but I think there's a lot of pressure and scare tactics out there and I think we're seeing a lot of rising eating disorders in the community as someone that's actually recovered from an eating disorder myself what advice do you have to avoid seeing young girls young men getting triggered and obsessive over their food intake these days it's a really hard question to answer I mean you've probably got more clinical experience of it you're regretting asking now well no but you know I think you've just got to be kind to yourself right like we've said earlier we get so obsessed with it and say oh my god I had one cheat meal and now my whole diet's ruined it's not true you know health adds up over time I always say it's like what you're going to do consistently for the next decade will probably affect your health more than one weekend partying and drinking crap and whatever else so definitely just be kind to yourself and focus on the long term um i disagree i yeah okay um i think there should be more regulations in this space i think people should be qualified to talk a lot about um some of these topics i think that there should be bans for younger children to be on them i don't think the uk are going to do this but i really don't think it should just be sole responsibility here um the algorithm is just like you know the minute you click on it then that's it that's all you're going to see um you know skinny talk and all of this there is nothing I'm it's actually getting hot even talking about it I am just like you know I don't think you will be the only person that has struggled with disordered eating in this room there is no way in hell and I think it is a constant fight every single day once you have and I'm speaking from my own experience and so yeah I do feel really strongly that there needs to be more regulation in this space to safeguard people yeah just to echo that I think we create our own social media feed so just be careful about who you follow remember that comparison is the thief of joy and that orthorexia you know the obsession with healthy eating is is real so I think it's about checking in with yourself and seeking like Emily said professional help I'm not an eating disorders dietitian so I would never work with somebody with an eating disorder I work with people with disordered eating but there's a big difference um so it's about like even seeking help from a clinical psychologist um because we know that for example and anorexia binge eating these are mental health conditions and often because they they're portrayed as very physical we we think it's just a physical thing oh you know just eat more or just eat less it's not a case you know it's a mental health disorder which needs to be clinically managed doctor dietitian and psychologist i mean it's difficult to add to that but it's like because it's something for the mind so it's like with any problem if you notice it deal with it as soon as you can don't let it keep going and it goes the other way for guys as well like people at the gym you know they get this body dysmorphia and all that that's quite common common in men and i would just say if you had a problem like just as you catch or even have a glimpse of thinking that you might have one just go and deal with it then because it can very quickly from my own experience of friends and whatever spiral out of control i think it's also say that thing of like I just want 2026 to be like the year of the analog although like half of my career is now on social media but I just think it's like one of those times you know when you do feel like crap because you've literally just got into like this spiral and you're just like oh my god my dopamine is so low now and I don't know what to do but you don't feel like that after connecting with people and like being off your screen and you feel like I don't know you just feel like your best self when you've been with your girls don't you and it's that kind of feeling that I think we're all kind of chasing but we're like in our phones and the minute you step out and you are your full self away from all this comparison I don't know I just bring back the boredom you know very important yeah I think you're totally right but also I mean I lived in the US for a couple of years and they have a coach for everything it's insane they're so like oh yeah my psychologist oh my you know counselor like they go and get help and they talk to people and here in the UK we have a bit of a culture that like no no no I need to figure this out myself and I'll stay in my own world and try and deal with it on my own because I'm strong and whatever it's actually bollocks like we need to talk to people we need to get help when we need help so don't be scared to like go and get help and talk to someone even if it's just a friend right and then try and figure it out together because the problem halved is a problem a problem shared is a problem but listen guys that was amazing thank you so much for coming on the podcast follow the unprocessed truth thank you so much everyone in the audience for coming it was amazing to get all the questions.

27:30Thank you so much for coming.

27:35Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. It's amazing to have real people in the room and have real conversations and get to the truth of wellness. So as ever, it does help us to do more of these cool things, get amazing guests if you can just like, subscribe or follow and help promote the podcast wherever you can.