Scrolling Less, Moving More & Tips for Everyday Health

0:28We always recommend Shopify. welcome to the wellness scoop your twice weekly now dose of health and wellness inspiration and as always we're here as your hosts i'm ella mils and i'm riannon lambert and after a decade in the wellness industry we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be and that's why we're here with our podcast to cut through the noise and make healthy living simple fun and personal. As always. Okay, Rhi, what are we going to talk about today? Right, everybody, we are mixing it up. So why mixing up how you move matters more than doing one perfect workout. What new data reveals about bowel cancer risk in younger adults?

1:11Then how alcohol, ultra-processed food and fibre shape long-term gut health? Why scrolling is the least enjoyable way we spend our free time and then the return to analog living from craft hobbies to analog bags and simple ways to scroll less move better and support everyday health ella

1:38so how has your week been it's been great um i have started my breathwork teacher training which is very exciting the course is either sort of six months or a whole year and haven't quite decided yet if I'll just do the first six months or the whole year. But it's really fun. It's nice these things also to hold you account, to account, to like keep up a personal practice. And as you know, I'm all in my anti-phone, calming down era. And I started a sub stack very spontaneously at the weekend, which was quite exciting. But I feel very, very needed. I think it's such a nice outlet to have and in a way that's healthier than scrolling.

2:15That's what I think is good about it. yeah I think there's something which is obviously why we love this show and thank you guys for listening to us every week to me it's much more meaningful to be able to share something that's a bit longer form that has a bit more substance that can have a bit more nuance I think I often look at social media and I think what does sharing like a single snap of anything in my day do for anybody anymore I'm just not sure it's necessarily wildly constructive or helpful so there's something about being able to share and also feel like you can share a bit more openly and honestly I mean I wrote the kind of first piece for it over the weekend and you know I think obviously I've made a lot of changes in my life over the last two years I mean we sold our business we moved our life we've kind of completely yeah I guess done a total recalibration and it was all because actually the reality was what looked brilliant from the outside and that was technically brilliant like completely burnt us out and it was just nice to be able to talk about it in a way that feels more honest and open and personal and I certainly would just never feel comfortable to do that on social media.

3:25I think it's very brave actually I was thinking about it because LMS PSA just so you know I'm doing this and I'm like that's so exciting and I think it's a really really good move for you just as a friend to say thank you but I think it's really brave to be personal anywhere online these days and to write it down in Substack again I'm in awe because to be vulnerable takes a lot of courage. I think people need to know that because I think we've become desensitized to how much people share online and actually to share anything personal about your life takes a bit of gut, Selah. So yeah, well done.

3:58Obviously I'm already there. Oh, thank you. Well, if anyone wants to read it, I can pop the link in the show notes. But otherwise if you just go to Substack and look up Ella Mills, it's there. She'll be there. Amri, what about you? You've been recording your audiobook I saw. Do you know, I have something quite pressured every day this week coming up. And audiobook recording, I love it because I suddenly get inspired again. You know, when you've written a book, and especially for me, I feel in educational pieces, because what I love about writing is that I get a chance to spread a lot of knowledge.

4:29And of course, there's 60 recipes at the back. But for me, every time I read it, I was like, oh, yeah, I found that study. How amazing is that? That went in. And I was reading again from the Fibre Formula, the next book, out in March, an excerpt that said, you know, women react to stress greater than men. And it has a bigger impact on our gut health than men that measure at the same level. Really? Yeah. And I was reading these things back from the book. So sorry, just to check. So stress is more detrimental on the gut health and the microbiome of women than it is on men. Yeah. And that's what I wrote for a section in the book.

5:01So I was looking at gender differences. That's so interesting. I know. And then why Fibre plays such a key role. and I'm actually gearing up for a big talk in Parliament this Wednesday that I'm giving on this subject. And I know I'll wait until next week to discuss fibre. She's so nonchalant, guys, honestly. It's unreal. She's like, it's just not a big deal. I'm just giving a speech in Parliament, okay, it's not a big deal. It actually is quite a big deal. And you should be very proud of yourself. But, you know, I'll freak out about it otherwise. You know how you feel when you go to... It's not a big deal.

5:31No, it's not a big deal, Ella. It's just a normal everyday part of my life. I was going to give a little shout out for my parsnip and broccoli. Just a little thing I did this week, which normally is an extra scoop conversation. But I know we've discussed it before just to change the subject off me slightly on food. The broccoli stalks, they taste so great when you roast them. I mean, wow. Oh, interesting. They're so sweet compared to like the... On a tender stem or a chunky guy. A chunky. Like I buy the chunky one because the kids prefer that tender stem broccoli. Yes, my kids don't really like tender stem.

6:01I think it's because you get so much more stalk. but actually when you roast in the tray like I put everything in roast potatoes roast broccoli stork pieces absolutely delicious and then I've got a recipe I'm going to save for the extra scoop I've got parmesan parsnips out oh guys come on Thursday for parmesan parsnips I'm excited to hear about those are they crispy really crispy on the outside and then inside soft oh and where do you put the parmesan do you know what I'm just going to tell you now okay so it's an old Delia Smith recipe and my mum taught it to me when I was like a teenager I actually left home really young I left home at 14 which is crazy young and I remember this being one of the things I used to do with my mum before I left and we'd steam the parsnip so boil them then steam put the lid on once you've boiled them and drained the water out so you keep them hot meanwhile in a bowl you put your flour pinch of pepper and you grate a load of parmesan cheese you mix it together and my kids love doing this with me and then you get with a fork each parsnip out and you roll it in the parmesan put it on your bacon tray and then you roast it that sounds amazing delicious but presumably as well you could do it for carrots so no no sadly not because carrots don't have like a soft mushy texture they're not thick enough it's like biting into um a cheesy parmesan roast potato but with parsnips and the delicious sweetness that comes out so yeah i know i can't take credit Can you Google it and find Delia Smith's Parmesan recipe?

7:27Probably. Yeah, you can probably Google it and find it. Okay, we'll put a link. We'll find it for you guys. Oh my gosh, we're going to dig that out. That must be a 1980s recipe because my mum taught that to me. She was amazing how she taught the nation to cook. I totally, totally agree. And Ria, actually quickly, before we move on to the health headlines of this week, I've got here in the notes that you have got for our listeners a very helpful way of looking at new fatty supplements and things they might be being marketed online. so a friend I'll give her a little shout out Bex messaged me about a supplement she saw at the weekend it was another gut health supplement fiber we did say it was coming they're gonna be everywhere fiber is everywhere everywhere who'd have known when I was writing the fiber formula it was not everywhere you're a translator am I am I just stupid because I don't know if it's sexy yet so let's see but she messaged me and I get this a lot with friends asking what do I think about things and I just said the simple analogy that explains it all especially for things like NAD, NAD that we've spoken about before, NAD Plus.

8:25If your engine is not working, I tried to say, look, there's an issue with your gut here. And if you haven't fixed the engine, it's like putting petrol in a car with an engine that doesn't work. It's still not going to run. You can add all the fiber supplements you want to your gut. But if it's stress, hormonal, leaky gut, if there's something underlying, a condition, something that's not been sorted, you're just putting a plaster on it or adding more issues and overloading your body's engine and this happens a lot with supplements the same with nad plus we don't fully understand the mechanisms in the cells the energy burners the mitochondria and until the whole system is fixed you can't just add extra of the the end product i love that because it just doesn't make sense and i just thought thank you for reminding me i just thought what a great analogy to remind people i do it in clinic why not share it here yeah it's really helpful it's like if something's fundamentally got a issue i don't want to say it's broken as a bit unless it might be a bit kind of extreme but if something has a fundamental issue you've got to go to the root cause if you keep just adding on top of it it's kind of just pouring you're actually putting more hard work you're giving your body more hard work to try and excrete what you're adding rather than thinking about what we discuss here those lifestyle five pillars now because we're on the scoops number five you know if we focus really on our own physiological state and our mental health a lot of the issues also would subside and the fiber of course okay health headlines that matter if you're new guys welcome to the show every week we go through what's been in the media and we break down the biggest health stories that have been making news for you so you know what matters and what doesn't what to ignore and what to bring into your life very very quick one um for you really for this week do you remember last week we were talking about reading and you were sharing um some information on it so i looked up the stats and it's really shocking actually interestingly the times is doing a big campaign on getting the reading so they had quite a lot on this but according to the national literacy trust around one in eight children and young people between five and 18 in the uk do not have a book of their own at home.

10:36And secondary school heads have also been reporting that many children are arriving in year seven. So that's around 12, isn't it? Still in the early stages of learning to read, with the issue affecting up to 150 ,000 children each year in England. And then there's a lot of primary school teachers saying children are arriving for reception. So that's kind of four turning five in the UK. And children are trying to tap books and swipe books. They don't really understand that a book isn't tappable or swipable and it's not an iPad. It breaks my heart a little bit. I understand times are tough, though.

11:08It's no judgment on parents. I just, I do feel that we have to raise awareness about it so we can help everybody improve this statistic because it's sad, isn't it? It breaks my heart. Yeah, no, it really, really is. Interestingly, actually, I was reading something the other day that was saying that reading is, there's so many reasons it's a shame that we're reading less as a society. obviously you know like all these things has nuance to it but one of the things they were saying that's something that's maybe overlooked is actually reading can be a really beautiful way to discover empathy because it's one of the things I love reading I've just finished this book called The Wedding People I saw I've actually ordered it now because I need some best book I reckon I've read in a couple of years really it's like funny but then it has depth to it it's easy to read but it's chunky it's honestly I can't tell you how much I loved it but it's interesting because I spend it I'm such an overthinker as you know and I spend a lot of time wondering like is this normal is that normal and the thing about reading is you get in other people's I know it's fiction oftentimes but you're still you know real life experiences form those fictional characters and it's interesting to be in other people's brains and go through their life stories and you do develop huge empathy for these characters and I think as a child um I have a really core memory of my parents were divorcing I was about 14 or something just before quite personal day today on a podcast but I remember just growing up with the Harry Potter books and in the summer holidays I would lock myself away in the spare room in the house and I would read and I wouldn't resurface like I would spend a whole day and I would finish the Harry Potter books and for me it was a safe space yeah it was like a complete and utter I think that's why I love fantasy so much because I think it takes you away totally as a child to read it's something that I think every child is just deserves it's like this sort of world that every child deserves the right to access because I think it offers like you said empathy so much about the world and a very safe space to go to in your head that's not your own yeah I totally agree okay we digress we could talk about books for a long time okay totally different topic to books headline one a nice positive one for a Monday morning.

13:19Why doing a mix of exercise could be the key to longer life? This came from the BBC and it was that people who enjoy a variety of physical activities are likely to have a lower risk of early death according to new data. Ella, when it comes to these sorts of headlines, I get very excited because I think, yes, something everybody can actually do. It's really, really positive, Ella, because, you know, exercise is something that doesn't have to cost the earth. And if you do a variety of different types of exercises, like we're about to discuss now, it's really beneficial. And that can be just climbing the stairs or gardening at home or doing, you know, walking up the escalator in the morning.

13:57So they tracked around 111 ,373 men and women, to be precise, in the US. And it was over a 30 year period. And they found those that did a big variety were 19 % less likely to die during the study period. and those that focused on just one type of exercise had much less benefit yeah had way less benefit and actually splitting the numbers it's really interesting so the final analysis said 70 000 women and 40 000 men so it gives the findings you know such weight we've got a huge sample size here and found these benefits and i think it's really important that we look at everyday movement and we don't just focus on I mean I do love my one gym session a week but around that I suppose you know I'm lifting up the kids or I'm walking into work every day it's really important that we look at it yeah it really is and interestingly what they found as well is the benefit of variety of exercise held even when overall activity levels were taken into account so the people who were doing just as much exercise but one type of exercise so just Pilates say or just weightlifting didn't get the same benefit as the people who did one weightlifting, some gardening, walking the dog, a variety of different things that affected their different muscles, different cardiovascular health, etc.

15:15So even though they could do it for the exact same number of minutes or hours each week, the people who were doing a variety had huge amount more benefit. So it's not just about doing exercise, but mixing up in this case, which is so interesting. And it's really good for heart health. And, you know, when we talk about exercise, like I said, it could be household things. But I think here they were probably looking at things like, you know, a mix of tennis or swimming and all sorts of different things. And the data was collected from 1986 onwards. So you've got that amazing long term, you know, research pattern to follow, which is gold for scientists to have such a long, large sample size and long term data, which is a bit of the dream.

15:57But the people that took part in the widest mix obviously consistently did best. But this is also because their risk of heart disease lowered, their risk of lung disease, other types of cancers and other causes. And I just think if we looked at our health as an overall system in our body rather than just I'm exercising for weight loss, which I honestly think still is why most people are probably driven to try a new type of exercise. Unless you're a wellness scooper and you know that it's about happiness and longevity. but it's the other habits that come alongside it because once you start working out or once you start engaging in healthy behaviours other things follow through don't they Ella?

16:34Exactly that so the people who exercise more were less likely to smoke more likely to maintain a lower body weight eat more healthily and be more socially active which is so interesting because obviously as we know exercise sits within a broader pattern of healthy behaviours it doesn't act in isolation exercise alone doesn't help you but as you said the people who did the broadest mix of exercise had between a 13 and 41 % lower risk of cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and other causes of mortality than people doing a narrower range of exercise, which is absolutely crazy. And I think what's also actually, I find this all super inspiring and reassuring, because as you said, there's two parts in that.

17:13First of all, there's a leveling off point in here. So it's really important to just reiterate, the gains came from consistent movement from using your body in different ways what they did not see is that continuing to exercise more and more and more and more and more helped exactly overdoing it totally did not help there was a leveling off point the effect basically leveled off completely once you've done 20 hours of exercise and when i don't mean 20 hours lifting weights i mean 20 hours across the week across the week hoovering cleaning going to the shops walking around the supermarket exactly walking into the office up and down an escalator 20 hours of moving your body I don't know if I do do 20 hours I was about to say something so embarrassing which is how many hours is that a day I know I know but it's like just shy of three hours a day yeah um I don't know if I do do that some days but I bet you do across the week yeah I will be this week because I'm in London every day but when I don't commute into town I'm less active yeah how i do find dogs my dogs yeah your dogs will keep you out dog walkers you definitely have an advantage yeah but you shouldn't read this or listen to this and feel you need to go to the gym for like nine hours you absolutely don't this is about keeping moving and then i think the second part that's the good news is first of all you don't need to be exercising forever more and second of all what we're talking about with exercise is we keep saying it's like moving your body it's not barry's boot camp every day and we're actually oh my gosh i know i'm looking for all reassurance that we don't need to do that every day but it's a double headline kind of week actually for this one and the next one because interestingly there was another study published which sort of really reinforces the same message this one was in the lancet that was analyzing data from around 135 000 people in the uk norway sweden and the us and what they found there was that just doing a 10-minute stroll each day can cut the risk of dying early by around 15%.

19:11I mean, so what we're talking about here is like teeny tiny every single day habit. That study was looking at people in their 50s and 60s and those people wearing pedometers to measure their exercise and even an extra five minutes of movement a day. So nothing was associated with a 10 % reduction in early death across the population. It's amazing. Even cutting sitting time by just 30 minutes a day was linked to five percent reduction in deaths I just think we sit we can't help it because our jobs are now so tech heavy or you sit at a computer we are a sitting nation we are but we're also nation I feel like we're quite dogmatic these days and I think it's so easy to be like oh what's the point of just doing five minutes because you see people doing all sorts of intense things it's like this is such a nice reminder there is so much point in doing five minutes you know literally if you've got five minute break between meetings walk around the block totally walk around the block it sounds like nothing it really helped your health and it's so achievable yeah do you know what that made me feel so much better at the weekend i did that again my husband took the kids to play football and i was like right i haven't got out the house i either do the washing i was trying to pick what i do you know you have to divide and conquer do i do the washing do i hoover do i cook and i was like no i'm going for five minute walk around the block first yeah and it made a difference actually so little win totally it really does doesn't it and actually interestingly on that the times ran a piece that was looking at a study that was published in e clinical medicine but this was looking at small combined lifestyle changes and it found that among people with the least healthy lifestyles a modest dose of just an extra five minutes of sleep a day two more minutes of exercise and half an extra portion of vegetables was associated with around one extra year of life expectancy there you go it's the five pillars of health again it's just trying to get little wins in there's no supplement or cure that's going to help enhance your life more than doing that no so if you do one thing today just literally find a five minute break get up go around the block just do 10 squats while your tea boils i mean literally just don't forget tiny adds up it's so funny it's just do 10 squats or your teeth reminds me i had to do this um filming i'll release it on on social media scene with my friend lavina and she made me do like press-ups in the kitchen I was dying on camera Ella like when I put the bake in the oven I was making the mac and greens from my new book and I was having to do press-ups oh my goodness am I not good at that oh my god anyway do you know what my husband always does it like he literally he's not a big exercise there but he'll always do like two minutes before brushing his teeth or something he's so good at that apparently we should stand on one leg that's the new thing I keep saying like a flamingo yeah basically Thank you.

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22:59okay headline number two is not quite so uplifting if we're honest um it's difficult and we have two headlines together here because they're all touching on the same thing they happen to come the same week which is the rise of bowel cancer now i'm sure lots of you saw this news big news that colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death among people under 50 in the u.s according to a study published in the journal of the american medical association we have obviously seen in this country and across the world this enormous rise in colorectal cancels over the last few years particularly in young people and colorectal cancer death rates in this age group have increased by around 1 % a year every year since 2005, while overall cancer death rates in people under 50 have fallen by 44 % since 1990.

23:48So it's the only one that's increasing. And of the five most common causes of cancer-related deaths in this age group, colorectal cancer is the only one where deaths have risen. So it's really concerning. As I said, we've seen people much, much younger 20s 30s 40s the level of diagnosis and these age ranges has been climbing for decades now and this has been in the news a lot over the last few years because obviously researchers are urgently looking at what's happened and interestingly or for want of a better use of a word researchers had projected a few years ago that bowel cancer would become the leading cause of cancer deaths in under 50s by 2030.

24:31Obviously, it's 2026. So that's happened four years earlier than it was meant to, which again, just shows the rate at which this is changing and is obviously super, super, super concerning. That report in JAMA analysed the US mortality data from 1990 to 2023 across the five deadliest cancers affecting men and women under 50. It was quite shocking to see it was in the headlines everywhere last week that in the US now is the number one leading cancer is now bowel cancer. And that changed as of two weeks ago at the time we're recording this podcast, it was announced. So it's incredibly shocking and concerning, but also a huge indication of the times.

25:13I think particularly, I know that everyone's talking about fibro now, thank goodness, but there is no surprise when you look at the correlation of what we've just discussed, activity levels, ultra processed foods in people's diets. it's just no surprise to me that we've gone down and down and down and down in fiber intake and whole foods in general and crazy trends have taken over ketogenic diets all sorts of things that are not good for our gut and actually also contribute here i just wanted to give a little shout out to um the bao babe fund uh deborah james was a huge advocate of that before she passed and it's an incredible charity.

25:52But she was very young. And I think, you know, to see colorectal cancer move in the opposite direction to other major cancers just suggests that, you know, something has shifted in the underlying risk environment for younger generations. And I personally suspect heavily that it's not a fluke here, that it's correlated to the food environment. Yet scientists are being extremely cautious to speak out about that link. And I think there's a huge food industry role here. Yeah, of course. And of course, not every case is lifestyle related. There's obviously predispositions and things, but it is interesting.

26:25We've obviously had a lot of headlines about research coming up showing our lifestyle having an impact on this. And the same time this came out, there was a study that showed that alcohol is linked to higher bowel cancer risks. So I think that adds quite another layer to this conversation. So that study analyzed data from around 88 ,000 adults and found that drinking 14 or more alcoholic drinks a week, roughly more than two glasses of wine a day, because 14 sounds like a lot. Sounds like a huge number. But actually two glasses of wine a day. Which is interesting because I find those sorts of behaviors are dying out.

27:00It was definitely a generational thing to have a bottle of wine every evening. Definitely. Anyway, so the 14 or more alcoholic drinks a week was associated with a 25 % higher risk of bowel cancer. and risk increased with cumulative alcohol exposure across adulthood, particularly when higher intake began earlier in life. So this isn't about kind of one-off binge drinking, but just regular long-term patterns that I think lots of people would consider quite normal. Particularly here in the UK, we do have a problem with, well, binge drinking culture and drinking in general. And I do think it's the Northern Hemisphere, but then you don't see this pattern echoed in other Scandinavian countries.

27:37So it's interesting. But alcohol is already classified as a group one carcinogen. And that means essentially that there's strong evidence that it does contribute and cause cancer in the bowel, essentially. So in our gut area, alcohol is broken down into acetylhyde, which is the toxic compound that you'll find discussed everywhere when it links to alcohol and poor health. And that compound damages our DNA and the cells that line our colon. So in our intestines and over time, basically, when you have so much alcohol, and because you're damaging your gut it just increases the cancer risk as well it's a direct link to bowel cancer of course we're damaging our gut health while we're drinking and that link actually Ella is definitely not spoken about and I know that we've painted the picture very strongly on the wellness group with ultra processed foods like red and processed meat on here that's a link that I think people are becoming a bit more aware of we've seen headlines oh yeah we have interestingly Do you remember last year we talked about that there was another study when the World Cancer Research Fund came out and actually said the global guidelines should be to advise women to consider giving up alcohol entirely.

28:44And that was to reduce breast cancer risk. So that guidance, yeah, as I said, came from the World Cancer Research Fund. The review was set by Harvard and they found that any amount of alcohol increased risk of breast cancer with one glass of wine a day linked to a 5 % higher risk in premenopausal women and a 9 % higher risk in postmenopausal women. And interestingly, that study, the reason I wanted to remind you of it, was that it highlighted that nearly 80 % of European women were unaware of this link. Now that was talking about breast cancer, but I would say the same would go with bowel cancer, probably.

29:16I think we know that alcohol isn't a health food, obviously. But I think we think of it more as like it doesn't make us feel well the next day. And then we crave like a big fry up. Maybe more than having a kind of longer term damage to things outside of our liver. Yeah. And under the perception of a hangover is almost like a kind of entering into society. I feel like we are looking at everything in a very backward way. Actually, it's your body crying out for help. It's trying to process and detoxify and get it through your liver and excrete it. And very sadly, it's one of those silent things that creeps up over time, liver damage.

29:52Do you know on the point of, what did you just say, how did you phrase it? Sort of the weirdness of the world. Yeah, it's the black mirror type of life. So I've always said to my children, you choose if you want to be a vegetarian or not. It's not. I don't personally think it's right to, as they get older, dictate to them that they must do something. Obviously, it's really important to me that they understand like how to cook and where it's from and, you know, balance and feeding their gut bugs. And we talk loads about their gut bugs and all the rest of it anyway. But if they if they don't want to be a vegetarian, that's their choice.

30:24And they should have autonomy, in my opinion. Anyways, so one of my girls has decided, I don't think I want to be a vegetarian all the time. And I had this very dystopian moment last week where I you know she told her teacher and I said yeah that's true it's completely her decision um and her teacher said but she's told me that you don't really want her having ham and I had this just really interesting moment where I was writing back and I was like yes I don't really want her having ham because ham is a group one carcinogen and I just thought wait a second that's just like Patrick how am I here sending an email saying please don't give my child on repeat a class one carcinogen at in a school environment like this is so weird it was just it was something about it that was like as I said it just felt dystopian to this point of like how odd our food system is like why am I advocating for a six-year-old in this way I'm so glad you shared that um it does really hit home and it reminds me of looking at the timeline of food and I know you're very aware of this but back and this is all in my new book the fibromyalgia, looking at the 1900s to 1950s, meat wasn't the staple part every single day of our diets.

31:38It was like a luxury. We just would have it once or twice a week or something. And then suddenly it became a daily item when convenience food came in, didn't it? Because access to meat was cheaper. Therefore, processed foods increases, the processed meats, the sausages and the rise in all of it. And now it is dystopian because it's almost accepted as an everyday item that people have without consequence especially the process meets and for us to even say that now oh I fear the judgment I'm not trying to say to anybody that you have to choose this way but you need to know I think to make an informed decision we have to educate on this and it is wild that it's seen as the norm I cannot get over how society has shifted so much in the last 50 years that that is a norm I know.

32:24As I said, I wrote this email and as I sat there, I was like looking out the train window thinking like, I honestly think this is like one of the weirdest things I've ever had to do. Like how on earth are we at a place where these have been, yeah, group one cars engine stages? To me, it's the birthday parties. There's always ham sandwiches. And I feel like I must be an alien parent or something because I'm sat there thinking, how do people not know? And then it's not my place to go. I would dare not tell the host of the birthday party. yeah like by the way you're serving ham sandwiches how could you I mean I don't want to be that horrible person once in a mod in you know moderation but it's normal for them and that will be an everyday item exactly and and interestingly actually resend me a whatsapp with a link in the telegraph wasn't it an interview where the scientists who had back in 2015 classified these process meats bacon ham sausages etc as group one carcinogens they were back in the newspapers saying pushing the government saying why aren't we educating on this why aren't we putting warnings on this why do people not know because the estimate is that eating 50 grams a day so that's about two slices of bacon or a single sausage increases bowel cancer risk by around 15 because these foods cause increase inflammation and leads the formation of carcinogen carcinogenic compounds in the gut so when the intake is regular it's a problem i just don't think if parents knew they would do it every day in that way the messaging has to get out there Which is what they were arguing for.

33:50But also the problem is how we classify carcinogens. So there's a risk scale and that we classify them as a probable risk of cancer. And there's no definitive obvious, you know, it's in the same category as smoking. And obviously we know smoking has really strong evidence towards it. And we still, I think, need a lot more research in the processed meat department for people to take it more seriously. I think if we just end on just reminding everybody that, you know, we need to campaign about this, you know, nitrates and other additives that are used in processed meats just are not good with our bowel health and therefore link them to bowel cancer so just reduce them have things in moderation yeah anyway we don't want to have this episode leave you feeling terrified i think what basically if we add up the evidence it shows is that increased ultra processed foods is not good for um bowel cancer risk same with alcohol same with red and processed meats so we want to be limiting i don't mean cutting out forever more but limiting reducing upf intake where you can less alcohol and many fewer um occasions of eating red and processed meats and but on the flip side no you can do that if you just ate white pasta for the rest of time you wouldn't get the benefit to you've got to decrease those and massively increase fiber your veg your beans your whole grains your food at your food your fruit it's really really important and there's some little ways like what i love about this podcast is you'll get little tips and tricks like you know if you are if you do love your white bread just freeze it first and then reheat it and then you get more resistant starch which is a fiber that's good for your short chain fatty acids in your gut and there are ways of educating around food that can be fun and creative but of course most of the time we need to eat more whole foods.

35:33Okay, headline number three. We'll make this one short and snappy, but this is nuts. So officially scrolling is our most frequent pastime. Like, are we talking about Black Mirror? I can't, I can't. How is that a hobby now? It's bizarre. Yeah, well, there were a lot of news reports being like, we cannot classify doom scrolling as our hobby. But it is with the younger generations. I see it on Instagram, the little trends. I can't wait for Friday night. I just sit down in my pyjamas on my phone. Well, there was that trend of rotting. where you sit in your bed and just like brain rot yeah but okay so it's our favorite but it's the least enjoyable so there was a new study that um looked at the best and worst leisure activities we do for enjoyment obviously we've been talking a lot recently about screen time social media use and obviously this is not just us then having this issue because um as i said it's the people in britain's least enjoyable way to spend their free time yet it's the activity we return to time and time and time again.

36:29What's the phrase? Gluttony for punishment? Or what's it going? It's like, what? It's so true. And this was done by psychologists at the University of Sussex and they were looking at 21 common pastimes. And yeah, as I said, social media ranked highest for frequency and lowest for enjoyment. I mean, it makes sense when you look at how, I guess, scrolling works on our brain. Because like Ella said last week, you've got to remember how clever these people are that have designed social media and tech. You know, it's built around small, unpredictable dopamine hits that we experience you know there's a new post a notification it keeps us hooked it keeps us engaged even when we're not really liking what we see it's like a reward loop that can drive well it is compulsive it's compulsive doom scrolling and then you're followed by feeling really anxious and flat I also describe it like a kind of headache you kind of have this dull aching kind of like you're not awake in the morning but it then in return pushes us back to needing more of it the stimulation and I mean if I was when I started looking at my social media use i started to realize like it was that need for constant stimulation that with this constant dopamine you just pick up your phone you don't realize why you're doing it i mean it would just be things like we sit in a restaurant say my husband would get out and be like i need the load he goes to the well he's gone three minutes pick up your phone i pick up my phone me too what is wrong with you it's like i'm scared to be alone sat by myself without looking at a screen i do it on the train 100 i get scared i'm like oh my phone he's like i'm gonna get the pepper and i pick up my phone he's walked from one end of the kitchen to other and i'm just that actually it was the pepper moment where I thought why do you have to always be stimulated it's like everyone takes their phone to the loo because you can't even do a wee without stimulation and you know you watch a great show with your phone it's like we can't let our brains be quiet that to me is really defining when the tv is on and you find it hard to watch without your phone I've actually conquered that now and I'm really proud of myself thanks thanks to the wellness scoop to be able to sit and watch something and enjoy it but I'm really working on my my hobby he's um it just shows how I think it's really important to highlight how you're not allowed to be addicted and it's so normal but actually the top five hobbies were playing in for enjoyment sorry were listening to music playing a musical instrument reading books crafting hobbies like pottery and things and volunteering but it's like we just get lazy basically because these things are so addictive and so we don't do that because the easy option is to pick up your phone.

38:53Very good headline to discover. The study was led by Robin Banerjee, who's a professor of developmental psychology at the Union of Sussex. And he said that the findings also highlight the value of being intentional with our leisure time. So choosing activities that are emotionally rewarding and socially enriching. I'm definitely doing that, Ella. I'm singing way more than I've ever done. I love it. Just for me. And do you know what? It's Disney cheese and I could not care less. Oh, Disney cheese is so good. Because it just makes you happy. So find something, everyone. is it reading the books baking the sourdough going out for a walk just all the things we discuss on here let's try and break our phone addiction yeah and but it also reminds me of the just to close up our headlines today it actually to me really circles back to the first headline like that we underestimate what five minutes of walking a walk around the block a walk to get a coffee between meetings will do for our health and our mental well-being and it's huge actually and we get so much from a short period of time way more than we think when we think what's not worth it and I think it's the same with our hobbies like you might only have 15 minutes on the train on the tube whatever it is but actually you could watch 15 minutes of a show you love or listen to a podcast that makes you laugh or something silly or call a friend or you know or spend 10 minutes having a nice long shower and using a body scrub or whatever it is but it's so easy not to do those things but goodness me you feel better and they don't need to be like big things time consuming things I think it's just a reminder to try and invest in the things that make you happy even if it's just five minutes, ten minutes, teeny, teeny blocks of your day.