Longevity, Collagen & the Perfectionism Trap

0:26Race the rudders!

0:33When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp. The secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com. Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we are your hosts. I'm Ella Mel. And I'm Rhiannon Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be.

1:16That's why we created this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple, fun and personal.

1:26so hi guys thank you for bearing with us well we had a week off for the easter holidays um but happy easter everyone welcome back i hope you all had a lovely long weekend and don't feel even a teensy bit guilty about enjoying chocolate over it we were actually meant to have no episode this week and we were going to have two weeks off but the missing episodes seemed to not go down very well with the community. And also, honestly, we missed it so much and we had so much to talk about. There was no way we could fit it into one. So here's your bonus. Yeah, exactly. Honestly, we were inundated with messages and we are here for you.

2:02We were also voted this week as one of the top five podcasts in the UK by The Independent, Ella. It was mega. It's so cool. I mean, it's this idea that we had for the show just feels like it's really taking root. And we're so, so grateful for all of your support and we also had our first interview together and it was the cover of the telegraph weekend which was pretty cool so if you're not in the uk the telegraph is one of our biggest papers and we had an amazing feature in it just talking a little bit about the madness of the wellness world and how to cut through all the noise which was so exciting and the final thing before we get into the show it's just a reminder tickets are still flying for our wellness scoop live on the 14th of June.

2:45We've sold over 60 % of them now, way over 500 tickets. So if you want to come and you want to get your ticket, please do it now. It's going to be amazing. And we'll put all the details in the show notes. And the venue itself, the seating, just so everybody knows, because it's such a beautiful venue. You get a very clear view because all the seats are raised. So it doesn't matter if you're at the front or you're near the back because you will be able to see everything and there's screens, isn't there? So hopefully, honestly, this is going to be epic. Yeah, it really will. We're so excited. And we're just absolutely loving everything Wellness Scoop.

3:16So please do review it, share it, pop it on your socials, spread the word, because both of us would love to dedicate more and more time to it. And the bigger it gets, the more we can do that. Yeah, I think it's going to have to become almost like not just something we do for fun every week. But to that point, I've been reading all of your Spotify reviews, the ones on Apple. And I think it's an overall yes, Ella, to Substack because it seems to be a really nice, unintimidating platform. To me, the reason I like Substack is it feels much more like original social media, which is a way of bringing people's shared interests together to get useful information that's entertaining and nice to consume.

3:54not kind of just really dry by when I say useful but I think it cuts through the noise in the way that social media platforms are so algorithm driven now and they become so clickbaity and so extreme it's almost a kind of satirical paradox the whole thing when you open it up it just feels madness whereas when I open Substack I've got thought-provoking or deeply researched pieces that are five minute reads or so and they give me information or as I said yeah they become thought provoking on topics I'm interested in. And I feel that's what we're trying to do here, isn't it? We're trying to share genuinely useful information, cut through the noise, give people inspiration, empowerment.

4:33And I just think that's really hard to do on social media now. I agree. I completely agree. So if we get past the live show, do get your tickets, then we will get you all up on Substack. Let's try and have a way we can bring everybody together in a really nice safe space. And talking of bringing people together as well. So many amazing, lovely listeners in America and Canada actually commented on Ella's feedback and things about portion sizes in the States. And they said, yeah, there's some nice places you can eat there too. But the general consensus is they are much bigger than in Europe. Portion size is so much bigger and they just have ingredients in their food that we don't have in Europe.

5:10And so you have the same thing. Like I saw some comparisons yesterday between Cadbury's cream eggs, for example, in the UK versus the US. And they have, for example, food dyes that aren't allowed in Europe and have to carry health warnings here in theirs, whereas we're using paprika extract for the colour. And they've got things like high fructose corn syrup in there, ketchup, etc., that we're not using here. So it is, I really noticed that. It's very interesting. It's a different ballgame. I was up till very late editing the book, as you know, with the US queries coming in for the book. So any US listeners, obviously, it's going to be in America.

5:43But it was so interesting, the changes I have to make from a UK version with nutrition to a US version and all the extra things that I'd never heard of. Apparently, coconut aminos is a thing in America right now. It's not a thing here in the UK and all these different things. But I digress. And there's one comment that I think I really wanted to read out from Helen. And Helen, thank you for this message. She said, I love this show so much. It's my Monday highlight. And also, if you've not read it already, then I'd recommend a book called Stolen Focus by Johan Harry, as it covers the many areas that are affecting our attention and our brain power now.

6:19And she said it's fascinating. So a new book wreck for us. Love it. Thank you, Helen. We so appreciate that. I love a book wreck. I'm currently reading a book called Dose and we've got the author TJ coming up on the Extra Scoop soon and it's all on the same idea, like what this screen-filled, digital, fast-paced modern world, what is happening to our brain, chemistry, our focus, our mood as a result. It's fascinating. I desperately need to divorce my phone. So, Rhi, what have we got coming up in today's show? Oh, it's a big one, guys. We've got collagen coffee. It's trending, but is it worth the hype?

6:53So we're going to break this down, what collagen is and whether your morning latte is the best way to get it in. Longevity hacks that actually make a difference from diet to mindset. We're breaking down what it means to age well and stay well. Then can you be really fit at any size? Now, I love this conversation. We're talking about body neutrality, inclusive fitness, and why movement matters more than that number on the scale. Then a topic that I'm so excited to discuss, can green tea help brain health? Yes, plus the matcha boom that's putting pressure on Japan's supply chain. Are you stuck in the perfectionism trap?

7:28So we dive into a brilliant article on maximizing your life and ask, is striving for your best self actually making you miserable. Then I've got a little update from SACM, which is our scientific advisory council of nutrition here. And it's about ultra processed food. So it's an update there. We've got the TikTok wellness trends we had to talk about. Things like iGymnastics, also known as iYoga. Can it really help your vision? Lymphatic drainage messages, what this actually is, what's all this detox things? Are they just fluff? Plus Ella's New York recap. Yes, the Oat Bar Obsession and a brilliant book recommendation from a listener on brain power and attention.

8:08And just so you know, guys, we are recording in a new room today and there may be a tiny bit of background noise, but we really hope it doesn't disrupt your enjoyment of the episode.

8:19Really quickly, what have you been up to this week? I feel like my Easter holiday is sadly was filled with sickness bugs. But do you know what? The sun was shining and it made such a difference because the kids could nap in the garden and I also did film some very exciting things for TV and I've got this scientific advisory council update that I really wanted to share because with the new book my book The Unprocessed Play there's lots of things happening constantly in 2025 that I really want to get in the book and I just managed this one because it's going to print this week so we have an update on the definitions of ultra processed foods of course the fact that finally we're recognizing that this nova category there's a lot of nuance you know there are good ultra processed foods and not so good ones to have so frequently we talked about things like baby formula for example that's an ultra processed food and can be extraordinarily life-saving so yeah a blanket approach can be quite overwhelming yeah because you know the committee reiterated the findings they had from 2023 and i think a lot has actually happened in the last two years surrounding this conversation of foods in itself being recognized by scientists that it's actually of concern.

9:30And then the big update that I got in the book is about meat alternatives. And I think you'll find this really, really interesting that actually meat alternatives could be the perfect example of the nuance in conversation surrounding processed foods and health. So while it's true that processed meats are not great for you, the plant-based meat alternatives which are often tarred with the same brush as foods like you know hot dogs cakes fizzy drinks despite having a very different nutritional profile they're actually more beneficial so we've got data from randomized control trials which is the gold standard of data now that shows for people replacing the processed meat so if you love your ham sandwiches you love your burgers when you go to fast food joints but if you replace that with a plant-based alternative.

10:18It can actively reduce your bad cholesterol. So LDL cholesterol, low density lipoproteins and body weight and the exact opposite of findings on a wider ultra processed food group when taken as a whole. So what I found so interesting about this is I often discuss the hierarchy of the burger. If we take this as an example, you've got the bean burger, which is the perfect example of an unprocessed, minimally processed, cooked from scratch, fiber protein, delicious then you've got the middle ground which is the meat alternative because it's not carcinogenic it doesn't often contain as much if any saturated fat but what it does have is a lot of salt and often sometimes additives for flavor but for the general public for most of us making a decision if you just go for that plant burger you know what store i mean the takeaway fast food chain that everyone goes to if you make that one switch you're actively helping your health And we've got that now concrete in science that UPF plant-based meats are not bad for you.

11:18I think what it's really helpful to illustrate as well is that as humans, I think we have this natural desire for quite binary, good or bad, black or white type thinking. And we want to put things in buckets. And to your point, like there's a scale here. And I think it's important to always remember there's a continuum and, you know, there's better choices. but you can also find a middle ground that that works for you and you can move along the continuum and i think as well one of the things i often find frustrating is the idea that people who are eating this largely ultra processed diet not eating a huge amount of fiber fresh fruit and veg not cooking from scratch a lot the idea that they are going to replace like haribo with an apple is just mad that's never going to happen you've got to move along a continuum and you've got to make better choices and better choices and best choices and probably over a period of time you will start to crave that apple or that bean burger a little bit more.

12:13But I think that expecting people to be able to move from one extreme to the other extreme is probably just slightly overly optimistic. It's too much. I couldn't agree with you more, Ella. And something we've said for years in the nutrition industry is reformulation is so essential with the food industry to be able to help the health of nations and optimistically to say, yeah I'm just going to change my diet overnight just isn't a thing but if we can change the world we live in of food we do stand a bit of a chance so in terms of ultra processed foods also thinking about things like lab grown meats are now an actual thing you know it doesn't involve harming the animal animals can live and they don't have to live in poor conditions because we know that farming in different areas is not the same standards are different this is a very ethical conversation I'm going into I'm not going to go too heavy but we don't know what the future looks like it could be lab grown meat it could be meat alternatives and hopefully more people cooking with beans and pulses.

13:07Yes, make those black bean burgers. They taste great. What about you, Ella? Any updates? I need to hear all about holiday. Oh, yes. Freshly back, very jet lagged. I think I managed about three hours of sleep last night, feeling fresh. But it was amazing. We did a event in New York. So we've just launched Delicious Yellow Oat Bars across the whole of the US in Whole Foods, which is such a milestone, such a huge moment. So proud of it. But I had this real really amazing moment we arrived at the event and we had goodie bags for the first 50 people and may who's my youngest daughter she's four and a half she was just so desperate to get involved and she was packing the goodie bags and then she was going down the line handing them out to everybody that's adorable and it was just this amazing moment of just such extreme pride seeing my daughters there involved in the family business you know having these people so many of whom mentioned that they love the wellness scoop take the time to come out and say hi to see our products in store across Whole Foods US I mean it was just it was very full circle I felt very very proud I don't even know what to say that's just such a huge moment that's a memory you will probably have yeah your whole entire life I wish you could bottle it up and put it in one picture I know me too no she was so proud of herself it was just absolutely well done mate I know she's quite something.

14:26Have you got any recommendations for us this week? Oh, recommendations. I was trying to think, talking of oat bars, I think one of the recipes that's just gone viral on my page, it's funny how these things happen, isn't it? I wasn't even meant to. I was thinking, oh, what can I provide for people this week? It's Easter, I'm really busy. And it's like a four ingredient oat bar. It's not even really an oat bar. You just kind of get a baking dish, you put in the oats, the yogurt, the banana, the nut butter, mix it all together, bake it and that's it. It's had like over 2 million views already and it's just going up and up so check that out on the retrition page if you want something really easy that takes no time because I was at peak capacity with cooking last week I was just not not on it with my kids being poorly and I even put a nappy in the washing machine I was just having one of those weeks you know when it's just not not good and so we all get them guys just remember that and I think a recommendation for me as well I've got a page here from the book that Ella lent me so let me just get my phone because I wanted to screenshot the page because I knew I'd lose it in my bag.

15:27While we get set up the book is I May Be Wrong it's written by a Swedish man who became a forest monk and it is the best book I have read almost ever we recommended it probably a month or so ago and I lent me a copy if you're looking for a bit of wisdom sage advice ability to be a bit more present it's a really enjoyable read as well. it's amazing this one page resonated with me so much i thought i have to share this on the wellness group and i think it's something we all do one level of the human psyche is very fond of blaming others for everything for instance if my parents had been different if people at work hadn't been so mean to me if the politicians could just make better decisions there's nothing we can do about that.

16:13It's a fundamental aspect of our ego, exceedingly natural. And when life gets hard, when we face psychological pressure, pointing fingers is easier and it leaves us less vulnerable. But even if it makes us uncomfortable, it eventually becomes completely necessary to ask ourselves the question, is there anything I can do right here, right now to help me feel less awful in this situation because the world will keep on turning and no one else and nothing else needs to change to make it easier to be you and me when we feel under pressure sad lonely anxious small and inadequate those feelings are remarkably often caused by the same thought that we're clinging to and when I was reading that Ella I just thought I question myself sometimes even in my line of work with oh if the government could reformulate you know all these things but what do I have the power to do right now.

17:08And reading that just made me feel seen because I think we all question how we were brought up and the difference it makes today. But we are here now. Yeah. And look, it's a lot like what you talk about, I think, here in the sense of it's so easy to look for quick fixes. It's so easy to look for silver bullets, like the magic answers, the fairy one that will change everything. And I think that speaks the same thing. It's much easier to say it's someone else's fault. I can't exercise because of X, Y or Z. I can't cook a healthy meal because of x y z i just can't do it and ultimately we're the only people that control our lives and so much is out of our hands but i think i love that passage but yeah guys you've got to read it i may be wrong it's just phenomenal it's been so helpful i'm nearly finished and then the final thing was the clinic meeting i had with my team this week and just a reminder that supervision is essential like even us registered nutritionists dietitians psychologists we need to speak to somebody to deal with certain cases when they're complex it's the same in everyday life we all need to chat to a friend we all need to talk it out that's why we need this community it's so true how about you ella good recommendations please okay i've got a i'm gonna say i've got a really good recommendation really backing myself today i love this recommendation i think it's going to speak to a lot of us here so i've given it a little bit of extra time this week i think probably we have a very female heavy audience i think probably quite a lot of us could relate to the idea of perfectionism and always trying to kind of self-improve and better ourselves and just very high expectations and pressure on ourselves to do things kind of quote unquote perfectly.

18:38And I then came across this piece in the Style magazine from the Times this weekend, and it was called, Is Maximizing Your Life Making You Miserable? Now, I hadn't heard of the term maximizing before, but maximizers basically sit right alongside those perfectionists. It's the idea that you just can't quite ever let good enough be enough which as I said and Reece nodding to I'm nodding to I think probably quite a lot of you are nodding to and it's just this essential constant focus on self-improvement optimization chasing this imagined sense of wholeness that I think has become very prolific in our society today and maximizes essentially was talking about you always have to have the perfect restaurant recommendation the perfect matcha latte the perfect this it's like good enough fine it's just not enough you feel this pressure to always do it perfectly and I think what I really wanted to pull out is that this kind of more more more mentality this belief that we're channeling into self-help wellness productivity that there's always a perfect way of doing it and we've got to do that is making us miserable and I just feel like for all of us to reflect on it's really important because we do put a lot of pressure on ourselves but it's not worth it so this stat really stood out so a 2018 study by York St John University found that levels of perfectionism especially something called socially prescribed perfectionism so that's the belief that other people expect you to be perfect for you to be accepted increased by 33 % amongst young people between 1989 and 2017 so essentially the time that lots of us grew up and the researchers are predicting that by 2050 so not too long from now one in three people are going to be negatively affected by this pressure and this type of perfectionism so I just think it's a real wake-up call and something for us all to reflect on today to actually just be so much more gentle with ourselves we do not need to consistently drive to appear flawless you know to always be achieving more it's exhausting but it's actually harmful and I think this quote summed it up really well there's something pretty gluttonous about this endless pursuit of bettering yourself we're trying to break our personal best meditate deeper go to the best restaurants or with a more more more mentality even downtime becomes stressful you're trying to unwind when you read something about sleep maxing and suddenly you're falling down a sleep optimization rabbit hole that advises drinking a magnesium cocktail and taping your mouth shut at bedtime so you know i think this is why the show exists in that sense but it's like let's just do our best and let our best be more than good enough and just be a lot more gentle on ourselves because the pressure is there, but it's not making us happy.

21:14And happiness is a key driver of health. So two thoughts in my head when you're reading out that quote, is it so interesting because obviously there must be an evolutionary aspect to the human race that wants to keep striving, right? So we're dealing with an evolutionary adaption of wanting to be the best. But on the flip side, you're dealing with now a media heavy world where you can see everything we never used to see which I think we'll have to discuss on an extra scoop when we do social media in more depth but it's just not normal to see everything in such a curated way it's not healthy and it's not good for us and yeah maximizing I don't like it I don't like it but I'm totally guilty of it at times as well and feeling like yeah putting a lot of pressure on myself and actually it's amazing how different you feel when you release the pressure valve so guys go release the pressure valve you are doing more than enough yeah and apparently the article said there's something called satisficing satisficing which is basically just being really satisfied with good enough choices you know meaningful decisions rather than optimal ones it's not like settling and kind of just being really passive and giving up but it's allowing yourself to step off a hamster wheel of perfectionism and ask what's right for me right now it's making my easy oat bars and not feeling you have to make a full-on cake.

22:33That is exactly what it is. Love it.

22:39Okay, the health headlines that matter. What have we got today, Rhi? Okay, so we have got the first headline. And also, once I'd written this out to go on The Wellness Scoop, I saw the same conversation on another major podcast emerging. And that was literally the whole podcast was about it. So I thought, oh, I've picked up on something that's not going away here as an article to discuss. Green tea slows and possibly reverses brain aging versus the mainstream podcast situation at the moment with caffeine and aging in your brain. Because that seems to be absolutely everywhere, that discussion. Now, a recent study published in MPJ Science of Food investigated the effects of green tea consumption on brain health.

23:23And this is in older adults. And the research analysed data from over 8 ,700 community dwelling adults and they were aged 65 or older. And they basically assessed their green tea and coffee intake comparing the two alongside brain imaging results. Like how interesting is this? I would just love to see all of this on a screen. Me too. Blows my mind. And the findings basically indicated a significant association between higher green tea consumption and a reduced presence of cerebral white matter lesions, which are linked to cognitive decline and dementia. So essentially, guys, our brain is benefiting from the consumption of green tea.

24:01And I think I knew about this for years. There's always been a green tea matcha drinker. And I remember seeing these headlines when we first started out. 2015, green tea is really good for you. However, no similar associations were found with coffee. So this does suggest that regular green tea intake may contribute to maintaining brain health in aging populations. And of course, we need more research, guys. This is in green tea itself. It's not in a pill. It's not in a capsule. That's important to reiterate. That's actually risky. And coffee drinkers, there is benefits to having coffee as well, but not for the brain in the same way there is with green tea.

24:37I love it because I love green tea. So I love any encouragement to drink it. But it was specifically drinking three or more glasses of green tea or cups of green tea that were associated with these few alesions, which is just absolutely fascinating. I think my ritual, like, you know, you said morning rituals and we're going to discuss that. Mine every morning is to have my tea pigs green tea. And that is my thing. And every morning I wake up, it's the first thing I actually do is have a cup of green tea. And now I feel so much better for doing it. And it's got less caffeine in than coffee as well.

25:08So for someone like me, I just cannot cope with high caffeine. I think it makes me anxious. I feel like I get palpitations. Yeah, I have to admit the first thing I do is coffee, but then I do a matcha. Yeah. But I probably need to drink more green tea. Rhi, give us the overview of why green tea is also so good for us outside of the benefit that it potentially has in brain support. Yeah, no, of course. It's the compound EGCG. I was going to attempt to say it out loud and I've never been able to say it correctly. Epigalacachin. You don't need to know. I've always just called it EGCG. I've never actually said that out loud.

25:43But it's widely recognised for its science-backed health benefits. And you've got antioxidant properties, of course, which are really important for fighting against chronic diseases. Heart health benefits. So it lowers your bad cholesterol again and it reduces the risk of heart disease. So it helps basically improve the function of your blood vessels, which also links to, of course, reducing the risk of blood clots. all sorts of things there. Now the weight loss link that it is associated with of green tea, you see everywhere in the papers, I think because the clickbait headlines are so strong and everyone wants to hear what can help me lose weight.

26:16But actually, I don't think the studies here are great. And the claims that are made like it boosts metabolism, helps reduce body fat. I think they all need further research and we need to delve deeper there. There's a few, you will find a few if you look up research on weight loss and green tea, but mechanisms are really unknown brain function anti-cancer properties diabetes management you name it improve skin health from the antioxidants and uv damage even so essentially i think everybody if you want caffeine and you don't want a lot of it green tea is a really good option yeah what a little superfood and again when we talk about these like easy to do habits a cup of green tea is an easy to do habit to fit into your day-to-day life that has meaningful evidence-based health properties so guys hot girl walk and green tea maybe this time um which i absolutely love now my mum actually sent me an article um from the guardian on how popular matcha has become thinking of green tea and actually just really quickly to reiterate before we go into that as a side note as re said all of this research is on green tea it's not on the capsules and it's not a matcha like matcha is actually ingesting the whole leaf i would say matcha is better for you and there should be research on matcha we're going to do an extra scoop covering supplements and things like that which we'll talk about it but please don't go out and buy green tea supplements that will not help you but green tea to matcha i cannot include this um so shout out to camilla for sending it to me so as you guys have probably seen matcha is having a serious moment it's moved from a staple of japanese tea ceremonies into a kind of global wellness favorite demand is as a result soaring i thought you guys might think it was interesting as well the global matcha market is projected to grow from$2.8 billion in 2023 to around$5 billion by 2028.

28:02And Japan, which is obviously home to the highest quality matcha, is really struggling to keep pace with it, apparently. So the country produced just over 4 ,000 tons of matcha in 2023, which was almost three times what it had been producing in 2010. Exports have quadrupled over the past decade. And the US alone accounts for nearly 60 % of Japan's matcha exports. They're not going to be thrilled about Trump's tariffs yeah so maybe that maybe that will affect it all but matcha is booming and what's so interesting about matcha is the leaf the way it's grown in japan the reason this will be actually difficult for them to produce more is because it's an immature leaf so that's why you it's more green it contains more chlorophyll contains more of these amazing antioxidants and it's grown part in shades it's almost like that thrive and survive mechanism in nature where because it's trying to get up to the sunlight it's producing more of those amazing antioxidant properties that you digest so i mean i find it amazing because i've obviously been drinking matcha since day dot years ago and now suddenly it's having this moment i am loving it bring it on yeah me too i i am quite obsessed i feel like a real cliche these days so ella headline number two we've got i think is really really sensitive and important it is sensitive and important and the headline is let's say it's very very clickbaity we did not write this just when i read it out so just to really clarify that but we thought it was an important thing to talk about so the article it was from the guardian actually again it was called plot twist i'm still a fat person and it explores the lives of individuals who defy the stereotype that fitness and larger bodies are mutually exclusive which is why we thought it was such an important thing to talk about this idea of being fit at any size which i think is absolutely imperative yeah i think what was really nice is we've spoken a lot about how important it is to exercise for all of our mental well-being and our heart health etc and trying to remove the need to exercise from looking a certain way and actually exercise for enjoyment and because it gives us that energy and makes us feel better and i think this article was speaking to that in a really empowering way so it was just talking about basically how people in plus size bodies are really embracing movement for joy and strength and some big communities that are forming around that really focusing on yeah exercise for mental well-being and not weight loss and to me that's such an important point because I think just too often this two are so connected so people say I'm going to exercise to look a certain way this summer which ultimately as well I believe very passionately that for habits to be sustainable they have to have a meaningful why if all you care about is your kind of bikini bod when you go on holiday this summer I just don't think you're going to find the motivation to keep moving your body that will wane when you're tired when you're overwhelmed when you're stressed whereas for most of us to exercise so that we don't have sore backs or we have more energy or we age well totally we want to feel better we feel less anxious we feel happier we feel more balanced we feel less snappy those are the reasons for me certainly that like I'm motivated to exercise regularly because I want to be a better wife a better mom a kind of more stable human being yeah it's funny this headline came up because I'd literally posted on my socials I was so sleep deprived, had no sleep and I made it to a workout and I nearly cancelled it because I had my son with me.

31:21But my PT said, and I'm so lucky to have a PT guys, I go once a week, I know it's a privilege and it's something I feel very blessed in my life to have. But he said, bring your son with you. And I want my son to see me as a woman being fit and healthy. But one of the comments underneath from someone says, but it's all right for you. Anyone that's in a size 14 plus body, they need to be doing more. And that's essentially what this comment said. And I thought, no, this is not the message. And that's why this headline is so important. And I think Tally Rye is a good recommendation for anyone that wants to look at fitness of all sizes and shapes.

31:53She's been on a journey herself from doing, I think, like competitions and things. You know, there's body competitions where people have to be like really. Shred. Yeah, like shredded on the stage, like really toxic. And she now embraces being in a larger body and she speaks openly about it. But the article's message, guys, is supported by scientific research too, which is so good. And it shows that physical activity can significantly improve health outcomes, cardiovascular fitness, your insulin sensitivity, your mental health, all aside from weight loss. And the studies in exercise science and public health confirm that fit but fat, which is the phrase they use, individuals have a lower mortality risk than those that are sedentary of a lower weight.

32:34so you can be smaller and not move much and have more risk of dying than someone that's in a larger body that moves a lot yeah look it's a great message and i think what it does as well is just shows this need to kind of slightly disentangle health and wellness and aesthetics because they're two totally different things and too often or not so you know we see the kind of pilates workouts on instagram and they're all about looking a certain way and exercise is not just about that. So I think it was a phenomenal reminder. And commenting on a woman's size and shape and even the comment I had about, you know, a size 14.

33:09Well, actually, a size 14 is different in every blooming shop you go into. I mean, how do you even navigate sizes and shapes anymore as a woman? It's an absolute minefield. And there's so many amazing people now in all shapes and sizes. I just wish we could move away from judging people on how they look like that. I totally agree in every sense of the word and guys drink some green tea exercise to feel good stop putting so much pressure on yourself this is a really feel good episode i think when we were looking at it there's not many awful headlines this week no it's just be kind to yourselves and look after your body because you deserve it as opposed to because you're yeah trying to emulate someone on instagram it is so important to me that my home feels like a calm and cozy sanctuary from the chaos of the world i found that beyond decorating sensory things like warm smells and soft textures make the biggest impact for that and especially as it cools down outside i'm looking for the best ways to snuggle up on my couch i recently moved and one of the very first things i added to my new living room was my bubble cuddle blanket from cozy earth it's a faux fur material that is so incredibly soft and has this cool bubble design that makes it look and feel very plush.