The Wellness Scoop - Can Foods Boost Weight Loss Hormones? Fruit Juice & Supplement Myths

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

Can certain foods really boost the hormones linked to appetite and weight regulation? Has fruit juice been unfairly demonised? And why are NHS staff increasingly spending their time debunking supplement misinformation? This week we unpack the growing trend around "natural GLP-1" foods and explore what the science actually says about appetite, fullness and weight loss. We also dive into surprising new research challenging some of the assumptions around fruit juice, including its impact on blood sugar, weight gain and overall health. Plus, we discuss why healthcare professionals are becoming increasingly concerned about the rise of supplement misinformation online, explore fascinating new research on yoga and cancer recovery, and look at what the London Marathon's expansion tells us about the continued running boom. To get 30-days free on The Way App, head to thewayapp.com/wellnessscoop Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ For more from Rhi and Ella:  Order your copy of Ella's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quick Wins: Healthy Cooking for Busy Lives⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order your copy of Rhi's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Fibre Formula⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up to ⁠Rhitrition+⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. Honestly, if you have listened to me any time over the last few months, you know I have become a little bit evangelical about this app. And I honestly recommend it to everyone. My friends, my family, people on Instagram, everyone. And she recommended it to me, so it's true. I've heard so much about it. It's just because it has had such a big impact on me.

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which is led by Henry, the founder, who's just the most amazing teacher. And he makes it seem somehow just incredibly simple, but exceptionally profound at the same time, which is a very rare skill. And I've been using it too. Yes, I've now finally begun a meditation journey and I've been doing some of the shorter practices on busy days because I completely understand why you talk about it so much, Ella. It really is a nice intro in for me. Yeah, it is and I'm so glad. Anyway, it's helped me feel so much calmer, less reactive, more present. It all sounds like huge claims, but I just say, please, please, please try it if you're struggling with stress or overwhelm.

You've just got to give it a go. And the lovely thing is that everyone listening can definitely try it themselves. Exactly. So you can get a 30-day free trial, so just try it every day for a month. It'll change your life. All you do is head to theway app.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yeah, that's thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration.

And as always, we're both here as your host. I'm Ella Males. And I'm Riannan Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be. And that's why we are here with our podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living, simple, fun and personal. Guys, we have just had two consecutive weeks of being top of the charts. And you know we've said when we're like, guys, we've got to number three. And then a few months ago it was like, guys, we're actually getting a couple of consistent number two.

And we've just had consistent number ones. And we're so happy and thank you so much. Very, very, very surreal. But it goes to show, I think more and more of us joining our lovely scooper community. And we're just all very fed up with all the noise confusion and just being treated like we don't really know what's going on, Ella, and that's why we're here to cut through it all. So we do have some listener feedback as well, Ella,

that you've popped in today, which is from Gemma, which I think is really lovely. Yes, exactly that. And hopefully also this is just like a fun space each week. I don't know. I love listening to podcasts while I dog war, while I commute, whatever. And I just hopefully this is, yeah, fun and inspiring. Anyway, thank you for your feedback.

We had such an amazing message from Gemma, and she's also got some really great advice for everyone. We talked about health anxiety. A few weeks ago, it's obviously something I said that I have struggled with. And also it seems that lots of you have as well. Anyway, Gemma has been through some really big challenges and had some amazing advice that we wanted to share with you all. So this is straight from her, she said, at 23, I was diagnosed with a very rare blood cancer

and have since had two tumours removed from bones. Within a week of experiencing sudden chronic pain, my life completely turned upside down. It has now been about a year since my first round of treatment. and we're hopeful that this may be it. Still, I'm living with a lot of uncertainty. I have spent a lot of time working with my medical team, including an amazing psychologist. After listening to the episode a few weeks ago about health anxiety,

I wanted to share something that's helped me manage mine. We call it worry postponement. When I notice the symptoms such as a headache, I write it in a physical diary, and schedule a time to check in on it a few days later. For example, if I feel pain on Monday, I'll set a reminder to review the pain on Wednesday. Most of the time the symptom has passed

and there was no need to spend days worrying about it. If it's still there, I decide on the next step, such as postponing the worry again or raising it with my medical team. This has helped me transfer the worry to my diary instead of carrying it constantly. I know the reminder will prompt me to check in later, which allows me to feel more at ease in the meantime.

First of all, Gemma, thank you for sharing. Second of all, I'm so glad you think this might be it for your treatment. We've obviously got everything crossed for you and sending so much love. But thirdly, I just thought, what an amazing practical piece of advice. And I think this goes way beyond health anxiety to just general worries, concerns, things that we can sometimes sort of catastrophize, actually trying to move that worry, as you said, Jemma, from our mind onto pen and paper, that we can then come back to it, but actually really digest it, but also kind of physically remove it. I think it's just amazingly sage advice. Really sage advice.

And also incredibly brave of you to share with us something that's something that's. so deeply personal. Wow, you are so resilient at just 23 being diagnosed there as well. You are an inspiration to us all. So thank you for writing in and sharing that with us. Ella, how has the start, have your week been this week? The start of my week, oh, I just went for a walk down a wildflower me with the dogs and now I've got a raspberry smoothie next to me. So I'm feeling very on brand this morning, if I'm honest, Ray. So no, life is good. We are, um, spoiler. We're recording a week earlier than we normally do because we've both got a holiday coming up at the beginning of the school holidays, which is so exciting. We're going off to meet some friends of my husband from when he used to

live in America in New Yorker, which is so fun. They've got kids and so it should be amazing. And then we've got a few days with my whole family with my mum coming up after that. So yeah, really excited. How about you? Love that. We are off to in the UK Lakes Bayou, which I think is near like the Cotswolds area. I've never been. and I'm really excited. I'm taking the kids by myself, actually, because my husband's away with work. So it's going to be one of those sorts of trips. And I've never done it before, Ella. So this is going to be an interesting one for me.

And I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I felt very empowered recently. I've been doing lots of things that I normally wouldn't do. I had a fuse box issues last night. I dealt with it myself. You know, all the sorts of things that we should be able to do. And I almost felt nervous bringing this up. I don't want to get judged in the wrong way, but it can be quite empowering when you just take control,

just like our recommendation from Gemma is. It's just like when you take control and you realize I can do these things. It's just I need to have the confidence and belief in myself that I can do everything. And yeah, girls, we're all incredible. And then we had our Retrition Plus Menopause chat with Dr. Philippa Kaye. And I'm completely nuttily inspired. Philip Kay is also someone that survived about cancer and been through so much and she shared some absolute wisdom.

So I'm feeling motivated, Ella, I feel like this is the week. And we have got some incredible headlines. Yeah, I love it. This is our empowered week, guys. Sears the day. Okay, we are going to be talking about there has been so much in the press about, and we mentioned it a few weeks. So kind of like make your own as MPEC kind of GLP ones.

But now it's like the GLP one boosting food. So we're going to break down all those headlines. because there have just been a plethora. Is fruit juice healthier than we thought? Again, lots of headlines about free juice. Again, I think maybe heat wave related. So more on that and blood sugar, smoothies, orange juice, etc. The supplement myths filling NHS appointments.

There were some really shocking stats that came out there. We're excited to get into yoga's surprising benefit for cancer patients. This is very interesting and why running is booming like never before. So lots and lots of things to get into. this week. So Rie, should we just dive straight in? Let's go. So our first headline today is on GLP-1s. It's absolutely everywhere we picked up an article in The Times. We've picked up articles from the teller everywhere with people that are claiming that foods Ella can mimic the response to GLP-1s. It is so confusing, but as you said, I've seen it in pretty much every newspaper

and then obviously also so much online as well. Exactly this, this idea that you can like mimic the impact of GLP-1s by eating certain foods. We will go through all the ins and outs, but re, is it fair to say from the top, it's just fundamentally not true? It's absolutely not true. We have to remember that we're discussing comparing medications and extremely strong doses where the impact of the appetite suppressant, the side effect, lasts for up to some. seven days or more compared to just a quick response that's naturally occurring in our body that

can last up to two to three minutes. So I understand, once again, as with everything that gets blown out of proportion, there's always a slight element of truth underneath it all. That's where it stems from. And then this little root of a tree kind of grows far too big and turns into a web of lies or a tree of lies, however you want to describe it. I think that's such an important point just to pause on really quickly before we get into the ins and outs of this. It's exactly that because we obviously get all your emails, which we love keep them coming. Hello at Wellness-Scoop.com,

but so much of what you say when you're like, is this true? Is this not true? It comes from somewhere. I don't think there's anything that probably any of us see online that's like 100% false in the sense of at some point there was a study and experience. You know, we see that in like a ketogenic diet.

Absolutely amazing studies on that. just it began with epileptic children, but incredibly effective. And so it's just the way that things end up kind of evolving and iterating and then being taken out of context. That's the key issue, right? As you're saying, like, there are foods that have this. It's just it has a one-minute impact, not a seven-day impact. So it doesn't do the same thing. And I think that's where it all gets so confusing because it's not fundamentally like complete nonsense. It's just so out of context. incredibly out of context and you know glp1 stands for glucogon like peptide 1 so that's one of the responses there's a hormone that our body produces primarily from these cells we call l cells that

are in our small intestine so this is why we always talk about the importance of the foods we eat that feed our gut bugs as well because that journey down the digestive tract is incredibly important for how fully feel and the quality of food you eat does impact that but ultimately that GLP1, it signals fullness to our brain and then it slows the emptying of the stomach and that's what helps with our insulin, the kind of lock and key effect that's happening in our blood when our blood sugars rise after we've eaten a meal

because guys, that's normal. Remember, we discussed that last week, we will get peaks, we will get troughs after we eat a meal. And then we reduce the secretion of glucagon which helps regulate our appetite and blood sugar. And the problem is that that natural impact is broken down so quickly by enzymes in our body. You know, like Ella just said, that is around one to two minutes long.

Most of the hormone is degraded before it even reaches wider circulation. Otherwise, if we naturally produce the same dose as a medicated version of these antagonists, we just would never eat. And we are designed to get hungry at different periods of the day. And the actual gLP one has many different names because there's many different times. because there's many different types now, Ella, but some are glutide, which is known, I think, the most popular one. Most people still know, don't they?

It will go over your Zempic, I would say, is not actually that hormone GLP1. It's a receptor agonist, and that's the difference. It's a synthetic molecule. It's made in a lab. You know, scientists have literally, literally created a structure that binds so strongly to the receptors that it remains active for a week,

a whole week. This is such a great example, right? In Forbes, which I think we would all see as like a pretty reputable outlet. And they have a headline four ways to stimulate the effects of a Zempic with food. So that makes you feel from the offset that you can, by the way. And then it's look, let's say just from the outset, what they're recommending is all very good health advice. Number one, increase intake of soluble fibre. We love that.

Number two, eat more lean protein, preferably plant-based protein. We love it. Three, consume more healthy fats. This is all excellent health advice for favoured polyphenol reached foods, which we've talked about being so, so healthy for us. This is all 10 out of 10 health advice, all things that we should be doing. It's not going to be the same as a Zen pick. But that doesn't sell someone's book and that doesn't make their headlines.

And we have to remember that I would question the credibility of any health professional that is telling you because they're jumping on a trend and they are trying to get traction from it. And it's actually not ethical. I have a real moral compass issue with this, for instance. I don't think any health pressure should be telling you because you can't do this. You just cannot fundamentally create the same impact from the healthy diet. I mean, the healthy diet is what we need to do long term. It's the long term strategy for sustained health, you know, food hormone release is important. But also what we have to remember is different body shapes and sizes and different reactions to the foods we eat. So the more body fat you carry, the less. The less

impactful our hormone and our secretions and our satisfaction levels become because of the dysregulation of our hormones. So actually that's why these medications were invented in the first place for people in larger body sizes or for those who are diabetted out with their insulin, of course, because it was very effective. That's what this drug was first used for. And that's why, by mass blanketly making these statements about food and this hormone, it will never work for everybody and you just cannot mimic that release. I have a real issue with it, Ella, that, you know, you can't directly compare a medication with a food. It's absurd. This is obviously it's, you know, slightly different publication to Forbes, but the New York Post has five things that

may mimic a Zen pic. And that's like cinnamon, you quoting an in vitro study and, you know, ginger. And anyway, I think what we have to say with this, which is why we wanted to talk about it, is I think we're always, we have this default in our collective society. And I am, and I think, Rie, I can say for you, like, we all get it. We can always sucked into it. A quick fix and a simple solution is so appealing. And the idea that I could just like sprinkle a little cinnamon in my life and a little ginger and I'm going to have the same effects, how appealing is that?

But it's just fundamentally untrue. And I think it's really important. I think what people are trying to say is these are, the types of foods or approaches to eating that will also keep you feeling full. That's a very uncompelling headline comparatively, but I think that's the premise, right? Is that eating, for example, like, you know, plant proteins like beans, that will keep you more full. I think this is what basically was, as I look at it, I think that's what all of these headlines are trying to say. Well, what's so interesting as well is, do you remember when everybody was talking about those food

ranges, you know, fuller for longer. That was a really big thing many, many moons ago. But actually, I was, wasn't it? I feel like that's gone. I feel like there was so many TV ads that were always like, keeps you fuller for longer, locks up your hunger till lunchtime. Yeah. Which had locked up your hunger till lunchtime. Probably a serial, isn't it? Like a tiger or something. Shreddies. Shreddy lock up till lunch. That came out in 1999. There you go. And I think fuller for a longer may have been an MNS range. But I'm pretty sure there was a clampdown on restrictions of what you can and can't say because the claim was so drastic.

In a way, you weren't really allowed to say it advertising. I think we need to have a look back into the history of this because it's absolutely fascinating. But those sorts of food claims aren't technically correct to use. So this is why I'm amazed that people are getting. This is why you won't see people comparing food to GLP ones on packets because you can't write that sort of claim down. But anyway, people are using it to sell their products, their articles, their books, and it's very misleading. So to conclude, we know that we want to eat a lovely, healthy diet that's full of all these components, to feed our gut. I love all the things you listed in that

Forbes article. Fantastic. And it's true that they will all keep you, like, they will keep your hunger locked up until lunchtime, much more effectively than tradies. And so that's all true. Like, they will keep you less, you know, craving of like, well, obviously a huge emotional cue to it, but like, you won't be like starving hungry really quickly. It keeps you satisfied. So it keeps your blood sugar level steady when you have fibre protein and fats together, whereas you're going to get that massive spike in insulin and a big crash if you've just had refined carbohydrates on their own, for instance. So yeah, absolutely sage advice there as well. Yeah, quick fix is attempting. But unfortunately, these things, yeah, can't do what medication

can do. Right. This one was so interesting. Again, something I keep seeing lots of as well. And then this headline was from The Times, not just a sugar bomb, why it's okay to drink fruit juice after all. And I think that's so interesting because fruit juice has had a pretty rough time, I would say. And I think that's because of a kind of boom of fruit juice drinks, like a sunny delight, tropical kind of vibes. and then people realizing that those weren't so good for us. And I feel... Wasn't really delight, banned Ella. As a kid, I actually personally didn't like the taste.

It didn't taste real to me. But I'm sure it's one of those drinks that in the 90s, so I'm talking childhood, was banned. Okay, it was never banned by health authorities or governments, but the brand faced a massive PR crisis and plummeting sales in the early 2000s that led to drastic recipe changes and a major rebranded. But in 1999, apparently a four-year-old girl in the UK was reported to have turned yellow or orange,

which was discovered to be, although very shocking, a harmless temporary condition caused by consuming excessive amounts of the drink. She was drinking about 1.5 litres a day because I had so much beta carotene in, which was creating this natural orange food coloring. So, I mean, we're talking about extraordinary numbers of it anyway. And then there were advertising bans. Apparently they had a ban in 2000. three because they were having misleading comparisons between the sugar content and that vegetables. So I think it has had a bit of a tough time. It just never, never tasted like orange juice to me. I just remember I just never used to like it, but I can see why so many children got hooked and I can see why she turned orange because, you know, that's a lot of

additives. You just would not be able to formulate a product like that today. Can I just say, though, because the same thing apparently can happen if you drink excessive amounts of carrot juice. I have seen. We know the kind of like influencers. To get a tan, they used to put it in the press. Yeah. And also the influences the kind of like raw vegan no oil sort of influences on YouTube and Instagram. I kind of feel like not in fashion anymore. But I feel like I saw them saying the same thing. Like you'll get a glow because you're having so much juice. Anyway, sorry, we digress away from the headlines. So fruit juice has had a pretty rough few decades. But it's one of the baines of my life, because comparing it to, you know, sugar bombs, again, where's the

nuance in between here? And most people aren't sold portions, you know, portions are 150 mil. You just don't see a bottle that's 150 mil. The mini ones are double that. So straight away, everybody that's buying a bottle that's having double what they should. Yes, I always think that's interesting. It's like cereal portions. You know, we were talking about like cornflakes and stuff last week. funny enough my kids this morning were like why didn't we have corn flakes for breakfast and I was like because they have one gram of fiber girls but the 30 gram of that is so small anyways re I want to talk about this with you I have so many questions for you on this one because basically there has been this kind of complete demonisation and blanket demonisation I would say of both juices and

smoothies and I think it doesn't take into account obviously the continuum with which these things exist. On one side you've got like fruit shoots and sunny July in tropicana and on the other side you've got not to be like overly virtuous but what I'm drinking right now which is cashew butter, kaffir, like cheer seeds, hemp seeds, raspberries. It's a very different kind of smoothie and then, but I think we become a little bit like they're all the same that all these toxic fruit bombs or whatever. So can we just go through this one by one? First, of all whole fruit versus smoothies versus juice. And let's just as you actually know, let's go one above that. Let's start with supermarket versus homemade because I think that's really, really helpful.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, first of all, the comparison has come around a time where we were putting levies around the world on trying to reduce sugar sweeten beverages. So we became aware as a population that drinking excessive free sugars, so remember we discussed this last week that free sugars are when you break down the cell wall of a fruit and those sugars become more readily available for our body. Now, the concern is that by removing the fibre from the fruits, of course, you know, that we know the gold standards is to eat the piece of fruit because it gives you the fiber. It does create a rapid blood sugar spike and that's what can contribute. What research has originally thought was just the main driver of obesity, type 2 diabetes and poor metapodic health over time. So the reason everything was kind of put in one umbrella and unbracket

was that people were comparing the amount of free sugars to Coca-Cola and orange juice. And you had all of those debates that were going spreading like wildfire. Do you remember? There was so much of that with like innocent drinks. Like, you know, innocent drinks are the same as Coca-Cola sort of thing. Yeah. And that's highly, I mean, it's very clever marketing. But it's very, very deceptive because of course, you know, an orange juice contains folate,

which is highly beneficial, vitamin C, of course, some other key nutrients that we cannot ignore. And for some people, it really is portion control. But what's interesting is when you take a supermarket juice, often, Ella, it's not just freshly squeezed orange juice.

So there is a difference, again, when we delve into purees, when we delve into concentrate, and again, how available those sugars are within our body. because when you freshly juice, you still get a bit of pulp, you still retain. I've got one of those traditional, my grandma used to have one. You know, when you cut an orange and half and you push it down, like the old Morkal Mum and Wise sketch that they have in the kitchen.

I mean, that's showing what an old soul I am at heart there, but you retain the pulp from these types of fresh juices and actually it takes so many oranges just to make one portion, like six oranges to make one bit of fruit juice. Also, store-bought ones can actually be watered down as well. And have added syrups and sugars. Yeah. And then even just the kind of like just single ingredient ones, generally speaking to then get the shelf life,

they're generally all pasteurized. And pasteurizing then also affects the vitamin content of it. Do you remember we talked about the kind of big panorama documentaries that came out on BBC talking, for example, about children's pouches? And that a pouch that was just mango, for example, example, did anything else added to it, but it was almost like 90% less vitamin C than if you had just blended up a mango yourself. And so I think that's a really key bit, whereas as you're saying,

really loads of us struggle, obviously as we know, one in five of us managed to get our five a day. So if you're making a homemade orange juice and then you're having it with a fiber rich or, you know, healthy fat, like healthy protein rich meal, you're not having it. You're actually getting some real benefit. in there, which you're not really, if we're being honest, from store-bought versions. So I think this is where the scandal with the baby food is how deceptive is that and crushing for parents that are buying pouches that have that claim on the front saying it contains vitamin C and they're not actually getting what they were promised. It's just terrible.

Fruit juice you will still get, even with the pasteurization, small amounts. So for those that can't afford it, I mean, we have to also remember the privilege conversation here of the cost of living right now. Most people are not going to be buying 12 oranges to make one portion for a family, you know, as a one-off. So, of course, having it will still have benefits, but the issue is the portion size of it. And to be in the position I feel very fortunate to be in, I love the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice.

I hate that my children might grow up to see orange juice that's from a whole fruit being compared to Coca-Cola or to see something. that some people online are saying doesn't exist in nature anymore. There are some absolutely absurd things, but we need more transparency in the way food is produced and made. I'm sure a lot of people listening didn't know that orange juice could also be pasteurized. You know, I'm sure that might come as a bit of a shock. So, really, okay, let's then take whole fruit versus juice versus smoothies, assuming you're

making it at home, because I think that's a really helpful way of thinking about these things as well. It's a great hierarchy. Smoothies will always come first in terms of, um, you know, you know, Being slightly better, depending how you make them everyone. And again, shop-bought smoothies versus a homemade smoothie, I would say a worlds apart. Considering what most tend to be made palatable, they have to be quite sweet. So you're unlikely to get a large percentage of a vegetable added to a shop-bought smoothie,

even if it claims to have kale in it. It's like 2%. It's negligible. It's like no point drinking it for the vegetable they've added to their concoction or mix. Whereas at home, you have the beauty of being able to add a protein source like a nut butter. You've got cashew this morning, Ella, in yours. Let's use yours as an example. Kaffa also contains protein.

It contains live bacteria cultures. It's an absolutely incredible source to add to a smoothie. What a win for your gut health. Then you could go a step further and add some flaxseed or something or cheer seeds for some amygote, for some extra fibre and protein. And then you add your banana or your fruit. And let's not forget how demonise. all these items of fruits have been. But in conjunction, in a big concoction,

then add your favorite type of milk, be it oat milk, almond milk, whatever you want to add to your smoothie. They're so delicious. Frozen berries are the biggest asset, in my opinion, you can add to any smoothie for the flavonels and cost and affordability. So smoothies are definitely number one for me

because I think they can be really nutritionally balanced. But most people in the newspapers and the headlines we discuss will not be comparing that kaffir, cashew berry smoothie, they'll be comparing the ones that you see that are vibrant blue on the shop shelves. They've got a bit of added spirulina to make them sound healthy, which are purely just fast releasing insulin into your bloodstream because it lacks the fibre and it does lack the protein and the healthy fat.

So the gold standard is your homemade smoothie like Ella's got this morning. I'm very envious. It's making me want to go and make one now. And then the silver standard would be to buy. a smoothie still over a fruit juice, I would say, in the shop shells, because you are likely to get a bit more diversity for your gut health. I wouldn't really go off fibre claims ever with bottled juices or smoothies. Very, very difficult to gain with the texture. I think texture is another big issue.

Some you can get that it's slightly thicker than others or have added yogurt and things, and that might be a slightly better choice because it slows the release of sugars. And then the final option would still be the homemade fruit juice and then underneath that the shopboard. that would be my top four. I love it. Very, very helpful read. Is there anything else we need to know? Glucose spikes, nutrient content absorption.

What else is important? Well, it's like you said, a recent study from Newcastle uni recruited adults who are eating fewer than two portions of fruit and veg a day and they asked them to increase their intake to five a day. And one group did this by using whole fruit and vegetables and then another replaced one portion with a daily fruit juice or smoothie. And after four weeks, their researchers didn't find. any difference or any adverse effects or metabolic health markers on the ones that chose to do

the fruit and smoothie. So I think it just goes to show that you just need to up the variety in your diet. And this is where the demonisation of one food group is just not okay. I would really advise people to try and stick to portion control. Measure out of fruit juice just once, just out of interest. Just so you've got a visual of what 150 mil looks like. That counts as one of your five a day. Obviously, it's better to eat the fruit and vegetables, but you know, we're living and let's be realistic here. It's hard. Some people, there's also different reasons why people go for different types of foods, adversity to textures, different sensory issues. There's so much that's involved. Yeah, let's just try and encourage more fruit and vegetables. Let's not

fear fruit. Fearing fruit is one of the biggest issues we have today in the wellness industry. She gets your number one bug bet. Like if you were going to look at the wellness industry and you're like, this is the thing that pisses me off. I should have said that. Oh, that should have been my answer. I did the longevity show last week and I said carnival diets, but I should have said fear mongering of fruit. Really, that's what piss you off the most?

Are we allowed to swear on this podcast? Oh, I don't think that. Is that swearing? Okay, really annoys you. Sorry, guys. Yeah, that's interesting. I actually think that's really valid because I think carnival diet will go.

Like any trend, I don't think he'll stay, whereas I feel like the fear of fruit has you know, it kind of started with your like Dukin and Atkins, and it's sort of every time a carnivore, a keto, whatever, comes to like, which it feels like there's always a cycle of these sorts of very, very similar diets, just rebranded a different name. That same thing continues. If we just ate another apple, an orange, a banana a day, we'd all be better off for it. Our gut bugs would love us for it. And there's such a fear around it. I understand, appreciate if you're type 1 diabetic and you. You need different things for different reasons. That's very different. And again, if you are type 2, there's also a different reason to be watching your sugars more closely. But for the bulk of the population, that will help your satiety.

It will help your regulation. It helps to eat the skin on the fruit. Remember, you can eat the skin on the apples, just like you can, different Kiwis. Just let's embrace the fruit. Maybe this is the empowering episode where we just say, come on, guys, more heat waves to come. Let's eat more fruit. Yeah, you go, girl, you eat a banana. Don't be scared.

You're a rebel. Get that apple. Moving on to a very different headline, Ella. This was a really inspiring one actually. And we can talk about it more generally as well. But yoga improves mood fatigue and sleep among cancer survivors. And I thought this was so interesting because obviously we talked a lot before about the benefits of movement for our physical health that's been in the headlines massively over the last few months. But maybe a little bit less so for me.

mental health. And there were some researchers who were showing some new findings that they've had at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology. And that was suggesting that yoga could help address some of the most common and actually really hard to treat symptoms that are experienced by cancer survivors, including fatigue, anxiety and sleep problems, which is so interesting. Do you know, all of us know someone that's impacted by cancer. I know Ella's shared a lot of her personal with Matt and lots of different things. My mom has cancer, my stepdad. I think that first of all, just to nod to that, that we're really happy when we can see

anything that comes up that is a help or a helpful kind of resource for anyone that's experiencing that as well. But also how we can apply this to everybody, the fact that it's really beneficial for our mental health is fascinating. So this came from research that was presented at this year's American Society of Clinical oncology. And it suggested that some of the most common difficult to treat symptoms that were experienced by cancer survivors, like the fatigue and the anxiety and the sleep problems could be helped, Della, by yoga. Yeah. So that study in particular had 400 people who've survived

cancer involved in it. And half of those people received just standard follow-up care, which includes things like therapy and obviously medical appointments. The other half also, So as well as that took part in a structured yoga program three times a week and they did that for a month. And that program, which was called yoga for cancer survivors, included just 18 really gentle yoga poses alongside mindfulness practices and breathing exercises. So this is a kind of really applicable idea and the results were really, really, really interesting. So the people that took part in the yoga program experienced significant improvements in mood, fatigue and sleep compared to those just having the same. standard care. They had a five-point improvement on a 65-point scale for their mood and anxiety, which the research is described as a moderate to large effect. And then also about one-and-a-half

point improvement in fatigue, which the research has also classified as a medium to large effect. So it's quite interesting, like everything that we talk about in the world of health, like there are never magic answers to things. But it's really interesting to see these kind of quite simple, quite widely available, you know, so many of these tools available for free online as well for anybody, just to see kind of, yeah, how impactful they could be. Do you know what I like about it is that exercises like this can be done at any level? Because of course, you'll all be in a different physiological state and everybody is in a different category of their ability to move. But I feel like mindfulness and yoga is somewhere where you can start sitting on a chair

and incorporating that type of movement. So there's a real psychological and physical gain. And just by focusing, again, it's amazing how your meditation aspect comes up, LAS so many times, you know, it's breathing through movement. It's trying to really focus and perhaps take our attention away

from all the other aspects of the world. And it's just low cost, it's accessible. You know, there are so many things on YouTube in the internet now. I mean, the kids love that cosmic yoga program on YouTube. Yeah, that's brilliant, the Cosmic Kids. There's also like the app Insight Timer, which has hundreds and hundreds of thousands of practices, and so many of them. The vast majority are free, which is amazing.

But yoga is obviously one of our actually most well-studied wellness practices that we have. I mean, there's decades and decades of research looking more kind of generally at the impact of it, particularly on our mental health. And as a result, it's kind of one of the most effective evidence-based practices that I think we, we can all include in our lives in some capacity. And that's because it can be really helpful at shifting the nervous system kind of from this fight or flight, this stress state into a more relaxed restorative mode, which is amazing.

But also, there was research to show that it can influence yoga can influence the brain itself. So some studies using brain imagery have found that regular yoga practitioners tend to have greater volume in areas like the hippocampus, which is involved in our learning and our memory, and as well as the cerebral cortex, which is really important for our attention, our awareness, our information processing. It's really interesting.

And same with meditation. They're really, really well studied for being able to reduce our stress hormones, which is really cool. I mean, we're all too stressed. And there's this area in the brain that's often referred to called GABA. And there is evidence as well that it may increase levels of this GABA, which is a neurotransmitters as something that sends all these signals across, which is associated with mood and our anxiety.

So I'm really taking from this that the more we can try and disconnect and breathe and move is just so beneficial for our brain and actually being hooked into the tech world, which we have to be, you know, for work. It's like it's just there's no avoiding it for society today. But the more we can take a step back and try and do something for us, I would just never have put yoga with my brain in that way together. I knew about the breathwork and I knew about the fight or flight. flight. But I didn't know, Ella, that there was so much concrete research behind it for hippocampus volume and GABA, which is really interesting. Most people probably just assume that you have to break a sweat to get any sort of neurological benefit. No, yoga's so powerful. And I think it's amazing as well because you can keep coming back to it because it can be quite gentle on your

body. Anyway, if you've been struggling with stress or overwhelm, I do really, you guys know I'm obviously such an advocate for this kind of 360 viewpoint on wellness. and but I really, really would suggest just trying it. Like, just be open-minded to it. And I think lots of people say, I can't meditate or I can't do these practices because I can't be with myself. You know, I can't sit still.

I would almost say, I don't mean this in a passive-aggressive way, but if you feel like you can't sit still with yourself, it's probably a sign to just, we might need it in our lives. Like just two minutes, start small baby steps. It could be just a phoneless walk. It doesn't need to be kind of, you don't need to sit cross-legged and, you know, traditional meditation posture.

But like, you just think, yeah, open-minded to it because it is one of the best studied most evidence-based practices for our mental wellbeing. I love that. So everybody, if we're going to give something new a try, perhaps it's yoga or it's the Tai Chi and just something new that is really beneficial. It moves us on to our trend for today, which again is related to exercise. Now, it is a trend that I know Ella and I don't actually puttie. taken. However, I get emotional when I watch anyone running the marathon, Ella, and it's a new

running boom. There are now lots and lots of runners. We've got a retrition running community club starting with my head nutritionist Abbey. People love to run. I know. It's so cool, isn't it? I have said, I did do a half marathon. It was really hard. And I almost did a whole marathon, and then I got pregnant and Matt had to run it by himself, which was hilarious. But really cool news. you know, we talk a lot about like, ah, it's so depressing, the space of health and wellness. It's co-opted by kind of marketing gimmicks and our health's getting worse. But there is good news. There are green shoots happening right now.

And one of them is that running has become so popular that just recently the London Marathon announced that next year, so 2027, it's so oversubscribed that they will become a two-day event. So it's not just going to be one day on the weekend. It's going to be Saturday and Sunday. and that means that up to 100,000 people can now participate. That's almost double the size of the current event. More than 50,000 additional amateur runners, so just like normal people can take par.

1.33 million people, though, have entered the ballot, which I just think that shows how popular running has become. And it's so cool. It's another free, well-researched, amazing tool for health. Obviously, marathon running is different, but just general running 5Ks, park runs. So cool. I want to hug everyone that runs the marathon.

The organizers estimate that the expanded event could raise, listen to this, 150 million for charity. It's one of the biggest fundraising causes in the world. We spoke about, oh, what was his name? He ran with the fridge on his back for neurodegenerative diseases. And we did a big feature on it, and it was incredible. I find it's such a wonderful thing to showcase different causes as well. and to everyone what a personal goal

I mean did you see that Kate our lovely princess completed the Three Peaks Challenge recently as well something she said that she feels so blessed with her body that she's able to now do this after obviously her cancer journey and any event like this is so inspiring I know I saw those pictures actually at the weekend oh my god I was so...

Did you shed a tear? Because I shed a tear. I was about to be like she's a legend I'm like can you say that about princess But it's really cool and it's amazing that highlight of what can be done. And then I saw she met a young child who was fundraising for their health condition. And now she's contributed to their GoFundMe. Anyway, guys, this was our empowering episode. This is our Feel Good episode. We've got to share it all.

I'm loving. I feel good episode. It makes me very happy. So all you need is a pair of trainers and somewhere to put one foot in front of the other. And off you go, what I will caveat with is running on hard surfaces can be very wearing down for joy. So if that's you, perhaps part runs are the thing to do, you know, go and get some grass running in or make sure your trainers are nice and tight and we don't want any twisted ankles. And that's all I can think of really to caveat with running, but running's great.

I regret saying it, but I do think I would like to run a marathon one day. I will regret saying that in public out loud. I'm not holding myself to it. But I do think what an amazing physical achievement and like challenge. I just not sure I can. But I like the idea. I would walk it. I would power walk a marathon. I would power walk a marathon. Can you do that?

Maybe this is what we should say. We've done it. We've done it. But I don't even know, can you power walk a marathon? Are you allowed to do that? Well, of course you are because there's people of all abilities that do it. There's some people that can barely walk that have done the marathon on crutches the whole way around. It's the most inspiring, inspiring thing to see. We are not holding us to it, but I'm just saying, according to Google, thousands of people walk or power walk marathons every year

and it takes six to nine hours to cover it so proper preparation is required. But I believe I could do that. I could do that. Let me get this baby out and then let's let's have a think about if we're going to power. It does. Google does say to me,

you cannot wing a marathon. It requires gradual training. No, I would really hope everyone took their nutrition and hydration very seriously and your muscular, look after your muscles for a marathon. Can I just say, sorry, I'm going to also regret this as well. And it doesn't need to be a marathon, but wouldn't it be quite cool as a community of wellness

scoop if we did a physical challenge? Like, I'm not saying it has to be the three peaks either. I'm actually not that aware of different physical challenges, but something that's kind of feasible for most of us are busy, often working, mostly women, juggling lots of different things. But wouldn't it be quite cool if we collectively did a physical challenge and an achievable physical challenge and raise those money together? if anyone has any ideas on that, do send them all away. Obviously, Rhea's pregnant right now.

So, you know, this is a 2027 thought process. Yeah. It could be an amazing, amazing, amazing thing to do. So if anyone, because I bet we have listeners who are really well versed in all of this, if anyone has an idea, I'm actually so keen. I'm really putting Rui on the spot here. I'm a thousand percent in for it. We've been thinking about things we can do for you all in 20-2027, and I think that is one of the most wonderful things. You will see me cry multiple points when I speak to you all, I'm sure. Let's do it, Ella. I want to do that. Okay, if anyone has a great idea, please tell us because I think this could be a really nice thing that we could all take part in. So nothing too impossible. We're not doing like six-day marathons and 40-degree

heat, but like something that we could all do that would challenge us in a empowered way. It's all about empowerment today at everybody's and also something to help get us past the post-Christmas blues is something to look forward and work towards. And raise those of money together. I love it. Okay, I love that. Now we will discuss the NHS staff that are spending their time debunking supplement myths because we talk about it all the time.

I got the running order wrong today, guys. I'm so sorry because I feel like we're on such a high and now I've just checked in something depressing. So I'm really sorry, we will come back to a high, I swear to you. This was our empowering episode. This was really crazy. This is a new report from the World Cancer Research Fund. And they're basically suggesting

that the misinformation that we talk about, on here about supplements has become so widespread. The NHS staff are now regularly spending consultation time, which we know is so squeezed and so short at the best of times, correcting false claims that patients have picked up online. So they polled just shy of 800 frontline NHS workers and found that two and five healthcare professionals encounter inaccurate or misleading information about supplements

at least once a week. And then if you look at nurses and midwives, that figure actually rises to more than half of them. Yes. Now, this is incredibly important. It's full disclosure. I did work with World Cancer Research Fund on conveying some of this information as well in a campaign. And the survey was actually commissioned ahead of Cancer Prevention Week. So they wanted to highlight the growing concern we have around the nutrition and health misinformation

because we know that the adequate and correct nutrition can be beneficial, but how harmful it can be for patients to receive incorrect wrong. advice. And I think this is something that's really underestimated. You wouldn't want a surgeon operating on you that's done no training. You wouldn't want someone to give you supplement advice that has zero information about the human body yet for some reason we accept it all the time because cancer prevention advice is not glamorous. And it centres around things like not smoking, just maintaining a healthy weight, being active. You know, alcohol we know isn't great. Obviously, eat your fibre. But that,

Those are not glamorous messages. They sound very mundane, boring, healthy advice. And what's the problem is that something we discussed Bell Gibson a long time ago, you know, how miraculous claims around certain types of food and living, when you are going through something where your health is impacted, you become very vulnerable to misinformation because, of course, you're desperate to see a way out. But the problem starts when these supplements are also taking your money alongside that as well. It's a massive issue, Ella.

Yeah, exactly. So they were saying particularly, the report particularly highlights things like apricot kernels, which actually we have had a few emails about because people have seen there, which can cause cyanide toxicity. The seeding claims about vitamin C, sugar, turmeric, magnesium, St. John's Wart. Even horsewormers being used to prevent or tree cancer, apparently. That was in the report. anyways so we just wanted to highlight it again here now obviously an ingredient like turmeric

can be a great thing to include in your diet very very anti-inflammatory but in like we're just taking stuff wildly out of context in that kind of example and then in other things like horse wormers i mean that's really concerning anyway i just think it's so important that we just yeah and almost nothing i feel like this is true in life in general like nothing's really ever as good as it seems like if something is meant to be the best thing ever, it's probably not. And I feel like that's a really important thing to put in here. Like there is no one miracle cure. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, and it's certainly not going to be like a magnesium pill. And likewise the same, like I feel you were talking about the one thing that really annoys us. A better word for you

there in health and wellness. That's the one thing that really annoys me is people kind of saying like, oh, you're stressed. I fixed my stress by taking magnesium. It's like you are not going to fix, A, a structural issue, if stress is a structural issue where it's like the cost of childcare with working hours with your mortgage or, you know, maybe difficult relationships. And it's like magnesium can't solve that. And even if it is more like just day-to-day stress, things that are going to get on top of it is batch cooking meals so you have healthy things to eat, going to bed a little bit earlier, trying to exercise and see natural daylight where you can, having some kind of mindfulness, meditation, mental yoga, calm walking, things like that in your life. A singular magnesium pill cannot solve that. Your magnesium might be depleted from stress. Maybe, if that's the case, it could be one of a multitude of things that will help you. But anyway, I just find the whole like one simple thing fixing a

complex issue really irritating. I agree. So let's go back to the empowerment of let's eat the fruit. Let's eat the fruit, everybody. Because one food in isolation, as we discuss all the time, is not a panacea for health. It's the overall things we do. And the supplement industry is wildly unregulated. And the fact that it's taking, what I really feel strongly about is that World Cancer Research is taking valuable time away from them to have to dispel these myths now. It's got to a point where major organizations are having to put out these messages. So come on social media platforms, step up, regulate. When will the government regulate health professionals of who can and can't give out nutrition information.

I find the whole thing immensely frustrating, but I want to end on, let's do something as a community together to make a difference. I love it, Ella. Yeah, please let's email us, hello at wellness-hyphenscoop.com. If you have an idea, we would absolutely love to hear from you. I just love the sense of community that we have. So thank you guys.

Thank you for being here. We will be back as always on Thursday. We're keeping going all summer. We just love being with you guys. We're going to be talking about foods for here. healing, lots of questions on that. Our oats good. Mindset shifts, how to make delicious brothy meals, how long before bed you should stop eating, full fat versus semi-skimmed, all sorts of things. So we'll be back here. Oh, and blood sugar and acne. It's another interesting one that

we're doing to talk about Thursday. So we will see you then. We can't wait. Have a fantastic day, guys. Feel empowered. Feel empowered. See you Thursday.