Can You Eat Your Skincare? Berberine & Female Probiotics

0:00I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. honestly if you have listened to me anytime 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 and 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 it's 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.

0:38The 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 most of us just don't need more big decisions every day to make, Ella. No, 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.

1:14And I've been using it too. Yes, I've now finally begun my 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 and 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.

2:04Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're both here as your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhiannon Lambert. And today is the wonderful episode where we take your questions and we give our recommendations. Let's go. We are going to be talking about whether you can eat your way to better skin. is berberine really nature's a zempic a female probiotics we've had loads of questions on that worth the money the surprising truth about cholesterol lowering spreads marmite superfood or overhyped how to apply mediterranean diet principles um to any cuisine and obviously all our latest recommendations and some of yours too so yeah loads today bumper episode bumper episode now ella i know you're in the midst of moving house um also while she's moving house she managed to host me and the kids and we had the best day.

2:59We had lemonades outside. I felt like I was at some kind of spa and Ella made me a salad. And it was, I mean, when I say spa, I mean, when you've got two children on a play date, that's how relaxed I felt. It was great. Well, they disappeared off and like made a den, which is always the dream scenario. Anyway, no, we really deserved a relaxing day off. She just worked so hard. It's unbelievable. And it was really lovely. So Ella, thank you for having me, but you have been very busy. so how are you feeling now if you had a better a better week with moving yeah well next time we talk i will be settled and i can't wait but i have a recommendation guys for you that i'm like bursting to tell you which is okay i don't know if anyone watched i don't even know if i mentioned it i must have watched it a year or so ago on netflix a show called the people we meet on vacation or people we meet you did mention it yes yes oh my gosh so the lady who wrote those books She's called Emily Henry.

3:53Have you read any of her books? Emily Henry? No. Okay. So I didn't know about her either, but I've been really struggling to get into a book over the last few weeks. I think probably just lots going on. And I've keep trying to read like intense books, like books where you have to work for it. And I just don't think that's really my moment right now. And then I love, um, I've mentioned her before. I love the writer Pandora Sykes. I love her sub stack. She she basically had been on this binge essentially of these, I don't want to call them trashy because they're actually really nice to read, but like light, easy read rom-coms that are kind of a book talk, TikTok sensation at the moment.

4:34And I thought, okay, she loves them. I'm going to love them. Went to Paddington the next day because I was in London, bought an Emily Henry called happy place oh my gosh I read it in 36 hours it was a happy place it was so it's such an easy read it's a really cute rom-com kind of book like it's really I don't know I hated all the Colleen Hoover stuff I just found it so dark like I don't want darkness and something I think if you're going to tackle dark or like heavy topics you need to do it personally with a bit more sensitivity I don't like that mixed into kind of rom-com vibes. I just find it weird.

5:12What's interesting is I was looking at the most successful, um, what was it I sent to you? Because I made a joke. Ella sent me a list of things. I was like, Oh, all of them say murder, kill or die. We love like murder books. Anyway, these are just really like light and cute. Anyway, so happy place. If you just want a book that will like distract you from the world and make you feel warm and fuzzy, it's so good. and I've now bought all four of her other books. I'm so excited to read them. Just 10 out of 10 recommend. I love that. And hopefully you'll get a good night's sleep because you can read that before bed tonight and help you switch off.

5:48But stop the caffeine now, Ella. She's had her coffee. That's enough now. But I get so addicted to these books. I then can't sleep because I'm just like desperate to finish them. That's what happens to me. And then I end up staying later because I'm just so desperate to turn the page just to get to another page, just get to another page. That's a good recommendation. Thank you. on the flip side, I have a completely different recommendation. I haven't finished it yet, but it's a podcast series called We Call Her Emma. And it's from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer. And it's such an interesting, I'm halfway through the six episodes, but I so recommend it so far.

6:25I normally listen to kind of quite like easy to listen to podcasts, like the rest is entertainment. What category is that? We Call Her Emma? I don't know. It's basically trying to understand the wife of Assad in Syria and how you go from a London girl. She's born and bred in London to the heart of one of the world's most brutal dictatorships ever. She was quite sort of assimilated into Western culture. People called her Emma, which is where the name comes from, of the show. How do you go from that to the heart of a dictatorship? and it's a really interesting investigation and it's a nice mix of like archive footage, interviews and the journalist.

7:08Anyway, it's a really, it's just a really interesting investigation. I really recommend it. That's a good rack, Carla. I did something completely different. I've never done anything like this in my life before. I messaged out of the day I did it, but I had a bust made of the bump. It's so cool. It's cool. Very unnerving to walk into someone's house stand there completely naked take off all your clothes take off all your clothes and they go around you with this it's called studio bust and they're featured in vogue and all sorts of incredible um outlets and they make the most beautiful sculptures you can pick the color you know green or marble or whatever you do but it's just a memory i wanted to get you know i won't ever be pregnant again so i wanted to do that and i have to say um they made me feel really at ease.

7:57I was a very nervous seller. It's not something I've ever done in my life before. Just go and stand like that in front of somebody else. Show me how to pose, you know. I think it's so cool. I remember seeing these after I was pregnant and thinking that's amazing. And I think also just, you know, on Monday we were talking about body image and, you know, feeling comfortable and empowered in our own selves. And pregnancy is a time of huge change of the body. And I think celebrating those changes, it's really amazing. I love it. I think so. I think it's really important as women that we look that everybody is different.

8:30And also for me personally, the changes are just, they're different every time, but similar. But, you know, your hips get wider, you get more areas of storage. There's all sorts of different things that happen when you become pregnant. So that's what I did. But I also did something very serious, Ella. I also went on that day as well to get my moles checked. And I think I spoke about that last time, but I have my results back. and I did have a lesion that I didn't know existed. And I think I shared that with you all last time. I just want to reiterate again, how important it is to just get it checked.

9:04Then at least you can just get it removed or dealt with very, very quickly. So you can ask your GP and say, how do I go about getting checked? Or you can visit clinics like that, Skintel Place. Great recommendation. We also have a recommendation from you guys, which is so nice called Knitting Badly. That was the subject of the email. Now, a few weeks ago, you answered my question on the pod, which was about meditation and how I felt I wanted to get into mindfulness. But meditation wasn't a go for me. Ella recommended that I try other activities like mindful coloring. Well, I went to an op shop.

9:37I think this is a charity shop, but in a different country. And got two knitting needles and some yarn for less than one Australian dollar, which is equivalent apparently of about 50p in the UK. And I have started knitting very badly. What I've learned is that it's super easy to fall into a what the hell effect. By this, I mean when something isn't perfect, there's a temptation to restart and get it perfect. Knitting badly though is awesome. There's no pressure. I can miss a stitch. I can somehow do a double stitch, knotted, messy, thing go. But the whole point is the exercise is to focus and enjoy being present.

10:09It doesn't matter how it ends up. It might take me years before I ever gift a knitted item to a friend or complete something that resembles some semblance of clothing. But I'd much rather knit badly and get lost in time doing that than scrolling endlessly on social media. So that's my rack. Isn't that a great rack? So good. Do you remember that? Who was it that knitted at Wimbledon? They were sat there with knitting needles. Do you remember it went viral? Well, it was Tom Daly that was knitting when he was doing his like, I don't know if it was the Olympics or Commonwealth Games or, you know, like huge sporting event.

10:40and he was knitting by the side of the pole. That was it. And it really resurfaced, didn't it? Knitting was like a real, a real cool trend. Thank you so much for sharing that. Do you know what? When we were on holiday with some friends, our friend was doing this. It was like a kind of cross-stitch type thing. And she said the same thing. She said she'd bought it online and she was spending way too much time on her phone and she didn't want to do that with the kids. And so it kind of kept her busy. And it was, it's really cool. Anyway, I also just want to say what I also love that you've highlighted as well is this not needing to do it perfectly.

11:11Often when we have a hobby, we want to be really good at our hobby. You don't need to be really good at your hobby. It doesn't matter. It really, really doesn't matter, everybody. We have a pickup now that I think is really important to discuss. Oh, and I also forgot to say in September, I don't know whether to do it or not. I'm thinking of running a fussy eating course for parents that are struggling with kids that might be fussy eaters. Just on a side note, anybody message me if you're interested in that. And then Bananagate continues. I knew it would. Do you know when something goes so viral and it's so absurd and we were so cross about it, weren't we?

11:49I knew we'd get more. Okay. Do you want to read that out? Okay. So we have an email from a listener who said, I've wanted to email in so many times, but your story about the banana in the smoothie has literally caused me to stop hanging the washing to make sure I do not forget to message you guys. Honestly, I'm just feeling way more confused about the wellness world after the banana in the smoothie story. It is not the first time I've heard about the banana. Just a reminder, this is a viral video where this lady is saying to Mel Robbins, the very famous podcast host and author, that you shouldn't put bananas and blueberries together in a smoothie because essentially the banana will ruin the impact of the polyphenols in the blueberries.

12:27So some well-respected people in the industry have previously shared something along this line, mostly on their Instagram page. I've considered them really trustworthy in the past and seemingly balanced sources of information, even though I know they're selling me a product, so I'm not totally blind to that. But now I just don't even know where to turn to her advice. I realize she may not be able to answer this on air because it's obviously controversial. I actually have removed the name of the account because I think this is probably better. But I'd appreciate knowing if the info that was shared is substantially different or if it is all just complete nonsense.

12:58I'm so confused. I'm pretty sure this person says they don't ever mix their banana and berries because it can minimize the impact of the polyphenols in the berries. Thank you so much for that message, because I think everybody feels the same. One thing that I just want to reiterate in the world of social media and especially nutrition is that everybody seems to think they're a dietician or nutritionist these days. and you know you can have professors that don't specialize in the subject that actually some of their work does fall into a bit of food therefore they end up discussing it or you get researchers in laboratories you get general practice doctors that start talking about it on tv and none of them have actually done any extensive training in how to look at public health nutrition so they get very excited when they discuss research.

13:48And often when that research is relayed to the public, it then misses the mark because they're just discussing black and white like you would in a science laboratory. Yes, it's true. When you blend a banana and blueberries together, some of the key flavanols, polyphenols, those wonderful antioxidants might vary in quantity, but it doesn't inherently make what you consume less worthy or bad because you get a whole host of other benefits too. And you probably also eat in isolation a banana from time to time and blueberries. And then sometimes you blend them together. And I think what's often taken out of context with these larger accounts is that very point there that, you know, they're discussing the bit of research and perhaps they should have somebody warning them about the consequences on the general public.

14:37But equally, some accounts just don't care. I just want to put it out there. they just want things to go viral they think they're doing the right thing there's a complete dichotomy on social media you'll get influencers as well telling you that what I eat in a day videos let's use that as a very good example here doesn't mean it applies to everybody else and just because one laboratory study has showed this doesn't make it any less beneficial for everybody else and I could go on on one there I just feel like it the nutrition world everyone thinks they're an expert because they eat you know look ultimately there's so much nuance in everything as well and as we said like everything starts from something but is your blueberry banana kefir hemp seed almond butter smoothie pointless no um there's still so much great stuff in there could a polyphenol in the blueberries be slightly reduced sure does that mean you shouldn't have something which then has loads of fiber and lots of other vitamins and minerals and is going to make you feel really good.

15:41No. So I just feel like it's reductive and overly simplifying something which is highly nuanced and complex. Reductive. Social media is unable to deliver nuance and complex individualized nutrition and it will always keep delivering consistently reductive content. I saw more on the glucose page the other day that I was just so just wanting to bury my head in the sand from what I was reading. But we have a different recommendation here which I think is about celebrating a food that's been demonized and I'm all for that. It's from Nina in Scotland. Nina has said, I wanted to recommend my bread maker.

16:18I need to get my bread maker back out. You know, I need to get back on that. I don't know if you've spoken about it before, but I've had it for six years. It's a game changer. I'm discovering all about the ultra processed food world and I've stopped buying what I used to buy with the limited time and headspace I have. And she doesn't have the time to make it by hand. So she loves her bread maker, Ella. She said, I usually make it in the evening, put it on a timer so I can wake up in the morning and the house smells like fresh bread. I mean, that's so house on prairie vibes. I know. She said it's tastier.

16:50She can chuck in different things like seeds, dried fruit, et cetera. Great for your 30 plants a week. And I just, I thought it was really good. Anyway, she recommended the Panasonic SD specifically R2530. She said it's costly initially, but it's worth looking on marketplace and Vinted or Facebook pages because it's often being sold so much cheaper there. She got hers as a gift, but loads of people ask for recommendations. She loves it. Anyway, I thought that was a really nice rack because actually, as you said, like bread can be one of those things where, as you always say, can be deem nice. It's actually amazing.

17:21Put some delicious beans on top, avocado, all sorts of yummy things. It's an amazing carrier for loads of nutrition. It's super, super easy, but there is a, you know, there is a continuum. there is a hierarchy of bread from bread that's really very beneficial for you and bread that's slightly lacking. And actually, it's a really cool way to get great bread at home every day. Let's celebrate that. Oh, it's what I'm craving now. I'm getting hungry. Me too. I really want some bread. Me too. Just with some nice bread and butter or bread and bay beans. And also, before I forget to include, I had reached out to get some more expert opinions on dental health because we've had so many questions as well about fluoride and I'm seeing so I saw someone release a podcast recently Ella as well that said why don't use fluoride and actually what dentists suggest is very different so I've got a bit of extra information here about that so let's go into that.

18:17My name is Dr. Rona and I am one of the co-founders of Farla Oil Care. So ultimately so many products on the market what's really interesting as well is that we speak to people for example just had a launch in holland barrett they're so conscientious of their digestion their skin and then they'll use the standard toothpaste and the thing is with the standard toothpaste a lot of the traditional ones contain slf titanium dioxide and all these chemicals are really not great for your body you know the ones classic three stripes bright colors those are full of colors and chemicals what we wanted to do is create a ingredient let brand that only has all of the good stuff and none of the nasties.

18:54With regards to fluoride, fluoride is obviously a key ingredient to help prevent tooth decay, especially important in developing dentition and an adult dentition also helps prevent, but it's about the amount of fluoride and obviously on a topical level, it's in your paste, not the water, which is different to systemic, it's controlled. And the systemic debate is the one that people get a little bit upset about. Now, if people don't want fluoride, we're not opposed to it, but you have to have a certain amount of hydroxyapatite hydroxyapatite is the key ingredient which forms the building blocks of enamel it actually causes high gloss and shine to the teeth it's a bit like vitamin c for the skin it's really good for you so if you have another hydroxyapatite you don't need fluoride that's the fluoride hydroxyapatite same conversation that's going on but the natural ones that don't contain any fluoride or not a high enough level because about the efficacy as you know that's not good with regards to probiotics so you've got good bacteria in your mouth bad bacteria and just like anything like the products out there in the market for the gut something that helps with the good bacteria is going to be good for you and we know as well that ultimately the balance of bacteria in your mouth helps um can contribute to systemic diseases so you have elevated proportions of certain types of bacteria contributes to inflammation which is why there has been a link between the bacteria in your mouth heart disease diabetes etc dementia even So it's really exciting stuff that's coming out there.

20:17And we also have a probiotic mouthwash as well. Hey, guys. So, yeah, just to answer these questions quickly. So number one on fluoride, obviously one of the most hotly discussed topics in dentistry and oral care at the moment. For Parlour, one of our core reasons for existence is to improve oral health. And dental decay is still one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. Around 40 % of people in the UK have dental decay. currently and it's the number one reason for children to have gem around anesthetic at hospital is to have their teeth taken out because of dental decay so fluoride is one of if not our best defender against dental decay with the modern sort of highly sugar-filled diet that most people have and so it's really important for us that we are helping to reduce dental diseases with our goals with Parlour.

21:12Obviously, we want to do that with the cleanest ingredient deck possible. So we don't want any ingredients in there that don't need to be in there. But fluoride is one that at the moment, based on the current science, we do believe that it does need to be in there. We are investigating newer research on different molecules, which could replace fluoride. But that is still very much new information. Number two, on the oral microbiome side of things. so obviously uh the the mouth is the start of the gut the oral microbiome and the gut microbiome are very very closely linked um there's actually evidence of the microbiome of the mouth actually having multiple different impacts on gut health and being linked with things like ibs on top of that the oral microbiome guides your risk profile around gum disease and gum disease has got very very strong links now with other chronic inflammatory conditions of the whole body.

22:06So diseases such as diabetes, where it has a bi-directional synergy, things like heart disease, Alzheimer's, so many different chronic inflammatory conditions have now been linked with gum disease. So improving your microbiome, improving your gut health, really, really important for your whole body wellness. Next point on plastic, 20 billion plastic toothpaste tubes made every single year. that is obviously contributing hugely to the microplastic waste that we see going into our ocean and back into our bodies and then finally in terms of that natural toothpaste that you can use that are on the market you just need to be really really careful the key thing with parlor is that we want to be as clean as possible every ingredient that goes into our products has to fight for its place in there but that we're not removing everything that is important for protecting our mouths from decay, gum disease, all of those different conditions that unfortunately are still far too prevalent.

23:02So what we don't want to see is people choosing something that makes them feel like they're doing something which is better for their health with a cleaner deck, but then actually seeing them increase their risk of decay, getting more cavities, more root canals, more pain, more problems, and more poorer health. So that's our position on the ingredient selection.

23:23the first question today is from angela angela has said first can you enlighten us on what stanols and sterols are i know they're an effective way to lower bad cholesterol and i've been very conscious of adding more of them to my family's diet and she said especially for my dad who's been dealing with cholera and heart disease i've read that reaching the recommended amounts of stanols and sterols is most easily done with foods that are fortified with them. But I found that the most accessible fortified sources are margarine spread. And she's found this confusing, obviously, because of the UPF conversations, I think she says, butter versus margarine.

24:00Are there equally rich plant-based and less processed sources of stanols and sterols? Or should I stop turning up my nose at margarine, especially for lowering back cholesterol? It is a good question. There's a lot of science there. It's a great question. Actually, Angela has two fantastic questions. The second one's about the Mediterranean diet, but we're going to do that second, right, because I think let's unpack, first of all, what standouts and sterols even are. Can you give us a nice, understandable overview, Ray? This again is why we shouldn't be demonizing all foods and the distinction between certain people living with certain conditions and the power of what we have been able to do.

24:36So it is a really important distinction to understand. So plant sterols and plant standouts are naturally occurring compounds. You find them in your healthy fats, your nuts, your seeds, vegetable oils. Yes, controversial everybody, but they contain them. Fiber rich foods like whole grains, legumes, some fruits, veg. So they're structurally similar to cholesterol, but that's why they work because cholesterol has a role in the body as well. So when you eat them, they compete with cholesterol for absorption in the small intestine. So remember that's the smaller, very long intestine. And that's where you absorb a lot of vitamins and minerals into your bloodstream.

25:13And that's before your digestion goes into your large intestine, which is where your belly bugs and all sorts of things, the good gut bacteria, the microbiome reside. Then your liver pulls more of that bad cholesterol out of the blood and it makes bile acids. And that helps lower the amount of bad cholesterol you've got circulating in your blood at one time. So that's why they have such a powerful role at reducing cholesterol because they actively remove, take and take them away from circulating your bloodstream. So the challenge is, of course, getting enough of those in and you can get those from those foods, which is why a lot of the time when we have, you know, I've got predisposed high cholesterol, but my ratio is good of HDL to LDL, good to bad.

25:57You can't just look at the total cholesterol number and get an accurate reading. But although these compounds occur naturally in food, they are very small. And I think to get the amount that you need, just like with studies that suggest supplements do X, Y, Z, you need to have quite a lot of them. And clinical trials to reduce cholesterol suggest you need 1.5 to 3 grams a day. So that's a really unrealistic amount of just spread, for instance, to have in your diet. But spreads then become crucial. So alongside your nuts, your seeds, your healthy fats, if you did just replace your butter in the morning for that stanal spread, I'd say that was probably a very good swap if you have raised LDL cholesterol, because that's going to actively help reduce the amount.

26:44It's one of the few nuances when it comes to buying these sorts of items in the health world that is backed up by scientific research. So for instance, there's been large systematic reviews and international cardiovascular guidelines that consistently show if you consume two grams of plant sterols or stanols daily, they do lower cholesterol by up to 12 % within three weeks. So you notice differences very, very quickly. But it's the context. I'm sure Ella will explain in a minute as well that we are trying to minimize overall ultra processed foods in someone's diet. And if you don't have a history of heart disease and you're not predisposed with cholesterol, you don't need to be opting for these large spreads at all.

27:26And perhaps that's when the butter is in smaller amounts is good for you. But you have to remember that the traditional butter that's not as processed or has gone through as many degrees of processing is high in saturated fat and quantity still matters. So I could go off on that there, Ella, I think. But what I'd say is for this particular individual, a spread is probably a good addition to lower if they've got a diagnosis like that to lower it with heart disease. But for other people listening who don't have that issue, you're going to get your standouts, your steroids from a plant rich diet.