Her Discussions by Dr Faye - The 1 Food 96% of People Are Missing | Mini Episode

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Another Thursday, another mini episode!Every Thursday, we’re sharing the Buy or Bye Bye segment from one of your favourite Her Discussions episodes - a breakdown of what actually works for your health. This week, we're revisiting our episode with Dr Federica Amati who is a Head Nutritionist at ZOE and a medical scientist specialising in gut health and nutrition.In the full episode, we discuss:💊 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 bloatedListen to the full podcast here:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GJmSWDYMF2CDiZ7AANFZS?si=9NCNeaAFR1-r6qBUMqNTCg YouTube: https://youtu.be/fI42ZZg9FHg?si=3RXFAbhUSfNdQg1I Please don’t forget to subscribe - it really helps us grow the podcast.Resources & links mentioned:-Dr Federica’s Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/dr.fede.amati/Can 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 this with someone who wants to protect their brain, boost focus, or live smarter, it might help them feel more energized and confident.Follow us on social media or join the broadcast channel to send us your questions for our guests:Podcast Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/herdiscussionspod/⁠⁠Broadcast channel: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/channel/AbY4liwxlLnewx4H/⁠⁠ 🛑 Disclaimers & legal:This podcast is for educational / informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or financial advice. All opinions are those of the speaker(s).

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. show you something and you will tell me if you would buy it or you would say bye bye okay so starting with chocolate dark dark chocolate 70% buy and milk chocolate for me personally bye okay

what's 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. Buy all the time. 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. And 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 fibre 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 chia pudding. I put it in my porridge. I put it in my yogurt bowls. 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's worked. 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, bit yoghurt. 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. So a resounding vibe. I love that. instant flavored oatmeal by bye 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 of oat and it's not going to fill you up either these are often quite small sachets and the reason they're small is because there's a lot of added sugars normally so to keep that labelling they have to make them for any small portions you're just so much better off getting like oats.

I did a 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. 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 herbiscus tea for hypertension, for high blood pressure, for example, won't do what your medicines do for you,

but can be really helpful. Caramile, Fabana, lots of lovely herbles. I'm a yes for that. Bye. Oh, 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. So 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. Liophosate 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 favourite 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

But truly, if you're someone who's, 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 favourite. Yeah. Because in terms of its nutritional profile, it is really good. It's got, you know, more proteins. It contains phytoestrogens.

But truly, over there's a good option. And 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, they don't fortify with chlorine, but iodine. You said glycopacy. Glaposate, yes. Excuse my ignorance.

No. What is that and what is the issue with that? Glyphosate is a weed killer, basically. It's a herbicide pesticide pesticide that's used to spray crops to reduce their propensity for basically going 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 as I said it's a very it is a processed product yeah so by the time you drink that um 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 oats, for example. But truly, oat milk is just the bottom, like, it's very close to the bottom of my list for worrying about glyphosate contamination or glyphosate intake. It's quite scary when you say all those things. But I think what's really important to remember is the poisons in the dose as well, that really common thing. The poisons and a dose, but also, we have to, there's so many things in our environment. So if you think about the exposeome, all the things we're exposed to that influence our health and that, you know, exposure is where actually helps to decide how our genome, how our genetics express themselves,

right? Now, if you think about the exposome, 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 can't 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 weenie 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's 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 fearmongering around oat milk is wild. Yeah. And the glyphosates are pretty much negligible in this field. My favourite phrase I learned recently is putting deck chairs out on the Titanic. Like, you know, it's focusing, majoring in the minors. Focing in the minor is focusing on the, yeah.

So I really love that one. Yeah. Don't buy, make. Okay. Yeah. What would you have a go-to smoothie that you like? Well, berries. Berries.

Bodies. 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. So frozen cauliflower works exceptionally well in smoothies. Yes. I've done the cauliflower and the cogette as well.

Yes. In a smoothie. Works well. Yeah. Sometimes if it's for like my kids or so breakfast, but 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. such but it's like the berries the yogurt kaffir combo some seeds and nut butter just tie it together beautifully gorgeous okay that's on my breakfast this morrow sorted oh yeah buy every day all the time for those on audio Greek yogurt is what I what is on screen and that was buy every day all day but yeah Greek yogurt's fantastic if you don't eat dairy again you can get some really good coconut and soy alternatives but it is just it's a shame that the environmental impact of yoga 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 satiate, I mean, it's just 10 out of 10.

Nice. Because I was, I was actually vegan for 10 years. And I was, my main reasoning was environmental. And then now I'm veggie, semi, eat meat. I'm very flexi, very flexy. But like, yogh 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, right? 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 a 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?

I mean, yeah. I mean, there's, I like Yo Valley. I like Rachel's. No, no, it's state. Dairy. Have you tried this? No. God. 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. Nice. 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 19, 19, 20, 21 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 better. 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 why is it so important? Because the data for soda consumption and health is horrendous. 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 is 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, food 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. I won't name the brand, but you know how I'm talking 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. 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 to like 80 years ago. Like so I'm mad, 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, um, there 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. I'm all, that's the structure by which I've raised my girls. But for me, sugar food beverages have no place in that framework. Because even, even a candy, even like a kitten candy, God, they're delicious. Jamie should start paying me for this, but, you know, I'm joking. But, you know, they are, they, 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. Yeah. 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 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, ultracholitis, 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, when we 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, 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 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 but that you're trying to achieve as i said if you're currently drinking like 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 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. Combochers now are emerging as like a really great way to have something fun to eat. Sugar sweet and beverages just truly. 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 inulin 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. Thank you for listening. If you would like to hear the full episode with even more jam-packed knowledge, then just click the link in the description.