​​Habit Stacking, Sugar vs Sweeteners & Adaptogens

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1:02welcome to the wellness scoop your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration and as always we are here as your hosts i'm ella mills and i'm rianna lambert and today we dive into all of the questions that you have for all of us and gosh there are so many good ones there are so many good ones so ella have you got any recommendations that we should be trying this week oh my gosh i do I've got two for you having on Monday said I have nothing to tell you about my week I've got two good recs guys so I'm making up for my pathetic performance on Monday okay I've just finished um I'm in such a reading phase at the moment I love it I read um this summer a book called There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak or Elif Shafak I'm so sorry if I'm not pronouncing it correctly she's the most amazing author and I loved it and so many people in this community then recommended some of her other books number one was the island of missing trees so we've just read it I've just finished it I'm really trying to read and not scroll and I've become that person at like a doctor's appointment I was sitting in the waiting room reading my book I love that I did feel quite smart if I'm just complaining about it I was like I'm that person I like to be that so good it's great for you god it's good you feel so much calmer it's a joke anyway reading now you've really got me back into it it was such a beautiful book she writes so wonderfully she's quite an unusual writer the way she weaves together different stories from different time periods often decades or in case in the case of there are rivers in the sky hundreds of years apart and in a way the narrative kind of weaves together to unveil itself it's really beautiful and there's such a kind of theme of conflict and how actually the kind of human story can overcome that and bringing people together and she's just a beautiful beautiful writer anyway the island of missing trees again her first book took me a little bit of time to get into I'd say it took me about 50 pages here there's a kind of a fig tree that's not talking but like you hear a narrative from a fig tree and it definitely took me a moment to like get comfortable with that I love figs that's great I'll bring it for you next week it's beautiful anyway so if you're looking for a book the island of missing trees is fantastic and one more I am obsessed with chili oil at the moment I am embarrassed by the rate of which I go through it and the fact that I put it on everything.

3:24That's me with truffle oil. I am truffle oil obsessed. Okay, well, if anyone else is into chilli oil, I'm sure you've tried this one, but if you haven't, the White Mazu, my pronunciation maybe is not good today, but they spell it M-A-U-S-U. It's a brand. They make lots of different ones, like a black bean ryu, for example, but they're smoky chilli oil. Smoky. 100 out of 10. Oh, 100 out of 10. 100 out of 10. Okay, Ria, have you got any recs for us this week? Just don't think salads have to be cold. We're going into winter. Make hot salads. I love hot salads. Yes. Quickest, easiest thing to make in the world, isn't it?

3:59You just roast the veg on a tray, like a tray bake, or beans in a pan and chuck them into your base. Exactly. So my husband hates cold food. It's a very, very weird thing. So does mine. Okay, so a few men have it. Overheating it, though. Overheating. and he thinks his family heat all the plates before they eat. I don't have time for that. I mean, his idea of hell on earth is like a potato salad or a pasta salad. Like, oh my gosh. Whereas I would very happily, I am that person that also eats cold pizza the next day. He says if it's meant to be cold, like ice cream, it's okay. But if it's not meant to be cold, like a pasta salad, the devil's work.

4:35Well, if he reheated that salad, he'd get more resistant starch, talking of fibre, which is very beneficial for you. Matthew Mills, did you hear that? Anyway, and so we are big warm salad advocates in our house and they are delish. It's just the same as your normal salad. Chuck everything in it. I was putting walnuts in it, a bit of blue cheese, cranberries. I was chucking everything I had in with this roasted butternut squash on spinach. I also made a dal this weekend. I actually did do more than I realised. And a cake. I made a lemon cake. Domestic goddess right here. For me, it comes in bursts.

5:08I might just be in the mood once a month and cook everything. I love it. Yeah. Well, let's hope it lasts. Everybody, let's move on to your amazing questions.

5:20Our first question comes from Claire in Buckingham. Thank you so much for your podcast. You're doing an amazing job. Thank you, Claire. And informing all your listeners of facts against fiction and it's making it so much easier for me to navigate. Thank you so much. I've been changing my food habits, adding lots more chickpeas and lentils to dinner as meat replacements and really trying to cut down on UPFs. However, I absolutely love my cup of tea and I have a real sweet tooth and a love of sugar in my tea am i better using a spoonful of sugar or a sweetener there's so much information or perhaps misinformation about sweeteners out there and i just don't know what's better keep going i love my double dose of the wellness cube each week i thought this was a great question because sugar versus sweetness feels highly relevant it's really relevant but also how many cups of tea are you having a day like my first bit of advice would be just have the sugar you enjoy in your one cup of tea a day but if you are a six or seven cups of tea a day type of girl, then let's address how much sugar you're having in your tea because that does make a difference.

6:17But it's just such a small amount across the course of a day depending on your diet. But ultimately, I always try and tell clients aim for just a reduced amount of sugar over the sweetener because there's no evidence from the World Health Organization that adding sweeteners is a good way for a weight loss tool or sugar reduction unless you're diabetic and you physically can't have that same insulin response to actual sugar in your bloodstream so ultimately even though sweeteners are safe Ella to conclude that really quickly I would just try and limit the amount of sugar you have and wean yourself off it if that means or go for a milk that tastes sweeter like I don't so tea is a funny one there are people out there like my husband who wants tea to sit there until it stains on the top like it has to brew for quite a while then you add the milk and And the only milk replacement I found from Cal's milk that he enjoys that's a bit sweeter is the oat milk, Sammy Skim, the oatly one.

7:13But some people wouldn't want rice milk, even though it's sweeter in their tea or oat milk. Yeah, I think it's really personal. So sweeteners are quite a weird one, aren't they? So they are so sweet. They're normally about 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar, which is why you obviously only need a tiny amount. And because of the way they're produced, they are also classified as UPFs, as ultra processed foods. And as Ree said, like your regulatory bodies, the NHS or the FDA, they all say that approved sweeteners are safe to use in moderate amounts. But some of them are side effects, Ella. Exactly.

7:47Often it's gastro side effects and xylitol, which even though it's used in toothpaste because it's the one that cleans, potentially helps with your teeth, it can cause an excess, obviously, diarrhoea. Urethritol is another one that's not great for stomach symptoms. stavia is the more natural of the sweetener classification that i would probably say go for stavia if you're having a sweetener but again like you said times 200 on the tongue sometimes you can want more sugar after having a sweetener this to me is the really important takeover so 2023 the world health organization they actually released new guidelines on non-sugar sweeteners and they recommended against their use to control body weight or reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases.

8:28And I think people think, oh, it's healthier to have a sweetener. And they were very clear on this recommendation, which was based on a systemic review of all the available evidence. And it concluded that replacing sugar with sweeteners does not provide any long-term benefit to reduce body fat in either adults or children. And their review also suggested there could be, and as I said, they are all classified as safe as the moment, but there could be potential undesirable effects from very long-term use, including an increased risk of type 2 diabetes cardiovascular disease basically the recommendation for everyone to raise point except individuals with pre-existing diabetes who have to look at sugar very differently that actually sugar but maybe just a little bit less sugar is much better yeah i think so um not not to scare anybody but yeah i really just think of it especially if it's only that one cup a day i wouldn't worry about it too much but obviously we do all consume too much sugar as a nation it's Action on Sugar are soon doing their piece.

9:26I've just signed up to support them on reducing sugar. I think we, on average, consume definitely double the amount we're meant to have a day. So good to discuss, I think. Important. But I think unless you are diabetic, sugar trumps sweetness. A thousand percent agree. The next question we have, Ella, is from Katie. She said, I've just seen the podcast from last week with listener questions. A really helpful and insightful episode. Thank you, Katie. She said, I had a follow-up question about the fibre discussion, please. Thank you to Rhee for explaining the difference between soluble and insoluble fibre because she's always been confused about that.

10:02And she said, I'm going to be picturing the glass of water to understand it always. If anyone remembers last week, we discussed the fact that if you put some broccoli in a glass of water, it won't just disintegrate straight away because it's got a lot of insoluble fibre. And on a basic science level, if you put oats in water, they will start to disintegrate more rapidly because they contain a lot of soluble fiber and what these do in the gut. But she said, is there a preference between one or the other? She said, re-commented that they're both important. I did. But she's wondering if our diets have a larger quantity of soluble or insoluble that could cause difficulties such as increased bloating, constipation, looser bowel movements, exactly.

10:39All that sort of thing. She's asking, is there a perfect balance? Is there a perfect balance between soluble and insoluble fiber? I honestly think that not to confuse everything on another level, but there's just hundreds of strains of fiber as well. So we pick those two out because I think they're our mainstream language. Lots of us, it's easy to understand. We know they both play a role. I wouldn't worry about one or the other. Most foods have literally both equal amounts in or one slightly higher than the other. in the fiber formula book I've got charts and they took me so long to write of every fruit every vegetable every grain and I put the ratio of soluble and insoluble fiber next to them so that will be a resource you can turn to to see how much you're going to be consuming and it's really difficult to get more than one type over the other but if your diet of course has a lot of UPFs that's where we get the problem and 96 % of us are fiber deficient so from my point of view don't worry is my answer and then just to recap so soluble fiber as we said that dissolves in water creates your gel-like substance you're finding it in things like oats beans lentils apples citrus fruits and this helps to slow down digestion supports your blood sugar controller as a result lowers cholesterol and also helps feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut whereas your insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water largely stays intact as it comes through your digestive system so this is what you're finding in things like your whole grains your nuts your seeds the skins of fruits and vegetables and that adds bulk to your stool which helps things pass through your gut more efficiently supporting regular bowel movements preventing constipation i think as rey said like it's not about one or the other we need both we all just as we always talk about desperately just need more fiber and diversity ella goodness me if we're going to feed those gut microbes and it's actually really really important and as we're discovering more about gut health you know there's one strain i was learning about in paris last week called acamensia and it's a type of bacteria that comes out almost at night like a kind of nocturnal bug yeah like a roadside sweeper and it cleans away all the different dead bugs and different residue and waste and things in our gut and that's not going to function if we're not getting a variety of strains and that means eating a rich diet legumes pulses fruits veg whole grains i would just keep focusing like on the fiber formula on the variety just variety of plants and 30 grams a day and then i think the only thing to say that if you're getting like really unusual combinations and you're just having soluble or you're just having insoluble it's if you're having way too much insoluble fiber then you could sometimes get a bit of bloating or constipation if you're having loads of soluble fiber without the insoluble fiber you could get loose bowel movements but i think if you're eating a generally healthy diet just focus on fiber as opposed to the specific and drinking water guys I think where a lot of people go wrong is they don't up their hydration intake when they change their diet or add more fiber and what happens when you're not adding enough fiber you're not helping it break down and digest and that's when we get gastric bloating and when your gut's suddenly flooded with all this amazing food it's going to have a lot of gas as a byproduct and you're going to feel very bloated.

13:54That's great advice. Okay, question three comes from Rachel. Can we have some tips on getting enough calcium from natural sources on a no or low dairy diet? Ella, you've done so much on calcium because you obviously do this on a plant-based diet really well. Well, calcium is an interesting nutrient, I think, because obviously everyone knows it for strong bones. I think that's how we all kind of grew up, wasn't it? But it's actually really important. It does more than that. It helps your muscles contract, nerves send signals, even has a role in blood clots. It's So it's very important. It's not just for your bones.

14:22The UK guidelines is about 700 milligrams a day for adults. In the US and most of Europe, it's about 1 ,000 milligrams. So that's probably the range to have in mind, looking at the two different places. And it only really goes up if, as you get older, in fact, when we age, that does increase to 1 ,000 milligrams and if you're pregnant or breastfeeding. And then actually interesting for postmenopause as well, it can go up to 1 ,200 milligrams. But in the UK, they don't increase it. So in other countries around the world, and I remember when writing the pregnancy book in America, they do increase it and they just don't over here for some reason.

14:56So I actually think most people should look at increasing calcium as we age, especially at different periods in our life. You should just be really aware of it. And a supplement isn't going to do that. And you can't get a blood test for it, guys. So I would focus on diet sources. Let's go through some sources of food, Ella. Exactly. So obviously dairy. I think everyone knows that. But when it comes to if you're having a low dairy or no dairy diet, things to look at. Seeds. We always talk about how good nuts and seeds are, aren't we? We love those little guys. But like, for example, a spoonful of sesame seeds.

15:28So you could just sprinkle that over like a rice bowl with tofu or, you know, some noodles or something like that. Or tahini on a dressing. Exactly. Tahini is a load of sesame seeds. A bowl of hummus. So yeah, a spoonful of sesame seeds. So not much here. That could give you almost a tenth of your daily calcium needs. So as in like a little goes a long way when it comes to seeds. and then your small serving of hummus for example with tahini that's about three spoonfuls again that's giving you just over 10 of your daily target so have three tablespoons of hummus with a tablespoon of sesame seeds and you've got 20 of the way there and that was pretty easy when beans also as you said really amazing great option edamame as well not just your like white beans and things like that also really good you've got a cup of edamame again giving you about 10 of what you need i get frozen bags of that because it's actually really expensive edamame and i get them in the shells because it's quite fun to pop them out yeah i always have frozen bags of edamame and we use it loads actually it's just one of those things when you know we were talking last week about kind of nutrition wins like when you're tired and you don't have time to cook but you do pass with a jar of tomato sauce but you then add in peas exactly or a tin of lentils or something like that and i find edamame a really good one because they take three minutes whatever it is to boil and so it's just a real win and they're obviously so good magic bean calcium protein fiber well i do call them magic beans with the kids you know i genuinely do i love that they also are really good in a white bean dip i love a butter bean dip bit of miso tahini white beans of so butter beans haricot beans like any kind of white bean and um just parboiled uh edamame lots of lemon juice garlic salt I think I have a bit of an issue I think I'm really addicted to butter beans like I have an issue I have an issue SOS it's really bad on one panel that I did in the summer at Carfest they made a joke out of me at the end they're like are you just going to tell us we'll tweet more beans again I was actually mortified you were like yeah I am um I actually really like butter beans I'm obsessed I really like that right let's move on to almonds because they're one of the best nuts and they give you again just under a tenth of your daily calcium intake remember 23 almonds guys as a portion good quick snack put them on porridge tofu is interesting it has to be calcium set on the packet and not all of them are and also there's different classifications of organic and I remember when I was actually at the very early working with one of those baby food brands we made the first ever dairy-free yogurt with calcium fortification I was really proud of that before the baby market went downhill.

17:59It's very difficult to get an organic status with a calcium fortification. Then obviously go for fortified foods earlier, just, you know, plant milks with added vitamins and minerals. And I know some people may not want to go for fortified plant milks, but honestly, if you feel you're falling short in your diet of some key nutrients, I think it's a really easy way to get some extras in. Exactly. And then leafy greens, another one kale pak choy cabbage all great because the calcium's well absorbed to the body versus spinach spinach actually because it's thought of as high in calcium but it's high in oxidase so the body doesn't absorb the calcium very well so things like kale pak choy much better again and like a generous serving of kale can give you a couple of hundred milligrams so you know basically there's lots of non-dairy options but re has written up what a day could look like for you which is amazing.

18:50I've forgotten I'd done this. Give it to us. I was like, look, I know how overwhelming it can feel. So to hit your 705 milligrams a day, you just need to make porridge of 200 mils of semi-skim milk because that's around 240 milligrams. Cheer seeds, guys. Just adding two tablespoons of that gives you 180 milligrams of calcium. Lunch, you could just have a salad with 40 grams of feta cheese. Snack, one medium orange gives you 75 milligrams. Calcium in oranges. please don't forget fruit also contains this mineral and you're done that's it 700 but if you don't eat dairy you just swap um for like a yogurt 150 grams of plain yogurt or a fortified option instead you can also get bread that's calcium fortified so i think it's easier than you think if you eat a whole food diet exactly fortification you could have hummus with your salad for example with your sesame seeds on top put kale in the salad for another couple of hundred milligrams and you're like almost the whole way there with your lunch so i think the trick is variety it's consistency as always quick note on supplements guys i really wanted calcium supplements yeah i i know a lot of people go out and buy them because you can know they're just everywhere in like holland and barrett and all these different health shops you know you'll see lots of different calcium supplements now it's interesting to say that vitamin d is actually crucial for helping the body absorb calcium and this is the time of year you should all be taking it i'm so sorry i don't have Replus up, but you should still be getting your 10 micrograms of vitamin D.

20:17Supplements are not a magic bullet. And what was so interesting about calcium when I was developing our pregnancy multi, that it's really confusing which type you put in because some are better absorbed than others. And there's really two forms that most people use in the supplements industry. You've got calcium carbonate, which is really cheap, but it is actually absorbed best with food, which is why some supplements say have it with a meal. Or you've got calcium citrate, which can be taken with or without meals. But this is often better for older adults or those with low stomach acid, which most people won't know if they have.

20:48So also your body can only absorb around 500 milligrams at a time. And nearly every calcium supplement I see is larger than that. And people end up taking two a day or different doses. And it's just negligible and you really don't need it. So I really think diet is key because if you have too much, kidney stones can occur and all sorts of digestive stomach upset. So just check the amount. That's my only little caution on calcium. A great caution.

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22:17I started taking ashwagandha a year ago. Midlife needed a mood boost and I swear it helped. I told all my friends about it, but now I wonder if it's simply a placebo effect. They currently seem heavily targeted to women of a certain age, midlife, exclamation point and i wondered how much scientific evidence actually exists to prove these adaptogens work slash have any side effects and what is the best form to take them in is it drinks is it tablets or should i not waste my money hmm well these are everywhere everywhere i mean i think i remember ellie sharing your experience of ashwagandha before i've definitely i was having like the most stressful moment of my life when we were going through the deal selling delicious yellow and anyone who's ever been through like an m &a process it's very very stressful i had no child care for a few part of it was just it was a disaster anyway like matt was working so hard honestly this is such a funny story but to the point my sister was then helping me out with some child care i had a really important meeting with tesco's and matt has working so hard and my sister picked up may our littlest from nursery and had like a three minute switch over with her she's like are you okay and i was like yeah i'm pretty stressed but i'm fine and she was like are you okay and I was like I'm pretty stressed but I'm fine and she was like May's just told me that Matt's moved out oh my goodness he was working so much he hadn't seen them for like three months anyway that's not on this topic but basically I was so stressed and overwhelmed and I was like ashwagandha that'll solve it I know and at like 2am bought some ashwagandha and we'll go into whether it works or not in a minute but I think it was just I say this to illustrate like as though ashwagandha as though any supplement any pill could solve the fact that i was just like about to pop with stress i know but we want to believe it right we want to believe that's why these and i say that to say like even us who's spent our whole career in this still look for quick fixes i think it's great you share that hello but it's so important it is um right i knew just how to ask so instead of me going for all the ins and outs here i've asked Sophie Birchman, who's a registered dietitian, who takes a particular interest in reviewing all of these supplements.

24:21She breaks down the different types of adaptogens and the evidence behind them. And yeah, check it out. I think it's a comprehensive answer. So that's a really great question. Adaptogens like ashwagandha, maca and lion's mane have really surged in popularity, especially among women, particularly in midlife. And they are often marketed as natural mood boosters and could also enhance your energy, offer cognitive support. However, from an evidence-based perspective, it's really important to separate that early kind of promising research that we have from overhyped marketing. So let's start with ashwagandha.

25:01There is some emerging research that suggests it may help with reducing stress and anxiety. and we have small randomized trials showing reductions in cortisol and improvements in perceived stress. But again, these studies are short-term and not always high quality. So while your personal experience might feel like a placebo, it could be the real effect with some mild benefit. However, it really does come down to the individual because we just don't have enough research grouping a bunch of participants together to say that they all experienced improved kind of effects based on this one adaptogen that we're talking about, which is ashwagandha.

25:43So next, you mentioned maca. And this has traditionally been used to support energy and has been linked with libido as well. There is less solid evidence on this. Again, we have a few small studies that suggest it might help with mood or hormone balance, but again, nothing definitive. So again, most of what we have is more anecdotal on this topic. And I'm not saying that there is no positive benefit. However, we just don't have solid research to back it up at the moment. Lion's mane is in a little bit of a different category and it's often promoted for things like brain health. And again, early animal and lab studies do look quite exciting for this.

26:26So above all of them, I'd say lion's mane does have the most emerging research. we do have some small human studies that suggest potential for mild cognitive support or mood improvements. But again, we're still lacking those larger scale trials. We also have to consider that these also come in different forms, such as capsules or powders, teas. I've even seen lion's mane added to certain kind of protein bars or snack bars. And again, there's no kind of clear best way in order to ingest this. So what does matter is the dose you are taking and the quality of the supplement. So some blends don't disclose the exact amounts or standardizations, which does cause a bit of an issue when we're talking about consistency and kind of the dosage in which we're taking these products.

27:14So overall, adaptogens might help some people, but they're not miracle cures. And I will say that one, consistency is key. And two, other lifestyle factors are hugely important. And I also feel like the research is kind of trying to catch up with the marketing. So do have your kind of marketing hat on when you're going into, you know, whether or not you want to take these products. And, you know, these brands do want to make money at the end of the day. Also want to flag that they may cause certain side effects. Again, we just don't have enough research around the safety and the particular dosage in which might be beneficial to individuals.

27:59So I wouldn't rely on them as a standard load solution, definitely wouldn't spend a fortune on them. And like I said, go back to those back to basic factors before you explore with adaptogens. Are you eating a well-balanced diet? Are you sleeping well are you moving what else is going on in your life that you could maybe address from you know not spending a load of money on an adaptogen I hope that helps thank you so much Sophie I think you're absolutely right that ultimately they're no magic bullet if you want to try them there's no harm at all and just be really careful and just know that like Ella said it's not going to take away the underlying issue yeah and I think also just to reflect on myself for a moment not to again.

28:40I was like on Mondays I was like I'm having an existential crisis. This is what you have been doing all week though you have been reflecting it's good. Clearly having a mental breakdown in the corner but I do think it's just when I look back on that and feeling like really overwhelmed really stressed I think it's just such a great example of the fact that these claims are so effective and the way that lots of these things are marketed is so effective and they're pretty expensive you know when it comes to adaptogen type supplements these are not cheap powders as well you've got to remember guys that these are processed ingredients yeah and and they're not that as i said they're expensive things and i think when i look at myself when i was so stressed i thought ashagadda could solve it i wasn't doing any of the basics but it plays on your vulnerability ella you were vulnerable for sure but i think when i look at it i'm like i wasn't eating properly i wasn't going outside you know i felt quite isolated i wasn't connecting with enough people.

29:37Like I look at the kind of tick list of evidence-based practices that we know help our mental and physical health. And I probably could put an X next to all of them. I wasn't drinking enough. I wasn't sleeping enough. I wasn't doing all the basics because I was really stressed and really overwhelmed. And so I turned to like a quick fix with effective marketing. And I think it's a really great lesson that actually like, to your point, there's probably no harm in taking the well, you know, the well-made ones, but equally just make sure that you're not kind of skipping the fundamentals and hoping that that will solve it.

30:08Yeah, I 100 % agree. And remember, you're not alone. Lots of people do this. And actually, companies pray into this. This is how they make money. They profit off of your vulnerability. And a lot of people say, it worked for me, it worked for you. Thank you for sharing, Ella. It's really, honestly, I think lots of people could relate. And it moves us on to our last listener question today from Amy. She said, I've done really well. Well done, Amy. And she said, I'm getting my 30 plants and getting in my fiber over the summer. And she said she found the warmer weather really motivating and I completely agree to be eating fresh salads and snacking on fruit and nuts.

30:38However, I'm nervous that as the weather turns, the days get darker. I can already feel myself wanting to slip back into old habits of ordering more takeaways, craving beige, cheesy comfort foods. I agree this is my winter language sometimes. Obviously nothing wrong with these in moderation but even in the second week of September I am having to try so much harder to get from the diversity of fiber that I was even a few weeks ago when it was sunny. So Ella, what she said, what are the best tips for battling this, both in terms of mindset and practical recipe and snack ideas? I'm excited to start making some more homemade soups.

31:12But aside from that, I'm feeling a bit stuck. Any advice? Okay, such a great question, Amy, and so relatable. So relatable. There's one thing I just wanted to bring into this today, which is habit stacking. quite trendy quite popular but quite interesting when it comes i think to finding motivation when you are struggling with it and basically the premise comes from behavioral psychology it was first developed by a man called dr fogg at stanford and something which was called tiny habits research and then habit stacking was really well popularized by james clear's atomic habits which was obviously this like multi-million bestseller book, Humongous.

31:53It's so big. It's so big. But the principle of all of this and of habit stacking is actually really simple, which is basically instead of trying to build a whole new routine from scratch, which is very difficult, very hard to keep the motivation with, you link a new behavior to something you already do. And I think when it comes to people struggling with motivation, this is so effective because it leverages existing neural pathways that your brain already has for an established habit. and then you tie in something to that. So it takes up way less mental energy and therefore you're way more likely to follow through with it.

32:24Yeah, psychologists call it context-dependent repetition. So a 2009 study led by Professor Philippa Lally at UCL and it was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology showed that habit formation isn't about willpower at all. And I have a big issue with people online that say it's about discipline and willpower. This is not true. It's about repeating the same action in the same context consistently. So on average, it took people 66 days to make a new habit that felt automatic. Though for some, it was as quick as 18 days. And for others, as long as 254, basically nearly the whole year.

32:59And the key is consistency and habit stacking helps create that by making those new behaviors a natural extension. Exactly. So then if we use this in context of that question, instead of telling yourself, right I'm overhauling my diet this autumn I'm going to be a different person I'm never going to touch sugar again guys it does not work it doesn't work never say that to yourself ever again make it easier by basically stacking on so let's say you love your morning coffee I love my morning coffee make yourself a delicious jar of like toasted nuts that sit by the kettle for example so that while your coffee brews or while it's you know the kettle's boiling whatever it is that you do take a handful of your roasted nuts and you could mix you know eight different nuts or seeds into that one jar, for example.

33:42Or like, say you'd like to have a little scroll in the evening, who doesn't? Or, you know, make that the moment that you actually prep overnight oats the day before, for example. Or you like put a whole load of veg that are sitting in your fridge in that oven ready to make soup from it. So, you know, you just do these things. Maybe you have toast for breakfast. Always then just start putting fruit on the top of it or on the side of it. So take things you've already - You did banana toast yesterday. I love it. Bring it back. I love banana toast. toast, peanut butter, sliced banana, sea salt. Sprinkle the chia seeds as well.