The Wellness Scoop - How To Lower Inflammation & Eat 30 Plants a Week

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

This week we’re diving into inflammation, what it really is, why it’s not always a bad thing, and how to calm it through everyday habits rather than quick-fix supplements. We explore the evidence behind so-called anti-inflammatory diets, the role of gut health and healthy fats, and why a Mediterranean-style approach remains the gold standard for long-term wellbeing. We answer your questions on how to support your body through IVF, gentle ways to rebuild balance after periods of stress, and how to gain weight healthily when your appetite is low. We also share simple, practical ideas for eating 30 plants a week, from breakfasts to snacks, to boost diversity and support your microbiome. Plus, we unpack the truth behind vitamin-enriched chewing gum, discuss how to find trustworthy nutrition qualifications, and share our top podcast picks of the week including Pieces of Britney, A Very British Cult, and Emma Watson’s new On Purpose with Jay Shetty episode. Recommendations: The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox Seep Eco Sponges Pre order Rhi's new book, The Fibre Formula: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://geni.us/TheFibreFormula Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code space 80 at Talkspace.com. Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always we're here as your host. I'm LML's. And I'm Riannan Lambert. And it's one of our favorite times of the week. We get all of your fantastic questions. And gosh, we have got so many incredible ones today. Do you know what? We always do our recommendations at the top the show. And I'm going to swap my recommendations, spawn some from one of our listeners, Lottie. So I think a few weeks ago, I was looking for some new podcasts to listen to. And Lottie sent an email in with so many good ones that I thought, let's include these. So she has four for us today.

First of all, pieces of Brittany. I actually listened to this when it came out. It's phenomenal. It's done by the brilliant, brilliant journalist, Pandora Sykes, who had the high-low show a few years ago, which I was obsessed with. And she charts the remarkable story of Britney Spears. It's a kind of amazing exploration of art, entertainment, the media, sexism, very important, and the kind of misogyny and double standards that were aimed at Brittany. But it's brilliant. There was a mention actually in the Victoria Beckham documentary that I watched on Netflix as well, referring to look what happened to Brittany when she was talking about her own mental health. I am the biggest Britney fan in the world. I think that's a good one. Really good listen. Have you listened to it?

Yes, when it came out as well, I was, look, I'm Britney Spears obsessed. If she didn't have a tour, I'd be there tomorrow. Oh my gosh, I would want to do that. Okay, so podcast rack number one, pieces of Brittany. Number two, I haven't listened to this yet, but I'm very excited to dangerous memories, which Lottie described as a courageous tale by a group of young women who is subject to abuse by a lady posing as a healer, an example of the risks of working with an unregulated and unqualified professional, which I know is a topic that very closely resonates with Rhee.

She also recommended, again, I can't wait to listen, a very British cult, a gripping series of life coaching gone wrong. And she also recommended Emma Watson's episode on Jay Shetty's podcast on purpose. She said it's brand new and incredibly moving. I'm about halfway through it. I'm really enjoying it. I have so much respect for Emma Watson. I listened to the whole thing the minute it came out as well.

I listened on a very long car journey. I can't remember where I was driving to. I just love the fact she went back to university. She wanted to be a normal student. She really needed to step away. But I'll let you finish it. Let's not do any spoilers, guys. I have got to add to that amazing list on Disney, the twisted tale of Amanda Knox.

Not normally something I would watch, Ella. I have to be honest. You know me. Yeah, it didn't call to me. So I was really surprised to see it in here. It was because my friend Amy Hart put it on her stories. And she's like, oh, I'm watching this documentary. And I was like, oh, is it interesting?

And then I realized it was a murder story. And I was like, oh, I don't know. But actually, I was sobbing. I was sobbing my eyes out, the unjustness of the legal system. and the experience this poor young woman had and how the press again back then with sexism twisted it all on this poor young girl and painted her to be all sorts of things.

Anyway, again, I won't spoil, but a very good... So is she not guilty of the murder? No, no, not remotely. There's nothing. She wasn't even there. But the press twisted her into some sex fiend because she was an easy target. Oh my gosh, I've got to watch this.

I've got to go out and watch it out. Okay, right, Ella's going to watch it. And I have one more wreck that's a bit more nutrition, wellnessy. I finally, finally finished my last awful sponge that I had in the house. You know, the ones that disintegrate the plastic, but I didn't want to just bin it. And I've got all the eco sponges and cloths, and I got it from a place called seep, which is S-E-E-E-P. P, I don't know why, P. Phonics.

I've been so many phonics with the kids at school, I nearly went, seep. S-E-E-E-E-P. Oh dear. I'm so used to spelling things out, everybody, phonetically from my five-year-old. Sorry, S-E-E-E-P. Seep. Do you know what? I've seen they have advertised to me that on Instagram recently.

I have they? And I've been keep thinking I need to try them. Yeah, so I've got them in. I'll let you know how it goes. They're actually really beautiful. And the really cool thing is when you finish with the cloths, you can biodegrade them into your soil in the garden. They're like act as fertilizer. How clever.

Well, one of the things I've got on my wish list at the moment are some of those. composting pots that you dig into your beds, into your veggie growing beds. Sorry, when you said beds then. Yeah, into your bed. What do you mean into my bed? No, so in where you want to grow things, so into raise beds, for example, you've got these composters and you put your kitchen waste in there and then it feeds the worms. Okay, after your gardening course, because I know you're doing it tomorrow.

Tomorrow with my mum. Can you send me a link if you find these because I will put them in my veggie beds? Well, I think I'm going to get one and try it out and then let me know. So I'm so excited about that. Okay. amazing. So let's move on to our amazing questions. Let's start with the topic of the week inflammation. Exactly. Inflammation, anti-inflammatory diets. We have a lot on these. So for example, Therese wrote in, said, we're about to embark on our journey for assisted conception. I've tried to

do a lot of reading on what I can do to help my body be in the best possible place ahead of IVF. Something that often comes up as an anti-inflammatory diet. It seems to be a common phrase, what exactly is it? And does it have any research to back it up. Shell, another listener, wrote in and said, please let your conversation be on body inflammation. It's all I read about at the moment. So many people are trying to sell supplements that will reduce my inflammation. What's this all about? Okay, let's break it up. So I've got a voice note from the most incredible fertility dietitian Roe Huntries who I'll play after, but I think we should start with what inflammation is because, you know, it is normal and I think people are very scared of it because it's part of our body's defense essentially.

If, you know, we have invaders, you know, germs that come in, our immune system creates inflammation because our blood vessels dilate and it helps all the white blood cells get to the place faster. They need to be the site of action. If you cut yourself and you need to heal and everything needs to scab over on your skin, really basic terms, that air is a bit inflamed and that's because your body's fighting off the infection. But when inflammation happens when there's no injury or invader essentially, that's when we can have a range of chronic disease in the things. that can happen. So a good example of discussing inflammation, I think, is often the example of a fever. For example, you know, how you know your body's immune system's working really well when you're ill because you get really hot and you know your body's fighting off that infection. But inflammation can harm you if it occurs in healthy tissues and it just goes on and on.

And it's what we often don't see. So it's not the fever with the temperature. It's the fact your white blood cells are responding to something that isn't there. Okay. And what does that actually look like in the body? So essentially when you're looking at inflamed inflammation, it can be so many different symptoms you feel. A lot of people report gut health issues, first of all. They report digestive discomfort, stress, physiological examples of distress, and sometimes you don't know or see it at all. So you can't always know that you're experiencing inflammation. And this is what makes it really difficult. I wrote a section on inflammation in the science of nutrition in terms of supporting gut health and supporting things that are depleted when we're

stressed as well. But there's no supplement that can do that, guys. There's definitely no miracle. It's the overall lifestyle. And we know that different dietary patterns have been researched in RCTs to do with reducing inflammation. Like the British Nutrition Foundation acknowledges, you know, the Mediterranean diet, lots of healthy fat seller, that olive oil, lots of nuts and seeds but it also acknowledges and this is where the evidence comes in diets high and saturated fat sugars salts refined foods are linked to greater inflammation and that is because the role of fiber I know I talk about the fiber formula over time and everything but we need to be doing but I cannot emphasize enough the fact that fiber and plant diversity support our gut and that means

it supports inflammation lowering it because our immune system is right next to our our gut, they're separated by like one cell. It's tiny, microscopic. And our gut bugs train our immune cells. So it's really, really important that rather than thinking of a supplement for inflammation, it won't do anything, that we just look at our overall gut health. And when your gut helps off, often we're a bit run down. Exactly. And to feed your gut health, which is why these diets, as you said, high and refined foods, for example, are very often associated with higher levels of inflammation in the body because obviously aside from anything negative about them, they're not feeding your microbiome. They're not feeding your gut. And that is so much, I think so

much of the focus at the moment in terms of UPFs is what they are and then being bad. As opposed to by consuming those, you're not having your tin of chickpeas to talk about the tin of lentils and things we're talking about on Monday's episode. But you're foregoing that because, you know, you can't eat endlessly. So you're swapping one nutrient-rich gut microbiome-rich-feeding kind of diet for another. And that's such a big part of the challenge. So it's so much more about what we're not eating versus what we are eating, I think. I think you frame that excellently. That's exactly it. It's what can you add in, guys. So when looking at inflammation, I know it can sound really scary, but we don't want to boost our immune system because if you're boosting it, it's going to an

overdrive. And that's when you get inflammation. Because if there's more white blood cells responding to a you're going to experience more inflammation and we don't want that guys that's why I don't like those supplements that claim that are going to boost your immune system it's a load of nonsense you just want to keep it really normal you want to boost your gut health

you want to boost your gut health exactly and that's exactly like the diet that we were talking about Monday's episode the planetary diet with that big new report that's come out again is this very plant rich plant first heavy and whole grains and legumes etc that's an anti-inflammatory diet

Right. So let me play this voice note I've got on the fertility aspect that is linked to an anti-inflammatory diet. And when I say anti-inflammatory diet, we mean healthy fats and med style. So over to Roe Huntries. Firstly, well done to this lady for thinking about nutrition before embarking on IVF because many people don't and it can make a difference. So an anti-inflammatory diet is basically a diet that helps to reduce levels of inflammation in the body. And this is achieved by reducing the intake of pro-inflammatory foods. So, things like refined carbs, processed meats, added sugar, and then increasing anti-inflammatory food, such as our oily fish or fruits and vegetables. So infertility, this is important as inflammation can negatively influence several aspects of the fertility journey, from egg quality to sperm quality, but also what we call the uterine environment. So the environment within the uterus, basically, because this is where implantation occurs. And that as the implantation of the embryo. So if things are inflamed here, it just means that we're going to have lower chances of

success, which is why an anti-inflammatory diet can be really helpful. But another thing to think about here is antioxidant. So oxidative stress is associated with poorer egg and sperm quality. But antioxidants can help to prevent or counteract this damage. So these antioxidants, in essence, will lead to a higher quality. of both eggs and sperm, therefore, again, leading to a higher chance of IVF success. So basically what we want to do is we want to combine these two things, an anti-inflammatory diet and having lots of antioxidants. And a really good diet for this is the Mediterranean diet.

And I know you guys speak about it on the podcast, so it won't be new to you. But, you know, think plenty of fruits and veg, herbs and spices, legumes, nuts and seeds, oily fish, olive oil, whilst decreasing intake. of things like red meat, refined carbs, and added sugar. I will note that supplements can also help, so take a prenatal supplement at least, and don't feel too overwhelmed. Just remember that what you imagine to be a healthy diet

will likely be anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidant. So even just eating healthily, as you know it, will likely have beneficial effects. Okay, so question two comes from Lizzie. And Lizzie said a big thank you for the podcast. Thank you, Lizzie. Over the summer, it's really overworked, stressed and mentally struggling. And the podcast really helped me to get out there and I'm so much better now.

Well, thrilled to hear it, Lizzie, thank you. And I think also thank you for saying next thing. It is really important that we all normalise that we have these periods in our life. Lizzie said, I've got so many helpful tips and routines still struggling with some but getting there. So thank you a lot. It's always nice to hear you're not alone with your struggles. I totally agree. But she said, I'm working on gaining some weight due to not really having much appetite for some weeks.

Do you have any tips? I already added smoothies, lots of variation as addition meals, but maybe could you share some more helpful ideas? I thought it was so nice this because so many questions are all like, how do I lose weight? How do I lose weight? How do I lose weight? As opposed to like what can I do to really support my body and get a really healthy weight going? And also thank you for, I mean, just saying the podcast is helpful because it does remind Ella and I a lot that what we're doing by discussing these topics because sometimes we get nervous about it, guys. You know, it is actually helpful. So in all my years of practice, it's such a misconception. We get so many people that need to gain

weight and it's hard. I would almost go as far as saying gaining can be more difficult for people than losing. It's an assumption that it's easy to put on weight for people, but it's not. Genetically speaking, it can be very difficult for certain body types to gain in a real, real struggle. And also that can be for a variety of reasons, psychological, it could be low appetite, you could be poorly, experienced levels of stress, you turn away, from food and there is no magic bullet with weight gain. It is a targeted plan and actually it's very difficult. In the science of nutrition, if any of you have that encyclopedia, I do have a page with a really easy flow diagram, which was an example because I really contemplated with the

weight gain subject, the emotional link behind it. It's a difficult thing to address. But I laid it out in a very simple format to show a flow graph of what you could do throughout every day and all the extras you can add in. But essentially it is definitely prioritising nutrient dense minimally processed foods in excess. It's not just about eating a Mars bar every morning or something that's high calorie. It's a big misconception. You could just eat a pizza every single day from Domino's and that'll help with your weight gain journey. It does not work like that at all. And to some people, actually, they may start losing weight, believe it or not, depending on their situation in clinic. It's really difficult. So you need to plan. Also, this can be hard.

stomach is suddenly getting used to a larger volume of food and that also comes of digestive issues. So weight gain is not simple guys. It's not just so lucky you because this is a big misconception and I don't know if you'd have thought the same but some people think oh that's great you get to eat more. No completely. I know as you said people often like lucky you but actually kind of got to appreciate people's insecurities and challenges and self-esteem comes in so many different shapes and forms and actually for some people this is something they really really need and one. And the money, like the cost. So have a think about how you can do it that's cost effective for you. So my top tips, like I said, prioritise nutrient dense. So don't just think of empty

calorie junk food here. Think of nut butters, full fat dairy if you consume dairy instead of obviously semi-skimmed or skimed, oily fish, avocados, all those sorts of things. Now, plant-based diets are lowering calories and you have to take that into account. It's a really common misconception that a large plate of, you know, grains and kimoires and things that is going to add weight it's not you do need to up the fats so i call them boosters like olive oil nut oils seeds ground flax or cheer does keep adding that drink a lot more water it's eating often with structure so you insert snacks it has to be breakfast snack mini lunch lunch snack mini dinner dinner snack bed it's quite a lot for people to get used to turn meals into higher calorie versions

remember the protein remember exercise don't obviously don't overuse you don't over do it but you have to keep active and be patient and just remember it will happen in time but if you're struggling I would definitely reach out for some advice and I have to say it's not something the NHS unless you're in a clinic for a condition are very good at with referring for weight gain one size doesn't fit all here it's I'd say it's more complex than a weight loss diet that's really interesting as you said I think that's very different to what some people would imagine Access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime.

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we've had a few questions about filming the show. I think when we started this show, what we wanted was just to, like, feel really relaxed and have time where we felt we can kind of just be really honest. And I found with our last podcast, as soon as we had cameras and you have obviously many more people involved and it becomes kind of a bit more of a production. It's not that other people shows lose this, but that's definitely what I'm meaning. But I just felt for me, there was a little bit of authenticity that you lose because you suddenly feel so much more on edge. I mean, in the room right now, our producer Will had to quickly go and do something. It's like literally just really night sitting on comfy chairs having a chat. And I just, for me, personally, I just

think maybe you get more from me. Do you know, I think there's also a level of us wanting to almost not fight back, but make a stand in the sense that not everything has to be perfectly curated and poised for clickbait on social media. We didn't want this podcast, and Ella said from the very start, because I did ask the question, I said, oh, do you think anyone's going to listen if we don't post these clips? Do we have to edit our conversations into some sort of different meaning? Do we have to speak differently to be able to get a 30? second clip. And, you know, when we were looking at it, I think you do lose authenticity to a certain

degree. It's very difficult to get good performative social media clips from your podcast. And also, we're then judged in a different way. So you've got to remember personally, I think we discuss a lot of vulnerable subjects. Like we just discuss weight gain. That is a really sensitive issue for people. And I don't want anyone to look at us and judge on how we look or appear on the camera. and then pitch it against what we're saying. Does that make sense? I mean, it's definitely how I feel. Curious to hear what you guys think.

But yeah, I think it is that as well, which is that we have both been on shows where our conversations are very much edited down to a clickbait. And I often imply being like, just please don't use this because it's just not who I am and it's just not what I mean. And there's no point, to be honest, filming it if you don't create clickbait

because no one will ever see it. So that's a huge amount of time and money to create something that you then don't use. But I think we'll stay audio only to exactly to kind of keep the relaxed nature and also to essentially opt out of a clickbait race. Okay. So Ella, the next question. This is still from Jake. This is his actual question.

Yeah. So he wanted to know what was actually very different from the initial question. What are your thoughts on chewing gum, which has been boosted with vitamins? So he said, I recently saw M&S advertise an immune support gum, sorry, with B12, B6 and C. the packaging says a lot of buzzwords without saying much. Is it just marketing? Ella. Let's just say yes and move on.

No, we'll give you a full answer, Jake. I mean, look, we talked last Monday about the Joe Wicks documentary and about the food industry and the lack of regulation. And it has been a very interesting learning process for me over the last decade or whatever of being part of that industry. But what you see really quickly is that, we just talked about colds and what you can do, for example, to support your body in cold flu season on Monday. And we were saying, you know, what's really important is your gut health.

And what's really important for your gut health is high fibre foods, things like oats, nuts, seeds, you know, fruit, etc. And we can make products that include all of that, but you can't make those claims, whereas once you start adding a sprinkling of vitamin X, Y or Z, you can start making infinitely more claims. And that's a very simplistic way of. putting it, but essentially to be able to make health claims, you kind of, which is why Cocoa Pops have been able to say supporting your family's health, because they add in sprinklings of various multivitamins. And so I think the challenge here is like when you go into it, like yes, vitamin B12, for example, very important for several key functions in the body, vitamin B6, the same

involved in metabolism, brain function, immune health. It's needed for over 100 enzyme reactions in the body like these are really important things that also helps the body make neurotransmitters like serotonin dopamine gabber like it's not that the added vitamins aren't relevant we talked about and again monday's episode vitamin c can shorten the length of coal but about about 8% it can slightly take the edge off the severity but remembered so impressed but you're going to have to eat a lot of gum before you don't even eat gum do you just I love fortification I'm all for it I think it saves lives. However, I'm really not for this. But you're talking about fortification in the form of like formula for children. Yeah, or iron and wheativics. Exactly. Or you're talking about, I think,

soy milks, for example, if you're on a vegan diet and adding in iodine, which vegans would often be low in. So you're like very targeted and very kind of researched and well-rounded fortification. Yes, I am. As opposed to marketing claims. I've had in my clinic for years, issues of chewing gum because it can worsen people's digestion. It triggers acid reflex. It doesn't make it better because your stomach thinks it's about to get food. So whenever you chew gum, your saliva production goes up, which actually in some instances, I know dentists say it can be good for your teeth and it is advised in some situations. You know, as a singer, I used to be told that could be helpful to chew a little bit of gum before I go on stage because it helps with saliva

production. However, it also causes your stomach to release acid and anticipation of the food and a lot of bloating or heartburned as comfort. Often it's simply because you've been chewing gum. And then the taste of it, those added sweeteners such as sorbitol, zyatol, they can ferment in the gut and cause digestive upset. In some individuals and excessive amounts, of course, I have to add that in. I just, I'm very confused by it. I mean, I get the opportunity.

I am going into Marks and Spencers to have a chat at the end of the month. I'm very excited, actually. but I'm very confused by immune support gum. Yeah, look, I think we talked about it on Monday. There's lots of important things you can do to support your immune system in the winter. And for example, B6, you know, great sources of poultry, fish, potatoes, bananas, chickpeas, oats, fortified cereals, like quite easy to consume items that we're often all consuming anyway if you've got a vaguely whole food diet. So I just think that the focus, again, consistently comes.

back to should be of food fundamentally. And if this is a breath thing, I'm not a dentist, by the way, guys, but we mentioned a tongue scraper right back at the beginning as one of our things. I've done it every day ever since. I love it. I love it. Now I can't go without it. How did I not do this in the morning every day?

Feels very hygienic. I totally agree. I love that feeling. So if that's the reason you're taking gum, try a tongue scraper. I don't know. Speak to a dentist, not me. Yeah. I would, from immune perspective, gut health, gut health, I would say.

It does the opposite chewing gum for your gut health. It's not great for you. So question forward from Tracy. She said, question for the podcast. What would a 30 plants a week look like for you two in terms of meals and snacks? Oh, Ella, you've got a chef. I feel like you've had more time to perfect your diet and cook recently. And I would love to know what an average kind of thing you do would be.

It's such a great question. Do you know what? I often like, it's one of those things sometimes when I'm, because I'm trying not to scroll my phone, as you guys might have picked up. Oh, well done. I've done really well at that recently. Depends on the day. It depends how tired I am.

I know. When I'm not tired I win, when I'm tired I lose, everything that involves healthy habits, basically. I know, same, same. Sleep is everything. Or sometimes all like sit outside. My kid's bedroom door waiting for me to go to sleep. And again, trying to score my phone.

So I'm like, oh, I wonder if my children have had 30 plants this week. You're a fun little game. I love my games, guys. I should have put it in the fiber bag. I should have got your example. I just like put it in the middle of the new book. But for example, so this morning, on Sunday night, I, because Monday's quite a busy morning for us, because my husband and I both get the early

train so the kids need to be out the door really early and then they also have recorder and ballet and all sorts of things on a Monday. So we need, yeah, yeah. Oh, recorder. Oh, I remember the recorder days. Oh, my gosh. It was the Ryland or the recorder and I, we have gone for the recorder. So, yeah, but that's lovely to listen to the practice. I was so proud of my recorder when I was a child. I used to treasure my recorder. Oh, my gosh. Anyway, sorry. Well, that's us now. Come on. Breakfast. So, for example, last night, I made the porridge ready to just heat up in the morning and it's jumbo oats. Porridge oats cook really quickly, but there is more satiety benefit in the jumbo oats, but they do take longer so I soak the night before.

So jumboats, frozen blueberries and mashed banana, almond butter and some cheer seeds. And I'll just soak that in some milk and then cook it in the morning. So then it literally is like a, there's no mass, no energy, et cetera, to make a healthy breakfast. But that's five, for example, just in that. For dinner tonight, we're going to have a black bean stew. that, again, I batch made the other day. And the base of that is shallots, garlic, carrot, leak, celery. Can I ask you about shallots very quickly? Oh, my God, I'm obsessed with them.

I love them too. But I remember you telling me about shallots when you came on the old Food for Thought Podcast. I just love them. And ever since you mentioned them to me eight years ago, I consciously do alternate between white onions and shallots. But those are the kind of gut health 30 plants a week wins. Like you can use red onion slots, normal onions. But the taste difference. They're sweeter.

Yeah, that's why I prefer them. Yeah, I much prefer them as well. But so that's five just in the basin. I've got black beans, lentils, tin tomatoes, coconut milk, lime juice, some miso. So I've got 11 just in the dinner. I know, you're smashing it. And that's just one day.

And that's already 12. I don't know what I'll eat for lunch. So I think for me, it's always this little wins. And for example, like every week, my daughter's obsessed with pesto pasta. so I'll always make a pesto pasta. But when I make the pesto, which is so easy to do, what I'll do is I'll switch it up.

So some weeks I'll put rocket in. A rocket pesto is absolutely delicious. Just a normal pesto-based bad rocket. Or I'll put some peas that I've already got in the fridge into the pesto. Or I'll do cashew nuts or half cashews, half pine nuts. Or you can use pistachia. Weirdly, you know what's delicious in pesto is steam half a broccoli and blend it? Oh, really?

I haven't done that. Super creamy, absolutely delicious. So that's the sort of thing that it would look like for me. And I do find as a result, we get it quite easily, actually. How about you, Ray? Well, I think that's definitely the advantage of being a predominantly plant-based eater is that you've got recipes up your sleeve that you use a lot. Whereas if you base a meal, you're an omnivore and you base a meal around a chicken breast,

you're unlikely to hit that diversity in the same way. It's really interesting. I mean, you can always add herbs to your meat. You can do that sort of thing. Snacking even on dark chocolate with hazelnuts would be like another two plant points that day. apple and nut butter in the afternoon easy ways to chuck it all in tonight i'm a hundred percent going to be having more roasted bean mix i'm probably going to cook some brown rice or chemo very quickly i need to actually do a food shop i didn't do it this weekend i normally do

so i'm a bit behind so i'm thinking what have i got in my freezer and it's so easy to just add yeah a bag of frozen peas or edamami to that rice mix up for the kids it's some of their favorite things so don't forget olive oil is even a quarter of a point my favorite veg the world is obejines so I'm really craving that yeah I think it's easier than you think guys I know the number 30 sounds so overwhelming but honestly and that's why I really wanted to do a fiber book and actually Ella your book will be really good because it's quick and we have the plant points actually on every recipe in the book fantastic and there are some meal plans as well so that you can get 30 plants a week bingo which was quite fun to tally up everyone counts the 30 plants

differently though some people count a spice as a quarter some people count them as a whole again i just personally feel that as it stands just count each thing as a win you know don't get too head up about it like you've got cinnamon great you've got basil great like you don't need to get too dogmatic about it give yourself a tick when you can get a tick let's just be positive it's what you can add in guys even ella's chocolate almonds they count um so um we've got a very different question from Yasmin now. And she said, how do you learn to trust yourself again with food after chronic dieting? You found this question, Ella. Yeah. And look, I think it's a really important question. And Yasmin, thank you so much for sharing it. I think what I would say is obviously there's

a continuum, right? And everyone fits in a different place on that continuum. But we've spoken a lot about kind of anyone who grew up in the 90s and naughties, you know, the size zero culture, Victoria Beckham's new documentary on Netflix is talking a lot about. It's the first time she's ever publicly acknowledged it, even though everybody knew. Exactly, the circles of shame that would go around. Because she feels she can say it now. Exactly. You think about Heat magazine or the rest of it back in the day, circles of shame around people

cellulite, the size zero movement, heroin sheik. You know, there was just... They weighed on TV, they, you know... Totally. It was, you know, for decades, like the kind of pressure of thinness was so huge and obviously there's a challenge again with the Zempik and Coe bringing some of that back. I think that for so many women, even if it's not chronic dieting, it's a consistent pressure on them. The TV ads were slim fast, that the TV ads were Weight Watchers, the TV ads were Special K.

Special K, eat a small bowl of cereal twice a day to lose weight. How malnourished? Well, yeah, you're not eating. No. So I just felt it's an important question, something actually probably facets of which will resonate with lots of people. Even if you're not being chronic dieting, you've had that noise and that kind of decade. of bizarre conversation around women's bodies going on. And I know how hard that is.

I really do. It's the most devastating thing, but also one of the most rewarding areas of working in the clinic is seeing people really say goodbye to that phase of their life and that chapter. And it's not easy. So I've got a voice note from one of my psychologists, Dr. Laura Jackson,

and she is phenomenal. And she works with such a spectrum of cases here, but this is what she does in a clinic. She supports the psychology aspect, not the nutrition. and I actually feel this question leans towards that nicely. So I'll let Laura take it from here. Okay, so how do you learn to trust yourself again with food after chronic diet?

In really common we see this in clinics. It's very difficult to do. It's changing habits of often a very long time. It's also going against what society often tells us to do as well. I think one thing to really bear in mind is to understand why that trust was broken in the first place. and that comes from things that we do without realising sometimes and it's kind of those messages that we have to ignore our bodies and the signal that the body's giving us.

So things like don't eat now, this food's bad, you know, labelling foods as good and bad and that can then become a learned response. We can often pick that up from caregivers, nurseries, parents, families, that kind of thing. And that's something to really be mindful of that when we're trying to change that, that's going to take a lot of time

because it can be quite deep-rooted. And I think one thing that we often see within clinics as well is we need to notice what's going on in the body. So when are we feeling full? What are we feeling before we've eaten when we're eating and after we're eating? And what kind of rules and judgments come up as we're in this process as well. Because we can often just get into a case if we need to do this or, you know, like fuel the body if you like. So if I can eat this and I can manage to do that, you know, activity or whatever it might be. often that drive to lose work can become really unhelpful and often unfortunately sometimes

result in eating disorders which obviously I work within the clinic as well and I think some things that can be really helpful to manage that is to and kind of have that trust in your body again is to rate hunger kind of you know get back into that kind of feeling of this is how I'm feeling trusting that your body is okay building that what we call interoceptive awareness so kind of learning your body language again so we can think things like written hunger how we're feeling before we after we eat when did we stop eating was the food satisfying not taking it all away from what we're eating and think about how we're feeling about it as well so very much being mindful with what we're doing trying to reduce the anxiety reduce the guilt that often comes

with with eating differently and I think one thing that we can really help ourselves with I suppose is I guess thanking our body for what we're doing and being grateful, which is often difficult to do because we're often trying to strive for something different to what we have. But that can be really helpful and kind of that gentle self-talk so that, you know, checking in how we're feeling, encouraging ourselves. I'm allowed to nourish myself, you know, I'm learning to trust my body again, not expecting it to go from black or white either because this can help really rewire that in a dialogue that dieting distorts as well. those, you know, distorts, those messages and the beliefs that we have about ourselves and

other people as a result of often other people, but society as well and what we're seeing particularly on social media. It's complex. It's not straightforward at all. It's not a case of just stopping dieting and everything's okay again. Chronic dieting can really impact relationships with ourselves, with food, with other people, but particularly the cognitions and behaviours as well. So it's not as easy. Just let's stop dieting and let's, you know, everything move forward peacefully. It's not the case, unfortunately. but fortunately it changes you know it takes time but it's possible to change it

I think it's just being mindful and aware that you know these things are going to take time it's not a quick fix it's not an overnight thing therapy can be really helpful with this as well and does transform lives where this is concerned because it's getting out of those old habits and learning new ones but it's a journey and it does get better and then people there are to support

so please do reach out if people are really struggling with this Okay and our final question for this week comes from Lucy who said I'm fortunate enough to be given a lucky break and cook for a living Wow! I know, it's so great She said I've got a great passion for food and nutrition but I'm not qualified nutrition

and hoping to gain official qualifications once I know where to start I'm also a huge fan of Rees shout out to Re, me too Lucy and want to gain a meaningful respect of qualification and not a quick course of the internet Ree what shall I do? Wow, first of all, what an amazing

job opportunity to be able to do that and I think you really have to have a think lucy with what you want to use it for because that dictates the qualification you embark upon if it is just purely for your own knowledge for cooking you probably can do some regulated short courses to give a baseline knowledge however if you want to be advising others you do need to have a degree in nutrition and there is no other sadly way around it and my goodness me I know that comes of a cost, especially these days. But because nutrition isn't just telling people what to eat, it's the science of the human body.

You have to do biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy. I shared a course with neuroscientists. I did immunology modules. So you're really looking also what a doctor would do. You're looking at a baseline foundation of science. Before, I don't think I even got to year two or three before I started looking at a vitamin or a minimal on the nutrition degree course.

So if you want to work in a hospital environment, you need to do a dietetic degree, which would be a minimum probably of three to four years, and then you go on. And that's with the British Dietetic Association. Or what I chose to do was go down the Association for Nutrition Route, because I did my work experience with dietitians. And I shadowed district nurses. I was fixing catheters. I spent time on the maternity units, diabetes wards. and to be honest, I found out hospital work wasn't for me. It wasn't where I naturally lied.

So I decided to follow that route instead. What gets confusing is that there's also complementary therapy options, but then you wouldn't be able to work in the NHS or have the grounding, I guess I have essentially, to cross over into different categories. But you could become a nutritional therapist, which is what I'd say is more holistic. And that would be regulated by Bant,

which is the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine. However, Bant isn't regulated in the same way as BDA and AFN on a government level, the complementary and natural healthcare council. So because it's holistic, not everything is fully regulated. So there's lots of different courses to be homeopaths and different directions you can go upon, which are wonderful for some. But I would say in today's nutrition world, they're not going to enable you to make a change in Parliament or speak about nutrition like I do so freely,

because you just don't have the evidence-based grounding with those courses or the regulation. But they can be lovely, and they do have a place somewhere. But what I would say, a big red flag is if you see a nutritional therapist that says they work with cancer, that's a big no, that they work with a whole list of like they do everything. No one does everything. No one.

Like it's like me saying, oh, I run a clinic and I can do gut health, sports, weight laws. No, you have specific clinicians who focus. which is where the voice notes come from, who focus on the different facets of that. Exactly. And they've spent their life, like one of the big bug bears for nutrition professionals is if you see someone selling a gut health supplement and they've only done a nutrition degree,

well, they haven't specialised in gut health. They haven't gone on to go and do a master's degree. Like I did a master's degree in obesity risks and prevention, and I did another master diploma in the psychological interventions to food because I knew that I would be working predominantly around disordered eating and weight. But if you haven't actually trained as a gastro dietitian and worked with cases of Crohn's, IBS, all sorts of gut issues, you are not a gut health expert and no expert says they know everything. You're always learning. Just so there, just so you've got those to take home with you.

And I wish you every bit of luck. I think it's fantastic you want to study. So look at courses that are credited by AFN or BDA. If you want more holistic, you can look at some band options there too. And I'm sure either way, you'll learn so much. Love that. well thank you guys for listening thank you for tuning in have a brilliant week and we will see you back here on monday i cannot wait bye