Anti-Ageing Foods, The Science of Food Preferences & Stacey Face 

24:53Thank you. No doubt. But basically, over time, as these telomeres shorten, that's associated with cellular aging. And that is linked with high risk of chronic diseases. Things we often think of, unfortunately, are more prevalent as we get older, heart disease, cancer, even things like Alzheimer's. And because of this, telomeres are often described as part of the body's biological clock. So when we're thinking and we're seeing terms like that, that's one of the things, one of the markers. And so they can help researchers estimate how quickly the body might be aging at this cellular level. But it was quite a stark percentage of those that consume the highest amounts of these polyphenols.

25:28Also, you can refer to these as antioxidants, essentially. It's just all the wonderful components that you find in a whole food diet. They had a 52 % lower, so over half risk of accelerated telomere shortening, so of that fraying of that shoelace, compared with those that consume the least. And the effect appeared strongest in adults that were under the age of 64. That doesn't mean at any age you can't start consuming a healthy diet because we know from previous research and studies that all has an impact. But fruit, I want to emphasize this because there's so much demonization of fruit. Now, fruit seemed particularly important.

26:03And the participants that ate the most fruit had a 30 % lower risk of having shorter telomeres, which is still, we're talking significant differences here. like in science these percentages it's almost a third i mean it's massive they're high they're really high and i think you know drinking coffee it was slightly lower but still a quarter was associated with a 26 percent lower risk of shortening telomeres so essentially i think what we have to remember is these foods aren't consumed in isolation they were all consumed as part of that healthy med diet which i don't think was made that clear in this particular article they always isolate they isolate the foods don't they because they want you to feel good about having your coffee.

26:43Yeah, I really, I actually think I didn't pick up on that. I think it's such an important point because this was picked up everywhere. And I totally agree what it did is it kind of drew out maybe fruit, maybe olive oil, maybe coffee. Now, some of these things are particularly beneficial, as we just said, fruit up to kind of 29 % lower risk of having these shortening telomeres. That's amazing. Obviously, there's biological aging and clock and slowing it down for a healthy health span, as we always talk about, not just a lifespan. amazing. But as you said, these things aren't in association. What's actually the important number here is that people consuming the highest amount of polyphenols and polyphenols antioxidants, those are found in our plant foods.

27:23And so those are the people that had a 52 % lower risk of this accelerated biological aging. You can't expect to see 25 % decline in aging just for drinking coffee if your diet is predominantly a UPF rich diet with very little plants and vegetables. But this is what happens whenever I'm asked to contribute to an article I'm often asked about foods in isolation I always try and get a line to kind of summarize it in but it's more click-baity and much more attention-grabbing for readers because it isolates what you can and can't do in your brain otherwise that's too overwhelming so that's where they pick on the individual food yeah it is very interesting that and I see it's very has good cut through but essentially I'm not trying to be annoying, but I'm going to be annoying.

28:08I just find this sort of thing. Every time we see this, it just makes me want to bang my head against the wall for all this, like be a carnivore. Please don't. Like just, that's just a bad idea. Take my bloat gummies. Take my bloat gummies. Oh my gosh. One of the biggest models in the world sharing anti-bloat gummies in a bikini. I mean, she looked sensational, but that was all over social media. She's not taking those gummies. I'm sorry. But also, even if she's taking those gummies, that one of the world's highest paid, most famous supermodels looks like that because it is her, first of all, she's genetically blessed.

28:40Second of all, it is her job to look like that. So she has every trainer and obviously she does under the sun. Her job is to exercise and look amazing in a bikini. It's not because she takes bloat gummies. I've got to be honest here. That was one of the most, me and Ella were discussing it yesterday, one of the most disappointing. It was Rosie and Tim Whiteley. I think she's fab. And then I saw her posing And I thought, what paycheck was that, you know, to tempt you and to actually want to do it? Because you don't, she doesn't need, I don't know what her financial situation is, but regardless, ethically, you shouldn't do it.

29:11But it's this point, isn't it, where we're so easily sold. This one thing is the solve to the issue. She was literally in a bikini on her back, led on a sun lounger with the bottle of gummies next to her flat stomach because she's led down on her back. I think even on her stomach, the packet I saw. Sure. Anyways, I just think what's so important is like if bloating is an issue for you, bloating has actually always been an issue for me. I've got hypermobility, very much shows up in my stomach. One singular thing cannot solve it. I wish it could. But Ella, you've got a new fact that you learned from last week to share, haven't you?

29:43Yeah, I have. I love a little fact, right? So do you know what? I'm doing this new meditation course at the moment, which I'm loving with this amazing Australian teacher who's just like real sunshine and joy. Anyways, she said something in the lecture and I was like, well, you're wondering, not, not, I was doubting her, but I was like, well, wondering what that study was. So I went off, read much, much more about it. And interestingly, there is research to show that meditation can help maintain and potentially increase telomere length by boosting your telomerase with the enzyme involved activity.

30:16And that's the enzyme that helps rebuild the telomeres. So isn't that amazing? I think it makes sense. It must improve circulation and then blood flow to various cells. You know, it's so well studied for obviously lowering stress levels and, you know, stress we know is very much associated with accelerated impact on your aging. And so I think it will just be a very effective, well, it is a very effective de-stress tool. I'm sure there's other things that would do the same thing if it has the same impact on you. But anyway, I just thought it was interesting. I love that, Ella. And do you know what?

30:50We're moving on to another headline, which, to be honest, I really thought was fun. And I actually love discussing all this kind of stuff because it's important that people know the truth. We have an apple a day, the 13 old wives tales that are actually true. And there was a fun article that looked at nearly all of the grandmother wisdom or the things that we discussed like last week, carrots in the dark. And we've got a few corkers in here, which I think I can't wait to discuss and bust and celebrate. celebrate. Exactly. This was in the Times, an apple a day, 13 old wives tales that are actually true.

31:23We've picked out five of them for you that felt the most interesting. The first one being cranberry juice may help prevent UTIs. Yeah. So now I want to go into this because there's a technicality with it. So this one turns out there is some scientific research behind it because of the compounds in cranberries that can help stop bacteria attaching to the lining of the urinary tract, which makes infections less likely to develop. So it's not that they can prevent it completely, but there's some elements. But you'd have to have so much cranberry juice and also the quality of cranberry juice. In fact, more research studies have suggested that it's these specific compounds that may help antibiotics do their job more effectively too and slow the development of antibiotic resistance bacteria.

32:09But that is very, it's not robust data yet. But earlier this month, the scientist from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique is that in Francais? Love your French this morning, Ray. French people won't. Anyone listening will know that was diabolical. They found cranberry compounds appeared to help bacteria absorb more of the antibiotic phosphomycin, which is commonly... Phosphomycin, I think. Phosphomycin. I would say misin, but maybe mycin. Maybe I'm wrong. No, I think you're probably correct, knowing my pronunciation this morning, which is commonly prescribed for UTIs. But actually, now there is a supplement that in the nutrition world, we, I'm just looking now, we look up.

32:53D-Manin. Yeah, D-Manos Plus and D-Manos, which are simple kind of sugar supplements that are used to manage the E. coli infection, you know, the side of the UTIs. But the evidence is very, very mixed. but I've always been told from clinical background that cranberry juice is not reliable. I think probably better in capsule form as well. Yeah, in a very high dose but again you can't guarantee that's going to get where it needs to go. Take that one with a pinch of salt but very interesting and don't put off going to your doctor. UTIs can be very serious. It happened to me once at uni, it can spread to your kidneys and you can end up hospitalized so please catch it early if you feel those symptoms get to your GP because some people, especially women during their cycle, are very prone to getting UTIs.

33:42And I think it's really important that we're really aware of them. I spent two and a half years on antibiotics without more than 48 hours off because of what became almost antibiotic resistant UTIs. Oh, Ella, that's horrendous. I ended up in hospital on trips. So it was all when I was ill. That's serious. Yeah, really hard. Actually, we've discussed that we know that a lot of the medication Ella was put on a long, long time ago. It can have a knock-on effect. And then also that many antibiotics had a very detrimental impact on my gut health as well. Yeah, exactly. And it's a lot. So just be very careful with UTIs.

34:18Definitely seek out advice and help. Don't let them spread. Ella, the next one's a bit more straightforward. Cold tea bags. Can they really help with our puffy eyes? Is that what I should do every morning? I know. I've got images of us. Cucumbers and cold tea bags. Okay. Late night, stress, allergies, too much screen time. We all know how these sort of things do. You sometimes wake up, your eyes are a little bit swollen, a bit puffy, a bit irritated. I certainly used to get that so much from hay fever. Oh my God, I look like Dracula a lot of the time. Anyway, experts at Moorfields Eye Hospital, which is obviously one of the UK's leading centres for this, actually themselves recommend cold damp tea bags as a simple compress for tired eyes.

35:00It's interesting because there's many components of teabags. So obviously there's the caffeinated component, the antioxidants within the tea. Again, I would say perhaps the quality of your teabag will happen here, but it temporarily constricts blood vessels and decreases that fluid retention. You know, people tell you to do a lymphatic kind of massage, you know, the very soft tissue under your eyes. Apparently the teabags act in that way, which helps prevent puffy puffiness. I mean, to me, it's not the puffiness that's the issue. It's the dark circles when I'm really tired. If anyone tries that, let us know.

35:35Okay. Hot tea may actually cool you down. Sounds totally counterintuitive, something I've never really believed, but apparently it's true because hot drinks slightly raise the body temperature to begin with, which stimulates sweating and the sweat evaporates from the skin helps cool the body down more effectively. this i think came from that time that actually quite dreadful time but where britain uh we had a large steak in india and we used to drink a lot of tea you know where tea comes from and i don't know the entire history of this here but i do believe it's because when uh people were in india it's obviously very hot climate compared to the uk and they would drink a lot of tea because of that reason.

36:16It triggers our body's internal heat receptors, which causes you to sweat more. And it's that sweat that evaporates off your skin that creates the natural cooling effect. And there's also some ancient Ayurvedic wisdom there when it comes to tea as well. So they actually believe that if you do the opposite, if you have cold drinks when you're hot, it can actually shock the digestive system. And that dampens your internal fire, making it harder to process food in heat. So it's really interesting when you look at temperature of foods and where things come from. I love that one, but I would still do a cold drink.

36:53Me too. I mean, the idea of like a nice crisp lemonade when it's a heat wave is, it speaks to me more. Okay. Two more that feel maybe more relevant. First of all, this one, I feel like always gets headlines, always confuses people. Vitamin C may help to shorten colds. Now, I think the key thing here is that there's no evidence to suggest that taking vitamin C is going to stop you from catching the cold in the first place. But there is evidence to suggest you can slightly reduce how long symptoms last. And we've seen that from lots of different research, but that taking one to two milligrams could reduce the duration of symptoms by roughly 10%, particularly if started early.

37:30My best advice is to get a piece of fruit in instead of taking a supplement of vitamin C, which you're likely to just excrete, because actually you'll get more benefit from the vitamin C coming from food form than pill form. So when you're feeling run down, just try and have an extra piece of fruit each day. And that's really going to help shorten the length of your cold, hopefully. And finally, can an apple a day really help keep the doctor away? I love this. It's just because it's such a classic saying. Apples, of course, vitamin C rich, they contain pectin, that's amazing soluble fibre. I would say we want you to eat the skin here and all the research that's ever really produced on apples because a lot of the key polyphenols live and reside nearer the skin barrier.

38:14And you really want to be eating that because I know some people peel your apples. But one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found healthy middle-aged adults who ate two apples a day, so not just an apple, two, for eight weeks reduced their cholesterol levels while apple juice, which lacks the fiber, had no effect. So they were comparing juice to eating the whole apple, of course, you get the fibre from the apple, less of a blood sugar impact there as well, Ella. Exactly that. There's some research actually that showed that regular apple and pear consumption had a lower dementia risk.

38:46And another one to show that the phytochemical profile of apples could help support prevention of several chronic diseases. I think probably what we're talking about again in all of that, though, not to be overly presumptuous, is what we said when we were talking a sec ago is that yes all apples very good for you lots of lovely things in there your polyphenols as you said your fiber etc but it's probably when eaten with everything else like if you have a let's just say like a kind of junk food diet you're eating loads and loads of McDonald's and pick a mix one singular apple unfortunately probably won't have quite the same effect it probably won't keep the doctor away I love a pear can I just say I love a juicy pair.

39:25I'm having a rhubarb moment. Oh, love. Can I be honest, which actually is funny because obviously like my, so much of my job for my whole adult life has been to cook. I've always been quite scared of cooking rhubarb. I don't know why it's such a kind of weird looking thing. And obviously because you. I'm big. Yeah. I don't know. There's something about it kind of freaked me out. Anyway, now that I've started getting into it, I am obsessed like stewed rhubarb. Yeah. I mean, you have to add a fair amount of sugar because it is pretty tart. But oh my gosh, it's just so good.

40:01Ella, I'm excited. What's trending in wellness? OK, guys, I went outside your rabbit hole here. I mean, I love a rabbit hole. So probably anyone who listens regularly can probably tell. Where did you first see it, though? Where? Well, I was just looking at trends and then there was a lot like Independent had a piece, the rise of Stacey Face, how AI is warping our beauty standards. The Times had one, the new rise of female looks maxing. There was loads around that kind of thing, mostly basically on this idea of female looks maxing. We obviously talked about the male one the other day and essentially how this is manifesting now for women and how that showing up.

40:43And so I first of all, just came across those pieces. And then the more I read, the more I was like, this is so weird. And I also just want to say, before we go into the internet, it's the whole thing. There will be people listening who might think, well, this isn't really relevant for me because like I would never go onto AI and ask AI to rate me out of 10. And I would never, you know, try and emulate some kind of very homogenous beauty standard. But I do think that it's quite important as women for us to be aware of these trends, because they are taking up a lot of airtime. They are becoming increasingly popular.

41:25And I do think we all kind of have a, I don't know, not a duty, but a kind of element of impetus to have an awareness to try and change the direction of this. Because again, you can quite quickly see like how wrong this could go ultimately this involves asking ai to um almost like looks maxing to ask you how you can become quote-unquote better version or more attractive version of yourself and the ultimate goal is becoming a stacy and it originated in the manosphere and these communities describe the idealized hyper like hyper attractive woman um essentially the female counterpart to a guy called Chad.

42:10I haven't heard of these people, Ella. Okay. So this originates in a niche space, right? This originates in the manosphere, has been there for a long time. It's just making its way to the mainstream. In the manosphere, if you're like a perfect looking man and you are called a Chad, that's like being Brad Pitt. That's like being perfect kind of thing. Although Brad Pitt's actually never done it for me, but they talk about this again, this is where it comes from. Stacey is essentially like the perfect woman. Becky, I'm very sorry to any Becky's listening, is the woman you don't want to be. And can I just say, this is so warped.

42:46It's so unbelievably warped because as we know, beauty ideals change depending on the person, depending on the country, the culture. It's outrageously absurd that there's one version of attractiveness. But what I find scary, Ellie, I've called you Ellie, Ella. What's so scary, Ella? I've got Stacey in my head now. Is that really sadly, oh, it's terrifying. Teenage girls are picking up on this trend as young as 16, I would probably say younger, and are uploading selfies of themselves into these AI platforms to see how their faces should be changing. So I think this is the bit where it becomes super relevant for all of us to some extent, because I think what we've always had is we've always had these kind of quite idealized views and pressures on particularly women, what women should look like and what's quote unquote attractive and what's not.

43:39And that is why for decades we've had cabbage soup diets and, you know, all of these extremes, because there's always been this undercurrent of a pressure on a beauty standard. And now what you've got is this weird, like merging together of very longstanding cultural pressure and societal pressure on beauty standards coming together with AI. And obviously what we're seeing now as well is like, even if you go on social media, you know, sheer lux that big platforms been in, I don't want to say trouble, but kind of big discourse about it. Like they've got these AI influencers. Now, guess what? The AI influencers look perfect because they're not real.

44:24They don't have human flaws. And so it's this weird meshing. Flaws or perfections, you know, human beauty, like our individual differences. Exactly. Like a uniqueness. Anyways, because they're computer generated. So it's this weird meshing of the world of AI and not even knowing if someone's real anymore or the level to which you can manipulate something or any of us can now to manipulate an image coupled with this long-standing kind of centuries-old pressure on women. That's on men now as well then clearly if men are uploading this but also the fact that do you think it's because people are finding it harder to meet people dating that it's also another drive towards this platform how can I enhance myself what what is my value what am I offering or in a relationship and exchange it's really the whole thing is um is very deep it's so so crazy so basically there's this there are all these platforms now um and you can even do it on like reddit threads and things and you upload the pictures yourself people doing on tiktok and you basically get people to rate you so you're like look what do you like tell me honestly like how attractive am i out of 10 because to me it just looked like ella just sent me this at first it was just the image that came through i was like who is that?

45:41What was I didn't know? It was me. And I just looked like me with a lot of makeup and they changed like different features, like your cheekbone moods higher up or something. And yeah, so I went on, um, anyway, having read some of these articles, I would thought, okay, this is very curious. So I went on one of the AI apps that people are using to do this and it's nuts. So I sent in a picture of me and they sent in a picture of Rhi and I was like, can you turn us into a Stacey as in this like perfect woman. I mean I think we look so freaky. I've just got so much makeup on. But it then tells you essentially first of all it then gave us a rating out of 10.

46:20So in not even one minute I was told all the things that were not very nice about me my mark out of 10 and what I should do to get better and my 30-day transformation plan that involved i need to book a hair appointment to go blonde asap get some lash extensions i need to buy some fitted outfits i need to practice soft smiling in the mirror much more i need to upload on social media with main character energy i need a calorie controlled diet very important that came up what they said that's unbelievably toxic i need um body sculpting workouts i need laminating of my brows i need more contouring i did it for my husband he needs to drop down to 12 % body fat.

47:04He needs a chin filler. He has to practice mewing. I don't even know what that is to like move his jaw position around. And I just want to say, I don't think that I'm perfect or my husband's perfect. Obviously, Ria's perfect. But like, I'm not laughing at this being told that like I could do things to be more attractive. Like obviously I could, but it's this weird thing where I took a normal picture of myself at the train station. I put it in and it was like, Kiwa. I was like, you're like a six out of 10 this morning. But that's why I thought, I thought it's based on Barbie Ella because it was just telling you to dye your hair blonde.

47:37I was like, what is this program? Stacey must be a Barbie. All I thought since is like how dystopian, like how do I be a mother of two girls in this era? How concerning about this homogenization of beauty, this one look that's officially attractive. I mean, look, that's reductive but then I thought so I either I found it hilarious like as in the imagery of all of us I just thought was really funny and then I've been so kind of stuck on the dystopian concerning nature of the speed at which I can be told my flaws and the pressure to be quote-unquote perfect but then I thought gosh imagine if I had done this when I was 14 and as I said it took me one minute it was a free app it was like there was no barrier to entry here this should be banned this is the regulation we're calling for with social media this is another part of the equation and the danger it just stems into a million if you had like a little brainstorm chart you've got this ai in the middle in your little cloud bubble and your mind map is just overflowing with toxic dangerous results and i just think i you know being told all the things that like i don't know quote, quote, quote, flaws, if as I was younger and more insecure, I really don't think it would have been good for me.

48:55And I could imagine the speed at which I might have done lots of these things. And then we would have all looked the same. And I do think if I'm being honest, when I walk down the street now sometimes, and I go on social media, but social media in particular, there is this like element of people looking the same. It's like the Kardashians. It's like a kind of completely generated for screen image. People also look very made up all the time. I do wonder how they have the time. Like I do appreciate, I feel better when I get changed properly and I've brushed my hair and I've put maybe a bit of mascara on or something.

49:28You know, you can feel, you can feel very different. But what's very alarming is the level of effort that we know as women goes into looking even naturally put together in the morning. And that's not enough. No, gosh no. It's unbelievable to. Not for this. so yeah that's a very alarming beauty standard um that i really hope that we all are not going to be subjecting future generations to it's this weird tension between wanting to like be your kind of quote unquote best self in a normal way in the sense of i totally agree like i feel better if i get up 10 minutes earlier and i have a shower and i wash my hair and i put on a moisturizer and a bit of mascara and i love a blush and a brow gel have a good breakfast i'm out the door.

50:10Like I feel better when I do that versus like claw my hair back into a greasy bun and put on dirty leggings that have toothpaste on them. Like there's a 10 minute difference between the two. And I have to say my self-esteem is really different. And I did notice a period after we moved to the countryside where I was like greasy, greasy bun, dirty leggings, mud, dog hair, toothpaste, kids food. And I do, I remember catching myself in the mirror and being like, oh, I don't, I almost don't totally recognize myself. And it's an interesting tension between like doing the little things that make you feel great and confident but not feeling the pressure to kind of conform to this what feels like insanity and being a role model for your children you know them seeing it's okay to be a yourself and not have to dress up to that level and that there's so not be the same as everybody else not be the same as everyone else embrace our unique space which is why i'm just praying that all of these apps and social things get banned for children anyone with teenagers right now please let us know how you navigate these scary sites and what's going on or if you'd heard of it if you hadn't heard of it and we will see you back on thursday because we have once again a jam-packed episode your questions are getting better and better and also your recommendations aren't they ella they are we are going to be talking about kind of whether you can do it all there's some interesting questions and thoughts around something called the four burners theory i'm very excited to get into that we're going to to be talking about yeah some interesting questions that you guys had on kind of if your focus is more on wellness habits for health and other people's your friends or people around you more for aesthetics that's an interesting tension we're going to talk about there a little bit about all or nothing traps when it comes to food a little bit about nervous system health and looking after that a little bit about sugar cravings quite a lot and why we don't have to be perfect so a bit of a follow-on from that so yeah can't wait see you guys on Thursday bye Thank you.