The Wellness Scoop - Omega 3, Stabilisers & The Nightshade Myth

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

This week we’re tackling your questions on some big wellness topics. We look at whether chia seeds alone can cover your omega 3 needs, what acidity regulators and stabilisers really are, and the myths and benefits around nightshade vegetables. We also clear up confusion around perimenopause and menopause, chat through the reality of nursery food and new government guidance, and answer how much nuts, seeds and chia you really need to reap the benefits without overdoing it. Recommendations: Borna pistachio nut butter  Ella’s new book, Quick Wins, at 50% off with the code ‘QUICKWINS50’ (enter it at checkout) - https://www.waterstones.com/book/quick-wins-healthy-cooking-for-busy-lives/ella-mills/9781529316759 Dr Philippa Kaye's The Science of Menopause Catch Rhi discussing UPFs and The Unprocessed Plate at ⁠Waterstones - London Gower Street⁠ and ⁠Chroleywood Library Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is an eight-episode Hulu Original Limited series that blends gripping pacing with emotional complexity, offering a dramatized look as it revisits the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox for the tragic murder of Meredith Kircher and the relentless media storm that followed. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is now streaming only on Disney Plus.

Welcome back to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And we're your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And today we are diving into some juicy topics as chosen by you. This is our weekly new question and answers. So you guys can ask us anything and everything that you want to know around the world of health and wellness. And we will take five, six questions every week and cover them. And if we aren't the experts, we'll get someone who absolutely is to be able to do that for you. But first of all, Rie, how are you?

If you've got any good recommendations for us, anything that the audience need to have in their lives. So I have two points. The first isn't erect, but a lady called Kira stopped me at the park, as in Watford, this weekend. And she just said, I want you to know your podcast makes me happy. That's so nice. I love you, Kira. So nice. It just really just, it kind of brought home that the community we have here is just very, very,

very, very special. And I do feel, I don't know if you feel the same, Alec, but I feel supported to make our opinions know now. I feel like I've got the confidence to speak out a bit more. Yeah, because you in particular with your work as a health professional, I think it's fair to say we were both a bit nervous at all with, but you were really nervous about sharing quite strong opinions to start with. And it's really nice to see that support has kind of completely created that confidence for you. Oh, a thousand percent. So thank you, everybody. And my recommendation is more just of an update because I've been teasing my breast melt jewelry for months.

It's a niche rang. I've got it, Ella. Look, it's my little heart on my neck. It's a little heart. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to see it properly. Yeah. We're recording remotely. Sorry, that's why.

I'll show Ella next week when we're in the studio together. But yeah, big shout out. Her Instagram handle to Lucy is Mother's Love Jewelry. I have paid for this myself, guys, just so you know. But I just think it's such a beautiful idea. And if any of you are in that kind of zone where you've got a leftover bag of milk or something that you've had for ages in the bottom of the freezer, it's just a really nice idea. So my updates aren't really updates.

I've cooked a lot with the kids. They love veg again, which is great. You know, they go through phases. So how about you? Oh, my gosh, do they go through phases? I hate that. I've said to them this week, I'm like, guys, I'm not a restaurant. You can't all request like three different things.

Like, I'm not a restaurant. And obviously, as we talked about on Monday, I've now got two tiny puppies as well. And so, like, this morning, I needed to get the kids dressed, ready. I had some extra stuff for them taking to school. It's Monday morning. Matt gets a much earlier train into London. Then I need to take the kids to school, drop the puppies off at the dog trainer who's giving them some training this week, which is hopefully really going to be helpful. And then get the train into London in time for this and a full day of work.

And I was like, guys, I don't have time to, like, puppy train, feed all the dogs, sort out everything. think that they need. Pack their bags for the day. Pack all your bags for the day and make three different breakfast and also make myself vaguely, vaguely presentable or before 7.30 in the morning. Like, I just, no, I'm not a restaurant. The load, Ella. The load is insane. And they go with all their kit bags on a Monday, don't they? All the stuff they need for the week. And I forgot stuff. And obviously, the kids have started at a brand new school. And I forgot stuff on Friday and Sky was like, I was so embarrassed. Okay, well, don't forget anything today. Oh, I feel. I got the water bottle, don't worry.

My Z didn't have any water, literally. He's like, I didn't just help myself. Like, you should have gone to get a cup. It was like, Hamel. My recommendation, I've got another cooking one this week, is to make fruit compots. It's just, again, when the working week is really busy, it's so nice to have for breakfast. And you literally just, I will chop up. I know skin on is really healthy, but I don't like skin on apples in compost.

Sorry, Ray. I know the skin's really good for our gut health. but in this instance I peel my apples, chop them, chuck in loads of frozen like berries. So I had loads of frozen blackberries, which I'd picked a little while ago. Blueberries, I had some frozen strawberries, chucked them all in,

simmer them for like splash of water, 10 minutes or something till it's much softer, gently mash with a fork. You can add a little bit of maple or honey or just a little bit of sweetener. And you can even add a tablespoon of chia seeds, which will just thicken it up in the fridge over the week. But it's so nice in the morning to have like with a yogurt bowl,

with porridge. It's such an easy way to kind of up your plant point, get loads of different fruit in, in a kind of more interesting way than just I've chopped banana on your porridge and it takes 10, 15 minutes. So make a batch of that for the week. Great for plant points, great fiber boost. And also you feel quite fancy. Like I felt, I felt like I was a restaurant this morning when I handed out everyone bowls of porridge with this homemade fruit compot and nut butter on it. Like I was like, guys, I know I'm telling you I'm not a restaurant, but kind of looks like I am. This is pretty fancy. And she has her own place. range. So I caught snippets of all the beautiful tableware that you have. Yeah, so our John Lewis

collection launches in two, three weeks from now. So it's almost two-year design process, which has been so fun. It's all like tabletop, cookware. And now I get to use it all in my new kitchen, which is an absolute dream. And yeah, I had it out on the table this morning. I made heart-shaped waffles. As I said, I'm in my trad wife era, if you listened to on Monday. And I made a heart-shaped augur waffles for the family and like laid it all out. And I felt so fancy and nice. It was great. Oh, I love that. Honestly, I cannot wait to get my hands on this John Lewis collection. Oh, no, before I forget, Ella, what about your book?

You had one code, didn't you? I know you said you'll bring it up another time, but I think people want to know. Yeah, not great at promoting my work. My new cookbook is coming out 18th of December, so it's actually like three months or so from now. And there is a special 50% off code if anyone wants to pre-order it from Waterstones as well, which is so nice to support the high street. And it will give you 50% off. You add it at checkout. So it doesn't come up.

You add it as you pay and it will give you half price. So I'm going to put the code with the link in the show notes for you guys. But yeah, special for us, half price. Quick wins. So it's all your midweek. Like all my recommendations, it's those easy wins for busy weeks. So it moves us on nicely to our questions. And the first one we've got, Ella, is from Rosie.

And she has said, I have an Amiga 3 question. So I don't eat oily fish, but I do eat cheer seeds at least a few times a week. Is this enough or should I supplement? And how do you know how much is enough with regards to omega-3? Thanks so much. You know what, Rie, before we answer the question, can we just actually have like a very quick overview? Because omega-3 is something that I think you read about.

It's really anti-inflammatory. It's really good for your brain. But it'd be quite helpful to have a 101. Like what actually is omega-3? Why does it matter? Why do we actually need to have it? It's really research. And actually, our brains, let's start with our brains,

they're 60% fats. and omega-free is broken down into two key components you want, EPA and D-HA. I'm not going to say the long words out loud, just abbreviate them all the time. You'll see on supplements, EPA and D-H-A. And then there's another type of healthy fat that we want called alpha linoic acid, which is called ALA, and that mainly comes from plant sources. And with our brain being predominantly made up of these fatty acids known as omega-3s, it means you really want to be consuming enough from your diet because we can't make it ourselves.

our body. We need to get externally from the food that we consume. And we want to support our brain health. And even our heart health is linked to omega-3 now and of course skin as well. There's lots of different areas that we are researching heavily. But I'd say the strongest areas of research are with heart and brain health when it comes to supporting your body with omega-3s. Even some IQ links actually. And in pregnancy, it's particularly important, Ella. So a lot of women aren't actually given this advice a lot of times when it comes to pregnancy and nutrition, but omega-3 helps support the growth of the baby as well and the baby's brain capacity and impact their health long-term as well. So you get it mainly from oily fish purely because

fish eat the algae in the sea that contains this omega-3. But it's very bio-available to us if you eat the fish, you kind of get a lot of absorption. Whereas if you don't eat oily fish, And I think this is where the question, I'll let you continue on that, Ella, with your experience there. Because if you don't eat oily fish, you probably need to supplement because plants take a lot longer to convert from that ALA I mentioned at the start to what you need, which is that EPA and that DHA. Exactly. So I think one of the big confusions is that omega-3 doesn't really come from the oily fish in the sense of it does when you consume it absolutely. But it actually comes from the algae that the oily fish have eaten. So they're the kind of transporter of the omega-3 from the algae in the ocean to your body. You can obviously go directly to the algae if you don't like or you don't want to eat oily fish.

And also some people just really don't like it or like lots of children, don't eat oily fish, for example. So in a plant-based diet, you can get it from things like chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, as well as walnuts. Often walnuts are kind of sight as superfood and one of them is having these omega-3s. But as Rhee said, it's much harder for the body to convert this. form and so as a result the conversion rate is a bit low so you need to be eating lots and lots and lots of these and so probably i would say that actually cheerses a few times a week isn't necessarily getting you enough and so it's worth actually looking at a supplement now i've recommended this before this isn't sponsored it's just the one that i personally think is the

best in the market because i think it tastes the best so it's the easiest to use which is the veridian brand vegan EPA and dHA oil you can buy it it's so many different places you can even buy on Amazon. And it doesn't taste of anything. It's like so neutral. My kids have it, no problem. Whereas I found other ones that have a bit of funny flavor. They're not very nice. So that's a really, really easy one to consume. But, Ria, I actually thought on that a question for you, because you can obviously buy loads of pills. What is the difference between a pill and a liquid when it comes to supplements and omega-3, obviously here in particular? Yeah, the first interesting thing to raise is that cod liver oil is really popular.

krill, oil, all sorts of things. They're actually not a good sustainable choice for the environment. And also, when it comes to the quality, they can go rancid. So it depends how the supplements are stored, when they are produced, the quality of the fillers, the binders. I mean, gosh, I've put Retrition Plus on pause for a while because I just haven't purely had time to run that business alongside everything else that is currently going on. But I'll probably pick it up again at some point. But we did so much research into producing oils. and it's more stable and better absorbed often in the form of oil drops.

Now, that is also because it is fat soluble. And I did see an article, and I really wanted to bring this up, with somebody saying, oh, I take olive oil shots all the time. I'm really healthy. I'm getting all of my amigas from this. And I think that's a big myth to also bust Ella, because people might be surprised to hear that olive oil doesn't actually contain a good source of omega-3 at all. It's not really known for that.

Whereas, you know, chia seed like we've mentioned before, walnuts and olive oil provide that plant-based source, but they don't convert. So let me give you some facts because I've got some good points here. So it's a good idea, of course, to think about omega-3s as being anti-inflammatory. You know, that's a word that's kind of thrown around a lot. I think a lot of people think, oh, I'm going to go on an anti-inflammatory diet. But ultimately, it doesn't really exist. But what you want to do is have a lot of healthy fats in your diet because it helps support your immune system and other functions. and reduce the risk of your immune system reacting in a certain way.

That's a really simplified way of discussing it. So, a few facts for you guys. If you eat cheer seeds, you get about five grams of omega-3, but in plant form, per two tablespoons. If you eat walnuts, you get around 2.5 grams of omega-3 per kind of the same portion. And olive oil is really low. Literally, I wouldn't even classify olive oil as a choice for omega-3. It's good to cook with, guys. It's good for your heart.

those unsaturated fatty acids, but it's not a source. It's around 0.1 grams. So first of all, cheer seeds definitely at the top and walnuts. They're what you want to consume in a plant-based diet. Like Ella talks about all the time and still supplement if you don't eat oily fish. I think that's the best thing to do. When you look at supplements versus food, that's really interesting because obviously from fish, it is really bioavailable. You get 1.5 to 2 grams of the good omega-3 you want per.

100 grams and that's in salmon, regardless of if it's farmed or wild. But I want to caveat that by saying the oceans are changing. I don't think salmon is a sustainable source. You know like tuna, Ella used to be, and I know I was speaking about this before, people used to say tuna is a source of amiga-3. It's not anymore because of the quality of the oceans. It doesn't count anymore. And olive oil actually contains aleic acid, which is just the most researched aspect,

like the antioxidant, the powerful bit in it. So to conclude, I would say supplement if you don't eat oily fish. Yeah, with an algae oil and take it in a liquid form. But remember, everyone's unique. Please seek a health professional before you go and change your diet and start just supplementing with certain doses. Because as with everything, doses vary on an individual level. Very good advice. Okay, question two comes from Hannah.

Ella, we have some questions for the pod. And the question that we thought was really relevant for everyone is, what are acidity regulators and stabilisers should we avoid them in our food? Yeah, absolutely. Ella, I think you came across this, obviously, when you're developing products and you chose with deliciously Ella, didn't you, from Day Dot, that you were going to include these. Do you want to give a little explanation and then I'll run into the rest of the bit with the unprocessed plagues? There's a lot that I think we could fill in here. For sure. And I would say trying to develop the products, so this was now back in 2015.

So we didn't end have the word ultra-processed food without wanting to use these. was like nigh on impossible and basically no manufacturer would work with us. No large manufacturer would work with us. And they would just kind of float to me like I was like a three-headed monster for wanting to do it. They were like, it just makes no sense. And I'll tell you why it makes no sense, which is that basically their job is to change the texture, the taste, the shelf life of a product. And what acidity regulators do is keep the pH stable. So that basically means that they stop a drink from becoming too acidic or they keep tin tomatoes tasting the same for months and stabilises help ingredients that wouldn't normally stay blended in a packer, stay blended.

So they stop plant milks from separating as much or they give like low fat mayonnaise the same creaminess. Or they keep ice cream like smooth and creamy and binded instead of kind of icy and separated. And the reason the manufacturers use them, the reason that no one therefore wanted to work with us is that it helps shelf life. And it helps most importantly, I would say from my experience in the industry, consistency and efficiency. because basically what people want and obviously what consumers want as well is to make a product as cost effective as possible. So the makers of the products want to keep their margin and shoppers want to get the best price products on shelf, don't they? And as a result, people need things to go down a factory line very, very quickly and they need it to taste the same every time too.

And, you know, if you think about it, like apparently we all have seven recipes we cook all the time, right? And you think about that same stuff, right, or that same pesto or that same lasagna, whatever it is that you make on repeat. Even though it's essentially the same most weeks that you make it, it will taste a little bit different. The texture will be a little bit different because the peas that say you're using will be a bit sweeter one day or they'll be a bit tender.

Your basil will be more fragrant. Like whatever it is you're using, there's a natural variation. And when you start adding in these additives, these stabilizers, these regulators, you lose that natural variation. And that is what manufacturers want because it's so much more cost efficient. and you kind of meet the consumer with what they want every time.

But I see that it's such a huge problem for our palettes because then when you have an apple, sometimes the apple is crisper, sometimes the apple is sweeter. And as a result, we're, like, disappointed by the apple one day because it's not what we wanted to be because it wasn't the same as the last time. And these ingredients basically all took off kind of mid-20th century as the food industry shifted into is what we're talking about,

this like mass production, longer shelf lives. And before that, the additives we're using, which really obviously you talked about in your book are things like salt, vinegar, lemon juice, you know, you're like natural additives essentially. But in the 50s and the 60s companies, the big ones like Nestle, Unilever Craft, they expanded and they invested heavily, like huge investments in food science to help make, as I said, for their benefit products more consistent, cheaper, and also to be able to have that global presence, so to be able to transport them worldwide. And if something doesn't have like an 18

month shelf life, it can't be transported. You can't send it to Australia on a ship. And so that's why we started using gums and multifire stabilizers, synthetic acidity regulators, et cetera, because it's just so much cheaper. We're talking about the food chain and we're talking about the production chain. And then also you mentioned what the consumer wants. And I have to say, we've moved so far away from nature, like you said, with every apple tasting slightly unique and us wanting to grow the same type of banana colony every single year and produce at this massive rate.

We're losing biodiversity. We're losing unique properties of nature. But also, imagine as a consumer, if you own. only like Mr. Whippy ice cream, and that's what you expect. But I'm sorry, Mr. Whippy is probably the biggest UPF ice cream example I can use because there is no way you get that soft serve ice cream texture, like you said, Ella, without using additives. An extraordinary number of additives is not really ice cream.

It's not. As we talked about a Monday's episode with the cake that Sue had sent in, it had 53% of the ingredients for UPFs. Like if you made a traditional cake, you're talking about using eggs, flour, sugar, butter. Like it's, you've got half a dozen ingredients, not 43, and or however many it was. And it's just so different the industry in that sense. And like, I went blackberry picking with my daughter on the weekend and she'd have one. She'd be like, oh, it's so sweet and juicy. And then she'd have another.

She's like, oh, this one's sour. And it's like, that is natural variation, but we're getting rid of it. And the whole conversation that's going on at the moment, not to go off topic about baby food and the problem with baby food with the pouches is that children are now being raised on that monoculture essentially in terms of like there's a monotony to the food. it tastes the same every single time and then they don't like it when it's not as smooth and consistent and sweet. And what I hate is that it's such a privileged conversation because Ella and I have options and education to know this and to try and increase diversity for our children. And we want to speak about it to help all of you listening to say, look, if you can get them,

even with the ice cream you pick at home, if you can get your kids used to a different type of ice cream rather than just soft serve, that's probably going to help them long term. And I'm talking about something like ice cream, not even an apple or a blackberry. So it's such a big, emotive, nuanced conversation that we need government help from. But I feel like I'm never going to give up on that one. But Ella, we do have research as well, just to add, from this year, the emulsifies in particular, rather than the acidity regulators and stabilises. Yeah, rather than the stabilis, the emulsifiers have negative impacts on our gut health.

And it's emerging and the study was conducted at the beginning of the year, looking at patients with irritable bowel disease, IBDs, and there's huge results for it. So without going on too much about the research, things you see a lot on a packet, carboxy-methycellulose, and caraginan, do you pronounce it, Karaginine, Ella? I think so. Yeah, Karagin number E407, they've been linked to relapses and people with ulcerative colitis, you know, impairing the gut mucous barrier, impairing how we digest and absorb nutrition. So we need a lot of further research, but also people with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes are really impacted by added emulsifiers. And I think it's important to be aware that if your diet is UPF heavy, that might be a reason

why you potentially could be getting gut health symptoms. Exactly. So as Rees said, it's a very new area of research. But I think it's not about demonising all of it. But to your point, there's a hierarchy and probably like emulsifiers are more important to have less of than stabilizers and acidity regulators. But hopefully that's a really helpful kind of overview about why they're in the food chain and as a result how hard they're going to be to get rid of because that's how all these humongous companies have created their structure. That's where

their profit comes from. That's how the global supply chain works. And so one thing is I often think about when I think how are we going to fundamentally shift the food landscape over the next decade or so to reduce our number of ultra-process foods. It's just how that's going to work from an economic perspective because that is how these enormous companies are set up to be. And it's very difficult to imagine because their margins just wouldn't make sense if they got rid of those products and used natural ones. It is a really big shift and it's a global food system that we're talking about here. It's not an easy, an easy overnight switch. But what we can all do listening is just add in more good stuff.

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Bank more oncourse when you switch to a skis Scotia Bank Bank Banking package. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. Okay, moves us on to a totally different question from Julia, who very kindly says you always make things clearer. Thank you. So thanks for that, Julia. I look forward to what listeners would like more information on too. Perhaps all the misinformation around perimenopause and menopause. And Rhee, you've got a voice note for us here, right? Yes. So we are talking about menopause. And I've got a voice. note here from Dr. Philippa Kay, which we 100% have to put in.

I think there's lots of misinformation around health in general. And then when it comes to women's health in particular, there's potentially more. And one of the reasons why that will be is because for so long we didn't talk about women's health issues, but also they weren't included in research. It was in 1993, I think, that the FDA are mandated. that women be included in clinical trials. Periods make it more complicated. Potential for pregnancy makes it more complicated, but we still have to be included.

And where we don't know things, that is where misinformation can really grow like weeds, because if doctors don't have the answer and somebody else is saying that they do, then obviously people who are struggling will look to wherever that they can. when it comes to knowing where to get your information from, the first thing that I would say is that it is important to use trusted resources like the NHS website or the patient information

website and then if you are on social media that you look to the why of the person that you are listening to. If someone is trying to sell you something and there's a strong chance that they're cherry picking the data or the information that they tell you. If somebody is just trying to educate and can back up with evidence and the guidelines as to why they're saying something, then that is potentially somebody who you should listen to more. If somebody says that they have the secret answer that nobody else does and that the official people are keeping from you, I would be really cautious about that. and then of course when it comes to perimenopause and menopause I would suggest that you get my book Science of Menopause Okay and our last two questions

The first one comes from Hannah And this is a longer question But I think really interesting to some of the topics We've covered recently on the show Very kindly again she says love your podcast We love hearing that thanks again Hannah She says I'm reaching out as a parent Who's really struggling with nursery food

And how it aligns with the new government guidance I find the introduction of a second meal In place for pudding to be a positive idea especially because most of the suggested options are savoury. In practice, though, nurseries seem to simply rename pudding as the second meal without actually changing the content. So my child's nursery still serves fruit, banana and custard or crumble. I'm also concerned about how much fruit is served throughout the day.

And then only in the afternoon snack, do they finally have veggie sticks. Given the influence nurseries have, it feels wrong that this might undo efforts that I make at home. Another worry is the bread. The nursery switched to King's Mill to meet new fibre guidance, but it contains emulsifiers, palm oil, sugar and malted bar. It feels like such a missed opportunity to provide genuinely good quality bread. I feel so frustrated and lost by it all. Oh, Hannah, I'm just with you.

It's something that we're all facing with our little ones. If we have to place them in a nursery setting, I currently have this conversation ongoing with my nursery. As you may know, we're introducing changes in nurseries from September with regards to trying to hit fiber goals, like you mentioned with the bread. but the problem is nurseries were never really cooking fresh bread on site anyway. So even a switch from white to whole meal is good, just to reiterate, that is better. But the concern for me is that if your child is a nursery five days a week and let me know what you think on this Ella, and their palate is changing, like you say, I'm concerned because my son was just being fed bread-based meals Monday to Friday, crumpets on a Monday, pitter bread on a Tuesday, toast on a thingy, a scone the other night.

There was no kind of home-cooked meals. It was all just bread-based, and I had to personally complain about that. But you're shaping their food preferences. These are crucial years, and I do really feel strongly as well that our government has got it wrong when it comes to supporting food for the early years. And I really feel your emotion, as you can tell, I feel very emotional about it too. But you can make a difference, and I would encourage anybody to write to their nursery, speak to their nursery, and ask to speak to the head of food or the catering company and push for change because they will listen if enough of you do it.

Yeah, as you said, it's really emotive and it's so difficult and it's so hard to strike the right balance. But as you said, it all has such an impact on their palate. And I think to me that's the really important thing. It's not about, as we all just said, it's not about perfection. So it's not about the fact that, you know, it's not all homecooked and it's not all UPF free. Like that's not so much for me the challenge with these things.

It's the preference for like very sweet flavors, for example. And then being used to that as opposed to to your point, like a home-cooked meal filled with like veg and beans, for example. And I think that's the bit that I find really challenging. And I know, like, my girls came home from school the other day. And they're like, Mommy, we love jelly. You told us not that you don't like jelly. Jelly's delicious.

I was like, oh, right. Okay. They're like, you should try it, Mommy. It really is good. Do you know what? People listening probably think Ella and I like the food police. But honestly, I agree with you because I had to email the school because on the their menus, it said every Thursday they have ice cream. And I was like, why do they have

to have ice cream at school? That's my prerogative as a parent. It's like a thing I give outside of school. And then I think, am I taking it too far? I don't know. It's so hard to strike a balance. You know, I know I'm not militant with the girls. Like they eat lots of ice cream. They eat like some sweets. They eat chocolate. Like these sweet things every day. Like they definitely do. I want them to have a healthy balance. But my challenge is when the, if we often talk about this, it's like we all talk about balance. But it's not really balance of like 70, 80% of what you eat is UPFs. That's the fundamental thing.

Like balance is eating nutritious, healthy food and then having treats. That's balance. And the challenge is for most people's the balance is kind of, it's not balanced because it's a reverse of that. And I think that's where I struggle with my kids. It's like, I keep saying to them, like, I don't mind what you eat as long as you eat proper meals, then it's fine. Have whatever you want and you enjoy it, but you need to eat proper meals.

And if you don't eat proper meals, like when we're on holiday, I'm like, you have as many treats as you want. Yeah. I don't mind how many ice creams you have. You want two milkshakes today. You go for it. But you're going to eat lunch. Same. That's the role. And I think that's kind of where I try and sit with it. But then how do you implement that when they're at nursery? Like they could just often, you'll see, didn't eat lunch, but ate the custard and sponge, chocolate dessert. You know, this is the issue that I think is being raised here is I love that philosophy. Ella, I do exactly the same. I'm sure many parents, like, if you eat a main lunch or you eat your dinner, then yeah, you can enjoy those things. We're an ice cream every single day on

holiday-type family as well. But I just think age is naught to four, which is a nursery setting, you are shaping their relationship with food. It's so much deeper than the UPS, like you said. It is the diversity that they're exposed to. And very sadly, nurseries, I feel sad for them, too, because they don't have the funding. I think everybody in this sector is struggling massively. Yeah, and I think that's the important flip side, isn't it? Is that it's, again, just part a kind of general economic challenge, which is that ultimately it's really expensive to cook healthy meals from scratch, to the point on bread. Like, good quality bread is really expensive. I mean, in London, like in central London, there's lots of places that are charging like

five to seven pounds for a loaf of sourdough bread, which is made of genuinely just kind of flour, salt water and starter. And, you know, that's extraordinarily expensive. And then it goes off if you don't have a freezer. You've got to consume it in 24 hours. Yeah, and so I think, you know, for a nursery to be baking that for all the kids every day, like it's not really plausible. And so I think, yeah, that's kind of where the challenge sits in, doesn't it? Oh, we hear you, Hannah, essentially, but I would encourage you to write a letter, try and rally together, perhaps with other parents that feel the same. And then you can talk with your nursery and work with them together, you know, and have these conversations. And that's how change happens, as frustrating as it is.

but we're all in the same boat. Okay, so the next question is from, I hope I pronounce this right, Elka, beautiful name, beautiful. So Elka has said, thanks for the opportunity to ask questions. She said, I love, love, love the podcast. I'm loving the emphasis on the love.

I was wondering if we have to limit our intake of vegetables that belong to the nightshade groups. Great question. This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in the world of wellness so far. I have to say is the kind of the fear around night shapes and like Lestin and things like that. think of all things to be scared of when we start being scared of tomatoes. It's like something's going so wrong. We just talked about how broken our food system is and the challenge around all of that.

And then suddenly on the flip side, we're scared of tomatoes. And it's like to me, this is everything that's wrong with the world of wellness. Like not to be too much on a soapbox here, but it's like, we're so extreme on one side of like be scared of tomatoes and obeisines. You know, never eat them again. They're poisonous. They're deadly. You'll die. And then on the other side, like the majority of our calories come from ultra-process food. We just heard in Monday's episode, that 3% of calories in UK come from frozen bags of chips. Like, we've got so many bigger problems than tomatoes here. I think, just laughing, but as much as what we say is, it is funny that we've got this fear.

What's the problem is that it's coming from unregulated people posing as health professionals online? You know, I see these viral videos. You might think they're a nutritionist because anyone can call themselves one or they're a doctor, but actually are they currently regulated by their council? or probably not if they're spewing information saying avoid nightshade vegetables and the word nightshade's

kind of got a vampire connotation with it. You think of like Dracula, don't you? Yeah, like a walking tomato coming to kill you. So if we just like come off our soapbox here and this is probably why the podcast exists doesn't it? I think this is like it in an nutshell

of like what should you actually worry about and what should you actually change and what should you completely ignore and this sits firmly, generally speaking, in the completely ignore camp. But nightshades are type of vegetables and so we've got tomatoes that's all varieties cherry plum airloom all your tomatoes

go in here potatoes white red yellow but not sweet potatoes they are not nightshades obegene or eggplant and peppers so bell peppers chili peppers cayenne pepper paprika jalapinos etc all the good ones and then as well your spices derived from nightshades so paprika cayenne pepper and then chili pepper if it's made from night shade chilies and essentially these plants contain this natural compound called alkaloids, which Reeves talked about here before. And those can help protect the plant from pests, essentially. And at very high doses, like very, very high extracted doses, those could be toxic. But not in our food, not in the way that anyone consumes them, even if you consume loads of any of these foods. Honestly, obejines are my favourite vegetable in the entire

world. I cannot imagine life without a parmesaner. Like, I just cannot bear the thought of it. No, seriously, egg plant, if you're over in the States, we call it Obogene over here. These protective compounds with the plant help them in nature and they give us those antioxidants. So they are amazing. And I'm wondering if there's more history to this messaging, Ella, not just people online, that there must be some underlying minuscule element of truth to something for it to escalate. Yes, as always. And I think that's the thing with kind of misinformation or confusing information online.

it's not made up. It's not like it comes from nowhere. There's always a backstory and it's a bit of something taken essentially our proportion. So we did some research into what that history might be for this question. And basically these nightshades were confused with poisonous plants like Bella Donna and that made people wary of tomatoes and potatoes when they first arrived in Europe. So we're talking about obviously a long, long time ago, way before the wellness industry existed. That's the history of it. And then if we now look at modern wellness culture over the last like 10, 20 years, we've had books like Tom Brady, you know, the huge American football player. He had a book called TB12 Method or Dr. Alejandro Younger, who Guadeth Paltrow is a big advocate of his clean program. Those were two of the kind of big things, big books in the wellness industry that advise people to avoid nightshades. Obviously, Tom Brady wrote that book and Giselle Bunchen, the huge supermodel, who was his wife, they famously talked about cutting them out for inflammation. And I think all of that helped give this a lot of traction. But When you actually look at the research on it, there is no link between nightshades and arthritis, which is often cited or inflammation to Rhys Point. Actually, these all have loads of antioxidants in which are anti-inflammatory.

All it takes is one kind of mainstream voice to fill everybody with fear, doesn't it? Yeah. And obviously, look, everything is personal. You may personally feel that one of these foods doesn't agree with you. But that's not everybody should avoid nightshades. No, and I've got an interesting fact. I was going to say a fun fact, but it's not actually so fun. But when you wean with kids, and I had this with my eldest, you can get contact reactions when you use nightshades because of their powerful components.

You know, you get little red blotchy marks around the skin. It's not an allergy. It just means their body's getting used to these amazing vegetables and new compounds that you're exposing it to. So a contact reaction just to reiterate non-allergic irritations. I think of it as an irritation of the skin. And that's usual. But I think it can put a lot of parents off nightshades as well, Ella, because I think they see it for the first time.

Oh, my goodness, my child cannot now have tomatoes again. And if they don't know about contact reactions, that could stop that child then getting used to consuming tomatoes. Yeah, that's such good advice. So yes, don't worry about nightshades. That's a myth, basically, in answer to that question. Okay, and our final question of today comes from Jemima, who said, firstly, thank you.

Your podcast changed my life. Guys, you are making us so happy to say. I know. The fact that I now have two episodes we've looked forward to, it's just incredible, us too. My question is about portion sizes. I appreciate everyone is different and obviously a few walnuts are better than no walnuts, but could you give an idea of how much in terms of portion sides is needed to reap the benefits of these sorts of foods? I'm thinking specifically things like nuts, cheer seeds, etc.

When eaten too much can be caloric, but the right amount can be so beneficial. 100%. Do you know what? Instead of worrying about numbers, I hate, you know, this philosophy with numbers, but you are right in terms of nuts are high in energy, high in calories. So just go for a handful. I'd just say if you can get a handful of nuts a day, it's back to that old campaign working on almonds I mentioned before.

Handful of nuts keeps the doctor away. Yeah, it's actually nice advice. And so you don't need to like count out 23 almonds, which is like an official portion. It's about a handful to enjoy. But yeah, you're right. Like you probably isn't advisable to have like two jars of almond butter every single day. Do you know what?

Again, there is a difference between nut butter and the whole nuts, which we've discussed as well previously, but I would probably stick to your portion of like one kind of small tablespoon or teaspoon of nut butter, depending on what you're putting it in or the recipe you're putting it in. And with nuts, look at it as a handful

because you get a lot more energy very quickly from nut butter compared to eating nuts with all of their shell and the fibre and things that you have to break down when you chew. It's very easy. I mean, oh my goodness, the pistachio butter Ella, ever since we mentioned it, I cannot get enough of it.

And it's so expensive. And my husband's like, why do you keep buying this expensive nut butter? You could just go back to the arm on one. I'm like, it's a phase. Oh my gosh. I've got to buy it. Which brand is it that you've been buying? I've been getting it on a cardo.

I can't even tell you. It's the cheapest option. Oh, no. Oh my God. I've got it next to me. She really is a mega fan. Which one? Tell us.

It's a final wreck for the week. I totally forgot. I was snacking before we came on because I had a bit of a nightmare journey. It's called Borna, 100% pure pistachio butter. It's smooth and it's just delicious. It's just 100% pistachio butter. Bourna, B-O-R-N-A. I cannot believe that's right next to me.

It's because I had dates and nut butter before we started recording. Oh my gosh, dates and pistachio butter, that sounds so good. Okay, added to my next shopping basket. Guys, thank you so much for your questions. We love them. We love these extra episodes. As we said at the top, leave us your questions,

your comments, your queries, things you want us to cover in these episodes in the Spotify or Apple Show Notes. or you can email them straight to me Ella at Deliciousiella.com. We love these episodes. We hope having two weeks just feels like more empowerment and help to navigate the world of wellness for anyone who wants to make small sustainable changes

for that health and genuinely feel better but not go on a crash diet or anything. And we just love being here. So thank you guys. Have a great day. Thank you.