From frozen vegetables to heat-and-serve burritos, processed foods are all around us and make up a large portion of most people’s diet. Ultra-processed foods, such soda pop, frozen meals and soup, have been associated with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and early death, but can all these foods be grouped together, and can processed foods be part of a healthy diet? In this episode, we discuss what makes a food a processed food, how processed foods affect your health and whether you should be concerned if they’re in your diet.

Some references cited in the podcast:

Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses: https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310

NOVA classification of foods: https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova

Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413119302487

Strong body, strong mind, is a common saying, but the reverse can be true too. How you think can affect your physical health because each and every thought you have is the result of a chemical reaction. In this episode, we discuss how certain thoughts affect performance and health, what happens in your body to make this happen and how to shift to a more positive way of thinking.

Some references cited in the podcast:

Association of Optimism with Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2752100

Become More Optimistic by Imagining a Best Possible Self

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005791611000358?via%3Dihub

Interactions of momentary thought content and subjective stress predict cortisol fluctuations in a daily life experience sampling study

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33708-0

More than 40% of adults consume artificial sweeteners, with most of this coming from diet pops. But they're also found in yoghurts, chewing gum and cereals, among other foods. Commonly used by people wanting to avoid calories, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended against their use. In this episode, we discuss what artificial sweeteners are, what the WHO is concerned about, and whether you're putting your health at risk by consuming them.

Some references cited in the podcast:

https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2023-who-advises-not-to-use-non-sugar-sweeteners-for-weight-control-in-newly-released-guideline

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02223-9

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522031860