The Wellness Scoop - Punishment Juice, 50 Calories & Supermarket Shake-Ups

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

This week, we’re diving into the stories shaping what we eat, how we shop and the way we live. We’re talking about the government’s new push to tackle obesity by cutting just 50 calories a day, whether weight-loss jabs like Wegovy and Mounjaro are already changing our shopping habits, and the latest on possible bans or tighter rules for alcohol advertising in the UK. We also get into which oils you actually want to be cooking with at home, why M&S has just trademarked something called “Punishment Juice,” and a major new NHS survey that reveals one in four young adults are now living with a mental health condition. Plus, could creatine help prevent Alzheimer’s? We look at what the science says so far — along with all our personal updates and this week’s recommendations, from cult podcasts to berry-packed smoothies. This week’s recs: Korean exfoliating mitt⁠ ⁠How I Became a Brainwashed Cult Bride⁠ on Conversations (ABC Australia) Get your copy of Rhi's new book 'The Unprocessed Plate' ⁠⁠HERE⁠ Vote for us to win the Listener's Choice award at the British Podcast Awards: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting 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 Rhiannon Lambert. After a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be. So that's why we created this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living simple, fun and personal. So welcome guys. As always, we are thrilled to be here. We're actually recording in the

evening for a change and we're both at home. I feel like I'm really relaxing into my kitchen table and it's quite nice. Do you know what I should have done Ella? I should have put pyjamas on. I didn't think. I didn't get organized enough. Yeah. Good PJ party. Wellness scoops, pal. Wellness sc PJ party, wellness scoop style. Wellness scoop sleep over. Okay, Rhee, what have we got coming up in today's show? We've got a lot, but before we just push on through, I think we should definitely say that the podcast awards, I mean who knew there were podcast

awards, Ella, are out and everyone can vote for us as listener choice. Yes that is such a good shout, Re thank you. Honestly we both love this show so much and we are so grateful for the messages that you guys have been sending in and the impact it feels like it's having on you and you're just inspiring and empowering that day-to-day focus on health. We put so much time and energy into this, we're both so passionate about it and voting takes literally one minute, no time out of your day so we will pop the link in the show notes and if you fancy supporting us it would mean absolutely everything. I'm going to push on now with today's showlist so we've got a

big one guys again I feel like I say that most weeks now, but we've got the new government push to tackle obesity, cooking oils, the best ones to use at home, our weight loss jabs are changing the way that we shop and our alcohol adverts now going to be banned in the UK. And then moving on to is one in four the new normal. So a new NHS survey reveals a mental health crisis in young adults. And we have, what is the link between creatine and Alzheimer's and M&S's new punishment juice, because we've got a lot of thoughts on that. We have got a lot of thoughts. Okay. Let's get into the show. So we just very briefly, I guess this week, any wrecks? Anything you've been up to?

Do you know, I don't think I actually have much. I mean, the first one is that it's National Insect Week. I just thought after we discuss bugs, you're laughing at me. I'm not laughing. I'm saying I love her. I didn't know. No. Well, do you know what? I don't even really particularly love bugs, just so everybody knows I'm not, I don't like creepy crawlies, but I'm conditioned not to like them. So I keep telling myself that I need to help support them. So it's National Insect Week from the 23rd to the 29th of June. And I just think it's very important that we have a look at the habitat recovery. And there's lots of different areas in the UK that we're showcasing that Ella. So I thought I'd just throw that in there considering we were discussing eating them last week.

We're now focusing on protecting not eating. We are. And I think the other thing is I need to say thank you to everybody. So many people bought the unprocessed play Ella and I've had so many wonderful DMs and messages and thanks to all of you listening, we got the number one cookbook and number four manual. So it's a Sunday Times, Ella, best seller. Congratulations, honestly, that is so huge. I think am I right in saying that is three times now that you are a Sunday Times bestseller, which is an absolutely extraordinary feat. And I am so thrilled for you. It's so well deserved. Oh, thank you. So yeah, everybody. Thank you, I guess. That's all I have to say. Hello. And if

everyone, I guess loves our podcast, the show or you know, my book, you can drop an Amazon review this show you can vote for us. There's so many exciting things going on. How about you? We're begging for your validation. Sorry. That's really awful. Take that back. Sorry, actually that's really awful. Take that back. Don't take it back. You know, I think all of us, we have such a female, heavy audience, and I'm sure so many of you guys can relate. We're not brilliant necessarily at promoting ourselves and what you've achieved is so huge. You should be so proud of it. And I think we're both really proud of what we're creating with the Wellness Scuba. We're just loving it. So we are begging, but also appreciate the validation.

Like the lady said in week two, she told us to stop not backing ourselves, didn't she? Thank you to that lovely listener that said that. I remember. Yeah, she gave us a low star rating because we didn't back ourselves. So that's great. We also want five stars. Ella, what have you been up to? We have just finished shooting our cookbook. So it is officially shot, which means every recipe is developed. Still time the last month for tweaks, edits, layouts, all the rest of it, the final, final stages. But we have a title, we have a cover, we have recipes, we have the makings of a book, which is so exciting. So I think I'll be able to share back end of July, all of the details, the cover, the title.

Obviously, I'll try and share it here first. But that feels really exciting because to be honest, it was a really tight timeline and I felt quite overwhelmed at points by it. But I've also really enjoyed being forced, but like really prompted to be cooking different things all the time. And actually you realize how easy it is to be in a cooking rut. Apparently most of us have seven recipes we make on repeat. That's the UK average, which I can attest to.

Like it's the same stir fry, you just switch up the veg sort of thing. And actually it's been so great making things that I don't normally make. I'm doing nothing yet. And then- I wish I had your notebook, Ella, because Ella has a notebook where she writes and scribbles all her recipe ideas and stuff. And I just honestly, this book sounds so delicious.

I cannot wait. I cannot wait. Oh, thank you. And then we're one month until our move. So that's our kind of very, very big thing here where we are moving to the country. Oh, wow. If anybody, anyone listening has any tips on, I don't know, moving house, because I know someone called Dilly. I knew her before she went on the TV show with Stacey Solomon, Sort Your Life Out.

So if anyone watches that show, Dilly's my friend. And Dilly helped me move flats when I lived in London and then move house before she had a whole business about organization. I think she's called it D-Cutter dollies, but maybe Ella you need to get organisation tips. I don't know. How organised are you? I kind of thrive in organising toys in boxes and that sort of thing. Love it. I really every week I come back here to show quite how fun I am. But no, gosh, all tips.

And you know, it's a big thing. It's a big change for our family and moving schools and things like that. So yeah, lots and lots to navigate. But we are we are so excited. And hang on, you went you went to see a West End show and it was one I needed to see and we can't not bring it up. How was Hercules? Yes. So I took my family to the new Hercules musical with my brother as well. He's like Hercules' number one fan on the weekend. And it was so fun. And I had actually gone to school with Hercules himself. And my kids just give me so many brownie points. They all think I'm so cool and keep telling everyone, my mommy to school with Hercules which doesn't really make sense. You've been promoted from umpalumpa number four to Hercules it's bestie. Yeah when we were prepping for the live show I said to Rik who's like a you know

feels comfortable on the stage as you know that was a part of her career I said the last time I was on stage I was umpalumpa number four and that was about nine years old and I retired after that. and that was about nine years old and I retired after that. Anyway, Ella, fantastic. Any recommendations? So go see Hercules. Okay, so I told you two weeks in a row I had no racks, which is poor form. Today, guys, I have two really stellar ones

and I'm proud of these. The first one is Reno's I Listen Religiously to a pop culture podcast called Shameless. And it's great, it's two Australian girls, I really like it, but they recommended this other podcast which I went to listen to this week. I was so gripped and it's called How I Became a Brainwashed Cult Bride.

And it's on an Australian show called Conversations. And it's all about how, it's an interview with this woman called Liz Cameron, who when she was 18 years old, was indoctrinated into this cult. And she just details the her experience of how they indoctrinated her and the emotional experience of it. And it is so gripping. I cannot tell you so I'll link it in the show notes, but how I became a brainwashed cult

bride, you will not be able to press pause on it. It's so grey. And another thing I saw from an influencer I follow on Instagram was a Korean exfoliating mitt. It's like 10 pounds or something, but it's, oh my goodness, mate, in the shower. Again, I will link that. I've never felt so great. Really? It's so smooth. You know, in summer you always have crocodile, well, I always have crocodile skin, you know, when your skin gets dry. Near my ankles, I get it all the time. Exactly.

Best thing ever. So we've just laughing because we've gone from Hercules to Cold Bride to an exfoliating mitt. I know. We have a little bit of everything on the show tonight. And then we're going to dive into the government's obesity strategy. So we kind of go high, we go low, we go all around. We go ever especially when we're recording in the evening guys. That's all I can say. I'm trying to think, I don't have any this week, Ella. I will say I think next year everyone should

plant fruit and veg because my berry patches, I mean this heat wave has caused strawberries in abundance and raspberries. Oh, wow. That's all I have to say. That's all I have to say. Well, we've got some more on strawberries later on, so we will pick up on that. Let's get into the health headlines that matter. And if you're new to the show, this is the section where every week Rhi and I scour the news, the media cycle, and we look at what are the biggest health stories making news that you guys would be wondering what is going on here. So Rhi, what have we got? I think

we have a pick up first, right, from something from last week. We do. It's the government's the Better Health Rewards Program. It was everywhere this week, loads of people talking about it. I actually turned down a TV debate about it. I don't like these debates against these guys that, you know, were very, very, very opposing views. So sometimes I just say no to these things, but we can discuss it here and I have a lot to say about it. So there was an aim to lift approximately 340,000 children and 2 million adults out of obesity. Obesity-related illnesses currently cost the NHS over $6 billion a year. This is only going to go up if you think about

broader societal costs reaching around $98 billion. That's nearly 4% of UK GDP. When considering lost productivity and social care, it's just so big And in a decade, 64% of adults in England are now overweight or obese. And by primary age Ella, that's 22% of kids, especially in deprived areas. Yeah, the rates are really shocking. And again, as always, like just to highlight this isn't an individual blame game by any means, it's just to illustrate obviously what an enormous challenge this is for our society, for our NHS, for our government, which is why there's so much in the news at the moment that government are rolling out a whole host of measures and starting to announce what they want to do to start to really turn around our collective health. So this is basically them finally launching a big push on healthy eating. And Ria, I'm really

interested. I desperately wanted to WhatsApp you and say, what do you think about this? But I'm saving it for the show. What do you think? I've got such mixed feelings. I want to be really positive about it, because it is a step in the right direction, but I don't actually think it's the right one. And I'll get into it. So basically it's a 10-year partnership with retailers and food companies. So they're serious. And it is really good. It shows really good intention that they're aiming to reduce obesity by nudging people towards healthier food choices.

So that's good. And obviously they'll be tweaking recipes and redesigning store layouts and encouraging promotions on healthier products, which is what I've always wanted. But this is the big caveat. I think you'll agree with me here. They're saying that the biggest outcome of this push is their aim to reduce just 50 calories a day from the average shopping basket. So this is when I desperately wanted to ring you or WhatsApp you and say, what on earth is this?

Because I think to be frank, from where I sit, and you're speaking really candidly, I thought it was so disappointing. When you look at the stark reality to your point that over the past decade, now we're at a point where 64% of adults in the UK are classed as overweight or obese, we've got a cost to society as a total of around 98 billion as it stands, and that's only rising at the moment, it feels like we've got to do so much more than cut 50 calories. Obviously, as we've talked about so many times on here, calories don't count for everything. Solely cutting 50 calories, A, feels like it's really hard to believe that it's going to shift the dial when the dial

really needs a huge amount of shifting. And second of all, just cutting 50 ultra processed calories doesn't really improve anyone's health. And also those 50 calories, it could be the difference between having a Cadbury's chocolate bar and the thinner one, the Cadbury's light chocolate bar. That's probably a 50 calorie difference, maybe more. bar. That's probably a 50 calorie difference, maybe more. It doesn't mean the chocolate bar is a healthy choice. It's still not helping consumers get the goodness in. We discussed when we talk about UPFs, ultra processed foods, we talk about the fact that fiber rates have never been lower. Like we discussed last week, we're over consuming sugar, we're over consuming salt, always other factors in our diet. And yet,

the nudge is on numbers again, which says nothing about our diet quality and helping people to eat better. But if we are focusing on numbers, it feels like it needs to be higher than 50. Yeah, a nutrition professor in the article that I read at the weekend said he thinks 300 calories would be perhaps more effective. I completely agree with them because yeah, 50 is negligible. I understand why they're aiming low. I mean, hey, they might meet that target. It's so low. That might be one way that they're thinking about it, but I just don't understand. Calories do not equate to health. And then the reason I

turned down that debate Ella was because there's the argument with the nanny state. It always comes back to nanny state. Whenever there's a new, it's been happening for years since I've been a nutritionist anyway, whenever a new health measure comes in, I'm always asked to comment, what do you think about nanny state? Do people want to be told what to do. Well, actually, I think they do now. There's so much research. I was speaking to Dolly Van Tullekin, who is one of the Dr. Van Tullekin brothers, their wife. And she does so much positive work

for children in this country in nutrition. And she campaigns for all of that. And I've been speaking to loads of my colleagues about it. And yeah, we just don't think it's okay. You've got charities like Bite Back 30 that actively say teenagers in this country are fed up. They want a future where all these changes are implemented and it's not happening. Yeah, I have to say I found it. I think if you're going to intervene, we should be intervening

to a point that makes a tangible, meaningful difference. And it's just really frustrating on that. We'll go into a little bit more about what's happening. And I think the other thing to say, obviously, we've got listeners all around the world, and this is very much a reflection specifically on the UK, but obviously, particularly when you look to the US, for example, the health challenges are very, very similar, you know, so much of the Western world. And we're really mirroring each other with these challenges. And it's just unsustainable for a public health system to be

continuously for these numbers to keep growing. And so we do have to a collective responsibility, as far as I personally see it, to make a difference. And it just it feels like it feels half-hearted. But, you know, we're not there building the actual policies. And I'm sure there's so much red tape, there must be it must be really difficult. But I don't want to give them excuses, because I also do not think 50 calories is going to make a huge difference. So let us know what you guys think. Very, very curious. I'm also be very interested to see how

it's actually implemented. And what does it actually look like? Because I find also very interested to see how it's actually implemented and what does it actually look like because I find it very hard to visualize. You know, it's like they brought in the high fat sugar salt legislation, moving sweets and things like that away from the tills. But now you can just find them in aisles with more marketing around them to make them more obvious and they're only two metres away and it's made almost no difference whatsoever. And the Health Halo products are now there instead, the ones with the special marketing that are still equally UPFs and full of sugar but they appear to be healthier.

Well no, it's swapping sugar for UPFs or artificial sugars and so you're essentially just moving the problem around. I mean, I will tell you that we, when this legislation came in, we developed a product which was a trail mix that could be a sit perfectly at till point. Love. We sold zero packets. Like fully zero packets. Oh, I love trail mix, but we're not cool.

Is that why? Like obviously some things we've launched have been bigger successes than others. We sold nothing. Came out of market before you could even blink and it had a huge, huge distribution at till point across thousands of stores in the UK. And it was just really interesting to me. It was like, just not what consumers are looking for. At least your energy balls do well. At least they're eating. Oh yeah, no, there's loads of other stuff that's flying, but I always just thought it was really

interesting anyway. Okay, so we have a second pick up then again this week, which is cooking oils. Obviously, last week's listener question was on ghee. And from ghee, we kind of transitioned into cooking oils. But a lot of you were asking more questions about it. And then coincidentally, Rhee was doing a piece in the Sunday Times about what to cook with. So Rhee, give us again, your kind of lowdown from your article. I know it feels like a really, really busy time. It's the same nutrition features that are kind of coming around on repeat at the moment. I think it's almost like we bust the myths that are popping up online and then other people come out really strongly in the other camp, the pseudoscience

gets stronger, then we have to do it again. So people just want to know what to cook with Ella, you know, what should I be cooking with at home? As you know, I'm a huge extra virgin olive oil fan. I am a huge fan. But when I was looking at it in more depth actually, it's purely because it's the most researched oil in the world. When you think about it, it's like the gold standard. We call it liquid gold. It's got all those healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, which are really good. They help us lower that what we call bad cholesterol, low density lipoproteins and it's packed with polyphenols and that

they're the antioxidants that protect our body. But that is a very similar olive oil and I'm sure we're going to get comments when I say this, but it's got a really similar profile to rapeseed oil. Reece Fazeman, she says that. I know, isn't it weird that you have to apologize for that. But in its stable and medium heat, what does that actually mean for people at home? Yeah, you don't want to overheat any oil. It's properties change. Things I don't know if you remember at school, this is years ago, everybody had to do denaturing of enzymes. If you overheat something, you burn it and then it becomes bad for you or rancid.

Basically, they're called smoke points in oils. That's why I don't really cook a lot with certain oils because some oils can't be heated up in the same way as others. It's why if you go to a chip shop in the UK, you won't see extra virgin olive oil being heated in a deep-fat fryer because it can't go above a certain point. Avocado oil is a good example. It's got a higher smoke point than olive oil of about 270 degrees, which is good for high heat cooking. But the problem is it might actually be better served cold for some people because then it retains more of the antioxidants. So I think we're just overthinking oil in general, if I'm being honest.

And what about olive oil when you're just quickly pan-frying something or you're roasting your veg? How does it sit there? That's perfectly fine as well. And actually, there's been a lot of research on when you put olive oil in an oven and roast because the antioxidant protective properties in the oil protect it from forming anything that could be harmful in your body. One thing about olive oil is how you store it is almost more important than how you cook it.

It has to be in that dark glass bottle. It cannot go rancid. You cannot have it exposed to lots of light and heating up very slowly over a period of time. And then Ella and I obviously have a thing about plastic or concern, as many people do. But olive oil is so expensive. And again, I'm not paid by oil companies, everyone. I think whenever I raise this point, I have to say that because people think I am. But no, rapeseed oil is more affordable at the moment and is equally really good to roast with and cook with and contains that monounsaturated fatty acid. Yeah, so actually when you're just like pan frying some veg sort of

thing, rapeseed oil is as good a choice as olive oil, which is so good to know. Higher heats, avocado oil can be really good. And then last one, coconut oil, really, because I feel like that had a moment that it felt out of fashion, I would say. Do you remember when people were eating it off the spoon? Yes. Yeah. There was a book that came out. I'm actually not going to say it because I don't want to draw attention to it. It's actually really toxic of diet culture. The more I think

about it, it was saying, suppress your appetite by having, if you get a craving, just have a spoonful of coconut oil. Wow. We had so many people in the clinic at that point in time taking spoons of coconut oil. I was like, where have you got this from? And then it was this very famous book at the time. So it's really high in saturated fat, guys. It doesn't have any of those heart healthy properties.

It doesn't make it a bad oil to cook with. I use coconut oil sometimes. It's actually really good for so many things, for skin, and it's really versatile. And delicious in a curry, for example. Oh my gosh, so good in curry, in desserts as well, when you wanna do things that also don't need cooking and you just wanna keep them cold,

because they really solidify. Because of the saturated fat content, it's solid at room temperature, whereas you don't have that amount of saturates in olive oil and it's liquid at room temperature in the jar. So it's a good way of thinking. This is very layman's terms, but if you don't want to clog your arteries, really limit the amount of saturated fat because that's basically what it's going to do. That's a very simple way of looking at it. It's a good way of remembering it. Butter and coconut oil are full of saturated fat, but they've got some

nice lauric acid and antibacterial properties to it, potentially antimicrobial, but I'd limit it. MS. And then your final note in the notes today is that just to remind people not to be reusing that oil, which I think is a really helpful one. Can you just give us again a 101 on why we don't want to do that? Yeah, no, you don't want to break them down into aldehydes because those are the harmful properties. Always discard oil once it's been cooked with. And my husband's a culprit to this. He'll get one of those frying pans and you see it left in there, he goes, oh no, I'm just going to cook something else with that. I'm like, no, you wash that off. You do not reheat oil. You just don't want to be creating anything that could potentially be like a free radical in your body. I would

much prefer you to just use another bit. I know it's expensive though. It's such a nightmare how everything's so expensive these days. Not all olive oil is the same. I could go on forever. This is meant to be a pickup. Olive oil is a big discussion. Okay. But I think it's really helpful to clear up that actually, in terms of spoke points and worrying about that olive oil and rapeseed oil thumbs up for pan frying and roasting in a day-to-day way. And cold pressed is really gold standard. If you go for cold pressed, you know that it's been processed in a decent way and that will retain more nutrition within it as well.

But I realize I'm asking you all to spend a lot more. If you're gonna buy one thing in your shopping basket that costs a lot, it probably would be extra virgin olive oil. Great recommendation there. Okay, so our first technical headline for this week is our weight loss jabs changing the way we shop? This was such an interesting article, kind of picked up across the board to be honest last week, but we took some

data from particularly a Telegraph article and it was a brand new piece of research from a place called Kantar. They produced loads and loads of the data, particularly in the way that we operate as consumers in this country. And what it showed, which is so interesting, is that the rise of weight loss injections like Wegevy, Monjaro, Zempik, is now changing supermarket baskets in the UK, which is absolutely shocking. And I don't know, I didn't expect to see that yet. And as they become more mainstream, 4% of households are now using these, which is again higher than I thought it would be, which is around 1.5 million people. Although some estimates like the Sun, for example, had it over 2 million.

But I think 1.5 is the most credible figure at the moment based on NHS and private data. It blows my mind, Ella. I mean, you know more about this than me when you look at figures and stats with, you know, retails and consumers and how it's shaping them. And I remember when we had this discussion when it first came out, but GPs in England now basically were given the go ahead to start prescribing Monjar and open up access to thousands of people because it's becoming free, isn't it? And the NHS expects to prescribe the drug to around 220,000 people over the next three years. But privately, it's the biggest dominating drug, Ella. It holds over 70% of the market. Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? Because people always use the word as Mpic to refer to this

conversation, this category. But actually, as you said, Manjaro is actually dominating and that's what the NHS are going to be using. Although again, lots of people are saying 220,000 people, that's nowhere near enough. When you've got billions of people struggling, why isn't it becoming more widely available? Which is a very interesting question in and of itself. But basically what this data showed is for the first time in forever, we have had a year-on-year decline in grocery volumes, which may not sound like the most exciting thing, but what it means is that we are spending less and we are buying less food. This has been accredited to the Azempic family, or those we know as we just said, it's Manjaro mostly, having that impact.

This isn't the cost of living, this is an economic bit, this is what people are accrediting the GLP-1 drugs to doing, which is absolutely, to me as someone in the kind of food industry, I am really shocked. And I'm almost shocked that people aren't reacting fast enough to this because I think it looks like it's going to have a huge impact on the way that we operate consumers. And yeah, those 50 calories that the government are trying to cut feel like, you know, it's kind of pailing in comparison to what's happening with people on these drugs.

I know. I actually think it's really promising. I think it's really, now, I have to say, I know how difficult it can be if you're on these weight loss drugs. It doesn't mean you're eating healthily. It can mean you become unnourished quite quickly. There's so many caveats to it. But all in all, the fact that people that are on these GLP ones consume about 30% fewer calories anyway. I mean, it's cut alcohol intake, Ella, by 63% and sugary drinks by 65%.

And that's for people on the drugs. Yeah, people on the drugs. Isn't that amazing to cut alcohol by 63%? Yeah, I have to say everyone I know who's used them has definitely, it's definitely kind of waned an interest in things like alcohol. And it's not just the UK though, is it Ella? You know, and we have to also mention that fruit sales are going up. That's amazing. I was honestly kind of, yeah, really blown away by all of this exactly. It's absolutely fascinating. So 27% rise for mangoes, blueberries

rising 10%. And again, I think there's this sense like total volume going through grocery down, but the demand for fresher, lighter, nutrient dense options seems to be going up. And actually there was some more data that was not about people in GLP1s, but just general UK population. It was saying that actually, there's a real desire to shift our habits. Four in five adults saying they're trying to cut back on chocolates and crisps, and three quarters of adults saying they're trying to eat fewer biscuits. So again, it's just this, I don't know, I keep feeling like it's this weird world where people have this huge desire to live differently. And yet the way that the landscape is set up makes it so hard for them to actually follow through on it, which feels so wrong. It's really sad, because yeah, it's like

we want to make a change. It's like I said earlier with the whole nanny state proposition. It's just nonsense. People do want to change. No one chooses to be really unhealthy and overweight. It's just not a choice that many people would want. It is the landscape around us, the environment, so many different things to regulate. There's just so much about it. But it's a trend, Ella. I mean,, we're on a par with the US and the UK with our stats in general, but the US have around 8 million people now using weight loss drugs. And Walmart, the shop you mentioned before, Ella, report a slight pullback in basket sizes all the way back in 2023. Like you said before, brands are jumping on it fast. And Nestle has launched that whole range of protein enriched pasta and pizza for people on the jabs. I don't know if I'm down with that side of it.

No, people are looking at bringing out smaller portions, for example. Cocktails you said before, didn't you in an episode before? Yeah, I saw a trend that bars are making baby cocktails for people on it. So it is, but I think it's also we're not here kind of glamorizing it. Like there is risk to it. There have nearly 15,000 adverse reactions have been reported just in the UK, over 100 suspected deaths linked to it. So I mean, this is not a simple thing by any means. But equally, when we are at this huge crossroads with our health, it is incredibly interesting to see to the point earlier our kind of frustration, like what the government wants to do is cut

50 calories, which feels like it's just teeny plaster on gaping hole. Whereas these are kind of making a meaningful dent to your point that people are consuming 30% fewer calories. I mean, that's a huge amount more than 50. It is. My only concern, Ella, is that when it falls into the wrong hands, and it is bound to happen like we've mentioned before, you know, eating disorder cases going up and landing into the hands of the wrong people, it can have a catastrophic impact. So the lady called Lottie Moss, who I believe is Kate Moss's sister, was in the press talking about it. She's a very slim girl and she took it and she ended up

in hospital very, very unwell because these things haven't been designed for or highly tested on people of a healthy body size. And so she actually all credit to her. Like what I've seen is her being honest and admitting it to warn other people that, you know, it's not a size zero magic pill. It can make you very, very unwell, which as I said, it's all nuanced, it's all complicated, but actually huge respect for that because it's not an easy thing to admit that you've done, I think, in some ways and you're bound to get judgment. But I think she was so keen to warn people that actually if you don't need to be taken yet. I feel sad for her the fact that she felt she needed to but thank you for sharing it. You're huge. If you ever listen to this Lottie Moss we think that was very brave.

Moving on to our next headline, Ella, which does lead us on to alcohol adverts. So the government could ban alcohol adverts as well in a 10-year plan for the NHS. There's obviously this is the moment they're announcing so many plans, so there is a huge amount in the news. And this one is so interesting. We've touched on alcohol quite a few times this year because certainly for the first time, I think, in my career, it feels like people are having very, very different conversations

around alcohol than ever before. I think it was always seen as just something that was really fun. We had lots of headlines saying red wine is really good for you. And then in the last six months or so, we've seen a lot of very, very prominent people come out and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, alcohol is actually terrible for our health. And we need to treat it like we treat cigarettes, which is absolutely fascinating. And basically, there was a leaked draft of the government's 10-year NHS plan that made headlines. This was last week and it sparked all these headlines around

a big debate essentially around the way that alcohol is marketed. And it came out through Sky News, I believe, and this draft plan included proposals to either fully or partially ban alcohol advertising with the aim of tackling rising alcohol related harm and illness and bringing it in with the same restrictions they're looking at with, as we said a minute ago, the high fat sugar salt foods, obviously way tighter regulation around cigarettes at the moment. Ella, it's so, so needed because World Cancer Research Fund at the moment, they're doing so much research into this and they're really trying to get the message out there, especially

for women as we've discussed before with the links now between breast cancer and alcohol. But for all of our listeners, just to remind you, and I love a glass of bubbly celebration or something, I'm quite lucky. I never really grew up in a house of drinkers, so it wasn't something that I'd naturally go to chocolate over a glass of wine at the end of the day. Actually, that's a much better option if you look at your health to have the chocolate than the wine. But alcohol is a toxin, and your body is desperate to get rid of it the minute you consume it. That drunk, hazy feeling is because you're technically, it's almost like poisoning your body. It's not good for us.

So I'm actually really happy that it's now okay. I used to feel like such a loser because obviously I was a singer and I never used to drink, thankfully, because I thought it would ruin my voice. I know lots of opera singers who do drink, by the way. They do love their wine. But for me, it was something I just couldn't do.

And others have taken a very different approach on this. So of course, the Daily Mail, Nanny State Ella, how Nanny State Labour gets set to call time on TV alcohol adverts, a clear sign of how polarized the conversations become really. Yeah, I totally agree. I found the difference in reporting on this topic so interesting. Some people kind of being supportive or, you know, very measured tone and really including some of the stats that are becoming to your point very prominent now and others saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, nannies don't tell us what to do. And interestingly, my understanding is that there was a huge amount of pushback from the drinks industry shock. And actually a spokesperson

for the government has now clarified to quote, the 10-year health plan will not include a ban on alcohol advertising. We are exploring options for partial restrictions to bring it closer in line with the advertising of unhealthy foods. So it sounds like we're not going to see a kind of full ban on the advertising, but partial restrictions like pre-9pm, for example, on TV, maybe tighter rules on digital influencer marketing, that does look possible. And warning labels, you know, you always mention about how some food should have a warning

label just like a cigarette packet does. The World Health Organization has said that governments should insist that prominent warning labels are basically added to cans and bottles of alcohol because otherwise consumers just don't have the same link. But what do you think? Do you think people really aren't aware of maybe the cancer risks? I'd say they're not aware of the cancer risks. I don't think most people, well you guys tell us what you think as well. I don't think that most people are aware of the fact that it is now statistically proven, you know, it's like hard evidence to show that it is connected to seven different types of cancer. And as you said, that came out from the World Health Organization back

in February, saying that governments should be insisting on prominent warnings akin to cigarette style labeling, which is really interesting. The US Surgeon General came out saying the same thing. He felt that they needed to be the shift in the conversation. It's very, very prominent. Now, interestingly, Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, will become the first country in the EU to introduce those labels from next May. Yeah. So May, 2026, alcohol sold in the Republic of Ireland will have to carry a warning that there is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers. Irish listeners, I think that's a huge part of your culture as well. I've got a lot of Irish friends and it's a big part of it, isn't it? It's having a drink. I'm going to get on to it in another point as well. But I wonder if climate relates to this as well. I know we've said it before, but in a heat wave, you want to eat better, there's certain social things people do,

like they go and have a glass of wine or something. And perhaps in colder countries, it's all, let's go down for a pint or whatever it may be. It's definitely societal. It's in our way of living, isn't it? Oh, my gosh, absolutely. And was a, in the Guardian's reporting on this, there was a really, really good quote that I wanted to include and it came from a woman called Dr Catherine Severy. She's the chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies think tank. And basically they're backing the World Health Organization. And this is what she said, this is her quote, in the UK, we've got into a ludicrous situation where a bottle of orange juice or a carton of milk into a ludicrous situation where a bottle of orange

juice or a carton of milk require more information on their label than a bottle of wine or vodka are inadequate regulations for too long favored alcohol companies over the health of the public. It's a pretty strong statement but I do think again it's like what we were saying with food, it's just really difficult situation of holding up a mirror to the reality we've created over the last few decades and how do we face that head on and say we've got to change it. So we don't know, we didn't get much more detail, but maybe one of our listeners will know what it will look like in Ireland. Is this back of packet or is this cigarette style kind of huge ruining the marketing? You think cigarette companies 50 years ago had the most amazing

marketing and it was super glamorous, like alcohol is. I mean, alcohol brands are so linked to celebrities above and beyond most food brands by quite a long way. They are super glamorous in the way that cigarettes used to be. Obviously, you can't have any marketing cigarettes now. Cigarette packs aren't glamorous. They're really traumatizing. It will be interesting to see how much they're going to shift the labels. You know, they're still going to be beautiful with warning labels at the back, or are they going to have warning labels front and center? Which I think it's hard to believe that that wouldn't make people second

guess their decision. That quote is so stark. It's so true. It's just simply awful how we have to label orange juice. And we, yeah, people on social media are so scared of sugar and orange juice compared to drinking a vodka. We're scared of porridge. It's just crazy.

We're scared of porridge. And I think this is, again, like, not to be too heavy handed, but there was a stat in there, again, that said that alcohol harm is now costing the NHS around £27.4 billion a year. And again, that's from research from the Institute of Alcohol Studies. So, you know, the impact of it is absolutely huge. So I don't know, I'm curious how the conversation alcohol is going to play out, because I think it does feel like it's taken this very sharp turn, for me, at least in the last six months, with so many prominent people, obviously, and the World Health Organization coming out and saying we've got to change the way that we approach alcohol. And it is easier than food because there's a black and white nature to alcohol.

Food is so difficult because it's so nuanced. We have to eat many times a day. There's a kind of black and white nature to alcohol that's more applicable to cigarettes where you can see the legislation becomes a little bit simpler whereas food is so, so complicated. Yeah, I completely agree. And I think it moves us nicely onto our next sort of mini pickup headline because alcohol is obviously linked to mental health. And it's one aspect that people don't realise as well. It is a depressant.

People take it to feel better, but it is a depressant. And we've now got data that basically a suggestion is one in four the new normal because a new NHS survey reveals a mental health crisis in young adults. So obviously, last week, we talked through the big new data on the UK's eating habits. So the shock standout was that 10% of teens were getting their five a day, Ella. But last week, we also have major NHS mental health going

on and a big survey where lots of people were basically saying that this is a huge issue Ella. One in four of our 16 to 24 year olds have poor mental health. Gosh it's been a couple of weeks for news and I feel like we're being a bit depressing today and I'm sorry we want to empower you we will empower you we will turn this around. We will at the end. But I think it's also like that is where we're at, which is really shocking. She said this big new NHS mental health survey came out, got so many people talking. And it really is devastating. So that stat you shared one in four 16 to 24 year olds in England now living with a common mental health condition.

So that's things like anxiety, depression, panic disorder, OCD. That's up from one in five just 10 years ago. And then again, when you get into the breakdown, I think to me, it really just adds to that concern, 36% of young women now experiencing these conditions compared to 16% of men in the same age group. So this is really disproportionately affecting young women. And nearly a third of young people have had suicidal thoughts and one in four has self-harmed. And again, the rate is even higher in young women when you're looking at self-harm, that's over 30% there, so over one in four. And it's just, it's really scary. But again, it's not just in young people across all age groups, rates of anxiety and depression are rising. So in 2014, 11 years ago, 18.9% of adults reported experiencing a mental health condition, a common mental health condition, sorry. And in 2024, which

is when this was coming up to this data, it's 22.6%. So it's a really, really meaningful rise. And, you know, 47% of people affected are managing to access help, but over half of people obviously are going without the support they need. So I don't know, it's just a sorry and scary state, I think. I can definitely believe it though. My dad actually brought this up with me the other day, by total coincidence. I didn't realize we were obviously going to talk about it in the brief, but he said, oh, I don't understand, you know, why is everyone's mental health so bad today? And I was like, look, Dad, we've been through a pandemic. You've got to remember that life isn't the same.

We've never had poorer diets in this country. It's so shockingly bad. And our screen time, when I grew up, I wasn't really a gamer. We didn't have this scrolling like we've spoken about before dopamine hit. It's awful. So when I was thinking about this and all these different factors, obviously none of this exists in a vacuum to your point. We've got a cost of living crisis, we've got a climate crisis, we have the long tail of the pandemic, we have this extraordinary number of pressures on the younger generation in particular, but on everybody, coupled with the fact that our screen time is out of control. The daily

average for watching all screens in the UK is now 7.5 hours. Again, exercise and mental health, according to the UK government, our population is around 20% less active than we were in the 60s, and around one in three men and one in two women are not active enough for good health. Which again, when we just put all these things together, become quite scary. The youngest cohort people, so people aged up to 24 also when we're talking about phones, spend up to four hours and 49 minutes, almost five hours on their mobile phone. But Rhea, I wanted you to jump in here as well with the link between diet and mental health, because I think, as I said, nothing exists on a vacuum.

There are so many factors creating this really complicated challenge with our collective mental health, and there's also personal traumas, and nothing is, again, we can't generalise anything. But equally, we do have this collective series of factors that are coupling in and they are making it difficult for us to have good mental health. And I think diet is a really interesting one there because of the aesthetic link. I think it's kind of so tangential to people to think, oh, eating well probably helps my energy, et cetera. But understanding the impact that our diet has on our mental health

feels so much less transparent. It's way less transparent. And it's because if you look at the face of our food environment, it's like when I was researching and writing the ultra processed food conversation for the book, I was just so appalled. I just kept thinking in my head, you know, how have we got to this point? Because there is a food and mood link everyone. So we have what's called a gut-brain axis and we have gut bacteria that's now been researched to show that it does play a role in how happy we can feel or our mood, our production of serotonin, which is our happy hormone.

And in return, our serotonin plays a role with tryptophan in production of melatonin, which is our sleep regulator, the hormone that helps us fall asleep and helps regulate our circadian rhythms. And then our gut bacteria also works on circadian rhythms. And it's just no surprise to me. And diets are only one small factor. Like Ella said, there's so many things. But if we're malnourished because we're not getting enough fiber to feed our guts for our brain to help us feel happy, If we are not feeling good because we're low in energy because our diets are not giving us

the iron we need, they're not giving us the B12, they're not giving us the amount. Actually, I doubt B12 is an issue. Most people probably get B12. There's a small cohort. There's a type of anemia that's linked to B12 called pernicious or megablastic anemia. But with things like vitamin D, there's so many factors of nutrition that are linked to it. I have a whole page in nearly every book I've ever written called Food and Mood because I really want to teach kids about this. I think if you know that food can impact how you feel, how you perform, but our environment, Ella, has never been worse in terms of food that offers us nourishment. And what's worse is people think

they're getting it. So you've got this younger generation, 16 to 24. They're the ones on the screen. So they're the ones subjected to the food marketing or the TikTok trends or whatever the trends are that's going on. Then they think they're doing the right thing because they're sucked into a carnival trend or a fasting trend or a juicing trend or a high protein trend. So then they buy all these powders and coccocciations and pills and think that they had never been healthier, whereas then still not feeding their body what it wants, which is just whole foods. It's very, very succinctly built and it moves us on so well to our first trend in wellness. You guys probably saw this. I feel like it was absolutely everywhere, but it was the M&S punishment juice. Oh my goodness, I have so many thoughts on this. But before we delve into them, I just have to say on the back of what we just said, nothing bothers me more than something like this.

Not to be negative, Nancy. Don't want to be a downer in today's episode. But goodness me, we need to think people eating well is delicious, eating well is a joy, eating well is a great thing. Let's encourage people to be excited to eat well. And when we start calling green things punishment, we are not doing anybody a favour, just going viral. Doesn't help people change their diets and we desperately need to do that. So don't call that punishment juice. Well done, Ella. Do you know what's so interesting? Oh, I'm so annoyed. I know. So my community, the nutrition dietitian community were kicking off about it. There were

posts everywhere on LinkedIn with nutrition professionals saying this is not okay. And I was looking it up and M&S had actually come up with this idea a while ago. And then they submitted the application for this trademarked names. They've trademarked it Ella. They've trademarked the punishment juice. Yeah, they trademarked it on the 6th of February 2025 and it covers like the non-alcoholic beverages such as fruit juices and drinks. And then it was officially published as a UK trademark on the 14th of February. And M&S internally was really excited about it.

And their marketing team said it's a disruptive name for a new product because they knew that by using this awful name for a food was going to cause a huge buzz. And I've got to hand it to M&S. They've created a lot of intriguing ranges recently. Some of it's not as... I'm probably never going to get a job with M&S now, which is gutting because I absolutely love M&S. I love your food. I really do love your food. But this juice name is just not going to help the language problem

we have that surrounds food. If you want to put a moral compass on food, this is how it should not be done. And this is contributing to that moral discussion around it. So in case you missed it, it's just it's a green juice, it's nothing kind of new in that sense, and it contains cucumber, spinach, celery, lime, kale, aloe vera, spirulina, chlorella, and hemp. It's correct, right, that it has those three superfoods in it. I have to say it doesn't sound super delicious to me. No, there's not enough fruit in that. I don't think I'd enjoy drinking that. I'd love it up until the spirulina, chlorella and hemp because all three of those have pretty

unappealing flavors. I like hemp seeds sprinkled on things because you can't taste them, they're super nutritious and they work well. But spirulina and chlorella taste like grass to be frank. I like the grass. And it's the added protein bit that gets me. But then they thought they'd also chuck in protein by adding hemp. Yeah. For everyone doesn't know, hemp is a really good type of quality vegan protein that people can use. You'll see like hemp protein powders, but it's very earthy.

Oh, why can't we just get people excited about eating cucumber and put it in, I don't know, some like amazing salad with soy sauce and mango and edamame and I did the cucumber trend. Do you remember there was a cucumber trend where you make the cucumber salad in the jar and you like shake it up? Oh, I love that one. Yes, you're right. Yeah, I love things like that. So delish. Really good trend. I wish I knew what it's called right now because we should have dropped that in. Anyone that knows what that trend was, put it in the Spotify or Apple thing. And like I made such a good soup last night with a whole bag of spinach in it and peas and butter beans and loads of miso and garlic and lemon and it was so delicious and I just, oh we need to get

people eating their greens and their healthy food in a delicious way and we can't call it punishment. And I don't know, I just was really disappointed and frustrated because everything we've talked about in today's episode, I feel like we oscillate some weeks, we're like full of spark and joy. And some weeks we are really frustrated by the state of the world of wellness. And today I'm going to say, hold my hands up, I am so frustrated. You look at the stock reality of where we are, and how much change we need. And then you see companies trademarking names that just make healthy eating seem like a terrible thing because we're calling it punishment.

And on that thought as well, so I've got a little clip to play to you by two amazing neurologists and scientists. And they discuss the hype around adding creatine powders to things because I bet we're going to see more products like these punishment juices popping up now with added creatine because there's lots of claims around it with, I don't know, have you seen it Ella, with Alzheimer's, people saying it could potentially help? Yes, and again, that was something I wanted to ask you about as well. So I'm so thrilled you brought it to today's show. Okay, so let's play this clip.

Everyone is suddenly taking creatine for brain health and Alzheimer's disease. But should say this is the new study and I just spoke with the authors directly. They give 20 people with Alzheimer's disease 20 grams of creatine per day for eight weeks. This was a pilot study which means that it wasn't testing whether creatine works. It was testing if this kind of study is even doable. Brain creatine went up by 11%. Some memory and attention scores improved slightly. There was no control group, no placebo, no blinding, which means we cannot say creatine caused these improvements. Here's what the lead researcher actually said

about recommending creatine for Alzheimer's. Creatine is being hyped on social media. Do you worry about premature adoption? You always do with studies like this. This is probably my biggest concern whenever we have results like this is that we want to be very cautious to the scientists about our communication of this. We want to say we found these exciting findings, but we also want to be very cautious about the interpretation of them. So at this point, I don't think I can recommend it to a patient that this is going to ultimately have some sort of cognitive influence. I wouldn't want to give those types of indications to anybody. If you want to take it, please talk to your doctor, especially if you're older, if you

have kidney issues or taking medication. Podcast episode coming soon. So ultimately, it just goes to show again, the fact that people cherry pick things from the data without understanding how to analyze scientific papers. Gosh, guys, if I could tell you how much I struggled at university with statistics and methodology and having to break down papers to actually understand what they're saying. And the fact that this was just like a preliminary thing, and it's not even concrete yet, but before anyone can get to the bottom of it and do more research, it's on social media going viral that it's the answer and it's going

to help people. I just feel like all of these sorts of things that are like the punishment juices and the wrong names and then adding supplements like creatine could save you. It's just so unbelievably bold. Okay, so we've got to wrap this episode up in a positive way. Really feeling what, what end inspiration, I guess, on the back of this, can we give people? I mean, for me, it is just this sense of like, we've got to inspire each other. Like we've got to be as a community. And I don't mean just us in the wellness scoop, but your colleagues, your friends,

you know, people you in your WhatsApp groups, like whoever it is, like, let's just all encourage each other with small changes, maybe, you know, do a lunch break walk a couple of times a week with your colleagues. Maybe you could help each other batch cook, you know, so you batch cook one day and then you've got lunch, they do it another day and you've got lunch. Yeah, or like swap recipes in your WhatsApp groups. I just think that we all need inspiration. I said it at the beginning of the show, like I've been cooking for my new cookbook and I've inspired myself, if I can say that, in the sense of I've been cooking things I don't

normally cook because I need to get more creative and I'm like, oh, love this ingredient. I did this fennel, marinated fennel salad the other day and I was like, when did I last eat fennel? I love marinated fennel, marinated fennel salad the other day. And I was like, when did I last eat fennel? I love marinated fennel. And like, we just need to inspire each other and try and tune out the noise, but try and make a tangible, meaningful difference. And ultimately, you know, community

and kind of that grassroots approach, like it really can help. And the more we can inspire each other and the people around us to make small changes, I would say the better. I love that you finished like that because I feel like so much of my job as a nutritionist in the last five to ten years, it didn't start off this way, has been just to debunk everything because there's too much, there's just never ending and one really positive thing to end on as well is that our extra scoops have changed, Ella.

Yes, they have because we have too much to talk about, guys, and you are amazing as a community, which again, we are so grateful for, and we know you have so many questions. I think we've got about 500 questions to answer. So what we're gonna do, guys, each week, we're actually gonna have two episodes a week, this one where we'll go through all the headlines,

what on earth is going on, and the second one, we will take your questions every week, and we will answer this week we're touching on things like keto, cholesterol, so many things we cannot wait to share these I think they're hopefully really helpful so either direct message us or leave your questions as comments on Spotify and Apple and we will pick up as many of them as we possibly can every week. And positive tips because you also share those with us. I love reading those, the bits of feedback when we're not sure about something and you give it to us. So thank you, keep

them coming our way. We so appreciate it. Otherwise, have a great day, cook something delicious and let's inspire one another to make small changes to our health.