The Wellness Scoop - Can You Be Healthy and Thin? Hair Loss & Wellness Pressure

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

Can you be healthy and thin? It's a question that sparked a fascinating listener email this week, and one that opens up a much bigger conversation about body image, weight, wellness culture and what health really looks like.We're also answering your questions on hair loss during perimenopause, nutrition and autism, fibre-rich eating with a nut allergy, vitamin D supplements, air fryer safety, GLP-1 medications and the pressure many people feel to optimise every aspect of their health. Some brilliant professionals and resources for nutrition and neurodivergent: Dr Megan Anna Neff The Neurodivergent Woman Podcast ARFID Awareness UK 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

Welcome to the Wellness Group. You're now twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And we're both here as your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And we are discussing some of the most incredible questions from all of our lovely listeners and discussing what we have been up to every single week. So let's go.

Let's go. Really seven-year-old daughter is obsessed with cheerleaders at the moment. And all she does at the moment is go, let's go let's go just wait till she's older and she's watching bring it on do you think they'll even still be watching oh my gosh i know anyway sorry when you said let's go the only thing let's go let's go mill's family anyway sorry this is a real uh digression yes re have you got any recommendations for us i actually do for a change um i've been remaking because i know when this comes out it's really hot yes so last week i was on the kind of like

Chili as I've made my like chocolate chili from my fiber formula, but you know, I've been on it with the starchy, lovely, healthy and nourishing meals, I may add. But my little one's turned four, which is a huge milestone. And I have been salad queen, but in a way the kids like it. And I can't mix the salads with the potatoes at the moment. I have to have the bowl of the potatoes on the side. I quite like that. Yeah. Like just a big bowl of new potatoes, you know, and then they like add in the butter. I'm obsessed with new potatoes at the moment. Jersey Royals. Yeah, so good.

When they're tender, you do need to smother them in, like, I do with olive or butter, but I do think you need, like, excessive amounts at that. Also, lots of salt and pepper. But then, like, I've been putting in some tumituri or some capers, like basil, loads of herbs. I'm hot honey obsessed, still, even in the heat wave. So I am finding. I got a serracha hot honey last week. Did you? Oh, do you think I'd like, would that be too spicy for me?

This one is quite spicy. is from that, what's that brand called? Just have a look up the brand while I discuss this. My pregnancy cravings, I'm having spicy food and I did pre-pregnancy. How strange is that? Okay, I might get you. It's called the Wilder Kitchen. I feel like that hot honey is outrageous. Thank you.

Well, when I'm allowed to dose up on spicy food, so you have to be careful up until the last few stages. I will definitely be reaching out. Honestly, tips for the hot weather, everybody. Freezing your fruit in chocolate or whatever you want to do. do fresh fruit juice, ice solids. I've been actually making freshly squeezed orange juice at home. I've been making orange cakes with the whole orange and not wasting them.

That's my favourite bake at the moment that I've done a few times. The recipes on the gram. Oh, and on Retrition Plus on Menopause Journey started. Yay, and how's it going? So well. Oh, my God, I love it. It's the most incredible community. We've had a few journey requests in the inbox for you,

and particularly things like fertility. Amazing. Which I know you're thinking about. We're going to do a fertility one. I do realize how triggering these conversations can be just so everyone knows we all are at different stages with our journey, our health. And there will be something for everyone on ReTrition Plus. There's always a link in the show notes. But what I'd say is in this hot weather, it was just a little reminder that your appetite does dip and that's natural.

Or it might go the other way. But potatoes cooled down, then reheated, resistant starchella, reaches that bottom colon area, feeds our lovely gut bugs and is really beneficial for our gut lining. I love it. I love it. Do you know what we've been making obsessively is watermelon juice. So yum, just buy a big chunky watermelon, blend it up fresh mint, so nice and they're totally optional. Do you freeze it? You know, there's people on Instagram that are... I probably should. It's like a slashing. Yeah, I actually haven't been in. I just blend watermelon, mint, some honey, ice and sometimes a little bit of cucumber. I then strain it because I do think that is nicer strained person.

Love a smoothie, but this kind of thing. Anyway, so good when it's hot, so thirst quenching. Also, homemade lemonade. Again, like, so good. It's so simple. It's literally lemon, ice. Again, I do a little bit of honey, mint in there. Do you know what's funny?

Just when you said lemonade. My eldest will eat a whole lime raw, a whole lemon raw. With the skin? Oh, yeah. And I mean, it's bizarre. But she... I don't want to say your child's bizarre. No, no, it is bizarre.

That feels an unusual. He's also the one that's happy with. the kiwi skin, you know, whereas my youngest won't. Or strawberries, he'll eat the green bit on top. He's very good like that, actually. I always keep the green bit on in smoothies and things. Yeah, but no, he will. Yeah, I wouldn't eat it.

No, no, no, no, what I said. I don't know. He's not, I've not modeled this behavior. Let me just say. So actually, having things like that are really, really helpful ways of using the whole fruit as well. If you do blitz it up, I'm definitely going to try a slush year. I've lost my train of thought of where I was going with his weird food behaviors.

But it's been really helpful in the hot weather because he definitely loves his fruit and veg and that's, I know that's really rare, by the way. Don't worry my youngest isn't exactly the same. Mine or so like every day. Love this. Hate this. Love this. I mean, I swear they do it just to challenge you. Right, we have some incredible recommendations from you. Maria, Ella, do you want to read this one out first? Yes, and Maria has such a nice recommendation. I'm going to go and do it when I get home tonight. She said, she loved that we were talking about meditation and how I had said that things like self-affirmations as part of that help with self-esteem. I have also found guided meditations to be an incredibly powerful emotional tool for building self-confidence.

For anyone else who is looking to do the same and does know where to start, I highly recommend Tara Brax's Raine Meditations on YouTube. Rain, it stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate and Nurture. They're 15-minute videos that can help connect mind and body. I found it to be gentle but revelatory meditation technique that's allowed me to address some ugly feelings. I feel so much lighter and more open as person and I can't recommend it now. So I love that. So that's Tara Brack and her rain meditations on YouTube. I have heard so much about her.

Haven't ever done her meditations. So this is my problem to do it. I can't wait. I love that. And then I've got one from Kate in St. Ives in Cambridge. She said, Ella, I hope you had a lovely birthday. Thank you.

There you go. I was listening to your podcast yesterday and re-mentioned Jane Goodall. I just listened to her Desert Island Discs and brought her book, Reason for Hope. If you haven't heard her on Desert Island Discs, I can recommend it. You should. I think you're both very triggered by anything to do with animal cruelty. It can be a little tough in places, but it's very inspiring.

So I can't wait to read her book. So there's a little wreck for us for a new book. It's nice to have some positive things when things seem gloomy. I think her big right, though, is for the Desert Island Discs podcast episode with Jane Goddall, which I love Desert Island Discs, have listened to it in a while. Probably they have Jane Goodall on. Yeah, so cool. Amazing. Okay guys, our first question today is the one that we told you about Monday, which the headline, the subject line of this question was, is thin and healthy even possible. It really pricked our ears. We thought this was really interesting. We know, nuanced, complicated, but very interesting topic. So our listener said hello from Utah, aka Ballerina Farm Territory. I was recently watching a YouTube video on the beauty and weight standards in South Korea.

It features all of the diet option foods and how easy it is for an average, not obese or overweight person to get weight loss drugs. I was really struck by how it seems like any time there are really thin people, it comes out that it's not all natural. Even in real life scenarios, it seems like very thin people I know end up either having an eating disorder are chronically skipping meals because they are so busy or have severe health issues like Crohn's disease that contributes their thin physique. To be honest, it feels really discouraging. like you can either prioritize health or being thin, but it isn't possible for both to be true. Is this just an indication of our unrealistic beauty standards

or are we actually getting bigger as we have access to more ideally healthy food? It seems like looking at clothing my mom, grandma, and great grandma wore like they were just so much smaller as young adults than I was at the same age, even though I've prioritized trying to exercise, eat right and sleep well my entire life. So it makes me wonder if we are on average

just getting bigger all around and is that something that will be reflected in health metrics like BMI? It's so interesting. Such a big question, so many different parts we talk about. It's a humongous question. I think we should start by saying around the world there are different beauty ideals and definitions and what's viewed as thin in South Korea may not be viewed as thin in America. You know, I think we have to.

Yeah. And the use of the word thin in itself has so many different connotations. So we can start by that and saying that currently there is, and a dramatic. change on the red carpet, which Ella and I have discussed, which does seem very extreme and I don't think appears as healthy. I think people can be naturally slim, but I do agree of you that when we get to that A-List of carpet perspective, and I actually had a friend whose daughters started watching K-pop demon haunters and suddenly realized how thin, again, always characters were. I've not actually watched it, but I should. She said I'd love it.

Oh my gosh. It was fantastic. Yes, see, I will like it, right? It's very exciting. And actually, when my son was watching Pokemon, they're all stick-thin cartoon drawings in that part of the world. So it's really interesting how we view thinness, first of all. I totally, totally agree. But I love this question.

Now, I have met and you have met, I'm sure, and we have all met some exceptionally slim slash thin people in our lives. That is their body type. and you know, we get messages sometimes in our inbox from those people saying, I would love to gain weight, I can't gain weight. Oh, it's in a clinic all the time, believe it or not, and they don't all have chronic diseases. No.

Not everybody has Crohn's disease to be that slim. But it's not particularly common. No. Although completely normal, it is not that common. And so I do completely hear what you're saying. And I think that's why, to me, it felt like an important question, because can you be, like, healthy, slim and eat well and exercise? I think, yes, but the number of people,

I agree. And I said this on Monday with like celebrities who are, you know, sometimes really, really thin. And they say, I love eating burgers all the time. I don't believe that. And, you know, it's one of your frustrations with what I eat in the days. It's like, you know, there are people, they're so, so, so slim. It's very hard to believe that most of these people who can be so, so slim can eat, you know, I know calories don't count to and agree. It's not just burgers, nor the big males they're promoting.

Yeah, two and a half thousand calories a day and be that slim. I think most people, I actually have to say, I agree with you. I don't think most people can do that. Can they be very healthy looking? 100%. Would most people eat that much and be that slim? I really don't think so. I find that what I eat in the days really frustrating for that degree.

Because I'm like, I just don't believe you. I don't think the vast majority of people can eat that much and be that small. I know some people can and that's a real, can be an insecurity and a difficult point for them because they would like to gain weight. So as we always says, so much compassion to the nuances and the complexities of everyone's different body shape and size and their kind of natural set point. But I do agree with you and I think it is disheartening and frustrating and generally unhelpful. And it's against evolution. So we have to remember from an evolution perspective, our bodies are biologically geared to gain weight. We don't like periods of starvation. We want constant energy flow.

to feel our best. So it's very unnatural in a way to see these beauty standards emerging in an environment of plenty, first of all. That's very, very unusual. And there's a wealth issue here as well with the types of people you're seeing portraying these images. There's a definite privileged society barrier that comes with these aesthetics and so it is unachievable. And I would argue that the thin, extreme thin, I'm going to call it extreme thin. We're talking about size zero. Yeah, size zero and people that are meant to be perhaps their natural set point theory is a 10 and they're maintaining a 6 or an 8.

That's unhealthy. And I think that's what I agree with and I think that's a great way of explaining it. So I completely agree that you feel discouraged. I think it's completely fair and it is frustrating in a society that really does appreciate slimness. I think that's a fair thing to say. I think lots of Western society celebrates slimness. Whereas in the olden days, we celebrated women having weight. Yeah. I think it's or an idealized body, a kind of Kardashian figure. There's still a kind of idealized body image. That's the last decade, isn't it? The curves. And in fact, that's why we're seeing plastic surgery evolving in different

ways. Yeah, but still a super slim waist, you know. I agree. I think it's a very, I'm not sure the vast majority of people can be thin and healthy. There are exceptions. There are always exceptions. Could you be slim and like healthy looking and healthy? Yes, I agree with you. I don't think most people can be a size zero and healthy. Because you just, to be healthy and to eat your 30 grams of fiber a day and 30 plants a week and all the rest of it, you do have to eat like a quantity of food. To not feel exhausted every day. There's so many things in disguise and social media. you'll see extremely thin characters with burnout perhaps you'll see extremely thin characters with a goal to run a marathon maybe or I'm not saying that everybody with burnout running a marathon

is not healthy or eating well what I'm saying is to maintain abdominal muscles depending on your shape or size for many individuals that means a very low body fat percentage that means women will not be menstruating effectively the dysregulation there predisposing themselves to osteopenia and bone conditions later on in life. It's really extreme Ella. I think it is extremely difficult. But with GLP1, so we have to touch on GLP1 antagonists here

and the medications that are becoming so widely available. I just want to reiterate that they are designed for larger bodies and in smaller bodies. We see serious side effects, gallbladder ruptures. We see severe vomiting, even eyesight. And Ella of I have discussed lots of these on the podcast. We actually have some voice notes coming up later on from Federica. about GL1s as well.

So we both conclude, don't we, Ella? There are always exceptions to the rule, but mostly the extreme thin ideal is not healthy and definitely not for young females to aspire to you. No, and not compatible with a genuinely healthy diet because to eat a genuinely healthy diet, you still have to eat a quantity of food that's not for the vast majority of people

are compatible with size zero, because size zero for most people means just fundamentally not eating enough. I can't get over the fat we're even back here. So I think great question. Thank you for asking it, and I would absolutely love to hear what you guys think on it. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer.

Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg And the next question we've got is from Ellie Ellie. Ellie has said my questions about weight loss which I noticed as you said you don't tend to discuss much about

and actually I have to agree with you Ella and I are both extremely cautious of triggering subjects so that's a good observation. I have been wanting to lose a couple of kilograms but the only method I really know is calorie counting I would prefer to avoid this as I've been loving the past year or so of my life of free eating

and generally whole and healthy foods I'm wondering if there are any tips you have on how to gauge how hungry I should feel during a short-term weight loss phase or if there are any foods I could focus on eating or avoiding in this phase. Perhaps if you could let me know what the reliable literature says. Great question, Ellie. Obviously we don't. We're not lucky enough to know you personally. One thing I would say, and this is probably less to you, Ellie, and more to everybody listening,

is I think this really links to our last question. why do you want to lose those couple of kilos? Now, it may be that it is metabolically beneficial for you to do that, you know, and that's absolutely very important. You know, a healthy weight is very healthy for us. So if that's the reason, that's great. And we'll talk about that, you know, answer your question on that in a sec. But if it's because you're feeling pressure on this slimness that we're seeing,

as we talked about a second ago, this return to size zero, because it sounds to me like you've got a great setup right now where you're saying you've been freely eating and loving the last year, eating loads of lovely whole foods, but you're just feeling a sense of freedom. That just sounds so inherently positive. And so maybe you're then at the perfect weight for your body now, but we don't know you.

But I think just for people listening, I think it's an important question to ask ourselves in the mirror, like why aren't we happy where we are? And if it's not a metabolic reason to lose those kilos, is it just societal pressure? Thank you, Ella, because that's exactly why we tend to avoid these types of conversations, because there is so much nuance and we're acutely aware that anybody, what everybody listening is in a complete different situation. What I would say is if you've answered all of those questions and a weight loss journey is appropriate, it could be for hormonal benefits, it could be anything, you know, reduce cancer risk, there can be so many reasons why you are already at a good starting point. If you've reached that place of food freedom where you're not counting and you're eating very healthy balanced diets, then easy tweaks should be enough to get those final kilos off.

What I would explain in clinic is that weight loss is never a linear line. It always fluctuates. It plateaus. That is completely natural. And actually the plateaus are where most people give up and that's when crash dieting happens. So that's when it's often very helpful to speak to people. But you've mentioned how do I go through my hunger signals, which is something I could definitely answer on here. If you go back to, if you've got my first book, Renourish in 2017, I discussed this,

but if you have a think about how hungry you feel before you eat, this is quite a big task. You have to have a pen and paper ready, little food diary. It takes a bit of a focus before you eat. And then after you eat, instead of how full you are, I'd like you to rate out of 10 how satisfied you are. They're two very different meanings. So not how physically full you feel, but did you enjoy what you ate? So the satiety, the satiation. And then once you've done that for a week or two, you'll start to notice the breakfast, lunch, or dinner or snacks where the cessation rating is very low versus high and how you can optimize that weight loss journey that way without me giving specific advice.

And energy expenditure does count for those final few kilos. But where everybody goes wrong in the clinic is those ratings and not honoring. your body and then you've gone too low. This is where most people go too low too quickly and they've got nowhere left to go with tweaks in their diet and I would reiterate you're already in a very good place. So you don't want to do anything extreme. It could be for you that extra physical activity is enough but for most people it's a small dietary week.

It could even be one snack a day. Love that. Great advice. So it's really hard to offer it Ella like without. Knowing more about you. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right.

Jen says a couple of quick questions from me. First of me, have you heard of legs against the wall? Yoga pose. Is this actually beneficial? Heard, it can help with lymphatic drainage. Yeah, we'll come into that. And then secondly, I'm trying to eat more fibre, but I'm severely allergic to nuts and sometimes struggle with healthy meals and snacks.

Have you got tips on this? Suggestions for alternatives. Legs against wall, Ella, can you do that first? Because I remember reading about that. And even with my pregnant bump, I do try sometimes to put my legs in the air. Yeah, exactly. you can either do it. You can just put your legs in the up,

but the more comfy thing to do, if you have like a yoga block, you could put that under sort of your sacrum, like the base of your spine, and that will just make it much less effort to lift your legs and you can just lie like that. Or scoot your butt all the way to the wall, like really shuffle in there,

and then just lay your legs up the wall. That's what I do. Yeah, it's so relaxing. I think lots of people, again, look, we've talked about this before. Most of us are overstressed. We're kind of slightly more sympathetic. that stress state going on in our lives. And so anything that we can do that just chills us out,

gets us into our rest and digest, nice break for your nervous system is grey. And normally, if you're doing this, you're going to sit there, you're going to relax. And that is great. So you're probably going to feel better after doing it because you've sat for like three minutes, just breathing and chilling out and being kind of unstimulated. So in that sense, it's amazing. Lots of people, again, would say that if you've been, you know, it's hot or you're like walking around or day your legs can feel really tired and a bit sort of swollen. And that can feel, again, really, really nice. But the lymphatic system is really important, but it's complicated.

And it's not going to be kind of stimulated by legs up the wall alone. You know, one of the most important things for lymphatic drainage and to get your lymph system moving is to move your body. Like get up and walk and all the rest of it. So I would say it's not like a miracle, but it is a really, restorative thing that often I love it makes me feel great. You're saying it makes you feel great. Lots of us feel good. Just two minutes at the end of the day. It also signals to your body, your brain a bit of a like, which is nice. I should do it a lot more than I am doing then on that perspective. Thank you Ella. And then the second half of that question was that you are allergic

to nuts and sometimes struggle with healthy meals and snacks. I completely hear you. Think beans, lentils, roasted chickpeas, oat crackers, whole grains for fibre, even just eating an apple is going to give you lots of fibre as a snack. So my concern is more that you're probably thinking of packaged items claim to have fibre, I'm guessing, or the pack of nuts is convenient for most people. But honestly, things like crudettees and even a pitter bread that you could put like a whole meal pitter bread in your bag

and then have that with some hummus that you've got ready to go. or spread. That's fantastic. Edomarme beans. There's a whole list. But in my book, The Fiber Formula, Ella's book, Quick Wins, we've got loads of different examples there. And yeah, we want fibre for our guts. So excellent question. But I have to say, I do relate to it. After I got oral allergy syndrome, I developed an alleged reaction to hazeln nuts and almonds. And I do find out so much. It was a shock, wasn't it? Yeah. And it's not so much hazel nuts, but almonds, I do, they are everywhere in healthy eating. So I do see what you mean and it can feel a little bit frustrating. So frustrating. Yeah, 100%. So thank you. And also remember if you're allergic to nuts, try tahini. If you can,

if it's not seeds as well, that's a fantastic spread that you can use. I just want to quickly wish Nina a happy 60th birthday because Nina has messaged in and she's celebrating her 60th birthday and she loves tuning into him or about food and nutrition. Love it. Happy birthday, Nina. I hope you have a delicious and wonderful day. A delicious and wonderful day. I love that. And we'll probably come back to your question on vitamin D very, very soon. Because the question we're now going to cover next is from Kate.

And Kate has said, I've always had an interesting relationship with food, occasionally verging on disorder eating when I was younger. I've recently been diagnosed of autism, which wasn't a surprise. I eat reasonably healthily but need to eat more fruit and veg and find change around food extremely difficult. I've made some positive changes. So like we've just discussed now, you know, white wraps for whole mill wraps, cruditets and hummus at lunchtime.

But she'd like some advice on neurodiversity and food. She knows it's very complicated and individualized, but where to start any recommendations. And I thought Ella, what a fantastic question to put in, because we've not covered this yet. And obviously it's not our expertise, but we can definitely touch on things. Yeah, so where is the best place to look for resources and ideas here?

So there are a few here that I think is really, really important. And first of all, like you said, there is a common link with disordered eating and neurodivergence, actually. And neurodivergence is obviously not picked up on, but the eating disorder is sometimes because of the drastic either body weight gain or loss. And eating patterns, anxiety around food conditions such as arfid, which stand for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder. In the re-trician clinic, I've got some incredible eating disorder dietitians who specialize in this. It's definitely their area over mine. What I would say is if you're looking for some brilliant professionals and resources, head to the clinic or Dr. Megan Ann Neff. The Neuridivergent Women Podcast is a great one to listen to.

And I would head to Arford Awareness, UK. That's A-R-F-I-D. Honestly, we cannot overstate that being labeled as a fussy eater or a picky eater or if you're a parent of a child in particular that's being labeled like that, how frustrating and alienating that can be. particularly for autism, you know, we see strong preferences around texture, temperature, colour, smell of food, the way food presents, colours, so, so many things. So what I would say is that you are not alone. There are lots of people out there. And even adults that are discovering that they're for their whole life,

they lived with that label. And then they realise, oh, it's because I'm neurodivergent. That's why food for me is more challenging. So I hope that's helpful for you there. And we've put the details of all the recommendations that we just gave you in the show notes as well, if anyone wants to have a look at those. Okay, we have got a question from Charlotte here who said, I don't think you've covered this yet, but can we talk about thinning hair? My feed is full of lotions and potions, shampoos, serums, drops, etc. That claim to help hair thinning last due to perimenopause and gLP ones, etc.

Is there any evidence these often very expensive solutions work? More importantly, is there anything with regards to nutrition that we're, women can do to help prevent hair thinning in peri or menopause or is it all just hormonal. She also said I've got a wreck at the start of the year I started using Nope as an N-O-P-E shampoo and conditioner bars because the bars are vegan, they're plastic-free, no palm oil and it's totally changed her hair. That's cool. That is cool.

Oh my gosh, I see so much of this though. I had quite bad receding hairline after my second baby. So I was, I don't want to say it was a sucker for, maybe that's a bit reductive. Yeah, I had the two triangles. And so we really can relate to that feeling. I would have kind of been willing to try most things. I actually didn't do anything in the end. But I can see a world in which, like, I could have bought a lotional potion.

Probably should have bought a lotion and potion. I think pregnancy hair loss is one thing that's very different because we don't lose hair throughout the pregnancy. And then suddenly you shed the normal cycle of hair loss, but in one go when the baby's born. And of course you're looking at eye and depletion, all sorts of areas there. But rapid weight loss can cause hair thinning, stress, illness, inadequate nutrition. I cannot stress that enough. GLP ones cause malnutrition. And there's not enough focus on it.

Everyone's talking about muscle loss. Well, let's look at the fact that all your vitamins and minerals have gone down. Your fibre's gone down the way your body functions. That's what we were just talking about with the kind of thin and healthy. Like if you're eating teeny, teeny, teeny, teeny amounts, you just cannot get enough nutrition in. No, you won't be. Absolutely. That's such a good thing to reiterate.

There's some brands out there that I know have a lot of extensive research and work with trocologists. Nyoxin's one. It's not one for those to be free of everything products, but it's heavily researched with science for hair growth. And over-the-counter hair products, actually some of them have some strong independent evidence for them. But then there are those that don't have any. and of course everybody's going to react differently, which is what makes this such a mind-filled. Yeah, but there are some kind of key nutritional factors to look at, right?

Yeah. Of course, I'm going to mention protein because it is important. We do want to be eating a balanced healthy diet, but for hair loss, often the markers that your GP or somebody would look at would be your eye and your vitamin D. Zinc is something that's not often but should be brought up and would be by a specialist in this area. B12 and folate, interestingly enough. And then are you actually getting enough?

calories and this is what we say about the extreme fitness trends as well Ella is that it absolutely is not helpful so you need to be prioritising foods that contain those elements even omega 3 walnuts flax seeds you want to be supporting your hormones at this time and those foods are very beneficial okay and then we have got a special guest answering our last two questions today um federica amarty who friend of the show we absolutely love her and she's got a brand new book out her book the appetite reset covers called gLP ones and all of the nuances far and few between so what we've got here are some wonderful answers to questions from you that we have selected which represent what a lot of you have been sending in exactly that okay so our first one we have today are what are the considerations of your diet

went on a weight loss medication like glp ones i'm so worried about my friend um who wasn't even that big to begin with she's lost just so much weight taking them hasn't been herself recently ghosting me and then acting like nothing's happen? Could the lack of food be impacting her mental health alongside her diet? It sounds like this listener is worried about their friend because they started taking these medications when they're not actually in the patient group they're designed for. Eating disorders are already rife and they are growing

and they are the most deadly psychiatric condition. So it is really worrying when somebody accesses these drugs and they are not likely to benefit their health but actually could drive their health to really dangerous underweight territory. It sounds like her friend has so much weight and she's also now losing the ability to interact and she doesn't want to socialise, which are red flags. Now, of course, the lack of food could be impacting her mental health alongside her diet. We know that diet and our nutritional status and food intake is tightly linked to mental health.

But it also sounds like JLP ones in this case are causing harm. So this is a situation in which medical harm could result from these drugs because they've been taking by a patient who is not actually supposed to be taking them, they're not the right patient group, and they are being followed by a healthcare professional that can advise them. So I really wish this person the best of luck, and I recommend they seek specialist advice from a registered dietitian or a service that is specialised with eating disorders. Best of luck. And we have the second question here that Federica is taking for today. Hello, Rihanna and Ella. This is from Maddie. I just wanted to say I totally relate to the ladies speaking about the pressures around JOP1 on your podcast on your

episode, when to exercise gut health clues and the cost of perfection. She said I'm 27. I work in the NHS but make time to practice what I preach. Oh, well done you. Should I do yoga twice a week and three other cardio sessions? But I can't help but feel knocked down by all the people on GLP ones who are taking it but not making the lifestyle measures to go alongside it. I have so many patients that tell me they aren't doing any exercise or dietary modifications other than taking electrolytes. Oh dear. It's so frustrating and I feel like I'm battling. with them to even consider a hill walk. Do you think there will be issues in the future from people using JLP1s incorrectly,

such as malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies and muscle atrophy? I fear it will go from an obesity epidemic to early fractures and frail epidemic. I mean, she's just got a point there, Ella. Do you think there should be more education around GLP1s and lifestyle? I do. Thanks from a huge fan and happy listener. I'm so excited to see what Ferey has to say. There was so many articles about this recently, about how like with every GLP

GLP 1 prescription should be a barbell prescription and how we're moving into the era of frailness. So super excited to get the answer to this. Hi, Maddie. This is such a good question and thank you for asking it. I think you're completely correct. Taking GLP1s does not mean that you can't look after your diet and your exercise. In fact, what they mean is that you have to pay even more close attention to what you're eating and making sure you're getting enough resistance exercise to maintain healthy bones and healthy muscle.

I think the issue here isn't so much that people don't want to make this. these changes is that they're not given the correct framework within which to know what to do. So for me, the biggest issue is that we need to provide much better advice and give people much more access to the tools they need to be able to eat better, improve their diet and make sure that whilst they're taking GLP ones, they're looking after their health and not just losing weight. So overall, I think we have an opportunity on our hands if these drugs are prescribed appropriately with the correct support and people really understand the importance of diet and exercise whilst taking these drugs. They are by no means a shortcut. These are very powerful

metabolic medicines and they have to be treated with respect. Otherwise, there is a risk that in the long term your health will actually suffer, not improve. Okay, thank you Federica for explaining that so eloquently. These medications are serious and we ultimately have to be responsive. And I think there should be more messaging because they're just so available. And I'm there, Ella, with, you know, our lifestyle to go alongside it. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. What a jam-packed extra scoop we've had and we'll see you on Monday. Yeah.

And any thoughts around this? I feel like we've had quite a philosophical episode today in terms of the general pressures that lots of us can feel on our physique and our shape and our size. And just so curious what you guys think, any thoughts and feedback, things we can input as take this discussion on. But otherwise, yeah, have a great weekend. Have a great day. We'll see you on Monday. We can't wait. Have a good one. Bye.

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