The Wellness Scoop - Organic Food, Acne & Blood Sugar — Myths vs. Reality

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

This week, we’re tackling some of the biggest listener questions. Do organic foods really make a difference to your health, or is it just clever marketing? Can what you eat actually trigger or clear up acne? And is the buzz around blood sugar spikes and glucose monitoring helping us eat better, or just fuelling food anxiety? We also share our personal recommendations before diving into your brilliant questions — from what we’re always buying on our weekly food shop, to fuelling properly for fitness on a plant-based diet. This week’s recommendations: Ella: Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, and the Current Body LED mask Rhi: her new reformer machine, plus a few family and beauty finds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we are your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And today we are diving into some juicy topics chosen by you guys. So here we go. So we have had hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of questions, queries, things you want us to dive into. And we couldn't fit it all into one episode.

So as of this week, we're here in your ears twice a week. I cannot wait. And we're going to remove our recommendations to this week so that we can keep you updated with anything in health, wellness, the world that we're absolutely loving. Rie, what have you got for us this week? Ella, I cannot wait to tell you, but I got the reformer Pilates machine.

I saw it on your Instagram and I've been desperate to talk to you about this. Honestly, I think it's going to save me so much money long term. I'm now not paying for classes for platoes and not turning up because one of the kids are sick or I've missed it or I'm tired and my motivation and meetings get booked in. You know, I'm actually doing a Pilates workout once week because...

So it's the full reformer in your home? The full reformer. It's called fold because it folds in half. So it's quite easy to assemble. You just kind of roll it out once you put the wheels on and then it's got an app and you can even put it on the TV or your laptop and it's got all sorts of ratings. So I'm sure Ella, you'd probably be more advanced. But I'm definitely beginner and I put it on beginner.

So it's got all the classes. It's got all the classes. Everything comes with it. It's like a big package. The whole thing. So I'm doing classes and all the kit. So it came with, I haven't blown up the little ball yet that comes with it. But I've got the squeezy ring, the little weights.

And there's other equipment that Ella would know the name of because I'm not as versed. But there's loads of kit. Are you exercising more now that you have it? Yeah. So I'm definitely, I'm still doing my once a week when I can. I mean, the holidays has been something else over the summer at the gym. and I do feel so much stronger and I'm 100% noticing a difference in my core

and in my back from doing once a week or maybe five, 10 minutes of stretching because sometimes I just get on there before bed and do the thing where you put your legs in the straps and then you rotate them around. Oh my gosh, that one feels so good. So amazing. But I had put it in the bedroom

because I'm lucky I've got a bit of space in front of the bed and I didn't want the kids. I did feel if I left it in the lounge, the children would think it's a toy. Yes. we are staying at my dad's house at the moment and he's got a home gym and the girls are like

can we go down to the gym and use the rides yeah that's what the boys think when does anyone call gym equipment rides yeah do you know what it's quite scary yeah he's got a rower a cross trainer and a bike and they're like the rides we're going to go on the rides I love that it kind of reminds me

not on a ride subject but I need your recommendation Ella back because I tried the blanket oh the infrared saw on a blanket I went to Cloud 12 in Notting Hill and I put the kids in the kids club. I was having one of those days. I had both kids. I needed to work in London. So we went there.

They used the soft play and I got to try the blanket. It's unbelievable. It's so good. I bought mine five years ago, I think, from higher dose. So yet still going strong. You use it a couple of times a week. I love it. But I've got my eye on one of those reformers.

So you're going to have to keep us updating. I will. I will. Right. Ella, how about you, my love? Well, I've been working out with my dad. So we've been living at this house while we're waiting to move into our house. And we've been doing weights.

And I thought of you because I never do weights, but he does it a few times a week. Feel so good for it. So I'm going to have to keep it up when we move into our house, hopefully, any second now. It's hard, isn't it? Oh, my gosh, it's so hard. But I do feel so, so good. Yeah. But my recommendation is a book.

You guys know I'm obsessed with my books. But I loved this one. I recommended earlier in the year a book called Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, which is just like my favorite books, I just fiction that feel like nonfiction. and they just follow the lives of people and how they unfold and the kind of the ups and downs and the human emotion and the reality that takes shape. I think it's so, I find it so enriching, so beautiful,

so I just love it. Anyway, there's a book called Blue Sisters by Cocoa which has been everywhere and I read it. I love it. It's also about four sisters, as with Hello Beautiful. One of the sisters passes away. That's the crux of the book. So I'm not ruining a story, I promise.

But basically the other three, it's kind of how they navigate it. identities, how they find themselves, the kind of family dynamics. It's just a really brilliant, beautiful read. And I got a lot from it and I so recommended it. And next up, I've just finished one other book as well, which was called a well-behaved woman. That was excellent. I feel like this is kind of up your street. This is my vibe. Yeah. It's historical fiction, which I know you really into, but we've talked about this before, but this is actually set in the Gilded Age in New York. And it's kind of one woman's way of making her way through the world and how you feel.

find power as a woman. And it's based on a true story of a woman who married into the Vanderbilt family as they became some of the richest people in the world. And it's just absolutely brilliant. It starts quite slow. Couldn't put it down towards the end. So also massively recommend that. And next up, I have a book recommended by so many people to me on Instagram called There Are Rivers in the Sky. So I'll let you know how I get on. I've heard about both of those. Okay, so my next read is definitely going to be, what was it called? I'll bring it for you next week. A well-behaved woman. I really enjoyed it. Maybe I should bring you the Play-Doh.

I forgot to say, for the kids. This isn't a book wreck, but you know Play-Doh has that funny smell to it. It's disgusting. It is. And I took it on the playing with me at the beginning of the summer. You know, when we went to Corfu at the beginning of the summer. And the kids, blam and love Play-Doh, don't they? But a lady makes her own.

This is a tiny brand shout-out, by the way. I'm not asked to say this kind of thing, but she's called Bodkin and Roo. She's not, but her brand is. It's the most beautiful Play-Doh I've ever seen. Doesn't have that smell. No. You could get glittery. ones for your kids and basically bespoke and my eldest lovedics that looked like the

colours of planet earth and he got a beautiful kind of blend and they come in these gorgeous little tins they make a Christmas presents I think she was amazing and then I'm just waiting for my breast melt jewellery I'm still waiting as soon as it arrives I'll let you know you have to bring it in and show us okay I'm going to check out bock and root okay we'll pop all our wrecks as well in the show notes and now let's move on to our community questions It was almost impossible to select five because there are so many. So if you want us to talk about your topic, send us your questions, either leave them on Spotify, Apple, leave your name if you're comfortable because it's so nice knowing more about you or I'm always happy for you guys to email me directly Ella at deliciousiella.com. Question one is from Tallulah.

Tallulah said, love your podcast so much. Thank you for making everything so clear and being each other's cheerleader is great to see. I'd love to know what you buy on your weekly shop, staples each week that I know I can make meals with. I'm typing this as I'm batch cooking, thanks to you guys. Love that, Tallulah. But I feel like I'm getting so many bitty-bobby unnecessary things. Some help would be great. I love that, Ella.

I have to say, I just have the same kind of shop that I do every single week and I click it on Akado and it comes and I have to deliver the specific slots. But there's definitely staples we both have. Do you want to go first? Absolutely. And you know what? When you talk to the buyers at Ocardo, they will tell you everyone shops from their favourites. And apparently in the UK we have seven recipes that we make on repeat. Yeah, I can believe that.

I believe that too. I'd say less. I'd say people probably average four. I totally agree. And you like swap one thing for another. You know, it might be a stir fry and you swap one kind of quick cook veg for another one. But it's fundamentally the same thing. I think it's because once it's in your head, you know a recipe off by heart,

which is why we need these cookbooks to help us get new recipes and why yours is coming out in December, Ella. Do you know what? It's one of the things we were talking about with our publishers actually when we first started the process for this book was that I think lots of us have got 15 minutes or 20 minutes to make something at the end of the day. But we don't have the emotional headspace. We're so full all the time of like decision making. Yeah, just like emotionally worn down that the idea of trying something new and kind of the emotional expenditure of required isn't really there. And so yeah, you fall back into the same things. And we're both in that camp. Yeah, complete creature of habit. What do you get then? What's your? Okay, so there's a few things that I basically do every week, partly especially now because I know my kids will eat them, which really helps. I always make, and I do do this on a Sunday, generally speaking, a big kind of bean lentil-ish stew, chili. I've been making one recently that it's unbelievable.

It's a pulled obergene. So I actually don't always love obergiene. It's my favorite veggie in the world. I know controversial, scared to say it. Even my kids know, mommy loves obegene. When it's good, it's amazing, and when it's not, It's the worst vegetable. It has to be really softly cut through.

When people leave it raw, I'm like, what are you doing? But this kind of thing I would only do on a Sunday because it takes no effort to do it, but it takes time. Get a couple of o'jeans, prick them with a knife, and then pop them on a baking tray and put them in the oven at 200 degrees for about an hour until they literally, like, the skin is kind of blistered and they're collapsing inside, so they're so tender. The best way.

Oh, it's so good. Then when they're cool, open up the skin. And you can literally, with a fork, pull out the flesh. Spoon it. It's almost like a baked potato. It's spoon out of the flesh. And then put that as like pulled obergine into a kind of tomatoy lentil ragu. 10 out of 10.

We've been eating that loads. Again, that's the kind of thing that like my kids eat loads of obejines. And then in something like that, they'll wolf it. If you're slicing an obergene, they won't want it. But if you're pulling out the flesh, I agree, they'll eat that mixed into a sauce. Or you can pop it into a dip or something like that. But anyway, I'll always make some kind of chili, stew, bean-based dish. And so I've always got loads of jars or tins of lentils, chickpeas, butter beans, white beans, etc.

I always have ingredients for pesto. Again, I'll use that to mix it up. So sometimes it's pine nuts, sometimes it's cashews, et cetera. pistachios in pesto, very bougie, but very good. Again, loads of frozen berries for porridge. We were talking about health benefits of dark berries in Monday's episode. Avocado toast ingredients, peanut butter toast ingredients, and then tofu and kind of stir-fry stuff. And then I do buy lots of on-the-go snacks as well for the kids.

kids for like the after school clubs and things like that so yeah i guess the staples as a result of meals it's always jars of beans pouches of lentils jars of tomato sauce and coconut milk tahini various different grains pasta oats frozen berries some good bread our staple free and veg like carrots cucumbers sweet potatoes are the base of everything yeah always get a red or a white but see i try and even do it well like because i've got my 30 variety in my head of like mixing up shallots red onion yellow onion so again it's just small things that like that but it does it is an easy way to kind of that's three different plants i know zaki's now discovered he likes my five-year-old loves onion now suddenly it's like i would eat it out of pan

if you've got too many onions as well pickle either shallots or red onion oh i don't know if i could do pickle at all oh my god it's so good loads and loads of lime juice some apple cider vinegar a little bit of sweetener lots of salt and then even if you just let it sit for the afternoon the tanginess of it will lift every meal did you do that gherkin trend in the Yeah, everyone was going crazy for. You know, they're like eating out a jar. I didn't. I do like a gherkin.

Yeah, that would be for you. But pickled onions and shallots, a hundred out of a hundred. I'm that person that this is a very unhealthy suggestion, but at a fast food joint, I would take the pickles or gherkins out of something. My husband's the same. Yeah, it's interesting, is it? But there you go. So, yeah, that's my habit.

But we've obviously moved out of London now. So I'm getting used to, like, a big shop because I was a bit more of a top-up shop girl. Yeah, and I have to say that was the biggest adjustment for me moving a little bit as well. back in 2020 was I had to suddenly budget one shop for a whole week and it took I would say half a year to get used to doing that so yeah that's my that's my lesson I find if I've got all that kind of stuff in the house I can always make a good meal I think the carb base I would say mine's the same as Ella but my carb cupboard I call it my larder has to have brown pasta and two different I have to have spaghetti I have to have food whatever it is penit I have to have those in there

your whole grain rice your quinoa whatever grains it is because then you know you can top up any veggie dish you've made with something. You know, you can easily cook that in the morning before you go to work. I literally put rice on nearly every morning or pasture or something on the hob and then I just cover it up and then I'll add it to whatever sauce. I've got time to make that evening. It halves the time in my day because life is so chaotic. So I'd say mine's the same as Ella. And then cereal-wise, I do get some UPFs in the house. There's always wheat because there's always some kind of brown flakes or brown or something whole grain as a backup every morning if I don't have time to make porridge or something else that's it really it's a good

question I love that question okay question two we had lots like this actually this is from anonymous okay desperate to hear pros and cons of organic appreciating the cost implications means it's not for everyone and you don't want to exclude listeners but I expect a lot of your listeners would also be curious to know I think that's a really nicely worded question I Because it's true. I think organic can be really elitist. You know, the price tag on everything. If you just look at an organic shop versus non-organic, you are adding pennies. So I looked up the data. You guys like me. Go for it. Please share the data.

And I was, I have to say, I know it's more expensive, but I was surprised at how much more expensive it is. So the best data I could find from Canter, which is one of the biggest data agencies in this country. And it was on average, an organic something is 75%. more versus the non-organic version of the same thing. But the range is anywhere from 10% more to 300% more, depending on what you're buying. As I said, average in terms of most items are 75%. So it's almost double the cost, which is absolutely enormous. And I think what's really interesting is organic was much more of a topic almost 20 years ago. And now UPF's a bigger topic. And it's almost kind of what's more important, which I think is a really important thing

to talk about. But I think, I don't know, controversially, let's get into the science behind it now, but I think that the organic halo is maybe actually a bit misleading and not necessarily as important versus some other things. But let's get into what the data says. Oh, it's such a big conversation. I'll try and keep it concise. Organic's more of a concern for the environment, in my opinion at the moment, because of pesticides, residue, our water systems. The reason it's more expensive is because a crop is more likely to get destroyed. It's very hard when you've got insects and bugs and all sorts of biodiversity. When you're growing on a large scale, one crop can get completely wiped out if you're not using pesticides. So you can see why it's really difficult

for farmers to make switches and then keep the costs, I guess, the same. And our soil isn't what it used to be. There's all those different types of issues. And it depends on the item itself. But nutritionally speaking, I've always said it's just barely there. For instance, you've got a 2003 study that reported organically grown berries and corns had, you know, 58% more antioxidants and 52% more vitamin C. But there's also studies I know that show that there's barely any difference alongside that as well between different types of produce. Yeah, there was a study that just came out and it was highlighted on the BBC

and it was showing overall no evidence that the nutrition is different. And it was quite a small sample size. But you've also got some large reviews by places like Stanford University, the British Nutrition Foundation. And again, they're not finding consistent links between eating organic and better overall health. So I would say there's not enough information out there that says that it's nutritionally speaking, infinitely better for you and worth paying twice the amount for your bill. Obviously, if you can and you want to, that's completely different. but I think feeling the pressure to do it, I don't think that that's probably just.

And I think one other thing to say that's really important is that just because something's organic, it doesn't mean it's necessarily nutritious. And I would say I saw that a lot when I was last in the US a few months ago and looking a lot of what's for sale on shelf. And there's a lot of claims, particularly there, because they're a little bit more conscious of kind of GMOs and things like that.

And it says organic. So you assume, okay, this means it's a health food and you turn over the back of pack. and actually the ingredients were pretty terrible in terms of UPF content and you can buy don't forget organic cookies crisps, busy drinks, organic ice cream and these things can be still really high in UPFs

or in sugar in soul and unhealthy fats so they should still be eating in moderation so I think when you're talking about carrots completely different but I think sometimes on other kind of food items organic can be a bit confusing and there's one thing I forgot to say in terms of the evidence there was a big study this was back in 2014 so obviously 12 years ago

ago, sorry, it's not 2026 yet, is it? Eleven years ago, study on over 623,000 women, so large sample size. And in that study, it showed no difference in cancer risk between those who regulate organic food and those who never did. Now, there might be lots of other studies since, but I think it's just when we look at what exists in the kind of mainstream, as I said, to your point, for the environment, it's really important. There is some studies that show some higher level of things like antioxidants, some vitamins, some minerals. But, not huge. You've got three different camps. So we just discussed cancer risk. We've just discussed fresh produce and then we've got packaged produce. So organic covers all of these different levels.

And I think the cancer risk thing, there is no evidence to suggest at all whatsoever that organic food reduces your risk of cancers. And I think that's a big emotional fear-mongering point that so many people end up leaning towards. And of course, it makes complete sense, doesn't it? It makes complete sense why you would want to go more natural in that position. So just to assure you that's the data Ella just suggested there. Then with, I remember being at university, we were always told that you don't need to buy organic produce

to be healthy. You still get vitamin C, you still get fibre and fibre. We are 90% deficient in fibre guys. Let's worry more about that than whether our fruit or veg is organic. But if you want to go opt for organic dairy over non-organic or organic carrots was one of them and I think the other

item they listed was apples. It changes a lot and I think we need to remember that that dirty dozen group. It's actually not a scientific board. It's just a group of people that have got together that like to calculate the residue every year on different fruit and veg. And some fruit's naturally protected by its skin. Others are not and they do absorb more. And in the UKR regulations are tight compared to America. So yes, to conclude, when you've weighed it all up, organic is a bit of a minefield. But for our food at the moment, I agree with Ella. I don't think we're there to make a choice

on it. No. And I think it's easy to think that, again, as we know, healthy food is currently too expensive anyway, and eating well is unfortunately more expensive than eating less well. And so I think if you then feel the pressure to kind of take it up a notch and have everything organic, it just becomes really unsustainable for so many people. And so I think it's important personally to kind of take that pressure off. It's something you want to do and have the means to do. There's definitely nothing to say that it's a bad idea. But I don't think you should feel pressured into having to do it. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside.

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Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can't. get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan. Sorry. Nope. But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats.

Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. So on to a different question now, but one that we are definitely asked about a lot. And it's from Lucy. So thank you, Lucy. and Lucy said, I'm confused by the link between diet and acne. Do our diets actually cause spots? And I thought, who better to answer this than Dr. Thithy, who I've got on my WhatsApp? So I sent her a little message.

She's the most incredible dermatologist and nutritionist, actually. She's one of the few professionals in the skin healthcare remit that I would trust, and she has qualifications in both areas. So let's see what she has to say. So I'm often asked about whether food is the cause of, of acne and breakouts and the reality is that for most people, your genetics and also your hormones play a much more important role in whether you are prone to getting breakouts than actually your diet. There is a role for food and obviously nutrition is important for skin health

as a whole. For some people eating more refined sugars, sweets, cakes, biscuits, things like that can contribute to breakouts. But you always have to remember that there are people out there who can eat sweets all day every day and never get a spot. So it really depends on your personal response to those foods. So just because someone has acne and breakouts, it doesn't mean they're eating badly. And it doesn't mean that they have a bad diet. It's just that some people can respond to food differently than other people. And that's something we're really learning a lot about. The other type of food food group that can sometimes contribute to breakout is skimmed milk. And if you are drinking quite a lot of skimmed milk, for example, two cups.

a day, whether that's in porridge or lattes throughout the day as well, then that's something you can think about replacing for a period of about four weeks to see if it improves your acne. In my experience, I've had lots of people already tried to remove milk from their diet and still come and see me with acne and breakouts. And that really goes back to my first point, which is that hormones and your genetics play a much bigger role in whether you're going to get spots or not. So appreciate that. Thivie, thank you so much. Okay. Question. Four comes from Sophie and she said, I'm not sure if you discussed it in your podcast already, but I find the glucose goddess blood sugar monitoring, blood sugar spikes things so confusing.

It just seems like anything that raises your blood sugar is bad, carbs mainly, which I happen to love. But then at the same time is blood sugar not naturally supposed to rise and fall. And the idea of taking shots of vinegar also seems a bit much for me. Yet some of my family members swear by it. I know it's such a large topic with a lot to unpack, but the main question for me is essentially, how important is it for our blood sugar levels to rise as little as possible? Maybe this question is helpful for your podcast because I'm utterly confused when it comes to this topic. Absolutely love the podcast. I look forward to the next episode. So thank you, Sophie.

And that's what I really hope these episodes can do. It's like debunk it. We have talked about blood sugar before, but it's such a big topic. I think you kind of can't talk about it enough. Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, all this blood sugar monitoring, we have to remember there are people out there, the diabetic population, that this is the difference between life and death. There's a good day and a bad day. You know, it's so, so important they understand their blood sugar levels. But these devices that are around, like these glucose monitors, CGMs, we call them, they're not actually entirely accurate. And it's basically a small device that measures the amount of sugar, which is actually glucose.

Glucose is the word for sugar, just like fructose comes from fruit and lactose comes from dairy. They're the natural sugars. in our blood and often people, well, diabetics used to do this frequently through finger prick tests as well or having to use different areas of the body but now there are these devices that have changed their lives and you basically put a CGM in a special place potentially on your arms so there's a little tiny needle that goes just under the skin and these devices work by detecting your glucose levels in like a droplet of blood or basically the fluid that surrounds the cells and we call that the intertestial fluid and while a

Originally, this was designed for diabetics. We're seeing lots of people on different programs, start using this for real-time feedback. And you can see when you eat a meal how it impacts your blood sugar levels or how stressed you are, how that impacts them, or how much sleep you've had. But there's a big butt here, Ella, when we discuss this. And I know that we can give the shout out to the episode where we go into this in more depth. I think that's probably more helpful. But they're not accurate, guys. They can be wildly inaccurate.

You have to test one item of food, like up to 70 times. times, I recall, to even get an average reading from it. And a lot of people use them incorrectly then. And this is because that fluid can lag behind the actual blood glucose response. And, you know, the temperature can impact it, how hydrated you are that day. And I think that unless it's curiosity, you're not going to gather much, I think, and just learn how to eat a balanced plate. I think it's more helpful to know that, yes, carbohydrates have sugar in them, called glucose doesn't make it bad or will it spike your blood sugar it will raise it but it's nothing to fear just add some fats and proteins to your meal alongside it and it will slow the release before we

go into a little bit more of the information for you sophia i think it's a really important point here read that like there's a really big difference between a raise in your blood sugar and a spike in your blood sugar and i think that's one of the things that's causing all the confusion here and fearmongering completely it is you eat a banana that has you know got sugar in it you will have a in your blood sugar. If you eat a balanced meal, which includes some form of carbohydrate, complex carbohydrate even, you will have a rise in your blood sugar that is normal. Fundamentally, that's a good thing because there's lots of healthy, nutritious properties in that meal. Having a consistent spike, like a huge peak and trough, because all you're

eating is sweets all day, is a completely different story. And I think that's the nuance that's been missed in this conversation around blood sugar. And now we're scared of anything that raises it. But there's a really big difference between gently raising it and it coming off slowly and tapering because you've had a balanced meal that also to your point really has fiber in it and it has healthy fats in it and it has protein in it but including carbohydrates versus just a like ding ding ding ding ding ding ding which obviously over time as we know can make you prone to something like type 2 diabetes. So there are two really different things but we shouldn't be scared of a small rise in our blood sugar. Unless yeah exactly unless you're type 1 diabetic and you know that

You really need to be keeping an eye on your sugar levels for various reasons. And if they're constantly chronically spiking, like Ella said, that's the concern. But for most of us, I think it's drawn attention to an area that has been completely misunderstood. And it's, yeah, you don't need to buy anti-spite pills either. I'll just chuck that one out there. We did this episode with Dr. Javier Gonzalez, who's a professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath. A few months ago, so we'll link it again in the show knows. and he was the one who co-authored this paper

looking at whether or not these continuous glucose monitors in non-diabetic adults and healthy non-diabetic adults was helpful and basically the short answer was if you're a healthy adult you do not need to worry about this and to re's point they're often slightly inaccurate they are measuring to re as she said earlier this interstitial fluid not your blood and the glucose level in the two can be quite different

All of these companies also use proprietary algorithms, so they don't disclose exactly how the data is processed, which means it's quite hard to fully verify their accuracy for scientists. There's different measurement sites, and as I said, the difference between the interstitial fluid and bloodstream isn't necessarily exactly the same. That's important. And to reason, they're also not 100% accurate. They can often overestimate glucose levels. And I think this is a really good example. when they were looking at this, the University of Bath, the continuous glucose monitors

overestimated the time spent above the blood sugar target recommended by diabetes UK by nearly four times, so that by nearly 400% overestimated. So that was how wrong it was. Smoothies in particular, overestimated by 30%. Quite a lot of misclassification on healthy foods, for example. So things like we're talking about like bananas here, fruit, very often whole fruit.

And going back to smoothie, Zella, the finger prick measurements, the old-fashioned ones, were more accurate. Exactly, because that's actually looking at the blood. Exactly. So very clear to say that we're talking about healthy non-diabetic adults when we're talking about this, but as a healthy non-diabetic adult, I think the general consensus is it's quite one-dimensional. It's looking at one marker of your health. You can get quite obsessed.

And I think the concern is that as a result, you kind of stop eating any carbohydrate. And as we know, particularly complex carbohydrates, are very important sources of fiber, of which only 10% or so of us are eating enough of it. So I think that unless you have a really serious health condition or you really, really, really need a lot of help understanding your health, I think they're quite distracting. I agree. And as with everything, there'll be some people this was really helpful for,

but for the majority it probably does trigger unnecessary anxiety. So Ella, we have time for, do we have another question? We do from Pippa. We do. We have time for one more question. What does Pippa say, Rie? So she says, hi, Ella, and Reyes. I hope you're well. We are, thank you. I would love to cover something about fueling for exercise

and a plant-based diet, if possible, please, because there's so much out there regarding plant eating, but very little, and she's put in brackets from sources I trust, such as yourselves, that talk about this. She said, I'm perimenopausal, getting into fitness and doing all I can to support my gut health. Pfeiffer says she's lost when it comes to fueling long sessions like swimming and cycling, but she also says, I can breathe again after listening to your podcast every week. thank you both. It dials back the noise and helps my head as a result, which I am so thrilled to hear Pippa because that's exactly the point. It helps our heads. Yeah, exactly. It does. It helps my head for sure. Okay, read, talk us through exercise, nutrition, how we feel at best. So first of all,

let's have a look at protein recommendations. On average, you know, 0.75 grams per kilogram. I just round it up to one gram per kilogram of body weight on average. For most people, it's so much easier to remember. If you know you're around 60 kilos, it's around 60 grams to be optimally healthy a day. And for some people, that number goes up and for some people that goes down. But let's talk about, because you've mentioned perimenopause, the difference of what happens to our body. And I think this is quite important when it comes to estrogen because those levels fluctuate, which can increase the rate that our muscle protein rates down, basically, and how efficiently the body uses protein, which is why as we age, we do need to maintain that protein.

intake. So you're right to be aware of it. Thank you for raising the question. It doesn't mean, however, you need to suddenly go overboard. I actually very sadly had a case in the clinic recently and a friend who have experienced kidney problems. And it's one thing I say is incredibly rare. And I've had two in the last month from a PT advising high protein intake. And that is rare. But I think it's really important just to highlight that you need to maintain adequate protein intake. But because perimenopause is often, you know, it comes with other changes, doesn't it, as well, with our fat distribution that I think I spoke about in Monday's episode where, you know, because the hormone decreases, we store more fat around our middle and you really want to be looking at high quality protein across different meals. But you only need around 20 to 30 grams a meal. And I would say 30 being max at a meal and aim for around 20 being really good.

But this changes when we go through menopause. And after 12 months, basically, without a menstrual cycle is when we classify menopause. And we have really high rates in the Western world, especially the UK of sarcopenia, which is when our bone mass density is declining and we're more prone to osteoporosis and conditions that mean we can break bones. And this is linked to protein as well here, guys. So just bear with me. So our hormone estrogen protects our bones.

It's circulating. And actually what we do in the eating disorder. clinic sometimes is you put people on the pill actively to maintain hormone levels or you look at HR, you look at different ways we can keep estrogen up for as long as possible to protect a female's bone health. So the protein may need to be even higher in menopause to stimulate that muscle protein synthesis. Because you're losing the estrogen. Because you're losing estrogen, because of your bone density, all these different things. But it still isn't excessive. We've gone up from maybe one gram per kilogram to 1.2 to 1.6 grams. And

that is okay. Honestly, that is enough. So you do need to be a little bit more aware of it, but just add an extra snack in each day or just add some more beans or pulses to each meal and be aware of it because protein also plays a role in our appetite regulation. And ultimately, you don't need to be overdoing it, but in perimenopause, you're right to be concerned. But I promise you, a plant-based diet is very, very simple to get enough protein. It's a big myth. You can look on my website. Ella's. We've talked about plant protein. I've got a book called The Science of Plant Based Nutrition, which might be helpful. That goes into the ins and outs.

Love that. Super helpful. Was that okay? Loved it. Thank you guys for all your questions. It's a really nice way of doing these episodes. So keep them coming. The more questions we get the merrier, the more information you can give us the merrier. It's so nice to talk to you guys. You can even send us voice notes if you want to our direct messages and Instagram. Voice notes will be amazing, guys. Also, when you send them, yeah, I do lose. DMs a little bit but maybe try and do it to my re-page instead of retrition because I lose the ones on there and to your personal one yeah lmills otherwise guys we're here twice a week so we'll see you next week on monday and thursday who see you monday