How To Lower Inflammation & Eat 30 Plants a Week

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1:02Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're here as your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhiannon Lambert. And it's one of our favorite times of the week. We get all of your fantastic questions. And gosh, we have got so many incredible ones today. Do you know what? We always do our recommendations at the top of the show. And I'm going to swap my recommendations from some from one of our listeners, Lottie. So I think a few weeks ago, I was looking for some new podcasts to listen to. And Lottie sent an email in with so many good ones that I thought, let's include these.

1:38So she has four for us today. First of all, Pieces of Britney. I actually listened to this when it came out. It's phenomenal. It's done by the brilliant, brilliant journalist Pandora Sykes, who had the Hilo show a few years ago, which I was obsessed with. And she charts the remarkable story of Britney Spears. It's a kind of amazing exploration of art, entertainment, the media, sexism, very important and the kind of misogyny and double standards that were aimed at Britney. But it's brilliant. There was a mention actually in the Victoria Beckham documentary that I watched on Netflix as well, referring to look what happened to Britney when she was talking about her own mental health.

2:16I am the biggest Britney fan in the world. I think that's a good one. Really good listen. Have you listened to it? Yes. When it came out as well, I was like, I'm Britney Spears obsessed. If she didn't have a tour, I'd be there tomorrow. Oh my gosh, I would want to do that. Okay, so podcast rec number one, Pieces of Brittany. Number two, I haven't listened to this yet, but I'm very excited to, Dangerous Memories, which Lottie described as a courageous tale by a group of young women who were subject to abuse by a lady posing as a healer. An example of the risks of working with an unregulated and unqualified professional, which I know is a topic that very closely resonates with Rhi.

2:47she also recommended again I can't wait to listen a very British cult a gripping series of life coaching gone wrong and she also recommended Emma Watson's episode on Jay Shetty's podcast on purpose she said it's brand new and incredibly moving I'm about halfway through it I'm really enjoying it I have so much respect for Emma Watson I listened to the whole thing the minute it came out as well I listened on a very long car journey I can't remember where I was driving to I just love the fact she went back to university she wanted to be a normal student she really needed to step away. But I'll let you finish it.

3:18Let's not do any spoilers, guys. I have got to add to that amazing list on Disney, the twisted tale of Amanda Knox. Not normally something I would watch, Ella. I have to be honest, you know me. Yeah, it didn't call to me. So I was really surprised to see it in here. It was because my friend Amy Hart put it on her stories. And she's like, I'm watching this documentary. And I was like, oh, is it interesting? And then I realised it was a murder story. And I was like, oh, I don't know. But actually, I was sobbing. I was sobbing my eyes out the unjustness of the legal system and the experience this poor young woman had and how the press again back then with sexism twisted it all on this poor young girl and painted her to be all sorts of things anyway again I won't spoil but a very good so is she not guilty of the murder no no not remotely there's nothing she wasn't even there but the press twisted her into some sex fiend because she was an easy target oh my gosh i've got to watch this ella's gonna watch it and i have one more rec that's a bit more nutrition wellnessy i finally finally finished my last awful sponge that i had in the house you know the ones that disintegrate the plastic but i didn't want to just bin it and i've got all the eco sponges and cloths and i got it from a place called seep which is s-e-e-p-p-p i don't know why phonics i've been did so many phonics with the kids at school.

4:39I nearly went, seep. Seep.

4:47Oh dear. I'm so used to spelling things out, everybody, phonetically from my five-year-old. Sorry, S-E-E-P. Seep. Seep. Do you know what? I've seen they have advertised to me that on Instagram recently. And I've been keep thinking I need to try them. Yeah. So I've got them in. I'll let you know how it goes. They're actually really beautiful. And the really cool thing is when you finish with the cloths you can biodegrade them into your soil in the garden they're like act as fertilizer how clever well one of the things i've got on my wish list at the moment are some of those composting pots that you dig into your beds into your veggie growing sorry when you said beds then i was into your bed you snuggle up with the worms um no so in where you want to grow things and to raise beds for example you've got these composters and you put your kitchen waste in there and then And it feeds the worms.

5:35Okay, after your gardening course, because I know you're doing it tomorrow. Tomorrow with my mum. Can you send me a link if you find these because I will put them in my veggie beds. Well, I think I'm going to get one and try it out. Okay, and then let me know. And then maybe get some more. So I'm so excited about that. Okay, amazing.

5:49So let's move on to our amazing questions. Let's start with the topic of the week, inflammation. Exactly. Inflammation, anti-inflammatory diets. We have a lot on these. So for example, Therese wrote in and said, we're about to embark on our journey for assisted conception. I've tried to do a lot of reading on what I can do to help my body be in the best possible place ahead of IVF something that often comes up as an anti-inflammatory diet it seems to be a common phrase what exactly is it and does it have any research to back it up shell another listener wrote in and said please let your conversation be on body inflammation it's all I read about at the moment so many people are trying to sell supplements that will reduce my inflammation what's this all about okay let's break it up so I've got a voice note from the most incredible fertility dietician Roe Huntress who I'll play after but I think we should start with what inflammation is because you know it is normal and I think people are very scared of it because it's part of our body's defense essentially if you know we have invaders you know germs that come in our immune system creates inflammation because our blood vessels dilate and it helps all the white blood cells get to the place faster they need to be the site of action if you cut yourself and you need to heal and everything needs to scab over on your skin, in really basic terms, that area is a bit inflamed and that's because your body's fighting off the infection.

7:06But when inflammation happens, when there's no injury or invader essentially, that's when we can have a range of chronic disease and the things that can happen. So a good example of discussing inflammation I think is often the example of a fever. For example, how you know your body's immune system's working really well when you're ill because you get really hot and you know your body's fighting off that infection. But inflammation can harm you if it occurs in healthy tissues and it just goes on and on. And it's what we often don't see. So it's not the fever with the temperature. It's the fact your white blood cells are responding to something that isn't there.

7:43Okay. And what does that actually look like in the body? So essentially, when you're looking at inflamed inflammation, it can be so many different symptoms you feel. A lot of people report gut health issues, first of all. They report digestive discomfort, stress, physiological examples of stress. And sometimes you don't know or see it at all. So you can't always know that you're experiencing inflammation. And this is what makes it really difficult. I wrote a section on inflammation in the science of nutrition in terms of supporting gut health and supporting things that are depleted when we're stressed as well.

8:18But there's no supplement that can do that, guys. is there's definitely no miracle. It's the overall lifestyle. And we know that different dietary patterns have been researched in RCTs to do with reducing inflammation, like the British Nutrition Foundation acknowledges, you know, the Mediterranean diet, lots of healthy fats, Ella, that olive oil, lots of nuts and seeds. But it also acknowledges, and this is where the evidence comes in, diets high in saturated fat, sugars, salts, refined foods are linked to greater inflammation. And that is because the role of fiber, I know I talk about the fiber formula all the time and everything that we need to be doing, but I cannot emphasize enough the fact that fiber and plant diversity support our gut.

9:00And that means it supports inflammation, lowering it because our immune system is right next to our gut. They're separated by like one cell. It's tiny, microscopic, and our gut bugs train our immune cells. So it's really, really important that rather than thinking of a supplement for inflammation it won't do anything that we just look at our overall gut health and when your gut health's off often we're a bit run down exactly and to feed your gut health which is why these diets as you said high in refined foods for example are very often associated with higher levels of inflammation in the body because obviously aside from anything negative about them they're not feeding your microbiome they're not feeding your gut and that is so much I think so much of the focus at the moment in terms of UPFs is what they are and them being bad, as opposed to by consuming those, you're not having your tin of chickpeas to talk about the tin of lentils and things we're talking about on Monday's episode.

9:56But you're foregoing that because, you know, you can't eat endlessly. So you're swapping one nutrient rich gut microbiome rich feeding kind of diet for another. And that that's such a big part of the challenge. So it's so much more about what we're not eating versus what we are eating, I think. I think you frame that excellently. That's exactly it. It's what can you add in, guys? So when looking at inflammation, I know it can sound really scary, but we don't want to boost our immune system because if you're boosting it, it's going to overdrive. And that's when you get inflammation because if there's more white blood cells responding to a threat, you're going to experience more inflammation.

10:33And we don't want that, guys. That's why I don't like those supplements that claim they're going to boost your immune system. It's a load of nonsense. You just want to keep it really normal. You want to boost your gut health? You want to boost your gut health, exactly. And that's exactly like the diet that we were talking about in Monday's episode, the planetary diet, with that big new report that's come out. Again, it's this very plant-rich, plant-first, heavy in whole grains and legumes, etc. That's an anti-inflammatory diet. Right, so let me play this voice note I've got on the fertility aspect that is linked to an anti-inflammatory diet.

11:04And when I say anti-inflammatory diet, we mean healthy fats and med style. So over to Roe Huntries. firstly well done to this lady for thinking about nutrition before embarking on ivf because many people don't and it can make a difference so an anti-inflammatory diet is basically a diet that helps to reduce levels of inflammation in the body and this is achieved by reducing the intake of pro-inflammatory foods so things like refined carbs processed meats added sugar and then increasing anti-inflammatory foods such as our oily fish or fruits and vegetables. So in fertility, this is important as inflammation can negatively influence several aspects of the fertility journey from egg quality to sperm quality, but also what we call the uterine environment.

11:53So the environment within the uterus basically, because this is where implantation occurs And that's the implantation of the embryo. So if things are inflamed here, it just means that we're going to have lower chances of success, which is why an anti-inflammatory diet can be really helpful. But another thing to think about here is antioxidants. So oxidative stress is associated with poorer egg and sperm quality, but antioxidants can help to prevent or counteract this damage. So these antioxidants, in essence, will lead to a higher quality of both eggs and sperm, therefore, again, leading to a higher chance of IVF success.

12:33So basically what we want to do is we want to combine these two things, an anti-inflammatory diet and having lots of antioxidants. And a really good diet for this is the Mediterranean diet. And I know you guys speak about it on the podcast, so it won't be new to you. But, you know, think plenty of fruits and veg, herbs and spices, legumes, nuts and seeds, oily fish, olive oil, whilst decreasing intake of things like red meat, refined carbs and added sugar. I will note that supplements can also help. So take a prenatal supplement at least and don't feel too overwhelmed. Just remember that what you imagine to be a healthy diet will likely be anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants.

13:17So even just eating healthily as you know it will likely have beneficial effects. okay so question two comes from lizzie and lizzie said a big thank you for the podcast thank you lizzie over the summer i was really overworked stressed and mentally struggling and the podcast really helped me to get out there and i'm so much better now well thrilled to hear it lizzie thank you and i think also thank you for saying the next thing it is normal it's really important that we all normalize that we have these periods in our life lizzie said i've got so many helpful tips and routines still struggling with some but getting there so thank you a lot it's always nice to hear you're not alone with your struggles.

13:51I totally agree. But she said, I'm working on gaining some weight due to not really having much appetite for some weeks. Do you have any tips? I already added smoothies, lots of variation as addition meals, but maybe could you share some more helpful ideas? I thought it was so nice this because so many questions are all like, how do I lose weight? How do I lose weight? How do I lose weight? As opposed to like, what can I do to really support my body and get a really healthy weight going? And also thank you for, I mean, just saying the podcast is helpful because it does remind Ella and I a lot that what we're doing by discussing these topics, because sometimes we get nervous about it, guys, you know, it is actually helpful.

14:26So in all my years of practice, it's such a misconception, we get so many people that need to gain weight, and it's hard. I would almost go as far as saying gaining can be more difficult for people than losing. It's an assumption that it's easy to put on weight for people, but it's not. Genetically speaking, it can be very difficult for certain body types to gain and a real, real struggle. And also that can be for a variety of reasons, psychological, it could be low appetite, you could be poorly, experience levels of stress, you turn away from food and there is no magic bullet with weight gain.

15:00It is a targeted plan. And actually it's very difficult in the science of nutrition. If any of you have that encyclopedia, I do have a page with a really easy flow diagram, which was an example because I really contemplated with the weight gain subject, the emotional link behind it. It's a difficult thing to address. But I laid it out in a very simple format to show a flow graph of what you could do throughout every day and all the extras you can add in. But essentially, it is definitely prioritizing nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods in excess. It's not just about eating a Mars bar every morning or something that's high calorie.

15:37I think it's a big misconception. You could just eat a pizza every single day from Domino's and that will help with your weight gain journey. it does not work like that at all. And for some people, actually, they may start losing weight, believe it or not, depending on their situation in clinic. It's really difficult. So you need to plan. Also, this can be hard. Your stomach is suddenly getting used to a larger volume of food and that also comes with digestive issues. So weight gain is not simple, guys. It's not just so lucky you because this is a big misconception. And I don't know if you'd have thought the same, but some people think, oh, that's great.

16:08You get to eat more. No, completely. I know, as you said, people often are lucky you, but actually kind of got to appreciate people's insecurities and challenges and self-esteem comes in so many different shapes and forms. And actually for some people, this is something they really, really need and want. And the money, like the cost. So have a think about how you can do it that's cost effective for you. So my top tips, like I said, prioritize nutrient dense. So don't just think of empty calorie junk food here. Think of nut butters, full fat dairy if you consume dairy instead of obviously semi-skimmed or skimmed, oily fish, avocados, all those sorts of things.

16:41Now, plant-based diets are lowering calories and you have to take that into account. It's a really common misconception that a large plate of grains and quinoas and things is going to add weight. It's not. You do need to up the fats. So I call them boosters, like olive oil, nut oil, seeds, ground flax or chia. Just keep adding that. Drink a lot more water. It's eating often with structure. So you insert snacks. It has to be breakfast, snack, mini lunch, lunch, snack, mini dinner, dinner, snack, bed. It's quite a lot for people to get used to. Turn meals into higher calorie versions. Remember the protein.

17:18Remember exercise. Don't, obviously don't overdo it, but you have to keep active and be patient. And just remember, it will happen in time. But if you're struggling, I would definitely reach out for some advice. And I have to say, it's not something the NHS, unless you're in a clinic for a condition, are very good at with referring for weight gain. One size doesn't fit all here. I'd say it's more complex than a weight loss diet. That's really interesting. As you said, I think that's very different to what some people would imagine.

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19:44That's better. H-E-L-P dot com slash one scoop. OK, our next question comes from Jake, who is also asking if we'd ever post our episodes on YouTube. Do you know what? A few people have asked us about this. If we're being completely honest and we add in here, he has another question as well. We'll get to you. But just on this one, because as I said, we've had a few questions about filming the show. I think when we started the show, what we wanted was just to like feel really relaxed and have time where we felt we can kind of just be really honest and I found with our last podcast as soon as we had cameras and you have obviously many more people involved and it becomes kind of a bit more of a production it's not that other people's shows lose this right that's definitely what I'm meaning but I just felt for me there was a little bit of authenticity that you lose because you suddenly feel so much more on edge I mean in the room right now our producer Will had to quickly go and do something it's like literally just really sitting on comfy chairs having a chat and I just for me personally I just think maybe you get more from me do you know I think there's also a level of us wanting to almost not fight back but make a stand in the sense that not everything has to be perfectly curated and poised for clickbait on social media we didn't want this podcast and Ella said from the very start because I did ask the question I said oh do you think anyone's going to listen if we don't post these clips?

21:12Do we have to edit our conversations into some sort of different meaning? Do we have to speak differently to be able to get a 30 second clip? And, you know, when we were looking at it, I think you do lose authenticity to a certain degree. It's very difficult to get good performative social media clips from your podcast. And also we're then judged in a different way. So you've got to remember personally, I think we discuss a lot of vulnerable subjects like we just discuss weight gain that is a really sensitive issue for people and I don't want anyone to look at us and and judge on how we look or appear on the camera and then pitch it against what we're saying does that make sense I mean it's definitely it's certainly how I feel curious to hear what you guys think but yeah I think it is that as well which is that we have both been on shows where our conversations are very much edited down to a clickbaity and I often imply being like just please don't use this because it's just not who I am and it's just not what I mean.

22:09And there's no point, to be honest, filming it if you don't create clickbait because no one will ever see it. So that's a huge amount of time and money to create something that you then don't use. But I think we'll stay audio only to exactly to kind of keep the relaxed nature and also to essentially opt out of a clickbait race. Okay. So Ella, the next question. This is still from Jake. This is his actual question. Yeah. So he wanted to know what was actually very different from the initial question. What are your thoughts on chewing gum, which has been boosted with vitamins? So he said, I recently saw M &S advertise an immune support gum, sorry, with B12, B6 and C.

22:48The packaging says a lot of buzzwords without saying much. Is it just marketing? Ella? Let's just say yes and move on. No, we'll give you a full answer, Jake. Like, I mean, look, we talked last Monday about the J Wicks documentary and about the food industry and the lack of regulation. And it's been a very interesting learning process for me over the last decade or whatever of being part of that industry. But what you see really quickly is that we just talked about colds and what you can do, for example, to support your body in cold and flu season on Monday. And we were saying, you know, what's really important is your gut health.

23:26and what's really important for your gut health is high fiber foods things like oats nuts seeds you know fruit etc and we can make products that include all of that but you can't make those claims whereas once you start adding a sprinkling of vitamin x y or z you can start making infinitely more claims and that's a very simplistic way of putting it but essentially to be able to make health claims you kind of which is why Cocoa Pops have been able to say supporting your family's health because they add in sprinklings of various multivitamins. And so I think the challenge here is like when you go into it, like yes, vitamin B12, for example, very important for several key functions in the body.

24:07Vitamin B6, the same, involved in metabolism, brain function, immune health. It's needed for over 100 enzyme reactions in the body. Like these are really important things that also helps the body make neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, GABA like it's not that the added vitamins aren't relevant we talked about and again Monday's episode vitamin c can shorten the length of coal by about eight percent it can slightly take the edge off the severity but remembered so impressed but you're gonna have to eat a lot of gum before you don't even eat gum do you just I love fortification I'm all for it I think it saves lives however I'm really not for this.

24:47But you're talking about fortification in the form of like formula for children or you're talking about exactly or you're talking about I think soy milks for example if you're on a vegan diet and adding in iodine which vegans would often be low in so you're like very targeted and very kind of researched and well-rounded fortification. Yes I As opposed to marketing claims. I've had in my clinic for years issues of chewing gum because it can worsen people's digestion. It triggers acid reflux. It doesn't make it better because your stomach thinks it's about to get food. So whenever you chew gum, your saliva production goes up, which actually in some instances, I know dentists say it can be good for your teeth.

25:28And it is advised in some situations. You know, as a singer, I used to be told that could be helpful to chew a little bit of gum before I go on stage because it helps with saliva production. However, it also causes your stomach to release acid and anticipation of the food. And a lot of bloating or heartburn, discomfort, often it's simply because you've been chewing gum. And then the taste of it, those added sweeteners such as sorbitol, xylitol, they can ferment in the gut and cause digestive upset in some individuals in excessive amounts. Of course, I have to add that in. I just, I'm very confused by it.

26:04I mean, I get the opportunity. I am going into Marks and Spencer's to have a chat at the end of the month. I'm very excited, actually. But I'm very confused by immune support gum. Yeah, look, I think we, you know, we talked about it on Monday. There's lots of important things you can do to support your immune system in the winter. And for example, B6, you know, great sources of poultry, fish, potatoes, bananas, chickpeas, oats, fortified cereals, like quite easy to consume items that we're often all consuming anyway if you've got a vaguely whole food diet so i just think that the focus again consistently comes back to should be on food and if you're if this is a breath thing i'm not a dentist by the way guys but we mentioned a tongue scraper right back at the beginning as one of our things and i've done it every day ever since i love it i love it now i can't go without it how did i not do this in the morning every day Feels very hygienic.