The Wellness Scoop - 5 Tips for a Healthy 2026, Anti-Cancer Jabs & Botox Risks

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

As we head into a new year, we’re focusing on what it really means to build a healthy 2026, without extremes or quick fixes. In this episode, we look at the health stories shaping the year ahead and what they tell us about making calmer, more informed decisions for long-term wellbeing. We explore hopeful developments in cancer prevention, following a Channel 4 documentary and UK reporting on vaccine trials starting this year for people at higher risk, and what this shift towards prevention could mean for the future of healthcare. We also unpack a major move from the World Health Organization to properly study traditional and natural medicine, from meditation and tai chi to simple food-based interventions, and how these practices fit alongside modern medicine. Finally, we look at a sobering wellness story gaining attention at the start of the year. Reports of botulism linked to anti-wrinkle injections raise important questions about safety, regulation and informed consent, and what people need to know to make safer choices. Order your copy of Ella's new book: ⁠Quick Wins: Healthy Cooking for Busy Lives⁠ Pre-order your copy of Rhi's upcoming book: ⁠The Fibre Formula⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, our first episode of 2026. This is your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we will be here all year as your host. I'm Ella Males. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. We are so thrilled to be back. I cannot even tell you how excited we are. And after a decade in this wellness industry,

we know this time of year can be so overwhelming and confusing. And that's why this podcast is here to cut through the noise and make healthy. your living, simple, fun and very personal. Exactly. We're here to empower you and inspire you with your little habit changes nothing overwhelming. And as Rhee said, you probably feel it in the energy. Oh my goodness me. I am thrilled to be back this morning. I escaped my feral children who I love dearly, but like over the last two weeks over Christmas, we've had flu and strep at the same time. I basically spent my whole Christmas watching Bluey on repeat. I feel a desperate need to get out of the house and just put some real clothes on and it's just absolutely thrilled to have

a bit of structure back in life. Oh, bless you. That's the worst, the sickness bugs. I think we forget as well sometimes that this time of year does, yeah, throw it all at us, lots of different curveballs. And mine has been major sleep deprivation. I feel like it's been two months since I had uninterrupted sleep and I don't really know what to do about it. So today is a refreshing, wonderful start to get us all motivated. And Ella, what do we have coming up in today's show? Okay, we're going to talk about the calm habits that could quietly transform your health in 26. I think we all need a bit of that energy today to inspire us. The cancer vaccines giving scientists real hope for prevention. This is a very exciting update. Why meditation, Tai Chi and natural

medicine are back in the medical spotlight. The nutrition rules worth keeping this year and the ones that we're going to leave behind and the Botox boom and the safety gaps. So what you actually need to know there. So a nice all-rounder of everything. Rhee, how are you? We've got to talk about New Year's resolutions as we go into this year. How are we feeling? Any goals, aims, big health milestones. We do. But first, I just want to celebrate you a little bit Ella again because Quick Wins is out in the world officially. You've had book events whilst I went on holiday. I remember seeing so many people messaging. I've received my copy and I absolutely love it. And I just wanted to ask you how you feel about it first of all and any other big news because this time of year for us both is

pretty huge. Yeah, January is always busy in the world of health and wellness, isn't it? And we're almost It's exactly a year since we started the Wellness Scoop. We'll do a little birthday episode maybe. I think it's in two weeks' time. But I'm very proud of that. No quick wins has been lovely. The feedback's been amazing. I think if anyone is needing that inspiration for just easy day-to-day meals and meal

planning, the book is out there in the world, as Reesad. And it is all about healthy cooking for busy lives. And it's definitely helping me at the moment. I love that rough structure of a meal plan. And then our plants brand that merged with all plants, last year, we have been working super hard on it. I mean, I think it goes without saying that taking a startup and trying to scale it is so difficult and, you know, I'm so proud of what we did at Delicious Yellow and I guess in lots of ways we're trying to repeat the same thing with all plants.

And we've been working so hard where you know this. I've been off to Tesco's HQ so many times saying, wish me luck, wish me luck, wish me luck. We've been talking to them for almost 18 months trying to get the listing. And we've got the listing. As of today, our all plants protein veggie burgers are now in Tesco's. They're also in Waitrose and Icaro and Sainsbury's. So this is a huge thing in terms of getting this brand to the next level. And we've also launched a new product. So we launched some veggie tempe, which is made of legumes and veggies as opposed to soy, which is super exciting. So that's now in market. And also, which my kids are obsessed with, these tofu gujons, they are delicious.

Mine would love that, Ella. My kids would love that. That's what I need to try next. Yeah, they are absolutely fantastic. They're just great for those, yeah, those easy meals when you need something quick with sweet potato wedges, some peas. So yes, all there for those busy weeknights. So, yeah, all plants, veggie burgers and Tedesco, and then brand new veggie tempe and tofu gougon. So, yeah, big start, new book, new products, podcast year olds.

I feel like this is all the unspo I need for a good year. I'm just laughing to myself because it's just just a light way to start the year, Ella, just a few humongous milestones. We love to start with a bang. We do love to start with a bang. Oh, I'm delighted for you. It's incredible. And I do feel like we've just needed this podcast.

I know that Ella and I have missed recording this so much over the Christmas break. And it is really lovely to stop and switch off, but it's reminded me, Ella, how much I love routine, actually. And I don't realize it when I'm in the routine. and I feel like I need a break. But I'm quite happy with like a 24, 48 hour break of routine. Me too. I love work. We're lucky to say that, aren't we, I guess, that we love work. Rie, have you got any New Year's resolutions?

So, do you know, it's interesting. I posted a little thing about resolutions on Instagram because I've never really made them. And last year, I made the resolution to get strong. And I think what really helped was just committing to one session a week rather than two or four or five, because one, I know there's lots of personal trains listening that might say, oh, that's making no difference. But it has made a difference to me.

And I do feel like it's something that I could stick at. So this year, my personal resolution is definitely just to be more present and take my own advice a little bit more because I feel like on the Wellness Scoop, we discuss everything from fiber and plants. And I just want to really live and breathe everything I'm talking about much more. I love that. And I also love what you said about getting strong. And I think it's so relevant at this time of year where it's so easy and I don't know how our listeners are feeling.

But I think after a few weeks of, you know, the kind of odd time of year, it's lovely, but it's lack of structure and routine, et cetera. I think lots of us are like, I'm ready for a change. I'm ready for something new. I want to make a shift in my life. And it's so easy to kind of go full pelt at that. But the reality is life then becomes suddenly so busy. and it's really difficult emotionally speaking kind of or from a time perspective to fit in those huge resolutions

whereas if you set yourself this goal of over the next 365 days I would like to get stronger but I know I have only got X amount of time but I can continue with that I think it's so amazing to see where you can get in a year it's that idea of 1% better every single day or 1% closer to your goal every single day it sounds like nothing but when you do it consistently and it adds up actually a year later, it's a fundamental shift. And I always just think we so overestimate what we're going to achieve in a week, in a month. And I think that's very true with the kind of resolution moment. And we underestimate what we can achieve in a year.

And I think if your goal is to get healthier this year, I would really think, where do I want to be 365 days from today? And what are the little tweaks I can make consistently on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis that mean over 12 months, over 52 weeks? will actually start to move closer, as opposed to creating something that's just you're going to feel like you have no willpower because you just can't commit to it. And you then feel like you're failing and what's the point, which isn't helpful for our genuine long-term health goals? I completely agree. You summed that up perfectly. And I feel for a lot of our listeners, it's best sometimes not to make resolutions, but to just try and think of that 365 days later, I just want to feel better and be healthier. And if it is a tiny goal, talk about them as goals,

than resolutions that can be broken. It's just a goal to achieve a bit more. I love goals. Yeah, goal is really impactful. It's interesting because when everyone started talking about manifestation, I'd always done that my whole life anyway. It was just creating a mood board or visualising where you want to be. But I do really, really think there's something in it.

And for me, that one session a week, I didn't make it all the time, Ella, as you know, there was several times where I couldn't. But it did make a difference. I can now do press-ups on a TRX and things that I just couldn't have even imagined. My goal is a pull-up, but I just think I've got really long arms and I'm not built for it. I've got lever arms. I've got long arms, lanky on the top half and all my muscles like in my thighs. So I can do really good squats, but when it comes to a pull-up, I'm not there yet.

I absolutely love that. My goal is also to be more present this year. I'm actually, I think I might do some meditation. some breath work teacher training to add to my yoga teacher training and sort of slightly ease back into that facet of wellness because I think we all collectively struggle so much with stress and I know for me I just I can be somewhere and I can just not present I'm always worrying the smallest thing happens and I've like gone down this rabbit hole of spiral concern and I just need to be able to be like no this is where I am today and it's all good right now and I don't

know what's good the future holds I'm just going to enjoy right now you know what I saw this morning that might be relevant to that point you just made as well is I saw a clip for another podcast and they had a scientist on there that was saying in three generations time ahead. We sadly probably won't be remembered or a lot of us wouldn't be remembered. So we stress so much about the day to day today instead of actually enjoying it. And I thought that was a really helpful way to look at it. Well, let's just make the most of what we have now because there really is no stress to it. but we can't help but perceive that stress.

It's very valid in the time when you're feeling it, but it can be helpful to remember. We're on this earth for a certain period of time. It was very deep this early in the morning to see, but it's relevant. But it's true. Okay, so those are our goals. You guys can keep us accountable, being more present and more mindful. If anyone else is working on anything in terms of their 26 health goals

and things that we can help with, please do let us know. I think that probably leads us in very nicely to the health headlines that matter, which if you're new to the show, welcome, welcome, welcome. This is the section we break down the biggest health stories that are making news. And on the agenda this week, we have such a fun one to kick it off. This was in the times between Christmas and New Year and it was how to live well in 26. And it was basically their trend predictions as to what we're going to be focusing on to live well this year. And often I think when we see these things, they're very focused on quite.

niche specific or kind of gadgets, tools, etc. But this one actually I thought was really nice because it was much more optimistic and genuinely kind of how you live on a day-to-day basis. And so their predictions for our big wellness shifts in 2026 are, the first one was get a cultural workout. We talked about this a few episodes ago, but the new research that's showing that engaging with art,

with music, with theater, with really kind of experiential cultural experience is recognised now as a tool for mental and physical health, not just fun can reduce your cortisol level, your stress hormone, so that helps reduce stress, supports your immune health, and it's genuinely comparable to other well-researched stress-reducing activities. That makes me so happy, I cannot tell you. I immerse myself with so much musical theatre, as you know, and performances.

That makes me feel great. I love it. So you don't just have to go and do like a normal workout, get a cultural workout as one of our things this year. Fantastic. Let's really focus on that this year a bit more, different things we can try. Ella's always really good with the book wrecks as well. So that must be included there in terms of different books and inspiration and imagination. I think it's really tapping into a part of our brain that we just don't get to use day to day with imagination and different emotional responses to music. It's fascinating. It is. And actually, two of the other ones that they had in here focused on more time offline. So one of them was moving dating offline and one of them was called choosing paper over pictures. pixels exactly as you just said, really. And basically the prediction that with wellness,

we're going to have this big focus on getting off our phones, off our screens into real life and really that growing recognition that constant digital interaction is draining our attention. It's draining our emotional energy. And so well-being in 2026 is going to be much more meeting people in real life, reading physical books, reading fiscal newspapers, having those firm boundaries with technology, not rejecting technology, because it's a key part of our life, but actually having boundaries. So I think these are very nice goals. You mentioned dating, bringing dating offline. What do they mean? Not the apps. Oh, so how do people meet people? Oh gosh. Do you know what? This generation of dating, it must be really, really difficult because if you're

working from home, how often do you go out? Where do you meet people? I mean, more cultural experiences, Ella, for dating. Exactly. Okay. And then there other three predictions for 2026, Health and wellness, circadian rhythms are going to get you, which this one was their prediction being the body clock becoming a big trend, which I think you know so much about read, but I think it is quite interesting, the circadian rhythm, so your internal body clock, it's a big subject of research at the moment. And, you know, disruption to it is linked to poor sleep, but it's also linked to metabolic health issues and mood disorders, which I think is so relevant. So they're predicting that 2020 fit six. We're going to shift our focus towards working with our internal rhythms,

with consistent sleep and wake up times. Daylight exposure. I see so much of that. Get daylight first thing in the morning. Regular meals. And the thing that you also get at, regular evening wind down routine. So not about perfection, but just kind of how good rhythm predictability is for our nervous system, for our bodies, for our sleep patterns, and therefore for our health. And our gut bugs. So our gut micropotor, or the, the bacteria, that live within our gut that help us create these amazing short chain fatty acids. It trains our immune system. It's linked to so much more than we ever thought before has its own circadian rhythm.

And yeah, I've been writing about that a lot in the fibre formula because there's a huge disruption with our diets today and our circadian rhythms. And they're all interlinked, aren't they, nicely, and a little wheel of cogs. They really are. Okay, and two more to inspire your goals for this year. The first one they had, which I'm really inspired by, they had is the future is existential. which is basically, again, it's coming back to technology. So as technology accelerates, I think so many more of us, I'm certainly in this bracket

questioning how do we want to live. And not just about optimizing our lives, but this kind of desire for a bit more critical thinking, a bit more depth, a bit more knowledge. And their existential philosophy is offering that language for the tension, lots of people feel between seeking meaning and living in this very fast-moving, uncertain, feeling world. And it was also saying that Gen Z are treating long, difficult reading as a form of mental self-care, which is quite interesting. It's so interesting. One of my dietitians, she's younger than I, she's trained in yoga and moved to Ibiza. And she just had a complete cultural life

shift. And I'm seeing a lot of it, Ella. I'm seeing a lot of people just take control of their lives and want to follow their dreams essentially. I guess this is almost like following your dreams. Yeah, I love it. This consistent, as I said, it's this move away from having New Year's resolutions that are, I'm going to lose X man of weight, I'm going to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm going to exercise every day, which all just feel too much, not realistic. And instead, this shift towards let's spend more time offline, let's connect with people more, let's, you know, see going to an art gallery as wellness. Let's move away from our screens. Let's read more. Let's learn more, which is definitely something I want to do.

what makes us happy. Be happy. Exactly. Anyway, and that was the final one is the new F word friction, which is basically the way that tech has come in and the way that we see people's lives online, it's all just so perfect, but sometimes it doesn't feel very meaningful. And so this idea of creating this more messy in a way life, but it's just healthier, it's more human. It's, you know, actually stop trying to remove all friction because it's not real life. It's this, again, it's this desire for perfection, which just doesn't exist. And anyway, I loved this reframing for 2026 wellness. It doesn't need to be gadgets. It doesn't need to be gizmos or powders or expensive things. It can be art. It can be reading. It's time offline. It's connection. It's a messy human

existence. I completely agree. And on that front, I've got five top tips that I would give as a nutritionist for 2026 because like Ella's just said, I feel like this year feels less drastic. I was trying to think how to describe it when we were writing the brief the other night. It's really measured and I feel we finally, I mean, not every corner of the internet has grasped onto this, of course, but I do feel like the majority of us or us wellness scupers anyway are very aware that it doesn't have to be extreme. I love that. Measured, measured health for 2026. That's how I felt. It kind of slots nicely into what I would recommend. So I think the first realistic nutrition goal is just fiber. We have the fiber gap. We've discussed this so many times on the podcast. We're not hitting

five a day, 96% of us don't get enough fiber. We know that on average, that's probably around like 18 grams. We're not hitting every day. And that is linked to every aspect of that wheel of cogs we discussed when we were just talking about the wellness trends, Ella, for this year. And it really does support our immune system, our gut health. So my fiber formula, the book's obviously coming in March, but I really think this year, I mean, I actually can't believe it, Ella. I was writing the fiber formula when I was writing the ultra-processed food book. the unprocessed plate because they're so intrinsically interlinked the two subjects and I didn't think it was going to become this big. No, and you're so right. And I think one thing is with our

measured, empowering positive approach to health this year, I think there is so much demonisation of ultra-process food. And I think the one nugget I would take in to the year is, yes, we don't want to live of ultra-process food, but don't be terrified of all of it. One of the fundamental issues of ultra-process food isn't the food itself, although some of it can be challenging. It's the fact that we're not eating nutritious, whole food and fibre. As a result, it's the gap. Rhys talking about, which is why you've got your 30, 30, 30, 30 formula. I mean, my book is full of 30 formulas.

So what is it, Rhys? So it's 30 grams, 30 plants. Yeah, 30 grams, 30 plants, 30 chews. So it really aspired to have, yeah, I know as many chews are mouthful as possible. And it goes all the way back to when I wrote my first book, Renourish, I was talking a lot about mindful eating principles because it's really important to do. not eat, looking at screen technology for your gut to register what you're eating. If you just look at an apple, your mouth's very clever.

It'll create the enzymes that get ready to help break down the apple. Eating is not just a physiological process. It's visual. And I think with my 30 formula, this fibre formula, I've actually used it in clinic for years, but never had a name. I've never actually put a methodical plan or name to a book before. And now it just makes sense that if we remember that magic number 30, everything becomes a easier with the diversity of plants, the chews.

There are obviously meals they can make in 30 minutes because I thought it fit quite nicely into a theme that's realistic for us all. But like you said about ultra-processed foods, that's definitely my tip number two is just focus on adding more in again and just try and reduce those UPFs as and when you can. It's not that they're bad, like Ella said, really nicely there. It's just that you need to be focusing on more whole foods. And then I'm going to say gut health is now. No longer a trend, Ella. I feel like everybody knows it's a core pillar of health. And before

people would have just said the pillars of health are exercise, diet, movement, right? And maybe sleep if you're lucky. But I feel like gut health has become a core pillar. And it makes so much sense to me as a nutritionist because everything starts there, how we absorb the nutrition we eat, how our immune system is trained, how our bowel habits are formed, our reduced risk of chronic diseases, heart disease, cancers, all sorts of things. The short chain fatty acid production, so the gut microbes, they don't like to eat all of the fibre. They can't digest it. So it kind of is like roughage that goes through. And then what they do like to take is little bits of the food that we eat and they give off byproducts. Sometimes that's gas, obviously, as we know,

where we get bloated. You have a lot of fiber. But other times, they're these amazing components like butyrate, which influence our metabolic health, our mental health, our well-being. So I really think that food-first is an approach for 2026. And then my next point is women, Ella, finally, I feel like women's health is now at the forefront of research. And it's big because for us, we may not have a full body of research yet, but I do feel like wellness in 2026 isn't about extreme fasting anymore. And we're acknowledging that we can't be treating men like small women like small men. Yeah.

You know, every trend for the past 10 years hasn't differentiated between genders or, you know, whatever gender you choose to be. But for women particularly, our hormones are different. We have a lot more flooding our system. They fluctuate every single month. We're not as steady as the male body physiologically. And it makes so much sense that as nutrition, we look at nutrition in a female first way to help navigate 2026.

I love that. It's actually eating to support. your body and your hormones and your blood sugar regulation, your digestion, your general well-being, it's not about removing everything. It's about really nourishing yourself and thinking about what you add in. It's really positive nutrition. It's so positive. Finally, we know that we deserve it. As women, we deserve to understand our cycle and what's going on, be it menopause, be it menstruation, or wherever we're at in our lives. And then supplements also so positive, knowing that they don't replace food. I thought that message is slowly

getting out there? I think so too. I think there's been a lot of headlines. There was one actually we shout out to my mum at the end of last year. Camilla sent me ready for this year. She's back. She's back. Camilla's back. But an oncologist who was on this morning and things like that and he's been talking about the risk that he's seeing in terms of potentially actually the consistent over-supplementation being kind of a concern when it comes to cancer, which is interesting. Anyway, I'll bring that headline to the show soon. But there is, I think, increased support out there for people saying, stop just buying supplements for the sake of buying supplements.

Honestly, when I started my career, it was just like banging my head on a brick wall. People would come to clinic with a list that was so long of supplements. And it's really difficult to explain when you're on your own as a health professional and there's not lots of people shouting about it in the media. And the marketing is against you saying these supplements and miracles that they're not. And it's very difficult because we're vomer. We want quick fixes. So that's a very positive thing

that supplements don't replace food. And then my final tip, which Ella is just going to love, is just beans, beans and more beans. And they're cheaper, they're full of protein, fibre, great for our gut health. And we know the UK has a target

to double R intake by 2028. And we discuss this all the time, Ella and I, because we know that there's no magic miracle, but just by introducing some really basic, wholesome, I would almost use the word peasant food is how these items of food are described. They can really, really help our health.

And they're delicious. I love that really. Okay. So our top nutritionist, top tips for Healthy 2026 are 30 grams of fibre a day, 30 plants a week. In doing that, you're naturally going to reduce your UPFs because you're getting more nourishing whole food in, but be mindful of just trying to get that balance better. You're going to chew more as well. Chew more. Because if you've got more fiber, you chew a lot more. So you've got the fiber formula. Exactly. You've got to remember. remember how important your gut health is and really look after it and in that get your beans in. So many delicious recipes out there. And I think that really important focus on look at what you're adding in, not what you're taking out. It's that positive nutrition, whole foods, look after yourself. This is a complete marathon.

This is about your health span for decades to come. This isn't a sprint. This isn't about losing half a stone in January. This is how do I be well for the rest of my life? And remember, unfortunately, there are no shortcut, supplement. can't reduce food no matter how compelling a marketing claim is, it is not the same as cooking, nourishing food. So I love that. I feel like we can all be inspired with these easy tips for a healthy year. And before we go on to headline number two or headline number three, I've lost track of where we're at. But Ella, could you give us five 2026 kitchen must have ingredients? You know, the ones that you always have in your cupboard, because Ella's always very modest to say it, but you are such a humongous inspiration to myself and so many people listening with your,

I mean, you've written so many books with so many different recipes. Your kitchen must just be like the gold standard. I love cooking. I really do. Like I love taking a few simple ingredients and making something with her. But honestly, my must haves are things that mean when you get home from a long day, you feel you can cook something that's delicious, that's simple, that's easy, that's nutritious in no time at all. And if you always feel you've got to do a full shop on your

way home, I just think that's a huge barrier. So I would always have tins or jars of beans, chickpeas, lentils, tin tomatoes, coconut milk. It just means you could do like a very easy curry, for example, or stew or soup with those as your base ingredients. And I think within that, you just want to have your basic spices. You don't need every herb and spice known to man. but I think you just want some mixed herbs, some paprika, some cumin, some turmeric, some chili. Even that will take you a long way. You saute those with onion and garlic. You add in a tin of chickpeas, a tin of coconut milk, some tin tomatoes, maybe a little bit of miso and whatever veggies you've got left over, and you've got a delicious dinner.

So I think that makes the world of difference in that you want to have grains in the cupboard. Again, they've got such a long shelf life, so it just means you've always got that base, your rice, your quinoa, pastas. And then also the freezer, frozen peas, frozen edamame, frozen berries. Again, it just means you can do porridge with your oats that sit in the cupboard, with some cheer seeds that sit in the cupboard with some nut butter that sits in the cupboard with some frozen berries. And you haven't even had to buy anything fresh. And you've probably got five or six plants going into a bowl, very little effort whatsoever. And I think as we talked about it is this year of like long term really realistic health,

those sorts of things just make the world a difference. or, you know, I'll suddenly think, oh my gosh, I've got nothing in the cupboard. What am I going to make for dinner? And you could just blanche some peas for two minutes, quickly cook some garlic with them, and then blitz those up with a tin of chickpeas or white beans, some tahini, some olive oil. Spread that over toast. Delicious. And you have not had to leave the house.

Do you know what I made last night using your plants, pesto? Because I had some of it in the cupboard, the red one. So delicious. It's got tofu and it hasn't. It is so, so good because I know it's a great source of protein. but I had nothing in the fridge. It was one of those days where I was waiting for a shop to come the order. And I wanted to use up cupboard essentials and all sorts of things.

So I used your plants, pesto base, and I roasted off whatever veg was left. And then I just blended it and made a lasagna with these whole grain bioner lasagna sheets because I've got the whole grain pasta versions. And it was the quickest, easiest, most delicious meal. And instead of the tomato sauce, because I'd run out of my canned tomatoes, I just used the pesto. So I layered the pesto with all the roasted, blitzed veg, added a can of butter. butter beans and made a lasagna.

And sometimes just having, I just want to shine a light on shop brought pasta sauces because sometimes to check the labels, things like Ella's brand or others that are, I don't want to use the word minimalist, but they just don't have all the additives. They're not ultra-processed because they don't have all the extra stabilizers and things in them. But they're really lifesavers sometimes to have in the cupboard. A well stock cupboard is a good cornerstone of health, I would say. Are you thinking about senior living for yourself or a loved one? Choosing the right community is important.

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I wrote this one to make healthy cooking just simple when life is busy. So you'll find fridge ate suppers, one pound wonders and batch cooks that you can turn into two easy meals. Plus, we have eight weeks of delicious meal plans to complete with shopping lists so all the thinking's been done for you. Every recipe also gives you plant points to help you eat more plants. your 30 plants a week, it'll all help you feel great and just make healthy cooking feel effortless again. So Quick Wins is out now wherever you get your books. Our next headline is another really positive one for the start of the year, a potential treasure trove world health organization to explore benefits of traditional medicine. A UN body

is to study the possibility of integrating century old practices into mainstream healthcare. Now, this is a really good headline. And at first I saw it and I thought, oh, we're going to have to caveat this a lot. You know, remember, we can't dismiss traditional medicine. But actually, I think it's more about introducing self-care, Ella. It was such an interesting one. So the WHO had this global summit on traditional medicine just before Christmas in India. So we've seen the coverage of kind of land over the last week or so on that.

And there was a piece in The Guardian, which had this headline about the potential treasure trove. And it was really interesting. So the WHO director general said that they are committed to uniting the wisdom of millennia with the power of modern science and technology to realize the vision of health for all by engaging responsibly, ethically and equitably, by harnessing innovation from AI to genomics, we can unlock the potential or traditional medicine to deliver safer, smarter, and more sustainable health solutions for every community and for our planet. And I just thought it's such an interesting shift because I think, as you said, it's this situation where actually there's practices that are so ancient and have sometimes been dismissed as woo-woo or alternative.

And I think meditation is an amazing example of that, a completely ancient practice that has been used in various different ways for thousands of years and is an incredibly important cultural. religious part of so many people for around the world. But I think in the West, in particular, to begin with, people did dismiss it often as woo-woo. But with the advances that we've had in neuroscience, you know, you can now look at it under functional MRI scans and trace pathways that lead to changes in health measurements. So you can actually see meditation isn't woo-woo. It's been used for thousands of years and it reduces inflammation markers.

It can lower cortisol. It can strengthen areas of the brain linked to learning. a memory, improve emotional regulation, increase connectivity in regions involved in tension, self-awareness. Like, actually, this is an ancient practice that has a huge amount of science and should we be therefore doing more with it? Absolutely. I think it's really got to a point where two of the key words that were used in that quote that you said before were responsibly and ethically. And I do feel that those two key components with medicine practitioners or anyone that's in the NHS or around the world working in a hospital-based environment.

It's really hard when you're swamped and stretched. And I understand the constraints there completely. But we have to remember that medication isn't always the answer, but it can be enhanced and supported massively by these practices. And it's about care for your patients. And obviously, there are always going to be differing opinions, but I'm really for this. And we know that around 80% of the world's, you know, population have used to traditional medicine over the years.

And we've got to really start thinking even things like the two Kiwis a day that can help relieve constipation. You know, we mentioned that last year. That's something we've done in the clinic for a long time. It's now used in the NHS for patients before administering, well, probably not fully rolled out yet. But before turning to laxatives, let's try and use natural approaches that are going to harm our gut bugs. because we know we need to be supporting that. And for years and years, we mentioned before, who was it that was doing Tai Chi?

Was that your mum as well? No, but she probably love her. Sorry, Camilla. No, but exactly just for Christmas we had again that study, didn't we, from the British Medical Journal, showing that Tai Chi can be as effective over the long run as CBT for insomnia. So it's not to say these things always work. And I think the key thing that came out of the summit

was this desire to use modern technology to really look at the effectiveness of lots of these practices but in the case of us we're saying food for constipation relief, Tai Chi or yoga for sleep support, meditation for emotional regulation and stress management. It's common sense, Ella, I think, that especially before turning to medicine, we should be looking at it. Often these things that we can do ourselves, they're often free, there's something we can build into our lives.

So I think it's just this, you know, we talk a lot, I think in the kind of general consensus at the moment that we have a healthcare system that's very, very focused on. on treating a problem as opposed to looking at kind of root causes. And it's much more treat than prevent. And I think this is a very interesting shift potentially in trying to really get people to feel confident in some of these other practices that other people have used for centuries. So the message that's going to be really difficult to roll out.

I mean, I think it's inherently a really, really positive move. I just want to really make that clear. I think this is fantastic. but I know how complex and difficult it's going to be to get doctors and junior doctors and training into this because at the moment we're so stretched and waiting lists are so long but before I delve into all of that negativity because I don't want to place it here in our new year episode this is a change of times like I said this year I feel food first is really really positive and it's finally happening mental health this would help the mental health

epidemic as well if we just have more people encouraging these practices. But what I don't want to happen from these sorts of headlines is for people to say, well, I'm not going to take my diabetes medication or I'm going to turn to a diet to cure my cancer because what we do know is that modern medicine is a miracle. Vaccines save lives. And I know that it's controversial and everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But I think this can only enhance the miracles we've discovered. and I do wish we had more of a lifestyle approach before we just medicate in a majority of situations. Exactly. I think that's the exciting bit is how we use modern technology to bring it together to really enhance people's lifestyles because we know we collectively need a shift in our health. And I think that leads us on brilliantly to our final headline this week,

which is another bit of inspiration and empowerment and positivity for the year ahead, which I thought was absolutely fantastic. reading was that cancer vaccines could be available within just 10 years. British scientists are racing to stop cancer before it even starts. Oh, it's amazing, Ella. I mean, honestly, it came from the mirror which reported that cancer vaccines could be available within the next 10 years. So it's picking up on a Channel 4 documentary that aired towards the end of last year, 2025. It made the headlines just before Christmas, and it was following British scientists

that were working on a different way about cancer. prevention and the focus was from Professor Sarah Blagden, who she's an oncologist as she specialises in cancer and she's a researcher based in Oxford. And what her work was really asking was this simple but radical question that what if we could just stop cancer starting at all? You know, rather than waiting for a tumour to form and discovering, you know, a lump, you know, because by 2040, around half a million people a year could be diagnosed of cancer and that's just in the UK. So about sadly 167,000 people died from it. So the scale of the problem is just so huge, Ella. Yeah, and that was just last year, that 167,000. So it is absolutely something that touches everybody,

which is why I think this is such an extraordinary breakthrough. And the clinical trials are going to start this year. She was implementing immunotherapy with cancer patients and looking at that. And, you know, obviously cancer cells are very good at evading the immune system. And so, they developed what she was describing essentially as kind of invisibility, which allows those cells to grow and spread unchecked. But that can happen over a long window of time, you know, up to 10 years even as she was saying. And so that's this sort of pre-cancer stage where cells are abnormal but not yet malignant. And she was comparing that stage to a cocoon slowly turning into a moth. So the thinking essentially was if the immune system could be trained to recognize those early

changes and respond to them, you may be able to prevent tumors from then forming in the first place. And so that's where her vaccine comes in. So it's going into trials for lung cancer prevention this year in Oxford, initially with people at much higher risk for lung cancer. And the aim is to help the immune system recognize early cellular changes and stop them from progressing into cancer. I mean, it's fascinating. And I think lung cancer, there's different types of lung cancer, of course.

And what we do know is when a cancer is located as well in such a central organ with such vast blood supply and things can grow and metastus, and spread very, very quickly and multiply. So I think this is absolutely incredible. I remember doing my immunology modules at university and looking at immunotherapy. And just to see how far it's come in just five to ten years

is mind-blowing. I think this could be so exciting. Wow. And I do think we just need more screening. We just were all screened and we could get these early detections of abnormal cells. wouldn't it just be incredible? Yeah, so I think that's a positive headline to end our first headline section on.

For our trend this week, we have lots of trends we want to talk about coming up. But if there's anything you guys want us to talk about, please let us know in the comments on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. We really love to get your input. But this was a quite interesting one. This was picked up in quite a few places. This headline in particular comes from. from the times, but it was don't take the risk, women poisoned by anti-wrinkle injections and that hundreds of Britons claim to have suffered botulism poisoning after B-O-N-T, which is

Botox jabs, which are thought to be getting riskier thanks to unlicensed practitioners. Yeah, it's really worrying. I think ultimately, where you go to get these treatments, do you really know what's inside that injection? Do the people administering it really know as well. It was reported in the Times. It's an important one to break down properly because the toxin itself can be harmful. You know, cosmetic injections and illness botulism both come from toxins produced by Clostridium botanilum, which is one of the World Health Organization describes as one of the most lethal substances known. Isn't that crazy? When you think about it that way. And in regulated medical products, if it's used correctly, it is really safe.

course, but I think the problem is just all these counterfeit seller. It's almost like what we're seeing with GLP1 injections. We're seeing a lot of fake ones on the market to make money. And the problem is that when it's given to someone about proper training, and that's when it can spread also beyond the muscle and cause systemic symptoms, like you can have difficulty swallowing muscle weakness. It can affect your vision, your eyesight and even slur your speech. Exactly. And I think you're so right, Ray, we were talking last year about all of the counters. for GLP1 and similar weight loss drugs that are now on the market being sold very effectively on TikTok and are not regulated.

And I think we're seeing this because Botox and treatments have kind of increased in popularity so much over the last few years. I mean, the government now estimates in the UK that about just shy of a million Botox treatments take place every year just in the UK. You know, there's obviously been a market that has developed trying to make them. cheaper which is completely understandable but the problem is it can make it more dangerous because you've got unlicensed practitioners or increasing you've got self-administering kits that can be bought easily online those are not legal but again we know that these things are easy to get hold of

and then you've got kind of lots of cosmetic tourists traveling to other countries and other places where these things are offered cheaper and as a result you can more likely to get unregulated products potentially unsafe doses and as you said it can when it goes beyond the muscle, when the dose is too high, it can be really, really dangerous. So we just thought this was an important headline to include not because we're here to tell you what to do or say never get treatments again, but because this focus that we've had over the last few years that I think has been driven so much since the COVID started and we started not just seeing ourselves on social media the whole time, but, you know, we're recording remotely now. I've looked at myself for way too long today.

you know this pressure for this kind of perfectionism it's increasing all the time and I think it can put this undue pressure on ourselves to feel like we need these things too and I think it's just the flag of like be really mindful and I think the more we can feel confident and empowered in ourselves maybe we won't always feel that we need to do these things but if you want to do it there's obviously no judgment in it whatsoever but I think it's just really important to be aware of the price of perfection is a real thing. It's also a rhythm because it's become the norm. And I think what's so interesting with Botox is it's become almost a right of passage for

women when they get to a certain age. What's worrying for me is that this starts, you know, people are seeing it as a preventative treatment, which is actually not true. There's a lot of myths that surround Botox in particular. And when something becomes the normal, so frequently accepted, we start to lose sight of those health risks and those concerns. And you start to see people administering it in beauty clinics that have no medical training whatsoever. Does someone really know the anatomy of your face? Do they know what muscle lies where and what the impact of that is? They should only ever really

be administered by medical professionals, in my opinion. I would be really, really, really mindful of where you get this from, where you get your jabs from completely. So I think if we're going to round off this episode, it is the sense of trying to feel positive this year in ourselves. It's all about small changes over time. It is about increasing our health span for decades to come. Take the pressure off and just do the little things when you can. I completely agree. I think this is going to be a fantastic year. I mean, we're looking at treating cancer, food first approaches, actually respecting our gut health, Ella, and practices like meditation and just being happy. I do think happiness is, I know we spoke to Dr. David Hamilton before if you scan back

to a previous episode last year, but being happy isn't a permanent state. And it's so important to remember that that does fluctuate, but it should potentially maybe be one of our goals for 2026 and talking of being happy. Ella's just put, is that which one? Cookie or? This is Cookie, our mini sausage dog. She's just joined the, join the chat. She makes her so happy. Yeah, she is so, so gorgeous. Let's all aspire to be more like cookie. Let's just have a carefree, happy life. We are thrilled to be back, guys. We can't wait. Tell us what you're working on for this year. And if you need any tips, tricks, things that we can help with to support you. Otherwise, we will be back in your ears on Thursday. We're going to be talking about gut health more. We're going to be talking about supplements. We're going to be talking about eating well without obsession, which I think is very important. We're going to be talking about artificial. sweeteners, omega three, six and nine, all sorts of things to come. So we will see you on Thursday and just remember, take the pressure off. Health is not a sprint. It's marathon. An enjoyable marathon. An enjoyable marathon. If such a thing exists. We are definitely here. January,

I know it can get hard, but trust us, we are here to ride through it with you and we've got this everybody. 2026, we're going to make it a really productive, happy year. So thank you for being here, everyone. Have a great day, guys. Bye.