I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. Honestly, if you have listened to me any time over the last few months, you know I've become a little bit evangelical about this app and I honestly recommend it to everyone. My friends, my family, people on Instagram, everyone. And she recommended it to me, so it's true.
I've heard so much about it. It's just because it has had such a big impact on me. I've meditated on and off for 15 years or so now, but using the way it's honestly the first time I've become so consistent with this daily practice and I've just seen the most unbelievable results as a result of that. The app is just incredible.
And what I love is every day you open it and there's a meditation waiting for you to scroll, that you don't have to choose between hundreds of options. There's no wondering what to do. It just takes you on a path. Well, I think that's why it works so well because most of us just don't need more big decisions every day to make.
And I know exactly that. We've got a decision for T-Carmley, so this is so nice because you just follow this path of meditation, which is said by Henry, the founder, who's just the most amazing teacher. And he makes it seem somehow just incredibly simple but exceptionally profound at the same time, which is a very rare skill. And I've been using it too.
Yes, I've now finally begun my meditation journey and I've been doing some of the shorter practices on busy days because I completely understand why you talk about it so much. It really is a nice intro, Anthony. Yeah, it is. I'm so glad.
Anyway, it's helped me feel so much calm, unless we're active, more present. It all sounds like huge claims, but I just say, please, please, please try it if you're struggling with stress or overwhelm. You just got to give it a go. And the lovely thing is that everyone listening can definitely try it themselves.
Exactly. So you can get a 30-day free trial. So just try it every day per month. It'll change your life.
All you do is head to thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yeah, that's thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Welcome to the Wellness Cube. You're now twice weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration.
With your host, I'm Ella Mill. And I'm Rhianna Lambert. And today we go into all of the wonderful listener questions that you've sent to us and share our recommendations and yours on the show. So let's dive in.
Today we're going to talk about our frozen veggies as good and as healthy as fresh. We have had so many questions about flaxseeds recently. I think we're going to talk about them more questions. We get now.
Do we need to grind them more about fiber enhanced drinks? Very big trend at the moment. Stuff about freeze-died fruits, puff grains, processed foods, healthy swaps that we love so much more. But read before we get into it, have a fact for you.
I told you I was reading on Monday an interview with the founders of that company, Health. Anyway, in that article, there were some stats about the size of the UK wellness market. Now, according to The Times, in 2025, the UK alone, the wellness industry was estimated at 97 billion as a value, predicted to reach 140 billion, the size of the wellness industry, just in the UK, by 2033, 140 billion. Doesn't even compute in my head.
Crazy. Absolutely crazy. But it links back to our discussion on Mondo around the longevity message spreading across Europe already in the US, isn't it, with all the injections and things. So it's rising.
Interestingly, we were in holiday with some friends from America earlier in the summer and I was talking to one of them and they were saying, yeah, peptides everywhere. Because obviously you have a much bigger, private, doctor industry, obviously completely different health care system than we have here. And I think these prescriptions are big anyway. It's so interesting.
Yeah, their view on it was so normalized, completely normalized, kind of NAD plus isn't technically a peptide, but I think we can talk about it within that same. It's the same budget. Exactly. Yes.
Exactly. Oh, that was so interesting. But also, come on, 140 billion. That's not on carrots and chickpeas.
Is it? Or beans? Or beans? Because actually that's technically, I think, all calculated, probably completely separately, because that's going to be the size of the grocery market.
And so that's actually kind of on gadgets, gets most powders, supplements, devices. Potions, lations. Potions and motions. Anyway, I just save your...
There are some things I was spending on, and obviously some of it's really fun, and I totally get it, and I'm not immune to it. But I also think if you're really prioritising health and you're trying to figure out where to spend your budget, good quality food first and foremost, 100 times over. And we're here on the Wanda Scapes Asend Us, anything that you see that you think could be contributing to that to 140 billion. OK, and then I was tasting out really interesting that I read.
What I found really interesting. There was another piece that I read, I think the day before, or the other times. And the title was, what, four on college just do daily to avoid cancer. Now, I know that's quite a clickbaity headline.
I know these four people are not kind of... They're always amazing doctors, they don't know everything, I get it. I don't like the headline either, so they wouldn't have been told probably that was the headline. But it was super interesting to read.
I honestly would recommend it if you literally just Google Time to what four on college just do daily to avoid cancer, you'll find it. And four of them were different, but there was some real comments that I thought quite interesting. Number one, and were you going to love this, they explicitly said, we do not take supplements, basically. And there was one doctor who had done a trial on some cancer research that had two supplements that were formulated for the trial.
They had been tested very well studied, and he takes those, but otherwise said I would never take an untested supplement. The other ones, in terms of like, I do do this, I eat lots of fiber, I try and get lots of phytochemicals, I get lots of oily fish in my diet, kind of thing, things I don't do, I don't take supplements. And I just think, that's it. I'm not saying no one else knows anything, but I do just think it's very interesting you have four respected on colleges who, having spent their whole life studying cancer, obviously at home, take reasonable interventions to look after their health associated with the rest that they're aware of, and they don't take supplements.
I know. I think it says a huge amount, doesn't it? And I really wanted to highlight it. Now, obviously, if you're in a vegan diet B12, very important, if you don't eat any oily fish, you're probably going to need some omega-3.
There's obviously some exceptions, a bit in the winter, but there's mass market, you can supplement your way around a busy life where it's not great diet. I just thought it's really interesting. And then the other thing, Rita, was interesting that they talked about. She was a collective limiting on household cleaners and environmental toxins.
And I do think that's very interesting as well. We've talked about this before, and it's not just careable, but the overuse of debtile type products are probably on great. The bleach in the kitchen surface sprays on bare hands every day. It's became the norm, didn't it, when they're invented?
Because, wow, what a lifesaver. But there's definitely a cause for overuse of exposure to chemicals. And lots of them going back to homemade solutions. Anyway, I do think it's very, very interesting.
And then there's obviously talked about avoiding excessive UPS, so she can drink, avoid chard meat, avoid chard meat. Yeah, I've had me getting in lots of ways. I said, phytochemical rich foods, loads of fiber, pre-bouncy, fermented foods, all of the kind of obvious things. But those are the two interesting points, I think, the avoidance of supplements.
And I do just think it is like, we just have to remember the marketing on supplements versus the reality. Wow. Let me play these stuff on this. So related to what Ella's to show me, this is now, we've had Kim Kardashian.
Oh my gosh, this is a clarry one. Yeah. So I came across this video. I mean, it's amazing because I don't follow them.
So I'm being pushed them now, where Chloe Kardashian is holding up a bag of her pills. She sat in sunglasses and a face mask, holding up her little plastic pot of what looks like about 12 supplements. So let's just see what she says. So I take this baggy of vitamin, every day I take it on and it'll be stomach.
If I did this yesterday on set, everyone thought this was like the same, that I don't eat before. I guess my body's just trained. I can't even remember what everything is, but I know I have five pills or like a protein, amino acid, four pills are saffron. I take a Q10, something like that.
I don't answer my brain. I don't really know. So as you can tell, I don't actually think she's quite aware of what she's taking in this bag of pills. But honestly, I know that it's something we can control and it comes back to that psychological component of what can I do in my life every day?
And I do completely understand why it may give you a sense of control to be taking lots of supplements that you've seen celebrities endorsing and taking. But honestly, I think that was a really good shout out that article. It's just a little reminder they're not panicists. I don't agree and I love watching the Kardashians and I don't mean it as any like, personal criticism of Chloe.
I just think it's really symptomatic of an industry where we just think like more is more and more isn't more. And these things are expensive. We've all fallen into the trap of thinking it will solve a problem, but I just don't think supplements are the answer. It must be hard being a Kardashian because you've probably got everything thrown at you.
I don't know how you even decipher evidence anymore and you get to that point in your life. But we do have some positive feedback. So first of all, tons of you have contributed and commented with ideas for our wellness good walk. Yes, our big challenge for next year is we've got loads of ideas.
This is the first time we and I have seen each other. So we're going to chat after we've been recording, we're going to go through and we're going to share some more ideas next week with you guys. We want to hear what you think. But we're super excited to do a challenge together, raise some money for charity.
I think it will be amazing. So stay tuned on that. I read as a recommendation. OK, so remember we were obviously both obsessed with off campus.
And then I asked, I'm sorry for people who don't like it, but I asked chat GPT, why should I watch next if I loved off campus? And it told me Max and Hall and then I googled and lots of things. I'd like if you love off campus, watch Max and Hall, don't. It is so...
This is my answer to your recommendation. I actually think I should have looked this up because I'm pretty sure it's a German show that's been dubbed in English and I don't think I'm sorry to say, I don't think the dubbing is great. Dubbing is always, do you know, why is my husband up? I don't mind it with some shows that are really wonderful, but you can tell, when you can tell, it's hard to follow.
It's not excellent, I mean, but this is just my unqualified opinion. It's just so cheesy and so cliched. And the thing about off campus that was good is I think it was clever. It was clever, rom-com.
I think they bought in some interesting themes. It was mature, the topics they were discussing. It was very gorgeous. Anyway, with this, it's just like billionaire's son and then the girl done good, who got the scholarship and there's clearly some tension.
It really is and it's not good bad. It really is bad. So anyway, I'm sorry to have a good one there, but what is so good? Little House on the Prairie, have you been watching it?
Did you read the books? I have known about this for years and never actually watched it. Okay, so I was obsessed with the books growing up. I'm obsessed.
I think they were the first books that like really got me loving reading. I read every single one, like devoured them, but it's just come out on Netflix and it's so good. That's what I need to watch. I love all these types of adaptions of novels and stories and I just think, okay, if you recommend that, that's my next watch.
Yeah, it's so good, honestly. And it's just like so beautiful. Anyway, there are some kind of like moments who don't be ready for it, but yeah, I think it's, anyway, I haven't finished it, but I really recommend it. I'm really loving it.
And if anyone else read them growing up, it feels also just like really comforting in a style check. I love that. I love it. Okay.
Oh, I've got one recommendation as well on skin. So I have not given a skin update. Now, I don't know if I'm actually- Because you were really struggling, right? It was awful.
Obviously I hadn't shared with you what I was pregnant at the time. And I think my reaction on my chin at the time was linked to pregnancy hormones, the heat wave, excessive use of sun cream, product buildup. And I had what Dr. Fivi said was perioral dermatitis on my chin.
It was painful. I can describe it. It felt like what I thought was acne initially. And then so many of you have personally messaged me on social media saying, I have this too.
I've experienced this too. And actually mine's completely gone now after I'd say five weeks of using what is pregnancy safe, a zelik acid, which Fivi recommended. But honestly, a game changer. And it's really made me realize that you can do far too much to your skin.
All I needed was that one little cream morning and night to be consistent with it. It's quite demoralizing after a week where it's still there. It's raw. It's not even tingle.
You can't see it. I don't have any bumps. It's like smooth again. It's unbelievable how I went from that awful chin, which was bad, everybody.
To me, it was bad. Anyway, seek professional advice of your skin care and don't go to TikTok. Was my message to come back to you with that? Because when I looked it up on social media, wow, there were some interesting remedies, but potions that people were using for this specific type of condition, which is actually very common that people can get.
Okay, zelik acid. I love it. Okay. And then I asked a question to you tonight, the other day, because obviously I was starting my screen free summer.
So just a recap on that because Marie has brought me a voice note for my question because we've now had so many questions from you guys. I'm curious about the same thing. So basically I got two children. They are five, nearly six and seven now.
Oh my goodness, may we seven next Monday when this comes out or world for you as office comes out. And basically I just find screens really difficult. They watch things that I'm not necessarily among us. Obviously, you know, there's parental controls and things like that, but I just don't love like the kind of element of just the end of scroll of Netflix, the fact that you can drop and change every four minutes.
The idea that when they're bored, they can just put on TV. The fact that TV never, it just sort of stays and stays and so easy to kind of sleep, walk into boundary, the screen time, I think, was what I discovered. So I said, okay, we're not having screens this summer. The only time we use screens that we sit down together properly as a family and we watch something and so we watch proper movies.
There's so many good movies out there. All those Pixar type movies, which we're really enjoying. It's not like never, but it's very controlled and it's limited and it's so interesting. After basically a month now, it has had such a positive impact on creative play, on independence.
I think it was this thing where it was like sometimes, you know, when it's actually morning you're really exhausted and it's just easier to say yes to the screen. But actually it made it so much harder, whereas now, because I know it's not an option, they'll just play for hours, all these ideas and all I'd say is it took us about a week to get into it. And again, like I was a one of the girls, like quite a bit more introverted. So I say, should we go to that?
And they always say, oh, let's just stay at home. Mostly because I think she was like TV might be an option. Now that she knows it is not an option, she is so keen to go out, try new things, do new things. I mean, it has just been the best decision we've made in ages.
Anyway, I asked question three on the best way to approach this because so many of you have been curious to, so you have always known for us right, right? I do from Dr. Martha, who is the author of the smartphone solution. So who better to ask?
Here we go. Hi, I'm Dr. Martha. I am a clinical psychologist and mother of two.
And you may know me from Instagram on dr.marter.psychologist. I also have a self-stack where you can find me at Talking Sense. Here are my top tips when it comes to screen time and having your children at home over the summer break. Summer is nearly here and it's often a time when children feel a little bit restless.
Their familiar routine goes out the window, they get bored more often, and they will ask for screen time. Now, I don't want you to think that you can't give your child's screen time at all over the summer, but I do want you to think about screen time and screen content. We know that too much screen time can stop children from doing essential things that they need for their development. Your movement, play, interacting with others, socialising, going outside, all those things are really important.
So over summer, here are three tips to help you. Not necessarily ban screens completely, but really think about what they are bringing your child in that moment and what they might be disrupting. Tip one, make them a regular scheduled occurrence. Think very carefully about your child's age and what will benefit them when they are on a screen.
Is it watching a family film together? Is it playing a game together? Is it doing some drawing or some writing on a screen? Think about it, schedule it and make it part of summer entertainment, not the default.
Two, allow your child to get bored and when they do, don't just reach for a screen. Instead, have a couple of tools that allow you to direct their attention. A couple of things that are really simple. One, invite them to join you in whatever you're doing.
If you're cooking, get them involved. If you're doing some washing, get them involved. Children love to get involved in things that you do and they can do it with you until they get bored and find something else to do. You can also offer really simple things you've already got around your home.
Paper and pens can be your go-to. Add some stickers, tape and maybe some glue and your child will just create. You don't have to do very much. You just have to make these things available.
My third tip is make sure that you create screen free and curse around your day. This could look like meal times, the first few hours of your morning and bedrooms. Making certain parts of your day completely screen free will help your child find a better, healthier balance with screens. If you want more information, grab a copy of my book, The Smart Food Solution.
It will support you in your parenting around screens, give you scripts, tools and strategies that help and you can write your own family foam pledge. I promise you make to each other to use tech, healthfully, and that will include you and the kind of screen habits and phone habits that you have. Wishing you a happy summer. Right, first question today, Katie.
Okay, so I'm listening to, I've been listening to a podcast from the first episode. Love that. It's helped me gain more knowledge about what to eat and stay healthy in an environment that's vastly fixated and weight control and appearance. I love that.
Since I started to concentrate on eating a large variety of plants, I need more fiber to my diet. I recognize more calm and stability in my mood. Love it. Okay, when doing the shopping, I found a special water that was promoted as being especially beneficial due to the added soluble fiber, here's the website and all the health times below.
I wondered if this could be a good way to easily add more fiber on days, may struggle to reach the goal of 30 grams or should I stay away? Oh, here we go. I mean, we did say this would begin a few months ago, didn't we? We kind of thought that this would be the future.
But I think the reality is not all fibers the same. I think we start there, Ella, just by saying, you know, the most fiber enriched drinks that contain an isolated form of soluble fiber predominantly probably is like inulin or resistant to extra inulin. These fibers do contribute to your daily total, but there's no evidence that they actually support the gut bugs because of the form they're taking within. So I think we have to remember that food first, food first, food first, and people will market things to you.
And there's no harm. I'm not saying it's harmful at all. You'll just pay a different price tag to consume that drink I expect. But that's why, you know, I talk so much in my book, the fiber formula, it was such a passion project for me because, you know, getting that message out there that 30 grams a week, 30 grams a day of fiber, 30 plants a week is so important because we're just consuming too many UPS and these sorts of scientifically moderated and manipulated food groups.
We just need to get more variety and eat more. But it's great if you want to drink fiber fine, but it won't contribute to your gut blood diversity, which comes from eating whole food plants. It actually takes such a different view for once on you, which is like, I bet it's delicious for sure. If it's not, I don't know, I don't know which one actually because the website link didn't come through, but I'm just looking at it.
What was it? Well, I don't know because the website link didn't come through on your email, but I'm just looking at some other ones, for example, and this one claims to have 20% of your daily fiber. I think that's coming from May's next trend and then it has citric acid, natural flavorings, two different types of preservatives and sucralones as a sweetener. And it's like, oh, no, I bet it's not that delicious.
So if you're drinking a drink like this because you absolutely love it and it's one of those more like a treaty things like gray, but if you're drinking it for the fiber, like it's not very good for you. It's not got that diversity of fiber. And so it'd be better just to like have a little bit less fiber that day, but more tomorrow it will have an apple. Then have another dose of artificial sweeteners and extras in your drink.
When you're thinking you're doing it for health, but actually like the gut health claims really aren't quite all there. So that's kind of, I don't know, I just hate that kind of marketing. I just think it's so misleading. It's very misleading.
And the next question we've got leads on to more confusion. It's an enormous question, but a big fan of the podcast. Thank you. Can we digest and get the maximum nutrients out of small seeds such as cheryl flax?
If we eat them whole, or do they need to be ground up? I was told years ago, they pass right through the gut, undigested, unless ground. What's the answer now, Ray? You still get the benefits.
So let's just talk about, I understand because when you eat seeds, you can see them in your paper. Yeah. So I completely understand. That's like the sweet corn test, right?
Like if you eat baby corn, how quickly can you contain the toilet? How quickly are digestive systems? You know, I get it everybody. But let's start with chirseeds so that outer layer is much softer than flax seed.
And when they come into contact with liquid, they absorb many times their weight in water. And that's what creates that gel and alligator great shout out on Monday of the raspberries, chirseeds and frieze and chocolate or chisades are so versatile, even eaten whole. And you can still benefit from the fiber because your gut bugs still recognize these when they pass through the gut. They still react to them.
They're not doing nothing. They're not just floating through your digestive tract untouched. But flax seed is different because it does have a tougher outer shell. And that's why actually a lot of them will pass through largely intact.
But some of the nutrients inside, including those healthy omega threes that you can get within flax seed, the plant versions, the ALA, they're not all fully released, but small bits well. So that's why I always suggest ground flax seeds because they store well in the fridge tight. They're really great. They can really interact with your gut bugs and don't underestimate fluids if you have a chirseeds or flax seeds whole or ground.
More water, please. Probably more water for all of us myself. Very much included anyway. Okay, that's so helpful.
Right. Our third question today comes from Steph who's based in the Hague in the Netherlands. So hi Steph. She has said I've got a question about the frieze dried fruits.
They've recently started down in my local supermarket. The only ingredients is fruit. But of course it's undercon processing. Can you tell me more about it?
Are these healthy or not is it better to not eat them to limit them? I would love to hear more. Well, I wonder if we'll have different opinions on this or not, but I actually love the idea. I love them.
They're so delicious. I thought you would because I remember saying that you used, I can't believe it was. You had something on your product once. It tasted really, really delicious.
But frieze drying is just a different type of preservation method. The fruit's frozen. It's placed under low pressure. And then the frozen water turns into vapour.
So it bypasses the liquid stage and it removes almost all the water from the fruit while keeping the fruit intact. So it pretty much is 100% fruit. I actually give my kids those packs of crests and I'm full disclosure I used to work for this company when I started out 12 years ago. I used to work for a frieze dry broccoli company.
Yeah. I love that they eat frieze dry broccoli. Yeah, I've got broccoli crisps. I'm not going to say kale crisps, isn't it?
I just think kale crisps. They're so good. I love kale crisps. They're very 2015 wellness.
They are very 2015 wellness and very expensive Ella. Very expensive. Ridiculously expensive. It's the one thing when I purchase it on my weekly show.
You're always covered in cashew cheese. No, this is just plain. Plain? Plain?
Plain kale chips. Broccoli. Exactly like broccoli. I'm giving tree snacks.
Have a look. See what you think. My kids are expensive and I wish that they could be more affordable. But my kids absolutely love them.
The crunch. Okay, I'm going to try these. I also love the look of them. They do free versions of things too.
Honestly, fresh fruit is still the gods standard, everybody. Please remember that nothing can compare to those natural bugs that live within your fruit, the fiber, the vitamins and minerals, the antioxidants. But you're still getting vitamin C when you have a free-stride portion of fruit and the veg is also a bonus. The counts towards one of your five a day freeze dried still.
I just added them to my basket, the giving tree broccoli crisps. I'm going to try that. This is one bag. Oh, I'm getting a pack of six.
I have five for 13 pounds. Yeah, that's very expensive. Yeah, that's very expensive. But I think that's because they're not mass-produced.
They're made in the very tiny. Yeah. Anyway, I'm excited to try that. Yeah, they go.
I love stuff like this. Yeah, you like that. Yeah, Chris also is super expensive. Actually, but what about, because part of the reason I try and often give the kids the free-stride mango or banana chips and things like that, is because obviously the dentist is always saying the dried ones.
I don't know about how adults eat them because adults generally don't necessarily like coopias never end in quantities of dried fruit. But I think lots of healthier children's products really get stuck in your teeth. But what do you think about dried fruit as much? But you know, I notice in clinic a lot of contribution to IBS-related symptoms with excessive consumption of dried fruit.
It's so easy to eat so much because it gets too little when you... I know. What apricots? You could have six of them, and that's a portion, right?
I know, always. I would never have less than that. But I will always dip them in butter when I eat them. Oh my God, apricots in the middle of the oat.
So good. Yeah, we're on the same for right now. But... That's probably really over in these gazZs with the other guys.
They really get to know me. Well, we're cliche wellness today, everybody. But yeah, dried fruit does contribute one portion, but it doesn't matter how many different varieties of dried fruit you have that day. I would say they still have high content of sugar that hits your blood stream at different rate, but beneficial nutrient-wise, like dried figs, great sausages, and dried apricots, great sausages of iron.
I've personally been adding dried apricots to my diet because I'm on iron tablets for low iron and pregnancy. So I think it's really important that we don't ever demonise anything, and everything has a place, but my goodness, does it stick to teeth and you're constantly trying to pick out the taste of the tea? I like the pectried mango. Oh, it's my ultimate obsession.
Yeah, that's one of my favourite. I know. I know. Okay, so before Ella and I literally salivate a more dried fruit, we have a question from Sunal.
She said, my question is on frozen vegetables, is it healthier to buy frozen veg versus fresh? I know spinach peas, for example, retain more nutrients frozen, but what about other veg, like butternut squash or cauliflower? Also my husband really dislikes the taste of frozen vegetables. It'd be interesting to know what your thoughts are on this.
Okay, Rhee, I know you've done some campaign work, having you on frozen versus fresh, so I will let you take over that part. Yes, it's a big myth that fresh means more nutritious, as you've quite rightly said, frozen veg, and that's all vegetables, not just peas or not just berries for fruit. You contain more nutrition when they're picked at their peak ripeness and then frozen. But it does depend when they're picked and what the company itself are probably doing there.
There could be as well sometimes a brief heat treatment to preserve colour, flavour and texture, but it's so minimal and then the rapid freezing does lock in as many vitamins and minerals as possible. Now, fresh veg, on the other hand, is different, so obviously oxidised over time, certain nutrients out of vitamin C and B, water, soluble once essentially, you'd gradually decline. But as far as when it comes to taste and texture, I think that's the big question here as well. I think that's because when they freeze, they form those tiny ice crystals inside the plant cells, and when you heat them, they release and you get that excess water.
Sometimes that's why vegetables like peas and spinach freeze really well. You can buy spinach in little square blocks, whereas something like cauliflower and broccoli can be quite soggy almost in texture, which is why they lend themselves better to maybe curry some things that you can put in rather than a crunchy stir fry, would you say? Yeah, I mean, I love having some, I mean, I have so much for eating fruit always in my house, all types of berries, mango, I've always sliced up bananas when they're going over ripen of reason. I find it so helpful, we make comparts and smoothies and things like that.
I actually, we have smoothies a few times a week just because I find it's such a great way to get kafir mostly, so like a fermented food into our collective diets, but also like sugar, hemp, et cetera. So I love that. I find that super helpful. I actually only buy frozen edamame, love frozen edamame, we cook as loads, obviously great protein and just super easy to use peas in corn.
I don't really like it from completely honest. I know there's health benefits, oh, frozen spinach is great as well. I don't really love frozen other veg. The reality is the broccoli and cauliflower that I've used for us.
This straight into the oven, high temperature, it should be better, but it's not easy to cook with and I like to then put it in the oven with olive oil and with flavor and maybe marinade or delicious, like harissa. So I saw this broccoli last night and if you do that, I'm frozen, you're adding a bit too much liquid. So I just don't find it very easy to cook with. And I don't find it helpful enough.
So I understand why you don't like the taste. I don't think it for me. I don't buy it. I don't like it.
Yeah, I think if you have tips as to why I'm wrong, I would love to hear them. No, I agree. I think I taste wise that's one subject, but if this is about getting more nutrition into your diets, just stick with, like I said, curries or stews or pasta bakes, things that it's immediately saturated with other flavors and texture. But if you're looking at it being like a star dish and something, you really enjoy the side of your plate, sadly, the frozen broccoli and cauliflower doesn't cut it in the same way as the peas and things.
So there's always a catch to something, but they're still very nutritious. Okay. And we have a final question today from Jasmine, who is based in North Yorkshire, who has done some very lovely message about how much he loves tuning in each Monday and Thursday. So thank you, Jasmine.
And her question is, what are your favorite U.P.F. replacement recipes? Obviously, we have such emotional nostalgic ties to some food and often those foods are U.P.F.s. I went to have that same enjoyment, but without investing in and funding the companies that are making U.P.F.s and without having the negative effects on my body, for example, me and my kids love Serene Banana Life.
We have it so much at the time. I thought it was actually a nice healthy snack, but I was listening to your show, sorry. I decided to check out the ingredients. I was absolutely shocked to see all the crazy stuff that goes into something that's marketed itself as healthy.
I tried making banana bread, but I really just want that squidgy texture if you get me. I get you. Do you have any tips on how to achieve that? Oh, yeah, Jasmine, 100%.
You're in the right place, firstly, thank you for your lovely feedback, because Ella and I just, you know, we're honestly transparent and I hope that definitely does come across. Well, where do you say squidgy texture? I think that's why I'll let Ella come in, because she has a real understanding of how the food industry mimics with additives, different textures and tastes first before I go later on to the... Yeah, I mean, look, it's really tricky.
Where I personally say, and there'll be lots of people who just read me, read my disc read with me, I think for the most part, and I actually think it's the same often with gluten free, although that's completely different, I often think you cannot replicate stuff. And so if you try and replicate it, it would be disappointed. And so to me, it's more about getting the balance right, there is, as we always say, I think an awareness of what you're generally eating is important. You can't be perfect, but we also know I've got microbiome and what we, as kind of on the whole, does matter.
And so it's not about being obsessed with it. I do think the word balance is often overused, because to me, balance is having your diet rooted in a healthy diet, and which we add treats onto that. I don't know, we went for a day out yesterday's family and the kids wanted ice cream from the petrol station, so they had their calypso and celeras. I'm like, that's great.
For dinner, they had black beans, sweet corn and rice, and all the rest of it. That, to me, is balanced. And so I think that's really important, but equally, I think we often use balance in the wrong way. We're actually like 60% of our life is the less healthy part.
And I think it's not the right way around anyway. I know that's not what you're saying, but I think there's nothing wrong with having these foods on occasion. And I don't think you can replicate them. If we take, for example, the banana loaf, I'm not trying to demonise it, just everyone's aware, we're looking at, we've got wheat flour, and then we have water, sugar, banana puree, sweet banana, flavor, pieces, fructose, luke, syrup, blue cicera, concentrated per puree, concentrated banana puree, humecatant, and I've never heard of that right, glycerol sugar, wheat fiber, sunflower oil, geling, agent, pectin, malic acid, natural flavoring, maize, starch, vegetable fats, which are rapeseed and palm dextrose salt, preservative, calcium, proponate, yeast, flavorings, and colour, which is lutein.
And breathe. You can't make that at home, and you'll never ever be able to replicate the same texture. And so you can absolutely make a delicious, sweet chocolate chip, whatever banana bread, but you will never get that same squidgy texture that you're talking about, because you need gelling agents and things like that to be able to create it. And that's why reference gluten free, it's like, I don't think you can ever replicate a great sourdough, for example, what you can make is a delicious, seeded bread, for example.
But it's completely different. And so that's what I'm a fan of is actually celebrating for something for what it is, as opposed to trying to replicate it and being disappointed. And I think you just want to ground your diet in nutritious things. And then the things you love that feel nostalgic or that service station twirl or, you know, Calipo, your serene banana bread, like then add it in.
And that's great. That's not going to do you harm. I agree. It's chicken and egg here, because what came first for you was actually the serene loaf.
And then you discovered, obviously what Ella just listed off and thought, oh, I want to replicate that, but do it myself. Whereas, well, I call it just said, you don't really want to replicate that same texture or taste. But we have in clinic what we call transitional foods. So to help you on a journey to transition into a new lifestyle change, for some people, you need to take a half step there to get to the end result for others, the approach to just completely flip it like Ella's just said and reframe it can be really beneficial.
So I think when we look at these conversations surrounding ultra process foods, it can be really hard just being compassionate here to unpick the years of taste buds saturation, texture, the way we're used to seeing food, what we've been served up our whole lives to suddenly being like, Oh my goodness. Like, I don't think you can breathe taking that. How long are lists of ingredients we had? We had within that particular loaf.
It's really difficult, everybody. And ultimately, it doesn't have to be like Alice said, home cooking. And I wrote a book, The Unprocessed Plate on this, all of Ella's books will have homemade cooking options within them. We both love to celebrate trying to get in the kitchen more.
But I do have some ideas of, you know, if you love a hob and ob this is how you can make an alternative at home and don't expect it to taste the same like Alice said, but it's a transition. You're making something similar and then you can step towards making the things that you love your own way at home. I think you've already completed a massive adoption in your family's environment by acknowledging that perhaps that U.P.F. food was less 80, 20 and more maybe 50, 50 in your diet home.
And now you want it to become that 20% and the rest 80%. That's a step in a wonderful direction. I think that's amazing. And as we always talk about, like, you don't have to be perfect.
You don't have to be too much pressure on ourselves. You're just like doing your best and then, you know, having that balance where you're nourishing yourself and you're enjoying your life. And I think that's the key thing. Yeah, absolutely.
That concludes our questions today. Please, please keep all your recommendations and questions coming because we are going to be deciding our wellness keep challenge and we'll get back to you on that next week, which is, I can't believe we're at this point, Ella. What's happening next next? Yeah.
We will see you on Monday. Can't wait to talk. We've got some crazy headlines in UK. It's raising one of the unhealthiest generations in decades.
We've got some stuff being for blokes, broccoli for women's and hilarious headlines. Yeah, lots and lots of stuff. Some hormone testing bits and pieces. Loads to talk about.
So we'll see you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend. Bye.