Food for Healing, Are Oats Good? & Mindset Shifts

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0:29I 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. 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 is honestly the first time we've become so consistent with this daily practice. And I've just seen the most unbelievable results as a result of that.

1:08The 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. 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.

1:44And 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.

2:20So 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. Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always we're both here as your host today I'm Ella Mills and I'm Rhiannon Lambert and we are here for one of the best parts of the week where we take your recommendations and your questions it's a busy show today Ella let's dive in I have to say we're doing this online today and I have my first ever sty it's just a baby one so I can't really complain but I look like an absolute weirdo because I've got this hot steaming towel over my eye like a pirate oh Ella I said to her these things always happen um just as you're about to do something big i had conjunctivitis for my book launch last year i remember now ella's got a stye just in time for her family holiday you know the world just has to keep reining us in that's the way it goes i know we're going on holiday with lots of friends and i was like i'd rather not have a stye if i'm honest anyway hence my uh my heat compress anyways re we're not going to be talking about my stye today we're going to be talking about lots of other lovely or interesting or curious things.

3:38So what have we got coming up? We have. So we've got lots of questions from you all today. We've got how to support a loved one through cancer treatment, small mindset shifts that can give us more of a positive outlook. And we're going back into discussing oats again, because we had lots of questions on this, on if they're actually bad for blood sugar and acne, interestingly, then hormonal health and hypothalamic amenorrhea. So that's really key here, loss of periods. We've got questions for teenagers on drinking full fat cow's milk. How long before bed you should stop eating? Do nuts and seeds belong in the fridge?

4:12And then we do have some recs from Ella with favorite brothy meals. I'm very excited for this and some more nutrition myths from us about social media and what the evidence says. So Ella, it's a big show and we're going to start with a recommendation from Daniela. Yes, we have a lovely recommendation. We love getting your recommendations, guys. Keep them coming. Hello at wellness-scoop.com. But Daniela said, I just wanted to recommend a podcast I listened to called This Podcast Will Kill You. Sounds very curious. Their latest episode discusses dietary guidelines and how we got to where we are today, including the influence of big food.

4:46I thought you guys would love it. We absolutely would love to go and check that out. I think Ella and I have lots of thoughts around this particular area and deep diving in. And yeah, it's a really interesting area when you trace the food industry back over the decades as to how we've got to where we do today. Rhi, have you got any recommendations for us this week? My recommendation would be, as we discussed movies last week, it's still just a little refresher and a little reminder to try and add in a bit more diversity. Challenge yourself. It's summer, so there's new things in season all the time.

5:18And it's actually strawberry season here in the UK, which is divine. I mean, it's one of my favorite fruits last year we had ella's recommendation of roasting strawberries i feel that we should try them i'm making strawberry porridge a lot at the moment for the children i do porridge and i took ella's hint with the vanilla and some desiccated coconut and chia seeds and i just feel like revamping fruits when they're in season mean you get maximum impact and then your last chance to join our food freedom journey on replay plus the links in the sign up if you have a relationship with food you want to learn more about and heal then that's a four week course for you there and so yeah Ella strawberries I'm obsessed but you need to really wash them strawberries they're one of those that um don't forget to give it a good good rinse before you consume them how about you Ella I am so bad at washing things before we eat them I have to be honest about that how about me well I'll tell you one thing that's really fun in my life um really you'll appreciate this is I created these like teepee structures with bamboo and just from the garden center in our veggie patch.

6:20And then we're growing squashes up them. And the idea is that the whole kind of teepee will be created by this squash. And we have this one Cinderella squash, as in like, it looks like a pumpkin patch that the fairy godmother would really like. And it has gone nuts and it is now at the top of the teepee. So that's really cool. I think I told you about this the other day, but we've now reached the top of the teepee. So that's very exciting. I've been watching a show, which I'm really enjoying. My husband says it's the worst thing he's ever seen. So I think maybe this is a gal's recommendation. You know, when you want something like lighthearted, it's just not lighthearted, but it's light.

6:53It's easy to watch. It's got Michelle Pfeiffer in. I really like her. It's called The Madison. It's on Apple. I don't think that I'd heard anyone talk about it. And then I saw someone I really like online recommend it anyway. It's kind of about like life lessons and not wasting your life and And so as a result, I guess it's a heavy topic, but it does feel quite light and easy to watch. And I'm really enjoying it. And it's shot in like a really, really beautiful part of the US. And yeah, he hates it. I'm really enjoying it. I've got loads of new books to read. The one I'm very excited about and I will update you on is called The Correspondent.

7:26And I've had so many messages from people saying like, this is my favourite thing I've ever read. So can't wait to tell you more about that. I can't wait to hear because I need to move on from my ACOTAS series now. And also Michelle Pfeiffer is an absolute and utter legend. Do you know she was in Grease 2, I think? I love Grease. Grease 2 ever really took off, Grease 2. But it was, you know, it's a good film. Correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't seen it and I did not know that. The one thing, do you know one of the things I really want to do this summer? One thing that's going on a lot in my house at the moment, and if anyone has any recommendations where you might have recommendations, I would really appreciate them.

7:59I am trying to take a really, really, really firm line on screens for the holidays. I have two very different children, one of whom can watch half an hour of TV and just like nothing ever happened. And then back to the day and it's great. One of whom really can't do that, like super, super sensitive to screens. Screens makes her a little bit nuts. And once she starts watching, she can't stop. But as a result of moving house and all the rest of it, the girls have ended up with 10 weeks of school holidays. It's a very, very long time. So I'm sort of thinking of all different activities to do, but really limiting screens.

8:38Anyways, someone told me they like make a daily schedule of plans and activities. And if anyone has any ideas, I would absolutely love to hear them because that is one thing top of mind really in my life at the moment is being very, very strict on screens. Yeah, I think it's very important. I'm actually thinking of Dr. Martha that we could get on to do a little voice note for us all on an extra scoop on screens and what we can do. She's a child psychologist. So I think that's - Yes, please. Yeah, I think let's get her on. Can I submit a question? I'm submitting a question to the Wellness Scoop.

9:08Help. My daughter's really sensitive to screens. I would like to limit them during the holidays. Can you give me some ideas? I love that. Right, Ella, make a note. It's going in our extra scoop brief. We have one more recommendation or rather a bit of feedback that came through on Spotify from KJ. She says, I've paused the podcast while listening to write this comment. I got so teary when you read Ava's message to you. What an angel. How lovely it would be for you to consider gifting her some of your books to help her continue her journey as she navigates life without her mom and into the medical world.

9:39And it just made me think, of course, of course, but also when we're looking at creating a cause as a community together, like Hella mentioned last week, if you have any ideas or causes that you think we should all join together and do something like a walk or a hike for in 2027, please keep those suggestions coming in because we would really value that, wouldn't we, Hella? Your ideas. Yeah, we really would. Hello at wellness-scoop.com.

10:09okay our first question today comes from lena in hamburg germany and lena has said thank you for your honesty love and support for people all around the world that's very nice um listening to your words always gives me a feeling of hope and being part of a community of similar-minded people i have a question for you regarding food for healing my friend has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and has started her healing journey of surgery chemo radiation and hormone therapy. Shout out to my bestie Nora who's in surgery as I type this. I want to support her as best as I can. My love language is food and books.

10:42I'm thinking of making juices, smoothies, soups to give her body as many nutrients as possible supported by feel good books. Do you have any suggestions? Oh, thank you. Um, so yeah, Lena over in Hamburg, Germany, I, um, would like to start by saying that you are a wonderful, wonderful friend. I mean, how magical to want to really support and help your friend. And then secondly, of course, we know that food isn't a panacea, but I think it can be a bit of a mood boost just as much as anything else, depending on the type of treatment. So what I've had, apart from me just saying that I'm actually going to get a voice note from Dr.

11:17Philippa Kay, who's been through a cancer journey herself and will be able to give you the best advice here because I'm not an oncology nutritionist here either. That's a very specialised area. Now Dr. Philippa Kay is the author of the science of menopause but she's also incredibly, incredibly passionate about this particular area. So I'll hand over to Philippa. With regards to what your friend might need, the first thing would be to ask but your friend might not know what they need and what they want and it might be difficult for them to ask. So I understand that your friend has breast cancer, but for somebody listening who, for example, their friend has got bowel cancer, they might not actually be able to eat certain things for a period of time.

12:04Or it might be that chemotherapy is changing how food tastes and things begin to taste very metallic. And then actually they might want very, actually very flavourful food or salty food or crunchy food or cold food or something else. Even metal cutlery can make things taste more metal. So having bamboo cutlery or plastic cutlery in that scenario might be better. So it's difficult to say they must need this or they must have that. Actually, when you are on chemotherapy and if you are feeling very sick, then again, that might affect what you want to eat. And often there's a time now for having really calorie dense foods when you can't eat a lot there are special ice creams and milkshakes and various other things so i would keep trying and it might be that what you try one week doesn't work but what you try the next week does and you can ask and they might go don't know and then you bring something anyway um because when you have cancer sometimes you're asked to make so many decisions that you can't possibly decide something else so when someone rings you and says I'm in Tesco I'm getting milk I'm passing your house on the way home can I just get some for you and the kids that often is far easier to say yes to then oh if you ever need anything from Tesco then let me know and I'll get it and there's a difference there the other thing is that food is one thing that people need but there are lots of other ways that you can support it might be they're going into hospital and they need flip-flops for the shower it might be that chemo is making everything very dry and they would like a nice lip balm and a nice moisturizer and a nice eye mask or some nice headscarves or I don't know an audiobook or or or so there are lots of different ways that you can support.

14:03Thank you so much Philippa. Rhi on the feel-good books is there anything that you have read recently for Lina to think about for Nora to add on to that? Look I mean to pick me up and to completely distract you if you want to get into the whole fairy dragon stuff maybe you could start fourth wing or the akatar and a quarter fawn and roses series but i actually think um if you want to be completely taken away from this world i love all those deep dive kind of fantasy stuff and sometimes i feel when you're in that particular journey i think being distracted is a very very good place to take your mind to somewhere that isn't existing in our continuum actually.

14:47So it might be well worth a try. Love that. I think my favorite kind of just feel good is in like fun book that I've read over the last year or so. The kiss one. Oh, consider yourself kissed. That's a really nice one. I think my number one spot would go to the wedding people. It is so fun. Like it's just kind of silly, but also some interesting insights into people and it's easy to read, but it's really immersive. I really recommend it just as a like easy to read, really good, totally like positive book, a hundred percent. And then, um, the other book that I would read, which is really feel good.

15:28I hope it's not, it's not serious, but it's more kind of sage life advice. Um, I have recommended this before, but it's called, I May Be Wrong. And it's written by this amazing Swedish monk. And he kind of gave up his life and went to be a forest monk in Thailand. And he has just the most fantastic life advice. And it really, like some of those books, they sound amazing. The cliff notes are amazing, but they're not that easy to read. They're quite dense. This is a very easy to read, like absolutely beautiful book that I think is incredibly helpful for managing life's uncertainties and kind of the ups and downs and trials and tribulations that they're just naturally occurring in life.

16:12So I couldn't recommend that more. So that's some very good recs there for you. If you want to have a laugh, the wedding people, if you want something philosophical to help manage this time, what was it called again with the monk? I may be wrong. And I recommend both to everyone. Honestly, if anyone has any interest in like yeah life advice and kind of outlook i may be wrong is the best thing i've ever read in that genre by a mile so our next question is from kendall and she said hi ella and riannon i hope you're both well big congrats to re on the baby news thank you i love the work you're both doing and the wellness scoop has quickly become my favorite podcast i look forward to the new episodes every week and i have a question about mindset and building a more positive outlook, which could relate back to that book recommendation as well.

16:59I know Ella has spoken before about working on herself and that it's an ongoing journey. I've realized that my natural tendency can sometimes be to focus on what might go wrong or to jump to worst case scenarios. And I'd really love to change that and be a bit more easygoing. Do you have any strategies or practices that may have helped you develop a more optimistic mindset and approach challenges of curiosity rather than immediately assuming the worst or thinking about what might go wrong. I'd love to hear any tips, habits or practices that may have made a difference for you and helped you to become a more easy breezy person.

17:36Thank you, Kendall. Now, Ella, I'd love to use the example of the fire alarm that happened when we were in the podcast studio last episode. A fire alarm went off mid-episode. My initial reaction, Kendall? It wasn't actually a fire alarm. It was like an alarm. And then it was like a computer voice, like we are investigating this alarm. Like, so it was like, it was an alarm, like be aware, alert, but we don't know why it's going off or what it is. It wasn't necessarily a fire alarm, which led Rhi to spiral. I mean, we'd already had to pause the recording for sirens going past outside. So I went straight to, it's red alert.

18:12There has to be a terrorist attack or something awful happening and I was obviously like we need to leave I was like we just need to go and see what's going on and we was like I think there's a terrorist attack and I was like I don't think there is I think there might be like a little smoke from the toaster in one of the kitchens it's like a big shed office space Ella was very pragmatic and she said do you know what to help you feel better Rhi let's go out and have a little walk and just have a look for ourselves and sure enough no one had moved everyone was still sat in their offices in their own places very calmly and I think Ella's done some amazing work with Easy Breezy and over to you Ella.

18:50Okay I don't know if I can show myself as like Easy Breezy but I can completely relate to everything you've said Kendall. I would say like if you knew me 15 years ago I was uptight, I was hypervigilant, I was glass half full and you know if we're just being like really honest because why not turn this into a therapy session no you know when I met my husband so that was 2015 yeah 2015 I remember him saying like there's a disconnect here there's an irony because the kind of persona that you put out through Deliciously Ella is a really happy person and like I actually don't you are that much of a happy person he obviously said there's no really nice and constructive way to me super clear about this but he was completely right you were under pressure I I just want to say Ella was always under such immense pressure.

19:42You'd never navigated before, which I can only imagine would have been very difficult. I was, and I'd had, and this is again, like not a, you know, not my story to tell. I had a very complicated childhood with a lot of different factors at play. And I hadn't addressed any of that or ever spoken through any of that anyways. But it became very clear to me that actually this was true. And actually I wasn't a particularly happy person. I wasn't a glass half full person. And I always saw the worst situation coming to light. And I was overly anxious about very small things. And I didn't want to be like that anymore.

20:15And it has taken me a solid 10 years to change it. I don't want to kind of sell a lie on there, but it has worked. And I now hear fire alarms. I don't think there's a terrorist attack. I'm not being facetious about it, but my brain just doesn't work like that anymore. I don't think the worst all the time. I'm not scared on planes anymore. I'm not. I can kind of rationalize it and you know I was really in a kind of very like fight or flight state in terms of my nervous system and I think the whole thing has been about getting my body and my mind into this more calm state and that has been a very very long journey but then again it's a bit like for me personally when I became interested in food like the more you understand about nutrition it's like well it's going to be really hard to have good energy if you're not eating any of the things that are going to feed your body with what it needs to make its energy, right?

21:08And I think it's a little bit the same with our mindset. Like ultimately, you know, if we're always in this very stressed and very kind of hypervigilant type stay, that becomes your default. And, you know, what they've seen is like over time, for example, regular meditation, mindfulness practices actually reduces that activity in the amygdala, the scanning of danger, and you can start to have this more kind of rational response. So I don't want to be a broken record on it, but I do think that committing to some kind of mindfulness or meditation practice really is a very important step if this is you today.

21:45And I know it's not always appealing to people. There's so many different ways you can do it. You can do breath work, you can do yoga, you can do traditional mindfulness, you can do meditation. There's so many different types of ways to meditate, whether it's like simple breath meditation, affirmation, guided, non-guided, like there's such a world out there. But if you want to change your outlook, I guess it's like anything. I would just say like you've got to commit to it and committing to it might be literally like 20 minutes a day. It doesn't need to be a crazy thing, but I do think you've got to commit to it.

22:15And, you know, also things like you mentioned the word turning things into curiosity. So that's part of cognitive behavioral therapy, the way you reframe and you ground yourself at times when you're having these types of thoughts. Like my initial panic in that moment, you know, I live with PTSD from my first birth with my eldest in lockdown. And I did a lot of work on that. And you can reframe things. So instead of what if this goes wrong, you can gently reframe it to I wonder how this will unfold or I wonder what I might learn from this. there's it's really difficult it's really difficult to do I have to say um we don't all get this right all the time and I like you said it's an ongoing journey and as Ella said it's an ongoing journey we have to learn about how we tick and what is our safe space in the world and what we look at and how to ground ourselves so there's no right or wrong answer I think with this one it really is just finding a way you're able to work on yourself, I believe.

23:17And gosh, I know I've got so much work to do. In fact, becoming pregnant has really brought back a lot of triggers for me that I have to work through before I can even contemplate what I'm going to do and how I'm going to get this baby out. So there's, you know, I think for everybody, we all have a lot of work to do with our psychology consistently. That was such a good question. Thank you so, so much.

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25:12the next question is a really beautiful name ramalia do you think ella what would you say i thought ramalia too and as you said it's a beautiful name and a great question um and she has said i absolutely love the podcast honestly mondays and thursdays infinitely better knowing there's new podcasts to listen to love that have a couple of questions i've noticed in a few episodes you've mentioned keeping flax seeds and walnuts in the fridge what about other nuts and seeds should they be in the fridge as well? Ella, I also follow you on Instagram. Love the look of your meals, particularly those that are brothy.

25:43I love brothy meals. How do you make the broth in these types of recipes? It looks comforting and delicious, but I don't know how to replicate it. Well, actually, I think we should start with before with Ella's brothy meals, because I know you've mentioned me so before, but I want to know, Ella, because you do a lot of them. It's very inspiring. Give us the secret lowdown on broths before I go into seeds in the fridge? I make so many brothy meals. I love a brothy meal. I mean, they're pretty simple. When I say brothy meal, it's like if there's not a huge amount in the fridge or you're like hungry, but you're not starving, you want loads of veg in your life, you know, maybe you have a busy day, not got much in.

26:20I'll do things like I'll saute loads of shallots and garlic, maybe then some leek, some courgette. And then I'll simmer that with, and there is an extra cost tip, I'm going going to be honest, but it's a jar of beans because you then take the liquid from the jar and that creates this lovely broth. You can then towards the end, once you've then simmered it for like 10, 15 minutes, add a little bit of yogurt, loads of lemon in something like that green one. I might then do a tablespoon of pesto. If you eat Parmesan, Parmesan on that delish. Absolutely gorgeous. Pesto-y broth. I'd never. Yeah. And the liquid, sometimes I add a little bit more water, but the core that makes the kind of slightly creamier broth comes actually from the water that the beans are held in, which is absolutely delicious.