The Wellness Scoop - Are You Stuck in a Perfectionism Trap? & The Truth About Supplements

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

In this summer bonus episode of The Wellness Scoop, we’re asking if perfectionism could be quietly holding back your health goals and revealing the truth about supplements: which are worth your money, which aren’t, and how to know the difference. We’ll also look at why healthy eating is still a privilege for so many, pets vs partners when it comes to happiness, and the latest wellness trends, from the rise of sobriety to the morning routine obsession and the buzz around “OAT-Zempic.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're here. We're your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overworked. and confusing health advice can be. So that's why we created this podcast to cut through the noise

and make healthier living, simple, fun and personal. Okay, this week, as we said, we would never leave you high and dry while we're on a little summer break. So we have got a little best of the bits that you guys have been asking for, the topics that are most relevant in the world of health and wellness today. Here's a reminder of all the things that matter and that we have loved from this year. recommendations um good recommendations please okay i've got a i'm going to say i've got a really good

recommendation yeah backing myself today i love this recommendation i think it's going to speak to a lot of us here so i've given it a little bit of extra time this week i think probably we have a very female heavy audience i think probably quite a lot of us could relate to the idea of perfectionism and always trying to kind of self-improve and better ourselves and just very high expectations and pressure on ourselves to do things kind of quote-unquote perfectly. And I then came across this piece in the Style magazine from The Times this weekend,

and it was called Is Maximizing Your Life, Making You Miserable? Now, I hadn't heard of the term maximising before, but maximizers basically sit right alongside those perfectionists. It's the idea that you just can't quite ever let good enough be enough, which, as I said, and Reese nodding to, I'm nodding to. I think probably quite a lot of you are nodding to. And it's just this essential constant focus on self-improvement, optimization, chasing this imagined sense of wholeness that I think has become very prolific in our society today. And Maximizes essentially was talking about

you always have to have the perfect restaurant recommendation, the perfect matcha latte, the perfect this. It's like good enough, fine, it's just not enough. You feel this pressure to always do it perfectly. And I think what I really wanted to pull out is that this kind of more, more, more mentality, this belief that we're channeling into self-help, wellness, productivity, that there's always a perfect way of doing it and we've got to do that, is making us miserable. And I just feel like for all of us to reflect on, it's really important because we do put a lot of pressure on ourselves. But it's not worth it.

So this doubt really stood out. So a 2018 study by York St. John University found that levels of perfectionism, especially something called socially prescribed perfectionism. So that's the belief that other people expect you to be perfect for you to be accepted. Increased by 33% amongst young people between 1989 and 2017. So essentially the time that lots of us grew up. And the researchers are predicting that by 2050, so not too long from now,

one in three people are going to be negatively affected by this pressure and this type of perfectionism. So I just think it's a real wake-up call and something for us all to reflect on today, to actually just be so much more gentle with ourselves. We do not need to consistently drive to appear flawless, you know, to always be achieving more. It's exhausting, but it's actually harmful.

And I think this quote summed it up really well. There's something pretty gluttonous about this endless pursuit of bettering yourself. We're trying to break our personal best, meditate deeper, go to the best restaurants, all with a more and more mentality. Even downtime becomes stressful. You're trying to unwind when you read something about sleep maxing and suddenly you're falling down to sleep option.

optimization rabbit hole that advises drinking a magnesium cocktail and taping your mouth shut at bedtime. So, you know, I think this is why the show exists in that sense. But it's like, let's just do our best and let our best be more than good enough and just be a lot more gentle on ourselves because the pressure is there, but it's not making us happy. And happiness is a key driver of health. So two thoughts in my head when you were reading out that quote is it so interested because obviously there must be an evolutionary aspect to the human race. that wants to keep striving, right? So we're dealing with an evolutionary adaption of wanting to be the best.

But on the flip side, you're dealing with now a media-heavy world where you can see everything we never used to see, which I think we'll have to discuss on an extra scoop when we do social media in more depth. But it's just not normal to see everything in such a curated way. It's not healthy and it's not good for us. And, yeah, maximizing, I don't like it. I don't like it.

I'm totally guilty of it at times as well and feeling like, yeah, putting a lot of pressure on myself. And actually, it's amazing how different you feel when you release the pressure valve. So guys, go, release the pressure valve. You are doing more than enough. Yeah. And apparently the article said there's something called Satisficing. Satisficing, which is basically just being really satisfied with good enough choices, you know, meaningful decisions rather than optimal ones. It's not like settling and kind of just being really passive and giving up, but it's allowing yourself to step off a hamster wheel of perfectionism and ask what's right for me right now. It's making my easy oat bars and not feeling you have to

make a full on cake. That is exactly what it is. Love it. Okay, the health headlines that matter. What have we got today, Re? On a totally different topic, I'm just reading our next headline, Ella. I love it. It's the pet one. Can your pet make you happier than your partner? Okay, so there was a brand new study that came out in the UK that found that owning a cat or a dog can improve your well-being just as much as getting married can or earning new money. So this was researchers from the University of Kent and they were looking at data from 2,000 households in the UK and they found that having a pet gave people a three to four point boost in life satisfaction and that life satisfaction's only measured on a seven point scale. So three to four point move is mega. And that is the same

happiness bump those three to four points that you would get from getting married or wait for it bringing in an extra 70,000 pounds a year. No. No. Yeah. Interestingly just one note, the effect was strongest in women and those under 65. And I wonder if that's because we're having this real spike in loneliness in younger generations and the pets combating. And we know that obviously loneliness is so bad for our health and potentially yeah, the kind of massive boost is in people who are feeling lonier, and that is now younger generations versus elder ones. It makes sense. I do see a lot more people getting a dog before they have kids now or something like that,

you know, before they do it. And I can say on a nutritional perspective that having a pet's good for your gut microbiome. So it exposes you to different types of bugs, and that is known and shown in research to be really beneficial. And then you take them outside more. I mean, I'm a cat owner, but I still go outside with my cat. I have a cat lead. Cat lead.

I love that. Because after my cat was sadly in an accident last year, she got hit by a car. She survived. She definitely has nine lives. The air tag saved her because we found her. She was wearing an air tag on a collar, everybody. But I got a cat lead so she could get fresh air while she was recovering from her injury in the garden. And it meant I got outside more.

I love that. Yeah, I mean, having a dog definitely gets you walking, as you said. So you've got the kind of loneliness connection. You've got time in nature, which is amazing. You've got gut health support. So again, a nice illustration of the fact that the wellness is very 360. And I believe on a spiritual level, and I do believe animals can feel our emotions. I know whenever I'm down or a bit sad or just not feeling right, my cat just comes and sits next to me or lies on me or gives me a cuddle.

There must be something in emotional support massively. Absolutely. And as we know, loneliness is one of the key indicators of good health. So there we go, guys. So tell us about the broken plate. Right. This was very exciting. I mean, exciting but also devastating at the same time because we've got new data, which is always good. So the Food Foundation have published their 2025 report on trends. And this came out a week and a half ago, I think. I remember getting the newsletter from my Association of Nutrition. And it's about the impact of our food system in the UK. And the report uses 13 key metrics to provide a snapshot of the current food environment and the outcome measures on our diet quality, the environmental impact on our health. And what it basically is, shows is that eating healthy has never been more expensive, which we all know, and healthier food based basically on its nutrient profiles, so how many vitamins and minerals it has within

a protein, it's more than twice as expensive per calorie as junk food. So it's no wonder that we have problems in this country and healthier options have increased in price as twice the rate of less healthy options basically in the last two years. So the broken plate report, and this was presented in the government, it says that growing cost of eating is basically making the problem of health inequality greater. And the most deprived fifth of the population would need to spend 45% of their disposable income on food to meet the government recommended healthy diet, raising to 70% for households with children. How can you spend 70% of your income on food? Well, you can't. You simply can't. Yeah. And we've also got, you know,

over a third of food and non-alcoholic drink advertising spend that's on confectionary, snacks, desserts, soft drinks compared to just 2%. So that's such a huge divide on fruit and veg. And this is what was really shocking, Ella, and I think you'll agree here, is that three quarters, so 74% of the baby and toddler snacks that have, you know, the front of pack claims on them contain high or medium levels of sugar. And then only 3% of breakfast cereals and 5% of yogurts marketed to children are low in sugar. I know.

I still remember standing. We just launched into co-op. This was maybe 18 months ago, and Matt and I spent like an hour in there scouring the shelves, just really trying to understand the layout and, you know, how delicious yellow looked in there? And again, one of those moments where you're like, how are we the only natural product in here? Anyways, I remember looking at the cereal fixture and just seeing lots of cocoa pops packs that had a massive sticker on the front or round door on the front that said supporting your family's health. And I don't know why it stuck with me so much because it's not an isolated event.

there's lots of products like that marketed in that way. But it just was a really penny-dropping moment of thinking, I just don't understand how anyone could ever navigate this. These are cheap. They're really appealing to children. They have no nutritional benefit, but they have a sprinkling of multivitamin, which allows you to make claims about having vitamin D, for example,

which allows you to make health claims that feel very appealing and therefore say things like you're supporting your family's health. But it's absolutely extraordinary that you're allowed to say things like that. But I think one of the other key findings that was really interesting to me and certainly something I see a lot is a quarter of places, so 26% where you can buy food in England are fast food outlets. And that's remained unchanged in six years. And I find it often like, I don't know, we stopped for petrol last weekend

and looking at the shelves in the garage. And like, unless you wanted a banana or an apple, there was nothing in there that wasn't, like, neutral. It was fully ultra-processed food to the, extremes, like really, really, really unhealthy. And as I said, when we were talking about what we had for breakfast and I had a caramel slice, there is nothing wrong with having a treat. There is nothing bad about that. But the problem is it's just so difficult to find healthy options on a regular basis and therefore make things a one-off as opposed to the core of what you eat. And I just think it's absolutely extraordinary. It's the nuance as well involved here.

Well, we're talking about, you know, household incomes and inequality as well with health. And if you've got the more deprived levels of population where perhaps their children will only literally eat coca pops in the morning because that's all they've ever known. So they're used to that sweet palate. They don't have the time to be stressing out those options. So I'm relieved they are fortified. Just to put that out there, it's great that these unhealthy items are fortified at least to give children some nourishment. But it goes to show the lack, the financial means, the access to decent food. The government has to step up because this is such a big, big, big problem. and with people conditioned to junk food already, once you're on that hyper-palatable food

and once your children aren't used to it and you're used to it and your life is stressful, your life is hard, you've got no money, it just doesn't make it easy for you. So anyway, the broken plate is very depressing, but it's data that we've needed for a long time. The health professionals are now pushing, we're lobbying, we're trying really, really, really hard to tell the government, look, you have to support change. They have to sponsor and help companies like yourselves and other companies to make decent switches. And I get it. In a garage, like you said, you stop off at a petrol station.

That item that sits there has to last for forever because they're not a supermarket. They have to have these sort types of items. But generically speaking, children, come on. Kids deserve so much better in this country. Well, there was a lot of follow-up, obviously, in the papers about the broken plate report because it is shocking. I mean, it's completely, for want to a better word. unacceptable to be living in such a developed country that's so wealthy in comparison to so many other countries in the world. And yet the lowest, the most deprived fifth of our population would

have to be spending 70% of their income to feed their children properly. I mean, that's just, as I said, unacceptable. Would you eat your house or do you feed your children? Like who should have to make that decision? And these aren't choices that anyone should have to be making. And I think, as you said, it just shines a light on just how broken our food. system is and how radical the change has to be. And I think I've certainly found it really interesting looking at that over the last however long, the fact that there's this really interesting kind of tussle between people saying, we don't want a nanny state, we don't want to be told what to do. But equally, I find it hard to believe without very, very serious

government intervention. We're not going to have a problem that's only continuously exacerbated. Like I don't really see a way out without really extreme government intervention in which they have to have negative VAT on fruits and vegetables and you have to have really clever mechanisms at place. You know, you have to, in the way that we have tax cigarettes, like you're going to have to tax very unhealthy food in order to make healthy food cheaper. I think they're not really solutions that people want

and I'm not surprised and no one wants to be told what to do. But equally, given the damage that it's causing and the completely unfair nature of it, it's very, very difficult to sit here and think that continuing on. the path that we're on is viable in any shape or form. Just think of the stretch on the NHS because our diet, as we know, is linked to all these different metabolic diseases.

And in the future, that's an increased risk, sadly, of diabetes, of heart disease, of obesity, and always different areas that impact our health and impact the strain on our health systems. And then we're looking at an aging population with a multitude of problems. And I saw in the press yesterday. And a journalist had written, you know, processed meat, read and processed meat, is so pushed on children today that we're looking at a future generation of majorly high record numbers of bowel cancers and you just think what is going on we're pushing unhealthy items at every single corner onto the future generations so give us some swaps Ella how can we save money and cook better

what yes exactly because one thing I was going to say is there was so many people then talking about okay but how what can we actually do today and what are some things I want to ask you about fresh or frozen because I know you've been talking about that recently again in the press which I think is a really interesting one because Frozen is oftentimes a lot cheaper and oftentimes also healthier. But interestingly, and there's some research, we've done for something completely separately. Obviously, cooking at home is the cheapest way to eat well. There's no getting around it. Now, obviously, you can then look at all the problems we have with that in terms of not teaching people now properly to cook at school,

not making people feel empowered and confident. That's also, I think it's up to a million people who don't have a fridge, households who don't have a fridge in the UK. again like this inequality making that difficult so I don't mean to push past that but if you are able to cook at home more then that is extraordinary and you can be using ingredients like dried legumes for example which obviously are so much cheaper whole grain seasonal veg but in that and we're not talking about this because because I a plant based diet but plant based options are often so much cheaper and when I say plant based I don't mean meat mimics because those can be expensive I mean switching to using chickpeas or lentils for example

And there's a few different reports on this, but actually it's looked to be about a third cheaper to do your shop as a veggie or vegetarian diet where you're using those plant-based sources of protein. And obviously also that's so beneficial for the environment. And we actually cost it up again, this was something different, but I just thought it was interesting. A winter bolognese recipe we'd done, which is leeks, carrots, celeriac, just for being super seasonal, some herbs, tofu, tomato. and it was about one, depends where you shop, but like £1.50 to £1.80 a serving. But with beef, as a traditional bolognese, it would be additional 40 to 45 p a person, making it about £2.50 to £2.20 a serving. So really meaningful difference, actually.

And if you kind of replicated £1.75 versus £2,17, across the week for a family for continuing to swap animal protein for plant protein in an evening meal, you'd be saving almost £12 across the week or £600 across the year. which I thought it's really interesting. And again, it's not about going 100% plant-based, but it is just an interesting note. It's also better for the environment and you're not having to store things in the fridge in the same way because you can buy those ingredients. You can even buy frozen bags and things and use it on the day if you don't have one. But it's the meat.

It's meat and fish that's storing. Because meat mimics have been so kind of had this boom and now they've gone completely bust and we'll talk about that actually, I think, interestingly, next week. But those were obviously quite expensive. So I think that people then had this view that plant paste had to be expensive because you had to buy a chicken replica or a bacon replica. But actually, if you're using, as I said, like lentils, then it's a lot lot cheaper. So many countries in the world. Look at India and places where they've got a huge vegetarian population. They love their lentils and their pulses.

They know how to cook with them so well, don't they? Like the inspiration we get from those recipes. A hundred percent. If you know how to cook with them well, they can be so delicious. So if you want to nudge to try some lentils, Let that be it. As a BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite cardholder, you don't just earn points.

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it's almost as if they can read your mind. I sense you need a two-inch angle brush for the trim in your family room. Regal selected an eggshell finish and directions to the post office. Benjamin Moore paint is only sold at locally, owned stores. Benjamin Moore, see the love. Ella, what is trending in wellness this week? Okay, so morning routines. This is a kind of never-ending trend, right? And I'm just going to preface this with I really like a morning routine. It does not happen every morning, not even a tiny bear, but I love to aim for a morning routine. But there was a feature that we wanted to pick up of that was in the times

and it was called How Extreme is Your Daily Routine? And the feature dives into the Extreme wellness routines that I think to be honest have massively popularized online and we've all seen and I think again just to circle back to what we were saying a moment ago about curiosity of our listeners are feeling the same pressure to kind of do all these things and add all these extra steps into their day in the name of health and well-being to me a lots of it comes from these types of morning routines that you showed me exactly and so in this one it was taking three kind of relatively high profile influences people in the wellness space and looking at their morning routines. All three of them started around 5 o'clock in the morning. And by 9 a.m.,

they'd done red light therapy, NAD plus injections, mouth taping, or taking that off from the overnight, hyperbaric oxygen sessions, electromagnetic field therapy, meditation, journaling, cold plunges, workouts tailored to their mental cycles, supplements customized to their DNA, something called intranasal photobiomodulation, which is basically shining light up your nose to stimulate your brain. And I'm not criticising any of those three women in their individual life. I think if these things make you happy and they make you feel amazing, it's your prerogative within reason. But this proliferation of the conversation I think is the bit that I wanted to pick up on because to me, and we've talked about this so much recently, I just worry a lot. And again, very curious what our listeners think, that this is now seen as what wellness is.

It costs a fortune, Ella. The first thing I was thinking when you were reading off, I don't even know what a hyperbaric oxygen session is. How do you even do that in your house? You know, and then they're saying they're tailoring, what did this photo biomodulation thing? And then the NAD plus injections we've discussed, you know, they cost a fortune as well.

This is expensive and you've got to have a lot of kit to do this sort of thing. And I would prefer to get an extra hour's sleep. Maybe even too. Yeah, definitely, 100%. I think again this isn't wellness is it at all this is stress yeah that's a really interesting way of putting it for me it's pressure but I think it's also stress in the pressure and I think it is again we've talked about it last week but I'm quite maybe single-minded on it in this concern

about this self-optimisation and I like I'm very conscious of aging and definitely you know want to look after myself and feel good in myself but there is a sensible balance of also just enjoying life and kind of going with the flow and doing what you can to feel great but equally not putting so much pressure on yourself that you have like a three-hour routine before the day starts and like ella said if this works for you that is actually really cool but i think it's just not accessible to so many that it can it like i said it feels very overwhelming my concern is that and then again this is where i'm so interested to hear your guys thoughts on it my concern is that people are starting to feel

that they're doing wellness wrong if they're not doing this sort of thing which is so popularised on TikTok on social media, et cetera, because they're not engaging in the trends and so they feel like they're not really participating in wellness. But as we've seen from all these leading scientists and researchers and amazing data analysts,

the research in terms of what wellness actually is is getting a pet, but no. I mean, it is your diet, it's the kind of foundations, it's your stress, it's your sleep it's these kind of more basic things and I worry that it's all just becoming too intense and even in this article they're talking about sleep tracking rings and having a kind of essentially I think it's scored out of 100 and this person was getting kind of 97-98 score so again now we're putting pressure on ourselves to sleep perfectly and I know sleep is vital to health

and I'm not devaluing some routine around sleep leaving your phone downstairs maybe doing a quiet meditation before bed doing things to help you actively unwind to get a bed and night's sleep massive advocate for that because sleep's so crucial to health but i'm just worrying that we're now getting competitive and optimizing everything and is it fun it's not fun it's almost like orthorexia the pursuit of cleanness in the eating disorder territory it's almost like this yeah pursuit of perfection in wellness and it's very all or nothing what happens if you do have one bad night of sleep is the whole routine then off the next day. Yeah and am I almost like morally a bad person? Yeah. Because I've got it wrong. Oh that was a listener question that we had so many people saying they loved our mention of

the morality behind food and we should definitely delve into that more because I feel like there's moral compasses with lots of things that we could potentially discuss. But you know I consult for on the side of retrition a health tech app called Rio and it's the one of the things they always say is we're building the car whilst driving it. Because 10, and all these wellness trends are so fast, it takes so long. The studies are slow. So, like, with the cold therapy we discussed, they were all their age last year. Even in lockdown, I think everyone was doing it.

And now suddenly the research is coming out saying, hang on a minute, guys, this could kill you or this is bad. And it's not all that's cracked up to be. Yeah, and it takes time. So what can we say? I don't think it sounds very fun. Have you got any kind of morning routine? Well, it's just the green tea. I think I said that last week I wake up and I cannot start my day without my green tea.

in a mug and to be honest I would like to try a bit more of a morning routine but my focus is very much the children and I don't put myself first and my problem is I get to bed too late to wake up earlier so I need to work on my nighttime routine first so then I can have a morning routine that sounds very sensible have you got any like daily non-negotiables the green tea is definitely the only thing I definitely need to start my day with my day does not start unless I've had my hydration in the morning. My non-negotiable would be, that's a really good question, Ella, dark chocolate, blueberries food-wise, cannot live without them every day. There's not a day and this whole year where I haven't had dark chocolate or blueberries every day. Isn't that funny?

It's quite expensive, but it's my one look. The Cardo shop is full of the food for the kids, the meals I'm going to make for them. The one thing I get for myself are those two things and the berries can be frozen and I eat them every single day. How about you? I try with a morning routine. You do. You're good though. Yeah, I give it a good go.

Definitely didn't do it last this morning. I just find the days are so busy and the mornings for the kids are so busy that having even 20 minutes or so where you're kind of prioritising yourself a bit and carving out a bit of calm before whatever unfolds really helpful. And generally I do a five to five. 15 minute, depending how much time I feel I have, meditation or breath work, which I find very helpful with someone who's a real overthinker. I'm fascinated by this because I just don't think I could do that.

Breathwork is very helpful because it's so kind of in terms of if it feels very new to you. And my brain just runs at a million miles an hour and I get really, I overthink everything. I get way too concerned and head up. And anyway, and I find it a very helpful way to kind of set my mind up for the day. and I'm definitely happier, calmer person when I do it regularly, not necessarily every day. And then I make coffee and we just drink coffee, my husband and I pretty quietly, and it's so nice. And then by the time the kids are awake and the day unfolds, I feel ready. I mean, you have to be changed before they're awake.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, if I haven't showered and got changed before they wake up, it's just game over. Just not good. That's really good. So I think my goal now is going to be to try and do some breathwork in the morning. maybe I'm going to set myself that and put my phone away at bed. Just five minutes makes such a difference. And I think, yeah, as I said, I'm quite an advocate for morning routines, but I think

I just am also much bigger advocate for taking the pressure off ourselves. And I think that's definitely the kind of overarching theme. Do you think you're a night owl or an early bird? Early bird. You're an early bird. Yeah, see, I think I am a bit of a night owl and I wish I wasn't. I wish I was an early bird. But I've got better since having children.

Guys, trend number two. The one I wanted to bring to the table to say, mostly because I just love it, was the growing trend of sobriety. Yes. I completely gave up drinking. So back in 2011, when I got unwell, until around like 2015 and drink at all. And I found it so isolating. I don't drink a lot now, but I am very basic. I love a spicy margarita, avocado toast, a blueberry matcher.

Did you just have with your avocado toast? No, those are the sorts of things I love. What cocktail is that? I'm embarrassingly basic as a person, potentially. But I do love a spice margarita. I do love a glass of wine, but I don't drink very much. I probably drink like twice a month. But when I was in my 20s, I found not drinking very isolating.

And I felt, I remember so clearly someone saying to me, like, at dinner, a party of people who we'd been at uni together. And someone's flat. And they were like, sat down next to me. And someone's like, do you want wine? And I said, no. And the person next to me said, oh my gosh, I'm sitting next to you? this is going to be so boring and I've carried that kind of fear of being boring because I'm not drinking with me. It's still like my deepest beer now is being boring. Someone sent us an

Instagram message and replied to the show being like, you two are so funny and I was like no one's ever called me. We were celebrating work. I was like my gosh, people normally laugh at me, not with me. Thanks guys. Anyway, I just felt so ostracized. I just felt like such a loser and I then started pretending to drink. So I would say like, yes, I'll have white wine or I'll have red wine and almost like semi drink it. I used to do that. Yeah, no one asked any questions. No. And I was lucky because at uni, I was a mature student anyway at 21, not really, but I was a singer. So my excuse for not drinking and it always was my voice and being a classical soprano. I noticed that. But I had no social life because half the time I didn't want to be out late because this borecore thing is great

to me, this 2024 trend. That was me like 15 years ago. Not drinking. and staying in. I think that's me always, my whole life. But now it's cool, Ella. So, look, there's so many spirits that are alcohol-free. And I'm like, you, I love a glass of bubbly, actually. That's my one thing is I do love a Prosecco. And I think this emergence of all these amazing brands, like they've got Carouse.

I love that. Stephanie Ellswood created that brand. Spencer Maffed users got Clean Co. Yeah, I tried one recently called Three Spirit. That was absolutely delicious. Yeah, it was so good. And seed lips everywhere. Exactly.

So there's always different brands. And didn't Millie Macintosh. just released a book about being sober. So it's cool now, right? I think that's it. First of all, there was a Vogue shared a piece this month. So obviously being January on the 10 wellness trends to know for 2025. And that one of those was drinking less alcohol. And then, as you said, Millie McIntosh has just brought out her book, Bad Drunk. And then there's the Molly May documentary. Have you seen her? Oh my goodness. I watched it the minute it came out. Me too. Yeah. Over the weekend. And I really enjoyed it. But again, she was talking about how

alcohol had had a really detrimental impact on their family. So it just feels like a lot of younger people talking about not necessarily having an addiction issue to alcohol, although that's, of course, a very important topic, but actually just being negative influence on their life. So trying to drink much less. And as you said, as you know, I love a stat. And so Drinkware have reported that as of 2021, so this is a couple of years out of day, 28% of young adults in the UK do not drink alcohol.

68% of consumers, this is of last year, had tried no or low alcohol alternatives. And 80% of people believe that those alternatives are now more socially acceptable than they were five years ago. So this is such a great trend and I wanted to celebrate it. It's so good. I was with the girls I sing with in our little quartet at the weekend and we're of the generational, they are particularly as well, where a lot of musicians, believe it or not, drink a lot of alcohol. It's the same as doctors. It's this big kind of cultural way of winding down. But I think

the new generations of Cotton Don, hey, there's zero benefit alcohol. It makes me feel rubbish. So well done, everybody, for actually doing a better job. But you're right. It can be socially isolating, but... And that feels like that's shifting. And I just thought that was such a brilliant thing. And again, not to judge people for ever drink here. As I said, I love a spicy mug. But to drink less, that feels inherently very, very positive. So every week we unpack trends that we've seen and trends that perhaps we might try for you live. And today is the day I've just been dreading it. I've been sat here the whole time we've been talking with these two flasks.

Actually, they're very cute little cups from Ella's kids that she's made some concoctions for me. And I've spoken about one of them before on the BBC and one of them is called Oat Sempick. And the other is Cheerwater. Ella, over to you. Okay, and just clarify it's Oat Sempe. it, like O-A-T, just porridge out. And obviously, a Zemik and the conversation around these weight loss drugs has exploded over the last couple of years.

We're going to delve into that into another episode because there was just so much to say that I think we can't cover it here. I do think if you want after this to kind of immediately learn a bit, Johan Hari talks a lot about it. He wrote a big book on it called Magic Pill, and you can listen to him on something like Dari of a CEO. He does present the pros and cons of it in a really interesting way. So if you want to learn more, that's worth having a quick listen to.

But basically, oat zempic is a natural, I want to say replica. Of course, it's not a replica of the drug. It's not remotely a replica. No, we're going. But it's a TikTok play on. But the idea is that because oats are full of beta glucon, which is a soluble fiber, the slow digestion, helps you keep full. It's going to mimic the same effects in the sense of you won't be hungry, so you'll eat less. That's why I'm meant by a replica.

So to make it, you're going to blend half a cup of oats with one cup of water and the juice of half a lime. I couldn't wait to talk to you about it and get your opinion on the lime because that's why I got quite fixated on last night. So I read so many articles, why the lime is a lime and appetite suppressant. I was on the Mayo Clinic where they'd done a piece of it and she was like, no, why not vanilla or cinnamon? Like something a bit yummier. Anyway, it's really easy. I remind that, oh, it's a super good for you. So from your half cup of oats, you can get four grams of fibre.

You can get five grams of protein, you get lots of vitamins and minerals, 10% of your iron intake. So this is not bad. Like your egg pot is not bad. Not in any shape or form because oats are really good for you, as we said. But it's just weird. Why do we have to blend them? They look so rank. Because their appetites.

It's like another, should we try it first? And then I'll go into the, I'll be the negative nunny about it. Poorie, because I made these this morning at home. And before I took the kids at school. guy who's my older daughter who looks me, she went, mommy, I don't want to eat that. That looks disgusting. I was like, it's a gay, it's not for you. Thanks, man. It's a treat for relator. But I was also interestingly making the kids porridge at the same time with essentially the same ingredients. Of course. But using milk and add with berries and things to theirs and some

almond butter. And I thought, lime to us, dash of water. Yeah. And I just thought, oh, I wish I could add more to it. Anyway, cheer. So just to describe it, it's turned, obviously, because of the oats. It's like a pale white liquid. It looks almost like a plant milk. You need to kind of shake it up. We can't because we've got straws in it because all the ground down oats kind of sit to the bottom of the cup.

Yeah, it's like a thick, more gelatinous oat milk. Oh, I'm too. Oh, my God. No, calm. Oh my God. That is horrible. Because you get the lime first and then you get thick bits of oak stuck in your straw.

Oh, my God. That really is. What a waste of your morning. It's okay. It was so. quick. It really was so quick. It's the lime, because the lime adds the flavor. It's like you've got a citrus hint of juice. There's no nutrition benefit to adding the line, by the way, whatsoever. So I gather. If anything, it's a fermentation dream that crazy is going to kick off.

It's just an appetite suppressant. People were just playing on O-Zempic and Oat. And I can honestly say that's the only reason why. And I would not recommend having this over actually eating your porridge because when you drink things, it hits your bloodstream at a faster rate. So what this is actually you're going to do is this is going to cause your blood glucose to rocket and then crash. So this is not a good way to start your morning because even the small amount of protein you get from the oats because we blended everything together, it's just going to be a huge spike and then you'll get a huge crash and you'll probably, you will probably feel hungry again. But if we had mixed it with some nut butter, we sprinkled some pumpkin seeds or some hemp seeds or something and we had

some banana on it. Then it would be like a smoothie. No, I don't mean a smoothie. I mean as a bowl. Then we would actually really stabilise our blood sugar. Love porridge. And feel great. Yeah, absolutely. So why would you drink this watery line?

Let me just hang on, one more go. I wouldn't recommend one more go. No, I can't. Because the straws at the bottom and I'm just getting out. I would drink the lime water. Yeah. It's just again, I can't say it enough. Healthy should be fun.

It should be joyous. It should be great. You should look forward to your breakfast. Oh, raw oats. It's just there's so, loads of great ingredient. And a tablespoon of oats, by the way, in your smoothie. is really nice, and it's really good for you, as you said, and it tastes really nice. You can get all this benefit in an edible manner.

Exactly. I mean, tell me who exactly is even drinking these drinks. Who's making these? Well, one TikTok video I was watching last night, which is one of the ones that lots of people have written about when they're talking about Oates and PIC. He said he lost 40 pounds in two months doing this because his appetite was so under control. That's what the BBC asked me. That was the person, 40 pounds. But that's not safe.

That's not a good amount of weight to lose in one month. But also, wouldn't you have had the same benefit in terms of, of being less hungry if you had filled out with a really delicious oat-based meal. It's like people that juice, though, this is the equivalent of a juice fast. It's just you're blending oats of water instead of blending vegetables and fruit. So our next one I think looks much better. Our next one is in the same world, but it's cheer water. And this is, again, these are so easy.

And so, you know, all credit for that. It's literally just two tablespoons of cheer seeds with a cup of water and then a squeeze of lemon. How much lemon did you put in? I had a bit of a, I'm sorry, a bit of a rank, I'll get the glasses. A bit of a slightly old-looking lemon that didn't give me much juice. Glass for Ella, glass for me. So, you want to spoon that, though, because it's going to go all over the there. Yeah, because the cheer seeds have expanded.

So, cheer seeds absorbed little nutrition fact, 10 times their weight in water, which is why people make puddings with them, they become gelatinous, they become thick. I love cheer pudding. Yeah, me too. I love it. It's an expensive ingredient, though. Let's just put this out there. This is not your everyday ingredient.

and it should be, but it's really expensive. But it is really good for you, super rich in fiber, healthy fats, omega-3, exactly, which is hard to get, protein, antioxidants, micronutrients. So lots of benefit in this. It took me 15 seconds to make. My kids love cheer seeds, so this could be a thing. Let's go. Just go. I can drink that because it doesn't, the oat thing was just disastrous.

I can drink cheer water. I like it. But I like the texture. Some people won't like cheer seeds because they look a bit like frogs, you know, when they expand. Is it frog spore? It's frog's born. I was going to say frog sperm and I was like, no, it's frog's born. Yeah. Frog sperm doesn't make us. I'm sorry everyone. No, I remember first making cheer pudding when I was starting cooking and I was cooking up with my mum. And she hates it,

she thought it was frogs born. I've always loved it, a big fan cheer pudding. Me too. And I think this is interesting. You said cheersies are expensive, but they are like super, super for dense and nutrition. And so actually, if you are maybe looking for things that fill you up, that maybe support you. But do not replace your meal. My one word of warning with these type of items on TikTok is they should not be seen as meal replacements. Cheer water, like Ella said, put it alongside a meal.

Yeah, or after a meal. After a meal, a piece of fruit. But cheeses are really good for you. I would rather this with a bit of yogh, a tablespoon of oats mixed in and have it as a cheer pudding for breakfast. I love cheer pudding. Me too. I think it's super, super delicious. How do you make your cheer pudding, not sink?

We need tips from Ella here. So you know when you put it in the fridge overnight, you've whisked it up. How does it not all sink to the bottom? It does a little bit, but I think yogurt really helps. So it's a mix of yogurt and milk. Like a natural emulsifier. Exactly. And then I find some oats really helps.

So I'll do half oats and half chia. Then some yogurt, a little bit of milk. Mix it all up. As she said, pop in the fridge overnight. It's super yummy. I know she said some people don't like cheese seeds. But if you do, that's delicious. If you listen, everybody, let us know if you make this.

And you've just heard how good. good both cheer seeds and oats are for you. And I think that's a more delicious take on both cheer water and oat zempic. But if you are looking for something, I'd say cheer water, I'm going to give that a six out of ten, zero out of ten for oats, Zempec. I kind of would echo, but I'm actually just going to say five out of ten because it's just an addition. It's just an addition to a meal. If it's a cheer pudding, Ella, I would probably go ten out of ten. Maybe I'll make you cheer pudding next week. Thank you. Okay, so we're going to move on to our last section, which is our listener questions.

And we actually had quite a lot of similar questions on supplements. So just to take two from you, in the last episode, you touched upon green powders, but I wondered if you'd consider doing a longer podcast on supplements. They said, I know supplements are very unique to the individual, but it really is a mind field. 100% agree that. I wondered if you suggest any sort of testing to see if you're deficient in something. As a vegetarian female in my late 30s,

exhausted with two small children and running a business. I did not write this, but it sounds like you. it's confusing to know what to do and then she says some of the things that she takes and then very similar question from someone else who was talking about testing and a test that involves sending some strands of hair and they were saying I'm really doubting the accuracy slash science behind this however my results show I'm deficient in a few different vitamins and minerals I eat such a varied diet made up of loads of different plants whole grains beans pulses etc so I'm really really surprised even though I'm doubting the accuracy I'm now

slightly concerned that I'm lacking these things I want to have it checked properly I got in touch my GP who will test my B12 levels, but nothing else. I'm looking online but can't see anywhere offering full vitamin and mineral tests. There are some DIY kits, but I'm not sure who to trust. Is there an affordable and trustworthy way to test if I have any deficiencies before I supplement unnecessarily? What are my filled? I mean, let's start with listener question one with the busy mum of two, late 30s, knackard. I mean, it is just an exhausting period of your life.

So there may not, it may just be that it is exhausting. we have to go easier on ourselves before we jump to the conclusion of something wrong with us because we are tired like Ella and I are exhausted all the time we are always exhausted always tired but I don't doubt that you are feeling that way and it is really really difficult and of course no one should offer you bespoke supplement advice without knowing your health history there's so much involved and this is why supplements are crazy they're so unregulated because anyone can buy one over the counter that's why I like to the second question saying before I start supplementing unnecessarily

because let's talk about the supplements that we all need or most of us need like vitamin D. There's very few we all need. If you are vegan or plant-based and don't get a lot of healthy omega-3s and the conversion rate of plant-based amegas is a lot slower than the ones you would consume

via the carrier of a fish or something. So amygifery is really, really important. Amiga-3, you get walnuts and you get an avocados, oily fish, I would 100% recommend. Problem is it's expensive. And actually good quality Amiga 3 supplements are pricey. So something to consider bulking up in your diet. Flack seeds that's cheaper way. A big pack of cheer seeds is probably all going to be cheaper than getting a supplement. Vitamin D, there's no question in it. There's nothing to question. Everybody should be having at least 10 micrograms, which is the recommended dose. A lot of people say you need higher.

that it's just not worth getting higher until you've had a blood test. So I'm surprised. But other people don't need a blood test to take the recommended amount. Children, it's the same. We're just not getting enough sunlight, unfortunately, in the northern hemisphere. We don't get any. And now we have sun cream in the summer. We definitely block the absorption of vitamin D.

And vitamin D plays a role of your immune system, plays a role with your mental health, your bone health. There's so many links in so many different areas now with vitamin D. They are the two that I would say everybody needs. Now, when it comes to being vegan, B12, iodine, selenium and zinc and potentially iron are all the key areas. Some people will always be predisposed to being anemic and they eat loads of iron in their diet. It's just the way we're built. So definitely check with your GP there on that one.

I'm amazed this GP will only test your B12. That's really odd to me. You can always ask your GP to tick other panels. There are some nutrients you cannot measure in blood like calcium and certain areas. but guys most of you take a multivit can do more harm than good because all the different nutrients compete and you've got a way up how good is my diet versus how much filling of the gaps do I need and this is why I built Retrition Plus I mean I'm not in a position now to be and we've kind of sold out but you know we're sold out it's only a few pregnant multi-multies left but yeah unless you're pregnant unless you're aging you've got a certain condition

no one needs extra stuff on top of vitamin D or if you're vegan or plant-based the other areas there that I've just discussed. Should we do hair tests very quickly? Yes, tell us about hair tests. So I have been seeing hair tests since I first went to university. You know, a small lock of your hair sent to the lab. And apparently it scans the energy fields in your hair. You know, this...

Like the use of apparently there. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, it used to be used for drug use. So if people are recreationally taking drugs, like for lead and mercury poisoning, but it definitely is not an accurate way of saying if you've got an allergy or intolerance. There's just no science behind a lock of your hair

containing any of that information. The only way to truly know. And believe me, if we knew, we wouldn't be spending a fortune on the NHS. If there was a test kit, we could send home to everybody. Obviously we would. Like, it's a no-brainer. But the only way of doing it is please keep a food diary first

before you book in a blood test with your GP or anybody because otherwise you're not going to have accurate levels in your body of what's going on. then you look at the supplement options after the blood test to tell you if you're deficient or if you're low or if you really need some support, then you start to look at your diet, take a bit out and then start adding it in slowly. It's elimination and most people should do it supervised. Okay.

So the advice is basically, don't start supplementing unnecessarily. Really look at your diet, get as much of a balanced diet as possible so that you're getting on those different vitamins and minerals. Everybody go get vitamin D if you're not taking it already. be very conscious of your omega-3 intake, potentially something to supplement, and then if you're plant-based, exactly, then you definitely need B-12 and be very conscious about the other vitamins and minerals. Wording on vitamin K, just quickly, because a lot of people sell vitamin K of vitamin D,

and I did so much digging into this when I bought Retrition Plus, but you know, you only need one microgram a day of vitamin K for each kilo of body weight, and most people get that so, so easily. And actually, it's stored in your liver for future use, any excess you get. You can do more harm than good by taking vitamin K with vitamin D because it starts to build up because it's a fat soluble vitamin in your liver. And people don't realize that. They see it everywhere. K helps absorption.

It doesn't directly do that. Where do you get it from in your diet? In your diet, you get vitamin K from your leafy greens. You get it from cereals again. Most people are having that every single day. So you're definitely getting it. Thank you so much for tuning in. Honestly, we love reading your feedback, your comments.

So these bonus scoop episodes have been pulled together by subjects you have asked for. So thank you. We want to tailor the show around you because we would not be here without you. So all your comments on Spotify on Apple have helped bring this together. Exactly. Keep those questions, reviews, comments, queries coming because we are spending a lot of time going through them all. We're finding the Wellness Scoop, making it as good as it can be for you guys. And don't forget, first of September, we're back all singing or dancing, ready for the Wellness Scoop.

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