The 1-second Aisle Hack to help your Metabolism

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 Anne. I think one of the ways she acquired power was through that relationship with the president. 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 the Unprocessed Truth. If you're tired of scrolling through perfectly packaged advice and unproven diet claims, well, you've come to the right place. We're officially done with the noise. We're cutting through the marketing myths, the health halos, and the wellness scams to talk about what actually works for real life. And today we are talking about the darker your produce, the bigger the payoff for your health. This is a one second I'll trick for your metabolic health that anyone can do on a budget. No pricey powders, no complex health plans, no calorie counting, just a simple color change in your trolley each week can make a huge impact on your health.

1:49You've heard the phrase, eat the rainbow. Great, but a bit too vague. What does it really mean? You know, just eat a wide range of fruits and veggies. Most of us don't. But one simple sharper trick is that darker often means denser from a health perspective. And by denser, I mean more nutrient dense, more polyphenols, more anthocyanins, more flavanols, plus minerals and fiber that are going to help your health. These aren't magic. This is just compounds that we know support insulin sensitivity, help calm chronic inflammation, aid the gut microbiome, can improve how our blood vessels respond to stress.

2:35This dark pigment in fruits and veggies is the plant's armor. When we eat them, that sort of defense becomes ours, right? It's all these good things that we consume and eat. and typically you don't even have to do something new. You can just make simple swaps that take you from one end of the spectrum to the other whilst doing exactly what you normally do within your normal family or daily life. Simply put, the two practical takeaways are one, from within the same family, always choose the darker variety. So onions to red onions, really simple swap, doesn't affect your meal, improves your health and gives you more polyphenols.

3:19Rule number two, eat the peel and the outer leaves if you can when they're edible because this is where the polyphenols and the pigments and the health benefits of the fruit and vegetable tend to become concentrated. Let's break it down a little bit. Let's make this real. Here are some simple ideas to drive your basket choices to the darker side of fruit and vegetable for your health. So for apples, as an example, rule number one, always eat the whole apple. Don't peel them because you're losing a lot of the goodness, but always choose the darker apple. You're actually better off with a dark, rich red apple for more polyphenol content.

3:59You can use it in anything, in your breakfast, as a snack, whatever you want. Really simple. Onions, I already said, always pick red onions for the extra pigments. That way you're going to get more in there. And obviously you just put onions in any cooking and it creates this wonderful magical flavor. Something as simple as broccoli. You can always choose purple sprouting broccoli over standard green. Sure, it tends to be a little bit more expensive, but you are getting more polyphenols for that. now cabbage this is one of the cheapest foods in the supermarket that not enough of us are buying it's about 60 to 80p for a cabbage and they're big and they're dense and they're full of good fiber and they can be a great addition to many meals but most people don't know how to use them so i love to just make a red cabbage slow cooked in the oven get those flavors going add a bit of wine in there, make it a really nice, delicious side for any meal.

5:02Or you can obviously ferment the cabbages, make them into pickles, or just boil them simply and add butter. It doesn't really matter. But the key is always choose red cabbage over the green because you're getting more of those polyphenols. You can even make it into a nice coleslaw, get the red cabbage in there, and away you go. Potatoes, you can even do this trick in potatoes. So purple or red skin potatoes are another way to get more in there as well. Pro tip on the potatoes, if you boil them and then let them cool and reheat them for your meal, that cooling process creates resistant starch, which is then gentler on your blood sugar if you're worried about too many carbs.

5:44Same thing here applies to rice. Black or red rice or wild rice, as sometimes you see it, you know, those black little grains, more polyphenols than typical white or brown rice. Leafy greens, the darker, the better. We're talking your spinach, kales, rockets, watercress. They always have more nutrients than a typical pale lettuce. Berries and grapes, obviously, they're always really dark and full of healthy stuff. And you know I bang on about them being on your yogurt every day. But aubergine is a really good one as well. Dark polyphenol concentration in the skin, which you can add into your diet really easily.

6:26Aubergine is so versatile. You can put it absolutely anywhere. Now, don't forget the beans and pulses, right? Black beans, kidney beans, lentils. These are all dark and have those polyphenols and antioxidants in there as well that you want. And beans can go in absolutely everything. And then, of course, nuts and seeds. You can get black sesame seeds. You can get walnuts, which have darker skins. Almonds are still great. You can add them onto anything. you can have them as a snack, right? None of this is an all or nothing rule. It's just simply about making the right choices and knowing where to get the most nutrient for your money in the supermarket.

7:08So don't stress, normal broccoli is still healthy, right? But if you can grab the purple, you're going to get that extra polyphenol boost. The more you eat those dark vegetables, the healthier you will be. So let's break down what this actually means from a metabolic health and inflammation point of view, right, in the simple version. Polyphenols and fiber, they slow glucose spikes, they feed beneficial gut bacteria, and they support the gut barrier and less inflammation overall in your body. Really, really good. Those different pigments and different colors from mixing dark reds and purples and deep greens gives a broader coverage of different polyphenols.

7:51There's so many different kinds of polyphenols. So getting a diverse range is good, but the darker, the better. And then making this a more complete meal, if you want to really optimize your health, it's got nothing to do with the color, but polyphenols are insanely high in olive oil if you get a really good extra virgin olive oil. So if you get those veggies and lather them in olive oil, maybe a bit of salt for taste, you are helping those fat soluble compounds be absorbed in your body. Some of the vitamins and minerals in there absorb better when they're combined with fat. But at the same time, you're getting extra polyphenols added to that dish and extra, you know, healthy fats, which helps your appetite and your energy.

8:39So, you know, if you think about vegetables on their own, they're typically predominantly carbohydrate. So actually you need good fats and proteins added to your meal with vegetables to make it a more all round meal. So adding olive oil onto your vegetables is a great way to do that. And then in terms of making this super affordable, right? Red cabbage, as I already said, is the most affordable fruit or veg in the supermarket in this case but frozen is your friend don't forget about frozen frozen is super affordable anywhere from 20 to 50 percent cheaper frozen fruit and veg than it is in the fresh aisle and it locks in the nutrients because they freeze it at point of harvest at peak ripeness and then it doesn't lose any nutrition on its journey to your plate.

9:33So really good idea to buy frozen fruits and veggies, really, really good. And then obviously seasonal as well is a really important point. If you can make the fruits and veggies seasonal, you're going to have more nutrition in there because there's less food miles on them. They might have come two miles down the road in Kent or you've got them from your local farm shop rather than being flown in from South America or somewhere like that. So really, really important to think about these things and ensure you're using them creatively so that you can get them in as much as you want. So I'll get onto a little seven day plan around how you can incorporate this into your meals.

10:14But it's just a few other couple of cooking points I want to touch on to optimize your nutrient content when you are consuming these darker purple vegetables. So number one, gentle always, always beats brutal. So steaming, light roasting, or a quick saute in the pan preserves the polyphenols far better than if you boil them for a long time. So be careful on overcooking your veggies and make sure you gently cook them to keep the nutrients in. acid also helps protect the color and the polyphenols so a splash of lemon or vinegar can stabilize those pigments and brighten the green so a good idea to add some vinegar to your vegetables or lemon juice if you prefer and then fat as i already said extra virgin olive oil really improves those absorption rates and keeps you fuller so a really good way to go and then from a peeling perspective.

11:14Now peeling is just dumb in my opinion. Obviously if the peel is not edible you have to peel it right. But if you can leave the peel on you're getting more nutrients more bang for your buck and it's a win-win-win on apples, potatoes, carrots, aubergines. Always leave the peel on. Now so on to that little plan right. This is about how many dark fruits and veg can you get into your day, right? And it can be easily done. So let's break it down. Breakfast, we know I'm a Greek yogurt guy. And on my breakfast, I always try and add some dark berries, either frozen or fresh, depending on the season. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, doesn't matter.

11:55Raspberries, I love them all. Add them to your Greek yogurt or your porridge in the morning. Or if you do eat cereal, add them to your cereal because you're just adding nutrients into your diet. Really important. Now for lunchtime, I'm often eggs on toast and cheese and scrambled eggs or avocado, something like that. But if you've made that dark slaw with the red cabbage, with red cabbage, red onion, carrot, and you're adding that into your sandwich, that's adding the polyphenols in there. Or you could make even a grain bowl with black rice and then roasted veg and beans and you could create that colourful polyphenol rich lunch at home if you're working from home.

12:38Really good idea. Dinner time, I'm all about the simple meals at the moment. It's busy in my life so I haven't got loads of time to cook but then we're talking a tray bake. Chicken thighs, red onions, carrots but then purple sprout and broccoli, aubergine added in. You can just make sure you buy those veg. You can even add cabbage into them. Cabbage will cook in the oven very well. It just takes a bit longer. So really, really good ways to just add more things into dinner. And obviously in snacks, you can have an apple as a snack. Some people like pickled red onions in a jar, right? You can add that to any meal throughout the day.

13:15So the simple premises here about just think about where you can add those dark colors in and be biased towards darker fruits and veggies and beans, and you will be getting more nutrition for your money. So really, really good way to do it. Really simple. And it's really, really easy once you know that purple and darker fruits and veg have more nutrition and polyphenols in them. So it's all about buying as much as you can from whole food sources, real foods, and making some of these swaps so that you're just adding that nutrition in. Because the reality is three quarters of the UK aren't getting enough nutrition in their diet from some source.

14:01So we all need more nutrition in reality. And so if we break this down, the last sort of 10 second takeaway on the podcast, right? It doesn't matter if it's red, purple, blue, or a really deep green, those deeper, darker colors are going to be richer in protective plant compounds like polyphenols and antioxidants that support your metabolic health, lower inflammation, and improve your overall well-being. You know, the simple tricks are always keep the peel on if it's edible. I mean, I even eat the skin of a kiwi. Call me crazy. Lots of good fiber in there, lots of extra nutrients in there. You just got to get used to the furriness.

14:42Lean on frozen as much as you can, as much as you'd like to, because frozen is really nutritious and really affordable, really important and then just choose the red or the dark purple vegetables so purple sprouting broccoli black beans aubergine red cabbage this is the way to go these small repeatable upgrades will beat big unsustainable changes diet plans promises this is the real way to healthier life simple small upgrades and changes so try darkening your basket this week send me some pictures let me know what you're doing but the darker the fruit and vegetable is the win for your health so if you found this useful please please give the podcast a like or a comment or leave us a review it means the world the more we share the pod the more we can do more of this stuff and invest in getting you the right information for your health so thank you for listening to the unprocessed truth have a great week and choose darker when it comes to your fruits and veggies