Burnout, Partner Diet Drama & The Smoothie Myth

50.588 - 76.444 Ella Mills

we're everything burnout to smoothie myths i feel like this is an eclectic episode and i can't wait it really is eclectic ala do you have any recommendations for us to kick start do you know what i told you on monday i've had a funky week or two um and so i've been you know i'm always conscious we also talked about stress eating in last monday's episode i am a classic stress eater but i was just like you know i'm just gonna do lovely gentle nice things while i feel funky and

76.424 - 97.653 Ella Mills

And do you know what I re-watched on the weekend with my sister and her boyfriend? The movie, The Intern. Have you seen it? Oh, no. What's that? Who's in that? Oh, my God. Oh, do I need to? Is it like a 90s one? No, it's more recent than that. It's Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. And Anne Hathaway is like the kind of... I feel like it's based on Natalie Massey, who stars in Net-A-Porter.

97.993 - 109.502 Ella Mills

She's like kind of that kind of character, but in Brooklyn. And she's like this busy, stressed, hype-powered woman. And Robert De Niro is a lonely man who answers a job ad to be like a

183.674 - 187.38 Ella Mills

And he's also in Your Friends and Neighbors, which I really like. It's an excellent show.

187.36 - 207.428 Rhiannon Lambert

And do you know what I have been doing? After you asked me on Monday, what am I doing to look after myself? Well, I've been doing warm summer salads. I am addicted. It's just the quickest thing, isn't it? You quickly chop up an onion or leek or shallots or whatever you've got in the pan. I mix it with chickpeas or butter beans, fry off some cherry tomatoes or figs and

207.408 - 223.094 Rhiannon Lambert

add some fruit, add anything that I want. And I kind of chuck it all in, pinch of salt, olive oil, layer it up with my chopped cucumber and some blue cheese or something that will melt into it in a bowl. And that is something that I've just been surviving on all week and then mixing it up with whatever I happen to have in the fridge.

223.555 - 243.196 Rhiannon Lambert

Because my food shop is, oh my goodness, the cost of my food shop, Ella, I cannot get over how the cost of food has increased so much. I've noticed a difference even in the last few weeks. So I'm trying to be very mindful about food waste and what we have in the house. And I think that's just a really good tip for anyone. If you have something warm in your salad, it's far more enjoyable.

243.858 - 250.069 Rhiannon Lambert

My husband hates cold food. It's a weird thing. Yeah, mine's always keen on super hot.

322.985 - 347.647 Ella Mills

Yeah, everyone's got something else that they're going to really enjoy. And I think sometimes it all feels a bit puritanical as to kind of what you do. But gardening or walking can be the same thing. I'm so into my gardening, right? We're like obsessed in our house. And I've planted all these dahlia bulbs. And I just morning and night go and check on them and look and see if someone's sprouting.

347.827 - 348.108 Ella Mills

Well done.

348.128 - 352.992 Rhiannon Lambert

Did you water them in the heat wave? Because I forgot, actually, I needed to add a bit of extra water to mine.

352.972 - 378.507 Ella Mills

oh really like i'm so obsessed i couldn't forget i go and see them like on an hourly basis i this morning before we recorded you were like are you coming and i was like yeah i'm actually a minute late because i took them all out the greenhouse because i thought they'd like to sit in the sun this morning that's so lovely do you know what the how nice that that's preoccupying your brain instead of doom scrolling oh my gosh it's so nice it's so wholesome and cute and fun and i'm loving it and i met the people who lived here before us and

378.487 - 399.389 Ella Mills

He was the most amazing gardener and like so passionate about it. And he planted loads of asparagus. Now asparagus takes several years to come through. I've now learned. And so, but we have had this like abundance of asparagus. And I always feel like asparagus is like the most premium vegetable. Like it's so fancy. And we have like more asparagus than I even know what to do with.

481.205 - 498.876 Ella Mills

Yeah, I do them often before school and then they can eat them in the car as well, which is good. And they only take five minutes. But then I feel like I send them to school with a nice balance of stuff. And sometimes I put blueberries in them when I cook them as well. Dark chocolate chunks are also very good for the older kiddies. Now I want these.

498.856 - 520.78 Ella Mills

Okay, we have another message today from Kate, who said, I'm a primary school head teacher. And she wanted to write in about these conversations we've been having about school meals. So it's amazing to hear from you, Kate. Thank you. She said, I would love to be able to better meet the food standards and have been trying for four years to adopt a more plant focused menu in our school.

521.281 - 526.146 Ella Mills

However, we are part of the local authority and they can't, won't or don't have the money to support this.

526.126 - 554.648 Ella Mills

so it's not just down to individual schools it's really frustrating for us too thank you so much Kate and that's I think that's I hope what we're just trying to say this week as well on Monday when we're saying it is this challenge that like if we don't help the implementation of all of this it's just never going to be possible it's lovely to have guidelines but reality is often removed from that and that's exactly what you're saying yeah thank you so much for sharing that it's definitely that's what we were I think on Monday we're just trying to say the government have such a huge responsibility here to help

554.628 - 575.27 Rhiannon Lambert

change not just dictate guidelines and that's exactly it and i also loved your other tip here which is that i think we remember discussing plants like how weeds and all sorts of things but don't pull up dandelions and you know i actually stopped my husband doing that this week Because they're the first food for bees, which is what I learned down at my visit to Woolly Grange in Wiltshire.

852.843 - 873.321 Ella Mills

You know, like I remember when my mum met her partner, like he didn't eat anything like this and she would always make, you know, meat and fish and things like that for him. And then after a while he was like, wait, I love your food. This is actually so delicious because she changed her diet and ate sodas even like I did. And now, gosh, so many years on, like... he makes his own sauerkraut.

873.361 - 887.642 Ella Mills

I mean, it's like a crazy transformation. And not like, it's not, again, we always say like, you don't have to be fully anything, but just the acceptance of this. So it'd be so curious, like when you cook things like your lentil bolognese, does he enjoy them?

887.942 - 908.353 Rhiannon Lambert

But also I understand how frustrating it is as a woman in today's society when you're You feel it's on you, this task to look after him and ensure that his diet is healthier and take responsibility and ownership of that. That's also a different separate conversation that you obviously perhaps should have with him.

908.373 - 926.317 Rhiannon Lambert

I know times are very different now because I maybe would have approached it differently 15 years later than I did back then with my partner. But what I will say is like I've done in fiber formula, it's classic meals that he enjoys regularly. and just bulking it up a little bit is a really good step in the right direction. And then telling him, did you know this was in it?

926.337 - 950.08 Rhiannon Lambert

It's almost like, but how patronizing is that? That, you know, we frame the conversation that you are A, having to do that. So maybe I would say one approach is that, you know, obviously you can't force them to change their diet if you don't want to, but you can try and help educate them and give them different resources to learn about why low fiber intake could be dangerous for them

1031.752 - 1047.904 Rhiannon Lambert

The best resource for a man in this situation, in my opinion, is someone they aspire to or an inspiration that you need to find. And then through that, because it'll very well be saying, buy this textbook or... go to the NHS website here, but that sort of stuff may not cut through and he may not be inspired by that.

1103.116 - 1118.714 Rhiannon Lambert

You starve your microbiome. You're not feeding your gut bacteria that live within our gut. You are then taking away the whole foods in the food matrix form that our bodies are designed to pull nutrients from. We're then increasing our ultra-processed food intake.

1118.734 - 1140.919 Rhiannon Lambert

We're following advice perhaps from gym bro fitness influencers online that are selling these powders and promising you that these are the outcomes from it. But the real crux of the issue is over a long period of time eating in this way massively can cause micronutrient deficiencies you don't see and equate to poor gut health, which equates to poor mental health, poor immune system.

1141.591 - 1166.451 Rhiannon Lambert

lack of quality muscle over time actually if you're also not consuming adequate fiber and protein too there's loads of things to think about here with our gut lining and all the signaling that happens between our brain so without being too doom and gloom uh replacing whole foods is never a good idea so if i um make a meal let's say i go and cook some brown rice and i'm gonna do some miso tofu and i'm gonna roast some broccoli and there's gonna be some chickpeas in my room

1166.836 - 1183.08 Ella Mills

Or I could go and buy, say, a Huel, and it says, oh, it's going to give me enough protein or fiber or X percentage of all these different micronutrients. My body wouldn't see it as the same. Even on a piece of paper, let's say it's the same.

1183.42 - 1203.357 Rhiannon Lambert

Yeah, no, absolutely not, especially not in one sitting. You can't replace liquid drinks that are fortified and expect it to behave in the same way in our body as actually chewing and digesting and eating food from the form and the meal that it's come in in abundance. Those drinks have a place for those people that have chronic conditions, that are working and unable to grab anything else.

1289.248 - 1296.557 Ella Mills

Lucky your daughter having you as a mum and really considering this. Rhi, are there any obvious things to think about here?

1296.537 - 1318.11 Rhiannon Lambert

Not really on a pescatarian diet. I have to say, if you eat meat or fish, you're pretty much getting nearly everything within the diet that you need alongside all the other healthy things. But I think for an eight-year-old that's going to be going into teen years... You just need to be aware of iron because and that's regardless of if you eat meat or if you don't eat meat.

1318.531 - 1337.04 Rhiannon Lambert

In fact, you can be a meat eater and be very predisposed to iron deficiency, especially girls as we menstruate. And we can go through periods of time where we are lower in iron. So focus on more pairing of the plants alongside vitamin C whenever you're having nuts and pulses and beans and things.

1337.543 - 1358.387 Rhiannon Lambert

I mean, having tea and coffee at meals isn't something your eight-year-old needs to worry about with iron. She's 13 now. She started a pescetarian diet at eight. Yes, actually, in that case, I don't know if she'd still have tea or coffee at 13, but you never know. Don't have it alongside your breakfast in the morning or your main meals to inhibit with the tannins, the absorption of iron.

1358.367 - 1374.145 Rhiannon Lambert

So definitely around menstruation, be aware of that. Omega-3 fatty acids, of course, as well. This is a very difficult conversation because of the sustainability with fish in the ocean. But the NHS recommends one to two portions of fish a week, one of which is oily.