Are Two Meals a Day Enough? Eating Well for Less & Coffee

0:00Plan B is a backup birth control option that's there for you when things don't go according to plan. It specifically works after unprotected sex and before pregnancy occurs by temporarily delaying ovulation. Plan B is available nationwide at all major retailers and through delivery apps like DoorDash. No ID, prescription, or age requirement. It's the number one OBGYN recommended brand of emergency contraception, and it won't impact your future fertility. That's Freedom the B. Use as directed. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for.

0:38You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. Honestly, if you have listened to me any time over the last few months, you know I have become a little bit evangelical about this app and I honestly recommend it to everyone. My friends, my family, people on Instagram, everyone.

1:17And she recommended it to me, so it's true. I've heard so much about it. It's just because it has had such a big impact on me. I've meditated on and off for 15 years or so now, but using the way is honestly the first time I've become so consistent with this daily practice. And I've just seen the most unbelievable results as a result of that. The app is just incredible. And what I love is every day you open it and there's a meditation waiting for you. So you don't scroll, that you don't have to choose between hundreds of options. There's no wondering what to do. It just takes you on a path. Well, I think that's why it works so well, because, you know, most of us just don't need more big decisions every day to make, Ella.

1:57No, exactly that. We've got decision fatigue, haven't we? So this is so nice because you just follow this path of meditation, which is led by Henry, the founder, who's just the most amazing teacher. And he makes it seem somehow just incredibly simple, but exceptionally profound at the same time, which is a very rare skill. And I've been using it too. Yes, I've now finally begun a meditation journey and I've been doing some of the shorter practices on busy days because I completely understand why you talk about it so much Ella it really is a nice intro in for me. Yeah it is and I'm so glad anyway it's helped me feel so much calmer less reactive more present it all sounds like huge claims but I just say please please please try it if you're struggling with stress or overwhelm you just got to give it a go.

2:42And the lovely thing is that everyone listening can definitely try it themselves. Exactly. So you can get a 30-day free trial. So just try it every day per month. It'll change your life. All you do is head to thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yeah, that's thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop.

3:05Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration hosted by us. I'm Ella Mills and I'm Rhiannon Lambert and after a decade in the wellness industry we know that it can be very overwhelming confusing and that's why we're here with our podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple fun and personal.

3:32So Ella what have you been up to? yeah we are gosh like five weeks into the school holidays now I feel like it is that kind of middle of summer I'm not really sure what day it is what time it is if I'm the right way up or not but no things are good I mean it's that bizarre feeling that I bet most of us have been having over the last few weeks where like I am loving this weather we're having so much fun outside picnics playing outside all day but also equally so alarmed by it the grass is so crispy it sounds like you're standing on like crunchy packets of something it's just nuts anyway but really some of my garden destroyed by it like kale and cavallonero and things like that which I was quite excited about literally burnt to a crisp but then other things gone nuts like I planted some cucumbers outside honestly I didn't have like huge hope for them I just had a few extra seeds so I did one in the greenhouse but I had two more so I just planted them outside to see what happens I had been away for five days and I had 12 cucumbers to harvest I mean it's absolutely insane I think I've got like a hundred courgettes they're just going bananas squashes so many squashes already my tomatoes anyway it's absolutely nuts but I am having that is my main thing I've never grown anything before in my life and as I said some things haven't worked I found like salad leaves type produce really hard but um I've got my first like cut flowers I grew some cosmos some daliets and I was cutting them yesterday I put them in a vase and I honestly so in the proudest moments anyway it's been really fun so that's really how I am that's so positive do you know I think it's really really nice there's two things there to reflect on from that the fact that anybody can start.

5:19But the second thing is obviously the fact that we are having unprecedented weather. I feel like I want to do like some kind of like rain dance ritual. I'm just desperate for it to rain for everybody. It's absolutely crazy. We know and we probably, I don't know, it might be headlines that we are going to have to cover in the coming year, but we're probably going to be seeing a massive impact on food chain supplies. So this will come up, I'm sure. Yeah, I think it well, we've already seen some things about how some crops, actually bananas, I saw a headline about. So we'll have a look at all of that because I think it will certainly be affected because so much of what we eat in the UK doesn't actually come from the UK, unfortunately.

5:59And so many other countries have actually been worse affected by these various different changes in climate anyway. It's, you know, the other thing though, that I was thinking yesterday when I was in the garden, I also just kind of for personal curiosity, planted different types of things. So I did like a yellow courgette plant, a kind of striped courgette plant, and then just your normal green courgette plant, or a zucchini for our American friends. And that's so cool because that's three different plants for my 30. And I've been enjoying that. Oh, she's in her plant point game, which I absolutely love.

6:33Ella, I feel like it's a very unusual time, like you've said, but it's been incredibly busy and manic. And if we move on to the health headlines that matter today. We're talking about cost, aren't we? We are talking about cost. Unsurprisingly, given what a huge kind of economic wave, tumble, whatever you want to call it, we've written over the last few years, it's not shocking that these are big headlines at the moment. But there are a lot of headlines about cost and diet at the moment. I think the big one, I'm pretty sure we actually mentioned it as a top line last week, is a huge report that's just come out of the UN showing that one in three people around the world cannot afford to eat a healthy diet.

7:17Absolutely. Now, I think what's really staggering here is that's around 2.7 billion people that still can't afford a healthy diet. And I think we have to really remember when we're discussing this, that we need to get rid of that old, you know, a misconception that you can eat healthily on a budget because it did used to be like that. It really did. Cost of living, it used to be that we could calculate at universities that if you cooked everything from scratch, you can eat well, but it's just not as simple today. And global hunger, a positive thing is that global hunger has fallen, yet costs have gone up.

7:56So hunger does not equate to the health status of what you're eating. And I think we have to remember this as well, that while we can feed more people, potentially, are we feeding them the right things? Yeah, exactly. I think that's what's really interesting is there's this strange contradiction at play. So it's actually the third year in a row that global hunger has fallen. Obviously, that's inherently such a positive thing. And I don't want to, and neither of us would want to detract from there. But it's interesting because this new report, and it was collated by five different agencies within the UN, and that includes the World Health Organization.

8:29What that shows is that whilst obviously that's inherently positive, as Rhi said, simply having enough calories is not the same as access to nutritious food. And it is this sort of strange world that we live in, in that sense. Anyway, I think we need to just sort of break it down a little bit more and talk about and get you, if you can, answering this question. Like it's probably is fair to say now that healthy eating is too expensive, right? Yeah. I mean, there's two stories just to summarise. So on average, the UN has estimated that the equivalent of 4.28 international dollars per person per day is above the international poverty threshold.

9:10So in many countries for people, if you put this, you know, more simply, we just don't have the income or access. I think we have to discuss access just as much as money here. You know, where you live, there are areas that are described as food deserts in some places, you know, it depends, you know, not everyone has the garden where they can grow fresh produce. Not everybody has access to supermarkets and different places. And I think it's really, really important that we discuss income and access together. But then there's the second conversation about what does this actually mean for us in countries in the UK?

9:43And what we also now need to factor in is climate change and what we've discussed at the beginning of this podcast. So let's not oversimplify it too much. But yes, food prices have increased dramatically. It does absolutely impact families. But I also think there's a confusing topic, Ella, because healthy eating doesn't have to mean you have to buy everything organic or wellness. And I think that's also something that applies perhaps to the Wellness Group podcast in particular here is that you do not have to buy exotic foods. You don't have to buy avocados to be healthy. And that's such a cliche wellness food, I suppose.

10:21I mean, it shouldn't be. It's just a beautiful fruit, but it's imported. And you don't have to eat pomegranates to be healthy and have glowing skin. Yet, you know, we forget about the humble peas and carrots and potatoes that we sadly will probably get shortages of this year. You know, we forget about all the simple foods in our cupboards, the oats that have been demonized online unfairly that shouldn't be, which are the most cost effective way to feed your family in the morning if you buy in bulk. I mean, you can do so many overnight oat dishes, porridges, pancakes, bread, recipes with oats, beans, pulses.

10:57And I just think it's so important that we don't lose sight of that. Yeah, I think that's such an interesting point, actually, because as you said, so the cost now of a healthy diet on average across the world is 4.28 international dollars per person per day. But that doesn't necessarily equate to exactly what it costs in the UK. what we know and we've seen from the food foundation reports etc the broken plate we've seen over the last few years is it's now clear that health eating is out of reach unfortunately for certain people even with this within this country and interestingly like i was reading the wellness scoop inbox last night and we had a lovely listener who's based up in quite rural scotland and she was saying you know it's really difficult because she's got two very small supermarkets near her tesco's and the sainsbury's and what she's saying is like the amount of fresh produce in those shops is so so tiny versus you know all sorts of rubbish basically you know you can't get an online delivery service like an ocado or something like that and so actually there isn't this huge amount of choice which actually if you live in london or the surrounding areas you do see which is interesting but then there's also the issue of play as you said which is that what healthy is is now equated to things that are inherently more expensive and kind of more glossy or aesthetic or tick tocky or whatever it is and actually tick tocky just made me tick tocky but it's true but exactly where it's actually like a humongous bag of like dried red lentils is incredibly cost effective and incredibly nutritious and you can make a huge you know a huge pot of dal or something like that and can be really quite cost effective.

12:41But, you know, A, it requires time. B, it requires confidence in the kitchen. And C, it really isn't, I don't think, what we equate top of mind with healthy. When we think healthy, we do kind of think wellness world, Gwyneth Paltrow, powders, rainbow bowls, exotic fruits, influences in Bali. In bras, sports bras and gym equipment or in their kitchen doing what I eat in a day's. The cost of all of that is very different, isn't it? It is. I think you summarised it beautifully. And that's what I love about the Wellness Coop is we'll keep trying to bring it back to basics that some of the healthiest meals, like Ella said, are made with your lentils, your pulses, your beans, your produce that you have at home.

13:22You do not need to be eating all of these powders, potions, exotic things in your diet. It is literally, what's the old saying that there was like meat and two veg or, you know, there was like a saying like but it could be like beans and two veg anyone please our brains are clearly frazzled this morning please send over what these old sayings are hook a girl up but no what's interesting as well is so we're moving house in two weeks a week after this episode comes out and i'm therefore really trying like not to buy lots of new things and actually cook with because it's obviously just unnecessary to pack up things and move them from one house to another if we could just eat them in the next couple of weeks and so I'm trying hard not to kind of really buy a huge amount over the next couple of weeks obviously I'll buy like bananas and apples and stuff for the kids but otherwise like make our main meals from bits I have in the cupboard freezer stash Ella exactly and it's you know I just have like you know I don't know yesterday for lunch I just found a pack of old orzo and I had literally like I don't know 15 % of the pack left.

14:29But I was like, great, this is just wasteful if I don't use this. And I made from the freezer, I had edamame, I had some leftover pasta. I had this orzo and I just did a really simple edamame and orzo salad. It was delicious, but it did make me think as well. I think probably collectively, we're not always amazing at being creative. We're always like, oh, it's the newness thing, isn't it? Like, oh, I'm going to make this recipe, but actually we often have really good ideas at the back of the cupboard. And there's one more thing I would say totally separate to the headline, but I guess on the back of using your cupboard.

15:02I know we have lots of people listening who will be looking after children over the summer holidays. Cooking three meals a day for children over summer holidays is exhausting. I think it's fair to say. Even packing lunch boxes, Ella, for camps is exhausting every single day. And having ideas for it. And the one thing I would say as well, I said this to myself the other day and if it's helpful for anyone this goes for adults though as well like and feeding ourselves I think also sometimes they take the pressure off this whole point of like meals not having to be perfect like we've done loads of it so it's hot like picky bits you know the girls really like hot chocolate and you know they they drink milk so I'll do like whole milk with dark chocolate hot chocolate they had crackers with peanut butter on them they had fruit they had some dried mango it's some seaweed they thought it was like the best dinner ever and actually like if I broke it down I was like it's actually still quite nutritious there was no washing up there was no effort anyway I think sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to keep pulling rabbits out of hats when it comes to eating well and looking after ourselves and actually you know what remember like toast with a topper it's a great meal even just getting a can of baked beans out sometimes if that's what you've got in your cupboard just put some cucumber sticks next to it alongside the toast or something it's all about those picnicy items and not everything has to be a gourmet home-cooked meal and a big one-pot dish like not every single day thank you for reminding us about that Alex I feel like it you know it can become you just have this guilt feeling yeah I think we often feel like we've got to do it all perfectly and yeah you just don't no we really don't and which moves us on to headline two could better health be the UK's best economic investment?

16:51Now, I actually think this is something that we try to talk about a lot on the podcast. But preventative measures are very difficult at the moment with current climate. But restoring Britain's health to the levels that we saw back in 2014 could add 2 % to GDP. And that's according to Think Tank. Now, the Health Foundation paper argues that health is an economic asset, which we know and improving it could generate Ella 72 billion for public finances. Yeah. It's so interesting this. And obviously like, it's an interesting one. I always think for us on this show, which is like, I am a big believer within reason and bear with me guys of like, stay in your lane, you know, as in like, be, be an expert in what you are an expert in and leave other things for the people.

17:41But with health, there are, you know, there's always the lane next to you. And the reality is, as there is in anything, the reality is the cost of health has such a huge impact on us all. And so not looking after ourselves obviously has an impact on us, but it doesn't just have an impact on us, has an impact on everybody and the taxes we pay and the access to healthcare that everyone's able to get. And so we do think it's really, really interesting when you look at this. And what I think is particularly really interesting, is they're just comparing the health of the UK today to health of 2014.

18:17So we're only talking about 12, 12 and a half years ago. But if we could revert back to our health in 2014 versus today, that could increase GDP by around 2%. So this is adding tens and tens of billions in economic output, which is absolutely extraordinary. I mean, how have we gone wrong in 10, 12 years. I mean, well, I know we've gone wrong. It's just the fact that I just do not feel like there is enough focus on it. And I understand there's constant battles in different areas. COVID happened and then people talked about Brexit in this country and now we're looking at climate change and there's so many other priorities, but I just feel like it gets pushed to the bottom.

18:58It gets spoken about and then pushed down further and further down the priority list. Whereas you're right, Ella, all of our health impacts us as we age. And also, we know that we don't have a large population to follow suit. So the younger generation's birth rates are also declining massively for a variety of reasons. We're not going to have a population that can support the elderly population at some point too. It's a big... Yeah, it's a huge topic. And there is just this kind of fundamental issue here that I think we often as a collective, I don't mean as any of us as individuals, but as a collective don't, I think in some ways want to be honest about, which is the reality of the fact that how we eat and our collective lifestyles has a huge impact on our health.

19:48And what we have seen in that time, as we know, as we've talked about is the UK is one of the only countries in the Western world where our health span has declined. And during this period, this 12 years we're talking about the number of working age adults who are living with long-term health conditions has increased from 11.7 million to 15.7 million and that is again we talk about this often but like that is alarm bells and that is also huge sympathy to each and every one of those people who are suffering but equally like we have we have just got to turn the tide when it comes to our health and I think it's so interesting because then you have this pushback from people don't regulate industries don't be in any state don't tell people what to do but equally it's a really interesting dilemma because i also think we should look after ourselves and look after each other as we always talk about and as we just talked about a second ago when the environment we live in is the obesogenic environment that people talk about where upf's absolutely everywhere where it's incredibly difficult and expensive to access proper food it becomes incredibly difficult not to over time develop these health conditions because they are inherently linked to our lifestyle and to our diet.

21:01So there are many different facets that would normally hold people accountable that we now lack in this country. You've got the food culture, which we no longer have, which we know we have sort of lost. Some cultures in the world have strong family values around food, you know, different cultural celebrations around food. They disrespect nutrition and diet in a very different way and the way they live their lives. We lack that here. We also, I mean, that in the UK, we have lots of different religions and we all cohabit beautifully and peacefully, hopefully most of the time, forever and always.

21:35But what happens here is that we all share different food values. We share different life values. And without a sort of nanny state, there is no one kind of overarching, almost, I don't want to use the word rule, but guide to abide to because healthy living is no longer seen as a necessity. Whereas, you know, decades ago, we had more food poverty, food was more scarce. It was really seen as a luxury. I feel we just look at food in such a different way now because of convenience food. There's so many elements I want to go into here because I think it really stems into the psychosocial aspect of our food world, how we view the world of food, how we grow up with food, how we respect it, how we respect movement, lifestyle and our own health and also our self-esteem.

22:23Our mental health plays a massive role here, Ella, because we have low mental health rates now. I actually have an incredible clip that I'm going to play to you probably this Thursday on the Extra Scoop. So remind me to come back to this because it was the most amazing speech and I really feel that we should play it. But the fact that we could generate 72 billion to public finances if we just returned to what we did in 2014 when we weren't necessarily the picture of health it was just before social media though do you see what i mean social media ruined it the thing is the impact on our mental health yeah has been absolutely cataclysmic anyway it's so interesting someone actually really told me off on our email inbox for repeating myself so i apologize for this but i'm going to repeat myself again here just to add on to it one more time which is that i've been talking about doing this screen free summer too much.

23:16So I apologize to that person, but I have been just finding it the most interesting exercise because the more that we kind of really zone in on these things, the more, I guess you notice people around you. And like we're five weeks into it now, and I'm going to say my kid's behavior is unrecognizable, absolutely unrecognizable. And equally we were on holiday for a few days this week and I was watching, and I don't say this with judgment because I know this is the norm and I know it can be overwhelming and overstimulating parenting children and there are specific reasons that parents need to use this so I understand I'm just talking about the general norm but we're sitting by the pool and there were three children in a family very similar age to my children and they were all on their own screen and I just was thinking I'm not talking about them specifically I'm just talking about a generation of people.

24:09If you can't be entertained sitting by a pool, which was a super busy pool as well, it's like lots to watch and, you know, lots going on with two siblings and you and your parents in a new place with a swimming pool, you know, on holiday, like if you can't be stimulated then are we setting up a generation of people who could never be interested in, entertained? Like if that is so boring you need a screen like what is fun and that really like I'd be really stuck on that where like if we can't and I'm not talking about an aeroplane or like a long journey where like you are stuck in a seat for a long time it's very different but like I was walking around the park in London the other day and you've got all these babies watching a screen I'm like isn't the duck in the pond and the people on the path and the bicycles and the other children like isn't that the entertainment like if you can't be entertained then like and I just honestly I keep looking at it I'm like what kind of generation are we going to have I think we're learning um that that's exactly the issue and also I don't I don't think parent well this is a whole other topic but having the confidence to realize like you said the duck is enough and I obviously completely agree my bugbear from my um area is is food and screams you know I'm saying it to adults just as much to children in clinic, every time they come in the re-trition clinic, are you eating lunch with your laptop on?

25:31You are breaking those digestive signals. You know, you're not absorbing the food effectively. And I think we've all realized, it's interesting, in my local David Lloyd, it was one of my bugbears. I really couldn't stand it. They had screens in the kids' soft play area, all these tablets lined up in the corner. And I've never let my kids go on it because I've always been a bit strict. Well, I've always been very strict on screens. I've never really let them play with them. But my boys would always be so upset. Why can't I go and sit over there? And I was always the parent that said no. And now last week they took them away.

26:05They've just vanished, Ella. And I'm wondering if it's because of this new band and they're realizing finally, hey, we're a health and fitness company. Why are we putting screens in the kids' soft play? Oh my gosh. If anyone listening works with David Lloyd, let us know because that is so interesting.

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27:06You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. from a browse to a bike ride this summer find more on Facebook

27:29okay so I find that there's a coffee headline probably every month but one that rears its head every few months that's quite a big topic that Ella and I can dive into yeah this really made me laugh actually when I saw it I think if this really makes me laugh it sounds like I don't have much going on in my life it's more just that people love a coffee headline anyway this one said five cups of coffee a day is safe heart experts weigh in and i was like five cups of coffee is i love coffee you guys probably know this for now but five cups of coffee it is quite a lot but probably made a lot of people very very happy anyway re tell us what was happening here this was a new statement right from the american heart association look can i first of all just say most portion sizes of cups of coffee are about three in one.

28:20If you go to a Starbucks, even if you order a small, you've probably had more than what they are classifying as an average cup of coffee. Could we just remember that there's a lot of nuance behind these? Now, I understand why cardiologists aren't trained in nutrition, but would potentially say this because of course, you know, moderate coffee consumption, I use the word moderate as associated with good cardiovascular outcomes. So, right, the stats here are that after looking at all of the research, they concluded that 400 milligrams of caffeine a day is the safe amount. Now, in pregnancy, and I know this obviously at the moment being pregnant, you can have up to 200 milligrams of coffee a day, which is usually one cup for most average people, one cup, maybe one and a half.

29:09They say 400 milligrams is roughly four to five small eight ounce cups of coffee. Now, to most adults, you're probably having two cups and you're going to be making 400 depending on the barista. So I find this a really deceptive headline. I just want to caveat by saying that. So just to conclude, if I understand correctly, really what we're saying here, the headlines all said five cups. Most people were like, yes, I can feed my coffee addiction. But really, if you actually break it down with the amount of caffeine that we're considering in terms of the scientific statement made by the American Heart Association, what we're actually talking about for the majority of adults is two, possibly three, but it's not really five cups because no one drinks coffee that small.

29:57Yeah. And if you're buying your coffee, it's like 40 quid a day on coffee. So let's just have a think about what we're doing here. Look, it's associated. Let's use the word associated. Imagine seeing that on a piece of paper underlined. That doesn't mean concretely concludes it's good for you. It's associated with a lower risk. So a lower risk is good of cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart failure, and type 2 diabetes. But that doesn't then make coffee a panacea against how you're living your life. If you're already highly stressed, working in an environment where your cortisol's raised consistently, summer holidays, you're probably just stressed because you're parenting or it's very hot and the heat wave's stressing you out, especially for women in this weather.

30:38The heat and the caffeine is also a bit of a concern. We know that women struggle more than men in the heat. So just having those extra cups of coffees probably isn't going to lower your risk if you're already not actively living a lifestyle that already supports this. The science comes from the polyphenols, Alice. So it comes from the actual coffee bean itself. also the quality of the coffee here also dictates the outcome. So all the bioactive compounds, they have the anti-inflammatory properties and they support our blood vessels. And also coffee helps vasodilate our blood vessels. So actually, if you're already stressed, you're helping an inflammatory response sometimes that you don't want.