Professor Tim Spector

And now, you know, the last 20% of our life, which is a lot, right, is spent sick, unable to enjoy it.

And actually our health spans, it sounds, if I said rightly, in both the US and the UK are actually shrinking.

I think you said this thing like food is the number one killer globally, which given that we have to eat it in order to live, there's something deeply wrong about that.

It's actually technically not food.

And you mentioned that because you said, what's food?

Like food is something that supports growth and nourishment of an organism.

And so if this is stuff that like actually just hurts us, it doesn't really deserve to be called food.

I love that.

you also said something which i loved about you know if you eat a bowl of rice or a bowl of sugar like below the neck you can't tell the difference because you both explain just how rapidly this stuff has been turned into sugar and therefore you know it's fine there's a little bit of your diet but if you're eating that all the time and i used to think for many many years that white rice was really healthy and i've made this great choice that there are some countries that are fighting back which i think is really interesting we're all living in this english language environment

I'm struck that you talked about between you both like Scandinavia and Chile really having an impact, whereas I think we're living in this English language bubble and we feel that it's impossible to make any change.

Then to finish, you talked about what to eat and I think it was really interesting that you not only agreed

I think a lot on the problem, but actually there's a lot of alignment on the solution.

So start by eating real food.

So you really want to cut out this ultra-process, this high-risk processed food that is harming you.

Cutting down the starch and sugars, and I know that includes like these sort of sugary drinks that you talked about, so many people buying on low incomes.

And then like positively, you know, I think we heard Tim, 30 plants, eat the rainbow, eat fermented food, eat like these real foods that are out there and allow us therefore hopefully to restore.

And I think maybe that, you know, finish back to where you're beginning, this idea we're not stuck with our genes.

It's possible.

And if I'm listening to this and I'm 65 years old and I've been eating this diet since I was one, Mark, is it too late to make any change?

I'll end this episode with something I think you'll like, a free Zoe gut health guide.