The Wellness Scoop - IBS, Oils and the Fats We’re All Confused About

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

This week on The Wellness Scoop, we’re talking about everything from navigating long-term IBS and nutrient gaps on a plant-forward diet, to making sense of fats, oils and everyday cooking choices. We answer questions on flax and chia, including whether heat affects their omega-3 content and how to use them practically in meals. We look at iodine intake on a mostly plant-based diet, which foods contribute meaningfully, when supplementation can be helpful, and how to approach it without unnecessary anxiety or restriction. We also explore IBS, why symptoms can persist for years, why one-size-fits-all diets often fall short, and what sustainable, personalised support can look like. Alongside this, we reflect on messages about phone use and digital habits, and how small shifts away from constant scrolling can support overall wellbeing. Finally, we dig into fats and oils. We break down saturated fat and coconut oil, what the evidence says about cholesterol, how often it’s realistic to use, and how to think about vegan cheeses. We also compare olive oil and cold-pressed rapeseed oil, when each works best, and why variety tends to matter more than perfection. Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to: [e-mail]  Recommendations:  The Night Manager The Wedding People Tell Me Lies on Disney+ Bridgerton The Housemaid (film) The 30 Plan by Catherine Rabess Order your copy of Ella's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quick Wins: Healthy Cooking for Busy Lives⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pre-order your copy of Rhi's upcoming book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Fibre Formula⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Hi guys and welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your twice weekly now, dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we are both here as your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert and we have a fantastic listener question episode coming up. So thank you for all of your questions. Let's go. Reminder, any questions, queries, things you want us to discuss or recommendations you have for the community, send them to us. Hello at Wellness-Scoop.com. We love getting your messages.

Ree, before we get into it, have you got any brilliant burning recommendations for us this morning? Bridgeton. Oh my gosh, I so want to watch it. It's back. At first I was slightly disappointed. I was like, oh, this is just a copy on, I almost don't want to say it to give it away to anyone that's listened.

But then I got into it. It's a slow burner. And then on like episode two, I am invested again. And I don't know if this is disturbing, but tell me lies, this program on Disney, about relationships in America with kids, well, teenagers at their kind of unies. But a guy that's got a very warped, terrifying, sadistic kind of outlook, like toxic relationships. It's very addictive. Don't ask me why. And I saw The House Made at Cinema.

Oh, gosh. Okay. So there you go. So it's Tell Me Lies fiction or a documentary. That's fiction, Tell Me Lies. And then obviously Housemade is on the book that I've given you today. Rees bought The House Made for Me today, which I'm so excited about. Don't expect like wonderful.

Literary. Yes. But it's an easy, good gripping read. I feel like I'm going to absolutely race through it. Yeah, I think you are. Okay, I need to watch Tell Me Lys. We just finished the Night Manager. Isn't it amazing?

I need another episode. Oh, it'll be out now because it's Monday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I've done the whole thing. Oh my God, it is so good. And they are doing it season three, in case anyone missed that, they've confirmed it. Those were actually my recommendations.

I shared accidentally my other recommendation on Monday, which is The Wedding People. Such a great book. But I wax lyrical about it on Monday. So I will just, if you haven't listened, really recommend the Wedding People book. So good. So I did something really interesting. Well, I think it's interesting. You might disagree everybody.

but I made so many things were happening on my commute today and it made me think how much we're exposed to subliminally that can affect our mood for the day ahead and I'm obviously a very sensitive soul but I'm sure many people witnessed things like this and it can really shape your day so it started So you've got a note for us of all the things that you had to override this morning

I love that because it's so true it's so easy to be like derailed and kind of blown with the wind normally we ignore it because we're so used to seeing things that I'm about to read out happen every day. We become desensitized to it, but I'm sure it must have an impact physiologically on us that we don't acknowledge or recognize. Okay.

So for once, I wrote it down. Tell us. Well, it started off on the back foot anyway because my eldest was up in the night. But that aside, I'm used to that, so we crack on. So that's fine. Then I was like walking down the road to the train station and there was a little dead squirrel

by the side of the road. I didn't have a carry bag on me to pick it up and move it, and then I felt an absolute emotional, like, distress because I was like this poor thing. I can't leave it there but to the roads. I was like trying to rush for my train, get leaves off a bush, and try and move this dead squirrel. Obviously, that's heartbreaking for me. Then I get to the platform and one of those really fast trains go past. You know, that's quite...

Oh, yeah, there's always made you feel quite rasseled, I think. Oh, my goodness. I always turn the other way and try and think of anything else. And then when I got on the train, someone was having a really bad domestic, essentially. Like, everybody in the carriage could hear it. on the phone. And normally I just ignore that. But I couldn't help myself, but listen, isn't that awful that? But because there was no other noise on the train. No one was talking. It was just this one person. I doubt you were the only person listening. I know. But how not normal is that to begin with?

And then there was someone having coughing fit. And I mean like me thinking, I'm going to catch this. Oh my gosh, I mustn't breathe. She just coughed, hold my breath. Does anybody do that? Because I was like, don't want to breathe in those germs. Then it started raining when I was walking in and it didn't say rain on my weather app this morning. So I had no umbrella and I was thinking, what is going on today? Then I get onto the platform and I got pushed

and missed the first tube by a guy, rushed me aside. I seem to be pushed a lot now on public transport and I'm not enjoying it. And then when I get off the tube to Oxford Circus, there's a pile of vomit by the entrance coming out on the floor. Then I saw a homeless person, felt bad and gave my only snack for the day, my banana in my bag to the homeless person.

That was gone and that also made me feel sad. And then the minute I stepped out the steps from the tube, I kind of took a breath because you know it's so hot down there. And I inhaled someone's cigarette smoke. And then I felt sick already. And I'm walking down the road. And there's another lorry that's hooting at another car. And I kind of just took a step back and I thought, wow, this is normal.

Like, that's my norm. And I'm sure it's everyone's norm that commuting. into London or a busy city or a work job. And it made me really respect and appreciate those days where I get up, where either I'm not commuting in or it's the weekend, and the morning is just, I'm in control. I was not in control over any of those external factors happening to me. And so many of us have no power over them.

I just thought it was an interesting way of framing that we are so used to bad things. It's interesting as well on our episode on Monday. I don't know if you guys have listened yet, but we talked a lot about how the world we live in, it's very overstimulating, it's very, very busy. It's a huge amount for our brains to absorb in any given second and actually trying to just reclaim bits of it. So trying to zone out where you can read something,

listen to something, have a kind of moment for want of a better expression. And I think it shows how important it is because actually anyone kind of existing in the busy world that we all live in, It is a lot. You are really overstimulated. It's sort of just a fact. And so we're actually trying to carve out pockets of calm. Does wonders for your mental well-being. That's exactly it. And I was thinking, this is just an average day. I mean, not everybody would stop for the squirrel. I appreciate that. That's probably just me. Being overly sensitive. But that's my own issues to deal with. But I think we are all just so desensitized to the environments around us. And like Ella said, we have to preserve our. we have to preserve our own mental health because it's the only way to cope is to find those pockets.

A hundred percent. Put on the wellness scoop in your ears if someone's having a domestic on the train. Yeah, and just do the little things. Do you know what on little things where you'll be so proud of me. This is one of my like, because you know everyone knows I love like little habits and how much they add up and what a difference they make to your health. One of my worst habits other than doom scrolling, which is, you know, very much addressing is not drinking any water.

Yes, you've always described yourself as the camel. Camel. Yeah, I'd get to like four pia. I literally haven't had any water. And like the number of times Rees looked to me is like absolute horror where I'm like, oh I'm on my third coffee and I haven't had any water.

Reed, this is my fourth water and I've only had one coffee. I even said to it and I was like, you look great this morning. I feel right. So that's actually so nice of you to say that. It's the water. In fact, you've had that cup in front of you

and I'd assumed it was coffee all morning. Not that I'm judging. It started off as coffee on the train and now it's had two whole waters and I had two waters for a left. house and a smoothie. Don't you just feel so much better for it? So I really honestly feel it's these little things that we can cling on to. And we've also got feedback from Lottie Ella as well. Yes. And she has said, I've just listened to this Monday's episode where you talk about

classing obsession with longevity as becoming disordered. Yeah. So just a reminder on that two Mondays ago we had a conversation. It was in our trend section looking at this obsession with longevity and clinics now treating people who had that obsession has become kind of paralyzing, overwhelming, and actually feeling a little bit like orthoraxia, for example, where good habits become compulsive and as a result become detrimental. Exactly. And she said, I absolutely agree that it can, but my question is, at what point is avoiding things we know are detrimental to our health,

considered disordered? She said, I was thinking on it as I listened to the episode and thought of it in comparison to go in teetotal and avoiding alcohol or avoiding processed meat for health reasons. Alcohol and process meats are things that we absolutely know are detrimental to our health or even, you know, carcinogens like smoke inhalation, fumes, inactive lifestyles. But at what point is avoiding these proven unhealthy things obsessive or disordered?

She said, I didn't come to a good conclusion. So I would love to hear both of your thoughts. It's such a nice question. Yeah, and very thoughtful. provoking. Yes, I actually thought a lot about this after I read it. Ria, I wonder if we can start by framing actually, if you could give us a definition of what disordered patterns in this instance are classified by technically. Yeah, essentially like a brief overview is it's how it impacts your life. So the definition to be exact is avoiding foods or behaviours that are known to be harmful

to health. It's not inherently disordered. It just becomes disordered when the behaviour, and this is key here, The behaviour is driven by fear, rigidity or anxiety rather than flexibility. So it's the proportion overall well-being. And when it becomes, you know, negative and it affects mental health, social life or physical health, Ella, that's ultimately the loss of flexibility. You know, you wouldn't go out of your friends for dinner. You wouldn't go somewhere, do something for you because you're worried about this other external factor. Yeah, I think that flexibility point is, to me, that's the core of it, isn't it? because, and I mentioned this on Monday, I had this kind of weird moment where I had, I emailed my

daughter's school and said, you know, I don't particularly want her having ham on a regular basis. Obviously, as we know, it's a class one carcinogen. To me, it's about that balance. Like, she loves sweeties and, you know, all things that six-year-olds do. And so I just feel like I don't think she particularly needs that in excess in her life. But how weird it is to have to do that, because really it's not something that you would think has served in abundance to children, but obviously it is. So it is this interesting world where we know some of these things

are really, really bad for us and therefore avoiding them seems strange to other people. And I think that's the bit that gets me. We worry about what others think about us all the time. 100%. And I think that's the bit that's interesting to me. But I think the flexibility bit is absolutely key because there may be some things you decide

actually do you know what I don't particularly like processed meat it's not very good for me I don't think I'm really going to eat it but assuming you're not a vegetarian then you go to someone's house they've got a bit of bacon in something and you say I can't eat that whole meal because of it yeah that's different to me that's the tipping point essentially same that's such a good analogy yeah it's being able to actually every now and again enjoy yourself and obviously if you're a vegetarian that's just completely different but say you're not a vegetarian and yeah they've made a

carbonara and you've got a little bit of bacon on it and you're like, oh, I can't eat any of that because I never eat process meats. I think for me that would be probably the tipping point of like that's not flexible to some extent. But I wonder, this is just me being dealt with that. But maybe that's weird. But maybe it's going to be the norm in 10 years that we do say things like that. Yeah. Because we know more.

But now we still don't. Most people would think you and I are crazy, right? Yeah. And, you know, is it also weird that you're bending your personal kind of thoughts and looking after yourself in order to fit in? That's, I think, the flip side of it. But I think it is that rigidity. Or say, you know, we know certain ingredients are healthier than others, but like maybe it's about, you know, going to a restaurant and not minding what things have been cooked in

or, you know, how much sugar is in the pudding or whatever else. And just really enjoying it as opposed to being like, oh, I wonder if this is, you know, made with beef tallow and it's not as good for me. Because it's too much saturated fat. again, assuming that's not vegetarian. Well, that's just it. There's a really fine line of balance between disordered eating or, you know, psychological illness because essentially eating disorder is a psychological illness.

We have a diagnostic manual for that. But these sorts of things, you know, it's not disordered to care about your health. That's not disordered. And it becomes it when the pursuit of doing everything right removes, like Ella just said, joy, connection, peace of mind. And it takes up much more airtime than it's meant to. Yes, more airtime. you go to a restaurant, you sit down, you look at a menu, and you're like, oh, I'll have that. But I think if you find yourself worrying about it ahead of time, and I'm not talking about it

if you have an allergy or something like that's completely different, but from a just pure, what ingredients used health perspective. And retrospective panic. So, you know, you've done something and then you get home and you're full of regret and you're full of feelings of shame and anxiety. Yeah, that's probably where the challenge says. And I think it's such a good question. And I think it is important to say that, like,

all of these studies and things, for example, the bowel cancer ones that we were looking at on Monday, I don't think there's ever something that certainly I've come across, I don't know what you feel, really that's saying one piece of bacon will do the damage. It really isn't that. It's much more a kind of collective. Exactly. It's lifestyle decisions that accumulate over years that people are studying. I mean, like that, you know, one of those studies looking at 30 years of alcohol intake. It's not about the occasional drink. It's not about, you know, enjoying yourself on a night out with friends. I think it is about the balance.

And certainly from where I sit, the more I read, the more I learn. That's the bit that I feel so passionate about is trying to readdress the balance. It's not about demonising the Harry Bow or a Mars bar. It's about demonising actually the kind of collective food system and balance that we have and how it needs to be flipped on its head. And we're out the cultural shift, everybody. so we completely understand, you know, we're living through a time. You know, we've already had cigarettes established.

Alcohol, most people know it isn't good for you. But I think with these other changes, we're discussing, you know, toxic chemicals in the house, perhaps, you know, limiting those, the pans you cook with, you know, the red and processed meat. All these changes. They may have been listed for a long time, but they've never been openly discussed in this way before. So, yeah, I think it's really new to navigate. It's hard. Anyway, if you guys have any thoughts on it, please let us know. We would be very interested to hear from you.

I love to hear your thoughts. because we've got one more follow-up question on that, Ella, from Mary Marr on Spotify. You said, question for Thursday. We're here for it. Regarding flax and cheer, wonderful benefits for fibre, yes, but just wondering if the amiga content gets affected when you use them in something you cook with. So is it heat versus something like flax water or cheer pudding which keeps them cold? Thanks. Yeah, great question, actually.

I think we've had quite a few questions about whether things change when they heat. What's the general consensus here, really? Such a good question. I do think we're probably overthinking things sometimes. This is what tends to happen because, yes, they're brilliant for fibre and they are also full of those healthy fats, flaxseed and cheer seeds. So the ALA implant foods that convert to the DHA EPA you need in the body, but at a slower pace. So in plant-based amygothrase, you always need to have more of them. So please don't panic about how much you're putting in or when you're heating it or when you're not because you need to be getting that in.

But yes, technically they are sensitive to heat. So a little bit of omega 3 can be reduced with high or pro long cooking. So especially if you're frying and roasting. But I wouldn't say people typically fry and roast cheer seeds. Would you, Ella? I'm just imagining. I'm just wondering. No, I guess the only thing with like flax seeds, for example, is in baking.

I make flaxie wrap sometimes. Yeah, or people use them. They're really helpful binder, for example, in baking. So things like banana bread, muffins, etc. I feel like I see that a lot, certainly do that myself sometimes. But, you know, the fibre isn't damaged. And, you know, so you are still getting some omega-3s, everybody. It's just not the maximum.

It's more about the quantity you use and the diversity of foods over time. So perhaps alongside your baking and the goods you always make when you heat them, just try and introduce them in cold ways. Like Ella's cheer pudding, she sometimes brings here to work when we're here in the studio. Got one in my bag today, really. Have you? There you go. See, I knew it.

She'd have one in there. You know, overnight oats are fantastic because it does preserve more omega-3. So yeah, I would just encourage adding more cold versions of it alongside your favourites. Yeah, I love that. I have to say, I'm sure like many, many, many people find mornings, you know. There's a lot to do in a short space of time. And I actually have been getting really into smoothies and just find it so helpful in a busy morning. Because it got lighter again.

I do notice it. When it's lighter, I feel like I can eat better. Yeah, I totally agree. And it was also with the, one of my daughters has had an extraordinary number of she had some real challenges to her immune system. And she's had probably coming up to 20 doses of antibiotics in her life, you know, huge number. So I'm really, really conscious of her gut health and actually have got her. She doesn't know it drinking kaffir in the smoothie. But I actually, it's amazing how helpful things like that can be.

If you've got lots going on. I do those at pick up. Totally. Smoothies quickly. Exactly. So as part of breakfast, it's a smoothie. I do kaffir. for the probiotics, and then I've got flax seed in there sometimes,

or hemp seed or chia seeds, do nut butters, frozen berries, banana, some oats. And it's unbelievable. And I actually did, sorry, chat GPT. And I get, she gets half her fibre, half her protein, half her calcium for her age range. And it's unbelievable, anyway, doesn't have to be exactly that, but things with like chia seeds, trying to get more of them in. Recipes like that can be so helpful. if you've got lots going on in five minutes,

you can give yourself literally half of a day's dose of fibre, for example. And that's when I think, like, I've had a Nutri Bullet for mine's very old, probably 10 years old, but that's what I use for smoothies. They're really good. Because I don't want to wash a bigger blender. No. So, like, if you've got, but you can use handheld blenders for smoothies, can't you? Yeah.

You can do, you can make them in any way. The other thing I do with cheer seeds each week, which is really great. My husband, who famously does not cook, loves food he really likes a granona bowl in the morning so I will do each week a really big batch of mixed berries

so I just buy like bags of mixed frozen berries I heat them so it makes a compot and then right at the end I'll stir in a few table spoons of cheer seeds thickens it up which is actually really nice texture such a nice easy other way to get cheer seeds in

do you want to know something fun Ella years ago we recorded a kind of we're in some kitchen you made pancakes. Oh my gosh, I remember that. You made it there. There's me and Ella in the kitchen together in like 2017 or something. Some tier seed pancake.

And we made the cheer seed with pancakes. Yeah. I use the berry compote. Yeah, it is so good that compote. Anyway, really recommend that. You literally can buy mixed bags of frozen berries at every supermarket. You literally just heat them through for like 10 minutes until it goes into a compot. And then you can add in a little bit of sweetener, honey, maple syrup or something if you want.

You were doing it before kids. We were doing that before kids. Yeah, it's so good. Last all week. put on porridge, granola, etc. Again, from our plant point perspective, such an easy win. You all know me. I'm about adding more in, not cutting things out, no fads, no diets, just evidence and transparency.

And right now in the UK, everyone, 96% of us, that's 96% are not getting enough fibre. It's one of the lowest figures in the world. And I couldn't ignore it. So we've spent years obsessing over protein and other trends. delighted to share that after a year in the making, my new book, the fiber formula, is available to pre-order. I have answered every question from gut health and energy, cancers and heart disease to aging, skin, longevity, and even microplastics. Built on over a decade of clinical research, it gives you my fiber formula, 30 grams of fiber a day, 30 different plants a week, 30 choose, and 30 minute meals, plus 60 delicious. minimally processed recipes to make it doable. I've done the hard work so the protein fiber and

plant points are all laid out for you. I'm a small fish in a very big murky pond of wellness books and so your pre-orders really do matter and they help my message reach more people. If you head to the link in the show notes or any bookstore or on Amazon where you can get 15% off and a lowest price pre-order guarantee. Emma says I recently heard that those following plant-based diets could be low in iodine as it's something that's mainly found in animal products. It's not something that I've heard a lot about or considered before, but as someone who follows a predominantly plant-based diet, it got my attention, have you got any advice or recommendations on how you ensure that you're getting enough iodine on a mainly plant-based diet?

Are there any particular foods that could help or would you recommend using a supplement? I know supplements are sometimes needed to bridge nutritional gaps, but I don't like to use them unnecessarily and also keen to ensure that any supplements I do take are of good quality. I don't eat me but have small amounts of fish, dairy and eggs, but I prefer to keep them at minimum for environmental reasons and also because I'm hearing a lot about ethical issues in these industries that concern me. Yeah, I mean... What is iodine? Give us the overview because I feel he's quite a low-key nutrient.

I feel like iron is famous, calcium is famous, zinc is getting more famous because of the immune system element. Vitamin C we all know about, but iodine, maybe an unsung hero. Such an unsung hero. I wonder if anyone's ever described I-O-D. I know, but you know, see how my face lights off. Like, oh, I'm discussing ID. I can't remember if I said this before, but I once judged the apprentice final with Alan Sugar, like, back in like...

I told you she was so low-key. I said this on Monday when she's like, I'm going to Parliament to give a speech. And she'll be on TV, she'll do this. She's like, I judge the apprentice of Alan Sugar. She's so low-key. But we did discuss iodine. This was years ago before, it was before lockdown. Camilla was releasing this plant drink and I was like, we need to fortify of iodine.

And then, like, the year later, that's... when iodine fortification started to come in. I remember when brands were in Alpro, M&S, all sorts of people were then putting it in plant-based drinks as fortification. So it's important for cognition, our brain health, and our thyroid. It plays a really big role there. But also hormone production, metabolism, energy levels, mood. And actually, UK data suggests that iodine intake is already kind of borderline in many adults,

even before we discuss plant-based eaters. And you only really find it in fish and dairy, to be honest. That's why. And in the olden days, Ella, where our soil was richer and we got a lot more nutrition from our food, perhaps it wasn't as key a concern. But in today's world, it most definitely is. That's so interesting. So seaweed is a big source of iodine, isn't it? But it's very unreliable as far as I understand. It can either be absolute mega doses or teeny doses. Yeah, you don't want to overdo it as well because you can actually cause damage to your thyroid if you overdo your iodine levels. So it's one of those things. things where, like we've discussed with vitamin D before, Ella, you don't want to be overdosing unless you've been diagnosed as deficient. You want to stick with the recommended amount. And interestingly, not all packs labelled as seaweed are seaweed. You know, when you buy the kind

of dried seaweed things. Yes. I really like those. I love those. I could snack on those all day long. My younger daughter is obsessed with them. Oh, I bought the miso soup as well. I've got some. The clear spring couches. Yeah, I love it. It's so good. But they do seaweed too. Yes. I recommended that the other day. The clear spring. meso soup pouches, they are so great. So good. But what I wanted to clarify is, even though that is confusing in itself, to add more confusion, is that things labelled seaweed cabbage are still seaweed. It's just that people like to nickname them seaweed cabbage because it looks more like cabbage. I mean, a way to confuse consumers. So it's not cabbage. It's still seaweed and some of them.

Like, how is anyone meant to know? It's very confusing. So the best sources of iodine for everybody are plant milks when they're fortified. But you want to be looking for around. 22 to 30 micrograms of iodine per 100 mil. And that's basically like a couple of glasses a day, like two or three. So if you love a latte, you're getting plant-based fortified. If you're getting it from barristers and coffee houses, you can't guarantee it's fortified, actually. You don't know which type of milk they're using. Iodized salt, obviously, I would not recommend as something that people look for because we're already well over the six grams a day.

We're at eight in this country. 155 bags of crisps. Ella, remember that's, I mean, can you believe it? So I would not recommend using salt as a reliable source of iodine, but why not just use that salt at home when you use salt instead of other types? Seweed, like Ella said, you really don't want to overdo it. And actually, a lot of green powders have added kelp and, you know, items with iodine within them. And that's another reason why I've always thought green powders are risky.

They put so much in, there's no guidance. And then whole plant foods, you know, even some like, have a little bit, but just not enough. And that's why I think for vegans and people that are predominantly plant base with low intakes of dairy and fish is difficult. I mean, I did put it at Retrition Plus. I'm going to bring that back this year, but I made a supplement brand. Are you? Yeah, I'm going to do it in September, I think. Oh, my gosh. I know. So congratulations. Thanks, Ella. We need to go through it properly. I need your advice, actually, and quite a lot of things. The current climate for launching anything is not great. It's not great. But you,

had a vegan supplement that basically, obviously, with all your knowledge, was targeting the gaps that you see and tell us exactly what you had in there? It was just iodine, just selenium, just iron and B12. Yeah. Because those are the key nutrients that are really tricky. I didn't want to overload it. But the biggest mistake I had with the business at the time was, first of all, I couldn't manage it manpower-wise for me.

But also the cost of high-quality ingredients. I just didn't want to compromise on low quality. And that's my biggest downfall because to manufacture anything that's that high quality, that's ethical. It was British algae. I was using British algae. I wasn't importing it on the internet from somewhere in Europe. Anyway, I can go down that alleyway another time. But Ella, it's interesting.

So maybe worth trying to get a test, see where your levels are, potentially look at a supplement. Yeah, 100%. Please go and get yourself checked out. you know, any GP can do that for you for free and take your levels. Love that. Okay, we now have a question from Julia who said, first of all, thank you so much for filling my otherwise gloomy work commute with such positivity. Love that. I have a question regarding IBS as I've been suffering with it for about 10 years now. Is there a way out? I'm struggling to find long-term solutions and a sustainable diet as my symptoms keep flaring up. Oh, gosh. I mean, it's rough because you're also living in a climate world with saying, eat more fiber.

more fibre, but if you've got an underlying condition or IBS, it's not always that straightforward. So we've had her on before Catherine Rebess, who's an amazing gut health dietitian in my clinic, the re-trician clinic. She's also the author of The 30 Plan. I've got a lovely voice note from her. Unfortunately, IBS doesn't have a cure. And although there are some diets that can help, such as the low Fodmap diet with relieving and easing symptoms and helping with overall long-term symptom management, there's still always going to be situations where symptoms can flare up. My suggestion would be to start thinking about other options instead of just diet alone. Stress plays a huge factor with IBS as well as anxiety and depression, low mood.

So it might be about looking more into lifestyle factors as well, such as management, managing stress, but also thinking about sleep patterns and movement and doing things like yoga and mindfulness and breath work. If you have already done a food and symptom diary and have been able to identify dietary triggers, it could be that there's other factors alongside that playing a part, such as how much food you're eating, skipping of meals, eating too quickly and rushing your food, all of these factors can influence the symptoms when it comes to IBS. But really important if they are still a real big problem to go back to your doctor and have them looked at because there are some other conditions that can have symptoms that very much overlap with

IBS too and should be ruled out. Fantastic. That was so helpful. Thank you so much, Caffa. we so, so appreciate her. Fab, okay, so we are on to a question from Megan. A really good question I would say. She said, I love the pod. So thanks, Megan. I only discovered it a few months ago.

It's really helped me disconnect from my phone more. Wow, we are on the way, thank. I can't believe it. Mark Zuckerberg does not like us. Okay. We're going to be penalized now in the podcast. I know. Okay, no, keep listening, guys.

Right, Megan, listen to it when I'm on a walk instead of looking down on my phone and having you both motivate me to use it more mindfully has been great. Now, I have a question about co-examination. I've been taking part in veganry and sampling a few vegan cheeses when a family friend told me I needed to cut them out or cut down and then because the amount of coconut oil and how much that can raise our cholesterol. I eat mostly plant-based diet and am lactose intolerance so I try to avoid cheese, hence the vegan cheese. But I also cook with coconut oil because a jar seems to last forever. But his family, Fred, said, even cooking with it every day can be really bad for you. I can't believe my lovely harmless coconut oil can be so bad for me. I know everything's okay in moderation. So what is a moderate level to consume? when it comes to coconut oil and is it safe to cook with it on a pretty much daily basis, do you have any recommendations of coconut oil, free vegan cheeses and how often they should be consumed? Okay. They are right, actually, your friends, with coconut oil because it's extremely high in saturated fat.

And basically any item of food that's solid at room temperature, like an oil, contains more saturated fat. You know, olive oil you'll see can sit at room temperature and be liquid. because it doesn't really contain much saturated fat, which was what I don't want to call it. Well, it is not great for us. We call it the bad fat, although little bits is totally fine, everybody. But it's more likely to raise your LDL. Little bits of saturated fat, you're saying, because we don't want to label a bad fat, but it's kind of what people talk about as the bad fat.

Because what is wrong with having too much saturated fat? Because then it raises the bad cholesterol, which is what we refer to it in layman's terms. It's the LDL cholesterol. So butter is solid at room temperature. coconut oil is solid at room temperature. Cheese is solid at room temperature. These things that contain a lot of saturated fat. But not all of them are the same.

And what's interesting is coconut oil, guys, it is 80 to 90% saturated fat. You know, ghee, palm oil, all sorts of things, all raise the bad cholesterol. We've got loads. I mean, we have got so many randomized control trials. So much research there, which leads us on to the oil debate a little bit. Because if you replace coconut oil with, oh gosh, everyone's going to go. Seed oil or, you know, olive oil. Obviously, there's a hierarchy of oils.

You probably want to go cold pressed, et cetera. But those generally have been shown in clinical research, masses of research to lower LDL cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease, Ella. So I do feel strongly coconut oil should be used in minimal amounts across the week for most people. And I would say in that sense, use it when the flavour profile, because to your point really, saturated fat in occasion, like if you love butter, you've made a lovely sourdough. You've got some nice bread, you have some butter on it, lovely.

Like, don't stress. But you don't want to be having huge amounts of these fats all day, every day. And also if you're then having lots of red meat, so lots of saturated fat. And generally, we consume a little bit too much saturated fat. But you're right about, like, desserts. Sometimes I definitely cook a coconut oil in some desserts. Because sometimes the flavor profile is absolutely fantastic.

Same, like, you can sometimes, like, there's some curries that I make, for example as well, we're actually frying up like cumin seeds and mustard seeds and things like that in the coconut oil enhances. There's a really nice flavour profile there. But you just don't probably want to be cooking with it all day, every day, as you said. But then the thing is, I can only imagine people listening being like, wait a second, I'm so confused because I go online and I see people walking down the street eating a stick of butter. Did I send you that video? And all this like carnivore stuff where people are eating. As I said, what I'm not saying is... They buy a lump of it from the shop at the train station.

I saw someone doing that recently. I'm not saying you can't have some butter on your toast in the morning, but what we're saying is you don't want to over-consume saturated fat because it's not good for your cholesterol levels. So why you'd eat just a stick of butter as a snack, and I mean literally just a butter on its own, it all becomes so confusing. How do people know who to listen to?

There was that I quit sugar book. Do you remember it? I'm not scared to name it because in it, it caused a lot of disordered eating. We would have clients in the nutrition clinic come in and say, whenever I'm hungry, because this is what the lady in the book told me to do, I eat a tablespoon of coconut oil and that's what we used to get

a lot of it and that was back in 2016 yeah I know exactly what you mean anyway it was huge that book huge many things positive and negative can be taken from that I think but let's talk about cheese because as Ella knows

many cheeses are made of this although you can get some nut ones you can I have to say I'm afraid Marie I'm hoping you've got she shaking her head I was about to be I hope you have a good answer I've never found a nice one. I've come across some small batch, kind of super expensive items in Planet Organic type shops

where they're nut-based and they're really delicious. I have never found a supermarket plant-based cheese that's any good. Personally, I don't think they're very delicious. And generally, the ingredients aren't great. I agree with you on hard cheeses. I think for some spreads, I've found a few good, like, cheese spread alternatives. Any brands are you?

I'm just on what it's called. Nush. Nush. Nush. And also, I don't particularly love calling out big brands like this, but I know Cathedral City do a grated vegan cheese, which a lot of my clients use because it melts. Okay. But you engine it to melt, you know, catch my drift. So vegan cheeses, we've got a long place to go.

What I would say is I love using nutritional yeast. And in the next book, the Fiber Formula book, I've got the most insane cheesy popcorn using nutrition. You're full of all the good recommendations for us. But at the launch, Ella, because Ella's going to interview me at my book launch. Very excited. Everyone's going to get some popcorn. Oh, I know. Anyway, yes, that's our answer.

I'd say, just remember that you don't want more than 10% of your daily intake of energy of food from saturated fat. And for women, actually, it's less than men. We're 20 grams. Men are 30 grams of saturated fat a day. I still think that's too high. Very, very helpful. So, yeah, enjoy butter on your toast or on your crumpet or the moment you enjoy it, but maybe just then cook with other plant-based oils, for example.

Yeah, 100%. And same, sorry, it goes with coconut oil. Enjoy it where you can really get the flavour profile the rest of the time. I would not. Okay, our final question of the day links to that very nicely. It comes from Libby who said, thanks for another lovely podcast. I'd really love to know a difference between cold press rapeseed oil and olive oil.

I've heard both are really healthy, but which one shall I use? Do you have a preference? And you just mentioned cold press rapeseed oil a minute ago. Hierarchy of oils, Ella. Do you want to go into it? Because I feel like you understand more than anybody that, you know, manufacturing oils, where the olives come from, you know, they can be picked from different regions and then plonked together.

It's crazy. I mean, same with anything really when it comes to food manufacturing. There is a huge continuum, a big hierarchy scale, whatever you want to call it in terms of quality. And obviously cost comes into that massively. You know, cold-pressed, organic. extra virgin olive oil is incredibly expensive. And so, yes, it can be super delicious,

doesn't need to be all of those things. But really good quality olive oil is absolutely delicious. But ultimately, as we all know, probably, it's incredibly expensive. So I think that you can have different oils you use for different things. Like when you're then doing your salad dressing and you really taste it completely different than when you're roasting your... It's like honey.

When we discussed honey before, we saved the manuka honey. Exactly the same. Or your lovely farm shop honey as putting on your toast is something absolutely delicious. I was eating pitters with honey this weekend. It was so good. And I think olive oil is the same. Whereas actually when it comes to stir-frying or roasting your veg, you don't necessarily need to be using that more expensive olive oil. But people have become scared of using your rapeseed oils. Was it this episode that we were just talking about earlier, Amiga-3s and heating them? Yeah. Yeah. So think of oils in a weird way. as similar. So any nuts and seeds and healthy fats amegas like cool room temperature environments. I think that's such an easy way of just looking at it. And therefore they stay stable when like oils, the more expensive ones are expensive because they're in a dark glass bottle which preserves them from destabilizing and exposure to oxygen and, you know, all sorts of

things, stops it going rancid, losing the amazing healthy properties of the oil because actually you are being lied to if you are buying a plastic bottle of olive oil that has been sat there exposed to all sorts of heat and light and being told this has the same nutritional value as the expensive dark one. It's like one of the few food areas where I think it's worth if you're able to saving for the dark glass bottle and using it sparingly alongside the plastic bottle like Ella just said in different types of cooking. Does that make sense? Yeah, I feel like the science is there, we have to say. Exactly.

There is. Now, talk to us about the cold press raveseed oil versus normal rapeseed oil. Yeah, it just means the oil's been extracted at lower temperatures. Like I said, you've got to really think, like now we know walnut should be kept in the fridge. Flaxseed should be kept airtight in the fridge to preserve the flavor and those antioxidants, the vitamin E. Because when it's not cold pressed, it's often exposed to heat and different chemical processes are used to make sure you get more from it. And I know you know more than anything about tricks of the food industry and what they can do, but it does compromise the nutritional value, Ella. And I think it's really important just to say there is a difference between the olive oils.

But, you know, the price tag prices people out. And that's what I hate about this food industry is that the foods that are better for us are often completely priced out for so many people. And that is not fair. No, I could not agree with you more. But I think exactly, if we look at this question and the question beforehand in terms of advice, you want to take your butter, your coconut oil, your saturated fats, the ones that are hard at room temperature, and enjoy them where you want to enjoy them, but sparingly or just on occasion. Your cheeseboard.

Yeah, not at every single meal, you know, in excess. Then when it comes to cooking, so I wouldn't then cook with those unless it's really specific for that recipe, instead you want to be cooking with your plant-based oils and you want to be saving your higher quality olive oil to finish it up, delicious. Put them in a dark place. Think of it like, I've used the analogy here of sunscreen. You've got to think of your dark glass bottles being like sun cream for your body. Yeah, you don't want to leave those out.

Yeah, put them away. Blistering. Put them in your cupboards. Exactly. And then you want to use things like a cold pressed rapesy dog, for example, for more like stir frying, roasting, etc. Where there's no need to use your higher quality, more expensive olive oil. 100%. I mean, fantastic listener questions.

It's so exciting to know as well that the inbox is bursting full of amazing. questions. Every week it's such a delight to go through them. It really is. So keep them coming. And otherwise, we will see you guys back here on Monday. We have, as always so much to talk about, but we love hearing from you. So please leave any comments, questions, queries, feedback in the comments under Spotify or on Apple Podcast. Click, follow, share it. It makes all the difference. So thank you so, so much, guys. Have a brilliant, brilliant day. Bye. Have a great weekend.