Plant Points, Fibre Hacks & Family Food Battles

0:28Push your limits, train with precision, see the results. I just want to give you the space to process it, Michael said. Elena paused. I don't think I want to see anybody else. This is the love story of real hinge couple Elena and Michael, written and read by me, Raven Smith. Listen to the free audiobook now. I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. Honestly, if you have listened to me any time over the last few months, you know I have become a little bit evangelical about this app. and I honestly recommend it to everyone. My friends, my family, people on Instagram, everyone.

1:04And she recommended it to me, so it's true. I've heard so much about it. It's just because it has had such a big impact on me. I've meditated on and off for 15 years or so now, but using the way is honestly the first time I've become so consistent with this daily practice. And I've just seen the most unbelievable results as a result of that. The app is just incredible. And what I love is every day you open it and there's a meditation waiting for you. So you don't scroll, that you don't have to choose between hundreds of options. There's no wondering what to do. It just takes you on a path. Well, I think that's why it works so well because most of us just don't need more big decisions every day to make, Ella.

1:44No, exactly that. We've got decision fatigue, haven't we? So this is so nice because you just follow this path of meditation, which is led by Henry, the founder, who's just the most amazing teacher. And he makes it seem somehow just incredibly simple, but exceptionally profound at the same time, which is a very rare skill. And I've been using it too. Yes, I've now finally begun my meditation journey and I've been doing some of the shorter practices on busy days because I completely understand why you talk about it so much, Ella. It really is a nice intro in for me. Yeah, it is. And I'm so glad.

2:17Anyway, it's helped me feel so much calmer, less reactive, more present. It all sounds like huge claims, but I just say, please, please, please try it. if you're struggling with stress or overwhelm, you've just got to give it a go. And the lovely thing is that everyone listening can definitely try it themselves. Exactly. So you can get a 30-day free trial. So just try it every day per month. It'll change your life. All you do is head to thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yeah, that's thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. welcome to the wellness scoop your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration and as always we're both here as your hosts i'm ella mills and i'm rianna lambert and today is the wonderful episode where we take your questions and we give our recommendations let's go rian i've been talking off mic a lot about toothpaste and this confusion of fluoride not fluoride, all the different opinions that people have.

3:20And I think it's a really interesting example of how confusing health advice can also be. Anyways, I have been trying a hydroxyapatite toothpaste as recommended by a dentist friend of mine, but I want to try it for a bit longer before I tell you whether or not I recommend it because I did try another one that's very popular and I feel like nothing has ever cleaned my teeth worse. Like they felt so furry and rank and it was definitely not working. This one seems to be working, but I'm going to try it a bit longer before I tell you anything. It's an area where we both just said that I feel I know nothing about it at all.

3:53And it's so interesting. So Ella, in today's show, what have we got coming up? We're going to be talking about the question of are you getting enough fibre? Do plant points actually work? Is there any point in tallying those up? Favourite snacks when we're travelling around? The link between appetite and digestion, which I'm really excited to deep dive in. which foods are worth making from scratch and which ones should you just happily buy and so much more we also have loads of recommendations thoughts things from you guys it's going to be a diverse and juicy episode um re have you got any recommendations that you are burning to tell us about the first one is the disney plus princess show i just want to Oh, what is that?

4:37I'd say burning recommendation. What a name. Yeah, this isn't a wellness recommendation, although I think it's good for the soul if you grew up loving Disney classics like myself. But all of the people that voiced all of the classic Disney films dating back to Pocahontas, Judy Kahn, Leia Salonga for Jasmine and Mulan Reflection, all of the absolute Disney legends. they threw this massive concert in America, Disney World. I mean, it's unbelievable. They celebrated the composer Lin Manuel, who wrote the soundtrack for Encanto, Moana. He did Hamilton, the musical Legend. And people got awarded and celebrated.

5:21And you can watch it back on Disney+. And I cried a lot. You know, like good tears. You know, it's a feel good, like, oh, memories. I'm going to watch that this afternoon with a girl. Do it. it was really really special you'll have to fast forward all the acceptance speeches Anne Hathaway was there accepting um because she's now a Disney legend for her roles within different films can I just say oh my gosh on that did you see the um spoiler like teaser for Frozen 3 yeah that was there that night so it's my friend Amy that's there Amy Hart took the video of that and it went viral millions and millions oh my god was that your friend yeah she was like I forgot to I even put a caption in it because I was so sleep deprived.

6:00She'd arrived on the plane. She's got a baby. She got this amazing job with Disney and she filmed the clip and it went everywhere. I watched it a hundred times. And then I kept saying, oh my God, I'm so excited for Frozen 3. I was like, how many times do you want to tell me you're really pumped about a movie aimed at seven-year-olds? And I was like, probably just like two more because I think it's really good. I am so excited to see Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, who's the voice of Elsa up there on the stage. It is unbelievably exciting. So that's just a bit of a feel good rec for you. And as you know, I gave you all an exclusive last week to the pre-order for Ready, Set, Cook.

6:38So thank you to everyone that's pre-ordered there. That's being announced Saturday the 5th. It's out there in the world. And then I'm really getting ready for back to school now. I mean, the kids are back at school as of today for me. And I feel very overwhelmed. I'm not going to gloss over it alongside all the feel good things and I'm so excited about the cookbook I feel this wow this is it now September let's do this type of mode I really need a bit of that September let's do this kind of mode I feel like by this point in some holidays I'm like I don't even know what day it is like I I don't know I feel like I live in a fish tank I'm just I don't even know why a fish tank like a dishwasher I don't know come to mine bring a diary help me sort my life out Ella literally off air has been helping me with my dates because I can't compute in my head what day and what I'm doing anywhere I have this memory though, where like, I'm not great at remembering, you know, facts or something.

7:30Like if I read a book and, you know, 1792, this happened, I won't remember that, but I will remember what date and time you've told me that you're doing an event or like what train, like that, you know, that it's the 1117. Oh my gosh. I have this really unnecessarily useless hack for excessive detail when it comes to date and time memory. So I can help you with that. All our strengths and weaknesses. Ella, you can definitely help me with that practicality. I actually think it makes me like a stalker or like a psycho most of the time. It makes you a good friend. Yeah. Or like over-invested. Well, who needs to know in 1956 this happened?

8:13You know, I need to know what time train I've got to get today. I'll be late for work. So I think it's valid, Ella. Thank you very much. How about you, my love? What have you been up to? Okay recommendations guys I am obsessed I mentioned her the other day Emily Henry oh my god Ray you need these books next time I see you in real life I'll bring some you've lent me the one I'm going to be starting to read as my work slows down the wedding people so good okay after that Emily Henry okay so there's a show I think I've mentioned this before on Netflix called um the people we meet on vacation it's like you know it's a feel-good show if you haven't watched it and you're like having a bit of a bad day or like need a cozy night in with some popcorn, it's a good one.

8:51But it wasn't like anything, I don't think it was anything special. But then I had lots of people talking about her books. She is so good. So the first one I read was Happy Pace. And then the second one I read was Book Lovers. And now I've just started Funny Story. So I'm really on a roll here. And then I'm going on holiday for a few days and I'm taking Beach Read and Great Big Beautiful Life are the two with me. So hopefully by the end of August, I have completed Emily Henry. But the books are just, they're so feel good. And they're like, I don't know, there's something about them. They're like quite, they're like relatively PG for rom-coms.

9:31And they're just really sweet and nice. And like, they just make you feel really good about the world. Anyway, they're really easy to read, but they're fun. And I don't know, I think there's just been a lot going on. It's not been my favorite month I've had in a while. And like, they have just been so good. So I wholeheartedly recommend Emily Henry's books. They've been great. And then I am obsessed with broth at the moment, like veggie broth. You are. This is the third week of hot summer broth making, Ella. I'm obsessed. But I tell you the product that's game changing here is the Clear Spring Instant noodle broth.

10:09And it's just so clever because it's got ingredients in it like kombu, shiitake mushroom, mirin, rice syrup, cultured rice. Yeah, kombu, sea vegetables. It's not things that you like keep on hand necessarily in the cupboard, but then it's all in one anyway. And you just add a few spoons of it at the end and the flavor is amazing. Anyway, I'm just really into it. I love that and then you've also put cookies so have you been making lots of cookies yeah I've kind of got veggie broth on one hand and I've got chocolate chip cookies on the other which is like the perfect combo of like I forgot how nice it is to make cookies I think that was my recommendation basically it was my niece who's also my husband's goddaughter and just like really special person our life's birthday and we're going over and we were moving house like a few days later and I was oh gosh, what should I make?

11:02What should I bring? That's quite easy. And then I have the ingredients for it because I was trying to kind of run down ingredients. I wasn't traveling, you know, cross country with like too many open bags of flour anyways. And I made the cookies and I was like, why don't I make cookies more? They are so quick to make cookies. You're done in like 20 minutes. Chocolate chip cookies with a bit of sea salt are about the most delicious thing in the whole wide world. And it's just a recommendation. I really recommend making some chocolate chip cookies. Kids love it when I make cookies. In fact, everyone loves it when you make cookies.

11:29that's a fantastic win the kitchen smells so good you're so popular with everyone around you like it's such a good thing i mean it's a long time ago but i read and i did put this into practice when you're trying to sell your house or you're trying to move flats you should always bake and make the place smell of cookies before they come in it's like a nice psychological enhancement of what you're about to hopefully do our recommendation today our first one from you lovely wellness scoopers is from kim and she said i've just finished watching the documentary groundswell it's on amazon prime here in the states and i immediately wanted to tell re about it if she hasn't seen it already because she shares similar anxieties about our world's environmental issues and this documentary gave her hope i have to watch it she said it's about regenerative farming and how it can and hopefully will save our planet i cannot recommend it enough hope you're both doing amazingly and thank you for the podcast yeah so we've got to watch groundswell guys and then we have another recommendation that's from jess who is based in bristol so hi jess and she said she's got a couple of racks for us they're all about complex female relationships with meaty storylines which i think you and your listeners will enjoy number one imperfect women i have seen that actually on apple tv she says it's amazing number two the five-star weekend that's on now tv and she also said pro tip if you ever see a show produced by reese witherspoon's production company hello sunshine they tend to center around female stories female writers and tend to be incredibly well made so i always look at reese's book club recommendations and then see what's been made into shows i am verging on i mean i wouldn't say the word obsessed but i'm a huge admirer and have such admiration for reese witherspoon she is really quite groundbreaking in terms of what she does for females in the industry that she is in.

13:22So thank you so much for those. So Ella, we also have a little follow-up question from Alice here. We do indeed. Okay, so Alice, this is really for you. She said, I love the podcast. I look forward to it every week. Thanks, Alice. Have a question on last week's episode. You recommended that babies under two should really avoid free sugars. Does this include things like mashed bananas and mashed sweet potato. Oh, no. And you know, this is what's so, so interesting is Ella and I were really just talking about the unfairly marketed children's snacks and things on the supermarket shelves that discreetly may contain sugar.

14:01But mashed bananas, the sugars are intrinsic because they're within the banana. You mash it down, that doesn't count in the same way because you're still eating a whole banana. You're just eating it mashed. And the same for mashed sweet potatoes. So my answer there is no, the natural sugars you get in those foods are perfectly normal for your little one. In fact, what wonderful flavors to have. I mean, a mashed sweet potato, you can't really go wrong. I would be worried if you were then adding syrup to the mashed banana or sweet potato, or you were adding a little sprinkle of cinnamon sugar to a pancake with banana under the age of two.

14:40That's what I mean by extra sugars, not the banana itself that contains fiber, potassium, amazing minerals, beta carotene in the sweet potato. We want all those gorgeous nutrients. It's a good question. Don't worry about that. Okay. Now what happens if we blitz the banana? So we're going to make the banana pancakes you mentioned, the ones that are really popular with like oats, peanut butter, egg, flour, banana. You've blitzed up your banana there. Where does that count? Because obviously it's then being blitz so you've popped it in a food processor not a free sugar still but but i'm not worried about that so the it's the additional sugar in the diet under two free sugar technically still no because bananas are whole food so i'm not so worried about that it's not a puree banana it's still you've blitzed it up into the pancake mix it's not undergone an extra extraction of sugars you'll still have whole little lumps of banana that are going into that pancake I think that's a level of detail most parents just don't need to go you just don't need to go there you're putting you need to worry don't worry you're putting a whole banana into your pancake mix you're not adding white sugar or maple syrup or honey into the pancake mix you are using a banana which is a whole food to sweeten for your under two that is okay I'm talking about sugars that come that are very disguised like you buy a shop bought smoothie to give to your child that is full of free sugars because of the concentration of everything in there.

16:09So I think it's a really good question, Ella, 100%, because for parents today, you know, we're almost given too much information. I mean, yes, when you blend things, they become free sugars. But what parents need to understand under the age of two is that you're doing a good thing by mashing a banana or a sweet potato to add to your child's diet. You know, adding a mashed banana or blended to a pancake is fine. What we're trying to say is no added sugars under the age of two, as in no added syrup like maple syrup in that pancake. You don't need to saturate it with honey on top or Nutella chocolate spread.

16:42Having the sweet potato is additional fiber, same with the banana and nutrition. So to answer that very quickly, don't overthink it. Whole foods are fantastic. They just don't need extra sugar. They don't really need birthday cake. Controversial, I know, but they don't need it under the age of two. Oh gosh, I said it. Okay. That was so helpful. Right. Our next question today is, I love the podcast. I'm on maternity leave and it's been a treat listening to you on Daily Napwalk. Love that. She said, this is really follows onto the question we've just been discussing, I think in lots of ways. I want to get your advice on how to tackle a bit of a family disagreement because I'm on a month long holiday with my in-laws and they're very different ideas when it comes to feeding their children.

17:27They often feed their kids, crystal chocolate sandwiches for breakfast and have a diet which is 90 % ultra processed. My 2.5 year old, two and a half year old, sorry, will occasionally have crystal ice cream as a treat but isn't allowed these things most of the time. His diet's pretty good, consists mostly of whole foods, something I feel very strongly about. The family have been making jokes about how sad our diet is and that we don't give our son new treats and they've been sneaking things to him behind my bag. I don't want to break such good habits I built over his life and I also don't want to cause any drama inadvertently insult their parenting by asking them to stop how would you go about this what a great question yeah and i think ella and i can definitely start by saying you're not alone and what's really sad and actually i think this this might be a little bit outside of our remit to a degree so i've got a neuroscientist called melanie who's going to give us a voice note on the aspect of development and why these issues matter but i think from Ella and I's perspective, and I can't speak for you, Ella, obviously, but I think you'd probably agree with me if I said that we need to have honest, transparent chats with our in-laws and just kind of lay the line.

18:36And trust is very important when you're giving your children to someone else to look after them. And actually a level of respect. This is also a very interesting cultural discussion because I know in some cultures in the world, food and how you raise babies and all sorts of things. There are very ingrained family traditions that mother-in-laws, father-in-laws, grandparents believe should be upheld. But actually, we have more information today. And ultimately, you are the parent, you should be able to hand your child to a caregiver and say, can we focus on joyful nourishment? And you don't have to say those words, it sounds a bit too much, but just say, can we focus on a substantial breakfast that's something different from what you've suggested here with crisps and chocolate sandwiches, you know, and just have an honest conversation because it's just going to impact your relationship as you move forward.

19:36It puts up walls and then family arguments as the child ages, you'll still have these disagreements around food if they're not addressed and spoken about. Ella, do you have anything else to add to that? Yeah, look, I think on a personal note, I certainly can. I'm sure lots of our listeners can. I don't know, Rhi, if you can. I can totally relate to this. I'm really lucky. Lots of my family, particularly my mum, they really follow a very similar diet to us. And I spend lots of time with my brother. He's got really similar age children to me. And they're really raising their kids with the same principles that we are.

20:15And, you know, the children eat really similar things and would have similar outlooks on like snacks and treats and things like that. And so we're incredibly fortunate with that. But equally, like with, I really kind of relate more like within a friend capacity, how difficult this is because, you know, and I've certainly been in positions like this where what my children eat and what's allowed and not allowed or kind of okay in the way that we are as a family is so different to that of people around us. And it's really difficult not to come across as judgmental to the way that other people are approaching parenting.

20:49And obviously, you know, you don't want to make, as you said, you don't want to make them feel bad, but equally, like you don't want your children to have chocolate sandwiches. And like, you know, we've been with friends who are like the loveliest people in the world, but like their children don't really eat fruits and vegetables. And, you know, they have a kind of mostly UPF diet. And it's really difficult to not say things that make people feel like they're passing any judgment, but equally not kind of completely compromise on what you believe in. And I do think it's incredibly difficult. And I think I really appreciate how challenging that is, because I think it's one thing with other adults.

21:27And it's really another thing because some people say, well, my children would never eat that. And what you really want to say is, no, they wouldn't because it's so different to the way that they eat. But if it was the only thing to eat and you did it completely differently over time, all things are relative. And there are specific reasons why some children won't, but that, you know, lots of children probably would start to tolerate these things, but it's so complicated. It's so nuanced. And I just don't go there. Like I just say, I'm really sorry, my children don't do that. But I don't, I don't talk about it because I find it almost impossible as a conversation.

22:00What you actually said in your comment here is they've been making jokes about how sad our diet is so they've been actually quite disrespectful about how you're really didn't that happen to you yeah oh my gosh yeah so because me for sure people are like oh my god your poor children eating like my children are fine they also have had magnums and solaros and harry they've also had jelly sweets wild things today and they've had chocolate yeah they've had it all yeah they had sticky toffee pudding in the pub yesterday day with ice cream. Yum. You know, I honestly just think sometimes it hurts our feelings more than anything else.

22:37And it's about how we manage our own reactions and our own feelings to remarks about what other people may think or say about us. But when it comes to your children's health, only you can make a difference there. And it really is, if it matters a lot to you, I would just encourage you to chat about it because nothing's going to be achieved unless you bring it up if I'm being completely honest. Maybe it's difficult as Ella said. As you can hear we both don't have the solution 100 % but I have had this discussion with my in-laws who raised their son 30 years ago. Times were different. They didn't know as much.

23:15Things were very different today and we know more. Also I will play this voice note from Melanie who researches neuroscience on this aspect alongside nutrition and she'll give us a little bit of extra insight here. Hi everyone, I'm Melanie Wilkinson, a registered nutritionist with a further research degree in neuroscience. So I'm going to answer a question on whether food impacts a child's brain development. To be blunt, absolutely yes. And the way I get people to think about this is by really zooming out and asking what is the brain actually made of? We tend to think of food as fuel, you eat, you get energy done.

23:52But the brain is physically built from what we eat. So omega-3 fats, which are found in oily fish, nuts, seeds, end up literally woven into the structure of the brain. Protein from eggs, lentils, fish, chicken gets turned into chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. So the chemicals running your child's mood, focus and motivation quite literally started life on a plate, which if you think about it is really quite amazing. And in childhood especially, the brain is building and rewiring at a pace that will never match again. So the supply of those raw materials really really count we see it in the research as well so a well-nourished child tend to do better on attention learning and memory while deficiencies particularly iron show the clearest links to poorer outcomes now people often ask me about the one nutrient but none of them work alone so if you take serotonin our feel-good chemical you can eat all the protein in the world but to actually make it you need b vitamins iron and magnesium all working alongside same with omega-3 which is vital for brain health but it can't enter or protect brain tissue on its own it needs phospholipids to transport and it needs antioxidants to shield it both from other foods so there's no one food for brain health it really is about the overall pattern and actually the word pattern is what i hope kind of reassures parents as well what builds a brain is what happens at home day in day out over years not a week with the in-laws or treats on holiday all any of us can do is control what's within our control so keep offering variety keep the foundation steady I know that's easier said than done plenty of children are fussy and some days it's beige food or nothing and that is completely normal too but it really is about the repeated exposure over time that does the work now I won't pretend that things like sugar don't matter I mean childhood obesity is climbing tooth decay is still one of the biggest reasons young children end up in hospital and blood sugar swings absolutely affect how our children feel and behave.

25:41Now a parent who cares about that is really doing their job. The trickier part is kind of grandparents sneaking sweets or cakes at parties and you're well within your rights to have those conversations. But it is also a conversation about how the treat is handled. So sometimes when a grandparent kind of sneaks a sweet to a child, the sugar may be the small issue because when a food is handed over in secret, kind of behind the mum's back, the less that a child absorbs isn't yum it's this is forbidding this is exciting this is something you get away with and the research on that is also clear restriction and secrecy make those foods more tempting not less that's what's shaping a child's relation with food for life and it's not the biscuit but it's also like the story that's wrapped around it so yes child nutrition really matters but cliche as it sounds you really can only ever do your best you can't control every mouthful, every party, every well-meaning relative.

26:34What builds a brain and a healthy relationship with food is the pattern you create at home over years. So please, please let go of the guilt. A relaxed parent offering good food most of the time will do far more for a child than an anxious one that is chasing perfection.

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28:46okay our next question comes from rachel who said um i just want to say i think you're fabulous women thanks for helping us stay sane in this crazy world thank you rachel um she said ella i love coloring too when my daughter was young we decorated her bedroom with the wallpaper you could color in we spent time before bed chatting and coloring in together i was sad when it went and she's 20 now that is so cool i want to look up that anyway it's cool she has a question for you re re is there a way of roughly calculating my daily intake of fiber without using any apps, et cetera. I'm just interested to see how much I'm having.

29:19I have mostly home-cooked meals, the occasional treat. I've heard you say a lot that people don't get enough fiber. I'm not fixated about it. I eat plenty of lovely veg from my allotment lover, but I like to do what I can to keep as healthy as I can. Yeah, you can roughly estimate it. I think it's the best way to do it, to be honest. So you want to be aiming for 30 grams a day. Like you said, you don't need to fixate on it. I just think a nice way is to count the plant points as well the 30 different plants a week and try and focus on that but if you visualize like a fist of your hand we used to do this for carbohydrate portions um at university a fist of hands of veg that's roughly going to be up to five grams of fiber already so if you had two portions of vegetables at your dinner you you're easily having six to ten grams of fiber so a rough estimate is just to fill your hand size portions at each plate, lunch and dinner, or breakfast with oats or whatever cereal it may be.