The Wellness Scoop - Health Anxiety, Food Scanner Apps & Our Favourite Summer Recipes

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

This week we answer your questions on health anxiety, food scanner apps and the rise of fear-based wellness advice online. We unpack the controversy around food scanning apps and scoring systems, alongside the science of fermented foods, gut health and whether kefir is really worth the hype. Plus, we talk summer BBQ recipes, joint health, the best time to eat, and the small everyday habits that actually matter for long-term wellbeing. Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ Recommendations: Listener Jody recommends, Off Campus Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende The Kylie Minogue Doc on Netflix 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

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Shop now at performance.ca.3-day sale. Driven by Performance Auto Group. Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're both here as your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And today is a fantastic, wonderful jam-pack show. So let's go for it. We're answering all your questions, as always on Thursdays. And Marie, what is coming up today? Okay, today we've got Ella on health anxiety and learning to stop Googling symptoms. The Food Scanner apps, and we know so many of you wanted, there's seed oils. And of course, the fear

based wellness messages that are floating around. Café and kimchi and weather fermented foods really make a difference. The best foods for joint and bone health and does the timing of our meals actually matter? And finally, easy plant-based barbecue recipes for summer. It is a jam-packed episode. But before we get in, Rie, we have got one listener recommendation. Jody has said we have got to watch off campus. I have been hearing everyone talking about this.

I'm going to take your recommendation, Jody. I've got to watch it. There are apparently bestselling books, like mega bestselling books, but I've somehow missed it. Ella, okay, I have to say I was elated to see the Strictly host reveal. Did you see? We've got the new people presenting the show. I don't watch Strictly. I feel like, I know, I feel like this is like when I admit I don't love Christmas.

I feel like a Grinch, a scrooge, a cultural misnomer. It's childhood because it started when we were young. I was an ex-factor, like obsessive and pop idol and all of that. That was so my bag. I loved it. I just never got into strict beat. I mean, not I don't appreciate it, but I just have never watched it. No, I can totally appreciate that.

It's not for everyone. But the hosts are fantastic. You've got Johannes, who used to be a dancer on the show. I've seen him on Graham Norton a few times. He feels like good vibes. They're all so talented. What's the other guy's name? The comedian, Josh Wichikam.

Yeah, so it's quite an eclective mix. And then I have to say, I tried Dockler. I mentioned it on Monday for the first time ever. I'd never seen it or heard of it before. Tell us more about it. It's like a traditional, and my friend Asha cooked it for the Champions League final where the boys are Arsenal supporters. Well, my whole family are Arsenal supporters.

Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, all the men in my family apart from one, he's a Tottenham supporter, which is a really difficult situation. Well, I wrote in the brief was football. Oh, dear. It was gutting. It was. But I knew the minute would go to penalties. But Asha had cooked this most incredible. She said it's a very traditional dish in Indian culture. and I don't want to get it wrong,

but the blend of spices, it's almost like a savory cake. It's absolutely delicious, but it reminds me what we said on Monday about including pulses and how in this country, we should really learn more from other people and try and embrace these new recipes

and different things. So I'm going to try and cook it. And finally, the Kylie documentary. Oh, I haven't seen it. Is it good? I cried by eyes out. I mean, obviously I'm hormonal anyway, but I was crying buckets.

And I mean, what she's been through with her cancer journey twice. Oh, I really want to watch it, actually. Yeah, I would. She's quite remarkable. And then, of course, those of you have started our menopause journey on Replus. I cannot wait. You need to put your name on the waiting list for the next journeys

because we'll have weight loss, relationships of food and all sorts. Ella, I can just see two very famous people written down in your recommendation today. Very legendary. No, that's actually the title of a book, Cleopatra and Frankenstein. Oh, my God, it's the weirdest book. It is. I mean, how do you gel them? It's not that.

I don't recommend it. It was such a huge book and so many people have read it. And I've been meaning to really for ages. I read it's by an author called Cocoa Mellas. I read her other book Blue Sisters, which I couldn't recommend more. I read it last year. I absolutely loved it. It's an amazing story of sisterhood and kind of the ups and downs of life and yeah, life's challenges and overcoming them and the intricacies of relationships and different dynamics. I just, I found it incredibly emotionally rich. and I loved it. So I've been looking forward to reading her other book.

And it's just really weird. There's these two characters in it, Cleopatra and Frankenstein. Are they actually? No, they're called Cleo and Frank. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And they, you know, it's a really kind of dysfunctional love story.

That's essentially what it is. Two really broken people really with like really difficult sort of strands in their life. And it's their love story. But it's doom from the outset you can feel because they're just, they're really broken. people. And in that sense, I found it really gripping and I was desperate to get to the end and understand their life and how it pans out and you feel real empathy and connection to these characters. But then you have these quite like, I found like unnecessarily graphic, quite crude

elements in it. And it's just made me so fascinating. Anyway, if anyone else has read it, I really want to talk about it. So can you let me know what you think? But the book, so I kind of half recommend it because I do think this like, we don't necessarily read as much of these like broken love You know, people who've really struggling and their relationship to each other and to the world. And I really enjoyed that part of it. But then there's just this weird kind of graphic element to it that I found unnecessary personally. That's just a very personal opinion. But the other book that I read was called My Name is Amelia Del Valle.

And I don't know if I can pronounce that right because it's a Chilean surname. But it's by that author Isabelle Alende. I don't know if you've read any of her books. But it's so fantastic. It's about a woman who's an American author, kind of a very, it's fictional, but it doesn't feel fictional because it's based on Civil War in Chile and her experience there as one of the only female reporters. And it's really, really, really brilliant. It's one of my favourite things I've read in ages. So I 10 out of time recommend that.

I cannot wait to hear you all going out and trying those because my friend Kate came over the other week and half term. She said, I'm so on board of all of Ella's. bookwreck. She said I've read all of the ones that Ella's read so far, so I need some new ones. There you go, Kate. Yeah, Kate, honestly start with, my name is Amelia Del Wally. Before Frankenstein. I mean, it's a really interesting read. It's not like

some things I read and I just say, oh, I don't really want to get to the end. I really wanted to get to the end, but there were just a few elements in there. I was like, I don't need this. And there's some kind of distraction. I found quite distracting characters. And then some of the side characters, their story's never finished. But they felt

really important. Like there's this, It's Frank's sister, Zoe. It all gets weird with her. Okay. What happens in the end? So maybe we just need a part two. Okay. Well, take from that what you will.

Let us know which one you go with first. We have a question from Lauren from Australia. Hello from Australia, long time listener of the podcast. It's one of my favourite things to do each week on a quiet drive home from work without the kiddies in the backseat to the car. All about that, Lauren. I have a question about health anxiety and some of the best ways to help not get caught up in at all. I know you've mentioned you experienced this yourself, Ella. Yeah, I really have.

I don't know. Have you really? I have to be honest, only in the recent few years, but more health anxiety because I have children and I want to be around, whereas I've had friends at my best friend, Tessa, and very similar to you that have experienced this for a long time. Yeah, I don't know what it was or where it came from in particular. I don't know if it was because I was so unwell when I was in my early 20s and maybe that kickstarted this sense of like losing control essentially because that is definitely how it felt

in the sense of the condition that I had affected my osteomy nervous system and so it was things like my heart rate I couldn't control it and I would be having all these very strange reactions to things like you know I had a cystoscopy which is looking inside because I had this two and a half year bladder infection from a uti anyways that's looking inside that but it's you know and I had an allergic reaction they think probably to a plaster during that and my heart rate dropped down to like early 40s wouldn't go back up again so it was just this really out of control time where all these strange things were happening and I didn't understand why I mean I had such bad pins and needles I couldn't kind of feel my arms and legs half the time they'd some weird some big ones and some small ones.

It makes perfect sense why that would give you health. Yeah so I think it was the sense of lack of control essentially and then not long after I got better really completely out of nowhere my mother and nor had a seizure and, you know, three days later, we found out she had terminal brain cancer and she died within the year. And it was this sense of like, yeah, complete lack of control and fragility of life. Fragility of life. And so I think that really expedited it. I was very, very anxious then when my kids were born and one of them was quite unwell, kind of between two and three post-lockdown, just didn't really develop an immune system because I'd never had a cold by the time she was two. And then she ended up, we ended up in a hospital, like every,

few weeks I'd think she'd have sepsis or whatever. She didn't. She was just reacting to the common cold and she had no immune system. Anyway, so probably a combination of all of those things then yeah, I used to every headache, every everything. I would just worry was the worst. I wouldn't say of like eradicated it. It definitely lingers to a degree, probably just a more naturally anxious overthinking type of person. Social media doesn't help and I know you've mentioned on the podcast many times, this is why you break yourself out. It really is because, you know, obviously the way the algorithm works is, you know, what you click on, you see more of. And so my whole algorithm ended up being like people sharing, you know, I had this one symptom and it turned

out to be X, which is awful and absolutely exists. And I know that, but I don't need to see it because it doesn't mean it's always that. So I think, you know, look, I've talked about this before. I think for me, it was recognizing I'm just naturally someone who's prone to feel anxious, someone who's prone to overthink, to worry about things, and that I became very aware of needing to address that. And fundamentally, the thing that's helped above and beyond anything else, and it's not to overly simplify it because it's taken years of a consistent practice to really shift the dial, but it has been meditation and having this pause each day. And ultimately, it's because what you begin to learn, and the more I've kind of gone into the history and the spirituality

and the philosophy as well behind these practices is you learn to create distance between you and your thoughts. And with someone who is prone to overthink, that distance between you and your thoughts is of such huge value. Because otherwise, one thing happens and you're so quick to think the worst and being able to take a breath and be like, it could be. It could not be. It is so valuable. And obviously it's this idea that like when bad things happen, obviously, you know, that creates huge pain and trauma and suffering. But there's no point in inflicting that in yourself when it's hypothetical. And I think that's what I've learned is to create this space.

Do you think people don't come forward with health anxiety? Because I actually think from what you've just described at it and what it sounds, Lauren, and I'm sure many of our listeners can relate to, is that it's very valid for therapy. It's something that definitely requires work on yourself, like significant work on yourself. and you deserve help. And perhaps because you may feel, oh, it's silly, I'm just catastrophizing. You just fob it off and you think, oh, I'm not worthy of help perhaps because it's all in my own head. Yeah, and I think lots of us, not everyone catastrophizes, but different people who do catastrophize different things,

of which health anxiety can be one of those strands. And so I totally agree. I think it's recognizing that it's there and that it's not an enjoyable way to live. and I think that trying to find tools and practices that support you. And as I said, for me, it was learning to create distance and separation between thoughts and me that has been so powerful. Thank you, Ella, for sharing that because you're not alone. And moving on to question actually that relates really aptly to what you've just said about health anxiety, relates to these food scanner apps.

Yes, what's called Yucca? Yeah, that's the big one, isn't it? Big one. So Sophie said these processed food scanner apps keep popping up on my Instagram. I actually watched the ad for the first time today and I found it extremely anxiety provoking. In the ad, they scanned a loaf of whole mail bread and they scored it at zero out of 100, citing seed oils as one of the reasons it's bad for you. I mean, that's just shocking. Can you give us your thoughts on these apps because I get the feeling they're probably fearmongering for the masses? Yeah, thanks so much, Sophie, we have had so many questions on these.

And it's funny, I almost, when I say I didn't want to answer them. I don't mean that like a weird way. I just mean I was almost conscious of like raising the profile of these apps in terms of. That's why I've never really shouted out. Yeah. Exactly. I don't want to recommend them by talking about them. But we've just had so many questions.

It feels really important to talk about it. I am not a fan of these apps because ultimately, Henry, I don't want. want to simplify, you know, all the amazing work that you've put into ultra-process play and all of the work. I don't want to simplify the complexity of ultra-process foods. But for normal people on a day-to-day basis, popping into Tesco's or Santerbury's or Walmart, whatever you're doing on your way home from work, it's quite simple, ultimately. Like, fresh food, amazing. Head to the, like, fresh produce, aisles, fantastic. If you pick up something and it's got 4702 ingredients and you haven't got a clue what 80% of them are. It's probably ultra-processed. That's not to say you can never

eat it. Should you eat it in abundance every day? No. And to me, it's in a way, it's quite simple. And so I feel like these things over-complicate it. And like, what are you eating a whole meal bread with? Because are you doing some, you know, butter beans, fried in a tin tomatoes and then some avocado and a fried egg, in which case, excellent meal. And there may be an emulsifier in your bread. but if that's the bread that you can buy and that's the right price point and then you're putting all this great stuff on top of it. It's still full of fibre.

Still loads of good stuff going on. And so I just feel like they're reductive. I feel like they oversimplify things. I think they make comparisons between things that aren't necessarily helpful. And I think the things that are really not very good for us probably are quite self-explanatory. Harry Boe, really not very good for us.

Like we do know that. I just find these, yeah, I find them reductive personally. I think you're right, though. I've never been a fan purely because the lack of nuance, like you said, you know, you can scan something because it's category four has got fortification in it. For instance, let's use a plant drink as an option that might come up as a really red light on some of these apps because it contains additional calcium, iodine or B12. Because of these additional ingredients, therefore it would score low. But actually, that's a really beneficial component to someone's diet that's lacking those key nutrients. So I'm with you on that 100%.

This stems to also the rise of those types of influences that are so popular that are now releasing books, that are doing more of the demonising of things around the supermarkets. I understand the appeal. I really, really do. But I guess I'm always thinking like Ella of the bigger picture. It's a very short-lived appeal because actually it's just creating fear and poor relationships for food long term. I just do the only cap. For me, from what I understand.

and what I personally have seen so far, I think they generally fail to capture the nuance. And I think the most people who've downloaded these apps, like, and who, you know, anyone listening to this show, they have health and well-being, top of mind enough, I feel like to create a general sense of balance in life. I don't know, there's still like a demographic of people that will require an app like this or look for an app like this

just to know what's red, green, orange, you know, when they're buying their loaf of bread, because they really, it's so confusing right now. They're really confused. And if this is completely new to you. And these apps aren't the right answer, that's the problem. But they're the ones that are showing up for them. Exactly.

And to me, as I said, it's almost the simplicity of like, if you look in ingredients this and generally, you're like, I could make this at home. I know what most of these are. That is a thumbs up. And then know what treat items are and enjoy those. That's how I see. It's like ingredient decks that you recognize.

That's thumbs up. And you can make it as simple as that. I agree. So these apps, we're not massive fans, everybody. Watch this space. I'm sure many are being developed. Yeah. And food exists, as we always says, in a matrix. And as we said, like, it might not be the quote-unquote best bread. But if you're then frying up some garlics and butter beans, a tin of tomatoes, you've got some sliced avocado and you've put a fried egg on that, something like that, that's a great meal. And so if the bread isn't quote-unquote perfect, that doesn't make it bad in that context. If what you're eating is like, you know, very UPF-E ham and UPF bread and Chris, with, you know, even more flavorings, et cetera, in. That's not great. But I feel like we can know that quite quickly. Do we need apps?

Again, are we just like over-complicating life? Oh, always. We're all over-complicating life. I completely with you. I just wish there are more public health messaging saying just what we've just said. We're over-complicating wellness so much in every aspect at the moment. It's not even wellness in my eyes. This is basic public health, nutrition, navigation of a supermarket, which is lacking.

So Megan, from her. Midwells to be specific. Hello, Megan. I hope you're both well. I live in Midwales. I'm 27 years old and I developed arthritis in my knee following injury and surgery when I was younger. Gosh, that must have been so tough. Should I'm interested in whether certain foods can help slow cartilage breakdown or support joint health. Are there any specific dietary recommendations for someone with arthritis? I already take the standard bone strengthening supplements and understand the importance of calcium. But I'm wondering if there's anything else that could be beneficial. Great question. Yeah. I mean, all of us need to be really aware of our

joint health, our bone health, particularly as we get older. It's so important and it's a huge issue right in this country, right? Right? Oh, absolutely. Musco-scalatal health is a huge bone density. We have high rates. I mean, this links to arthritis, but also to osteoporosis of osteoprocess particularly for women one and two will develop this condition, which is a humongous statistic. Elyke does fact check me when I say things like that because it's like it's in my head, like it's in-grey knowledge and sometimes I don't want to... Yeah, roughly one in two women over the age of 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis. And health agencies report about 20 to 23% of all women aged 50 or older have the disease

because it accelerates with age, the prevalence kind of significantly affecting nearly 50% of women by the age of 80. I mean, it's so stark. I think that's why that stat had obviously stuck in my hair because, you know, there's so many elements of the diet. What we want to focus on is keeping inflammation for arthritis, particularly if we discuss arthritis first, low, because you don't want inflammation around your joints. And by doing that, there's no one specific anti-inflammatory diet, but it's a healthy lifestyle. And I don't want you to panic if you do have a one small bag of those skittles one day or something. This is about most of the time, the 80-20 approach, 90-10 perhaps of arthritis, considering what medications you potentially may be on.

Weight-bearing exercise, really important to keep moving, keeping those joints healthy. The Mediterranean diet is the most studied for any type of arthritis with healthy oils and healthy fats. Omega-3, if you listen to our mention of the omega-3 crisis on Monday, go back and have a good listen. But we really need to be getting a lot of this. There's such strong evidence for joint health and omega-3. In fact, for collagen, I know people talk about collagen for aging. There's very little research there that's robust. but there is support for collagen with joint health.

But that, I'd argue, comes from getting adequate protein in your diet and enough vitamin C to create collagen. And that's going to be way more beneficial again. So what I'd say is if you have arthritis, you are entitled, I believe, to the support of a registered dietitian. So I would get on a waiting list as soon as possible because just to be taking a bone supplement, there is so much you can do specifically with your diet,

but it would require one-to-one. This is where one-to-one nutrition comes in, and I do believe you're entitled to that. Love it. Ella, this is your jam completely now from Julia. Plant-based barbecues, summer's coming. In fact, I've got my husband's 40th this summer. Oh, wow.

And I was thinking, I need to get everyone in the garden. So actually, please do. Julia's asked for your favourite recommendations. I need them to. Ella, what are we going to cook this summer? Okay, I don't have a barbecue. I feel like that's blasphemy, isn't it? Well, but to be honest with you, if you're not a meat eater, barbecues are different and that's why I think this question is so relevant.

Also, we didn't have any outdoor space in London. Of course. So this is our first summer with the garden, which is obviously amazing and we're absolutely loving. We keep saying, well, let's buy a barbecue, but haven't done it yet. We've had one and we've not used it in two years. My husband bought a Weber, Weber. Oh, yeah, the Weber ones. Oh, my God, they look amazing.

Yeah, but it's been under the thing in the garden forever. So I would do things like I love mushroom skewers and like spicy harissa skewers. Like if you get mushrooms and you marinate them in a kind of like miso glaze, really rich. Oh, yeah. I'm actually so hungry right now. I'm so hungry. I don't. So I'm like spicy horisco skewers.

So again, I would do like little cubes of tofu, red onion, red peppers, etc. And again, marinate them. I think marinating is so important with those sorts of things. But for me, I'm a big one. when it comes to like groups of people in the summer of just like massive plates of stuff like potato salads and things

yeah and also because you can do so much of that in advance I am not like a fussy person when it comes I hate doing fussy food when I've got people coming over because I often every now and again I like think oh I actually know I'll go fancier and they get so stressed because then people are coming and you're like do you want to drink you just want to talk to them

and you're trying to prep the food it's better to have it and you're about to like burn X or why and so whenever are people coming over I'm like such a one now for just, I don't know, I made this like really delicious meso mushroom pasta at the weekend. And I made all of it in advance. And then I usually like boil the pasta and bring it together. It was so delicious. And I had a lovely salad and a for catcher and things.

But like when people are right, I didn't have to do anything. Yeah. And I'm such a fan of that. And I think in the summer it's even easier. And you can do such like colorful plates of amazingly delicious things with quite simple produce. Just buying like really nice plum tomatoes, for example. And then slicing them really thin. lots of basil, some lovely chili, and then you could do a crunchy topping, so, you know, roast up, some pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and do that in like a little bit of soy sauce and chili, a bit of honey or maple.

Take it out of the oven, it will really crunch up as it calls. Sprinkle that over salads. You can do massive plates, if you said, like, gorgeous, you know, just gently boiled potatoes, loads of olive oils, some chimmy churry on it. I just think the more you do, like big plates of things amazing, like roasted red pepper dip. and you can prep it all and then people come and you've got, I would do like, yeah, Fecca, you've got mushroom skewers, you've got Horacea tofu, red onion skewers,

you've got a beautiful, big bowl of like a butter bean, red pepper dip, you've got a huge fresh green salad with that crunchy topping. You've got a plate of sliced tomatoes with chili. I mean, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. I'm also starving. I really need some food right now. And if you do really want to use your barbecue,

you can do bean burgers or your meats or anything on your barbecue. Well, we at all plants have. amazing veggie baggers. Exactly. Pop those on the Barbie. Yeah, Sainsbury's. Tascoes, Waitrose, Ricardo. Those are absolutely delicious. We've got sweet potato one and then we've got a delicious green one.

I like the sweet potato one. But yeah, I just think the more big plates you can do, the better. And do the dessert on the barbecue. I mean, roast a pineapple on a barbecue for me is divine on skuers. And now we have a question from Laura. So fermented foods, I know we should all be eating them for our gut bugs. And I've been incorporating miso, coconut kaffir, kimchi into my diet at weekly. As someone who considers themselves a healthy eater already, my question is,

should I actually feel any difference? Such a good question or better for eating fermented foods? Or is it like a background health insurance for the long term? Because it can be expensive. I mean, she's really hit the nail on the head there to add extras into the diet, remembering to eat them regularly. And is coconut kaffir as effective as dairy kaffir? Great questions. And completely fair enough, as you said, really like obviously these things, although making your own kind of sauerkrabs and kimchi actually is relatively easy and very, very cost effective because it's like cabbage and salt. But buying them, they're very expensive, actually. Rie, what's your two cents on this? I think the science around fermented foods is definitely

like the health insurance aspect. You've got people like Professor Tim Spet to say, have three portions a day. But like you said, this is expensive and not everyone has the time to make, you know, to make their own. But one of the most talked about studies in recent years came from Stanford. and that's where research has found that the diets that contain these fermented foods were associated with, you know, reduced inflammation markers over time, better gut microbiome diversity. So I do think that the research for having them in the diet is massive, but it also then varies from person to person because we don't actually know, individually speaking, how much benefit these fermented foods are obviously having on the short chain fatty acid production for one individual to another depending on their baseline microbiome. Overall, also with the kaffir and dairy kaffir, just to quickly get that in, dairy kaffir is most research. Now, the reason is because obviously it's from cow's milk, which is for a baby, so it contains calcium, all these nutrition and live bacteria properties, whereas obviously coconut is a plant

and isn't there for a baby to benefit from. So you get the benefits from dairy kaffir because of the original formula of dairy, you know, the beneficial live microbes that it contains. but coconut cafe is still good for you for someone that's dairy-free because it will still have those extra ferments within them. So I think the takeaway is health insurance, you're not going to feel it immediately, but your long-term health will benefit.

Yeah, and I think we'll see more and more research on this. There's more research that's come out that shows that, like, fermented foods might positively influence gut microbial activity, which we know, but also on top of that immune signaling and inflammation pathways in some individuals. So I'd say, like, I think it'll be a very interesting space to watch, I think it's a health insurance. But I certainly am not the world's most foremost expert on this, but I would say it's overwhelming to imagine including like three portions a day.

So I think if you could try and include it a couple of times a week, even to start with, that would be an amazing place to begin. I agree. I'm smoothie obsessed and that's a kaffir low down there. From Laura, our last question of today, she said, hi girls, I've been a listener from the start. Thank you and a follower of Ella since her first book, Ella. Wow. Love it, Laura. Wow.

It was such a pleasure meeting you both at the live Wellness Scoop event in London last year. Oh my goodness, yes. And it was such a wonderful evening. Please do another event soon, she said. I've been struggling with respiratory and energy issues after multiple COVID infections. The Wellness Scoop has been my happy place and a gentle reminder to focus on my health while running my own business. As a busy business owner and a mum of two, my eating schedule is often erratic.

I think Ella and I can relate to that. I usually don't have breakfast until 10.30 a.m. lunch around 3 o'clock and my dinner can be as late as 9 o'clock once my youngest is in bed. My question is, does the time of day we eat affect my body's ability to heal and regulate energy? Is there an optimal window? I should aim forward to better support my immune system. Love Laura. P.S. I know Ella loves a game.

She does indeed. To help me drift off to sleep at night, instead of counting sheep, she started counting how many different plants she's eaten. I love that. I love it. Obviously, Laura, thank you so much for your ongoing support. The dinner one is the one I think we should talk about because there is research about eating times before bed. I would say in the day, honestly, you're going to see stuff on Instagram that says like,

eat as soon as you wake up or you'll be a disaster and your cortisol will spike and all things that terrify you and your hormones will crash. And I would say it's maybe a little bit extreme and out of context. I think it's also like what works for you. And we can all make things quote unquote perfect and then they will never. happen because they don't fit into our lifestyles and you've got to make the world work for you and you are so much better to have breakfast at 10 and lunch at 3 and have healthy, delicious, satisfying meals that you really enjoy than you are to do it quote unquote perfectly and

like stuff something into your face at 6 in the morning when you're not hungry. Do what's really interesting is yes, it's good to leave at least three hours if you can before bedtime. But our bodies have their own internal clocks, which the circadian rhythms, so does our gut microbiome and almost every organ has one. So your digestive system, your immune cells, all the work you mentioned about, you know, healing overnight or your hormone production,

they all follow daily rhythms. And that is influenced by light exposure and your sleep schedule and your food intake. So the research says, our gut microbiome doesn't stay static throughout the day. And I've mentioned on this podcast before a strain called acumencia that comes out at night,

almost like a garbage truck, cleaning everything up. And certain bacteria are more active at different times of that. the day. And that's when they produce these amazing different compounds like Boutureate, which help our gut lining stay really tight and enclosed. So when mill time's become irregular, that's when we have the issues. But you have a regular schedule that's synchronized. So for immune health, for instance, there's growing evidence

that disrupting that circadian rhythm, like shift workers, it's really hard for them. Pilots, you know, jet lag, all those irregular eating patterns, that can provoke an inflammatory response. And we can't say that eating a particular hour will boost your immunity, for instance, but we know that regularity might be more beneficial than the exact time window here. Peri, you're talking about gentle regularity, as in like, you know, the shift work is when you're swapping things by a 12 hour cycle as opposed to like, oh, we're working through the night up until one in the morning or something. Exactly. Versus like, you know, it's gently ebbing and flowing by an hour. Yeah. And I honestly think your current pattern isn't harmful.

at all. It's just a little gap needed between sleep. So I wonder what time you go to sleep. But the bigger picture is, yeah, predictability. And obviously, I'm fibre obsessed as well. So perhaps try having more of your fibre at your breakfast and your lunch and avoiding that at the later meal in the day, perhaps for your digestion towards the end of the day. That's the only nutrition tip I can give on that one. I love it. Well, guys, as always, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. Any questions. Hello at Wellness-Scoop.com or Recommendations to the Community. We absolutely love to hear them. We love to Jodies this week.

I can't wait to watch off campus. Might be doing that on my train home later. Otherwise, guys, we will see you on Monday. See you then. Bye. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up?

That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Thank you.