Believe it or not, if you’ve been feeling like you just can’t bring yourself to focus, are constantly battling procrastination, or even struggling with low mood, it’s probably because you’re not looking after your gut. In this episode I sit down for a conversation with Sophie Medlin, one of the UK’s leading experts on gut health. Sophie is a dietitian, chair of the British Dietetic Association and a lecturer at King’s College London. In the conversation we discuss how the connection between gut health and mental health has become an emerging area of research, how to feed your body with the right foods to optimise your cognitive performance and we also discuss weird and wonderful nutrition myths that have been circulating on social media over the past few years. Enjoy!

00:00 Intro
01:46 How you became a dietician and gut expert
06:36 What is a dietician?
09:19 The importance of gut health
13:11 Transformative experiences in clinic
15:12 Signs and symptoms of when to see a doctor
18:38 The brain-gut connection
23:54 Research on microbiome and mental performance
26:26 You should eat 30 different plants per week
30:19 Terrible advice from personal trainers
32:39 Intermitent fasting
35:49 The problem with too much meat in your diet
38:05 The importance of fish for brain health
39:42 How do supplements work?
41:30 Processed food, stress management and hydration
48:09 Does organic matter?
49:14 Artificial sweeteners
51:39 Nutrition and dieting myths
01:04:39 How has diet culture evolved?
01:14:43 TOFI vs TOFI people
01:19:33 Snacking
01:21:57 Research on probiotics and mental health
01:24:41 IBS
01:26:15 What can we learn about the gut through testing?
01:32:36 What’s the deal with protein shakes?
01:35:01 The danger of juice cleanses
01:36:44 GutTok and colonic cleanses
01:38:30 Gluten free diets
01:41:31 The impacts of cutting out dairy
01:45:56 Why are people saying seed oils are evil?
01:48:16 Calories
01:52:12 Is mindful eating helpful?
01:52:56 Bloating
01:54:50 Glucouse monitoring
01:58:45 Food and mood recommendations
02:02:58 Developing the smart supplement for Heights
02:19:30 Your TV show: Know Your Sh!t