The Break-Up Diet - Sophie Bertrand: Stop Being So HARD On Yourself.

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

Why are we always SO much harder on ourselves when we’re already struggling? 🥲This week I’m joined by Sophie Bertrand to talk about what actually happens when you stop showing up for yourself — and why the way you speak to yourself might matter more than you realise.Sophie opens up about going through one of the hardest periods of her life after having her first son, struggling with her mental health, and the huge difference she noticed when she started changing the way she spoke to herself. We talk about that horrible little voice in your head telling you “I can’t do this”, and what can happen when you start replacing it with “I CAN do this.”We also get into food and wellness because, honestly, there is SO much conflicting advice online. Eat this. Don’t eat that. Do this workout. Avoid that ingredient. Sophie explains why two people can eat and exercise in exactly the same way and still feel completely different — and why constantly trying to do everything “right” can make you stop listening to yourself.And obviously, we had to bring it back to heartbreak. ❤️‍🩹Because when you’re going through a breakup or just a really shiiiiit period of your life, taking care of yourself can be the first thing to disappear. Maybe you’re barely eating. Maybe you’re eating everything. Maybe you can’t be bothered to shower, get dressed or do any of the little things that normally make you feel like you.Sophie explains why sometimes, without even realising it, we start punishing ourselves when we’re already going through enough — and why showing up for yourself in the smallest ways can make such a difference.We also chat about Sophie’s journey creating Serene, her clean, non-toxic fragrance ritual designed to help you pause, breathe and return to yourself, which launches this October. Sophie takes us behind the scenes of actually building the brand — from coming up with the idea to developing the product, dealing with delays and learning that sometimes you have to stop obsessing over the entire plan and just take the next step.If you’ve been feeling a bit lost, overwhelmed, heartbroken, burnt out, or you’ve just realised you haven’t been taking very good care of yourself lately... this episode is your reminder to stop being so HARD on yourself. 🤍 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I think I would be a nutritionist. How do you then know what's good for you? So many of us have lost that kind of like intuition that we have with ourselves. I had a really bad end disorder. Really? It was genuinely the hardest nine months of my entire life. It was really, really mentally challenging. I just did so much work on myself and on my mental health. I got like so interested in like how our brain functions, how we can optimise it,

the type, even things like positive self-talk and how it can change your mindset and your approach to life. Every single day with my first son I kept telling myself I was like I can't do this I can't do this whereas when my second son was born every single day I was like you can do this you can do this if somebody is going through heartbreak obviously it's called the breakup diet how can we still fuel our bodies and like feel good in ourselves if we're in that phase of just not being interested I think it comes down to like showing up for yourself and just going back to what are some of the challenges like big challenges that you weren't expecting to have but you had when starting it for anybody going through heart

outbreak right now what's one piece of advice you have for them buckle up bitches it's going to get bumpy this is the breakup diet sophie bertrand welcome to the breakup diet how are you doing i'm very well thank you how are you i'm very good thank you thank you so much for coming on the breakup diet thank you for having me so to start off this episode i thought it'd be fun to give you the room and let you introduce yourself so how did you get to where you are today and take us through that journey I mean, I'll try and be quick. I'm 34 and I feel like I'm 24 still. But I started actually in psychology. So I've got a background in psychology and I studied here in London. And after that, I really kind of, I did a lot of my research and eating disorders and like clinical stuff. So I kind of went into psychology with the intention of being a psychologist, but it felt really heavy. I love psychology. I'm obsessed with brain health and human behavior. But. But I was just like this is going to be a really long, like, heavy path to, like, get a PhD and everything.

And I kind of took a year out, went travelling to the state. He just fell in love with the health and wellness scene. And I just had this, like, moment where I was like, I think I want to be a nutritionist. So I came back, kind of tried to, like, shortcut my way there because I was like, I've just on, like, a four-year degree. I really don't want to do, like, another X amount of years studying. However, there is no shortcut to becoming a registered nutritionist. So I went back into higher education and studied at UCL and got my degree in clinical,

or my master, sorry, in clinical nutrition. And then started working with clients on Harley Street. Alongside this, I was kind of like just really blogging on Instagram about like food and recipes. And that kind of started to grow, which is when I started working with Browns online. And to be completely honest, that was way more fun than like being booked. out with clients all week because again it just felt really heavy. I love helping people and I love empowering people to make healthy choices. However, seeing clients five days a week back to back

is really, really exhausting. So started working more with brands and doing brand consultancy. I actually started a podcast with my best friend and that was like all to do with health and wellness and nutrition. And then we ended up getting a book deal off the back of that podcast. So we wrote a book together, which was so fun. All to do with wellness? Yeah, all like, it's called forking wellness. So it's kind of like your no-nonsense guide to nutrition.

Okay. That's super good because I feel like with nutrition especially, it's so overwhelming. Because like I feel like every single month or year, there's a new thing. Something different. Yeah. Like I remember a few years ago, everyone's talking about fasting almost. and like intermittent fasting. Now I don't hear that many people talk about it.

Yeah. Or like... The hype died down. Yeah. Also I find with like nutrition, it's so different for each person too. It is. Like what works? I say this all the time.

I'm like you and I could eat the exact same thing and exercise the exact same in a week. We'd never look or feel the same. Yeah. Because we're so different. Yeah. How do you then know what's good for you? Well, I think because of all this like conflicting health and one advice, so many of us have lost.

that kind of like intuition that we have with ourselves. Yeah. And I think if you're, and again, it's not just your diet. It's like, how are you sleeping? How are you managing stress? What are your social relationships like? You have to kind of dip into all areas of wellness and give them all a certain amount of effort in order to optimize your health.

You can't just like have this perfect diet, whatever that looks like. And feel amazing if you're only sleeping for four hours every night. Yeah. So it really like, there's so much to it. But then how come some people, like, I know some friends I can literally sleep not very long and be fine. I'm one of those people actually. I said some friends, but I can sleep like five hours and be fine. Oh my gosh, I'd like die on five hours.

But I have others that can't sleep. Like if they're under eight, they're like a wreck. Same. Genetics come into play. There's definitely, I mean, the research suggests that anything from seven to nine hours is optimal. And this is obviously outliers. There's some people who do function on six hours and are totally fine. But there's other people that might need 10.

in order to just feel great. But also I always kind of question, could you feel better? Like if you did get seven or eight hours, would you feel even more energized or, you know? But then do you ever find sometimes when you haven't slept, like say, for example, say you've had a big social weekend or something or a week away with your friends, haven't slept that much? And then you're fine, you're running out of you basically. And then you come back and then you sleep for like 10 hours, but you feel more tired.

Yeah, because I feel like the adrenaline's getting me through. Okay. It's almost like the calm down, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so after the book, I had my first baby, and that was just like total identity crisis for me. Everything I like, because I was running my business at the time as well, alongside doing the podcast. I was like, that naive mum who was like, yeah, my little baby will just fit into my lifestyle and he'll come to the meetings with me. And it was not that at all.

I wasn't sleeping for more than like 45 minute blocks at a time. It was just like, it was just a huge shift in what my reality was. How did you get through that shift? Like how did you be like, okay, no, I need to, you know. It was genuinely the hardest nine months of my entire life. It was really, really mentally challenging. He started sleeping when he turned nine months, which was just game changing because then I feel like I could think straight.

But I really didn't look after myself very well. I gave him my absolute everything and I didn't prioritize myself at all. I wasn't eating properly. Obviously wasn't sleeping. I didn't bother putting makeup on most days because I was like, what's the point? Like, I really wasn't in a very good headspace and only, and I, but the one thing I did was I got up and I had a shower every single morning and I just told myself it's a new day. It's a new day.

You just had to keep going. I was so relieved when the morning came because I was like I've made it through another night. And it was just survival mode, really. But I learned a lot for that was like, I felt like I was reborn when my six. was. And when I fell pregnant for the second time quite quickly, I was like, oh my God, I can't let that happen again. So I just did so much work on myself and on my mental health. I got like so interested in like how our brain functions, how we can optimize it, the types of food and nutrients it needs, the type of like even things like positive self-talk and how it can change your mindset and

your approach to life. So underrated. Because it's, I always thought it was silly. Like if you tell yourself, you're amazing and you're great and like, you can do it. Yeah. I'm like, that's just so embarrassing to do. Actually, every single day with my first son, I kept telling myself, I was like, I can't do this, I can't do this. Whereas when my second son was born, every single day, I was like, you can do this, you can do this. And it just made the world a difference. And you just say that to yourself, like in the mirror in the morning. I do it all the time. I'm like, this mom can. That's why I say to myself. Oh, that's so cute. So yeah. And then after my second was born, my life just felt so chaotic and I'm a very, very routine person. So, um, so, um, um,

I started contract working, so I would take on, like, roles that were six months long, four days a week. And it just gave me the stable income whilst having, you know, I could plan when I would be my kids, when I could be present with them. And it probably made you feel like more balanced. Yeah. So it's like I could really like block my time better instead of being like dipping in and out of work and being a mum, which I hated because I never want to be like prioritising my laptop over like my kids. So, yeah, I worked in metabolic health for 18 months and then moved companies. I'm currently with Avra, which is a wellness app. And I'm building Serene, which is my non-toxic perfume company.

Yeah, I definitely want to talk about Serene a bit later on because that is a massive thing because perfumes are very toxic. I learned this not that long ago. Yeah, very, very toxic. I know, I know. I haven't worn it since my, since I was. pregnant with my first son, so I genuinely hadn't worn it in five years. Oh my gosh, but you can't, with, sorry if this is naive, but you can't pick the smell can you when you're doing non-toxic,

because it has to be kind of like lavender or something natural, right? Well, yeah, it's all natural. There's definitely like, there's less options and it has taken me so long to formulate this with like a smell, but one is like nice, nice and two lasts on the skin because there's so many added ingredients to like increase the longevity of the scent yeah um so yeah we've um i mean we can talk about it more later but it's actually a roll on so it sits closer to the skin and it does last like the amount of time you'd want a perfume to last amazing see though before we get too far away from it was you don't have to answer it but how come you decide to go into like eating disorders and that um so i had a horrendous relationship with food growing up like just awful actually part of the

reason I did my psychology degree is because I wanted to learn more about why I, because I don't have this like, I feel like a lot of time when people have disorder relationship with food, there's like this underlying issue. Yeah. And I never really felt like there was this moment that I'd turned to these behaviours for whatever reason. And I really just wanted to kind of understand myself more and understand how the brain worked. Yeah. And that's why I kind of like steered my research into eating disorder research. And I worked with this incredible lecturer on the course who had had multiple different papers published in eating disorder journals. So that's kind of why I went down that route.

But then again, it felt really heavy and I didn't want to make it the focus of my life, which is why I steered into nutrition. Especially like if you have some sort of like a bad relationship with food, if you then focus on it for your work as well, I could imagine that it would drive it into that. Yeah. I also had a really bad eating disorder. Really? Yeah.

Like anorexic for like four years. Yeah. I was like 14 when... Yeah, I was 13. Yeah, it's so young, isn't it? Yeah, it's crazy. It's actually really scary. It's too young to even know what's going on.

And I think so many people think that you're choosing it. Yeah, and that you can just get out of it. Yeah, like so many, like my dad don't just say, just eat normally. Yeah, yeah, so did mine. I don't know what that means. My dad would be like, why do you care? Like, as in just no one's going to care about that. They're going to care about, you know?

Yeah. So, yeah, it's a hard one to get out of. It really is, yeah. And I'm so pleased that you recovered as well. Mine wasn't a journey necessarily of myself getting out of it. I don't have it now, but that's after, because I got out of it when I was like 16, you know? So it's been a long time, but I first got out of it is because I got health problems, not because of me and that break and that not being able to, like, lose weight after, then got me out of it.

Now, actually, thankfully, I don't have anything, which I'm surprised at, because a lot of people, when they have the relationship, it kind of stays with them for a very long time. Yeah, yeah. And I think certain periods of life bring it up. Yeah. So you studied nutrition. Yes. If somebody is going through heartbreak, right?

And they're not, this is so triggering for what we just spoke about, but like, obviously it's called the breakup diet. Yeah. And after a lot of heartbreak, some people go to emotional eating and some people go to, like, they don't want to touch food. Like, they're just like not interested. How can we still fuel our bodies and, like, feel good in ourselves if we're in that phase of just not being interested. Yeah, I think it comes down to like showing up for yourself

and just going back to when I was in like my really bad state after I had my first, I didn't, even just not putting makeup on because I was, I didn't feel worth it. And I think ever since that period, it sounds so silly and I'm not saying that everyone needs to wear makeup every day. And obviously I have some makeup free days. But for me, like getting showered and dressed and putting my makeup on in the morning is a form of like showing up for myself. So I think if you can just do that for yourself, I think a lot of the time when we're going through something hard, we kind of subconsciously punish ourselves for it.

And I think if you can just start with breakfast and just get a nourishing breakfast in, that like sets the tone for the day. Even if you don't feel like it, just like make yourself a healthy nourishing smoothie. Just you'll feel so much better for doing it. And consistency is key. So, you know, one skip meal or one, you know,

binge episode is not. going to do anything to your long-term health, but those small consistent behaviours are really what impacts you over time. Yeah. Yeah, so true. It is true that when you go through a hard time, you kind of do, because you almost want yourself, well, maybe I'm speaking out of term, but I almost want, when I'm going through a tough time, I almost like, by making myself feel worse by like not showing up from yourself, you kind of accept what you're saying in your head, I think, you know what I mean? Like, oh, I'm not good enough, oh, I'm not worthless. And like, then when you look at yourself and you look gross because you have no makeup of a disgusting.

It's like a vicious cycle, isn't it? Yeah. And when you said you went through the tough time, you said that you did a lot of work on yourself to like reprogram your thinking. Yeah. How do you actually do that? I actually wrote it all in a blog post on my website. So if anyone wants to read in detail, it literally goes through step by step everything

I did. Maybe we can like insert the link or something. Yeah, it really does document everything, every single kind of part of myself that I worked on. I found this doctor called Dr. Aiman. He's a American psychiatrist, and he does... Is he the brain guy? Yeah, he scans brains for a living. And I'm just obsessed with his work.

Like, I've read all of his books. I listen to every single podcast I can find with him on it. And he just talks about all these different factors. He talks about brain reserves as well. So he says if you can build good brain reserves in... What is brain reserves? If you're eating well, positive self-talk, you know, engaging in behaviours. that are good for your brain, not bad for your brain, you're basically building up this,

like, healthy brain reserve so that he gives this example, if two people are in an accident, one person could walk away with brain damage and one might walk away and recover completely. And the one who walks away and recovers is the one who had a healthier lifestyle because he's built up more resilience than his brain. So this is like all the practice that I put in place so that when I gave birth to my second son, I basically had a stronger brain than I did the first time I gave birth. That's really interesting. It's so interesting.

And the brain reserve, you just remind me again, was like things like eating healthy, showing up yourself, positive talk, that sort of stuff. And engaging in behaviours that are good for your brain. So things like sports, you know, not getting into accidents where, like, you bang your head. And honestly, every time, like, my kid falls over and bumps his head, I'm like, no. Like, I literally give my kids Omega 3 every single day. And I breastfed them until they were like two because I'm like, that's building healthy brain reserves for them.

Because kids are going to be kids and they're going to get in accidents. obviously, but if I know that I'm doing everything I possibly can to ensure that they've got like a resilient mind-brain body, then they're going to be better equipped to deal with what life throws at them. I wish my mom did that. I wish my parents did this for me. I know, but I I definitely hit my head a few times when I was younger. I feel like I really do obsess over the research though because I just find it so interesting because I think so many of us think we're just born this way and we are who we are and we can't change. But I don't believe that at all. So with all of that, do you believe in manifestation?

Yes, I do. More so recently, I've actually just finished reading the book The Signs by Tara Swart. I haven't wanted. I read it, sorry. She's amazing. She's a neuroscientist. I read her first book, The Source. And she actually came on our podcast a few times.

That really talks about kind of like connecting, like, your mind-body intuition and stuff like that. I do believe in manifestation because I believe if you're more open to positive things happen to you, happening to you sorry, then they will. Like, you can have two people who are in the same situation. Let's say something simple like networking in a room. If someone's going to sit in the corner on their own, just like drinking, they're not going to come away with the same opportunity as someone who's kind of like worked the room and introduce themselves.

However, I do believe that you have to put action with your manifesting, if that makes sense. Yeah. So would that be like going into the room and like actually getting up? Yes, exactly. Not just like hoping the opportunity is going to fall. in your lap yeah yeah for sure for sure and you said about the healthy habit not healthy habits but like putting into those reserves yeah what are some healthy habits that we can be doing every single

day that give us like a well-balanced healthy life okay really simple things that don't even cost a lot of money are sleeping um if you can get like a good sleep routine in place where you're going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time at the same times yes you have like a half an hour flex on that, that the more kind of chaotic your sleeping pattern is, the more it's going to play havoc with your gut health and your energy levels. And we basically have like this inner like circadian rhythm clock. And if you wake up the same time and get sunlight in your eyes in the morning, your body basically sets a timer to release like the sleep hormones 10 to 12 hours that day. So it starts to build up in the evening to help you fall asleep. So if you're kind of

out of sync with that, it affects like everything, like your mood, energy levels. So getting a good sleep routine is key. Is everybody's circadian rhythm then different? I mean, yeah. Mine is like set very early. I get up at four o'clock at the moment. I know. I'm psycho. Four. Four is so early. I know. Five, five. I know. I cannot remember the last time my alarm went off. Like, I'm just set to wake up at that time. And then I go to bed at eight. That is, you know what I find funny about that? That is, okay, you have a routine, so your body is obviously in it. Yeah.

But I always find it weird when I set an alarm and I've not woken off at, say, 5.30, but then you automatically know you have to wake up and then you wake up at like the time. Yeah, without the alarm. You've got that like subconscious. Yeah. I always find that amazing how your body like does that sometimes. Yeah. Have you ever had that happen?

No, I don't think so. Yeah, I've had it happen when you know you have to leave. But I feel like how much earlier can you be waking up them for? Yeah. Not much earlier, to be fair. Okay, so getting like a routine. Sorry, good sleep routine. Just movement.

Like, there were studies done. They looked at people's brains before and after a 12-minute walk. And the, like, activity in the brain, or like the brain was basically lit up after 12 minutes, like more creative thinking, better mood, better energy. So even just a 12-minute walk can do wonders. Should you be doing that in the morning then, maybe? Yeah, that would be like a two-birds, one-stone situation. movement throughout the day as well really helps helps with like glucose balance so like regulating

your blood sugar which can you know if that's out of whack it can affect again like that slump in the afternoon when you feel like really drained of energy again mood sleep so trying to regulate your blood sugar and the main things that help you do that as well is like combining protein and fibre so those are like really satiating nutrients which means they keep you satisfied for longer fiber also slows down the release of sugars into the system. So always try and start your day. Like I said, if you can set the tone at breakfast with high protein, high fiber, you've like done yourself a huge favour for the rest of the day.

And what type of stuff would that be? Greek yogurt is a great one with nuts and seeds. You can have porridge, but again, I would personally add some protein powder and then nuts and seeds on top. I aim for like 20 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast. So things like two eggs isn't going to cut it because that's only around 12 grams of protein. Yeah, wow. That's wild because lots of people do. I eat eggs. I mean, eggs are great for breakfast, but I would normally have three eggs and then maybe sprinkle some seeds on top.

I actually love doing just like tofu and rice and veggie bowls of breakfast as well. I think we have this idea of like toast or cereal for breakfast. I'm like, you can literally eat anything. Like, why not have a super nutritious well-balanced meal to be the first meal of the day? Yeah. Okay. And then carrying on from, okay, so you've got your sleep. You've got your food. Movement.

Movement. Good food. hydration, like the bioavailability in the food that you're, like the nutrients from the food that you're eating, so much better if you're well hydrated. Even like 1% dehydration you would never feel, but it affects your mood and your energy. So making sure you're drinking around two to three litres of water a day. How do you know if you're hydrated then? I mean, you know how because like I get like when you're thirsty. If you feel dehydrated, you're way past. Like you're already kind of dehydrated. So you just, I would recommend having.

having like a litre bottle of water and filling it up like at least twice for the day. Obviously that will vary if you're like excessively exercising or whatever, but definitely aim for at least two litres. And this is a hot topic that I was talking about with my friends. So I don't know if it's actually a hot topic, but coffee in the morning before you've eaten. What's your thoughts on that? Do you know, this is such, I really believe this is such a like individual thing because for so long I was coffee before anything else.

Like it had to be coffee. And I was literally burnt out. I had like six sickness bugs in a year and a half, which were like I've never had a sickness bug in my life. I was just running on empty. I was, I had two kids. One was like breastfeeding around the clock. I was trying to work.

I wasn't sleeping and I was literally getting sickness bugs all the time. And I was surviving on coffee first thing in the morning. but that was like my sane like moment of calm. But I was just like I need a huge like overhaul here because I'm just not, I'm going to like die. So I completely cut out coffee. This was about two years ago now and I have not looked back. I have matcha with protein in it first thing in the morning and it really has been life changing. However, some people thrive on coffee first thing in the morning.

What I do recommend is trying to wait at least an hour from when you wake up. up to when you ingest caffeine. Why? Because caffeine blocks something called adenosine, and adenosine is what makes us feel tired. So we need to give our body time in the morning for the leftover adenosine to clear out. Otherwise, if you have caffeine too soon, the caffeine blocks it. And when the caffeine wears off around like mid-afternoon,

that adenosine comes like flooding back into your system. And that's where you get that like post kind of lunch slump and you feel really tired, really low in energy. That's usually when people reach for like sugar or another coffee. Yeah. And then that's going to impact the quality of your sleep. Yeah, because it's too close when you go to bed. Exactly.

And then you're on this vicious cycle of then like waking up tired because you haven't had good quality sleep. And then you're reaching for more coffee. Oh, God. I know. I'm like, I am a fan of caffeine. There's tons of research as well to suggest how beneficial it is for like your brain health and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, get the timing right to optimize the result. It's all about timing. It really is. It really is. And again, like we're all on such different. rhythms so you have to tune into what works for you. Yeah. Well, I will say that is if you're an anxious person and you're not sleeping well, I would really encourage you to cut coffee out and maybe switch to decath just to see if it makes a difference. You know what I had the first time I ever had

coffee, or not the first time, but when I was younger, I remember we had it at high school and you could go order it. It was my first year. And I remember I got it at like 2 p.m. because everyone was like, and it was like a mokker or something like this. It was like half hot chocolate. I was like Vanilla syrup, all the things. Yeah, and I remember this night because I didn't go to bed until like 4 a.m. Because obviously that was the first time I'd ever had. And there was like caffeine and sugar. So it's like literally causing havoc in your system.

And I couldn't work it out. And for like two weeks, I was like, why couldn't I sleep? And then I was like, oh, it's that hot chocolate. Yeah, literally. And from a coffee, like if you make it at home, it's a little bit different because you know exactly what's going in it. But honestly, like the cop, especially the chain coffee shops, like, you know, we know. They're full of sugar. Yeah.

So with coffee, a lot of the time people say that they're very, like, stressed and it gives them a lot of anxiety. Obviously, Matcha doesn't really do that as much because it's a lot lower does? Yeah, well, one, it hasn't got as much caffeine in, and two, it's got althianine in, which has, like, this calming effect on the brain. It's basically, I always describe altheonine as, like, calm focus. Okay. So same with, like, green tea.

It's obviously just more concentrated in matcha. But the best way I can explain it is, like, caffeine shoots your sister. sorry, your like stress levels up like this. Your cortisol. Yeah, cortisol, which is stress hormone. And then you get like this kind of come down, whereas match is like a very slow releasing form of caffeine. So it's, again, like that sustained energy as opposed to really high energy really quickly

and then come crashing down. Matcha doesn't have that like effect where you feel like you're really coming down from the energy high. Do you know what I would actually recommend doing is every six months is just doing some blood work, whether that be with like your GP or online, you can do some really good at home, blood tests and just keeping track of like what all your levels are doing. It's so helpful. What would you be testing if you did that? So you can test your thyroid. Thyroid function. I would test things like vitamin D, your B vitamin profile, again as well because I think everyone's supplements now. And I think we're definitely over supplementing, but at the same time,

unfortunately we're not getting what we need from our diet. So supplements can be really useful, but just as an example, I was having electrolytes every day. And I, I, have my bloods done and my B12 was through the roof like just sky high and they were like, are you taking B12 supplements? I was like, no, I don't take B12 supplements at all. And then it clicked that my electrolytes have B12 in and it was like 4,000% of my daily recommended intake. So it's just really important to get like a check in of what your levels are doing. Same with vitamin D. It's really common that vitamin D levels are really low and that can really impact your immunity and your energy levels. So never kind of assume that like, and again, so with like multivitamins, they're probably

not the bioavailability of them isn't that great. So you could just be spending money on supplements that aren't even doing anything. So I would just, and we all respond differently to, and also depending on what we're taking, they can be interacting with each other in ways that we wouldn't want them to interact. Yeah, it's like, so I, this isn't a supplement, but even like medication, you kind of like, there's certain things you can't do. Like, I actually take thyroid medication. but so I know that I can't eat for like an hour before I take it, but you wouldn't know that. Or like bananas often interfere with medication or things like this as well, apparently. And iron supplements are not very well absorbed around tea and coffee.

So don't take your iron supplements in the morning when you're having tea and coffee. You need to be racing around an hour either side. So because the talons and tea and coffee can affect the absorption. How do we find out all this information without like going to, for example, social media and getting overwhelmed? I mean, I feel like the person prescribing the iron should tell you that. Yeah, I really, really do. I would recommend picking, let's say nutrition is your focus and you want to learn more. Find a really credible nutritionist or dietitian on Instagram or on their website, whatever it be.

Check their credentials, obviously, make sure they, you know, they're registered with either the AFN or the BDA here in the UK. and kind of just like listen to a few people, not your entire feed. Because I feel like as soon as we start researching something, the internet pick up on that and they throw all sorts of content at you. And there's a lot of health professionals calling other health professionals out at the moment. And like you said, like everyone's different. So what works for one person isn't going to work for another?

You will find research for and against everything. Yeah. You just will, you know, X amount of years ago, we thought that we couldn't eat egg yolks because they raised our total cholesterol, whereas actually now we know they're full of nutrients and they're really good for you. So it's just, again, finding that professional who is keeping up to date with the research and kind of reporting it for you so that you don't need to go kind of trolling online to find out everything you need to know. Yeah, it is so overwhelming when you start to. Even as like a health professional. I love trying everything. If there's like a new supplement out, I'm like, I want to try that.

just because I'm so interested and, you know, I want to be able to give advice based on, obviously, my knowledge and my own research, but I want to have tried it myself as well. Do you, when you say, say you have a new thing that you see online, is there like a website you can go to check it out, like say it's a product, right? To know that, okay, it's actually good for me and it's not just like a marketing. I would always look at the reviews. Like, marketing is very, I'm a marketer's dream. like I really do buy into like a really good marketing campaign.

Yeah, same. I would always read the reviews. My husband taught me to do that. He's like just always read the reviews. I always think that you should be reading the label and the back of pack. In terms of like more so for kind of like beauty products, because it's obviously a little bit where my focus is at the moment. This is website that I can send to you to put in the show notes called Ecologic.

Ecologic. Ecologic. And you literally paste. the ingredients into the website and it does a complete analysis for you right down to whether or not it's a toxic ingredient or whether or not it's just associated with skin irritation because again your skin might react differently to mine so if you know it's a product that's got this ingredient in my skin might be totally fine with it because I don't tend to have sensitive skin but if you do that could be a product you want to stay away from yeah and also like the big thing about it being

is it carcinogenic like a beauty project yeah yeah and some are they literally say that on the website and for anyone that doesn't know, that's kind of like increasing your risk of cancer. Yeah. Okay, so talking about products, we've got to talk about Serene. Yes. Tell us about it. So like I said, I haven't worn perfume since I fell pregnant with my first. And because I think I just love learning, I'm always, like, so open to learning new things.

And when I don't even know who would have told me, maybe I probably Googled when I was pregnant things you can and can't do when you're pregnant. And one of them was use certain skincare products because of the ingredients. I didn't know that. I know. And I was like, oh my God. So I started like overanalyzing all this different stuff that I was using. And interestingly at the time, perfume originally wasn't something that even came to mind. But in terms of like my scented, like, moisturisers and shampoos and conditions and stuff like that, I stopped using and I looked for like natural alternatives. And I was actually really nauseous at the smell of perfume. So I stopped wearing it. And then that kind of made me think, actually that's probably really toxic because that overpowering scent is just not good for me. Yeah. So I stopped throwing perfume and I kind of didn't think much of it. I just, I went and got all my non-toxic kind of natural alternatives with cleaning products. And by the way, this wasn't like an overnight overhaul.

It was very, very gradual. And I'd say only really in the last three years when I had my second son, did I really start to look at like my cleaning supplies, what I was using in the laundry, dishwasher, the stuff. Chopping boards. Yes, like plastic. Oh my God, when I first weaned my first sun, like everything went in plastic and I had no idea that how toxic it was when it's heated. So all that kind of stuff right down to like their clothes and polyester and the stuff that goes in their bath and nappies. Like it's insane when you think about it and I really don't want to like scare anyone because I do believe that small changes can make such a difference. And I

I'm not saying I live a completely non-toxic life, but perfume was just something I really, really missed and had just accepted that I was never going to be able to wear again. Yeah. So I started making, like using essential oils at home to like make my own sense. And I can literally picture this moment. I was just sat at my kitchen island, like making a batch. And my husband was like, why don't you just bottle that up and sell it?

And I was like, yeah, I could. Like, because I love doing new things as well. I don't like doing the same thing for too long. so I felt like itchy that I was you know I wanted to do something new so I was like yeah so I started instead of thinking oh my god I'm going to create this perfume brand yeah run my own business it really was like okay what would that look like so I just started talking to suppliers um and I had no idea what I was getting myself into completely honest like yeah I'm I feel overwhelmed for you just hearing that like sourcing the bottles and you know I wanted everything to be sustainable

like obviously didn't want any plastic so even just sort of sourcing the materials, you know, the printing on the bottle, the packaging, and then the actual scent itself. Yeah, the formula. Yeah, the formula, how we were going to make it stable and the shelf life of it and then actually make it smell nice. It was a lot. But I just kept saying to myself, just take the next step, just take the next step and see

how far you get. With the, so with a clean perfume, do you, they have shelf lives? Yes. So they don't last. Like, for example, does normal perfume last? forever basically yeah I don't know they I don't know what the stability testing obviously results in different outcomes so we've just we've just had our results back and um ours last for three years but it can't it has to be out of direct sunlight because it's left in the sun it basically

it goes rancid yeah so um and it's really interesting the reports because you can just see what like the sunlight has done to the formula um so yeah i wouldn't know what other perfumes are but ours is three years and it has to be kept out of sunlight. Three years is good though. I was really happy with that. Yeah. I thought we were looking at like six months or something. Yeah, I was thinking you were going to say six months.

I go through perfume like very bad, but I go through perfume like in six months. Yeah, yeah. So, um, so yeah, it's been a really fun, but just like mind-blowing journey to get here. But I'm just so excited because we've also used ingredients that are like associated with calming the nervous system. So it quite literally makes you feel good. well as smell good. And that kind of feels like our unique selling point.

And how many cents do you have? We're just one at the moment. We have two, but because of like the minimum order quantities and the financial side of things, I've decided to launch with one. And then hopefully that will sell and then I can launch the second one.

So it's not out yet. It's not out in October. Okay, exciting. So stay tuned for October. Yes. And where can they find it? Serene by Sophie on Instagram or serenebysopi.com is the website. Amazing. And my final question, no, I have two questions. One to do with Serene, what are some of the challenges, like big challenges that you weren't expecting to have, but you had when starting it? I think I had a budget. This is like all my own investment and I had a very specific budget, which I kept hammering to everyone because I really didn't want to go over. But things like the print, so like the information on the back of pack, I had to pay someone to like legally sign off on it.

like I thought I could just use chatGBT and they were like, no, you need someone with the certification to legally say that that's like a legal thing you can say. That cost me a fortune. And it was literally for someone to be like, yep, approved. So I think just like the added costs and the time that like the time of, you know, this, this idea has been from March 25 and we're now, we've seen August 26. And just like the going back and forth. Also the packaging. Because all the timings have to align. So I chose these specific caps and bottles and everything comes individually by the way like the cap, the roll on, the bottle, the pack it comes in. And by the time I went to order it because we decided on the scent and you can't order it too much in advance,

like the cap was out of stock. So then I like it was back to square one and it was just, yeah, the time it takes is just something I didn't even consider. But it's all going to be worth it. I hope so. I hope so. And you all have to check it out. And you all have to check it out. out. Thank you. Thank you. And my final question is for anybody going through heartbreak right now, what's one piece of advice you have for them? To just to show up for yourself and be your own biggest cheerleader because you are the only one who's in charge of your happiness. So don't give the power to someone else. I love that. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. Buckle up, bitches. It's going to get bumpy. This is the breakup diet.