10 Minutes to Change Your Day, NHS Overhaul & Sleep Gummies

0:26Race the rudders!

0:33When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp. The secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com. Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we are your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhiannon Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be.

1:17So that's why we've created this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple, fun and personal. Oh, yes. And it's summer. Life is good. we have a really jam-packed show for you guys today and thank you so much for keeping feeding back for us we are so curious what length you want the show to be we're gearing up to do listeners questions in september so keep the feedback coming we love it exactly we've got so much planned we're going to be using the summer to get really organized and wellness scoop focus for you all for the start of september next year so ella what do we have coming up in today's show okay this is one of the things I've been most excited to talk about since we started the show why your first 10 minutes each morning might shape your whole day you guys probably get it by now but I love a morning routine juicy one the government's big new 10-year NHS plan Rhi and I have been through this in detail what does this mean for prevention obesity smoking the future of our health it's so interesting is organic food better for you again that's something you guys have been desperate to know about another supplement scandal the worrying story behind children's sleep gummies we've got an expert touching on some menopause faqs you guys have been sending in and can we have too much of a good thing how some everyday foods can act like drugs when you have too much so ella it's a jam-packed show now you've been moving house how's it going it's going well we have our keys we have the house we're ready gosh I'm excited to have a garden I am like reading gardening for dummies basically like there's no tomorrow I just can't wait to drive down and see it I just cannot wait we'll get the kids in the garden it's just going to be we're getting a Wendy house um yeah dreams are made but yes it's um feels like summer's really here it's it's just so mad these chapters of your life isn't it and I think I've spent the last 12 years hustling around London growing the business and I feel like we are entering this completely different chapter of trying to be a little calmer a bit more still I find it very difficult to sit still and I think I've definitely what was it called our non-doing five minutes of non-doing yeah I find it really hard just to be and to sit with myself and so that's my kind of big thing over the summer, but it is, it does, it feels like a new chapter.

3:45It's not about leaving work, goodness, no, I feel so kind of passionate. It's a big change. I mean, going from a city girl to country bumpkin. Yeah, country bumpkins, here we come. It felt like a really concerted thing, actually, to stop chasing stress. I think building a business is fundamentally choosing to chase stress every day. And it has been worth it a hundred times over and I've learned so much. And I've enjoyed almost all of it, not every second. But it has, we have constantly chosen to add more stress and more pressure. And I think this is a really concerted effort to stop doing that.

4:24And I am really curious and really excited to see how it plays out. I think that's really wise, actually. I think there's a lot to be said for grafting, isn't there? People say for how long do you do it for? I mean, is it forever? When do you stop? That was the big question that Matt and I talked about exactly. is like when is enough enough when it comes to constantly chasing stress and pressure and more and I think we're so excited for the new chapter with work and just but feeling like we do have more balance I hate the term work-life balance because I love work work is part of life and I think trying to have these like really black and white boundaries is not an impossible but equally work has been pretty much borrowed kids 100 % of our life and I'm excited to try and find more balance and I think removing ourselves and having this change of scenery might be a really good impetus for that so no I can't wait I can't wait no I think definitely it sounds good I'm gonna be a new woman you are gonna be a new woman that's how I feel getting back from holiday I've been away in Corfu with the family and it's just been I think it just makes such difference you don't cook every day Ella like I love cooking generally speaking but on days where I've got no time I am time poor and I'm busy and I've got a messy house to tidy up this was the year I told myself my husband I had a chat we're like 2025 is the year we've saved the last years we're going to actually go away a lot more and we stay at this amazing hotel called Luxme Costa Botanica which has like this ethos of natural beauty you know around by the beach eco-friendly everything's sustainable that sort of so much to do for the kids yeah I feel refreshed I feel ready to hit the summer in the UK.

6:03Come back to a heatwave, which is always great, apart from we don't have aircon, but it's great. It is great. And there is so much to get into today. Before we get into it, have you got any recs for us? Do you know, I do. I actually have a book rec because I've been away and I've had time to read. So the first one, the rec I've got, is called Self-Defense. So it's a myth-busting guide to immune health. I actually wrote a foreword for this book. I got to see it before it came out by Daniel Davis. And he's one of the most incredible immunologists. He's world renowned. And he examines the effects of what we discuss basically on this podcast with stress, diet, age, you know, the microbiome.

6:41And he breaks it all down beautifully. He actually lectures at Imperial and he is great. So that's a good book if anyone's interested in that. Any top take homes in terms of our immune system? Stress. I know like you just said at the beginning, but I think we just cannot underestimate from everything but what's worse is that what I really took away from it is yes I can action certain changes in my life but the most frustrating thing is I can't control easily how stressed I am and I really did also think like you know you've kind of had this epiphany in life I do just want to chill out a bit more like last night I don't know what possessed me I was like oh I think I might just start a written project I was in the bath but I had a laptop on the side I was like why am I doing this put the laptop away Rhiannon you know having this internal dialogue in my head but we talked about it last week like this idea that we're just like always putting more pressure on ourselves to be more to do more to self-optimize and I think it's very hard to stop doing that you feel like you're going to get left behind have a read guys and Ella you have got oh do you have like a recipe rec for us I love this Yeah, I was saying last week how moving house, moving the girls schools, you know, learning to commute, like there's lots of big life changes and they're so exciting, but equally a mix of boxes and uncertainty and kind of new rhythms.

8:01And so trying to kind of keep healthy habits in place has been really helpful. And one of the things that I've been doing is these like a weekly batch of turmeric shots. obviously turmeric is such a kind of quote-unquote superfood but it really is so anti-inflammatory and with lots of stress going on obviously I'm very conscious of that and inflammation. Do you have a really good juicer then? I have quite basic juicer actually it's quite unfancy it's quite old I don't use it very much but I have been doing this for the last like six weeks or so and I feel so good for it so I will buy turmeric root fresh ginger and lemon and then a couple of carrots as well chuck them all in and then I'll put it in an airtight bottle and each day have like a generous shot black pepper in it as well to help activate the turmeric um and I have to say I do feel really really well for it and we're going to come on to this in a minute because obviously our first headlines all about morning routines but I do find setting the tone for the day really helps it certainly helps me and I just 10 out of 10 recommend it if you do feel like you haven't been needing that well you just need an extra support it's such an amazing little anti-inflammatory boost yeah you feel pretty good about yourself i love that you know i was doing um i had a feature in the sun this week you know a really terrifying big spread you know when they put your picture i mean you've had so many of those out i don't know how you do it you know your picture's in the middle of the paper and i'm like oh no what are people going to say but actually what i really took away from it was i shouldn't be so scared all the time and it is these little changes and i must try new things and I'm really glad that we went with the feature and we did it because now I'm going to reach more people about the subject of ultra processed foods but we put some really basic swaps in the article just little things so I had 10 ways to make better food choices so I put them all in chronological order it was the things we do every day but choose the right quality bread you know it's just that little bit of a difference that you can make and then if you go for a dairy alternative you know make sure you check do you actually want a sweetened version or not because unless you look on the packet you don't know some of them will say and then you'll think oh this soy milk's sweeter than the normal one I get and you'll notice it when you get soy milk on the go you know a different taste compared to what you have at home avoiding the processed and red meats you know swap for a chicken sausage if you eat meat if you're making a swap from like your average pork sausage switch over to chicken and just make this different switch because that doesn't go through the same processing depending on the quality again most of the time and I think it's just really understanding your cupboard so what I've put also in there is the fact that if you just tidy your cupboard so you can visually see what's in them that makes such a difference like if you go to the back of your cupboard you know the one where you keep the cans half the time you can't even remember what's there and I find that you save money when you actually start cooking because otherwise it just becomes this you know like I've got my emergency box fund of escape tape items in the house.

10:58That's what it becomes like for some people, right? Oh my gosh, completely. Yeah, little changes. But I think I need to invest in a juicer because I want to try some turmeric shots. I don't think the sun would like that quote. I don't know if the sun would quite go for that. But I want to do it. Honestly, I really, really recommend them. As I said, it's basically equal parts, fresh ginger and turmeric, and then a couple of lemons, a couple of carrots, and then some black pepper at the end. It's so easy. It only takes me five minutes. And I wouldn't do it every day because it is a mess to clean it up.

11:29But it is really quite easy. And then you've got a week's worth. Do you know something gross? When I worked in Transition Zone, the cafe, like my first job running a cafe, you know, understanding profit margins and making juices and running that. I used to eat the pulp, you know, the back of the juicer. Did you? Your face. So I used to. It's kind of like the juices. Colorful cardboard. It was like rainbow colored pulp, right? because I'm making beetroot juices, you know, the frothy, like pulpy bit. And yeah, I would scoop it out and I would put it on top of my yogurt and just basically eat all the skins off the fruit.

12:05Fiber rich. Fiber rich, flavor poor. It is actually really gross. But I thought it was a good nutrition hack at the time. I think I should move on swiftly. Ella, the health headlines that matter this week.

12:19OK, this is like probably my favorite headline of all times. and I was just like nodding along saying yes I relate to this 100 % when I saw it I was like Ella this is you this is me okay this is from the Guardian guys and the first 10 minutes why your morning routine matters more than you think it's absolutely fascinating basically what it shows is that how your morning goes affects the rest of your day for nearly half of people 49 % and in millennials obviously that's both of us even higher 57 % of millennials say a bad start to the day can ruin everything 73 % of gen zed or gen z say they can instantly tell when they're going to have a bad day which is absolutely fascinating and I think it is this idea that actually how you set the tone for the first 10 minutes does mean a huge amount it makes such a difference and I think about it since I've started trying to wake up earlier before the children I am in a better mood because I'm changed I'm not stressed I think it's that morning stress Ella if you're not prepared and you're not ready I feel the stress of it all completely I do completely or you wake up and you're just tired and you think oh I'm gonna skip this and actually it ruins your day and again we're not alone in alone in that at all 37 % of people say they can tell if their day is going to be good or bad within the first 10 minutes of waking up I don't know if I'm quite that quick but I'd be curious no I still think I'm half-seem until I've had my I have to have my cup of tea?

13:44Well, it takes millennials 29 minutes to wake up, apparently. 19 minutes for boomers. 19 minutes for boomers. It's going down in generations. Yeah. 38 % of people need a hot drink basically immediately to feel good. That's us, isn't it? You need coffee, I need tea. Exactly. 34 % need to brush their teeth. 28 % need water. 25 % say missing a shower throws them off. And 22 % says skipping exercise derails them completely. I have to say, if I plan to exercise and then I feel I had a margarita the night before or I didn't sleep well or whatever it is and I skip it, I would say it often does derail my day.

14:21And going back to Gen Z, like you said earlier, I mean, the fact that 73 % of them can say they can instantly tell they're going to have a bad day compared to, you know, the other 60 % of us. I think they're just more emotionally self-aware. They're just brought up in a world that encouraged them to look after themselves and we weren't. But we should. And I have to say, I just so agree with this premise that like how we've talked about this before. You know, we talked last week about our inner critic and how we can be so tough on ourselves. And I think it kind of speaks to this again, doesn't it?

14:52Like when you wake up and as I said, you've had a bad night's sleep or you're worried about something or you feel down about yourself for whatever reason. As I said, maybe you had a cocktail too many last night and you think, oh, I can't be bothered today. And you have that can't be bothered attitude. I do think it really seeps through. and when I'm like oh I can't be bothered to exercise or I can't bother to do this but I planned on I feel like you're do you know what I get in a bit of a rut with and I was speaking to my friend Tess about this the other weekend before we went away is that every day I could very easily just wear leggings and a hoodie and I could just scrape my hair up and I do feel really sluggish and don't get me wrong this is my life most of the time but when I actually have to get changed and make a bit of an effort I feel more ready for the day there's definitely something in preparing yourself for the day ahead that makes logical sense a hundred percent putting a little bit of effort into yourself makes the world of difference and it doesn't need to be a huge thing and i just thought it was really interesting that actually for so many of us mornings are quite fragile like no phone scrolling i don't have time to phone scroll in bed in the morning but so many people phone scroll in bed right a hundred percent and i think yeah for so many people one small change your day spirals so i think it would be nice to just focus on actually if that is the case what are the little things you can do to kind of get your morning and therefore your day back on track i would say making a tiny effort with breakfast really really helps getting outside in particular just drink a glass of water like do one thing that says to yourself i care about myself please drink water when you wake up i cannot emphasize enough that's the one thing that people really should do you will feel better when we're dehydrated we just don't feel good and we've been dehydrated all night so you need to hydrate completely but you yeah I think it's saying to yourself that you care isn't it I love that we care now on to caring Ella the next headline is so humongous yeah we've got a lot to talk here big and I was making notes on the train on the way in Ella and I were whatsapping each other last night going oh my goodness this is huge I was like make sure that we check this bit and we're diving into the NHS's big 10-year plan so this is absolutely massive and obviously like by no means are we this is our kind of core expertise and there's lots of people who'd give really interesting insights into it absolutely but equally we were both obviously kind of excited and curious to read it so they've just published england's new 10-year health plan called fit for the future it's a 168 page document and essentially the government have set out how they hope to transform our health and the NHS over the next decade.

17:30Not to be doom and gloom, but the backdrop is pretty stark as to why this has had to be laid out, why we need this fixed. So life expectancy in the UK, obviously, as we know, is flatlined. More of us are spending more time living in poor health. People are getting sicker earlier. In England, the number of people living with the major health conditions expected to rise from under one in six back in 2019 to around one in five by 2040. And that's not just with older people, more children and working adults, sorry, adults of working age are living with more long term conditions. Since 2020, economic inactivity due to sickness has jumped by half a million people.

18:10There's some really stark background here. Yeah. And if nothing changes, so they're saying by the 2070s health spending could reach nearly 15 % of GDP. So this basically means it's growing twice as fast as the economy itself, which is really scary. And the NHS even says it themselves. Right now, it's more of a sickness service rather than a health service. And that is in the government report. That's taken from the 168 page document. The government saying the NHS is currently more of a sickness service than health service. I think it's important that we say that's not from us. That's from the government in this report.

18:44And we've known about this from, you see different reports governments bring out like this, but the budget spent on prevention cut by 28 % per person over the past decade, which is awful because what I like about this 10-year plan, Ella, is that they have finally said prevention, not sickness. Exactly. So basically, this Fit for the Future plan essentially has got three big shifts, one of which is moving from treating sickness to preventing it, and others taking care out of hospitals into local communities, and then the others moving the NHS from an analogue into a much more digital first system.

19:17But obviously, from our perspective, the most relevant and interesting point is the prevention focus. And that's what we wanted to just share with you guys today, a bit of an overview in terms of what might be coming. A hundred percent. And I made so many notes on this particular thing because they've used loads of different case studies throughout of different models around the world of different areas of how they're going to implement this examples ranging from Singapore over to Manchester here. But what was really star colour was the fact that one thing that stood out for me was they listed Blackpool as the place in the UK with the worst health outcomes and the highest ratio, things like 30, 34 percent or something of children living in poverty still.

19:58And they've acknowledged in this, didn't they, that while prevention is a huge focus, they know that this is down to demographic. And one thing I found quite optimistic, but also terrifying for people like you and I myself, is that they've quoted people we know as inspiring the nation, which means we're probably in this bracket, Ella, because if people don't speak out, nothing gets done. They have said, which is optimistic and great, they said the consumer health market was worth over£4 billion in 2024, up 8 % on the year before, with strong growth expected. Millions are running. Joe Wicks, so they mentioned Joe, has got the nation moving.

20:37Dr. Chris, so Van Tilken, started the big conversations, obviously, around ultra-processed foods. And over 3 million people have crossed the finish line at the local park run. So they've acknowledged that there's people like ourselves, of the wellness group like joe and chris that are doing these big things and it almost made me feel i panicked a little bit i thought oh my goodness it's very close to home when they mention people you know you know or you see their work and you think yes this is great there's really good things happening but it's still on us individuals speaking out about it it is actually funny you say that was speaking out about it i don't know how many of you guys follow j wicks on instagram but he is really trying to avoid ultra processed foods at the moment and he was really interested he went on holiday this was yesterday i was looking at this the vending machine yeah and he was talking about it and he had this quote and he said it's like when you we now feel that when you go on holiday you must pack your toothbrush and then buy a giant bag of sweets and it's true and i think it is i think we've both had this nervousness at points and speaking up and being really frank about the reality of our kind of food system and our health and you know he was saying it again last night like if you're someone who's choosing not to give for example he was talking about his children lots and lots of sweets you're weird and i do think it is this interesting moment of actually i am weird me too complete freak and as a result i often feel like i have to bend to it and i think it is this moment of actually do we just need a more stark conversation given how much our health is slipping and how important prevention is to that and i think if we're able to change it and push poor health much into our later life so that people can keep working, raising their children, enjoying their life.

22:18The possibilities are massive. And I think it is, again, before we go into like the pillars of this shift, saying about 75, again, this is from the government's report, around 70 % of cardiovascular disease, 40 % of cancers and 40 % of dementia are preventable. And I think, I know, but I think it really helps when the government says it. Because I think, again, to this point, it's often seen as left field to sit here and say, We shouldn't eat so many of these things. We should be doing it differently. And people don't really like it because it feels confrontational. Or a nanny state. Exactly. And I think when you read a government report that says, no, we've got a sickness care system, not a prevention system.

22:55We've got to change that because look how many of our biggest health challenges are actually preventable. And it's the financial impact on all of us with taxes, NHS to keep our health system running. Guys, they're talking about saving us all money as well. Well, you look at what you're saying about what the GDP spend on health care could be 50 years from now if we don't change it. Like, fundamentally, we can't afford that. And so I think it is a really interesting moment. So let's talk about what these six core pillars are, because I think it is really interesting to think how might this shift our kind of collective conversation on health and well-being.

23:29Yeah. And we'll start with the first of the six pillars, which, of course, is tackling obesity and first childhood obesity. and they've really done a good early year shift in this report. You know, when you're reading it, you're just thinking they're finally acknowledging that they even said we have to start with the future generations because they are the generation we need to grow up to be clear of this. So obesity rates we know have doubled over the past 30 years. We know it's got a lot of comorbidities of other different conditions and one in five children leave primary school of obesity. That number will go up, by the way, guys, rising to nearly 30 % in the most deprived areas.

24:05So they're planning finally, now we've heard this before, Ella, but I'm really hoping this rings true. New restrictions on junk food advertising aimed at children. They're banning high caffeine energy drinks for under 16. So energy drinks are a huge culprit to poor health. Huge. And they are too available. So that made me really happy. And giving councils stronger powers to block new fast food outlets near schools. This is what I've been needing for so long. And I also read that some companies leading the way with changes, like Dunom, for instance, said that they will never produce a high fat salt sugar item.

24:41And they've pledged it in the government campaign ever again. Targeting children. How amazing. Finally, these huge companies that manufacture products are committing to never targeting children in this way again. I totally agree. It all sounds really good, to be honest. They've also updated school food standards. Obviously, last week we were talking about nursery standards, but school food standards so that all schools have to provide healthier, more nutritious meals. I think it is worth saying, yeah, obviously it's a large document, nearly 200 pages, but it doesn't flesh out all the detail. Like what will that actually look like on a day to day basis?

25:16Like we talked a few weeks ago, didn't we, that three of the top five foods eaten by children, lots of which is in a school setting, are classes carcinogens by the World Health Organization. are we going to take ham and sausages off school meal menus or serve them once a month like I think that was my big question when I was reading this is like yes yes yes yes yes yes this sounds so good but what does this actually look like and I've heard it before I don't want to be that cynical person I was reading it with my educated hat on thinking yep great great let's see how they put this out let's see how times change and I'm really hoping they do because of course the second pillar they've got I think we often forget we've spoken I think we've touched on smoking but we forget that it is still a thing here but I really notice it whenever I go abroad because I feel like they smoke more abroad but actually we've still got issues here haven't we yeah but it also does show we've had such tight legislation it's obviously so expensive to smoke there's no great advertising anymore obviously which we talked about the other day didn't we about alcohol as an example what they did with cigarettes and the rates of smoking have decreased so dramatically And I think it does show that I know nanny state questions, but intervention does work.

26:28And again, this has been rumbling for a while. But again, part of this big pledge is to create the first smoke-free generation, which I am thrilled about. Oh, my goodness. Imagine. But they have to crack down on vape. So that was a big part of it. The fact that, you know, vaping for kids because kids are appealed to these things, teenagers, because of the bright colours. And they said they're going to be looking at all of this, making sure that they put bans on smoking in public places, reduce passive smoking around children, make sure that vapes are now monitored properly and that they're not producing these fancy flavours that appeal to kids.

27:05Exactly. So basically anyone to children turning 16 this year and then everyone younger will never legally be able to buy tobacco in England. Hallelujah. It's really something, isn't it? and it's how has it not happened before though you know when i do think about it i'm like this is well there was something in there that i read that really shocked me obviously we all know smoking is bad for us like i'm not trying to be novel there but this really surprised me tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half the people who use it as intended when you read it like that it is still to your point it's kind of amazing that it's still for sale when i was um in turkey earlier this year the only down point to a holiday was going on a public beach and just seeing people smoking with their babies and kids like it's normal like next to them and I don't think there's messages out there I do not think people know when you read it in such stark terms I do think it is quite shocking and it's behind 70 % of lung cancers and then of course we cannot negate the other pillar which is the fact that you know we need to get moving more and getting millions of people moving and exercising through new national campaigns we've mentioned Joe we've mentioned part runs and what they were actually looking at so I read something in the document that said they are going to spend 616 million to maintain and build walking and cycling areas around the UK.

28:25Isn't that amazing of the next 10 years? There's a huge amount of money. But what we have to remember is that there's no incentivization on us. And what they wrote here as well is that citizens have a role to play here. We need to incentivize them like they do in Singapore and other places. They've looked at models that are working. if we created an environment that you want to use more people would use it yeah it's really clever it's rewarding good behavior isn't it we have um vitality health insurance at delicious cielo and again i've heard people in the office saying because it can look at your step counts and things like that and then you get rewards and money off etc and it's really incentivizing it's fantastic because at the end of the day you know the government they do need to do all of this but help us make the better decisions and the same thing goes here when we're talking about even fresh air why would i want to go for a walk down the road when it's by a busy motorway or you know fumes everywhere we've really got to think about air quality and i remember years ago on food for thought doing a podcast on air pollution because when i fell pregnant i was terrified of smoke and fumes and i really was really sensitive to it and i just think air quality matters and again they're going to enforce it.

29:39Yeah, so that's one of the pillars of this. And then the final two are working with businesses to help children and families, again, to your point, really such a big focus on the youngest generations in this big document, make healthier choices. And that means introducing mandatory health food sales reporting for all large companies in the food sector, and set new targets to improve what's actually being sold in shops and restaurants. So again, trying to really force that environment shift to make healthier options to default. And then the last one was on alcohol. And again, as we talked about this the other day, didn't we, with alcohol labels.

30:14But the plan promises to move from voluntary guidelines to a mandatory requirement for clear nutritional details and health warning messages on alcohol. So actually bring it into line with other product labeling so people can actually see what they're drinking and the impact on their health. So did you know 27.4 billion a year is spent for our health service related to alcohol harm? Like it's so harmful for our wallets and for our health. And that's what the report said. I'm not just pulling these stats up from above. That was in the report this morning when I was reading it coming here. And we're also going to be improving screening for bowel cancers.

30:50They're adding in more tools because they used a case study in it. And they said from just one person, you know, they were very good in this plan by using examples elsewhere, which I want to see. I want to see data. But, you know, just having a scan can save someone's life for early intervention. So it's optimistic. But I do want to just see. I love it. I'm all for it. But I want to see it. Like that Bite Back campaign, you know, the company I was talking about. They were buying billboards around the city to take up space that would usually be used by an advertiser. They've now been blocked and bought out by all the big food companies.

31:23So they're now no longer able to buy any billboards. They've been blacklisted. so let me just check this so bite bag which is obviously okay really trying to improve people's health it's run by younger people that want a better future yeah so they were buying up billboard space that would normally be kind of big food advertising like mcdonald's yeah and they have been bought out yeah by the big companies saying don't ever let them buy billboard again we'll just pay more so that's happening at the same time the 10-year plan is being announced so i'm not in the know on all of that that they publicly um did a whole thing about that uh socially so you can all go and watch that on bite back 30s um page but let's see how it happens i'm all for it it's optimistic and i love it yeah always always devil's in the detail isn't it and i think it's so well intentioned and i think it's really exciting that we're having really frank conversations around our health i think that that is so needed and as we said a minute ago it's this really odd position that both of us have found ourselves in so many times in our careers when we're standing up there and saying we do need to eat way less of these foods these foods aren't very good for us like to the point in last week's episode no one's saying you should never have sweets but sweets aren't good for us and that's a fact and we need more broccoli and we need more lentils we need more fiber and all the rest of it and we we kind of have to be more transparent but the fault isn't on the individual it's the whole food system it's like they mentioned the inequalities in the report they do say look we we are aware that this isn't a choice everybody can make right now and we're going to do what we can which is important but it really struck a chord for me just thinking we've got to keep going with wellness scoop and you know books and all sorts of things that just get information out there because actually when you see them quoting joe in a government strategy it just took someone with a public figure to do something good a hundred percent and it shows exactly and what he was doing was so accessible wasn't it i mean it's like a 15 minute workout you can do by yourself with your friend your partner your kids like in your living room he made it fun 100 and i think it is it's like we just got to make health simple accessible uncomplicated i feel that so strongly rosie can do a pull-up you know that's why i'm so impressed i'm just thinking i want to learn to do a pull-up me too but i've tried in the gym it's really difficult but i can do an assisted one right ella let's move on to what is trending in wellness if you've shopped online chances are you've bought from a business powered by shopify you know that purple shop pay button you see it check out the one that makes buying so incredibly easy that's shopify and there's a reason so many businesses sell with it because shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 of full e-commerce in the US.

34:08Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash promo. Go to shopify.com slash promo. At Sierra, discover great deals on top brand workout gear, like high quality walking shoes, which might lead to another discovery. 40 ,000 steps, baby. Who's on top now, Karen? You've taken the office step challenge a step too far. Don't worry though, Sierra also has yoga gear. It might be a good place to find your zen. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Okay, this is sleep gummies. So again, it's kind of a headline, kind of a trend, but the trend is the world of supplements, which obviously we've talked about lots of times.

34:53And I guess, not to be like really depressing, but it's just another example about how weird and unregulated the world of supplements is and how cautious we collectively need to be. So this was the headline was alarm over sleep drug laced children's gummies, which probably makes it a bit more dramatic, sinister and sinister than it was. But essentially, an NHS manager has been ordered to stop selling children's magnesium glycinate gummies because they were actually found to contain undeclared levels of prescription only melatonin. Oh my goodness. I mean, the gummies, Ella, So they're marketed obviously as a natural sleep aid for kids.

35:29And that's what's so deceptive. And then especially those with ADHD or autism. And I think they've got a lot of people talking about this online right now. It's like a real trend. You know, take a melatonin pill, help yourself sleep, take more magnesium. All of it. Everything is everywhere right now. Can I ask about magnesium for sleep? Tell us a little bit about that. OK, so magnesium for sleep. I wish I could say there was. there still isn't concrete evidence enough to justify the supplement forms of having any impact on your sleep overall but it is true that as a component individually in isolation you know we love to talk about isolating nutrients it is beneficial for our sleep and does play a role and helps with relaxation especially like muscular relaxation and that's why we've always recommended in the clinic epsom salts and baths and athletes take it but supplementation you have to be so carefully if you take too much you know it can act as you know it can make you constipated or all sorts of things and can have a bit of a laxative effect laxative effect massively it can go either way depending on what type of magnesium because there's different forms that you can take and most people don't know so what you'll do is just buy any old supplement bottle that says high dose magnesium you're like yep i'm going to take that to sleep even my mother-in-law came around last week and said oh how are you sleeping i was like yeah it's okay it's just been a rough week with the kids because oh you should take these magnesium pills and i'm like i tried to explain you know they're not all that but what's happening here is that these gummies have been sold online since march last year by a clinical therapy leader an nhs trust ella and then two mums basically realized that their children were going to sleep really quickly like unusually quickly for their children um so they got them tested and it turned out the gummies contained around 0.53 milligrams of melatonin which exceeds the recommended starting dose for children and essentially they were selling a prescription only drug without any oversight melatonin is a hormone it helps with sleep and in the uk it's only available via prescription in the us you can buy it in like a boost equivalent can i tell you why and i remember yeah give us a one on melatonin yeah because in my singing days there was this amazing um girl Angela and my girl group we used to sing together and she's like yeah I'm just taking my melatonin pills and they all get a gig abroad or something and she'd be like I'm always like what are melatonin pills that's when I first became aware of them back in like 2011 12 like years ago but we don't do it here in the UK so she used to buy them from Canada and bring them over for me and the girls and we would be like popping melatonin pills on the airplane it sounds so wild but so basically this is a contrast here so in the us and canada melatonin is widely available as an over-the-counter supplement but the uk has strict regulation and this is because we have limited data on long-term safety in children that's why these gum is even more shocking and concerns over inappropriate use so we're just very cautious here for the right reasons and the mhra so medicines and health care products regulatory agency enforces these rules to protect the public because vulnerable groups like kids you know where low doses actually could have a significant effect and that's why melatonin isn't available here over the counter and it does play a role in our circadian rhythm and our sleep cycle you know melatonin makes you feel sleepy it's that component that kicks in you produce more of it when you get more tryptophan or the amino acid from proteins plays a nice role in your body with serotonin the happy hormone tryptophan makes you feel sleepy.

38:57But taking a pill just isn't always the answer. So with your tryptophan, is there any truth in eat these foods that will help you sleep? There's an underlying level of truth. But again, we can't isolate. So just because you have, you know, a slice of turkey at lunch or some nuts here that contain tryptophan, it does not mean you're suddenly going to have a better night's sleep because all the other factors that are involved in sleep are happening. But you do want to be creating those pathways but I would say a healthy balanced diet gives you plenty anyway and this always comes up around Christmas usually I'm asked about tryptophan always or cherries do they contain melatonin there's always the same headlines that come up if you look in the press related to it so I think just what's so shocking here is that it again shows the unregulated wild west of supplements Ella and how things especially marketed to children you've just got doesn't matter if it's as natural doesn't matter if it says it's melatonin's a natural hormone you know it does not mean that product's going to be safe.

39:53It's a wake-up call. How on earth do you know what supplement companies to trust? I do think that's a really important question to answer because we're seeing this so often. We've done so many of these that come up in the press where we're seeing yet another company as we talked about, like recently, most creatine jellies or gummies not actually containing creatine. And this is not a once in a blue moon occurrence, these particular melatonin ones. How on earth do you know where to go what to do i think the ultimate thing to look for first of all is you need to check all the stamps because certain supplements will go by different governing bodies in the terms of you know you have to actually declare what's inside your product some people don't have to do that and i think a real easy way of understanding is first you need to check the website it's not enough to look at a bottle anymore i don't think i mean there's obvious brands that you know will be held accountable if they do something wrong with a huge like vitabiotics like the biggest one in the UK you know or Solgar always really commonly known supplements they have to abide by certain regulations because they will be caught up but what's worrying I think is if you're going to an independent supplement company a very small one that's just cropped up perhaps that is a bit under the radar they're selling online they are little red flags in themselves because you don't know the production line you don't know the quality of the ingredient is the ingredient declared and sometimes i hate to say it but even just having a health professional on board isn't enough because you can't you can't always trust that health professionals regulated so many people now masquerade as a doctor online when they're not doctors you know how do you trust then you've got ai you know when i had that ai scandal and so many other health professionals now have had their image taken yeah what happened to re was there was a what was it for moringa it was awful and it was a kind of supplement company and they used you and your image to promote them and sell them i've just found one for glp1 injections on facebook i'm trying to get taken down with you yeah me using my face the banner like all my information says it's sold by rihanna lambert glp1s how scary is that and it's like pictures of before and after bodies all over the page which i would never do awful a follower sent it to me I didn't even know it existed like by the way did you know you're on Facebook doing this I was like nope that's not me that's not me and this is what I mean by the wild west sometimes checking a website's a really good always check point because you have so much more space on a website to share infinitely more information and always just check the um the sourcing of ingredients the health professional that's behind it and check if it's an affiliate scheme so a big red flag is is someone selling you a supplement online via an affiliate scheme sometimes this can be genuine like um you know we support certain things but sometimes it's just a cash-in they don't care about your health they'll be just trying to make a dime or two so just be really really aware but with simpry for example that we've both worked with and obviously i love the product as well like they have a huge number of clinical studies yeah that are completely independent, not paid for by them to show that the product works.

43:06So the hard thing with vitamin and mineral supplements is that there will always be studies to say they work. And probiotics are different. Simprove is a good example of a company that are being very honest, transparent, declare, do everything by the book. But you'll get rogue companies that will pull a study. Let's say they're selling a vitamin C tablet. You don't even know if it's really vitamin C inside the tablet. But they say, oh, so many studies say this produces this, this cures the common cold. Your children should be taking this before bed every night because it's going to stop them from getting winter bugs and that is also hard for a consumer to tell i think the answer with supplements is literally be your own detective look everywhere and don't take a supplement until you've spoken to a health professional or got some advice first apart from general vitamin d apart from vitamin d and again with that don't do a high dose just go for 10 micrograms to begin with unless you've been told you're deficient love it sorry okay it's a hard question it's a great answer okay our final one today this was so interesting we found this and i want you to tell us all about it common foods that act like drugs when overeaten i know i saw it pop in my inbox i was like oh this is very interesting because i love that this kind of links back to the ancient medicinal systems in the world i'm fascinated by many years ago and you know when witches existed and all that sort of stuff you know obviously they weren't really witches but i can't tell where we're going with this segment no but this isn't what i wrote in the brief either i'm just going off completely but you know they would create their own herbal remedies if you're if you felt sick and there had to be something in that why else would you start doing that without seeing results so basically according to drug testing kits uk several common foods contain bioactive compounds that can affect the body in surprising drug-like ways but when consumed in large quantities so i will just say first of all you know your body doesn't recognize the difference between a substance from a snack or a pill sometimes it's just chemistry really so you have to be careful how much you take the first ella is licorice root i love licorice do you oh my god i love it i cannot stand it it's very marmite isn't it yeah but do you know when you've got sore throat people used to say or in my singing days used to make me want to chew on one of those licorice things oh my gosh i love them and the tea pigs peppermint and licorice tea whereas i I like that because it tastes sweet.