Should We Count Calories? Pesticides & Tips for Winter

20 Nov 2025 · 38 min

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In short

Podcast Summary: The Wellness Scoop - Episode: Should We Count Calories? Pesticides & Tips for Winter

Podcast Overview Hosts: Ella Mills & Rhiannon Lambert Frequency: Weekly Format: Health and wellness discussions, expert insights, community questions and answers. Goal: Provide listeners with practical health tips and inspiration to lead a healthier life.

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Episode Overview Title: Should We Count Calories? Pesticides & Tips for Winter Description: This episode addresses listener questions on calorie counting, concerns about pesticides, and practical winter wellness tips. The hosts discuss the historical context of calorie counting, the impact of pesticides in everyday foods, and ways to incorporate more plant-based options into diets.

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Key Topics Discussed

  1. Calorie Counting
  2. Origin: The concept of calorie counting dates back to the early 1900s with American chemist Wilbur Atwater.
  3. Current Perspective:
  4. Modern nutrition science suggests a shift from calorie-centric thinking to focusing on the quality of food.
  5. Calories are described as "nutrition-blind," meaning they do not account for vital nutrients such as fiber, fat, sugar, and protein.
  6. Emphasis on a balanced diet rather than strictly reducing calorie intake.
  1. Pesticides and Glyphosates
  2. Concerns Around Glyphosates:
  3. Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide found in some oat-based products and chickpeas.
  4. Differences in pesticide regulations between the UK/EU and the US were highlighted, indicating that the UK and EU have stricter limits on glyphosate residue.
  5. Recommendations:
  6. Opting for organic oats can help reduce pesticide concerns.
  7. Rinsing grains and pulses before cooking may also minimize exposure.
  1. Plant-Based Eating and Wellness Tips
  2. Target: Aim for 30 different plant-based foods each week.
  3. Strategies to Incorporate More Plants:
  4. Use frozen fruits and vegetables to add diversity without waste.
  5. Batch cooking and creatively reusing meals (e.g., transforming a chili into different dishes) can help achieve plant goals.
  6. Winter Wellbeing Tips:
  7. Embrace the winter season by creating cozy routines (e.g., candlelit yoga, nourishing soups).
  8. Suggestion to romanticize winter and engage in activities that foster joy.
  1. Listener Questions
  2. Caroline's Inquiry: Concern about whether evening snacks are negating health benefits from healthy main meals.
  3. Response: Emphasized moderation and recognizing that occasional snacks do not undo the health benefits of nutritious meals.
  • Emma's Weight Loss Concern: Explored the challenges of maintaining weight and how to approach weight loss healthily.
  • Response: Recommendations focused on quality of diet and intuitive eating rather than strict calorie counting.
  • Lindsay's Question on Glyphosates: Focused on the presence of glyphosates in oats and hummus and the health implications.
  • Response: Differentiated between processed foods and ultra-processed foods, affirming the benefits of canned beans and pulses.
  • Amanda's Query on Fermented Foods: Clarified the distinction between pickled and fermented vegetables.
  • Response: Pickled vegetables typically do not provide the same gut health benefits as truly fermented foods.

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Key Takeaways

  • Quality Over Quantity: Focus on the nutritional quality of diets rather than solely counting calories.
  • Mindful Eating: Incorporate moderation and variety in meals to enhance overall wellbeing.
  • Practical Tips for Winter: Create enjoyable and nourishing routines during winter months to maintain mental and emotional health.
  • Community Engagement: The hosts encourage listeners to submit their questions and take part in discussions about wellness, reinforcing the idea that every question is valid.

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Additional Resources

  • Further Listening: Refer to the "Why Calories Don’t Count" episode for a deeper understanding of calorie-related discussions.
  • Community Interaction: Listeners are encouraged to submit questions via social media or email to foster an inclusive wellness dialogue.

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This episode combines practical advice, scientific insights, and community engagement to tackle pressing health questions, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in improving their wellbeing.

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Transcript

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0:00This episode is brought to you by PayPal. PayPal helps you make the most of your money. You can earn 20 % cash back when you pay in four with PayPal from now through December 8th. No fees, no interest. Act now to get this limited time offer. Save the offer in the app to get 20 % cash back when you pay in four from now through December 8th. PayPal. Expires 12-8. See paypal.com slash promo term subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com slash payin4. PayPal, Inc. NMLS 910457. At Sierra, discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time.

0:39Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving.

0:48Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're your hosts, I'm Mella Mills. And I'm Rhianna Lambert. And today we are diving into some big topics as chosen by you.

1:05I love our listening question episodes now. They're such a highlight. right honestly everybody listening we are so grateful because i feel like we're actually getting to hear what you want from us which is really really key and then we get to interview great people and discuss things that we wouldn't normally do 100 and i'm also really enjoying how you guys are sending in your recommendations for us to share with the community as well and we have such a nice one here today from kristin who has sent in her tips for winter kristin said i live in canada so i need to lean into winter i'm currently working on the idea of changing perspective and romanticizing your life.

1:40For example, if you're trying to include a Mediterranean diet in your life, pretend you're in a different Mediterranean country each night or once a week and cook a dish from there. Darker days plus a candlelight yoga session to look forward to or meet up with a friend for a gym class, but go for a hot chocolate afterwards. Essentially, instead of dreading the cold, dark winter season, lean into it, romanticize it, and book fun things in the diary or they won't happen. 100%. That's really lovely. I need to get better at visualizing things i think but i do so agree with her actually that like when it's dark when it's miserable and you're like again yeah actually like making an effort sit down for supper with your flatmate your partner maybe invite a girlfriend over whatever light some candles make something could be something simple but just like lay the table with a nice placemat or like a little candle yeah as i said cute candles i have got a candle hack ella for people that don't have any, I put on the TV on YouTube.

2:35I discovered last Christmas, I saw everybody doing it online. They've probably been doing it for years and I'm just behind. But you can put a log fire on YouTube that crackles on your TV. And I've been doing it for pumpkin season and now I'll do it for Christmas too. I love it. I've just found things like in the morning when it's cold and getting out of bed, just putting on some good music, like get the vibes going, makes all the of difference. I love that, Kristen. One for me as a recommendation, I actually have so many this week and I also have a question for our community. I was working on something and it was such a reminder, something I was reading, it speaks to what Kristen was saying, which is to savor the little moments and almost if you're finding that difficult at the moment, write them down.

3:17And I feel like gratitude lists and things like that can sound a bit cheesy, but actually if you are finding the world a little overwhelming or going through a tough period or there's difficult things going on or you don't love the run-up to Christmas for example actually just taking the time to either really try and savour the moment like to go and do something and be like oh this coffee tastes so good and really like zone into it into your senses or I don't know I went on a walk yesterday with our dogs and it was just a really beautiful sunrise and I had Taylor Swift's new album pumping in my ears of course I did and I was like this is just great like this is just a great moment and it was a simple moment but it's amazing like how it feels to your nervous system to your body to like actually sit in those good moments and take them in and savour them and write them down if that's helpful I think music obviously being an ex-soprano myself but music just can lift everything that's a really good shout out about the type of music you want to play it could be classic fm in the morning if that's what zones you in or it could be something more upbeat you know whatever musical theatre anything that makes you feel happy and you can't help but move or sing along one of my daughters is going through a bit of a like uh how do I fit in with my new friends kind of phase at school and we have been listening to Katy Perry roar and Taylor Swift shake it off but like you can do this you're a champion like shake off the bad vibes and it is amazing the difference that it makes music was a real solace for me at school I equally didn't feel I fit into any friendship group at one point this is towards the end much later on in school and the singing was my absolute lifeline it's I immersed myself in music um not to sound like a Billy No Mates I literally didn't have one particular strong strong group I was just kind of there yeah no I know that thing I've definitely been a Billy No Mates appointment yeah and I think I think music really helps that was a really really lovely rec so Ella I know you've got a few others to add today big ones yeah I'll space them out over the next week so I feel like I have too many at the moment the main thing is I feel I have a bit more time and space in my life which is the first time in my adult life and I'm really enjoying being really creative in the kitchen again and I am on the sourdough bandwagon what a cliche right but oh my gosh it is so fun so I went on this sourdough making workshop a couple of weeks ago got a starter to take home from it which is like the live bacteria obviously we talked about fermented foods very good for your gut health but also makes the most amazing bread and i am now like knee deep in youtube videos a thousand different blogs trying to perfect the easiest sourdough recipe and it is so fun so can you link for people that haven't been on a course a few of these tutorials or do you have any i'm gonna keep going and then i'm gonna give you my best ones because i feel like i need to try out loads more.

6:12I also feel like I'm eating bread, breakfast, lunch, dinner and every snack because I get so like into things and I'm so into this at the moment that I want to bake every day. The dead microbes, they're good for you. You know, your avocado on toast, your homemade jam the next, it's all good. And then I made some pizza bases from my sourdough, which was also so fun. I also tried water kefir and failed miserably. Yeah, I think there's a reason. I know Tim shouted it out, but I think there's a reason it's not as mainstream because I think it is more difficult. fail just an epic fail so that's my question to the community if anyone makes water kefir give me your tips and tricks please i'll share them with with you guys but i thought that was going to be a nice fermented food to include it was one of my most epic fails honestly i can't wait to try ella's sourdough when we're next in the studio together we i'll bring you a loaf you might not want it next week actually because you're going to an event afterwards so tell me when you do want it and i'll bring you a loaf i also need an excuse i'm making so much bread at the moment and i'm not just going to any event i'm going to parliament so can you imagine turning up at parliament with with a bag of sourdough you're like um little red riding hood like that yeah like guys i'm a serious woman but i also have some sourdough security is really good there as well so they'd literally have to go through it all and probably give it a sniff um so have you got any recs for us before we go on to our listeners questions i have a very um only if you're into this sort of music wreck but in america on nbc and a channel called peacock they had the most incredible live performance from ariana grande and cynthia erido and the whole cast of wicked lots of different songs of the performances behind the scenes just the story of how they all got together from the director as well it was the most incredible performance i cried my eyes out through the whole thing and there's this little cute little child that goes up on stage and does the song popular with Ariana who plays Glinda.

8:06Anyway I couldn't get it in the UK and discovered that I had to download a TV app called Now. So I have paid£9.99 to watch this one programme. My husband was not very happy. But it was worth it right? For me it was so worth it and now I'll probably unsubscribe. As long as you remember to unsubscribe. If you have Sky which I don't but if you do I think you can also access the concert and it was called One Night Only right or something like that. One night only, but not that song. It was One Night Only of Wicked. It lifted me up and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh my gosh, I really want to watch it because I've been watching all the clips.

8:40I'm also pretty sure I'm going to go to the cinema just by myself to watch Wicked. I booked it. I would have said come with me because I absolutely love it. We just live a bit far away, but it is going to be... Well, I might. There's like Billy No Mates and then there's going to the cinema by yourself on like a Thursday lunchtime to watch Wicked and I'm a bit embarrassed to put it on the WhatsApp group of the mums that I've only just met. Do you want to watch Wicked with me on Wednesday? You have to book it. In fact, no, the ones you'll go and see are off-peaks. You should be fine. But those are our recs, everybody.

9:11I think Wicked's a very uplifting performance.

9:17Shall we go for our listener questions? Let's. OK, our first one comes from Caroline, who said, I just wanted to firstly say thank you for creating such an amazing podcast, which takes all the fear and extremes out of being healthy. I love that that's Caroline's takeaway. You make adding healthy habits so doable and straightforward and not at all overwhelming. Since listening to your podcast, I've made so many small changes which have added so many varieties of veg and pulses to our regular family meals. That's like the ultimate win for us, isn't it? As a family, we're regularly hitting our 30 plants a week now.

9:46Woo-hoo! The only thing we still love is a processed snack in the evening. Biscuits, crisps, et cetera. Is this negating all the gut health benefits we're getting from our main meals? thanks again for all that you do. I loved that question from Caroline. I just feel like that to me encapsulates how so many people, for want of a better word, really, you might disagree with me, but like should live, you know, because an all or nothing mentality just isn't particularly viable for most people. It's really difficult to live in the world where you're like, I can only eat, you know, cooked from scratch type food.

10:20And this feels like a really lovely approach. It actually inspired me to make a video quickly on Instagram, Caroline, from reading your comment on the extra scoop. It put it in my head. So I made a are you an evening snacker reel? And I totally forgot to mention this to Ella that that was part of the inspiration. Love that. I literally looked at all the different crisps and I looked at the popcorn. I know Ella doesn't love popcorn, but I'm a bit of a popcorn fan. And interestingly, popcorn's fibre content is 7 to 9 grams per 100 grams. and baked crisps could be six grams max per 100 grams whereas potato flaked crisps ones that aren't really real crisps that are made up into different varieties can only have like three grams so there is a hierarchy of fiber still enjoy your enjoyed items but perhaps sometimes try and mix it up into ones that are at least going to benefit you more and i think a handful of nuts is just not realistic it's not going to cut it sometimes you do want your crisps and you want to know that baked is the better one right i think that's okay to say for sure and i think the important thing to get the message across and the question for you is like if you're following the kind of 80 20 type premise which i love is this idea as a guideline right this isn't about saying i will never do this again i'll never do that again because it's so unrealistic but instead being like look 70 to 80 percent of my food i want to ground that in like nourishing meals you know to help me get my 30 plants a week 30 grams of fiber a day you know boost my health this is already good for me but 20 30 percent of the time I'm gonna just go out with my friends I'm gonna enjoy it I'm gonna enjoy that glass of wine I'm gonna have that you know cinema tree like I'm just gonna enjoy it and that's not gonna do any damage and I think that's the important thing to ascertain here is basically like if you've put this effort into cooking things from scratch etc are you undoing it so I think you really need to identify when it's working for you and when it's not.

12:20For instance, a lot of clients are having, I do this sometimes too, Ella and I have mentioned we went through a phase of obsession with these sweets, these particular sweets that we just love. And I was identifying with myself that every night, perhaps I was eating half a bag to a bag of these sweets. And I thought, okay, this probably isn't doing me a lot of good. I probably need to mix this up and then revert back to my popcorn instead of these particular sweets. But it's not going to undo or negate any of the benefits that you've already gathered in your body. At each meal, in studies, we call it a postprandial response that's measured in blood sugar or the amount of time of gut transit or nutrient absorption.

12:57And each meal will give you those benefits pretty shortly after consuming the food. You're not going to undo any of the vitamins and minerals you've consumed. The only time where evening snacking, I find, is gut health issues, eating too late or close to bed. it's a habit we all get into emotionally speaking in the winter I love snacking I put the kids to bed and then I really just want to sit with my bag of sweets because we all do but I know it's not going to undo my relationship with food in general it's when it becomes a stress to you if you're checking in with yourself and you're identifying that this is causing you harm to your relationship with food or you're starting to not feel so good about yourself then perhaps that's time to mix it up but otherwise I think everything in moderation is totally okay Ella.

13:42I think that's also an important message we were saying on Monday as we kind of go into Christmas season I feel like some of this messaging is particularly important like you're going to a Christmas party you know you might have a couple more cocktails than you normally have and as a result more late night snacks great like don't feel guilty about it but it's then worth taking the time to like make a nourishing breakfast batch cook some like nice food you can have for lunch that day things like that makes all the difference okay our next question comes from emma and emma says i just want to say how much i love your podcast thank you emma as someone who's always been interested in wellness it's amazing to have a place to come where the topics can be discussed and to find out what is just noise i have a question to ask though how do you both feel about counting calories for weight loss after having my daughter almost six years ago i tried and failed to lose a little weight to feel a bit more comfortable.

14:33It was a vicious cycle of cutting, feeling bad about myself and giving up. Then I had an epiphany a couple of years ago and I now have a great relationship with my body image. I love that Emma. I used to cry looking at myself in the mirror but now I look at myself and think I look great, I'm amazing. I still would like to lose a little weight though but I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm plant-based, I eat whole foods and consider myself quite healthy. I stay exactly the same weight which obviously means I'm nourishing my body correctly for this weight but I'm struggling to figure out how to lose a little what would you recommend it's a really good question isn't it and we actually had at the very start of the wellness scoop podcast the incredible professor Giles Yeo from Cambridge University on who has a book actually called why calories don't count but I've got a voice note from him here where he explains generically speaking why weight loss is individual but also why calories aren't always the answer.

15:27And I think it's also worth saying that it's such a longstanding myth counting calories. It dates all the way back from the early 1900s. And it came from this American chemist called Wilbur Atwater. He began measuring the energy contents of foods using a calorimeter. And that was where it all came from. Then in the 1910s, 20s, home economists, early dietitians began using his calorie tables to guide weight management. And that really got calorie counting as a kind of popular mechanism in women's magazines as a way to quote quote stay slender got even more traction in the 60s and 70s with the rise of packaged foods where you then have nutrition labeling and so calorie counts on packs the diet industry really latched on to it so this has been something that's been kind of in our lexicon for over a century now so it's pretty entrenched but i think what giles is going to say about it might unpick quite a lot of what's been entrenched over that time.

16:21100%. Here we go. I just don't happen to think that focusing on calories for weight loss is the best thing to focus on. Look, I'm not anti-physics. I understand that 100 calories of chips is half the portion of 200 calories of chips. But so is 100 grams of chips, half the portion of 200 grams of chips. And no one is trying to compare 200 grams of chips to 200 grams of carrots. And I think that's my problem. Calories are one-dimensional, right? They tell you about the amount of food that is there, but only within a specific type of food, right? And otherwise, they're nutrition blind. They don't tell you about fiber.

17:04They don't tell you about fat, sugar, salt, protein, nothing. Now, clearly, if you have a good diet, but just have too much of it, hence you are overweight or have obesity, then yes, then you can sort of use the calorie counting to reduce the size of that balanced good diet. And then you will lose weight. That's not how we function. We're thinking, oh, I need to cut my calories by 100. You know, are we talking about sugar calories? Are we talking about protein calories? Are we talking about, you know, fat calories? And so I think more importantly, you should worry about the quality of your diet?

17:42Are you having enough protein? Are you having enough fiber? Are you eating too much sugar, salt, fat? Things like that, rather than worry too much about the calories per se. Thank you so much. As ever, I think Giles explains everything so eloquently and really easily so we can understand exactly the difficult scientific concepts.

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20:26She said, I struggle with the soaking process of the dried ones. Is it unhealthy for me to be eating these? And then added extra that 30 plants per week, she finds herself only cooking for herself. So a lot of the time she's reheating the same meal for a few days. She said, I find it hard to get 30 plants since I'm not using leftover ingredients for different meals. do you have any advice for getting in 30 different plants a week so we've got two different questions there ella we've got three different questions three we've got three one on glyphosate one on processed foods and one on plant points should we start glyphosate yes let's do that glyphosate is the world's most widely used herbicide and it is true that residues of it have been found in some oat based products essentially on some oats as well as in chickpeas which are obviously the foundation of hummus but I would say generally speaking it depends where you live as to whether or not this is something that you need to be concerned about in the UK and the EU I wouldn't give it a second thought in the US it's a little bit different so in the US farmers often spray glyphosate directly onto oat crops just before they're harvested because it helps them dry out more quickly that obviously can leave lead to higher residue levels on the final grain whereas Whereas in the UK and the EU, regulations are so much stricter on this sort of thing.

21:44And the use of it is far more limited, especially on something like oats. So residue limits are so much lower. And as a result, it's sort of not a thing, really, especially in the UK. And interestingly, like when we were looking, we make the products that we sell in the US at Delicious Yellow in the UK. And for example, like some retailers over there look for certification around this sort of thing, because consumers want it because it is a concern sometimes there, whereas here it's not. Every oat we've ever used, been tested for it, nothing there. So it's very, very different in the two countries and I think that's the main thing to think about.

22:22It is technically regarded as safe by the FDA, etc., but there are some questions about it. Yes, I think it was a really good thing to bring up because it was doing the rounds on social media as well. But as Ella said, there are no residues that have been found. And choosing organic oats in the UK, if you are concerned, can be a way to minimise, I guess, any anxiety around the subject in itself. Because those are most definitely not going to be treated in the same way with glyphosates before harvest. So giving grains and pulses a rinse before cooking can slightly reduce residues. But as you said, you know, not a lot of people have time to do this unless you're in a sort of routine like Ella soaks things the night before.

23:07When you have time, I've tried it too. It can be a really good way to get ahead of the game. But I think it brings us on to how foods are preserved really nicely, Ella, as well, because there's so much fearmongering. And I remember when writing the unprocessed plate, I was just so delighted that it gave me a chance with diagrams to explain the Nova classification of processing. 100 because i think coming on to exactly that question about like can bins can bins can beans and pulses um which we were talking about monday's episode as well with your 75p trick hack but i think there is this really important differentiation as reese points the nova score between process and ultra process process is essentially you could do this at home but someone's done it for you.

23:54That is the easiest way to think about it. So even a soup that you would buy on a shelf is a processed food because somebody has taken those ingredients, they have cooked them, they have blitzed them, they have poured them into the packet, they have sealed the packet, they have put it on a shelf. That's actually a processed food as is a tin of chickpeas. They have been cooked, they have been put with their liquid in a tin. That's a processed food. An ultra processed food, the easiest way to think about it is you cannot make it at home because it's using completely artificial ingredients that you wouldn't have at home and it's using methods and sometimes products involved in that method that is just so far removed from home cooking.

24:33So this is all your different like emulsifiers and industrial processes. So it's so different. So when you're thinking about tins of chickpeas and beans, they are a processed food. They're not an ultra processed food. And that is such an important difference. They are so good for you. Really beautifully explained. That's exactly it. And if you're going to look for cans, you know it's a good idea to just look for no added salt or just purely beans and pulses in water it's one of the easiest ways I think to look at the thing where our clients in the nutrition clinic often go wrong is fruits and tins and you know syrups and all sorts of things that can be added and if you don't if you're in a rush in the supermarket you can quickly pop it in your basket but with beans and pulses you're less likely to go wrong I don't think there's much other option there really it's just the salt and from my standpoint it's going to help you hit your 30 grams of fiber gold.

25:23I think one of the confusing things to say here though is that ultra process is a really new term and I think in the past we did call this stuff processed food as in we called what is actually now ultra processed food processed food and so I think in terms of kind of common day-to-day lexicon it is a little bit confusing because actually now when we talk about processed food technically what we're talking about is generally like quite nutritious like healthy food like a pre-made soup or a tin of chickpeas and things like that whereas actually where the problem sits generally in terms of overconsumption and foods that we don't want to over consume are ultra processed foods and there's they're not all bad either are they like this is the other really confusing thing because they're not all recognized like when you just said there you know that we call it processed it's like baked beans is in category four which is ultra processed but it doesn't make it a bad choice for your family necessarily compared to eight bags of haribo oh well yeah yeah but they're not the same thing and they both sit in the same category and something might have exactly like a small amount of emulsifier a small amount of preservative sure amazing if it's not there but it can have baked beans is still a more nutritious meal with a jacket potato than lots of other food because you're still getting fiber etc in there so it is a continuum it is a hierarchy it's not black and white but i think we need now need to retrain ourselves to think processed food actually not bad the question marks are in ultra processed food 100 and then 30 plants a week some of these upf site baked beans can help because those beans count as a point so do you want to delve into your favorite game i love to count 30 plants it's true it's a fun game but lindsay i think it's a really nice question actually about living alone and therefore being really sensible and you know batch cooking something and eating it a few times but then feeling like even if that stew for example that you're reheating actually had 10 plant points in it, add lots of herbs and spices potentially, as well as your veg and beans, etc.

27:16Actually, you're eating the same thing on repeat. So still great for your fibre goals, obviously much better than not having something nourishing on repeat. But equally, you're not necessarily getting the same diversity. And I think it's a really great question. And I think in terms of tips, tricks and points, what I would be thinking about is actually reheat it and use it. But is there something you can add on to it? So let's say we have made a simple five bean chilli, actually just starting with a five bean chili really helps because you've already got five different plant points in there but then are there different ways you can eat it across the week so maybe one day you're having it with a jacket potato maybe another day you're actually going to turn it into a minestrone and you could put pearl barley for example on it you can do loads of fresh basil on the top well that's two extra plants you're then putting into that version of it you've obviously got an extra plant when you've done it with the jacket potato maybe another day you're going to do it actually as a pasta but you could use a lentil pasta so that's another plant point in there you could also you know drizzle a little pesto on the top of it another day you might get some extra points because you maybe have a cashew pesto so I think you can reheat the leftovers but maybe try and focus on adding in an extra one to three plant points with what you serve it with or like I love at the moment crispy cabbage so you finely slice a cabbage a tea bit of maple olive oil salt check it in the oven for like 30 minutes until it gets really crispy that's a lovely side a boost for your gut health super easy to do with it or you could do like a herb yogurt for example sorry i'm i divulge i keep going on to all the different ways to serve things but it's really helpful ella because when you're by yourself you're probably thinking but i won't eat a whole cabbage and it'll go off by the time i you know get to it and i think it is really helpful to give these examples yeah so do half the cabbage in a slaw which you can have with your lunches and then roast half of it for example and have it with your suppers so i think it's just about what you serve things with and seeing if you can get an extra point here or there as toppings even like if you love porridge for breakfast maybe keep a few different jars of nut butter in the house so you can use peanut butter you could use almond butter you could use a cashew butter well that's three different plant points like we keep loads of bags of frozen berries and fruit in the house frozen mango frozen banana cherries blackberries blueberries strawberries raspberries well that's seven different things I'll cycle through just from my freezer in like smoothies, porridges, etc.

29:36And it is helpful. I think we all just lose our creativity. But also, I don't want you to feel like it's a bad thing what you're doing, because actually by reheating food, you create more resistant starch as well. So when food with lots of fiber and cools down, this is the same for pasta actually and rice as well. Then when you reheat it, you can get something called resistant starch which is a really beneficial type of food for our gut bugs and essentially that in turn creates a lot of extra beneficial short chain fatty acids a component we discussed so it's really good for your gut health to reheat which i don't think people realize some foods as well and in terms of saving money it's so fantastic to do that and you can reach your 30 plants if you eat well in probably two or three days across the course of a week 100 so all it actually takes is for you to have those same meals maybe two days in a row maybe sometimes three and then have a different one again the other day and if you eat well I think I did a reel a while ago that shows how to hit you know 30 grams of fiber in one day and then my plant points already in that day were already at 20 or something so you definitely will be if you write it all down like Ella you're doing better than you think I think you are and especially in the winter actually at one point for winter which is when you're making lots of like curries and stews and these hearty meals because you can really pack that base like you know use some leeks use some celery use some carrots use onion use garlic use spices herbs you know you then might have coriander you might have cumin you might have turmeric you might have paprika then you've got tinned tomatoes you might chop up some greens in there you might have lentils etc and suddenly we're at like 10 points as you said you could have three of those like mega meals in the week and you would have got 30 which is cool i 100 agree that's so uplifting that question i really hope that everyone realizes you are probably all doing so much better than you think you are and the next question from amanda leads on really nicely from the past question we just had which is do pickled vegetables qualify as a fermented food now ella i do not like pickled vegetables and i take them out you know if you're a takeaway or something i take the gherkin out i love pickles i knew you did that's why i need on this so tangy and i think all of us are struggling with getting enough fermented foods and so i think that's something that we'll try and i'm kind of personally working on for my own you were going to make kimchi as well after and i saw tim do it i just i really i'm gonna bring you guys more inspo here because it's really difficult and so i think we're all like let this count it doesn't count.

32:09I'm sorry to be a downer here, unfortunately. So the difference is essentially between a pickled vegetable and a fermented vegetable is how they're made. So pickled vegetables are normally preserved in a vinegar and they give it that like sharp flavour very quickly. So you can, you know, pickle cucumbers, for example, in 30 minutes or, you know, I love pickled red onions. Oh my god, they're so good. Like such a like punchy flavour on dals and things like that, especially all my like cozy winter foods. To do that you just slice up your red onions really finely and then you just want to douse them in loads and loads of lime, some cider vinegar, salt and you let them sit for like 30 minutes to an hour but you can let them go for days and they'll go bright bright pink.

32:52They look amazing on food, they look really fancy. But you can do some creamy black beans, pop those on the top with loads of coriander, a bit of yogurt, black pepper, sliced avocado and it'll look like a super fancy meal but it's actually a doddle to make but essentially that's not giving you that fermented vegetable benefit even if they sit in the fridge for ages whereas your sauerkraut your kimchi they develop their tang over time as the beneficial bacteria break down the sugar in the vegetables and create those live cultures so it is really different obviously pickled veg is still great because you're still getting more veg in your life which is excellent but it's not giving you the fermented benefit no and it's really important to mention that any of the beds you get in like yes i think it's great if you are somebody that enjoys those but just remember that those those key strains if you actually go back and have a listen to the episode that we did the extra scoop a week ago or two weeks now i lose track of the time everybody it's going very fast with tim specter that would be really really helpful as well and it's often strains like lactobacillus species that can support gut health that we get with fermentation the fizziness that taste that you get that i am not partial to that i need to train myself to get partial to that's when you do know as well that's when you know there's some lovely live strains in there that are known to support gut health but like tim said like ravella making sourdough for instance just moving aside from the the veg for a second is pickled dead bacteria may also be beneficial for us potentially in research so we can do so much for our gut bugs by even just eating your slice of bread with your pickled veg there's so many options for sure and if you're buying things like kimchi or sauerkraut just worth looking out on the labels for things like raw or unpasteurized naturally fermented because you do need them to not be pasteurized to be able to get the like full benefit unfortunately they are then quite pricey but equally i think you only consume them in like quite small amounts for the most part.

34:52So it stays. I also recommend an avocado and kimchi toasty as a quick winter lunch. Hang on. So, okay. You heat. I was about to be like, as a place. Sorry. Yeah, I know. I know you're heating it. I know you're heating it. No, the avocado. So I have a real issue and I find it really hard. You know when you have Mexican food or I have a guac dip or something, I don't want my avocado to get warm. Is that funny? Is that strange? I can see that this is not a food for most people. But if you do like kimchi, which I do, give it a go, guys. Yeah. Well, do you know what? I do love the texture of avocado.

35:27Maybe I'll just stick to sourdough and avocado and everyone else. Do you try, though, because kimchi is so good for you and perhaps I need to work on that. Yeah, I like it when it's super spicy. Well, maybe I'll become some, like, fermenting guru. I'll be bringing you weekly batches, Little Red Riding Hood style, checked basket of sourdough and kimchi. I think you're going to get a qualification in something. Have a bakery called Ella's Bakery. You'll be giving away little baskets and I'm going to be the ambassador with the red hood with the basket of bread. I've been telling Rhi how I have a bit more time in my life and I'm like thinking about what I want to do next.

36:03It's like, great, book up Little Red Ridinger. Yes, let's do it. On that note, everybody, send your helpful questions in. We do really enjoy them. And it may sound silly to you, but it's not. it really isn't and it can take a lot of courage to to even write on the spotify comments i know that it takes courage but we are a friendly community and we love discussing everything we are and as you said you can leave comments reviews um queries things you wanted to talk about topics on apple comments apple podcast comments spotify comments or you can email me directly ella at deliciously ella.com we love hearing from you and i think as reese said like nothing is too small a question we all spend so much time like thinking am i an idiot but not knowing this am i doing this wrong you know what's normal ask us and it can be anonymous if you like but give us your name where you come from if you like i sound like silver black there okay i think it's time to wrap this up thank you guys give us your name where are you from guys thank you for listening we will be back in your ears on monday as always we're going to do some things on christmas season hangovers how to keep your health up we cannot wait um to see you guys then again as always just thanks for being here we love the wellness scoop

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From the publisher

This week we’re diving into your biggest wellness questions, from whether calorie counting really works to how concerned we should be about pesticides in oats and hummus. We explore where the idea of calorie counting came from, why it became so popular, and what modern science actually says about energy, metabolism and nourishment. We also unpack the facts on glyphosates, what they are, where they show up, and how to reduce exposure without cutting out healthy foods like oats and chickpeas. Plus, we share easy ways to hit 30 plants a week, the truth about canned beans, and whether pickled vegetables count as fermented. Finally, we share your brilliant winter wellbeing tips, from romanticising the darker months to making candlelit yoga and nourishing soups part of your routine.

Hear more from Giles on calories in our ‘Why Calories Don’t Count’ episode
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