The Wellness Scoop - When to Exercise, Gut Health Clues & The Cost of “Perfect”

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

This week on The Wellness Scoop, we explore some of the most thought-provoking shifts in health right now, from how timing your workouts could impact your heart, to what your gut might reveal about disease risk years before symptoms begin, and the growing pressure around appearance in the age of social media. We break down new research on chronotypes and why aligning exercise with your body clock may improve key markers of health, before diving into emerging science linking the gut microbiome to early signs of Parkinson’s disease. We also revisit the darker side of “looksmaxxing,” with rising concerns around steroid use and the long-term health risks tied to the pursuit of a certain physique. Plus, we explore the rise of low-light evening rituals designed to help us properly switch off, and the snack tin trend, a simple but telling shift towards more flexible, varied and enjoyable ways of eating. Are you a lark or an owl? Find out ⁠HERE⁠ Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ Recommendations:  Order your copy of Ella's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quick Wins: Healthy Cooking for Busy Lives⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pre-order your copy of Rhi's upcoming book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Fibre Formula⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up to the wait list for ⁠⁠Rhitrition+⁠⁠ Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code Scoop at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/scoop/ 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're both here as your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rianna Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be. That's why we're here with this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living, simple, fun and personal. We're back in Pasoen this morning, which is so nice over the Easter holidays. We had a bit of a higgledy-piggledy schedule but we're back. I mean, it feels like the first time recording the podcast again.

We were both so excited where we got in today. Yeah, and also it's like a perfect day. It's like so beautiful blue sky outside as well. It walked from the station, got a coffee. Energy's in the room. I even saw Ella munching on popcorn this morning. I was like, there's something in the air today. I have never seen you do that.

I didn't like popcorn. I always used to think popcorn was the world's most overrated snack. And I was just, yeah. Welcome to our world, Ella. Oh my gosh. I was just eating the wrong popcorn. I know. It was the prep popcorn. I was eating this one in the sweet and salty. It's absolutely 10 out of town. That's my airport snack every time. Oh my. It's become my train station snack on the way home. But I've been making it as well with May at home. And it's so fun. I know. It's a great little thing to do. So Ella, what have we got coming up in today's show? We have got so much good stuff. We have got a listener message that we want to talk about in a second. And we have got a lot about what's changing within the UK school food system and why that matters, whether we're exercising at the right or wrong time of the day for us, which is interesting from an individual approach. What our gut might already know about our future health, that's some amazing new research, which I'm excited to talk about the hidden risk behind the perfect body trend. That's a bit more on looks maxing, which is incredibly alarming. Why everyone's suddenly showering in the dark? Maybe a weird one. Let's see how that goes.

And then we had the snack tin trend, which I'm kind of obsessed with. It's aesthetic, but it's making food feel joyful again. But, Rhee, shall we start with this feedback that we had from a listener? Yeah, it's absolutely lovely. So the feedback says, you know, this isn't a question, but I wanted to let you guys know. I'm a fit and thin 28-year-old. But due to the societal pressures, I felt the need to experiment with GLP-1s. So those are the weight loss injections.

your podcast helped me realize that that's not necessary. And I canceled my follow-up appointment and told the provider I've chosen against it. I can't believe I went down that route, but I'm so thankful to you guys for reminding us that bodies come in all shapes and sizes and that there is so much toxicity behind these shrinking trends. I mean so much to say on that and the reflection on kind of culture and society and the oddness in so many ways of the health and wellness industry. But it's also, I think for both of us, we, as really said a second ago, we just love making the show, we love our Monday mornings together.

But also, you know, because we do this and we obviously can't see you guys as we make each episode and we love your feedback and we read your messages, all of them. And then we get messages like this and it's this amazing, tangible example of a positive impact that the wellness scoop is having. And it just honestly, it's so humbling to know that. It's like a hug and a mug. A hug and a mug. Yeah.

I love it. It's how it feels. You like you just want, if we'd seen you're in person and you'd said that, I'd just give you a bit cuddle. If you're a cuddled person. But I just don't think that you're alone in that feeling. And I think that's the bit that's so odd, isn't it? This sense of, yeah, this kind of pressure and access to medication.

And the idea of trying to look a certain way because that's what we see around us and what we see online and I obviously totally understand and appreciate and respect that these medications 100% have a time and a place absolutely but it's this idea of the kind of cultural norm of shrinking that we're referring to and then people feeling the pressure it being forever because the problem with the medications is you know people are struggling coming off them staying on them how do you adapt your life without any support and there's a lot of things that are coming up now with the meds, the side effects. The other thing that I'm seeing everywhere is stuff on peptides again.

I know, but I'm seeing all debunking, which is great. Maybe my algorithm. I've got all of these doctors saying, no, this is the biggest waste of money ever, which I'm really happy to see. But you're right, peptides are in all the big mags. Vogue I saw it in as well. Everywhere. I saw it in The Guardian last night.

Yeah, people talking about peptide, pepite stacking. The fact that some of it's going to be regulated potentially and more available. But I have to say just completely honestly, I have times where I'm like, oh, well, shall I be taking them? Like, am I getting it wrong when all these people are saying, oh, this will change your life? But it's the same as collagen. Do you remember the hype? In a year or two, that might go down again. And I obviously then sense check myself.

Yeah. But when you see these things everywhere and you see people saying, the best thing I've ever done for my health, my energy is completely different. People showing like, this is completely like anti-age to me 10 years. it's quite tempting. Very tempting. And you're right, we do question ourselves. I do it too. I'll see it, but I'll always go and look it up.

I even have to go and look it up to be sure that it's not a thing. And my common sense is saying, well, you can't just consume a peptide that's broken down and amino acids and expect it to go to your face or your muscles directly. You don't know where it's going to go. Well, that's exactly what we were saying, isn't it, about collagen, which is then what the most recent research showed that we talked about a month or so ago, which is, I always said it's people. It's like it's not that collagen's irrelevant. It's just that you can't tell it to go to your 11 lines as opposed to your baby toe. You always see this is Ella's analogy.

Does it go to your baby toe? Yeah. Or is it going to those like 11 lines or that, you know, lines around your eyes, the ones that matter, whatever it is to you most. And basically the research shows, yeah, it could go to your baby toe or your knee. It's better to wear sun cream, which we'll probably have to touch on again this summer. Because again, I'm seeing a lot of anti-sunk cream posts again, resurfacing. But there's so many things. But thank you so much.

if you ever want to share anything with us, you are not alone. And I think it helps to do so. Yeah, exactly. And I think that was the key thing from that message is that that pressure is so real. And if you feel it, I think it's just, which is why we're both saying, like, we read these things too and think, oh, gosh, are we getting this wrong? Should we be doing it? Like, it's completely normal. There's so much noise. There's so much pressure. It's a very human instinct. So you guys aren't alone in that. You're not alone. Well, Ella, before we get into our pickups today, how have you been? Because you just got back from the beautiful Sicily. I have. I'm a hermit. It's my first time in London in a month.

I mean, for Ella who lived here, worked here, breathed here, that is a big deal. Oh my gosh. I've, like, honestly become such a hermit. Like, we spend our whole weekend in and out of the garden centre, weeding. Oh my gosh, it's just so fun. Talking of weeding, on TikTok, what I'm being served right now, because I don't spend any time on that platform apart from to upload is those sticks that you stick in the ground and then it gets to the bottom of the root, you know, the dandelion root. and it pulls it up and I so nearly brought my first ever TikTok shop purchase.

Oh, I want to see what that is because we bought one at the garden centre, but I don't feel like it gets under the root, guys. We're like 98. Well, do you know what? I don't know if I trust it. I know TikTok shop's huge and everyone's like, you should be a TikTok shop with your books, but I am a bit apprehensive about shopping on that platform.

So I'll send you a link anyway. Yeah, send me a link. You've been gardening, which is fantastic. Oh my God, I'm just obsessed. And I planted all my, like, veggie seeds and day. as well and keep checking them like signs of life none yet but let's see but my seeds are coming or so I've got like eight different types of tomatoes three different cucumbers all these squashes beans because you've got an actual greenhouse yeah we have a little greenhouse proper tomato growing oh my gosh

it's so fun yeah it's very exciting and I don't know it's just really grounding I feel like this is my new hobby in life you can see why people have this entire life ahead of them of a gardening adventure oh my gosh me too and we were both like right we'll never leave home ever again because we've just got to here for our garden. There's actually so, do you know, there's so much science and knowledge behind it. We were staying at Woolly Grange in Wiltshire and for me that's back home. It's somewhere I've always seen growing up. It's just special. And my boys went, they kind of ran away from me. As kids do, you know, they run through the gardens and they found the gardener and they started asking the gardener questions about this glorious garden. And I learned that the reason they keep the

weeds until the end of May or mid-May is because the bees really need that before all the flowers come into bloom and different types because bees don't love tulips apparently and there were so many tulips in this garden. I didn't know. You know, there's so much knowledge in a garden that I know nothing about. And the boys were fascinated like, oh, what's that bee? What's that type of bee? You know, and bees are, it's amazing, but we need the bees. So thank you for gardening because every new species is a food for the bees. Well, I'm loving it. Yeah. How are you? Good. I am inspired. It was the London marathon this weekend. Yes.

Every year I tell myself, maybe I'll run it. Now I've got, I feel like I've gotten old enough and now be like, stop, stop telling yourself now. We've all got callings in life and we have to embrace what we're good and what we're not good at. I'm good at crying and watching and donating. So that is not the running. Congrats to anyone who did it. Everybody, you are remarkable, but some of the stories I just, I end up just stuck in a

scrolling algorithm marathon crying my eyes out. Like, it's amazing what people are. run for us. I know that you've been there with Matt in the past. Yeah, he signed him up for it basically because I've always said, I was like, I should run the marathon. I don't know why I had it in this like bucket list thing. I don't know why it's your bucket list. And by the way, I hate running. So I feel like it's not really very big. We have that in common Ella and I. We are not runners. We are walkers. But anyway, my mother-in-law died of brain cancer. And after she died, we were talking to the

brain tumourity. And, you know, we both said, look, we've got a profile the moment. We'd love to use it. How can we help you? How can we support? We were really kind of shocked to learn that basically no progress had been made in brain cancer research in over 20 years. And, you know, it's the leading cause of cancer under 40s. Anyways, and I'll say, well, what can we do? And they said, well, you know, marathons are like the best way to raise awareness. Right, we'll run. Both of us will run and matrilogue to me. Like, really? And then... Then you get pregnant? Yeah. Yeah. So then, never even bought a pair of shoes because two weeks later I found out I was pregnant, but I had to announce we were doing it, said we were doing it,

committed to doing it, so he had to run it. I think I remember you riding a bike next to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When he was training, I was like, I felt so guilty. I was like, I'll do anything. I'll cook. Yeah, cheerlead you, whatever. Honestly, yeah, everybody, anyone that runs a marathon,

you are absolutely remarkable and inspiring. So a humongous pat on the back because you've done something wonderful and also, wow, the recovery afterwards. I mean, that is intense recovery. And we are launching Nutrition Plus any week now. How's all the prep been? It's a lot of prep to build a space or a platform because this isn't an app, everybody.

It's not something that's been done before because you get exclusive content from the clinic. So it's like a nutrition journey. You can go on different journeys. We're going to start with menopause. Then for the next marathon, we can lead a group of people for marathon nutrition workshops. Amazing.

We've had Sony Marathon Nutrition workshops. nutrition questions. Yeah, we have. We have loads and you get access in an affordable way. It's less than like an expensive cup of coffee a month for a lunch on the go and you get access to the amazing clinicians in my clinic or brands we trust, discount codes, all sorts of things and it's all there. And you can ask your question directly and everything you need is in one safe space. So that's Retrition Plus. The link I'll pop in the bio for you. But Ella. Coming any day now or is that too much pressure to say that? I think it is any day now. I should be getting sign off tomorrow. I'm very nervous to

put a date on it because I know from speaking to Ella, launching many businesses, there's always something that crops up last minute and I get nervous to put a date on it. But we've got a really big sign-up list of waiting list and you'll all get first tips. Amazing. We'll just say soon. Yeah, soon, coming soon. Ella, I'm really bad at talking about things about myself, as you know, but I did see this incredible campaign. Now, Ella was in Sicily and I'm really sorry that I sent this over while you're on holiday. No, I had breaked myself out with social media as well. So she sent me a link and I was like, what is it? screen grab it, didn't I? Video screen grab the link from the page. I was like, I cannot believe

this campaign in 2026 is happening. And I got really excited about the slingshot campaign. Yeah. Have you guys seen it? It's, I think, as I said, I'm a hermit. So I haven't really been out recently. She's not in our world right now. She's in the garden, which is a beautiful thing to be. I'm in the garden. But we were saying there's over 750 ads and over 200 London underground stations, which I think's got to be pretty much every station, over 2,000 ads inside two cabbages, cabbages, carriages, and it's all over social media as well. Yeah, and the goal is to end factory farming by 2040.

Now, that still seems a long way away to me, but when you look at when you set goals... I think it's a really ambitious goal. It is ambitious still when you think about it, but the campaign is led by project slingshot, so it's a new activist group with lots of names you recognize on TV, actresses and actors that you'll recognize, Dr. Amir, is leading it as well. And the core message is called Don't Buy It. They're finally addressing

the quality of the produce weed in terms of meat. And how unfair it is for any animal to be raised in the conditions that they are raised in just to be food essentially. I mean, let's give them alive before that happens. Yeah, I think it's this interesting conversation. We obviously talk a lot, particularly when we've talked about UPFs, about the lack of transparency in our food industry. And I think when you sent this to me, that was what was really interesting to me about it is that I think across the ball, we saw it with the kind of panorama documentary that came out about baby food recently and the pouches and the fact that actually they're nothing that what people think they are. And unfortunately, and I'm not trying to be like a conspiracy theorist here,

the reality, I've worked in the food industry for almost 15 years. The reality is it is such a con. The vast majority of the food industry is one enormous con. And it is all about. marketing messages and it hides a lot of things and I think the slingshot campaign is very much speaking to that which is that you'll see like a picture of a happy chicken or something but actually yeah happy eggs but actually and I'm not saying it's those ones in particular but it's then you see the reality of factory farming and it's so not what we think of as farming when I was writing the plant-based book it was looking at the amount of space hens have and what free range actually equates to and they're not actually free range yeah and

So I think it's a really interesting conversation. And we talked about this as well. Like we both obviously, you know, really passionate about getting people eating more plants and more broccoli and excited about carrots and lentils and all the rest of it. I don't think either of us have ever had a message of everyone must be veggie not at all.

Oh, no. Got to do you. But equally, I think just like with UPFs or just like with baby food, with all of it, I think it's just having more transparency so that when you're in shops and when you're spending your money, you have more clarity on what you're buying.

And I think this is a really interesting campaign, again, for just kind of shifting the dial on what people tell you versus reality. Because I think, as I said, after almost 15 years in the food industry, the golf between the two really is, like, it's really concerningly enormous. The reality is, even though we have a cost of living crisis and zero nutritional education in the curriculum, let's be honest, the reality is if you're not spending a lot on animal produce, you're not getting happy. quality meat. And I think if you're going to eat meat and you're informed, those are decisions that we have to be responsible for and so does the food industry. And essentially that's what don't buy it is saying, you know, let's question this. Yeah, it's calling for clarity and I think we need that across all facets of the food industry. So yeah, it's really interesting. Well done, slingshot campaign. We're loving that. And then we have a second pick up.

Following on from the health benefits of optimism, Ella, good news. I love a good news headline. attitude may reduce risk of dementia. Yeah, I saw this and I thought, yay, obviously we talked a few weeks ago about the health benefits of optimism and that actually a positive attitude and trying to find the glass half full or the sunny side up or whatever you want to call it actually is not just, you know, nice to have. It's actually genuinely moved style on your health and there's so much research on that. But there was a new piece of research that came out and this was from researches in the US and in Finland, it included the Harvard School of Public Health. They were analysing just over 9,000 cognitively healthy adults in the US,

an average age of 73, following them up over 14 years. And what they saw is that the people in that cohort with the most optimistic outlook had the lower risk of developing dementia. And each increase that those people had on the optimism scale, how gets an optimism scale, was linked to about a 15% reduction in risk. I mean, the findings help. even after adjusting for the age, the health, the education and depression. And they weren't explained by early undiagnosed dementia.

So researchers obviously are suggesting this might be potentially driven by the fact that when you're more optimistic, you may experience lower stress. Because you just handle different situations in a different way. Stronger social connections potentially can reduce stress. We know the more we talk and we speak and we're open. We're not bottling it up. Higher physical activity levels. Again, apart from if you have that specific, specific gene, which I know one of those marathon runners was running with a fridge on his back, and he's made headlines everywhere because he knows he's going to get dementia under the age of 40 because he's got that gene.

Most of us, let's really try and embrace our half cup, our full cup, our everything come back. I know. I just like, overflowing cup. Yeah, absolutely. It's so much easier though when the sun is shining. My husband's like, yeah, well, we should just move abroad. Then I'm like, the grass is not greener, darling. The grass is not greener. And also I feel like I'm so appreciating spring. Me too. Because it was winter. Can I just say for anybody that is living or able to escape London for the day, Blue Bell Woods this time of year, oh, they are just magical.

Like actual fairy gardens, I just love them. I love them. I totally agree. We have another pickup, Ella. Oh yeah. I guess we've gone from really positive to take a quick detail. At least we had one in there everyone because we do want to give it out. But this is important and it's a kind of relatively niche,

but it's really shocking. We obviously were talking a second ago about GLP-1s and the pressure around that. That obviously affects everybody as in like all different genders and sexes, whereas we've been talking about the manosphere and looks maxing, which is a little bit more kind of male-dominated

as a conversation. And there was this interview and peace in the Sunday Times and the interview was with a doctor from the University of Edinburgh. And it was honestly so shocking. And basically what it was said, saying is there anabolic steroid use among young men, which is often driven by this kind of hypermascular, looks maxing-esque-esque-esque-esque manosphere. It used to be, and still is predominantly

used in the body composition competitions. You know, how lean can you get and how bulked up can you get? Exactly. And so it's solely an aesthetic decision in this case to use this. And doctors are now starting to see, as I said, rare. This isn't kind of mass. but still incredibly serious consequences, which is these aggressive forms of liver cancers. And they're seeing them in these men in their 20s to 40s, which is extremely unusual and otherwise healthy people. But it's because of these steroids. And our liver is our detoxification system.

It must be completely and utterly devastating to have an overload of that. And this is what this surgeon from the University of Edinburgh was saying. He was talking about these like, yes, it's kind of small scale because this obviously isn't a huge population-wide issue. these real terminal cases of cancer linked to steroid use and he was calling it a silent killer, which was in the headlines. But he was saying how basically what they're seeing is these patients becoming so obsessed with their image that they were then even reluctant to stop taking the steroids after their cancer diagnosis and after the cause of the cancer, the steroid use being identified.

He was talking about this one case. He had a man in his early 30s. He had two tumors the size of grapefruit. They described removed in a very complicated operation. luckily than he survived. The doctor said his long-term outcomes, you know, could be very positive if he can stay off steroids, but he didn't believe it was certain this man would be able to do that. This is when psychology and body image is such a humongous topic. And I am so glad that they are now banning mobile phones at schools for under 16s and all these sorts of things. It's all interlinked.

Everything is interlinked. It's the pressure, the societal pressure, but it's so psychologically damaging. It's nuts, isn't it? Anyway, he noted there was this kind of irony of taking drugs to make yourself more beautiful, but ultimately shortening your life and just how insane that is. And I was also quite shocked that there's up to a million people in the UK, between half million and a million people in the UK using steroids often without medical supervision. So this is obviously totally different to what we were just saying about, like otherwise healthy, you know, slimmer people using GLP ones. But I think it's all this same, the same with peptides. It's all of these drugs that we don't need and taking them because of this societal pressure to look a certain way.

And I read this book yesterday, over the last week, which is essentially this kind of black mirror take on ballerina farm, you know, that Instagram account. And it's this pitfall of what goes wrong with the kind of influence of culture and performing for an audience. Two extremes. Oh, my gosh. Anyway, it's just all of this has just so got me. I've got kind of obsessed with it at the moment. I wrote a very long substack about it, about this like obsession that we have with performing a life for other people.

And this all links into it. It's not real unless you get a like or unless. Yeah. But do you know, I do think, you know, with age comes wisdom is what people used to say. Does it? I don't know. I don't feel wiser. Well, I think we do because look how we're discussing things.

Like, would we have been having these discussions in the same depth? I mean, yes, we were always on this bandwidth, but it's very rare. most people don't have a mature brain until 25 and that's a fact that our brain has not matured until 25 years old and we're being exposed to these trends and social media and access to these drugs and medications from teenage years up in those early 20s and then we're talking about that cosmetrexia

can't say it properly you know then you've got eight-year-olds like retinol from Sephora it's 100% and it's because people are being exposed to it in such a bombarding way that I am not surprised that that many people are on the steroids, if I'm being honest. It all links into eating disorders or body image disorders and all sorts of dysmorphic way of viewing oneself. But it 100%, I think when you're that age,

you're not thinking about longevity in the same way as a 30, 40-year-olds thinking about longevity. No. Anyway, what were they seeing lots of patients in the 30s, 40s? It's terrifying. To me, the interesting part is all these different facets of the same conversation. You know, it's like, call it cosmoderxes.

or the GLP1 conversations and kind of celebrity shrinking or steroid use and looks maxing and all the rest of it. It's all facets of the same thing, which is just this insurmountable pressure to be quote unquote perfect. It's very, very, very sad and worrying. But I think if we move forwards and we just watch this space and we just try and break people out of the maze. The maze. Yeah.

Thank you for sharing that one. I think it's really important we discuss things like that. It leads us on to our first headline today, Ella. Right. Rie is going to lead on this one because she's been doing lots of interviews on it. This is so hurry, and I can't wait to learn a bit more from her. But this is about the school food standard to shake up. What does it mean?

And so there were loads of headlines over the last couple of weeks because there's been some big new policy changes and announcements about school food in the UK. Most of the headlines talking about banning fried food and desserts. But Rie, what's actually happened? Well, we know things are bad. I don't think we can brush over the fact that nutrition in this country has kind of peaked at an all-time low. At the moment, we know just 19% of children age 5 to 15. So we're talking primary school all the way up until teenage years are meeting the five-a-day

fruit and veg recommendation. It drops even further. Teenagers, aged 11 to 18, only about two to three portions on average, which is just 9% of them hit the target, Ella. So we have to look at inequalities. Obviously, there's so many issues here, but one place where children should be able to go to be safe to have a healthy meal every day at school. And I think that's undeniable. For some children, very sadly, we know that it's the only meal they'll get a day that could be balanced.

And what's so absurd is that there's been no changes to this guidance for well over two decades, really, when you think about updated school food. Every school's different. Depends on the catering company. Depends on the chef in the school. depends on anybody's willingness to do something about it within each school. Of course, I talk quite I wax lyrical about fibre all the time, only 8% of children. Over the age of two meet their recommendations, it's just so tragic. It drops to 3% in the lowest income households.

This is predisposing children. As we know, in adulthood, to bowel cancer, to poor heart health, to poor gut health, which links to poor mental health and the vicious cycle, being overweight, more hyper-palisable ultra-processed foods. The dominance of ultra-process foods in schools is unbelievable, with 61% of calories in primary school lunches coming from UPFs. That rises to 70% in secondary schools. Now, I remember at secondary school, Ella,

I went to a school that was now, so bad, it's been knocked down. It was a very bad state school. But there were some nice teachers there, that always are gems that pull people through. I remember when the ultra-process pasties came in. Every lunch, I would go and buy in this paper bag. So greasy. I remember the grease from the most delicious cheese and onion, ultra-postis, pasty, and then I'd get the huge golden syrup leaking out the bottom, you know, flapjack

from the campaign. And then the vendor machines came in. Everyone wanted something for the vendor machine. I'd have skittles every day, yorky bar every day. And how is that a food environment that anybody should aspire to put their children in to enable their learning at school? So the new guidance is that they aim, and I'm talking guidance, it's not even mandatory yet. And is it going to be mandatory or no, it's just guidance? Currently just guidance. Okay. I mean, how they're consulting.

But it's positive. I want to say it's a positive thing because they want to get rid of deep fried food. I mean, hallelujah, there shouldn't be any deep fried food at school. So no deep fried food at all. And they're going to take away daily desserts, but you can still have it once or twice a week. I think that's totally acceptable. I think that was great. Yeah, me too.

They're going to be offering snacks and get this. There was never any guidance to have at least one portion of vegetables with a meal before. And how many should that be now? Well, now they're just saying you should have at least one portion of vegetables with a meal. I mean, it's so basic. It's unbelievably basic. And it's still not quite enough, but it's really, really positive. Also, fiber is finally a focus.

So with breakfast cereals and breakfast clubs, they're also being addressed because we know that those standards have been very, very poor. Pastries, white bread, just a carbohydrate fest in the morning. Now it's got to be high fiber breads or cereals of less than 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams, which classifies it as low sugar. they'll be offering beans and eggs and not really offering processed meats. It's the sort of thing that I feel like we just should have, and at least 50% of rice and pasta must now be whole grain. And this includes in nurseries. So they're also saying that that's got to change too. But what I'm saying is, to me, common sense that our children deserve so much more than that.

They already deserve that. How are they not being served real food? And how, when I say the word real food, I know there's a lot of context behind that. but how are they not being offered a portion of vegetables a day in a school environment? And it's not the school's responsibility to teach every child to eat what's on offer, but the environment has to change before behaviour changes can be made. Of course. But as you said, it's very interesting that it's just guideline.

I know. Drinks as well, they're getting rid of fruit juices, which I actually do think is quite a good idea. No sweeteners, obviously now. I could have a subject on artificial sweeteners recently, but sweeteners, wow. Have I had a lot of experience with those recently? they shouldn't be offered to children. We know that the World Health Organization says sweetness shouldn't be offered to children. And they're just going to keep drinks to water, plant milks or cows milk, and that's it.

I mean, it's just common sense. Why are we offering children sugar-laden beverages and artificially sweetened drinks at school? And they could just have water or milk. I mean, look, it's one of those things where it's amazing it's coming in. And that's great. I can't believe it's not mandatory. Because I think the problem that I can imagine is going to happen. happen is that it will be like the Jamie Oliver show all over again where schools will say,

okay, we're banning deep fried food. So X, Y, Z's off the menu. And then they'll obviously, because that's what people are used to, and as we know, like, your palate really changes. And people will have enjoyed that. And there'll be a kind of frustration. It's the Nasty. It's the Nasty. Yeah. But hopefully that won't. I'm hoping that, you know, we can't go back. We just cannot health-wise in this country go backwards. If we don't act, with the future generations now, I know I'm speaking to the already converted here to everyone on the podcast, but how are we looking at a healthy generation of adults that are not dependent on the NHS that are able to fend for themselves if we don't feed them the right

food from the age of like five at school. Likewise and then also, you know, control screen chime and things like that. It's just crazy. You know. They're limiting as well. So the process meets, I think, was really key that they're now limiting that because obviously every school lunch box or every pet lunch or school trip or anything would be ham sandwiches.

And we've spoken about this a lot last year. I feel like we're almost predicting what's happening and lots of things are happening in the last two years as the wellness scoop was founded. There have been lots of accountability, I would say, actually, things come into fruition, which is really, really exciting. But ultimately, schools now are meant to publish their food menus and food policies online, appoint a lead governor responsible for food standards. That in itself is going to take time. Who's going to volunteer for that role? It's such a big role and I don't know how that's going to happen either. such a good step forward, but every school's got budget constraints now.

You know, training and resources for staff, the wider food environment outside of school. That's why I just think you've got to make it mandatory because the problem is it's just much easier not to do it. Because not everyone's going to like the change. It will be hard to push through. It's going to take a lot of work. And there will be people that were concerned, of course, because, you know, divergence and different needs for foods. But that should be included within this guidance. Of course.

should be a way of catering towards that 100%. They shouldn't be excluded. But I think that as a general rule, personally, I just think, again, it's like all of this, I just think that we're all kind of like gently, kind of nicely, nicely, nicely going around the edges. And I think that it's obviously, it hasn't worked. We spoke about France's policy, didn't we, two or three weeks ago? And they do provide fresh food cater locally and they've got an amazing system in place for the schools in their country. Come on, UK, wake up.

Yeah, exactly. And it's like, I think it should be mandatory to give one portions of vegetables per meal, shouldn't it? It should be mandatory fruit is offered as a snack. Yeah, and that we limit. Fizzy drinks for children, sweetness? Foods that the World Health Organization called carcinogens. Like, it just feels like we should. I just say, I think these probably should be rules and not guidance because ultimately they feel like the minimum.

But all the headlines in the papers. So when this was coming up, I had so many news. Because you did some big interviews on that, didn't you? Huge interviews on that. And then I had two news. features which were actually cancelled because of Donald Trump. Classic doing big speeches. You know, when he feels like it just pops up in the wild.

I shouldn't laugh at that. It's obviously very serious what's going on in the world. But it's frustrating because I felt like children's food agendas get pushed down. And the headlines were trying to make a noise by saying, we're banning desserts and fried food. Here we go again, UK, trying to control everyone. Come on. I wish the papers would just have given this a little bit more thought with the headline. I know.

It's like, but this is, because no one needs the paper. They just read the headline. I know. And then everyone sees, oh, this a nanny state. But I'm sorry, we kind of need a nanny state because we are destroying our health system. We're destroying the NHS. This is not a sustainable future. And like what kind of generation do we want to raise where they're addicted to sugar,

UPS and screens? And if we're not educating them on food, how can we expect them to make decisions that are informed? I know it's really flippant, but it's like we know that, are, you know, how we exercise, how we sleep, our stress, our food influences both our mental and our physical health. And I feel like we're not giving people a fighting chance at having a healthy, healthy life if we bring them up addicted to technology and UPFs. Like it's not, you are really climbing an uphill battle to be happy if that's your life. And it's not, it just doesn't feel fair to me. And I'm being really generalist here, but it doesn't feel

fair to me to have a generation like that. Like we're not giving them a chance at building their life that they would want to live. There's so many things I could say. You know what I felt? I feel very overwhelmed because it's such a humongous topic. I feel so passionately about it. But I know that Ella and I have been scrutinized for saying these sorts of things so many times in our career just for wanting people to have better access to food.

We're not judging anybody. This is purely our country have got it wrong. No, it's like a societal issue. It's not an individual issue. No, they've got it wrong. And we all deserve better. Yeah. And it's also on an individual basis.

you know and I think we both feel this it's really really difficult to say you can't do that when they say all my friends do that you know that's really hard so it does the bigger the societal change the easier it makes it on in individual life it really does come on we can all get together so I will discuss this more as things progress and keep you all updated on where we're going with that one but headline two is very different now what time of day should you exercise are you a lark or are you an owl I'm definitely a more mid-morning exercise or I have to say what should you do you do you exercise I have to say what should you do you exercise I'm should you do? Sinking your workout with your body clock could protect your heart, Ella. I know. This is interesting. I am for sure a lot. Yeah. I don't know how people do it in the evening, honestly. Guys, you can take, I'll put the link in the bio. You can take a quiz. Can you? Yeah, if you aren't sure. There's a quiz from this study. I know. I know I'm a lot, though. But this new study that was in Open Heart basically was suggesting synchronising your exercise with your chronotype. So essentially that means your genetic tendency to be more of a morning or evening person here could significantly boost your heart health. So this research came from teams in the

UK and in Pakistan and what they found that was aligning at least some of your workouts with your body clock was more effective at lowering key risk factors for heart attacks and strokes. And that includes your blood pressure, fasting glucose and your LDL or your quote quote bad cholesterol. And it was also interestingly linked to better sleep. Yes, the key message is simple. It's not that morninger exercise is obviously better. It's what works for you, which is what we've always said, what works with your individual biological rhythm.

And the detail matters, because if you're working out in the morning, so morning types saw the greatest improvements when exercising between specific times 8 and 11. I have to say, if I didn't have work at a life to lead, I would choose 10 a.m. when I'm a bit more awake. well evening types benefited more from 6 to 9pm so it's not about the perfect routine it's about trying to fit with what's working for you at the moment and if you're not sure like ella said the validated questioners are there yeah which is quite fun but their researchers did say actually also you can ask yourself this question if you're not sure if you're a lot or an owl after a proper break so say like a nice holiday do you still have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning because if you do you're more of an evening chronotype whereas if you've, you know, because it's not necessarily a fair test if you have to drag yourself out bed if you're absolutely knackered and you're working really hard. But if you have had a week of and you're kind of all nice and rested and you wake up naturally and you're ready to go and

you're jumping out of bed, you're a, you're a morning gal, old guy. I don't have anyone jumps like that, but you know what we do. Oh my God, I'm such a morning person. I could do the alarm goes off and you're like, get me out. Never set an alarm. Don't need an alarm. Oh my. I'm not trying to be smug. I'm just such a morning person. Whereas if you want me to do anything, I was like 5pm, I'm absolutely pathetic. So this is like with the personality types, I don't think then I'm an hour or a lark. You're just like a...

What bird am I? A robin. A robin. Okay, maybe I have to do it. So there's also interesting data that supports it. So findings presented at the American College of Cardiology at their annual scientific session analyzed over 14,000 people. And they showed that if you're someone who naturally wakes early,

and feels ready to move that may be worth leaning into. So Ella, this is you. So morning exercises were 30% less likely to have type 2 diabetes and 31% less likely to have connoir artery disease. I will also say that's compared to those that exercise later in the day. So I do think there's a lot to be said for winding down towards the end of the day because I don't think you sleep as well if you're pushing your adrenaline up at the end of the day. The other thing the researchers said is that if you are a night out,

which some people will just are, it's still super important to get outside. You know, just for a few minutes, first thing, if you can, because it really anchors your circadian rhythm. So it just helps you so much with your body clock and being able to sleep better in the evening. So yeah, it's kind of a nice note as well. We were talking a second ago about like the pressure to kind of be a certain way and the world puts on this pressure on all of us.

And actually I think obviously is completely different conversations that, but I think what it shows again is like there's no need to copy other people, you know. we can be inspired and take ideas and inspiration from things we see here, read, watch, whatever. But actually, this is just a really interesting piece of data to show. Like, we are all individuals. So your favorite person that you see online. This is my what I ate in a day. This is my routine.

Well, it's their routine. Obviously, it's different because I've got children and the rest of it. But oh my gosh, I could get up at 5am and do like an hour of the best workout of my life. That would be the best time for me. See, I couldn't do that. And what's so interesting is I know once it goes past. midday, I find it really hard. If I work out in that sweet spot

between 9 and 10 a.m., I'm a very happy person. It's like really I should do my main work from like 5 to 9 in the morning. Obviously that's completely impossible. My husband sets his alarm and we'll get his laptop out of that early. I'm asleep till my alarm goes off. But yeah, I just think that's interesting

because it's like we've got to work with yourself and it just shows like just another proof point that there's no point copying other people. My Vantessa is the biggest night owl I know. I've never met anyone. who's more of a night owl. Literally. And her daughter's exactly the same

and it's so interesting. She just can't get her to bed any earlier than like 9, 10pm. Yeah. It's like people who can stay up all night at uni and work and I'd be like I will literally... Me too.

How do you do that? I would write gobbledy cook. Yeah, yeah. It would be illegible. Whereas I can do, I do most of my books, everybody are probably written till 11, 11.30 p.m. I'm definitely a Robin.

I am not. I am not either. She's a multi-hyphenate. She can do it all. Phoenix. Yeah, she's a Phoenix. I called you a Robin. You're a Phoenix. That's so much better. Headline 3 Ella, gut microbes. Oh, this is a serious one. I'm very interesting. It may reveal Parkinson's risk years before symptoms.

Okay, this one is so cool. We obviously talk so much on this show, about fiber, thank you, Ray. But about how important our gut health is. And looking after your gut health is just such an essential part of your mood, your immune system, your energy, your total health, your mental health, your outlook, your mood, all the rest of it. every day that goes by we know more and more about how important our gut health is, which is why. Our diet matters. For sure.

And to circle back to A, the conversation about kids' school food and the lack of vegetables and then B, the conversation about the slingshot conversation is we're not here to try and be like everyone has to be 100% natural, 100% veggie, et cetera. But we are saying, like, you must try and get your five a day. That is really important however else you want to eat. And I think this is just testament to that again and all this amazing research that's coming out about gut health. So there was a new study from University College London, UCL,

and it was led by researchers at Queen Square Institute of Neurology. And what it was suggesting was that by analyzing the gut microbiome, is that they could help identify people at high risk of Parkinson's years before symptoms might appear, which is really, really interesting, groundbreaking stuff. Yeah, they started with, so it's small but promising 271 people with Parkinson's. So thank you to everybody that took part in this. 43 individuals carrying a high-risk gene variant known as GBA-1 with no symptoms and then 150 healthy participants. So research has found that over a quarter of the gut microbiome had 176 different microbial species compared to those with Parkinson's and healthy individuals.

So we know there's 176 currently identified. There could be way more microbial species that differentiate us between having Parkinson's. and being healthy. There are things that are linked specifically with having Parkinson's. And what's particularly compelling is that those with the genetic risk showed an in-between microbiome profile. So without just having one or the other, sitting somewhere between healthy and those with the disease, they had gut changes that may occur very early before clinical symptoms develop.

So by monitoring our gut health, potentially, we'll be able to predict how high risk we are of certain conditions. Obviously, it's a clear lifestyle signal, Allah. We've all been talking about this. You know, less processed meat because people with a higher risk microbiome, they reported in the study, tended to consume, as we know, more processed foods and saturated fats and less fruit and vegetables and fish, potentially pointing to a role for diet in shaping risk.

Yeah. And so researchers obviously were cautious here. It doesn't yet mean we can 100% predict Parkinson's with certainty. But it does open up. these two important possibilities. One, using the microbiome as an interesting early warning sign, as Reid was just saying, but two, again, modifying risk through diet. And it is just this thing again and again and again. I feel like we are a stuck record. But I just think we really take for granted like how important it is to make the decisions to look after our health. And I'm not always saying

that easy to do. But goodness me, just like chuck one more veggie and in your stuff, right? Open that can of beans and put it in your curry. Yeah, just the little, little baby things, but they really, really do matter. And the more we can, I know you guys are listening, you know, you probably do all this, but the more we can inspire our friends, our colleagues, our family, just to make these little shifts along a continuum. It's not all or nothing. But it really does matter. Like they're showing here, early stage research, of course, but it's just one more conversation as part of this huge spectrum on how our diet shapes our health, where, you know, a microbiome, which is less healthy and more affected by a poor diet, potentially, you know, up your risk for Parkinson's. Like it's just the more we understand this, the more you just think, how are we not mandating more than one portion of fruit or veg at schools? Like it just, yeah, we got to change some things here.

Currently in the UK, 153,000 people are living with Parkinson's. And of course that number is expected to rise with an ageing population, but also look at the generations to come with the poor dietary health we have, it's only going to increase. So let's take this as a reminder everybody that we are in control most of us with the decisions we can make surrounding food. Yeah, and of course that can't absolutely stop you from getting these illnesses. Of course it can't.

There's lots of other factors at play. But oftentimes it can play a role for many people. And so it's worth being really aware of. We're going to talk about what's trending and wellness we have. I'd say one quite fun trend, one quite funny trend. We have got a really good one. The first one was such a delight to see because it just reminded me of a kind of old World War II Russian tin.

You know, you get a kind of old sardine tin and you fill it with your favourite little snack. So we've got the snack tin. Why simple, joyful eating is having a moment and it was picked up in vogue, Ella. Yeah, and also the pictures are so cute. They're very cute. But it's basically this idea exactly as really said.

like imagine this like really sweet little tin. Very cute little tin. A little date inside and a few nuts. Yeah. And you've got this like little, you know, we were just saying it's again, it's always trying to cut this mix of like food being delicious and joyful, but also having a nourishing element, you know, oftentimes. And it's this really cute idea of having your kind of deliberate snack. Now, we are a nation of snackers in the UK. Up to 95% of people's snack.

The average intake on a daily basis is 2.28 snacks that we consume. Which is fine. Don't let anyone tell you as long as the snacks are healthy, that snacking is bad because I know there are people on the internet that say we shouldn't snack. Love that, right. Eighty-four percent of people consume at least one sugary snack a day. So I think this idea is like we are snackers. I mean, I couldn't get through the day without a snack. No, me neither. Just been eating my popcorn. Yeah, but also popcorn is really high in fiber. It's a really good source of fiber popcorn. It's got more fiber than crisp. So I think it's a good decision. Love that. But this idea that you go to work with your little snack box and it's a bit more deliberate and delicious. and something to look forward to and it's cute. And you could put in, as you said, like, some dates, some dark chocolates, some walnuts, some coconut chips, some dried mango.

Or you could do a savory one. You could have a little bit of parmesan, a hard-boiled eggs, some pistachios in there. And it's this idea of like, it could be sweet, salty, a mix of both. It's basically aesthetic and cute, but it's nourishing. And I would look forward to that if I had that in my bag for later. I can see this being a trend. You know, like the Labu-Buboos on handbags,

well, now everyone's got their own cute. metal, maybe pastel pink or whatever colour. Oh my God, we should make wellness scoop tins. We should do well-scoved snack tins. Those would actually be so sweet. Maybe we would do that. Because I would genuinely, when I was writing this up and I was like rereading the script on the train, I was really gutted. I didn't have a cute little snack box.

Yeah, because it would actually fit in my little handbag as well. The thing is, it's fitting a lunch box in a bag and then you don't like the bag you have to take. I know. And I don't have a snack for later. What first world problem? So honestly, everybody, I love it. It's almost like when the banana case came in and everyone got really. But yeah, guys, Google, snack. Vogue snackton. And it will really inspire you. But I think the idea is you could put in nuts and seeds. So you like almonds, walnuts, cashews, little something sweet, like dark chocolate, days, tried mango. You could do some fresh bits. You could have apple slices. Could have a little bit of peanut butter with your apple slices. Graves, berries, or you do, we go a bit more savour. You could have like cucumber carrots, a little bit of dip.

Made your homemade egg, as we said. Some cheese, some hummus, some roasted chickpeas or roasted edamame. Delish. Crackers, oat cakes, little pretzels. Ella's already like salivating thinking of her snackton. I know. Oh my God. Some nut butter. Oh, I just need, I want to make a snackton. She needs a snackton.

Okay, I think wild-skete snacktins, here we come. Our second trend, though, Ella, is low-light rituals where everyone's suddenly showering the dark. I mean, I'm sorry. I find this one quite weird. Is this dangerous, everybody? I would fall over if I went in a pitch-black shower. I could not think I'd fall asleep in the shower.

Yeah. How do I see my way around? my products. So basically searches for dark showering are up over 2000. Sounds really wrong as well. It's weird, isn't it? Yeah, dark showering. 2,238%. So tens of thousands of searches going on each month at the moment. And I think what this is, so basically the idea is super simple. Instead of bright over headlights, we're going to shower with dim lighting candles, no lights at all. We're worried for rehear for help and safety. But idea is you create like the softer, more common environment at the end of the day.

And I think what it actually is about, which is interesting, I think it is this realization that we've all had that we're like overstimulated and we're trying to chill out and we're trying to reduce our stimulation. But I think maybe personally

instead of dark showering, I think it's like, I do like this idea of though, for example, like with your dinner, you know, putting your computer away, putting your phone away, dimming the lights for dinner, you could light a candle.

Even if you're on your own, you could have a book or, you know, really sit with your flatmate or your partner or whoever. What are people's shower experiences like? Because I'm trying to imagine why this had become an issue. Because my shower, I just go in the shower. You should get it done.

I don't have any music or fancy lighting. No me either. So perhaps lots of people are teching it up in the shower. But I think we all just like want to wind down. And I think it's just really addictive of this like desire to find more, less stimulation at the end of an overstimulating day. I see where it's coming from. Personally, I find this trend bizarre. Me too.

I would be more into like low lighting and reading. I'd rather have a candle if I could see it nearby and then a nice scent of lavender or spa sense in the shower. But it's also that romanticising your life that people often talk about, which I do quite like again, like you think about your day-to-day routine and these little bits that you can adjust in it to make it so much nicer. So it is almost like with your dinner, putting technology away, dimming the lights, setting the table and sitting down and like deliberately having a kind of lovely evening with the exact same meal you were going to make. just with a placemat and a napkin and a candle. There's something about the term dark showering to me. Feels off. It just feels almost like a term for something else that I don't want to say.

I'm just like it's just a weird one. So we're not into this. This is one of the weirdest ones we've ever done. But we are quite into... The idea of it. I like the idea of why you go down. Lowering stimulation at the end of a busy day. Do you know, I like to shower at the end of the day before I get into bed.

And I do love these everything showers that people post online. Sorry, what is an everything shower? How am I on your algorithm? No, I'm not getting shower algorithms. Tell me, Ella. This is on my algorithm that everything shower. I love an everything shower. It's like a Sunday night situation.

You know when you're just like, so you maybe take a bit more time. 20 minutes. Well, you do a hair mask. You do like a body scrub. You moisturise at the end of it. You do a face mask. I did do. So it's that all you like shave.

So you do, yeah. It's funny. Nice treat yourself to a nice moisturiser. Exactly. So I'll put on a face mask for like 10. minutes beforehand. Then you get in the shower, wash it off, but then you put on your face mask while you're, sorry, a hair mask while that setting.

You do like a full exfoliation. You get out, you do a full moisturise. And then you're like, you feel really good. I'm so envious because, I mean, this is a total girl problem, but I've got, as we know, a lot of hair. And I'm very lucky. Yeah, she looks like Rapunzel. I just don't do anything to my hair because it takes so long.

Like, it could take me like an hour to dry my hair. This is just, I'm jealous of all of you that can, get in the shower and do a hair mask. I could do the exfoliant, but I'd have to keep my hair in a bun. Okay, we'll do it. I'm going to do it. I bought these Korean exfoliating mitts on Amazon. Oh my God, I made your skin so soft.

Yeah, I remember you saying that as your top wreck like last year. I still, still top wreck. I ever since you said it, I have the body brush. I still do that. I actually use it. It's probably really rare, but I use it now as like an exfoliant to get rid of my fake tan. Nice. I love that.

I love that. So, guys, that's a really rounded episode. I'm going to say we've gone from Korean shower mitts, everything showers, to school food and anabolic stero juice. And yeah, and a cute little snack tin. Yeah, we covered it all today. We've done it all. So please do join us on Thursday as well for some incredible listener questions that we have from you. We've got an amazing episode coming up on Thursday.

Yes, we're going to talk about food noise. We're going to talk about craving cycles. We're going to talk about two-minute habits. Your skin health, lots on skin health with some expert advice. actually simple dressings. We've got a little bit of everything. Red light masks, routines, joint health, inflammation. I mean, this is a bit of an all-sing-your-dancing episode. It is. So tune in then and thank you so much for listening. Please do drop us an email. Yeah. Hello at wellness-hypunscoup.com. Perfectly executed. Thank you, Ella. And of course, I love reading your Spotify review comments as well

and your Apple ones. So just hit like and please stay with us. Yes. Please do. Maybe even follow us on those channels because it makes a difference. Maybe. Otherwise, have a nice day. Enjoy sharing in the dark of you until it let us know. Yeah, please do let us know. Bye.