Reversing Inflammation, Power Naps & The Fall of Weight Watchers/Diet Culture 

28:02I think she was definitely their most well-known ambassador. And then probably a year or so ago, she lost a lot of weight and she revealed that weight loss was actually from using one of these weight loss medications. I don't know if it was Wegavi or Zampik or Monjaro, but one of those kind of big branded ones. While she was signed to Weight Watch. And so she's then stepped down from the Weight Watch because she was on the board and the company shares dropped almost 20%. And I think that was all I feel like if you kind of look at the story, it's almost the time in which it was clear that they'd already rebranded to WW, trying to get away from weight and kind of the shame and move into the more kind of wellness industry, a bit more positive.

28:42But you can't hide roots like that. It's quite hard to pivot to that extent, isn't it? I have such toxic memories of this particular company from my singing days. and I've seen it impact so many clients in the Retrition Clinic. And I find it fascinating, the celebrity endorsement, like 20 % is a significant drop. So it goes to show, and we're going to talk about a big celebrity later on in the show and a brand that they've just brought out. But using somebody that says, oh, it works for me, it works for you, it's just never really the case, is it? Yeah, it's very interesting. I would be very curious, any of our listeners who've used it.

29:14I haven't bought their products, but I feel like it's very representative of a time which many of us and many of our listeners grew up in in the kind of noughties, nineties. It was the first. Yeah. And also where it was just filled with this, like, we weren't talking about health, we were talking about weight. And we had, you know, Special K, the red woman where you just say Special K for breakfast and dinner and lose a dress size in two weeks. I remember on the front of the package. Yeah. And she'd like waft out for the swimming pool. She was beautiful. yeah um there's a lot of clearly wasn't eating special k well also if you eat one teeny teeny teeny teeny tiny bowl of cereal for breakfast and dinner you will lose weight you won't be healthy and you will be missing key nutrients but you will lose weight i know and i feel like it is that you know and there was the size zero aesthetic you're kind of kate moss that as we called it heroin chic at the same time as you had all the magazines that was there was no nutritional nourishing cellulite and those rings of shame so it just feels like a very toxic culture I think that so many of us grew up in where I don't know if many of us realized it certainly I didn't at the time but I think subconsciously we're taking in very very detrimental images about weight and women's bodies and associating what we eat with solely with aesthetics do you know something really awful yeah so in my head when you said you know we've all grown up with it the one thing I remember from the magazines that as a singer, I thought, right, if I'm going to make it in this industry, Britney Spears does 100 crunches a day and her favorite ice cream is cookie dough ice cream, and she weighs X amount.

30:47And I knew and I remembered from reading it in a magazine. And that was on my mind when I was in the music industry all the time. So it's amazing the culture that Weight Watchers particularly stems from is at a time where we were just consuming these tiny sound bites of information. We had no context. And the products were just ultra processed. like there were chocolate puddings I was eating chocolate puddings and like strawberry rice cakes and caramel things that obviously were just chemicals and additives yeah and the whole conversation was like making yourself as small as possible as opposed to strong empowered healthy like really energized ready to take on the world and achieve great things I'm so happy we're not there now and that we've moved away from that that's actually quite a happy thing that it is a happy thing and I as you said obviously if it does go into bankruptcy there's huge repercussions and would never rejoice in that.

31:39But I think that's probably an end of an era that is a healthy move on for the world because I think this whole like calorie counting, weighing portions, making yourself as small as possible instead of as healthy as possible. I agree, but on the flip side, there's a move towards the weight loss jabs, which I actually have friends and I know we both know people that they've been amazing for. Yeah. Yet there's also big consequences of that and it's a whole other rabbit hole we could go down. Yeah, and we talked about this in a month or so ago that there is a kind of circling of size zero coming back.

32:09But equally, there are lots of conversations around feeling strong in yourself. But then also it goes into the whole protein industry. So where does it end? It doesn't. That's why we're here. We're here to try and find some kind of end goal, some line of sight for you guys. But that culture that we all grew up in, it was odd. And I think it probably had kind of deep ramifications for so many people. And I think Weight Watchers was quite representative of it.

32:38It 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. It's a mid-weight construction so I've honestly decided against getting a weighted blanket because it's not too heavy but you still get that feeling of security when you lie under it.

33:19My roommate has said it's her new favorite blanket and we've been keeping it on the couch at all times instead of the blanket basket with the rest of our options. I've also been loving my bamboo sheets from Cozy Earth. The temperature regulating capabilities were great for the summer and now that it's getting a little cooler at night, I'm just really appreciating the softness of the sheets and pillowcases. It's like I'm slipping into a cloud every night. Plus, you can try them risk-free with Cozy Earth's 100-night sleep trial. If you don't love them, you just return them hassle-free, but believe me, you're going to be hooked after the first night.

33:49So if you're looking to make your home a little more cozy this fall, head to CozyEarth.com and use my code SCOOP for 20 % off. That's CozyEarth.com code SCOOP. And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure you let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Because home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. So let's go home with Cozy Earth. At Sierra, discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. I'm excited to quickly share with you all that you can pre-order my new book, The Unprocessed Plate now and Ella and I discuss this all the time that the world of food and nutrition is currently full of conversations surrounding ultra processed foods and this is for good reason and in my book The Unprocessed Plate I dive into what UPFs actually are, explore the latest evidence on how they impact our health and most importantly how we can reduce our reliance on them without overhauling our entire lives and remember there's a lot of nuanced guys, there's a privileged conversation, lots of things here but I want to cut through the noise and offer actual practical solutions There's incredible diagrams to make the science more accessible.

35:02And there's 60 amazing recipes, family friendly, everything from breakfast, weekday dinners, quick lunches, simple swaps and snacks and things you can have on the go that make such a difference. And trust me, whether you're a busy parent or you're just trying to reduce these in your diet on your everyday workload, this book is here to support and empower you to get back to basics with food without the pressure of this perfectionism. so if you want to feel more informed and inspired in the kitchen then you can pre-order your copy of the unprocessed plate now it's out june the 19th and back to me and ella moving on to nap time ella my i mean if i could i would so anybody that is able to do this please do so the headline is a little nap might go a long way i know i'm not a good napper i must say my husband's a sensational napper like a weekend you do you think men just are like my husband could just fall asleep on the airplane no matter what noise even if he was next to the children whereas I just cannot do that he could sleep on a wooden floor yeah I'm at every every weekend he just passed out whereas I'll yeah I can't switch my brain off like that but this is actually technically not a new headline but resource circulating and I thought as well like god it's such a great one to bring back again in terms of this not the easiest thing to bring in but on a weekend possibly another example of like a small habit and this is from 2023 it was published in sleep health and it found that napping during the day might slow brain shrinkage and potentially cancel up to seven years of aging oh there you go better than any collagen supplement i mean i feel like i need to hire child care just so i can go and have a nap every afternoon yeah forget expensive face creams just a quick nap and there we go oh i'm researchers analyzed a lot of people in this one guys 400 000 people in the uk and they were aged between 40 to 69 so um focusing on those with a genetic tendency to nap which i found fascinating i mean i wish maybe we don't have i don't think i have we don't have it those genes skip me we don't have it and they found that habitual nappers had a larger total brain volume roughly equivalent to a brain that's 2.6 to 6.5 years younger and I was at the school gates the other day and um I know a friend who's the wife of a premier league footballer and they or he religiously naps like it's the whole family thing is after school pick up they go home and sleep really yeah how long for I'm not you know when you just don't get the deeds I know I know and it's interesting any sports person I have ever worked with they do sleep a lot and this is where we're going wrong oh my gosh interesting yeah there is no way literally no way i could get my children home and say same time for bed same but they're a big family of nappers but then they stay up really late so i think there's obviously something about this lifestyle and does it originate in the mediterranean you've got siestas 30 minute long siestas but the fact it's linked to brain health and by the way they didn't find changes in cognitive performance like memory or reaction time that's a change I mean I would love to have that type of response but they did note the link between the volume of the brain and that means that napping does provide some protection against what we discussed earlier dementia so neurodegeneration through compensating for poor sleep so perhaps another factor we should have mentioned earlier is we just need to sleep more we do we just need our foundations we will desperately need our simple foundations easier said than done but maybe this is your weekly reminder to try and carve in little moments where you can to look after yourself because my goodness it's so worth it not to be the special k lady but to you to live well into your 70s oh i hate that we even have to mention her now you know she's iconic she is iconic and it's just one of those parts of the awful diet culture that is just going to be remembered forever did you ever do it the special Gosh, no, I think I was a kid.

38:59I did it. Did you? Yeah, we were teenagers at school and everyone did it. I mean, I think I say did it for like two weeks. I was really lucky in the sense when I was a teenager, I wasn't surrounded by diet culture. It was only when I was late teens, like 17, 18 in the music industry where it suddenly hit me. And that's where I found Weight Watchers. So at my school, I don't know how, but I managed to avoid all of that, which I know is very rare. A lot of the cases we see of people that have experienced, like you said, it starts at secondary school and they're all experimenting with these diets, or they were back then.

39:30Yeah, I remember we kind of shifted from like how much Nutella toast could anybody eat in a break time to them being like, oh, I'm having special K. Yeah, it was a really stark, I reckon it was like 15, 16, but it was a really stark shift. Yeah, I'm not surprised at all to hear that. And talking of trends, so let's move on to what's trending in wellness.

39:54we got some good ones in trance this week it's going to be a chunkier transaction okay we can't not talk about this we talk about protein a lot at the moment but hello protein popcorn so it just made me laugh because i just can't get my head around the fact we're even at the point where we've gone from protein chocolate bars and we're now popcorning i'm just going to give you one theory before we go into what we've actually got in the nose um which is that i think we have got so far removed from our simple habits as per that conversation on that switch to a kind of traditional northern Tanzanian diet that we don't even know what has seven grams of protein anymore so we've forgotten that like a sprinkling of seeds and lentils and the rest of it can give us the same thing we think we have to get it so we need it from popcorn I think it's also the almost the Weight Watchers effect of I was buying chocolate flavored yogurts and desserts and I I thought it's okay because they're calorie counting.

40:50And it's the same principle. It's okay because it's protein. Yeah, I haven't tasted it. So if anyone has tasted it, when we get to the end of this, please tell us because it'll be really interesting to hear. But basically Khloe Kardashian of the exceptionally famous Kardashian family has got a new snack brand that's making loads of headlines in the US called Cloud. And because it's a Kardashian brand, that's spelt with a K. So that's K-H-L-O-U-D. and it is the latest thing in this protein obsession that we've got and it comes in three flavors you'll be thrilled to hear white cheddar olive oil and sea salt and sweet and salty kettle corn and the thing is it's only got and i say only but it's seven grams of protein per serving and that comes from cloud dust sorry i don't want to love because genuinely guys i don't want to come across in a very judgy way i just cannot get over cloud dust ella sorry what is trying to be nice about it but yeah it's cloud is it just added added protein powder sprinkled over the popcorn is that what we're going for it's a kind of proprietor blend with milk protein isolate and that's obviously what gives it its protein on because obviously popcorn's not high in protein at all but it's a really good source of fiber i will say i'm all for popcorn oh no i like popcorn do i think popcorn's really nice i'm not anti-popcorn in any shape or form i just think some things are meant to be enjoyed as they are and some things focus on your protein and i would say i'd leave popcorn alone but this is what i thought was interesting about it was so in the announcement they've said that the ingredients you know the kind of direct quote is it's made with ingredients you can pronounce which is really interesting because i think sodium phosphate and milk protein isolate yeah you can pronounce them but they're not i don't think kitchen cupboard ingredients and sodium phosphate is an ingredient that's you know very standardly used in the food industry to improve texture retain moisturizers a thickener or emulsifier like it's not so again i especially when you can buy popcorn that's just corn and a bit of sugar and a bit of salt but as in it's a very simple ingredient deck you can make it at home by just popping some corn and adding some protein powder.

43:02Yes. I feel like you're making it ultra processed personally with no real benefit because you could get seven grams of protein from two tablespoons of peanut butter, half a cup of beans, two tablespoons of hemp seeds, quarter cup of mixed nuts. Like you can get seven grams of protein from many things, half a cup of oats. I know. I know. I mean, you know this more than anyone. I know. Even two slices of bread contains more protein than Chloe's popcorn. But I think Chloe clearly loves popcorn. And maybe she's just like, you know what? I love popcorn and protein cells. How much is it, Ella? Do we know?

43:32Oh, I don't know. The review said it was really nice. And it's not, as you said, it's not, we're not here kind of slamming her. I just think it's, I think it's a reflection again of this world of optimization. It's like, what is wrong with popcorn as it is and making it taste really delicious? I know. Whereas it feels like we just have to keep optimizing things and we keep doing that in place, I think, of making, you know, a quinoa salad with some lentils and a tahini dressing and all the rest of it or snacking on a piece of toast with peanut butter. And there's nothing wrong with popcorn. It's just the fact that it feels like instead of going back to our basics and cooking and being more knowledgeable, we keep trying to buy our way out of our bad diets.

44:12And I'm just not sure you can. This all stems to relationships of food, the diet culture industry. This is diet culture again, but in a different form. It's not a shaming one. It's a trying to lead off the back of the protein industry, which is becoming very synonymous with the messaging. I've got something to play for you, Eleanor. I don't love rock music in this way normally, but this song, clearly, if a rock band has taken it on, this is a message that needs to be out there. Stop putting protein in everything. Stop putting protein in everything. So it's a song. Stop putting protein in everything.

44:47It's an actual video. Just let a brownie be a brownie. Does a pancake really need protein? Does a pancake need protein? No. Do you see what I mean? So we can't be the only ones discussing this because if a rock band's made a song, it's quite entertaining. It's so good. Do you know what? It's a kind of food for thought on this section for our listeners and for myself and for you and everyone. I feel like what we need to do... Stop putting protein in everything. No. um yeah that no i feel like what we need to do is we need to go back to simple ways of living our lives where we get those basics in and we focus on our boring boring wellness habits like our carrots and all the rest of it and then we just enjoy our brownie and we just enjoy our popcorn and we just enjoy our slice of cake or whatever it is maybe you don't have a sweet tooth none of those appeal and it's just you know ready salted crisps or it's salt vinegar crisps whatever it is I think we just need to go back to like let's fill our plates and our weeks and our meals with simple nourishing ingredients and then enjoy your treats don't feel guilty but don't feel like we need to keep adding in a Mars bar doesn't need protein like if you want to have that as part of a balanced diet go for it but before that like load up on the good stuff and I think that's where I would finalize it it's like let's stop trying to get our protein and our vitamins from our treat foods let's just enjoy those for what they are and then let's just fill our diets with the good stuff we need these constant reminders like this podcast guys so it's so good for ella if ella and i struggle as well and we're in this industry i can only hear how frustratingly overwhelming it is for you all listening because it's very hard to be in the moment it's very hard to not be addicted to our phones it's very hard to eat well because the world deliberately tries to make you buy that protein mass but it's hard your disneyland experience exactly you know there's not huge options there wasn't something there wasn't anything else so just do what you can and rejoice in that extra can of beans you got in this week and that is a little win 100 % celebrate every win you guys are doing so well I pat myself on the back as well with that with my batch cooked quinoa well done which I'm feeling so smug about which I will now do tonight so it is a win you're gonna feel so good this time next week okay we have got something fun for you okay so we was on holiday this week in Disney so I found this article and I thought we could take her through it and get her opinion on it.

47:17Oh, thank you. So the Sunday Times had the nine hot wellness trends for 2025. Some familiar themes in here, but actually quite a lot of things I had not come across. You may have, some of you listening may have. Okay. So the first hot trend for 2025 is the really big breakfast, but it's not just a really big breakfast. It's something called chrononutrition where it's rolling her eyes. I wish you guys could see that. okay so it's all about starting your day strong which i like but it's basically the idea of linking your kind of breakfast into syncing with your circadian rhythm to support your metabolism and curb afternoon cravings and that means you're packing your breakfast with like 30 grams or so of protein and the idea is that doing this will improve your sleep and your energy and then you can now buy tailor-made plants around your chronotype to get personalized benefits of this chrononutrition big breakfast i'm seeing head shaking what's the lowdown i mean it's hard enough people to fit breakfast in anyway isn't it i mean my initial reaction is first of all chrononutrition has been around for years we don't have enough research behind it's all about the timing of when we eat or looking at your dna and we just do not have accurate data to say that from taking a sample of your blood or for looking at specific times it's going to directly influence your genetic makeup and what people don't understand is support metabolism is such a classic line that you get you can't say boost so they've written support quite rightly because you can't don't want to boost your metabolism really but metabolism is just how you digest food it's just how you digest your fats proteins and how you make energy in the body so it's not linked to weight loss and i think most people see metabolism as this halo connection to weight don't they yes you said a fast metabolism equals thin weight loss yeah that's what people think And I think, again, that might be a 90s messaging thing.

49:07I think it's so. I was just thinking, I feel like this is a full circle episode. I think it's full circle. I think it links back to that. And again, the protein craze of let's have 25 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast. There's nothing wrong with that. That is actually quite a good thing to do, to have around 20 grams in the morning. And always make sure that breakfast isn't just a bowl of cereal. It should be cereal with yogurt, with fruit, if you're able to. But what a privilege is that for me to even say that out loud. This, there's zero evidence. Let's move on to the next one before I waffle on.

49:32But chronotype, guys, isn't a thing yet. I do know some people that call themselves DNA nutritionists. And it is interesting. You can pull some things from it. You can. But it takes a one-to-one consultation, a lot of money and... Blood tests and kind of detailed understanding. To understand a little bit more about your body where we can make educated guests work. But instead focus on putting the seeds on your porridge, nut butter, some fruit. Try and get a good breakfast in would be my thing. Easy wins on what you're already doing. Okay. Second one I loved, I think you'll love to. Resting is the new working out.

50:07So recovery is no longer a side note. It's the main event. Yes, please. Yeah, I loved that. But basically the idea that actually there's loads of money in wellness studios essentially doubling down on this whole nervous system support, muscular recovery. And that's things like hot cold therapy, stretch work, the LED light mask, compression boots, lymphatic massage. You know, there's basically there's lots of new studios opening, lots of money going into this and all focused on rest and regeneration versus just high intensity, which is, I think, what we've more associated kind of those sorts of studios with.

50:39Wonderful. We've moved. Do you remember the hit era when that first, I think it was, Joe Wicks won't mind me saying, you know, Joe was doing all of that at the start. It was very trendy everywhere and it is just as important to rest. Love it, Ella. I'm all for it. We should do an episode actually on nervous system because I think it is really interesting that like rest and digest. Can we just together record from a place with a compression thing on our legs, you know, just sit and chill for the hour and report how we feel? The dream is such a nice idea. But yeah, I think anything that gets you out of that stress nervous state is going to be positive for you.

51:12So I thought that was a really nice one. OK, swap squats for rows. Back health apparently is the trend for 2025 coming into focus. and again I actually massive advocate of this one is so many of us spend super long days sitting and unfortunately scrolling as well but obviously then doing work on computers and there's a big focus in personal training and a lot of the conversations around shifting attention from just strength through the posterior change etc to actually focusing on supporting posture preventing injury and building functional strength. Couldn't agree more mobility it's fantastic what a lovely trend that we're finally moving away from just having a big bum which i think is where squats i'm so direct aren't i big fun but i think that's where the squatting hype i mean it is important to squat there's all those research especially over in asia and different cultures where they can squat up to their like 90s or something and it's really good for your bowels as well i'm not i'm not disputing squats are good i'm just saying i think it was jumped on as a trend for a big booty and now we're looking at aging well yay which is amazing my posture is absolutely appalling Me too.

52:17But the kids, they naturally have it. What age do we lose that? Because their backs are like straight as anything. I know. And I think it's so much all the hunching over your phone. Anyway, I thought that was a really nice one. OK, this one. I'm not going to tell you what I think. It's interesting. OK, but it's out with the Wrigley's in with the mastic. And with Wrigley's, I mean gum. So there is a new gum in town and it is made of tree resin. so mastic gum i hadn't heard of this but it soars from the mastic tree in the mediterranean and apparently has actually been used in the mediterranean for centuries to support oral and digestive health because it contains antimicrobial and antibacterial compounds and that's what's driving its recent popularity and people claim that chewing it because it's super tough to chew versus your conventional chewing gum which kind of dissolves quite quickly Chewing it regularly can help tone facial muscles and define the jawline.

53:12Caveat, science is limited. But that hasn't stopped you from gaining loads of traction as a natural tweakment alternative. Several thoughts. Mastic from the word mastication, which means to chew in scientific world. It's not good to chew and not actually swallow anything because your digestive system starts to prepare for a meal that's never going to come. So you might experience IBS or trapped wind and all sorts of things from just chewing. if only it were that simple that chewing would tone my jawline as I age I mean that would be fantastic but it is true that moving your jawline and releasing tension and perhaps chewing I've been told this is my singer days I was always told when you warm up you'd always muscle movements on your face you stretch your jaw you do lots of yawns so that could also help wake you up for the day and give you the best possible day ahead.

54:03But you can't essentially chew your way to a facelift. Makes me think of resin that comes in like a violin case that you like clean the bow with or something. It's really interesting, isn't it? Yeah, I didn't think it sounded as delicious. Okay, floss for your brain. So brain flossing refers to listening to AD or bilateral audio, which is sound that moves rhythmically from one ear to the other through your headphones. and that was originally used in EMDR therapy and apparently it's become very, very popular. Again, I haven't tried it for managing stress or calming the nervous system. TikTok's, again, one of those tools that takes things from the niche to the mainstream and that's what's happening at the moment.

54:39And people are including a lot in their wind down routines. I want to try this one. Me too. Bring on our tech episode because I just don't know. I mean, I love the idea of EMDR therapy anyway. I know that's really effective for some people with trauma and I want to try it, but I'm intrigued by this. And then you've got people saying you shouldn't wear these headphones because they're bad for you so you know it's just who knows ella okay jury's out but anything that's good for your nervous system yeah i want to try it i'd love to try that okay we've got a couple more glug down some okra water okay that's going to be a trend okra water is a trend for 2025 yeah so to make it if anyone wants to do it you soak sliced okra the vegetable overnight in water and then you strain out um the solids so just pour it through a sieve and that is apparently might help with your digestion blood sugar control and hormone balance okra it's rich in antioxidants fiber and mucolage which is a gel like plant compound that could support gut health again i actually maybe i'll make us some for next week it sounds oh my gosh you're actually gonna do it i just don't think i want to drink okra you know i like okra and i don't want to drink it and also it won't help with hormone balance guys that's not true but it probably does contain antioxidants i tell you what's delicious those okra fries Yeah.

55:50Do you know, I really like okra. It's so underrated and I don't think it's part of the diet here in the UK. You can definitely get it because lots of people do still consume it, of course. But is this just a celery water hype again? No, let's mark our words. We can revisit these at the end of the year, guys, and see what's made headlines and not over the years. But I don't believe that will be a big trend this year. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Like aloe vera water is really big over in the Far East. Maybe it's something that is big somewhere else in the world we don't know about. Maybe there's a tradition there.

56:17Yeah, exactly. Okay, we've got three more. Tailored support for your reproductive system. So there's growing demand for cycle-specific and fertility-focused support. So there's lots of brands creating kind of targeted supplements for hormone balance. So looking at different things throughout the month, as well as kind of full-spectrum care for new mothers, pelvic health support, etc. Well, you can't go wrong. Let's bring on more research for women. Sounds great. I know. And I think it is really interesting, as per the episode we did on our monthly cycle, that actually your body changes so much if you are having a period and reproductive cycle and i think the more knowledge i love the focus on that because i think that's so much about empowerment like knowing why you're really grumpy one day or why you're super outgoing and like ready for action another i think is so powerful for connecting to ourselves so i like that one a lot okay souped up water supplements so as we know functional powders are on the rise again set to be a big thing this year with increasingly specific bands that support everything from gut health to cognition and I think that is set to be just bigger and bigger and bigger big thing on convenience where these little pouches of powders designed to slip easily into your water bottle and daily routine I mean people say no harm but there is a harm if you add a fat soluble vitamin like vitamin d to a drink where people could consume too much I've always the health professional in me cannot not just say everyone should be going out to drink these.

57:43Some of these ingredients could potentially interact with medication somebody's on. But in general, I don't think there's anything wrong with adding these types of prebiotic fibers like mushroom extracts and things. I don't know if it should be part of your daily routine would be my question. Just purely because we don't know. And we don't know the quality, where they're produced. I'm so on the fence with all of this. But I love, I saw Ellie Golden released. I got really excited because if you're listening Ellie she saw my Insta stories and I was like oh my god there's Ellie Goulding I love Ellie Goulding and then I clicked on her page I was like oh she's just released like a mushroom blend like a hot chocolate thing and I thought I'd probably drink that where's the harm that looks really delicious so I agree this will probably be a trend.

58:26Yeah I back that of the trends. Okay and last one is apparently there is a new must-have gadget for this year so if 2024 the gadget was kind of those continuous glucose monitors and it felt like that was everywhere we've obviously talked about that a lot 2025 apparently the trend is going to be all about metabolic health and there's a new device which is a portable metabolic coach and it's called lumen and it gives real-time feedback on whether you're burning carbs or fat what by analyzing your breath so surprise prizes link to an app where you're going to get all the info and then it will offer you personalized suggestions for what to eat and when with the goal of improving metabolic flexibility and I want to know what your thoughts are on the word metabolic flexibility the idea that it's your body's ability to switch efficiently between fuel sources so the device costs 280 pounds and then I imagine there's a subscription fee as with most of these things that come out there's an element of truth which makes it really marketable because when you're in a laboratory and you're studying nutritional science we do take various readings using breath but it's in a certain chamber or a certain device It's measured accurately in a different environment.

59:34And you can work out certain energy and different units of measurements from taking your breath. But for every person at home with this device to do that accurately, it cannot possibly tell you what you should eat and when in that specific moment because that's just one marker in your body. They don't know anything about your daily lifestyle, what you're doing, your genetics, your predispositions, your health conditions. We just don't have research for it yet. I wonder if this was a featured paid post by the company to get into the trend article. I don't know. I think there's so much on this kind of thing at the moment.

1:00:10I can definitely see. Because it sounds like an ad. Lots of it sounds like an ad, though. There's loads of companies with Chrono Nutrition and things like that. It was just that this was the singular one doing it. But I could definitely see that. I feel like we've had sleep devices be absolutely normal. Well, first of all, steps, then sleep, then blood glucose. So I think the idea that you're then going into kind of metabolic health, to me, feels like a logical progression of devices. The next trend, metabolic trend. But guys, are they doing it in Tanzania, Japan, the Mediterranean? Do you think they want to measure their breath to then tell them when to eat?

1:00:45Do we think this is going to last? Yeah, it's just let's get back to our basics. OK, on basics, our listeners question of this week. Hello, I'm really, really enjoying the wellness scoop. We love to hear that and look forward to Mondays now. I just wondered what are your thoughts on smoothies? I think when I was younger the fad was smoothies then it came about in the media that you should eat the whole fruit instead of blitzing it etc and I just wondered what you both think of it. I know Ella has mentioned a few times on the podcast about making smoothies. Is there a difference in eating whole fruit compared to smoothies?

1:01:15I still have doubt in my mind when I think of smoothies. Well yeah I mean I'm all for smoothies but I'm not for the commercialized bottle smoothies that are just made from purees extracts and our condensed form of sugar with no balance of vegetables and other things in them you can have those in small amounts there's no harm like buying a bottle of that but to have it as a daily thing and think it's healthy for you it's very very different so fruit contains a sugar called fructose which is metabolized in your liver and it hits your bloodstream quite quickly so it causes quite a sugar spike when you have a smoothie the difference is you wouldn't probably just like reducing, be able to eat six oranges in a row, but you could drink six oranges very quickly.

1:01:57So it just means effectively in a smoothie, you're consuming a lot of sugar. You're also breaking down the fiber. So the outer cell wall of the plant is affected when you break it down. You blitzed it up. You've taken away that one part of our digestive system's job and chewing in our mouth because we're just drinking the food instead. Does that mean it's bad for us? No, because it's how you make it. I mean, Ella's got so many delicious recipes with smoothies and I've got a few and it's how you make it try and maximize on your smoothies max them up get your frozen berries get those antioxidants in but add some kefir or add some nut butter to add a bit of protein fat slow the release add some seeds things you wouldn't normally eat like I chuck veg in because I can disguise it with the taste of the fruit but you don't get that in the shop brought versions no and I think the fundamental difference is that and I remember the headlines that you're referring to which is the when smoothies had been so popular and suddenly it came out a bit like the baby pouches panorama we referenced in the beginning that actually they didn't have the same nutritional benefit of eating a banana but if you're making it at home and you're putting in as you said frozen berries you're putting in nuts you're putting in seeds you're putting in yogurt all the rest of it you're getting a huge amount of nutrition and like yes you could eat it all but when you're busy and there's a lot going on it's such a convenient and quick way to get things in i will say for most people i don't recommend in the clinic having a smoothie every day for breakfast or as a meal replacement purely because it is good for your body to chew your food and for different people different digestive states that they might be within so maybe just have a smoothie every now and again and look at it as a nice refreshing way to use up that piece of fruit or veg that you've got in the house rather than it becoming a must-have wellness item that's really nice advice if you are going to get veg in your smoothie frozen cauliflower is great it sounds revolting it does yeah yeah sorry i just want to practice i know um but i swear to you you cannot taste really oh my gosh you can't taste it you just cut up a raw cauliflower into florets pop it in a freezer bag keep it in your freezer and it's just a really easy so i'll do it to the kids smoothies as well never cooked first cooked or just no just raw i mean you could steam it and then do it i'm lazy and i don't yeah but it's a really nice way of getting veg in there and it has to be frozen please do not put it yeah yeah no i can't i can't like room temp collie but if it's frozen it adds to the creaminess and the thickness it tastes of nothing but it's a really nice way of getting more veg in there yeah because the taste is less compared to broccoli because I do add some cooked broccoli bits, but I have to then up the fruit quantity to disguise the bitter sulfur.

1:04:38Yeah, you could do your like classic banana, peanut butter, frozen berries. Yeah. And then pop in some frozen collie. I love that, guys. Right, let's get smoothie making, everybody. So to finish today's episode, keep your questions coming, but direct them to the Apple Review or Spotify bit if you can, so we can definitely not miss any of them. And then hit subscribe. Yeah, please follow the show, rate us, review it, share it. It means everything to us. So thank you guys so much for your time. And yeah, I'm feeling really positive. Me too. And we'll see you next week. And don't forget, our extra scoops are on every Thursday too, so you can't miss us.

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