The ’Best’ Five-a-Day, Strength Training & Sleepmaxxing

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0:55Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration and as always we're both here as your host today I'm Ella Mills and I'm Rhiannon Lambert and after a decade in this industry we know that wellness can be overwhelming and confusing and that's why we're here with our podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple fun and of course personal.

1:22Good morning everybody it is a heat wave, which is an anomaly or actually increasingly less an anomaly in the UK. But we have got a fantastic episode planned for you guys today. Rhi, what is coming up? So we first of all, we have the plant foods that are linked to a 27 % lower risk of cardiovascular disease and why two hours of strength training. So the number seems to change with every headline we get, maybe the longevity sweet spot. Then how weight loss drugs are changing the food industry and a new term sleep maxing. So you've gone from fiber maxing to sleep maxing, cortisol cocktails and the wellness trends that are heading our way.

2:03Plus, should Coca-Cola and McDonald's be sponsoring the World Cup? That's a question that has been a big debate in my life for a long, long time. So excited to get into that. Rhi, before we delve into this eclectic mix of topics today, how are you? I'm good, Ella. I feel like I've had a lot of, in the nutrition, landscape at the moment. I feel like I should probably raise this a little bit that more than ever before, of course, with social media algorithms working in different ways, just be very wary of unregulated voices claiming to be nutritionists online. I feel that's something I should probably raise.

2:41It's something we've had to deal with a lot actually in the clinic with some quite concerning worrying cases over the last week. What kind of things are you seeing then in clinic, Rae? So we've had some alarming cases of obviously extortionate prices and different dietary courses but some severe side effects obviously personal cases but the amount of supplements people are taking that could be harmful actually as well and then dangerous health advice and what's very concerning it's particularly in the menopause area and it's been brought to our attention because I'm currently running this you know menopause method journey on nutrition plus but what's actually happening is you get a lot of people that say I'm a menopause nutritionist or you know I specialize in women's health as a nutritionist and then you ask what qualifications do you have and like I've got this one certificate from this course that isn't even regulated you know there's no scientific degree or background or understanding of how the human body works so just have your little red flag detective hat on everybody and on that note we are building our food freedom course at the moment Ella so I'm very excited to talk about relationships of food because I feel the feedback we had from that episode where we discussed weight and body image was massive as well.

3:54Yes and thank you guys as always for feeding back. I think it's interesting but we like talking about things that are hard to talk about because it feels important to have those conversations. We have heard and thank you guys for flagging that there seems to be some kind of radio spot ads coming through for weight loss drugs. Obviously that is not something that we would promote in this way or happy about. And we have, and are currently in the process of trying to ensure that those don't get through to you. So I'm really, really sorry about that. Yeah. Thank you so much, everyone, for bearing with us.

4:24And this is why we love getting your feedback literally in real time, which is so helpful. Apart from that, Ella, I am busy finishing up some written projects that I'll announce end of August. And how are you? I know you had all your family, didn't you, this weekend? I did. I had the most wholesome weekend. It was my nephew who is, I mean, all kids are sweet, but he is literally like so yummy. I can't explain to you. He was four on Saturday and all he wanted to do was celebrate with his cousins. We had a bouncy castle. We went swimming. We just had like disco on the bouncy castle. It was such a fun day.

4:54I had all my siblings staying with me for the weekend, which I just don't know that last time we did something like that. And then it was my grandpa's 94th birthday and my great aunt's 80th birthday. with my big family party yesterday. Anyway, so it's been a very, very sweet family orientated, wholesome weekend. And I just loved it. Beautiful. I love that. I mean, honestly, it goes to show that I think sometimes that's actually just as much wellness as anything else is spending some time with the family. So Ella, maybe you should pick us up today with the campaign that is launched by Biteback, which is to actually do something finally about who is sponsoring our major events in the world, especially ones that children and schools get behind?

5:38You know, we're talking about the World Cup here and food sponsors. We are. I think I've been wanting to talk about this for almost 15 years. So this is an exciting moment in my life. Here we go. Here we go. No, I remember it was. So I changed the way that I became interested in health and well-being back in 2011. And then obviously 2012, we had the UK Olympics. And so this was when I was very interested in health and promoting nutrition and ensuring we're starting to eat properly again and realizing that the Olympics was sponsored by McDonald's and being really horrified by it, if I'm honest, at the time, because it felt so wrong to be promoting sport, which is obviously a fantastic thing.

6:22But to be doing that in line with something that's the antithesis of that. It just felt really at odds to me. And I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate very strongly the glamorization of things that are so bad for us. And it's not about saying you can never eat these things, but it's like the glorification, the glamorization. It really, really irritates me when like mega celebs, you know, multi, multi, multi millionaires promote these sorts of things. Cause it's like, you just don't need that cash. Like I'm happy for you to promote something else. But I hate, as I said, the glamorization of that kind of industry.

6:56Anyways, obviously, World Cup at the moment. And guess who are their sponsors? McDonald's. Again, they sponsor all of these things to make themselves look healthier than they are. Coca-Cola. And then obviously, it's in the US. So my understanding from my research is that their other big sponsor is Lay's, which I would say is like the US equivalent of Walkers. So the campaign is called Kick Big Soda Out by Biteback, which are the youth of the UK. that I've had enough of all of this nonsense. And thank you so much for everything you're doing because let's be honest, we're not interested in policing individual choices here.

7:31This is about the fact that these role models and that they are role models. These footballers, be it the Olympics, the footballers, regardless of whether you want to be a role model or not, that is exactly what you become on the world stage. And millions of impressionable young children, all I had to see growing up Ella was Britney Spears of a can of Pepsi to think, yeah. Pepsi's cool. Pepsi's cool. It's what you do. And to see people with enormous credibility in their field come to consume these items as parts of sponsorship is really concerning. It's the normalization, isn't it? And it's very, very clever marketing by these large food companies.

8:12As you said, they're not inadvertently saying they're healthy. It's just the association. Yeah, the adjacency to sports and athleticism, it's incredibly clever. But I just think it's an amazing campaign, as you said, very bite back, absolutely fantastic. If you're interested, definitely, definitely look it up because their campaign is calling for an end for Big Soda. but for me, it goes beyond that in terms of these fast food companies, but it's to stop the big soda sponsorship of football by 2030 to create a sporting environment that actually better reflects health and wellbeing values that we want to promote to future generations.

8:52And I'm not trying to be facetious here, but like how much of an amazing role model would it be if like the World Cup was sponsored by Karas? Now, I know we talked about this the other day, that part of the reason you see these huge marketing campaigns and promotional activities, both kind of on your TV screens or socials in supermarket landscapes is because these items are owned by large conglomerates. And generally speaking, large conglomerates aren't the people selling you a bag of carrots. And as a result, they just don't, obviously, generally speaking, have the cash to sponsor something like this.

9:25But imagine the impact on future generations if they saw these people who were complete idols to them, as you said, Rhi, and these enormous events that are such cultural moments and shape the landscape that we live in. Imagine if all they were creating was like broccoli and carrots and healthy cooking, like how much it would inspire children. Cause it's like, if they do, I want to do it too. And instead what you have is the glamorization of products that really aren't very good for us. And my frustration with this, and I remember saying this so early on in my career, when people were across that I was like, we've got to eat more of these foods.

9:59It's like, everyone already thinks pizza's cool. Everyone already thinks Coca-Cola's cool. Everyone already thinks, you know, whatever it is, people see these items as quite cool. No one sees lentils as cool. And ultimately, if we're going to have a healthier environment for us all to live in, we've got to put carrots and lentils on par with pizza and crisps. And if we can't do that, we're not going to change our health landscape and these events again it just plays into the like this stuff is cool and this stuff isn't and I find it really really frustrating and I think it's really taking the piss to pull on the adjacency of sitting next to spore to have this subtle implication that these can fuel your body because they can't and that's not to say you can never ever eat them and you should feel guilty for having them on occasion but like these are not things to fuel your body I think you've summarized that extremely well.

10:51I mean, if you want to learn more, then you add your name to kickbigsodaout.org. That's the kickbigsodaout.org. That's not an ad for us. That's a campaign that I feel that you guys can all go and support if you feel passionately about this too. as a mum to two football crazy boys. I mean, it would just make parents' lives so much easier across the country if the people that are on their walls in their bedroom that they idolise, they want to collect their football cards. You know, I've got all of that at home. My kids are just absolutely, they want their shirts, they want everything. Let's kick these big companies out.

11:24So Ella, moving on to our first headline this week, which is of the Fitness Ilk and it's two hours of strength training a week may help you live longer. Now we've gone to two hours, Ella. I think before it was a complete different number, but it's an interesting new study. And we found this one in the Times. Yes. Do you know what? I was just thinking one last thought on our last comment was you probably being like realistic. They're never going to, as it stands, they're going to not, they need the cash. I would imagine they're not going to be able to remove these sponsors because they wouldn't be able to replace them, as I said, with a carrot brand that had as much money.

12:00But I wish that to sit at least alongside it. And I think that that would be the right thing that feels like a really plausible intervention. But it's all food. Why can't it be a different type of industry? No, but it's also sponsored by like Qatar Airways and things like that. So there are other companies, but I just wish that it's like if you're going to, like I said, if we've got to put this stuff on parallel, then there should be kind of education or support in terms of fueling your body for sport that sits alongside it. At least like try. But I do wonder if they do have things like that. And that's how they're getting around the initial.

12:33I haven't actually looked on the MD's website to see if they have like a sports campaign or something. Maybe they're doing things alongside. Yes, strength training. So we've spoken recently about the study that suggested around 10 hours of exercise a week is the sweet spot. And the research found that the biggest reduction in mortality risk among people doing roughly 300 to 600 minutes now of moderate physical activity a week, which is actually far above the current guidelines. And I have to say, Ella, as someone that can only fit in one strength session a week, it is very overwhelming when you constantly hear that you're just not doing enough how it can fit into modern lifestyle.

13:14A hundred percent. And I think we talked about that a few weeks ago when we talked about this 10 hour a week study that it's quite overwhelming. But interestingly, just to kind of add on to that conversation, there's a new study that's come out as well. always so much on exercise, but there's another one that's come out because that 10 hours was saying that it's good to have a mix of things, but to add to the kind of breakdown of it, a new study suggests that when it comes to strength training specifically, the sweet spot may actually be smaller. So maybe we're not spending all 10 hours doing our strength training.

13:45This came from Harvard University who followed just shy of 150 ,000 adults in the US for up to 30 years so re's favorite kind of study and it tracked their exercise habits and their long-term health outcomes and what they found was that people who did between 90 and 120 minutes of strength training a week were 13 % less likely to die from any cause than those who didn't do any resistance exercise which is interesting and those benefits did go beyond overall longevity as well i can well believe it i mean it just makes perfect sense that we use our body we use our muscles we build our capillaries you know everything that makes sense because doing regular strength training also had a 19 % lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease so anything heart related including heart attacks and strokes which is of course one of the biggest killers in the western world for men and women and a 27 % lower risk of dying from neurological diseases now that's the interesting thing such as Alzheimer's because of course there's lots of research debating and still looking into causes of neurodegenerative diseases themselves.

14:52But I think one of the most interesting findings was that more, Ella, like you said, isn't better and the benefits did plateau beyond the two hours a week. So it's finding what you can do between 90 to 120 minutes. I was thinking about this. I was thinking, right, if I can only do, especially being pregnant now, I'm knackered all the time, like 40 minutes of strength training, once a week the rest of it would be picking up the kids or the shopping bags and all of that perhaps would add up over the course of a week 100 and i think what's nice is when we were talking about that 10 hour studies which is why we brought it back in line with this one is that that was saying like mowing the lawn or um hoovering and and those sorts of things are also exercise so for anyone who was stressed by that 10 hours i think this is quite nice to look at actually together because what this is saying is like 90 to 120 minutes it's still a lot but it's much more plausible across a week and then actually you're thinking that lots of the rest of your 10 hours is just about moving like going for a walk doing your admin chores whatever it is walking up escalators and letting that add up which is interesting and actually they also saw in this study on strength training that the best benefits came when the strength training was combined with aerobic exercise so the two together because I think also I certainly see a lot online of like just strength train just strength train and what this was showing was like for your health I'm not talking about for aesthetics for your health doing the two together is so much more effective.

16:26Do you know what I like doing and the reason I love my one session a week is that I'm not just using machine weights you know that section of the gym where you just sit down at a machine and you like lift one leg up or something of course that has a place and it's definitely helped me when I felt nauseous or fatigued or with my pelvic pain and not able to do some things. But when you're able to move your whole body and get multiple benefits from it, you know, like a walking lunch for people that are able to do exercises like that. And I think it's crucial because we're just so sedentary and naturally we lose muscle mass and strength as we age.

16:58So from 25 years, which is very depressing onwards, yeah, we're not really gaining. We are, we're kind of slowly losing and we need to preserve and maintain um that doesn't mean that you can't gain but it's very difficult so you have to be very disciplined so if you've been focusing on cardio only little reminder to get strength and if you've just been doing strength little reminder you're doing great but let's add in a bit more movement and i think we can all just take on board little tweaks i love that really that was a very nice summary do you know what having never ever done any strength training in my life.

17:33When we moved, there's a lovely trainer near me. He's just really nice little group classes. Anyway, I started going and they're not like super heavy weights, but it's the first time I've really done anything with weights. And I've been seeing and going to her classes most weeks for what, like nine months now. And I feel so good for it. Like so, so, so good. I have to say as someone who's always done more like yoga and nothing in that arena, I do. I feel amazing for it. I'm so pleased. Talking of celebrity influence, this is where I feel like the JLo kind of vibe comes in. You know, she's so inspiring.

18:07Did you watch the movie? Not yet. It's on my, I still, I need time. Office Romance. Office Romance. It's on my list. It is on my list of films to watch. But yeah, she's incredible. And she puts her age, I mean, obviously she's got tons of pennies in the bank to be able to afford. Lots of different things, but strength training, she does a lot of it. so headline two ella green tea broad beans and berries are you eating the best five a day let's let's pick on which individual foods in the press again have potential benefits it's a times feature here but it's one that we see similarly kind of floating around yes it's funny you know because you're like this is when we talk about the overwhelm of the wellness industry right it's like exercise for 10 hours a week oh you're getting your five a day which makes you good but is it the best five a day.

18:57So don't stress, you're doing a great job. If you're getting your five a day, you are beating the vast majority of people. Now life's not competition, but I'm just saying you're doing brilliantly. But actually when you read the piece and then you start looking at the research, and as we said, this study was picked up in lots of places, actually it's really helpful and constructive. It's just slightly a kind of a clickbaity headline as usual. But essentially, and it taps onto some research we've talked about before on here with you guys, that whilst obviously all fruit and veg, all plant foods are really good for us, as we know they're great for our gut health, fiber, et cetera, et cetera, some are even better in some areas than others.

19:39And some new research that comes from Harvard Medical School, the University of Reading and the University of California, Davis have highlighted the importance of something called flavanols within these products that you guys I'm sure have heard us talk about on here before because there's been quite a lot of new research on these naturally occurring compounds over the last year or two and they're the sort of things you find in berries, apples, grapes, kale, tea, beans. But before we go into the research and why some five a day may be superior to the other or not, what are flavanols? So flavanols, think of them like you've probably heard of antioxidants.

20:15I feel most people have heard of antioxidants rather than polyphenols or flavanols and there's a differentiation that's ever so slight depending on the plant family where they originate from and the job and the protective mechanism that they contain but every day without getting too heavy on the science oxidation occurs in our body we are exposed to what we call pathogens or things we breathe in through the air perhaps with pollution or little bugs that might be on our food that aren't the best, you know, alongside, of course, lots of bugs that are good for us to be consuming as well. And our body has a natural defense mechanism where we neutralize all of those things and our immune system works very efficiently.

20:58But what plants can do for our body, which is why it's absurd, there are camps on the internet that are empty plants, but plants actually help us with that neutralization process and help us protect our body and fight off these free radicals, things that we do not want circulating in our body. Now, they particularly, they're known to be stronger, these antioxidants or flavonol components, in particular foods like berries is one we've discussed a lot on the podcast. Dark coloured fruits, they have different names, these antioxidants like anthocyanins. Flavanols are often discussed in context of grapes or red wine, particularly researched chocolate, you'll find that as well.

21:39But also in the wild, if you took a stinging nettle and it stings you that's its natural antioxidant it's its protective mechanism but that nettle might have benefits for us when consumed as food so it's really interesting that it's a plant's natural defense mechanism and once we digest and consume it it's really helpful for us if that makes sense it's just some foods have higher percentages known to researchers than others which is why I've always been on a mission to make dark chocolate health food. I love that. Exactly. So we've got these specific foods that are plant foods that are higher in these flavanols and they are, you could say in a really simple way, good for anti-inflammatory, the nature of them in terms of the oxidization.

22:24Yeah. So what you're doing is keeping your immune system from acting all the time in advance, which causes inflammation. It causes widespread release of white blood cells. And what you're doing by having these circulating flavanols and antioxidants. Yeah, it's just supporting your immune system. It's like working in tandem, which does, of course, have a knock-on effect on inflammation. And it's also supporting your gut bugs because these foods that contain these antioxidants and flavanols contain fibre. And that's helping support the short chain fatty acid production in your gut, which helps support our immune system, which helps keep inflammation low.

23:01It's like a nice circle of cogs. And obviously they still contain the fibre etc that other plants do so they're still taking all those boxes as well. Absolutely. And we have talked about a few studies over the last year or so on flavonols and why they're so good for us but in this study in particular the researchers were analysing dietary data and urine and so are we biomarkers for more than 30 ,000 people both here in the UK and over in the US and what they found during that time was that people consuming around 500 milligrams of flavanols a day, had a 27 % lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, which is very interesting.

23:41So I think as with every study, there's always different conclusions that can be drawn from it. But I do think potentially, you know, is it that people that consume this amount of flavanols are having more of a plant-based diet and less animal produce that contains saturated fat? Are they naturally more health conscious to begin with? There's lots of reasons when you look at data to draw different conclusions from it. But a 30 % low risk of dying from cardiovascular disease is just positive inherently. And that's why we just need to eat more plants. But, you know, five a day is something people know about, but we're just not getting it, are we, Ella?

24:17So it's just very important that we do keep showcasing these studies in the media, because let's hope that they make a positive impact. Totally. And like, just to circle back to the conversation that we were having on the world cup and this need to like promote lentils and carrots are sitting equally to mcdonald's like this is why and if we look in the uk one fewer than one in five people are thought to consume enough flavanols so you know we're seeing these being so beneficial and yet we're really really struggling with them and that was even interestingly among people who broadly follow healthy eating guidelines so what the researchers were saying in this paper was that obviously five every day is excellent advice, although it doesn't cut through for a multitude of reasons, as we know.

24:59But that we might need to also, on top of that, think about the specific plants we're eating and trying to include some of these more flavonol-rich ones, which is very, very interesting. But it also builds on, as I said, some of these other studies we've talked about recently. So we talked last year about the study that had over 124 ,000 participants from the UK Biobank, and that showed that the people consuming the widest variety of flavanol rich foods had a 6 to 20 % lower risk of overall premature death. And the research from earlier this year that showed that higher flavanol intake was associated with a sustained 3 to 16 % improvement in mood.

25:36Do you remember when we were like, strawberries improve your mood by X percent and all the rest of it, apples by X percent. Anyways, that's what that was. So it is interesting when you look at this overall picture on flavanols. And as we said, obviously, you've got to take into account other lifestyle factors. But equally, I think really promising research to show we do want to be prioritizing this. And it's such a simple amount. And Ella's got a lovely breakdown here. It's just, you know, 500 milligrams of flavanols a day. I mean, I've had that already in my two to three cups of green tea. Two apples a day.

26:08You could even just have a kiwi and an apple. You know, one large portion of berries a handful of pico nuts broad beans pinto beans or other legumes these sorts of things should be part of a healthy balanced diet i appreciate we obviously have a cost of living crisis at the moment but you can buy the frozen bags of berries as well which are actually i would argue more nutritious than fresh which we've discussed before and would can still have that high flavono content as well ella yeah exactly so you're going to stress you don't need that start like tracking it obsessively but just seeing if you know like a frozen berry compote that you can pop on your breakfast throughout the week like that would be amazing having some apples just being aware of this like knowing green tea is really healthy for you like just a little bit more of it in your life can be very positive we'll be back very shortly after a quick ad break everyone with our next headline

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