Should You Bin Your Supplements? How to Supercharge Your Gut & Are Sweeteners Safe?

0:28Push your limits, train with precision, see the results. Ultra Running Shoes are all about space. The space to go further. To feel better. To do something you never thought possible. And this space starts with UltraFit. Unlike traditional running shoes, UltraFit gives toes more room to move naturally. So every step is strong, balanced, and comfortable. Whatever you're lacing up for, stay out there. With Ultra. Shop now at ultrarunning.com. That's A-L-T-R-A running dot com.

1:02Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration with the two of us. We're always your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhiannon Lambert. And after a decade in this industry, Ella and I both know how overwhelming and confusing this space has become to navigate. And that's why we're here with our podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple, fun and personal.

1:30This is such a jam-packed episode, we have got to get through so much today, so much juicy stuff. I'm so excited. I just have to preface, guys. Unfortunately, my eldest guy is really poorly. She's very, very high temperature and tonsillitis. So we were meant to be in person, but we're not, we're online. And I have got her in bed next to me, tucked out with her bunny. I always have my windows open to help cool us all down. So if you hear a little bird chirping, chirping, chirping, chirping, singing, general merriment in the background or there is a lane nearest a little car passing or a gentle snuffle from her.

2:04I'm really sorry. This is just, you know, the forever juggle of trying to be a great mom and also do a job that I love. Oh, no. I mean, I think we'll fill you in in a minute on what we've been up to, but there's been a lot going on. I think this time of year is always full of, I think, massive ups, downs and also seasonal bugs that come and go. And Ella, I'm very open to the occasional bird song and things in the background. So, you know, let's embrace it. Let's tell everyone what we've got coming up in today's show. Okay, not to be dramatic, guys, but should you be in all of your supplements, we have Rea's vitamin D update that we promised.

2:39The surprising new ways to feed your gut, our sweetness really safe, why reading can protect your brain and the amazing tricks behind journaling and a very clever campaign, getting kids to eat the rainbow. We also have an update on how many junk food ads everyone saw during the World Cup. And I am still seeing ferret in face everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Since we discussed it, I'm exactly the same. So Ella, before we get started, I know we've also got some good listener feedback actually in our Monday episode today. You've had a really heavy week or two, haven't you? Yeah. So I said my dog was really poorly.

3:15He unfortunately passed away last week. So yeah 10 days or so before this comes out so it's been yeah tough time and then just after that this guy got really sick with a really bad bout of tonsillitis so we're probably not winning the last few days but there we go that's life it's ups and downs um and actually i'm sleeping really well again so i feel like i can handle it all i feel like when you're not sleeping life is hard to handle. Yeah, I know it really is, but we're all really sorry, Ella. I think anybody that knows grief and has had a pet pass away as well will definitely be thinking of you right now and understands that it's just, it's part of your family.

3:57It literally is like part of your family and it's waking up to a completely new family dynamic each morning, which you've not had before, let alone telling the girls. He was the noisiest dog. He like talked, he literally would just like talked to us so the house is so quiet the other two dogs are so quiet comparatively but anyway i did see as i said the top ferritin face though re on a different note literally everywhere the guardian yesterday saw had a piece ferritin face the new health scare taking social media by storm seeing a pallid washed out face in the mirror prepare to be diagnosed do you know what's so interesting is i'm now seeing um even tv shows almost like the same concept of the wellness scoop, you know, cropping up everywhere and lots of people talking.

4:41Well, in a way, I suppose we do. It's good that we're busting through all of these crazy myths. It's just how they start. You do wonder how they start. We've actually got a little bit of listener feedback, first of all, to start our episode with today as well about colourful fruit and a link to my favourite Disney characters, Ella. Yeah, this was so cool. This is from a listener that we've got in the Netherlands and there's a huge supermarket chain there called Albert Heijn, you know, like a Sainsbury's or Tesco sort of thing. And they had a TV ad where they've created a challenge for kids to eat the rainbow.

5:13And our listeners sent us the poster to show. And it's basically like you've got 30 different fruits and veg paired with characters. So Snow White with an apple, Cinderella with a pumpkin, Winnie the Pooh has a melon, Mike from Monsters Inc. has broccoli, Dory from Nemo has got blueberries, and Remy from Ratatouille has an aubergine. And then kids tick off this list as they go. And then there's a seasonal guide as well, showing what's in season each month and examples of what a portion could look like. And I just thought, again, how cool is that? Like, if I gave that to my girls, the gamification of eating these things, and if their favorite character is, you know, or their favorite movies like Nemo, the desire to eat blueberries to be like Nemo, so much higher.

5:57I love seeing all these things. I think, you know, we criticize a lot companies for not doing the right thing. And I think it's so important to shout out when they are. So we really appreciated that. Thank you. Yeah, I absolutely could not agree more. I also think it's important as adults, we raise these discussions with ourselves and just have a little think to ourselves because I've been a culprit recently of not maximizing my nutrition the way I normally do. And it's always a really good reminder, even when I see these things to tell myself, come on, Rhi, try and get back on it. What little addition can you do today?

6:29It doesn't have to be huge so let's move on ella to our health headlines that matter wait no really you haven't told us what you've been up to and i feel like you always have a lot at the moment pause right there we're not skipping you i have to just add on to that and say you know what i was the same like while we were moving house and the world it was just so much going on i was rubbish with my nutrition as in i just ate lots of like crackers and toast and you know like snacky bits and just passed to a tomato sauce, like just lazy. And that's normal. I don't, I'm not like criticizing myself for it.

7:03Life was very busy. That's all, you know, you don't have any forks in the house. Like you go with what you can do, but you, I didn't feel great for it. And I really noticed a huge impact on my digestion as well. And so I've been kind of back, Reed texted me, she was like, I can see your back, feeling yourself against your back on your cheer pudding. And then interestingly, I don't have great digestion. Like I never have, it just, you know, a little IBS-y kind of innateness, obviously, in me my whole life. And I actually tried adding phacillium husks in after we were talking about them the other day, on top of the gamification of my 30 plants a week, but just to see if it supports just better bowel movements and digestion.

7:43And I have to say, just having half a teaspoon today, at the risk of TMI, I am having much better bowel movements as a result. Honestly, I can believe it. And that's a really sensible amount to experiment with as well. I think the real risk is when people just pile on a heap tablespoons without realizing you need a lot of water to help that go down. It's really impactful, little changes that we definitely can make. And I've been feeling very, very similar for different reasons. Obviously, when you're so heavily pregnant, everything's been pushed up. So all your organs and everything inside your body has completely and utterly moved.

8:19And I'm starting to get nauseous on my iron supplementation and all these sorts of things that I'm trying to adjust and tweaks. It's just being really aware of your body, isn't it? And knowing what you need. So I'm also going to be upping my flax, cheer, husk sorts of porridge bowls, I think, in the morning at the moment to try and combat that. But behind the scenes, Ella, so I completely forgot to update everybody. My business isn't just, you know, showing up in the clinic or... At Parliament. or you know these are really really yeah cool places which I do often think oh if only my kids understood um the history in that building whenever I get whenever I go to somewhere like parliament the architecture and the history blows me away you know you just think how many people for the past hundreds of years have stood inside these walls that in itself is quite um is quite breathtaking, but I digress.

9:14We also do a lot of consultancy, which means sitting with companies, some who are massive in this country, who want to do the right thing. And I think it's really important to explain this because Ella will understand being in the food industry. And my perspective is just to offer the nutritional health, what I foresee and how I think companies can improve as a consultant. But to make any change to formulation independently as a company, you take a hit, like you have to weigh up the financial challenge of how it's going to impact your employees or your profit margins, but also make a change for the greater good.

9:54And it's just not, it's not easy. It really isn't. And then dissecting this crazy world right now. So yeah, I went up north, quite far up north. I went to Bolton to consult for this one particular company who really want to do good. And it's really lovely to hear. But when I heard the profit and the money and the barriers to change, gosh, Ella, it was eye-opening. It's huge. And it's so real. And the impact on shelf stability, on shelf life, on consumer expectations, exactly, as well as the impact on margin. Like you've always got to remember using real food costs infinitely more, generally speaking, because you don't have the same kind of homogenization.

10:34often it changes the way that a process works it makes it more complicated it adds in another step and all of that costs a lot of money and it might just be one penny here or there but that adds up to an absolutely extraordinary amount and has huge huge impacts and also you have to know it's going to be commercially viable that people are going to actually buy it that's the gamble exactly and so actually all these people's jobs rely on the success of these products and if you take something successful out of market because it's the right thing to do, but you put something that's infinitely more costly for you to make, so your margin's small and you lose huge amounts of sales, then you put people's jobs at risk.

11:12So it's so multifaceted and it's such an interesting area. It really is. And when I'm able to share more with you all, I absolutely will. But what was really heartwarming was to know that we're all sat in a boardroom for three, four hours having these discussions because everyone just wants to do the right thing, but they don't feel supported on a government level. It's up to the individual businesses at the moment. And that's really difficult to do. So yeah, my week's been busy, Ella. But now I can say it, it leads us on to our headlines that matter, how important advertising can be. Oh my gosh.

11:47Okay. So do you guys remember a few months ago, we were chatting pre-World Cup about the sponsors, our viewpoints on the sponsors and kind of what it says, especially to younger children in terms of the association between fast food or UPFs and the mega sports stars, the praise we had and collective we had for Ronaldo when he said like, go away to Coca-Cola, drink water, which was actually from the past but got resurfaced. Anyways, just came out as of the morning of recording some stats that were done by researchers at the University of Bristol and Oxford. And they were looking at junk food advertising during the World Cup that we just had this summer.

12:25And now we're not talking about junk food, we're talking about junk food. So that's mostly kind of McDonald's in this instance and things like Coca-Cola, alcohol, and also gambling. So when we put these three things together, that branding was seen roughly every seven seconds during live play. There was a recorded 65 ,722 appearances of junk food and drink branding alone across the 104 matches. So an average of 576 per match and junk food and drink branding was visible for over 28 hours or over 16 % of total match time. So Coca-Cola most often, then McDonald's, Powerade and Lay's crisps. I can't get over those numbers.

13:08It's actually astounding. And do you know what? I'm sure this is just the norm, right? To these people, this is why they invest in these types of momentous world occasions where everybody tunes in. But it just goes to show how important it is because junk food branding appeared around 10 times more even than gambling advertising. Now, both are major concerns, of course. But because so much of it was on pitch side and stadium hoardings, it falls outside. So there's like this kind of loophole of our advertising standards in the UK that say pre 9pm, there are restrictions. but actually if it's just on the side of the pitch and it's not like a tv ad or something is that how it works ella there's like a differentiation between the two yeah exactly i think that's what it is because it's part of like um the kind of displays around the sides of the um the pictures anyway yeah fifa obviously defending themselves saying the majority of its revenue is reinvested back into football including health and well-being programs i'm sure it is and you know what look i'm not defending them but it's the same as we just talked about with huge corporations when it comes to food and drink like there is you've got to balance out making change with the economic realities of running these companies and various different programs infrastructures but equally at the same time it's just so depressing there's so much there's so much i could say it's so much um but i think there's also one one pickup we should get in ella on this episode that you popped in that you found here um oh no did i pop this one in it was action on salt and sugar yeah this one came from you re um because i know you work with the group action on salt and sugar yeah exactly um and um they did some research with queen mary's university in london and they were looking at 104 children's yogurts that are sold in supermarkets here and they found just one in 40 uh low in total sugar kind of low enough to be good for kids and total sugar sugar levels surprise surprise varies hugely with the highest containing nearly four teaspoons of sugar per serving.

15:09And around one in five products were estimated to provide at least a quarter of a four to six year olds daily free sugar limit. But they get away with it because on the front of the pack, they say it contains calcium. It's got added fortification. Do you know what's so frustrating, Ella, just to on a little market, as we're talking about marketing. And when I was sat around this table, we were looking at children's SKUs. So ideas for nutritious items for children. And we really discussed the use of cartoon imagery. So you know the TV show that everyone loves, like even I love watching it, Bluey.

15:42Bluey is so good. There's a Bluey movie coming, can I just say? Is there? That will be my postpartum cinema trip. I cannot wait. Bluey is genuinely quite good in terms of its morals and it's actually real reality and... Emotional intelligence. Now, there is a cereal bar that I was analyzing with Bluey on the front of it. Absolutely horrific. And probably the worst ingredients I've ever seen, all forms of different glucose syrup, dextrose syrup. There was nothing beneficial for children in this particular cereal bar. But because it's got Bluey plastered all over the front of it as a kid's cereal bar, you can imagine how many parents just perceive that that will be good for them.

16:24I think it's actually outrageous that that's even allowed. I really think licensing with characters, like we said, should be maybe a new rule just for fruit and vegetables, like our lovely initiative from our listener over in the Netherlands, instead of what we're getting here at the moment and what we're seeing. Honestly, I was so infuriated, Ella. You should have seen my face when I read the ingredients on the back of this bar. Anyway, one in 40 yogurts being acceptable in terms of low sugar is just not good enough come on everyone we can do better than that yeah I don't just highlight like the minefield for people when you're shopping and also the confusion of things that you think are good for you that's always the thing that I always come back to I'm like actually my kind of bug birth so much less with haribo like I'm not here like championing haribo but I just think we all know what it is right I don't think anyone's confused by it and I think that my frustration with things like these yogurts are when they're actually packed with sugar they're packed with upfs they're really not very good for us and then they have all these claims on them high in calcium like good for your bones and then they've nice cute branding and you think oh this is great it's yogurt it's got calcium and actually it's really not and i find that's where i get really annoyed because i just think it's so misleading it's deception sweeties aren't misleading i know they're not very good for us but i don't think they're misleading i do think we all understand them and i think that's the bit that i find really frustrating is on the kind of more like foods that actually can be obviously like natural yogurts are so good for us and so that's the confusing bit it's the same with um there's a cereal bar in the uk with the word nature in the title and you know that makes you assume that it's this you know natural better off version and it's not is it the food industry is an absolute mindfell which leads us on to headline one actually because we're discussing foods that we do need to be prioritizing today.

18:15So we've got these foods may be better for your gut than you realize. So this is a new study that was led by researchers at Princeton and they've been looking at different types of plant protein fiber and what actually does feed our gut microbes. Because remember, that's why we get annoyed with deceptive marketing. None of the stuff in those yogurts is going to feed you microbes in the way that other foods will, which we're about to discuss. Yeah, look, we're talking about our favorite thing. We're talking about beans today, But this is really interesting. So there were two studies, as you said, led by the researchers at Princeton.

18:47They were published in Nature Metabolism and PNAS. And what we're really talking about here is basically the gut microbiome is a relatively new science. Like we're discovering more and more about it all of the time. This wasn't something like 20, 30 years ago, right, that scientists knew a humongous amount about. And I think one of the things the scientists are still really trying to understand exactly how the different parts of our diets and the different things that we eat actually shape the microbiome. And not just the microbes that live there, but actually what they're eating and how that changes the various different compounds, the metabolites, the things that they produce for us.

19:25And so in these two studies, the researchers were using something called stable isotope tracing. And they're basically kind of tracking, labeling different nutrients. They're following them around. after they're eaten and they're seeing what they're turned into. It's like an air tag. They're basically putting an air tag on these things and then tracing it, tracking it. And what they then discovered is that certain plant proteins behave really differently in the gut. And they kept talking about this idea of proteins imitating fiber, which I find quite confusing way of explaining it because when you say proteins and you're thinking like chicken or beef and this is talking exclusively plant about plant proteins and really our legume family here and as you always explain we one of the reasons the fiber is so important in our gut health is that we can't fully digest it and that means part of those foods so part of your chickpea travels all the way through to the large intestine and that's where our gut bacteria can use it as fuel and they can have a feast and have a party with it and these the plant proteins can act like fiber and contain fiber and do this in the same way.

20:33And so it's really different. Unlike animal protein, they're not broken down and absorbed earlier on in our digestive system. And this is what's interesting is the researchers found that they think certain plant proteins resist this digestion too. They reach the large intestine where they become available to eat. And what they then do is alongside kind of fiber. And as I said, we're really talking about here, peas, beans and soybeans is that they shift the metabolism of the gut microbes into a more favourable direction, resulting in many more beneficial metabolites being produced. Yeah, it's really, really interesting.

21:10But also, I think it's what we've always said, which is that those plant foods, the amazing ones, your peas, your soybeans, your legumes that contain protein and fibre are so beneficial for your overall health. There's kind of no negation to eat them. It's a really just positive way to get nutrition into your body. So let's put this into a real life context for everybody. So think about chickpeas and cauliflower together. The cauliflower obviously provides fiber. The chickpeas give you both the fiber and the plant protein. But the differences, the researchers didn't test that specific meal. It was the different compounds of plant foods that may reach our gut together.

21:48It's about that combined approach and interact with our microbes in complementary ways, essentially. So basically, when our microbes don't have enough to eat, there's also an interesting flip side to this. So our gut bacteria needs food. We know that. And that's what we talk about a lot on the Wellness Scoop. What you feed does feed the whole living microbiota inside our body, the microbiome. So when there wasn't enough dietary fuel to eat, essentially, the bacteria could turn proteins made by our bodies instead. So there's like a conversion, which we know happens with animal protein in terms of turning animal protein into glucose.

22:30But we're now looking at that similar pathway in the gut with plant proteins. So they found in mucus that protects our intestinal lining, all of this data. And if you're not sending enough food down to our gut bugs, they're going to start looking elsewhere for dinner, just like what happens when you starve your body essentially as well with our fat stores. So they've got their own ecosystem that's happening every single day when they're hungry, when they're getting food, what type of food they're getting and how they survive. So over time, this type of like microbial activity could be really negative.

23:04So, you know, you don't want to affect that protection, that lining of the gut, which is why it's so, so important to constantly eat in a way that suits your body. You know, all these fad diets, starvation low calorie it's all about the quality of your food but the study doesn't prove that a low fiber diet damages your gut it's more an explanation for why we constantly need the right type of quality diet and the right type of fuel ella rather than saying yeah this study doesn't say alone a hundred percent if you're not having these chickpeas and beans and peas it'll affect your gut but what they did see when they air tagged um i like that analogy it's like like the modern age yeah it's like following your suitcase when you travel yeah and if they didn't have enough food to eat first of all when they had enough food to eat from these particularly these protein fiber combos they produce extra beneficial metabolites that are so good for us but when they didn't have them they did started looking elsewhere and if that it does mean they start consuming the proteins in the mucus lining that protects your intestinal lining we don't want that so we can't say 100 % that will happen if you don't have enough fiber at the moment.

24:16But that is one of the key things from this research, which was so important, I think, as a reason to be like, no, these foods, they really, really, really mean a humongous amount. It just goes to show that starving your body in any way, shape or form and the organisms that need the fuel is just not good for our health long term. And I would love to see how this research now progresses alongside the role of intermittent fasting, like the time windows and all those sorts of things that are shown to be potentially beneficial for the gut, but how long is too long? You know, I'm thinking in my head about this research and it's absolutely fascinating because, you know, we really just need to try and shift society's viewpoint of protein, I think, in general.

24:59Yes, it's beneficial, but we do need more plant proteins. And that's why, again, in the school standards change that we discussed last week, they are introducing, you know, plant proteins into meat protein dishes. You know, every school will have to add some lentils or beans or something to a lasagna, which is a massive win. But do remember, beans aren't just protein or fiber. It's also about all the way it talks and interacts with our microbes and the food that it offers. We have to remember the amazing variety on offer to us. There's a lot more going on in our tummy and our intestines than we actually even realize every single day.

25:37For sure. Look, and I think if you love like a more kind of conventional animal protein heavy diet it's not about quitting that all tomorrow but if you could start kind of maybe doing you know in one meal half lentils and half animal protein or you could start even just like a few times a week one of your meals in a day you actually have a plant protein source as the protein instead that would be an amazing place to start it doesn't have to be all or nothing no i think that's really the big takeaway it's not all or nothing. It's just about getting those extras in.

26:16I'm of the belief that fall clothes are the best clothes. So anytime I go shopping for new clothes, I'm looking for corduroys. I'm looking for jackets to layer with. I'm looking for cozy sweaters. But those things also kind of take up a lot of space in the closet. So if I want to get new items in there, this is the time of year where I have to reassess and get rid of the things that I'm no longer wearing. And that's where Vinted comes in because they've made it so easy for me to clear out my closet and earn money while I do that so I can stock up on the fall faves that I'm really looking forward to wearing.

26:52Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app that makes it super easy to earn a little extra money and give your clothes a second life. The best part is there's no selling fees so you get to keep everything that you earn. I'm a big thrift shopper, but when it comes to selling secondhand, I really thought it was too much of a hassle to ever figure out. Vinted makes it incredibly easy. Once your item sells, they create a prepaid shipping label for you. So you just need to print that out, slap it on the package, and you're good to go. Now I feel way better because my closet isn't literally overflowing and I have the extra cash to buy pieces that I'll actually wear.

27:26So see what's hiding in your closet. you might be surprised how much you can earn with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees so you keep everything you earn. Push your limits, train with precision, see the results. At Equinox, that's high performance loving. Everything you need to lock in and unlock your potential at Equinox. Start today at equinox.com. We've talked about the Whey meditation app a few times now because we're obsessed. and I've just looked at my stats and I'm on over 3 ,800 minutes of meditation with them so far this year. I've actually done it almost every single day for six months now, normally 20 minutes a day.

28:07And I cannot tell you the difference it's made to my life. I just feel this amazing sense of inner calm, even when life is chaotic. And I don't think I've ever had that before. I feel less reactive, more grounded and just more peaceful in myself. It's become one of the most important, unmissable parts of my day. It really is. So now you finally got me onto it too. And I started using it because I wanted something to help me unwind at the end of the day. So I've actually been doing the meditations before bed when I'm finding it hard to switch off and it's really helping me get to sleep. So it's become a nice way to shut down at the end of the day.

28:41Yeah. And you guys seem to be loving it too, because as a community, you've now done over a quarter of a million minutes of meditation on the way, which is just incredible. And I think you're loving what I love and reloves, which is how simple it is. You don't choose between hundreds of meditation and keep scrolling. You just do one after the next. You follow the path, each one led by the same person, the founder, Henry. Exactly. You just literally open the app, press play and do the next one. And I think it's the whole simplicity, which is a huge part of why I've actually managed to stick with this every single day.