Her Discussions by Dr Faye - Nutrition Expert: Top 3 Nutrient Deficiencies in Women (How to Fix Them)

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Why protein deficiency doesn’t actually exist, and the one nutrient 96 % of Britons are missing in their diet.Dr Federica Amati is a Head Nutritionist at ZOE and a medical scientist specialising in gut health and nutrition.In this episode, she shares the foods every woman should never miss in their diet, the simplest tip to reduce bloating, and her favourite nutritious meals that take less than 12 minutes.What you’ll learn:💊 The 3 biggest nutrition deficiencies in women🥦 The 1 nutrient 96% of people in the UK don’t eat enough of🥩 The truth about protein propaganda🥛 The 1 type of oat milk you should buy🌬️ 3 reasons you’re bloatedResources & links mentioned:-Dr Federica’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennyethanjones/Links to subscribe / follow:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/her-discussions-by-dr-faye/id1835829612Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5viLYizHD4Zy6J42iqtPRoCan I ask you a BIG favour? 💙Please leave a review or rating. It helps us grow the podcast and bring you more amazing guests.Share with someone who needs this; it might help them live a happier, healthier life.Follow us on social media or join the broadcast channel to send us your questions for our guests. I'll leave the link here: https://www.instagram.com/channel/AbY4liwxlLnewx4H/?igsh=MWhuaXFweGtucTB3cA==https://www.instagram.com/channel/AbY4liwxlLnewx4H/?igsh=MWhuaXFweGtucTB3cA==🛑 Disclaimers:Opinions are my own. This content is for educational / entertainment purposes and not medical or financial advice.

96% of Britons don't achieve the minimum diet recommendation for fibre. 96! Dr Feddy is the head nutritionist at Zoe, but today she is telling you her favourite quick, nutritious meals and snacks and why she never drinks soda. This protein obsession has transformed the way people think about their food. They're so obsessed with getting enough protein. They're ignoring the actual deficiencies in 30 plants a week.

seems to hit the sweet spot for diversity of fibers. What happens if you don't have that diversity is not just that nothing happens. If you're in the supermarket and the packaging, has a frontal pack claim, buy in protein, only 99 calories, low in sugar, it's there to make you spend your money and make profit for them. But before we get into the conversation, please make sure that you're subscribed or you have left a five-star review. Please, it really, really helps us.

Keep bringing you guests to help you live a happier, healthier, life. Thank you. Hi, I'm Dr. Feday. Welcome to Her Discussions podcast. Dr. Feday, so many of our community sent in questions all about nutrition, snacks, cravings. But first, I wanted to ask you, how did you end up in this world and what drives you? Hmm. It's a great question. I always, I often get asked this, right, because I've got a bit of a weird background. I'm not your traditional nutritionist, the dietitian who kind of went straight for it. I started off, wanted to be a doctor, medical doctor. My mom was a medical doctor.

I did loads of placements in all the hospitals. I loved it, lived it, volunteered at hospital every weekend for like four years. Wow. And I just really thought that's what I wanted to do. And then I had a place to study medicine at Imperial College. All great. Oh, wow. And that, yeah, so I was really going for it.

Then the day before my chemistry, A-level paper, organic chemistry. I remember that one. Oh, I wish I didn't. My grandmother who lived with us and had been living with us for about four years at that point passed away. Oh gosh. Quite suddenly in the night, sort of ambulance, you know, all that. And I just turned up to the paper the next day, but I was in absolute hit. I was just crying.

And my teachers at the school I was at said, you know, just sit the paper, write your name and just don't fill anything out. Because then we'll let them know. We'll let the examiners know. know that it was an extenuating circumstance. You're predicted an A on this paper. Don't worry. So fast forward. Imperial were like,

yeah, yeah, it's all good. Like, it's a, you know, it's a one-off. We'll just forget about it.

But then, just before we were supposed to move into our halls, a week before. Oh, they said, actually, we're really sorry, but we can't make this exception

because it's a chemistry paper. And of course, chemistry is so fundamental to medicine. And I was like, oh, I don't have a plan B. So, they said just if you could just reset that paper and then come next year I was like no that's a whole year

you know when you're 18 or whatever that's not that's not a small amount of time and all your friends are going off to uni and I just I was never a gapier kid like it was never on my radar I had no idea like there was no intention there I'm Italian we don't do that actually so just not in my thing and so I went to my like school counselor a person who looked off to six formers and I said, what should I do? And she said, well, why do you want to do medicine? I said, well, I love people and I'm really interested in like how the body works. I'm fascinated. I want to know everything. And so she said, well, why don't you do biomedical sciences? And then you can always do postgraduate. And I was like, didn't even though there was a thing.

I said, okay, well, where should I do biomed? And she said, well, the number one university at that time is Edinburgh. Not really London, is it? But I was like, okay. So, and this is a few years ago. So I called them. I said, hey, like, this has happened. Here's my UCAS number. And they were like, tap, tap, tap, tap. Oh, yeah, you can come. So that's it.

I left school going in from eating and coming out and moving to Scotland. Oh, wow. And my poor mom, she was like, oh. I never been there. I never been to Edinburgh. But a few of my friends were going. And I was just really interested in doing a degree at this point. So I went off and it was the best pivot.

the best like surprise moment because I absolutely loved it. I loved the degree. I ended up doing endocrine pharmacology as a massive like, wow, to my chemistry A level as my honours. So I did biomed and then I did my honours in pharmacology and I was one of the seven crazy people who decided to go to endocrine pharmacology and had the time of my life.

And during that time, I became more aware of like how, public health worked and how hospital systems worked. And I had done another work placement at a university hospital in Rome. And I was like, well, this is different. It works very differently. Their patient experience is very different. And also how the doctors work is very different. So when I then came to the decision of, okay, I can either apply to postgraduate medicine now or something else, suddenly my sort of ideas had changed. All my friends who had gone to medicine were like, Don't do it.

Don't do it. Please. Save yourself. You know, it was, it was, I was suddenly had a choice. I was like, okay, I could go back to the original path or I could not. And I ended up doing public health, which no one was doing. There was like 10 of us at the time. It was such a niche masters.

But it was my professor of pharmacology who still taught by writing on blackboards, legend. Wow. He said to me, have you ever heard of public health? And I said, no, never. And he said it's basically population medicine. So you learn about disease at a population level and then how to prevent it. And I was like, yes, that sounds great. So that's how my path changed.

From public health, it took about three seconds for everything to point to nutrition. It was like best interventions we have, like vaccination is excellent for, you know, communicable for like infectious diseases. Everything else. Food. I was like, oh, why don't we look at that? And so during my master's in public. Health, I started looking into nutrition, did my first course with a group called NetPro

who do basically human nutrition training. And then that was it. I was like, this is exactly where I want to be, much more on prevention. I also realized, you know, like when I was doing my hospital shadowing, one of the ones I did was pediatrics. I thought I wanted to be a pediatrician. Then I did two weeks on the pediatrics ward. I did the liver ward and then the sort of A and E and I just I was like I don't actually have the I don't have the coheners to do this like I just I have so much respect for my friends who are doctors the level of emotional resilience you have to have and I still remember many many moons on like two decades on right I still remember every single patient I saw who was bit traumatic yeah and I'm and they live inside my head yeah and so I can't imagine how doctors do it. And of course, there's a mental health crisis amongst doctors we know that. But it's like, it is wild the amount of emotional resilience you have to absorb.

And, you know, frankly, when you work in prevention and public health nutrition, it does take some of that pressure off because hopefully you're working further upstream and you're helping to prevent these diseases. But it was a real, it was a bit of a curveball in what I thought I wanted to do for the majority of my childhood. But now I realize that I'm much better suited. to where life has taken me and and I you know I'm so grateful for that for that weird sort of what looked like a bit of a disaster at the time um in terms of career trajectory but actually turned out to be exactly what I need so I think that's such an important lesson for anyone who is listening who baby is experiencing a spanner in their plan yeah and the redirection is not always the most awful things are happening I'm a big believer in that it's like and that's why I try with my children, I try to instill in them that actually a change of plan is not always a bad

thing because it's one of the things that has served me best in life, honestly, just like, not it's not like blind faith, right? It's not just like, oh, they're universal. But it's just sometimes accepting that things happen and it's not clear why right now. But if you just continue on your path and continue doing the things that you value, then the plan will reveal itself. But it is important to do that. Because you see a lot of rigidity now with the way that the school system is set up in universities. It's like you have a path.

You're going to be a lawyer. This is what you will do. It very rarely works out like that. So I think it's important for young people and people who are earlier in the career or people who are changing careers just to remember that it's never linear. It's not blind faith. It absolutely isn't it. Yeah.

having that trust in yourself. Like I can't imagine being 18 and then you wake up one morning, you're doing one thing. And then by the afternoon you've moved to Scotland. But I can only, yeah, I can only imagine that you have to have so much trust in that you take yourself with you. The plan might not be working out, but you bring yourself to Edinburgh and you, you know, you do the best you can. So make the most of the situation that is like 100% massive part of it. It's just, well, actually, I'm a bit of a yes person. So I love an opportunity.

I'm like, oh, we should do that. And people are like, no, we shouldn't. We'd have time. I'm like, but it's an opportunity. So like, there's always opportunities that lie in plot twists. I love that. I think it's so, so, so useful to anyone hearing this on a Monday morning as well. I'm going to come on to our section called buy or bye bye.

I'm going to show you something. It's a great little fun game. I'm going to show you something and you will tell me if you would buy it or you would say bye. Okay. So starting with chocolate. Dark chocolate, 70% buy. And milk chocolate? For me, personally, bye-bye.

Okay. I don't like it. Listen, if you love dairy milk, buy dairy milk. If we're buying it for health reasons, so if you're trying to add a food to your diet that's going to have measurable health effects, it's the dark chocolate that has that research. Fab, okay.

Oh, bye, every day. I didn't even say it. All the time. Cheer seeds. audio cheer seeds by Alzheimer's why they're just such a powerhouse so when we think about increasing fiber intake increasing accessible omega-3 fatty acids from plant sources so alas increasing satiety just cheer seeds man they are just so good and the only thing with cheer seeds is i would say like soak them especially if you don't have a lot of fiber in your diet and especially if you're not

increasing your water intake with your fibre intake, just give them a little soak. They don't need to stick overnight, even 10, 20 minutes in the morning. If you've, like, made a little yogurt pot for yourself and you're getting ready to leave the house between that, you know, that 10 to 15 minutes in between is still good enough. And, yeah, eat them. They're so good. But don't shovel them by the teaspoon raw, please. Fab.

Okay. What are your favorite ways to consume chia seeds? I love a cheer pudding. I put it in my porridge. I put it in my yoghoboles. I put it in my, if I, very rarely, but if I ever do decide to bake a cake, I'll put them in there.

They're great. They make cake moist and delicious. I hate that word, but it does, it does, it works. I put them in smoothies. Nice. And that's probably all the applications. Nice. I love it in the cake.

It's really good in cake. So if you make it like apple cake, love apple cake, apple cake with like almond flour, chia seeds, yogurt. I don't have an exact recipe for this, but it works very well. You can also bake it into your bread. Like truly just go for it. More is more. With cheer. Nice. Yeah. It's sort of a resounding vibe. I love that. Instant flavored oatmeal. Okay. When I sell my business,

I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids. And I want to give back to the community. Ooh. Then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivatewealth.com. Bye-bye.

Okay. Honestly, your best is just so much of the goodness of the oats has been stripped in these products that you're not actually getting the benefits. vote and it's not going to fill you up either. These are often quite small sashes and the reason they're small is because there's a lot of added sugars normally. So to keep that labeling, they have to make them for any small portions. You're just so much better off getting like oats. Ideally jumbo rolled so they've got more of the fiber. And it takes what one and a half minute to microwave normal oats in a microwave and then you can sweeten them with honey or fruits

yourself and it'll be better. Protein pudding. I don't know what that is but no. Bye bye. Goodbye. Herbal teas. Yeah. Yeah.

Good. Great options. Very hydrating. And a lot of them have some interesting data behind them like herbiscous tea for hypertension for high blood pressure, for example. Won't do what your medicines do for you, but can be really helpful. Caramile, the bina, lots of lovely herbals. I'm a yes for that.

Bye. Oh, very. Very controversial one recently. Oat milk. Buy if you like it. If it's for your kids or if you're a vegan, then make sure it's fortified. Do you have any input on the discourse recently

about oat milk is just ruining our blood sugars? Yes. I mean, okay, so the oat milk composition in terms of macronutrients is fairly similar to dairy. So it's not that different. What I would say is that look for brands that have added sweeteners, but that's for any milk.

So you always want to try and avoid brands that add a lot of sugar to their milk. Most oat milks because oats are quite naturally sweet don't actually have that much added sugar. But just look out for that. The glyphosate conversation is negligible with oat milk because so much of the oat has been stripped down and blended. So it's not a major contributor of glyphosate intake. Glyphosate is safe for human consumption at the levels we find it in our normal farming practices. So there's a lot of fearmongering. I don't know why oat milk was just targeted.

Actually, I do know. apparently there was quite a lot of dairy industry money that went behind trying to remove oat milk as like a favorite because the growth was so big. Interesting. You know, I haven't got the proof of that. I've just, this is what I've heard. But truly, if you're someone who's like, you know, lactose intolerant or you just simply don't want to consume so much cow's milk because of the environmental impact, it's a good option. Soya is my favorite. Yeah.

Because in terms of its nutritional profile, it is really good. It's got, you know, more proteins. It contains phytoeotestrogens. But truly, Ovalok is a good option. My kids love it. I just make sure there's a fortified one so that they get the benefits of the B12D, coline, iodine. Actually, I don't fortify with chlorine, but iodine.

You said glycophrase. Glyphosate, yes. Excuse my ignorance. No. What is that and what is the issue with that? Glyphosate is a weed killer, basically. So it's a herbicide pesticide pesticide that's used to spray crops to reduce their propensity for basically going to.

bad, right? Now with oats, they're also sprayed after harvest because it helps to reduce the risk of rotting from humidity. It's a petrochemical industry product. It is, you know, it's one of these man-made chemicals that have helped us to grow our food industry to be so prolific now. And there's a lot of debate and conversation about glyphosate and its safety in humans. There's a lot of emerging data about how it impacts things like gut microbiome composition, gut inflammation. There's worries about glyphosate impact on child's development. So there's a lot to unpack there. I think what's important to remember is that the levels of glyphosate are quite tightly controlled.

There are thresholds, especially in the UK, when we think about UK compared to US. US is a slightly different conversation. But generally speaking, even in the US, they are quite tightly controlled. and there's very little data to suggest that consuming glyphosate in foods in normal amounts is very dangerous. There's more data to suggest that if you live very close by to the fields that are being sprayed daily or that you're exposed because of the work you do, yeah, there's more like negative impacts there. But really, oat milk is, as I said, it's a very, it is a processed product. Yeah.

So by the time you drink that, the glyphosate's gone. Yeah. If you said to me, you know, to switch that, if someone's pregnant or trying to conceive and they say, you know, I eat oats, which you should, because they're really good for you, should I buy organic? I'm like, yeah, that's a very developmentally delicate time of life. If you can afford to buy the organic oats and it's not going to stop you from buying other healthy products, then in that time of life, yes, I would say I buy organic or oats, for example.

But truly oat milk is just the bottom, like it's very close to the bottom of my list. fine for worrying about glyphosate contamination or glyphosate intake it's quite scary when you say all those things but yeah i think what's really important to remember is the poisons in the dose as well that that really common thing the poisons and dose but also we have to there's so many things in our environment so if you think about the exposome all the things we're exposed to that influence our health and that you know the exposome is where actually helps to decide how our genome how our genetics express themselves, right? Now, if you think about the exosome, there is a hierarchy.

Yeah. So what I always try to say to people is like, whilst there are lots of things that are quite worrying, they do come in a hierarchy. So there are certain things that will have a disproportionately larger effect on your health and your longevity compared to others. Glyphosate and oat milk is one of these teeny weeny-weeny ones. Another one that's actually quite small, but gets a lot of attention is like non-cook, non-stick cookware.

Yes. Right. It's like, don't get me wrong. I have personally looked at and done some research looking at PFAS. And so these forever chemicals and how they influence impact health. But we have to understand where the majority of them are coming from. And it's not your cookware. Yeah.

It is your food and your water. So again, it's like, let's not, let's not get really fixated on what's quite a small contributor. Oat Milk as well. again, how much oat milk do you drink? Truly, are you having a splash in your tea, a cappuccino, and maybe a bit in your porridge? That is a very small amount of that food in your overall dietary pattern. So I've been asked about oat milk for years now. And often I just think, how big, how much of it are you drinking a day for you to be this worried about it?

Yeah. You know, worry about the two glasses of wine you're having every day. sure that has a much more measurable impact on your life than the splash of oat milk that you have and it's really not that bad for you the glucose fear mongering around oat milk is wild and the glyphosates are pretty much negligible in this food my favorite phrase i learned recently is putting deck chairs out on the titanic like it's you know it's focusing majoring in the minors focusing on the yeah exactly that so i i really love that one yeah don't buy make Okay.

Yeah. What would you have a go-to smoothie that you like? Oh. Berries. Berries. Yogurt. Kefir. Almond butter.

Ooh. Very good. Cheer. Banana or mango or like another sort of meaty fruit, which is gross. But you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Frozen cauliflower works exceptionally well in smoothies. Yes. I've done the cauliflower and the cauchette. as well, croixette in a smoothie. Works well. Yeah. Sometimes if it's for like my kids or so breakfast, quick breakfast, a bit of oats in there as well. Yeah, I mean there's loads of varieties. I don't have a fixed recipe as such, but it's like the berries, the yoghurt kaffir combo, some seeds and nut butter just tie it

together beautifully. Good. Okay. That's on my breakfast. As far as sorted. Oh yeah. Buy every day all the time. for those on audio, Greek yoghurt is what is on screen. And that was buy every day all day. But yeah, Greek yoghut is fantastic. If you don't eat dairy again, you can get some really good coconut and soy alternatives. But it's just, it's a shame that the environmental impact of yogh is quite bad, to be honest. So it's about like I always try to think about this as balancing having decent portions but not crazy, not loads, right?

Yeah. But in terms of health benefits, eating yogurt is just so good. It's nutrient dense. It's very good for your gut health. Yogurt consumption is a really good way to reduce a risk of colorectal cancer. And it's delicious. And it's just 10 out of 10. Nice.

Because I was actually vegan for 10 years. And my main reasoning was environmental. And then now I'm veggie, semi, eat meat. I'm very flexi. very flexy. But like yoghurt is one of my my big things. And I feel like, oh, you know, I don't eat as much meat. I don't eat.

Yeah. It's way in terms of environmental impact. It's like way better than eating beef. Yeah. So it's just, but I'm always reminded that it is actually, it does have quite a big impact. So I always say as well, like if you're able to buy your Greek yogurt that's made from higher welfare, more sustainable farming, there are like lovely brands that do this, then great.

But it is truly inaccessible food as well. So when it comes to health, it's definitely one to have. Eat more yogurt, eat less beef is going to help too. Nice. Do you have any brands in mind that you can think of off the top of your head? I mean, there's, I like Yo Valley. I like Rachel's. No, it's state dairy.

Have you tried this? No. So good. And then there's a really nice Greek brand. I'm not going to, I can't remember the name. But it's very nice. Natura sells theirs. They're good yogurt. It's delicious.

Good. Coke zero. For me, by-bye, I don't drink soda full stop. It's the only food that I don't buy for my house. Like, that's the only thing I'm pretty strict about. Like, where it's just there is no benefit, zero. So for me, no. Yeah.

If I were to purchase a soda, I would buy a diet. version, yes. I guess first and foremost, what's your rationale behind no soda in your house? Yeah. And then my second point to my question would be, what do you think of the, yeah, the debate between full sugar versus diet versions? Diet versions. So I didn't grow up with sodas and I don't drink them. Yeah. It's quite simple. So exposure in childhood does predict tastes in adulthood. Now, that's not to say that I went through a phase in my 1990. 19, 2020, where, you know, you go out clubbing with your friends.

And the next day it's like, oh my God, I'm going to have a Diet Coke and it's going to make me feel so much about it. It doesn't do anything. So, of course, I've drunk it in my life. But it's just not part of my life. It's not something I would choose to drink when I'm out or at home. So for me, not bringing it into my home with the kids just means that it's just not part of their thought process when they think about a drink. And this, why is it so important? because the data for soda consumption and health is horrendous.

Like, and I'm not talking about sugar sweetened beverages. Sugar sweetened beverages are universally recognized as being harmful to health. There is no redeeming feature. Truly. So much so it's the only policy our government has actually acted on. Yeah. The only tax that we have in place, the sugar tax, reflects just the overwhelming data that shows that it's bad for cavities

and children. You know, the UK, if you're under seven in this country, the number one reason why you would have general anaesthesia is for tooth extractions due to cavities. Oh my gosh. Which is, right? We have, so we have a lot of data that points, the sugar with sweetened beverages and their effect on tooth decay.

That's one side of it. The bigger side is its effect on metabolic health. if you want to reduce the risk of obesity, if you want to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, if you want to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome more generally, sugar sweeping beverages are the first to fall off the cliff. Yeah. So it's just for me, it's like, you know,

there's so many things that are part of our culture or they're sort of part of, yeah, culture is the word. I'm looking for food culture. But sugar, sweet and beverages are recent. Yeah. They are purely for profit. And they shouldn't. They're not part of food culture.

Like, they just aren't. They work damn hard to do it, to become part of culture. We can see how they have spent an ordinary amount of money to be present at very culturally significant moments, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the first brands to be there. What? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I won't name the brand, but you know how to talk about. Oh, my gosh.

You can do a whole case study on the genius of the brand marketing. that has made these big soda brands, part of our cultural moment, is all thought through advertising. The way that, you know, Santa Claus is now red. He wasn't. He was green. And that is entirely to do with brand alignment. Christmas is here when you hear the jingle and you see the truck, right? That's all the brand trying to become part of the culture, but it wasn't up like 80 years ago.

So I'm not letting that happen. Not in my house. I love that. I just think that with a lot of things, with the majority of foods, nothing is forbidden. Nothing is good or bad. It's all about teaching a way of understanding the role of food in our, is it an everyday food that helps with energy or strength or your brain?

Or is it sometimes food? That's just fun to eat. That's the structure by which I've, raise my girls but for me sugar sweet beverages have no place in that framework because even even a candy even like a kitten candy god they're delicious yeah Jamie should start paying me for this but um but you know they are they they serve like a moment of joy where you have this little candy and you share it and maybe you're maybe there's a play date and they're just quite sweet looking and they taste good right for me sodas don't have a place

for that at all anywhere. There's just no reason for them. And they're just, they're too harmful to consider giving them a place in that. Interesting. And where would diet versions fall on that? So for me, a diet version, there's such a good way to reduce your sugar intake if you are a soda drinker. So if you are someone who has grown up with sodas and they are featured in your diet,

and I've lots of friends who have grown up with this, then at least switching to the diet version is going to reduce the impact of the excess free sugars in the full fat version. And so for me, the diet versions act as a switch point where it's like you really should try to reduce the sugar sweetened versions. But you know, the evidence that's growing now, but it's not concluded. We're not there yet with being clear 100% on what's happening. But we've seen, you see from population data and, and, and, and. and some specific studies from like the NutriNet Sante group, who do a lot of work on additives,

that diet soda consumption does seem to have an effect on gut microbiome composition. The most compelling data is from patients who have IBDs. So Crohn's disease, ulstratocolitis seem to be worsened by these non-nutrative sweeteners, these artificial sweeteners. So it's too early to say that it's going to impact everybody negatively, but certainly rodent studies indicate. that it's a blanket effect. And who knows,

if you have this conversation again in five years or ten years time, that data may have shifted. I think it's shifting negatively. Like I don't think. But today, if we looked at the totality of evidence, it depends what your outcome is, right? Yeah. So if you're trying to help people lose weight,

reduce sugar consumption, improve dental health, the diet versions are an obvious win. Yeah. If you're thinking about long-term gut microbiome, gut health, taste preference and I to some extent how the taste preference then changes other food choices in the day because this is the other thing is that these diet sodas are very sweet and whether they then

sort of make you more prone to have other sweet foods outside of the diet soda itself that then contribute to increased sugar intake anyway that's a question mark yeah but it's like an interesting one so I'd say like it depends on the outcome that you're trying to achieve. As I said, if you're currently drinking like two liters of Coca-Cola a day, switching to Diet Coke will help, right? God, that makes me feel violently. I know.

I've met a lot of people who do. Wow. But we also have compelling, it's not big data, but case studies. And I guess like when we talk to each other as professionals, patients we've worked with people we've worked with who have like a two-liter diet, soda a day consumption habit and have pretty terrible overall health, not just because of the soda. No.

But when you take that out, it does have a, it does an improvement. Yeah. So, listen, water is king. Yeah. Water is great. Herbal teas, coffee, normal tea, builders tea. kombucha is now emerging as like a really great way to have something fun to eat. Yeah.

Sugar sweet and beverages just truly. No. And be careful of the ones that are marketing themselves as healthy. I mean, the big soda companies are bringing out prebiotic sodas. So there's loads of brands that are adding a bit of prebiotic like inuline to their preparation and then calling it gut friendly. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the brands don't have much sugar added. So it's actually okay. Yeah.

But others are just plain soda with a bit of inion. I wanted to pick out what you said about raising your daughters with nothing is good or bad. They're just every like the foods, foods have value. Function, yeah. It might just not, it might be that some of them are just less nutritious because I grew up in an almond. My mum is, yeah, my mum and dad are almond parents. Both of them. Oh, yeah, big, big, big almond parents.

And I remember my nana used to pick me up from school every Monday. And my nana would pick me up, me and my brother up with a happy meal every single Monday. So we got a McDonald's every single Monday. and it was brilliant and then my dad found out about this. My dad, when my dad... How many years in? Oh, I reckon maybe... What a legend.

I know every... And we'd get in her car and we'd have our happy meal. And then, do you know what the funny thing is as well? Is if we'd see her on the weekend, she'd probably take us to the cinema and we'd get a happy meal as well. Because my nana couldn't cook for shit. My nana couldn't cook anything. Do you know what's really funny is I met with Dr. Zia.

She's a longevity, nutrition doctor. She does... Oh, yeah. But we did a video. with her and we was talking about ultra-processed foods and she said look the rule is you know um just think about whether it be in your nana's cupboard and i was like not my not my nana's my nana and that's like such old school thinking yeah because nova that's like Carlos montero legend yeah it's 15 years old the nova classification do you know how quickly food processing has moved in 15 years

very quickly like a lot of things have changed 15 years ago is in the food landscape is completely different but also you said about oat milk being fortified. That is something that makes it more... It's a UPF but better for you. Oh yeah, 100%. This is where we developed the risk scale. We've developed a whole new tool and we've published it and we're talking to government because they're going to use it

because it's actually actionable. The thing I was going to finish with my Nana was one day we just got into the car and she handed us both banana and she said, your dad said, I'm not allowed to get you happy meals anymore. But I think then I went to uni and I I was like, you're telling me I can eat whatever I want. And I, one of potato waffle sandwich was my favourite with loads of ketchup on. Love that.

I didn't know you can get a potato waffle sandwich. No, no, no, I'd make it. I'd get two slices of white bread because I was a whole meal bread house. And home meal bread house. I was like, Warburton's white bread. This is amazing. Warburton's white bread, potato waffle, Heinz, all over it. And that would be my dinner.

Full stop. end of, guzzled down with some coke because I hadn't had coke for, like, you know, I have a much better relationship with food. And I would say I have a very healthy, healthy lifestyle now. Probably is because my parents were almond parents and they did reinforce those healthy values to me. But it does make me reflect on, would I want my children to feel restricted in terms of things are bad and things are good?

Because all that happens then is you become 18 and you're like, freedom. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really hard balance to strike, I think. And because the food environment is stacked against health. Yeah. Yeah. So to be able to build a relationship with food,

which means that you understand the role that plays and to also choose not to have the food that's constantly marketed to us all the time. Yeah. Because we're still like advertising works. There's a reason people's so. So like I think we all love to think that we're really intellectual. creatures that make, that will have lots of free will. But there's lots of evidence to show just how much our behaviour is influenced,

especially around food purchasing, thanks to labelling, advertising and display. It's, it's calculated, right? It's carefully calculated. So I think it does feel really hard sometimes to strike that balance with your kids. But it's important to help them. Basically, it's really about building their taste preference for whole foods. so that when they then go off on their own, they might buy a McDonald's

and eat potato waffle sandwiches for two weeks straight. I'll give you an example of this actually in a minute. But then they're like, okay, I'm done with this. Yeah. I want to have some food that I recognize and that it is that makes me feel good because also if you eat well, you feel better. And the sad thing is that many people actually have never had a healthier diet.

So don't know what that feels like. Yeah. So having a baseline where you know what it feels like to be well nourished really helps. Because then when you start to eat whatever you want, da-da, and then you start feeling a bit crap, you're like, oh, I'm going to go back over that. Because actually, I don't feel well. So my daughter, she was, so she like went up a year in school. And so she was then able to access more of the food lunch hall, right?

So for the first two weeks of school, every day, I'd be like, she'd be like, Mommy, guess what I had for lunch today? I'm like, what did you have for lunch today? cheese baguette. I was like, cool. Next day, cheese baguette. And I was like, why are you having cheese baguette every day? Right.

And I'm like, darling, that's not like, it's fine, but it's not the most like nutritionally balanced. And she was like, well, because we get to like have it together and then go and play because it's a quick one. So, so essentially like the novelty of having the choice of cheese baguette for two weeks was every day. Yeah. But then now she like, it quickly went away because she was like,

She's spigets. So it's also, but she has that understanding within herself because she's used to having a diverse diet. She's used to eating vegetables and beans and like fish and different foods. So after that initial novelty aspect, she was then like, okay, I'm going back to like the full meals over there. Yeah. And she was and whenever she said that to me, I was ever like, oh, you mustn't do that. It's bad for you. Like I just said, well, that sounds fun, darling.

what about like and it was just a very open conversation with no judgment yeah and as I said like people say oh your kids must only eat like prepared from scratch meals and have no junk no that is that is that is not what I'm trying to do at all they have access to foods at home whether it's ice cream or shreddies like cereal or whether they like decide that they want to have a biscuit from the shop down the road they have access to that it's more about how helping them to navigate the food environment and understand which foods play a role to make them feel good and strong and which play they play a role for being fun and for being part of our diet, but not the primary part. That's not what's going to give you what you need in terms of health. But enjoyment is a big part of food.

Yeah. If you don't enjoy the food you're eating, you won't continue with that diet. So that's why for me it's about making healthy food as delicious as possible, get them involved in cooking. and it's really funny because they are truly, when they were younger, they'd go to like a restaurant or we'd go to like someone's house and they'd be like,

this isn't very nice. They're like, it's not as nice as your pasta. I'm like, well, I am very good at pasta. But so their tastes were sort of attuned to home cooking. Yeah. But as they go out into the world, they'll look for those flavors. they want to eat the vegetables and the broccoli.

They love, because they love, they've grown to love it. Yeah. But they also know that when we go on holiday and there's a buffet, they're going straight for the pancakes. Love. You know, and my little one loves an apple juice.

We don't have it at home. I don't buy it, like, regularly. So every day she's like, oh, yeah, apple juice. But then absolutely fine. And then when we're back home, she wasn't saying, oh, I want apple juice. She just doesn't ask for it at home because it's not there. Yeah.

So it's, it's, I'm not saying it's easy. I put a lot of thought and effort into this. But we do have the, the role and the power to shape the food environment in our homes. We do not have that power outside the house. Yeah. As I said, it's currently the way that policy is built and the food environment is built is stacked for profit, not for health. That might change in our lifetimes. I don't know.

We'll see. But what we do have power over is the food environment we build in our homes. and you know I sometimes get quite a lot of slack for this online people are like oh yeah it's easy for you to say but my child just won't eat anything and they'll go to the snack drawer I'm like who's refilling the snack drawer yeah and I hate to be that person right but we have to stop this idea that we don't have any power now there are people who have way less access they have they are really on a shoestring budget and they have very little time right and my heart really goes out to those people

because it's so hard. Food is bloody expensive. And it does take time to prepare food from scratch, right? So I think for a lot of people, though, they have to, like, check their assumptions. Yeah. If you're spending three hours on social media a day, which average adult is, and I'm not a saint, I also spend time on social media. Yeah. But if you are, you do have time.

Yeah. And it's about prioritizing. Now, for those people who really don't have time, why do we live in a society where we have such a high income and so much opportunity where we still have families that can't afford to eat. Yeah. We should be angry at the system that's created that. And we have to be able to support all families, all households, older people. They should all be able to access food.

And that's what we should be angry about in terms of the political structure, right? Yeah. But if you have that power, if you have access, if you're lucky enough to be able to have choice, then don't, if you don't want your kid to eat what's in the snack drawer, don't buy it. Yeah. And don't listen to the marketing and the advertising because unfortunately, the purpose of that marketing and advertising of these products is to increase the

profit of the companies making it. Yeah. Not to look after your kids' health. So there are ways that we can become our own health architects. I have, as I said, sweets at home. I put them on the top shelf. It's pretty simple. Yeah.

It just means that if the kids go in the cupboard and they're like, oh, what can I have for a snack? It's what I've put at their eye level is what's available to them. Yeah. Okay. It's a similar story when you think about like ice creams. Yeah. I have ice creams in the freezer. Not every week, but they're there, especially in the summer.

But it's like the really hard to open draw that requires summer assistance, right? It's just little things. Fruit bowl out. Making sure that there's like mixed nuts. Salty popcorn is much easier to reach than any sweets. right? So also make it easy for your kids to be independent and to choose snacks for themselves that are healthy and for yourself because let's be honest, we're all doing it. We're all like, there was a really interesting study that looked at the average time people working from home

opening their fridge a day. It was like, oh, so high. Just like, just just seeing what's in there. Remember that what your eye level, what's at your eye level is what you're going to reach for. Yeah. So for yourself and for your kids, just think, just do that audit at home. And you'll be able to just like, I'm not saying you have to throw loads of food out, but just change where it's sitting and then do change your shopping habits. You know, I think it's really hard to go to a supermarket nowadays. Yeah. So again, buy online. Like, just go for it. That way, you type in your list or you type in what you want and you buy it. They'll still try and sell your stuff you don't want at the end. I'll be like, ooh, promotions. Or like, what about adding this? It's like, no. Go, go, go, go. Check out.

Much easier, especially, especially taking kids to supermarket. Taking a supermarket. it is like an endurance sport nowadays. Take them in there and they're like, Mommy, what is this snack with pepper pig on it? Or what is this snack with Port-Potrol? What is the, like, and they just never have seen it before. And they're like, there's aisles of the stuff. Just don't do it.

Just don't take them. The snacks when you're at checkout are on the eye level of the kids to try and get them to ask you to buy it. Marketing is. It's on purpose. Yeah. And we'll, But getting closer to reducing the amount of advertising and marketing cartoons that are allowed on these packets.

Yeah. There are some really great people working with government to put pressure on this right now. But who knows what will happen? We saw what happened when BBC Panorama actually analysed the baby food pouches and the snacks for the kids and how they are completely devoid of nutrients. And yet they're allowed to be marketed as a healthy option. Four months plus, right? if there's one piece of skepticism people can take away is that if you're in the supermarket or on your online

or wherever you're buying your stuff and the packaging has a front of pack claim it is not there for a health purpose it's there to make you spend your money and make profit for them that's high in protein only 99 calories low in sugar

just have you ever seen any of that on a packet of lentils no on a broccoli no these are products that are trying to convince you that you need to buy them for a health purpose, but they're just a profit making. Yeah. Don't buy it. And this question might come across as sexist and I don't mean it to, but the, you're obviously a busy woman.

Yeah. A busy parent. Yeah. Do you have any like go-to recipes? I mean, it doesn't have to be for a parent, just a busy, ambitious girl, woman in general. Yeah. You've had a busy day. You come home.

You're like, I just want something quick and easy. that is going to fuel me, what's your go to? I just think about combining things in a way that it makes them just powers the nutrition up. So I'll give you an example like, okay, as I said, I'm Italian, pasta is part of my life. I love. So, but pasta is a canvas. It is not the main event. But a pasta with broccoli.

So it takes, this takes a total of 12 minutes to prepare. Very important because time is scared. Yes. Yeah. So you put some olive oil in a pan, some garlic and some anchovies. Oh. Important for the omega three content. Okay.

That all melts. Okay. It's low heat, right? In the meantime, you're boiling your pasta. It's got 12 minutes on the boiling. Great. You add the broccoli to the pasta. Interesting.

About three minutes before draining it. Okay. Take that out. In the meantime, while that's cooking, you're putting some beans in that one. in the pan. Nice, with the anchovies and the garlic. Yeah. Perfect.

Then you put, you drain the pasta. To save a bit of the pasta water always, you need it. Yeah. Starch makes the sauce. Pop that in your pan. Put some parmesan, extra virgin olive oil. You've got a meal. Done.

Nice. Pasta bean combinations are a big feature in my life. Eyes are just, I buy it. So you know the parboiled whole grains, the spelt, the quinoa, the ones that come in the packets. Yes. Which you microwave for two minutes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Now there's an example of convenience being good. Yeah. Take that, microwave it. I actually put them in a bowl, put the grains in, some frozen spinach or fresh spinach or greens that are in my fridge and steam that in the microwave together. Yeah.

Beans again or some tin fish or both. So the way I think about it is you're trying to get plant diversity and nutrient dense foods in a meal. So if you can get whole grains in, You can get pulses in, so whether it's chickpeas or lentils or beans, whatever you like. If you can get nuts and seeds, so just top food with nuts and seeds. Just buy mixed. It's cheaper. Put it on top. Healthy fats, omega-3s, extra virgin olive oil. And then I always try to include like vegetables in whatever form.

Leafy greens do have, and cruciferous veg have an extra oomph. If you can use those principles to combine them into a dish, you're doing really well. And then of course there's like great ways to change it up. Tofu is fantastic food. It's so versatile. And I'm really, it's really good. I see that more people are cooking with it because it's actually really easy. Yeah.

And it's, and you can make it taste however you want. It'll absorb anything. So, but those are the principles that I think of. I'm like, what's my whole grain or what's my like complex carb? Where's my pulse? Yeah. Where's some healthy fats? Is it avocado?

Is it olive oil or is it a sardine? And then how do I combine that with some really good vegetables? Now, if you put that in a bowl and microwave it all together or put it in a pot, you'll get a meal. It doesn't have to be fancy. I'm not a fancy cooking person. It's just flavour combinations. And if you're not sure, more is more with plants. So add some spices, add some fresh herbs.

And you'll be doing your health of favour and the flavour profile will be more complex and more exciting. so it'll make your food taste better. So I think those are the kind of principles. And then if you're someone who loves a recipe, that's fantastic. There's so many great recipe books out there that help to bring these principles together. I mean, we've written,

we wrote the Food for Life cookbook, Zoe Me and Tim, Catherine Bruton is our recipe developer. She's got fantastic content on her social media, saves plant kitchen. Oh my God, her recipe is so good. Yes. You know, there's so many people who make really healthy,

plant forward, nourishing, nutritionally complete recipes and share them. Rihanna and Lambert, her books. Yes. Great recipes. She's obviously very well thought through. So if you are a recipe person, fantastic. If you're like me and you just chuck things in a pan, just bring those elements together and you'll have a meal.

And it's delicious as well. In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees earn an average of over $24.50. an hour. Employees also have the opportunity to grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields like software development and information technology. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Gorgeous. Last buy or bye-bye and then we're going to come on to some community questions. Oh nice. Oh. Oh. Yeah, bye. Yeah. Bye. Okay. I like a fancy drink. Like I do. So I think that's probably my downfall if I'm out for a restaurant and maybe I'm not having alcohol, then I'm like, oh, I just want something to have with my meal. And yeah, so you like a kombucha? Yeah. So kombucha is genuinely great. So because it is a fermented food. And actually kombucha at Zoe, we did a study and we analyzed some popular fermented foods for their actual content of live microbes. At kombucha would like right right up there. Water kefis and kombucha had a. lot of live microbes in them.

So they're really good. The only watch out with kombucha is some brands add a lot of sugar after the fermentation process. You can tell because they're exceptionally sweet. Yeah. But generally speaking, I'd say that the majority of kombucha's that are on the market do a really good job. And they're good for you.

They're like a fermented food. Making it at home is really satisfying. It takes a bit of time. Yeah. But it's quite complex. So I don't like I make other fermentes. I don't make kombucha anymore. I did for a while and I was like, yeah, this is quite a little of good time.

But if you have the time, it's so fun. And you say it's fancy. They're tasty. And they give you that little bit of flavour. But they actually do have health benefits. So yeah, I would say kombucha is a yes for me. Now I'm going to play you a voice note that has been sent in from our community. Nice.

Hi, guys. My question is what's some recipes or even whole foods. That's a healthy filling. and most importantly, limit bloating. Thank you so much. Filling and limit bloating. So bloating is often a result of constipation in like a simple term. What constipation means though in this case is just it could be slow gut mortality.

So it might just be that actually your gut is passing food through slower than it than ideal. This can be for several reasons. It could be because of where you are in your cycle. it could be because you're not moving much throughout the day. I think often the unsung hero of constipation relief is movement, going for a walk. Our gut, you know, our guts are actually designed to function best when we're walking, standing upright, essentially. We spend a lot of time sitting down with a 90 degree angle in our pelvis, which is just not what.

I can't quite squeeze around this corner. So there's a lot of. reasons why people bloat but those are some of them there's also if you're not used to eating fibre so if you've got a low fibre diet now let's remember 96% of britons don't achieve the minimum diet to recommendation for fibre 96 yeah oh my gosh so when we talk about nutrient deficiencies it's the number one like by by by a by a stretch 96 is wild it's wild and it's got worse so with the last n dns survey it's got it was it was like 90% Now we're at 96.

So we have this fibre deficiency. And it's why this year a lot of people talking about fiber. It's great that this is happening. But it really is chronic. So we have this massive deficiency problem. The average UK adult gets about 18 grams a day when the minimum dietary recommendation per day is 30. Now, this is important.

It's quite a way off. It's quite a way off. 30 isn't the ceiling. 30 is where we start to see benefits to 25 grams. 30 is a bit better. but when you see dose response for fibre, it's like 50, 90, still improvements. What would have, excuse my ignorance, this is how much nutrition was still taught in medical school, clearly, but what is, like, how much fibre is in, say, like an apple?

Yeah, not much. An apple's about between one and two grams. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah. So what is, what does, like, if I would suggest to have 30 grams of fibre on a plate right now, what would that look like? So you'd need to have some lentils. So beans, lentil, chickpeas.

Lentils are amazing. they're like 18 grams for like a cup. Okay. Cubs and seeds. Yeah. So this is why when we talk about this plate idea, the whole grains, the pulses, the nuts and seeds are doing most of the heavy lifting. They're the foods that really pack a punch with fibre per portion.

Yeah. The chia seeds. So if you wanted to build out a plate that had a lot of fiber, you'd be combining those foods. So you can imagine if you have, and in a lot of traditional cultures, by the way, combining whole grains and pulses, like normal. So that's what you would get. So in Italy we have, for example, we use a lot of like beans with spelt or with barley. When you make a minestrone. That's what that's what it is.

So most of us don't eat. I mean, whole grains have fallen off a cliff. People don't eat whole grains. When we look at the, there's like a big analysis of all that is called the global, global burden of disease study when we when a really brilliant analysis was done looking at the dietary factors that contribute to death yeah then the sort of top for um high income countries like the UK was a diet low in whole grains interesting the number one dietary contributor to deaths god and it's because whole grains serve this incredible purpose in their fiber content but also they like help to lower cholesterol levels they help to manage, like they help to maintain a healthy blood pressure, two of the biggest drivers of death, right?

Because, as you know, Faye, like heart disease is still the number one killer. So whole grains are, I feel like I'm like a whole grain champion because we don't eat enough of them. Then oats got demonized because of the glucose thing. Yeah. So then the one oat, sorry, the one whole grain that the Brits actually did eat got demonized. So whole grains are really important. Pulses, nuts and seeds. And then, of course, like, vegetables, when we talked about vegetables, the Brassica family,

so cauliflower and broccoli have a bit more. Fruits, actually, berries have more fiber. So raspberries, blackberries have more strawberries, blueberries, a little bit less. So as they get sort of bigger and less seedy, they have slightly less fiber. But it's important to point out that for fruits and veggies, fiber is one of the benefits, because it's still great to get two grams of fiber in your day, but it's also the fact that they're usually quite full of water. So actually a lot of hydration are hydration can come from fresh fruits and vegetables.

They're full of minerals, micronutrients and other phytonutrients, right? So, so fiber is this massive piece of the puzzle that's absolutely missing. So if you're trying to, if you're getting bloating, if you're bloated, it's likely because you have quite a low fiber diet. And that means your gut microbes are starving. So gut microbes eat specific fibers, right? If you were to think of gut microbes as like a zoo, you know, the monkeys don't eat the same food as the lions.

Yeah. So if you don't have a diversity of fibers in your diet, some of the ones that specifically want that fiber, they won't have any food. And when bacteria don't have food, they decline in numbers and they can completely disappear. or they just are quite dormant. They're not doing much.

Really nice example of this. We did a paper. We published a paper on coffee drinkers. So we have, Zoe has this huge database, right? So it's really, we can look at some cool stuff. And there's a specific loss on a batter that only drinks coffee, only eats coffee fibers. Wow. So you find it in coffee drinkers.

Yeah. And in non-coffee drinkers, it's like, they're basically dead. Oh, wow. And it's a benefit. bacteria. It produces short-chain fatty acids, which are helpful sort of products. So we think that's one of the ways in which coffee is so health-promoting. That's one example of one bacteria. Every bacteria likes its own combination of foods and it's fibres and plant chemicals for the health-promoting bacteria. Now, this is a really important point. Like, what happens if you don't

eat in a fibre? If you don't have plants in your diet, and this is why, you know, we did the research, Tim Spector was the first to look at this and identify that 30 plants a week seems to hit the sweet spot for diversity of fibres. What happens if you don't have that diversity is not just that nothing happens. Yeah. Like any ecosystem, if the helpful microbes die down, other niches come in, other bacteria come in and take the niche. So bacteria exist that can break down animal fats, that can break down excess sugars that

reach the colon. So if you have a diet that's very high and highly processed foods, there will be microbes that adapt to breaking that down and to survive. Yeah. Or that exist for that. Red meat's another good example. Now those bacteria, they're not inherently bad themselves, but the byproducts that they create from breaking down those food products are not helpful.

Yeah. This is the distinction. So if you don't eat your fibre, if you don't eat your diversity of plants, it's not just that you don't get the benefits of the good bacteria making good byproducts, is that you're leaving space for pro-inflammatory products to be made instead, right?

Then we also see this actually in people who just are underfed. The microbes switch to breaking down the mucin layer in your gut. So the mucous layer in your gut that your gut produces to keep it sort of intact, then becomes food for your microbes if you're not eating enough. food. So it's an ecosystem. It adapts to survive. Back to bloating, if you don't normally eat fibre, so your microbes are not used to fibre breaking fibre down, and then you do eat fibre. So for instance, you suddenly decide, oh, I'm going to have a lentil chili. You all got microbiome. It's

going to be like, what is this? And there'll be maybe three microbes. We're like, yeah, lentils. But there's not enough of them to break the fiber down efficiently and in a way that isn't uncomfortable. And so bloating actually, you know, bloating and gas and flatulants are actually, in theory, positive because it shows that there's fiber. But you have to have the right ecosystem to deal with that. So what I suggest for people who tend to have a low-fiber diet, so maybe more constipated, perhaps they are more sedentary, start slow. Because if you suddenly overwhelm your gut microbes with lots of fiber, you will get bloated. you might get constipated. Yeah.

Because your gut is like what is going on, especially if you don't increase your water intake at the same time. So start slow. And what that might look like is just adding like a spoonful of beans to your dish or maybe one teaspoon of chia to your yogurt. Just start slow. Take it easy. It's not a race.

Yeah. And just go gradually so that, so if you have one spoonful and you feel great, the next day you have two. If at two you blow, stick to two for a bit. And then so just do it slowly. focus on diversity, add mixed spices, mixed seas, mixed beans. You can buy all of these premixed and they're even cheaper normally, which is great.

And just take it easy, go for a walk after a meal, help your digestion with that. And if it is linked to your cycle, being aware of that. So knowing that you're going to bloat more just before your period starts can actually help you to plan and say, okay, the week before that, I'm going to increase my fiber intake and my fluid intake to make sure that that slowed motility doesn't impact me as much. So there's lots of ways we can work around it. And, you know, bloating can be devastating. The other thing is make sure that your bloating is digestive

and it's not undiagnosed endometriosis, for example, right? Yeah. But you can do so much to help, to help reduce bloating. And the final piece of advice is, again, if you're quite a sensitive gut and you're not used to fibre, have cooked vegetables. So the cooking process breaks some of that food matrix down for you. So a stew or a soup is going to be a little easier on your gut than like a raw chopped salad.

I'd imagine that's where a lot of people who they try and make their diet healthier and then they get really gassy or really bloated. And they say, do you know what vegetables aren't for me? I'm better off having more of like a protein heavy diet. It happens all the time. Yeah. Yeah. So that's really, really helpful. I'm going to come on to the second voice note that we have been.

Hi, my question is about protein. I'm so busy in the day and I struggle to get enough protein in and I rely on protein bars, etc. So I was wondering if there's a better way to get enough protein in each day that would be good for long term. My first question is, what makes you think you're not getting enough protein? Interesting. We've talked about nutrient deficiencies. Yeah. Protein deficiency does not exist in this country, apart from populations that are underfed, undernourished, or cancer patients who get cancer caccia. Okay.

I'm blown away by how quickly protein became this priority. Yeah. And if we dig into that a little bit, what you see is that this protein propaganda, as I call it completely propagated by food industry. Why, you might ask. Yeah. It's extremely cheap to add to foods. Way protein is the byproduct of cheese manufacturing, basically. And actually, interestingly, in some blue zones, when they make traditional cheese, they drink the way juice as like a health promoting drink, which gives them energy. Interesting. So way protein, and it's very cheap to make as a byproduct.

Way protein isolate is dirt cheap. Okay. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not throwing any shade on weight protein isolate. It's a very well-research supplement where there are increased protein needs, specifically in bodybuilders, right? This is where a lot of the research come from, or athletes. But the food industry quite quickly realized that,

and I'm lumping all food industry together, I don't mean the nice brand that care. I mean the really big players who have a lot of sway on the markets, they realized that if they added protein to products that already existed, like cereals or ice cream, added some weight protein in, which is very high in protein. So you can add weight protein in and quickly your product gets to 10 grams of protein per serving type thing.

And then they stuck a high protein label on it. They could sell it for way more money. Yeah. So you've got a product that's already making you profit. You're adding an extremely cheap additive to it. And then you're making even more profit. Kaching. Yeah.

Yes. I cannot stress this enough. Then people got involved and started selling protein products specifically to midlife women. Yeah. That would solve all of your menopausal issues, despite the fact that all the dietary data we have for menopause, all the nutrition studies we have, point to the importance of phytonutrients and plants as being. instrumental for reducing symptoms. We ran one of the largest trials of menopausal women, and we found that consumption of leafy greens was hugely helpful.

Other trials have found blueberries. Other trials have found phytoestrogens from tofu and soybeans, right? None of them pointed to protein supplementation. There were studies that looked at protein supplementation and retaining muscle mass in women, but the primary intervention is always exercise. Interesting. So this protein obsession has transformed the way people think about their food.

Yeah. They're so obsessed with getting enough protein that they're ignoring or they're not aware or they're not thinking about the actual deficiencies in fiber. The top three for women, fiber, omega three fatty acids and iron. Those are the things we need to care about. Interesting. So my trust that your body is extremely efficient at absorb. being protein from food. The average adult gets between one and 1.4 grams per kilogram of protein every day without

supplementing. So without bars and shakes, we're already achieving an intake that's above the recommended intake. Interesting. We're already there, which is why it's not a deficiency. Yeah. So now to hear like healthy women going about their day, so worried about protein, a fictitious number that's been sold to them,

probably from an online influencer who sells protein powders. Yeah. Spending their money on protein bars that probably have a concoction of other ingredients that are not health promoting at all. It blows my mind. I spent a lot of my time last year fighting this misinformation about protein. I recorded a podcast with Stuart Phillips, who is one of the world's leading researchers on protein.

because I'm so passionate. And I think a special shout out to those groups that do need to pay attention. So people over the age of 70, our ability to absorb protein and use it well starts to decline. And also our appetite declines naturally with age. So if you are over 70, just be mindful to include protein at every meal and snack. Just make sure it's there. So, you know, often what does that mean? it's like, well, if you're having a biscuit with your tea,

can you have some nuts as well or some nut butter? Just as simple as that, but just that group. And then, of course, a growing group is patients taking JLP1 medications. Yeah. Why? Well, your appetite is so reduced that you're actually at risk of undernutrition. So in those populations, protein is important, especially for reducing muscle mass loss and retaining muscle mass.

But again, even in that population, the number one driver for retaining muscle mass is training, resistance training. So absolutely be more mindful of protein in these populations. But remember that it's the resistance training that does the hard, heavy lifting. Literally. Literally. And then, of course, like off topic for like a general podcast.

But in cancer cakexia, there is considerations to be made about protein intake there. And also actually in people who suffer with major burns. So where there's a real need for building new, new tissue. issue. Yeah. But other than like if you're going about your day leaving voice notes for a podcast, I can almost guarantee that you'll be fibre deficient. You might be underconsuming amygic three fatty acids. And if you're between the ages of 19 and 25ish and menstruating, you're probably a little bit iron deficient, but you won't be protein deficient. Yeah. And protein is not inert. Like eating excess protein isn't good for you. Yeah.

So like, God, I just can't. And another group like, please, please, please, if you're pregnant, don't take protein supplements. Okay. They're not considered, they're not recommended for pregnancy. So that's another. I'm seeing that trend come out. So as though like targeting menopausal women isn't enough. Now we're targeting pregnant women with misinformation.

Let's not do that. We had your colleague, Sarah Berry. on, yeah. But her episode went live maybe two weeks ago at the point of recording this. And she said she was like, this is going to get controversy, this is going to get controversy.

I didn't really, like, I didn't think it would. I was like, how was that controversial thing to say? One of the biggest ones was what she said about protein similar to yourself. And people just did not,

we're not happy. Seed oils and protein, people are not happy with it. I will do is I will leave the link for the episode that you recorded. With Stuart Phillips. Is a Zoe podcast up? Perfect. I'll leave that in the description because I think giving the people the full people clearly want to know. And I think that's such a good resource as well. Yeah. We've done we've done that and we've written like lay summary articles on the, I'll send you the link. Nice.

Honestly, it's wild. But, you know, and now we're saying this, this year, everyone's like, oh, is fiber the new protein? I'm like, no, no, because there is actually a fibre deficiency. Yeah. But we, but, you know, the same way there was protein washing as a health halo. Yeah. So protein ice cream, protein chocolate, protein water. Like mind blowing stuff, right? Protein cereal, protein everything. It's going, it's happening with fiber. Fiber sodas, fiber ice creams. So it's like from, you know, from cold face to fire or whatever the thing is, it's like we have to remember that if it's a high risk processed food, I'm less,

if you're taking way protein isolate as a supple, supplement whatever like it's affordable it's probably a waste of money but it's affordable what really bothers me is the high protein industrial foods it's like these highly processed foods that are in themselves junk food yeah with a protein sticker on the front yeah if you're eating a snickers no I like snickers bars but snickers is a snickers even if it's a high protein snickers okay yeah it doesn't make it healthier it's just got another additive in it Let's not kid ourselves. Let's not kid ourselves.

And so we're going to see the same thing with fibre. Interesting. We're going to see like, and you can see it already. It's already a trend. People are starting to sort of understand that fiber is super important for health. But we'll be marketed convenience, highly processed junk foods with added fiber as a solution that we don't need. Yeah. You know, really what we need to be doing is eating more plant foods that contain.

fibre naturally. Yeah. That's the solution. There's dirt cheap, frozen, canned. I don't mind how you do it. Yeah. But that, but we'll be sold convenience foods that are essentially unhealthy with a fibre sticker on top. And I think half the battle is just being aware before it comes down on us. So this is our section real or real. It's actually a TikTok not a real. Okay. I will show it you. And then I would just love to know any thoughts that come to your head. Okay, fine. Okay. God. Okay, right. Research on intermittent fasting and keto and high-intense, dangerable training is shocking when you look at it for women in their reproductive years.

I was shocked because you hear all the great stories about the research for intermittent fasting slows down aging, reverses aging, improves insulin sensitivity, improves cognitive performance. I mean, it's pretty remarkable. And it is true that those things are possible. But the cohort that was studied, the research was done on men and post-menopausal women. The little bit of research that has been done on women in their reproductive years with an active infradian rhythm is that intermittent fasting done in the way that is promoted, let's say, in the mainstream conversation right now that it's good for everybody.

It actually has the extreme opposite effect. It worsens insulin sensitivity. It increases brain fog. It destabilizes mood. And, oh, by the way, it shrinks your ovaries. In intermittent fasting, what is the truth for women? Okay, so first of all, we have to decide that there's different types of fasting. There's the intermittent fasting, which is like prolonged window, so where you only eat for six hours a day.

And then there's time restricted eating, which is essentially having like a 10 to 12, 10 to 12 hour eating window, 12 to 14 hour overnight fast. Yeah. There's data on both now, but I would say that the data that's really compelling for population advice is the time restricted eating data. So the idea that you don't eat at night time. Yeah. And I always say like it's common sense. Yeah. But actually a lot of people do eat quite late.

Yeah. So what, so we ran one of the largest trials on time restricted eating. At Zoe, we had over 130,000 people enrolled. 40, 36,000 completed. Wow. So big numbers of reproductive age, of post-menopole, all sorts of people, right? Yeah. And what we found in our data was that just observing a 12 to 14 hour overnight fast

essentially helped people, they did feel better actually, they had reduced hunger. Those who had a waste circumference that was above optimal range, reduced waste circumference. There was some minimal weight loss for those who had weight to lose and mood energy improved. Yeah. Great. So off the back of now, really important to point out, 30% of the initial enrollers started and were like, nah, this isn't for me. Yeah. Not doing it.

Yeah. I'm hungry. Yeah. So what does that tell us? You have to listen to your body. Like it's not everybody doesn't ever benefit from the same intervention really. So if, you know, the recommendation is give it a go. If it suits you, then actually you're quite like you to feel the benefits.

If it doesn't suit you, drop it. So that's time restricted eating. And honestly, I find that at least the 12-hour fasting window makes sense unless you have a reason not to do that. For example, if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you know, you always have to respond to your blood sugar levels and your incident of need. So there are groups that will not benefit if you're pregnant and you're hungry eat. Yeah. So there's some groups that if you're breastfeeding, same. So some groups won't benefit.

But general population level, 12 hours overnight. So finish eating by nine, have your breakfast at nine. Great. Seems to be helpful. The longer fasting windows with a very short time eating windows, the trials that have been done for those tend to be on people who are living with obesity or who have some metabolic dysfunction. What those trials have found is that,

actually that type of fasting doesn't have any magical properties. It doesn't seem to massively improve incident sensitivity. It's not that much better for weight loss than other dietary interventions. But it can be effective for some. So for some people, it is helpful because for them, having a shorter eating window helps them to achieve, like basically a better routine with their diet, a better way to approach it.

Where I have personally seen negative effects of this. narrative on fasting is that it's magic. So there was definitely a time when a very popular book came out. Yeah. Where a lot of women who didn't need to lose weight, who weren't living with obesity, who weren't struggling with their glucose control, who didn't have a metabolic reason to try it,

started massively restricting their eating window and exercising. and losing their periods, losing their hair. And that is where I'm like, oh, my Lord. So this narrative that is magical is problematic. This narrative that all women need to fast is wrong. Yeah. And so what I would say is if you're a normal weight or even light, so slightly towards the underweight category,

restricting your food further is not going to be helpful. One of the first systems to suffer from undernutrition is our reproductive system. And unfortunately, once you reach that point, it's really quite hard to get it back. And it's really sad to see that something that seems so innocuous, like a wellness trend, can really have knock on effects on your fertility and all these.

So that's where I thought there was one year where I had majority of the women coming to me came to me because of the negative effects of prolonged fasting. God. And they had really suffered with it. They've been doing it for months. and then their health had really, yeah. So I would say like that video is a bit scam hungry. It's not, it's not going to shrink your ovaries as such.

But there is, it's definitely, you know, time restricted eating, fasting. I'm quite fascinated by the science around the fast-making diet as like a five-day intervention. There's quite compelling evidence for people with chronic kidney disease. It really helping there. They're like, they're randomized control trials. but there's only a few of them. So it's interesting. It's not a magic bullet.

Not everyone has to do it. It's just at all that you can try if you want to. I think what we've learned out of all the data from time restricted eating is that your gut benefits from having a break overnight. So in terms of constipation bloating and reflux, like we see that people do better. So from that side, don't eat while you sleep. seems to be quite good advice. But that's really as far as we need to take it at population level. If you want to change it more for yourself, you know, if you're healthy and you want to try it,

try it, but listen to your body. If you have a health condition and you're not sure, speak to your doctor, speak to nutritionists, speak to a dietitian, someone who can help tailor the advice or tailor, yeah, tailor the advice to your needs. But yeah, I think a lot of damage was done actually with this rhetoric on fasting, to be honest. I for one I'm very very very grateful that a lot of the narrative in the nutrition and diet space has shifted to one of abundance of including as many different foods as you can as many different plants nourishing your body as what someone who you know I watched my mum say she was going to have a satsuma for dinner you know like oh oh a satsuma that's enough I won't have any more you know I think a lot of those who've grown up with women being told to be smaller and smaller and smaller and restrict and restrict and restrict and this women opening their eyes to how wonderful and fabulous food can be for our bodies is just brilliant and so I'm extremely grateful that

you took your time out to come on the podcast today there's a question that we've been asking all our guests and it is dr feddy what do you wish every girl knew before she was 25 so I think I wish every girl knew before she was 25, that the body she's feeding and building at this age is what's going to, like, absolutely, it's like you're building the body that's going to carry you right into your 80s. And I mean that in 90s, 100s, I really mean that when we think especially about muscular skeletal health, so your bones. And so I just think I love that now

women and girls are really being encouraged to be strong and to use their bodies and to like you know chin ups and stuff. I remember when I was growing up I loved horse riding and ballet and I was told not to do both because I would get big legs.

Oh God. So I stopped ballet and get the horse riding. But you know that you don't hear that so much anymore And it's just, I've worked with so many women who have restricted their entire lives and who have been thin. And then they reach the age of sometimes as early as 40. And it starts to show that their body wasn't built to last. Right. So, you know, get to know your body.

Listen to it. It gives you loads of great messages. And build, build it for longevity, build it to last, not to please someone else or to whatever fit in a stupid crop top. No, no, seriously, it's like, I think just, just know your body. And also know what you want from it. I think there's a lot of power to, like a lot of power if you know what kind of life you want to live. understanding it early on will also mean that as things change, you'll be able to spot it and bring it up and change it and adapt and support your body.

Because no one else is going to look after you but you. So just do that, look after yourself properly. That was an absolutely beautiful answer. Thank you so, so, so much for coming on the podcast. I know there are so many girls who are listening who will really, really, really value what you've just said. So huge, huge, huge, thank you. Oh, thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure.