The Wellness Scoop - Can You Reverse an Unhealthy Childhood? Iron 101 & Fibre Myths

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Can we undo the effects of an unhealthy childhood diet? What's the best way to increase iron levels, particularly during pregnancy? And are fibre powders and resistant starch really worth the hype? This week, we discuss the powerful relationship between stress, nutrition and hormone health, explore the growing fascination with fibre supplements and resistant starch, and ask whether it's ever too late to change the way we eat. Plus, we answer your questions on perfectionism, introversion and the pressure to get everything right as parents. Margaret’s healthy bites -  Rough recipes are below: Chocolate Chip Cookie (Chickpea base) -1 tin chickpeas -1/3 cup nut butter -1/3 cup oat flour -1/4 cup maple syrup -2 teaspoons vanilla extract -chocolate chips Brownie (black bean base) -1 tin black beans -1/3 cup nut butter -1/3 cup maple syrup -1/4 cup cocoa powder -1 tsp vanilla -chocolate chips The Way 30-day trail: https://www.thewayapp.com/wellnessscoop Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ Pre-order your copy of Rhiannon's brand-new cook book for kids: ⁠'Ready, Set, Cook!' ⁠ 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+ and join Beat The Bloat HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration with the two of us. We're your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And today is our fantastic Extra Scoop where we get to discuss all of your recommendations, what we've been doing recently and take your listener questions. So let's go. Re, what's coming up on today's show? Okay, today we've got can you rebuild trust with your body? The truth about fibre powders.

Does resistant starch really work? And we actually touched on Monday about iron levels. So how can you increase these naturally? Is it possible to reverse the effects of an unhealthy childhood diet? And how do you embrace introversion in an extroverted world? And, you know, why is good enough sometimes good enough? I love that one. Okay, I'm really excited for today.

There's so much good stuff to talk about. Rhee, have you got any recommendations for us? I do, I do. First of all, trigger points back on TV. Oh, where? What's Tucker Point? ITV. Oh, sorry.

Do I live under a rock? Is this embarrassing? A little bit. Again, I'm coming out from my rock. Yeah, but you wouldn't, it's not conducive for me right now in pregnancy, but it's just something you binge watch. Okay. It's awful because it's about the bomb squad diffusing these highly gripping situations that are happening in central London. Lana is the main character.

The actress is incredible. I can't remember her name. Vicki McClure. Thank you, Will. And she just won. I think she just won an NTA as well. She's honestly phenomenal. Everybody, it's, you and Matt should watch Trigger Point.

That's perfect, because we need a new show because we have just finished the gentleman. Oh, it's. I've finished it. I'm going to, because you, so many of our listeners, recommended it. It's funny. We've got Julie in Christchurch wrote in and said, feel a bit scared about this recommendation, as I think this podcast might be too wholesome, crying emoji.

But the gentleman on Netflix is brilliant. bad language and about drugs and a bit violent but funny and such good watch julia i'm so with you it is not it's a guy richie series it's not my normal cupboardy did you watch season one no oh my gosh so season one felt to me kind of like i've missed this you see yeah it's funny i was saying this to my sister-in-law um yesterday it's so funny these days because so often it feels like what really culturally catches on now is more shows than movies yes and obviously you have your big franchises your marvels and things like that, but actually so often what really catches on culturally, as I said, is shows. So then you end up with these shows, which are so enormous, they've got tens of hundreds of millions people that watch.

The people in them are so famous. But then if you've never seen that show, you don't know who they are from Adam. You haven't got a clue who they are. And do you know, I'll say this once, I had this hilarious conversation. It was literally, like, do you know, that scene in Notting Hill when Spike's talking to Julia Roberts? Oh, I love, I love Notting Hill. like how hard it is to be an actress. I sat next to this girl and my brother's girlfriend at the time was trying to be an actress

and it was so hard at this point for her and her career and it was just awful and it looked really difficult and money was so bad and all the rest of it. And so I was talking to this girl and she was saying she was an actress and I was kind of saying that how hard it is and my brother's girlfriend who's living with us, she's doing it and so her sister was like mega famous like the mega star of one of the biggest shows ever. It was so funny. Anyway and like her brother-in-law as well and I was and I had no. no idea because I've never watched this show. It was so famous. And then my friend, this was at

hen was like, you didn't realize did you? And I was like, no, I'm such a moron. Anyways, it's so weird how these things get so big. But if you don't watch him, like me crawling out from my trigger point rock. Yes. But guys, the gentleman, it is, I have to say series two, we watched episode six and seven together. And it's funny, I was texting with my dad and his husband this morning. And they were like, I think that's the best TV I've seen in like years. I've never seen that. Because I've never seen that. It doesn't pill to me. Everyone loves peekie blinders. It's kind of like absurd, but the budgets are amazing.

So like cinematically, it's incredible and like the costumes and the locations and the Duke's house. And it's just I don't think I've been so stressed this year as watching episode seven. I honestly, I think it's stress watching the gentleman bring on trigger point. You know when people say I'm on the edge of my seat? I do think I've ever actually been on the edge of my seat before. Episode seven, I was like, we got to the end. It was so late. And Matt was like, let's watch the next one.

I was like, no, I actually think I'm going to die. I can't take it. I love it when a show is like that. You're like, no, I need to turn off because it too much. I'm just going to watch it tomorrow. It's good. Okay. And we have one more recommendation actually on TV from Lindsay, who said,

I want to recommend the TV show The Assembly. Have you seen it? No. Me neither. Season 1 can be found on IPlayer in season 2 on ITVX. It features a group of neurodivergent, autistic, and learning, disabled interviews, questioning celebrities. It's so heartwarming and good for the soul.

And I'll make you both laugh and cry. It's complete. grounding. It's a great antidote. The crazy world we're in right now and a brilliant reminder of how empathy and inclusion enrich our collective well-being in a world that feels overwhelming seeing people connect through conversation and music so authentically, completely restore your faith in humanity and opens your mind to how wonderfully diverse we all are. Well, that's my oxytocin-inducing show. Thank you so much. That is on my birth list. Recently watch Assembly, yeah, I'm going to labor. Yeah. Thank you very much, everyone.

But we have one more recommendation here. We have a recipe wreck. We have a recipe wreck. Okay, for some chickpea chocolate chip cookies. So we will put the rack in the show notes for you guys because I'm not going to read out like a third of a cup of nut butter. But this comes from Margaret in Connecticut and America. And she said that she's learned so much about this idea of what can I add on mindset.

And this treat she's been making her children who are four and two are obsessed and it contains beans. It contains chickpeas. She'd seen recipes for dessert, hummus for age. but then she saw someone freeze into little bites, things that look a little bit more like a frozen cookie or brownie, and she's been making them freeze them in mini muffin tins. And she said her kids and her husband all loved them and no idea they're packed with fiber because they're using chickpeas, nut butter,

oat flour, plus maple syrup, vanilla and chocolate chips. And then she also does a brownie version, which is black beans, nut butter, maple, cocoa powder, vanilla and chocolate chips. And as she said, such a win because nut butter and beans means that they're so nutritious and they only take a few minutes to make. So I'm going to put those right now before I forget, thanks to Margaret, in the show notes. And she blitzes them up, freezes them in mini muffin cases. And you have little delish bites that are full of goodness for you.

Well, fantastic. Thank you so much, Margaret. So our first question today is from Susie. And she said, as a 71-year-old woman trying to stay youthful and healthy, I love your show for all the helpful, balanced information. Thank you, Susie. She said, I'm really confused by the fibre powder. that are popping up recently and I want to know whether they are useful or just a fad item

and can we achieve enough fibre from diet adjustments. Okay, so we talked about Pacillium, Facilium, never know how to say it last week. And there is so many of these powders. There are so many of these powders around at the moment. It's unbelievable. I have to say we actually spoke about it a few months ago. We weren't necessarily that hot on it. But I was recommended and have been using it a little bit for one of the girls in smoothies.

and this isn't like paid for, but I use powder called myota because one of the girls struggles a bit with their digestion, a bit of constipation. And I find with her, I can just, it's completely tasteless. So I can put a little bit in smoothies a few times a week. And it really, really helps. And I have to say, I mean a little bit down and you don't need it. I think as an adult, if you've got control over your diet, etc., etc., the powders where you'll have more to say.

But like, they don't have as much benefit, obviously, as like, actually having all of that fiber together, all of the different plant points, the diversity, the different vitamins and different minerals. But in this case, you're at school, there's loads going on, trying to make sure you get that fibre every day isn't as easy. She gets pretty close, but I find if she doesn't have enough, she gets constipated quite easily, and it really, really helps us. And I think you've given us an example of where supplements have a place, and that's really helpful to our listeners, because, you know, there is a place for these things. But I think if you are, like you've just said, as an adult that's capable of making a nice cheer pudding. Honestly, I swear, cheer puddings are the best thing for

regularity. If you can get those in every day, it makes such a difference or add some facetium husk, have your porridge in the morning, your overnight oats, you know, I really genuinely think that by making changes to your diet, it is enough. You do not need fibre supplements as an adult. Remember bowel movements, two to three times a week is normal. Some people two to three times a day. and it can vary on the length of your colon. So some of us have longer intestinal tracks than others. So they'll have longer transit times. And another little hack, which is also good for sleep and melatonin,

potentially as well as fibre, is two Kiwis a day because that's around 4 to 5 grams. So the cheer seed, flaxseed, porrogate. Raspberries are one of the highest fibre fruits if you're partial to a frozen raspberry or a raspberry. Love those. Keep the skin on your apples and pears. Load up on those nuts and we're good to go. Yeah, exactly. So I think with those powders, it's a very like needs must. I think that they genuinely, if you're really, really struggling to get enough fiber in,

I think that they can be interesting. But if it says it has seven grams in, that is great, but it's not going to give you the same diversity that you're going to get if you've had a mixture, you know, those little packs where you have like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, lentils. Lynn Woods do the most amazing with KU10 as well. And actually, if you listen back to Monday's episode, we did discuss the importance of gut health for a variety of reasons, but that is what you need to feed your bugs.

You need the food. Supplement powder is not going to do it. The next question we've got is from Jane, and she said, hi, Ella and Marie. I'm loving the show. Keep it up. I wanted to ask some tips on increasing iron intake on a vegan diet for pregnancy and or how to make taking ferrous sulfate easier on the digestive system.

We mentioned this, didn't we on Monday, that sometimes iron supplements can make your stomach a bit tricky. I'm pregnant with my second child, my iron levels at 12 week already on the low side and they want to put me on ferrous sulphate. I was put it on it and my final trimester in my last pregnancy, but I really struggled with constipation and piles as a result. Obviously, I want to do what's best for my baby and myself. Any advice to supercharge my iron intake or reduce the effects of the iron tablets? I would go to your GP and ask for a different type of iron if you are experiencing it negatively,

first of all. I can definitely say you have to take it. Well, you have to, but it's highly recommended when you give birth, you know, blood loss, all sorts of reasons. It's important that your iron stores are as stable as they possibly can be. And they're naturally low because we have 50% more blood volume pumping around your body, the amount of fluid loss. But, you know, I'm, for instance, on 300 milligrams of ferrous by glycinate at the moment, which is actually a better absorbed one. And I've had, thankfully, zero issues of biomovance, but I do eat my cheer puddings and my flax things and keep everything going every day. But I think it's really important. We discuss the amounts and the targets and the fact that, you know, the milligrams written on an iron prep are not necessarily

the amount that's found in the elemental iron. So, you know, please don't compare doses and switch without speaking to your team, your health professional team. Equally, everyone's got a different level for anemia. Some people always be naturally anemic and iron deficient. Their whole lives and they will eat red meat and they are not vegetarian and they're not pregnant. And it's just something that some people are more predisposed to than others. But I really would suggest, remember, hemoglobin isn't the whole story that when you look at blood results, the threshold has now increased. So, you know, what used to define iron deficiency in pregnancy is not the same anymore. The number has increased. So please, please, please ask for additional help. Just to skim over. There's so

much I could say on this, but the World Health Organisation honestly updated its guidance here in 2024 with new international data and pregnancy initially wasn't taken into account in the way it is now. Yeah. And in terms of upping plant-based iron, which I'm sure there are lots of people curious to do, it's really lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, tempe, edamame, nuts and seeds. So really a lot of that plant-based protein, to be honest, particularly pumpkin and sesame seeds. And then remember tahini is made of ground down sesame seeds. And it's actually one of those things that's I think when you start using it really, really easy to use because like tahini dressings are absolutely delicious. And the kind of thing you can drizzle over kind of any lunch you're making, for example.

Obviously also you can up the amount of tahini you're popping in a hummus or a butter bean dip, for example. So that's really nice. Even just sesame seeds is delicious sprinkled over salads. And then your whole grains, 45 breakfast cereals and then leafy greens, but, you know, know, you do need to eat lots of leafy greens in that sense. People obviously also talk a lot about spinach for iron, but actually spinach not necessarily as good as people often say, right, Ray? Absolutely. The oxalates and all sorts of different things

that can lead to a different absorption with some leafy greens. I actually don't classify spinach as a really great source of iron for plant-based eaters and you're actually better off having some dried apricots, believe it or not, than you are some spinach. So definitely just think about the timing of your drinks of your meat. and please, please ask your doctor to change the type of iron supplements you're on if you feel struggling because, oh, you know, I'm nine months in and I'm on iron tablets and I just cannot wait for the day I can stop taking them. So I know how you feel.

Swallowing them is like, okay. Our next question comes all the way from Las Vegas, which I love. I've always wanted to go there from Denise, who says, thanks for one of my favorite podcasts. I'm confused about resistant starch. I'm trying to cut back my carbohydrate intake. I love my rice, bread and potatoes and heard if you refrigerate or freeze at least overnight, cuts the carb count on these kinds of food. Is this a myth or better for a lower carb diet? Bit of truth, wrapped up in a myth.

Oh, I like that. Okay, unravel. Unravel the quagmi for us. Okay, here we go. So when we cook starchy foods like rice and potatoes, then you allow them to cool some of their starch, some of it undergoes a process called retrogradation, which is when the molecules of starch rearrange into a structure that, hard to break down that our gut bugs love to eat, and that's called resistant starch. And that's the bit that's really miraculous because it reaches the lower parts of the colon and more gut bugs because it's not fully digested in the small intestine. It's amazing.

It can be fermented by our gut microbes. So there is an element of truth in that. We do have loads of data on humans, which I love. And in fact, one study showed that white rice that was cooked and then cooled for 24 hours or so everybody, please, if you're listening, remember there's a risk of food poisoning from reheating rice and not doing it correctly. Just be careful. They're reheating that rice found that it then contained 1.65 grams of resistant starch per 100

grams compared to the initial 0.64 in the original rice. So this starch is wonderful for those that are perhaps pre-diabetic, looking at blood glucose levels because it lowers the blood sugar response. resistant starch is so beneficial for such a variety of reasons. But here we go. And I feel like this is quite an American way of phrasing things actually cut the carb count. Because I know on labels in America, you display things slightly differently of carbohydrates, I'm pretty sure. So, you know, you haven't magically removed the carbs.

And I think they often say net quantity on an American food packet. Please do let me know. Are anyone listening? And I don't often have to write about American food. food labels. I'm dealing with so much of the chaos in Europe, but it's really interesting. But cooling down converts some of that starch and resistant starch. It doesn't mean your rice is now low carb. Can I be honest though as well in terms of like resistant starch being good for our gut health and like big, you know, thumbs up for a potato salad. Love. But to me this salad. Exactly.

Bread out of the freezer. It feels like a faffy way to eat though. In terms of like things I could do to improve my gut health, right? To deliberately do it every day would be a lot. fath whereas I just automatically freeze bread now and get it out. And thumbs up for a potato salad. Yeah. When I reuse potatoes, if I've cooked too many, like I did some crispy roast once last night, but I had parboiled too many. Yeah.

So I've got some parboiled ones in the fridge left. And I'm like, yay, when I go, I know there's a little boot. But you don't want to deliberately wait 24 hours. It's not worth there, right? No, I agree. There's an animal of life that comes into play there. But it's a fascinating bit of research. And I think if what you're trying to do, you know, carbohydrates and

incredibly important for our energy, for our well-being. You don't want to kind of just cut them out. If you are trying to kind of look at your overall diet, what you really want to be doing, as we would always say is looking at like a more whole-grained version, for example. So you've got higher fibre anyway within it or you're looking at having more beans and pulses where you've a lovely mix of carbohydrate and fibre together. In white rise, just it's such a win to add a few pulses or something along the side. We've talked about the way meditation app a few times now because we're obsessed and I've just looked at my stats and I'm on over 3,800 minutes of meditation with them so far this year. I've actually done it almost every single day for six months now,

normally 20 minutes a day and I cannot tell you the difference it's made to my life. I just feel this amazing sense of inner calm even when life is chaotic and I don't think I've ever had that before. I feel less reactive, more grounded and just more peaceful in myself. It's become one of the most important, unmissable parts of my day. It really is. And now you finally got me onto it too and I started using it because I wanted something to help me unwind at the end of the day. So I've actually been doing the meditations before bed when I'm finding it hard to switch off and it's really helping me get to sleep. So it's become a nice way to shut down at the end of the day. Yeah. And you guys seem to be loving it too because as a community you've now done over a quarter of a

million minutes of meditation on the way, which is just incredible. And I think you're loving what I love and relives, which is how simple it is. You don't choose between hundreds of meditation and keep scrolling. You just do one after the next. You follow the path, each one led by the same person, the founder, Henry. Exactly. You just literally open the app. Press play and do the next one.

And I think it's the whole simplicity, which is a huge part of why I've actually managed to stick with this every single day. Yeah. So if you haven't tried it yet and you've been wanting to get into meditation to help you with overwhelmed sleep or just finding a slice of peace and calm in the day, You get a 30-day free trial with us. You just go to the way app.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yes, that's the wayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Our next is from Imogen from London.

And she said, Ella, I'd love to hear more about how you embrace introversion in an extroverted world. And find the balance between socialising and recharging. I also recognize myself as a bit of a lazy perfectionist all-or-nothing person. and any more insight here would be fantastic. Do you know what, Imgen, I've never had the expression lazy perfectionist before, but nothing is more me. I am the ultimate lazy perfectionist. This morning, we hadn't actually booked the room for our podcast session,

but Ella's so good at dates and knowing things for others. Like you mentioned that one time, you're like, guys, we haven't booked the room. It was like five in the morning. I didn't want to stress re-out. She's really pregnant. So I was like, I'm not going to tell her until I, like, Dightly got this in hand, but I didn't want to email anyone at 5am, so I just like sat on it from your house.

I don't know how she, yeah, whereas my response would have been to email. It's so funny, isn't it? You're right. But I thought it was a really interesting question. I am a complete introvert, like I would probably become a hermit if I didn't have to not be. Exactly, my silent retreat. And so I think, and it's interesting, I had this whole conversation with my

daughter who's seven on Saturday about this because we went to a birthday party of her sister's friend such a sweet birthday party but it was in this like soft play in this farm it was absolutely gorgeous party but it was very very very loud at one point it was incredibly noisy incredibly busy and my seven-year-old found it very overwhelming and she clearly was a bit whoa dear in headlights and so i said to her okay well let's leave the party as in like my husband was there with my other daughter and it was her friend so it wasn't rude just for her and I was like you know there's a little cafe next door let's go sit there and we went and we sat and she had a hot chocolate a cup of tea and we had a really nice chat and I was like it's okay because this is what I wish on

and I'm not I'm not trying to baby you're younger but I wish someone is said to me like my my youngest is like that yeah it's okay to not be someone that loves it when it's really noisy and that loves it when there's loads and loads of people and it's funny because we got their first because we were actually surprising as a friend from the old school it's The daughters should know they were coming and, you know, she just loved it when there's just a few children. And then when it's really loud and overwhelming, she really doesn't like it. And I just said to us, like, I wish someone had said to me, like, this is really normal and it's really okay. And you've got to kind of completely embrace being yourself.

And if yourself is that you love just being with a couple of people, I said, you know, look, there's times where, like, you have to put your preferences to the side and you've just got to get on with it. And it's rude if you don't. Or you'll hold yourself back and you'll hold your life back. But actually in these sorts of instances, like right now, you can make a choice. And that's okay. And it's okay to want to be by yourself. And it's okay to like, you know, at school, you're often like, take herself off and just sit in the cozy corner and read a book. And I was like, you shouldn't be embarrassed.

It's actually so normal. And so many more people feel like this than actually say it. And it's funny on Monday, obviously, we had that amazing listener feedback about JLP ones and pressures. And I think this is completely different. But it's almost the same, which is that you feel pressured to like go to the party or like, you know, love going on holiday with loads and those. of other people or go on this big friends weekend and like actually do you know can be that's like really not the kind of thing I like to do you know we spend so many of our weekends just the four of us so quietly and that is my dream but you go online you see people with all these friend groups and they do

theirs they do that and it makes you feel different so I think it is that confidence to like be really comfortable in yourself and your own choices and don't have to be one or the other and we discussed last year on the wildest group a new phrase called otrovert but I guess you could kind of of describe it as being an ambivor, being able to dip in between the two. And I think as long as we have these conversations, like you had that lovely conversation and you discussed that, you said it's okay. It's only when work, if you look at it as a job, I think you can decompartmentalized Garcan barely speak today. You can separate work you or performance you or whatever angle you have to separate to help you cope and function. But that skill comes into adulthood as we're older.

I mean, for children, that's really, really difficult. But, but I'm not. I mean, for children, I would say most people would look at successful people in the world and assume they're extroverted because in order to get to that point you have to do perhaps a degree of public speaking or you have to be a certain way but those people most of them Ella included I also and I'd say ambivir between the two even though I used to be a singer I'm sure it's why I completely burnt out because I think it was I found it's so exhausting always almost like performing you know kind of like being quote unquote delicious Ella and you're like this sort of of shiny version of yourself to something stand and you're always like yay and you know you bump into

people and they're like we take a picture and you'd love to and actually I'm just ah yeah yeah because it's overwhelming people want to take a picture with you it it's um which is it's a lovely I do mean it in a mean way I'm so grateful but as someone that likes that quiet and like you know my natural space is not in front of a large group of people and I completely relate you know sometimes it's like you know you're going to a wedding or a social event and you know you've got an hour or two hours of small talk is what I call it and I struggle with that yeah me too that that to me is oh my gosh oh my gosh it's hell it is hell okay don't invite me to your drinks party guys I would rather sing to a whole room full of a thousand people oh for sure than mingle they know one listen to me saying no yeah

they're mingle in a room no no is it I would way rather get up yeah get up and say something and they leave for sure rather than do the bit so I think we all have strengths and weaknesses yeah and I think it's just about being really honest about who you are and being able to find a way to be really, really comfortable with that. And I think that's something that it's just more about like honest conversation. It's funny. Like I find myself when I get overwhelmed, I am the worst person. My husband's always telling me off for it. Like I'll just leave things unread for weeks and weeks and weeks. I'm terrible. Like I'll just have so many unreply to messages and what's up to. I wish I could be

like that. You see, I think that's a skill. Whereas I have to have a clear inbox every day still. He's like how you because I was like I really want to make some new friends where we've where we've moved to and he was like you'll never make friends if you can't reply to people's once out. Do you know what though? But there is nothing worse than being ghosted I will just say. No, it's awful. But when I get overwhelmed, I just can't.

I know. And it's funny, but I used to just be like, hey and kind of pretend nothing had happened. And this morning on the train I replied because I was really overwhelmed while we're moving house and I got very slack on things. And I was really honest. I was like, I'm so sorry we've been moving. I have been completely overwhelmed. And as a result, like, I'm completely behind all my life.

But people's messages were so nice. Of like, oh, we totally get it. And it was just another interesting example that when we're honest about things, people generally are really receptive to it. You have to tell people how you feel. Yeah. So it's like, you know what? It's not really my cup of tea either.

It's okay. Yeah. That's a very long answer, Jim. I think that's okay. I think it's a great answer. Fern's very good at saying that cotton. She's like, you won't see me out at your event. Please don't take offense.

I'm just not that type of person. And she's quite upfront about it. Yeah. It's quite inspiring. So our next question is from Sophie. I'm a huge fan of the podcast. From day one, I feel like I learned a huge amount from you guys. So thank you.

And she feels more confident about her decisions of food. But she's gone from wasting money on green powders and supplements to getting joy out of counting plants, Ella, every week. She said your podcast has especially been helpful to me in the last year. As I welcomed my beautiful baby girl in December. And recently while other moms, know have been understandably very nervous about weaning. She's had fun with it, introducing her little girl to the world of plants. She's been puring butter beans in week one. Well done.

Anyway, while I feel informed, she said, and educated to make good decisions for my daughter in the back of my mind, I am very concerned that growing up I had a very poor diet. And while I now hit my 30 plants a week and to find great joy, and there's a lot of joy here, which I'm loving, and she eats a very diet. She said this was not the case in her childhood. Can I reverse the damage from a UPF childhood diet. It's such a great question. I mean, again, like my mum, I'm sure wouldn't mind me saying this. Like, we, you know, she was amazing, the most amazing mom, tried her, like, absolute best.

But we just didn't have these conversations. And we ate a lot of, like, rice and pasta and, like, pitie filo yoghers. And it wasn't like a lack of trying. It's just the conversations were. Those chocolate and vanilla pitiful yoghirts are why I remember them. We talked about the Mr. Kipling's, like fondant fancies. the other day. Remember I'm Battenberg and you're Kipling.

My brother was Battenberg and my sister. I was fun and fancy. Yeah, it's all been there. I think that was a really normal diet for most of us growing up. Like it wasn't our parents doing the wrong thing. I just think the conversation was so different. As they said, like, you know, my mom was like, oh my gosh, rice crispy is like so healthy. And I think it's amazing.

The world looks so different now. But I bet most of us had quite a similar diet in that sense. Do you know who speaks about this publicly as Joe Wicks, you know, and I think that's why he's so passionate about campaigning for dietary change. And, you know, I know a lot of people have a lot to say about it, but at the end of the day, he is a really good example of how you can be a healthy adult and how you can change your outlook. Look, I just want to say that whilst we do build an amazing foundation for health in the first 1,000 days, which is from womb to the age of 2, I'd say that's the most important growth sphere of childhood.

You know, somebody ate when they were seven isn't necessarily going to undo the good work you can put in now at any age. Remember the article on Monday where we went through the different decades and the health, you know, eating in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. And you can build onto your gut microbiome any time, for example. And studies show that it changes in seven days. As little as seven days to two weeks, all you have to do is eat a better diet. So I would say it's not too late at all to make changes.

I love that. That's really so nice. Because also I think that's nice if you have got a seven-year-old who's like, I don't want to eat broccoli. There's hope in the future they might suddenly like broccoli. But broccoli is not the end of the world, everybody. There's lots of other wonderful fruit and veg. Okay. That is another lovely question.

Our last one today is from Natalie. She said, I just listened to Monday's episode. And I wonder if you might consider bringing an expert on to talk about this. I feel like as parents we set incredibly high standards for ourselves and at the same time it seems to be getting harder and harder for everyone to actually be present. I'd love to hear an expert's perspective on what's actually attainable. How can we be present with our children in a good enough way without feeling like we have to be perfect? It often seems that striving for perfection just leaves us feeling stressed, which can make it even harder to truly be there for our kids. I mean, I think that's really normal.

I definitely feel like that sometimes this balance between like trying to get the kids to do the right thing, like brush their hair before school, their teeth, you know, eat a proper breakfast and also not being the world's biggest nag. I mean, I have the perfect expert for you. So Dr. Martha Dioras Colado, she is the author of how to be grown up. She's the most incredible psychologist and she loves the idea of something called imperfect modelling. How cool is that? Let's love it. Have a listen, Martha. Hi, I'm Dr. Marta. I'm a clinical psychologist, a mother of two and the bestselling author. of how to be the grown-up. I think this question is one that many parents will relate to.

I think the strive for perfection is not something that you should be trying as a parent. In fact, science tells us so. Your children do not need you to be perfect. The whole idea around good enough parenting actually comes from science. And good enough comes from the fact that as long as you parent attuned to your children, needs meeting what they need or what they have to have in that moment between 30 and 50% of the time, that's good enough. So yeah, you've got a good 70 to 50% leeway of getting things wrong. And we've actually got science on parents who get things right all the time or who know what their kids

needs are before their kids even express them. And what the findings show is that children don't do well when it comes to resilience or when it comes to emotional health or when it comes to expressing their needs and their wants. So we don't want perfect. We want good enough. And that means messing up sometimes. That means getting it wrong. That means sometimes not being present with your child. Your child wants you to play or your child needs you in this one minute and you're just not present. Maybe you're on your phone but maybe also you're busy. You're cooking dinner. You're talking. to a friend, you're doing whatever it is that you're doing in that moment. You know, your mind and your body are also allowed to exist around your children.

And so I think it's really important to be mindful about being intentionally present around your children when it makes sense and learning to just accept that you're not going to be all the time. So for me, the healthiest bit is to name it when you've missed something or you've missed something or you haven't met your child's need or you've just not been present and they needed you, name it and say, I'm sorry, you needed me and I was busy or you needed me and I was not paying attention. I'm really sorry and I am here now. That's good enough. And when you mess up, repair. Apologize when you get it wrong. And if you can't be present all the time, just make sure that you

have intentionally booked out a few minutes. Often play is a bit. a really helpful way of showing your child that you care that you want to be with them. But you can also involve them in spending time with you doing chores, whether it's cooking, putting the laundry away, I don't know, hanging around you. It's all kids want. And when you protect that time, just make sure you put your phone away and you avoid as many other distractions as you can. That is good enough. And if you're doing that, most of the time, or 30 to 50% of the time, I want to want you to remind yourself that you are a good enough parent. Amazing. Thank you guys so much for all of your questions this week.

Oh, we love this. And we will be back on Monday. There's only big headlines to talk about. We're going to do that vitamin D, yes or no, from all the very confusing headlines about that as well. In the transaction, we'll delve into the manosphere. No, not manosphere. Manopause. So loads of notes to talk about. We can't wait to see you then. And we do love hearing from you. Hello at Wellness-scoop.com. Oh, and do you do what we should ask because we never do it and we should is, if you love our podcast and you've listened from day one, if you could just hit that button, what is it? Follow.

Is that what it is, a follow button now? Yeah, on Spotify and on Apple because I don't think, because loads of podcasts ask people to do that. It really helps us. It just means it will be there for you ready to listen to. That's all. Always be free to listen to. Just, yeah, it will pop up for you more quickly. or if you want to like it or give it a five star maybe even leave a review, it makes all the difference for other people finding us. So thank you guys. Amazing.

Have a lovely weekend. Bye.