Why You Should Eat Chocolate... 

Chocolate is a health food.

Yes, you read that correctly – don’t adjust your screen. 

In fact the total polyphenol content of cocoa powder is far greater than some super foods like blueberries or pomegranate! 

The polyphenols in cocoa like flavonols not only act as antioxidants to reduce inflammation in the body but it acts as fertiliser for your good gut bacteria and may limit the growth of pathogenic ones. 

Beyond polyphwnols, chocolate has my favourite macronutrient.. fibre... and a pretty decent whack of it too; 7-12g of fibre per 100g in dark chocolate. 

So a small serving of dark chocolate can have more fibre than a slice of bread! 

Polyphenols and prebiotics fibre – who said chocolate isnt a health food?! 

If you want to get the best health effects from your chooclate look at dark chocolates >70% cocoa. 

adds to basket 

If you want a free PDF of my food science hacks, here you go:

3 Life Rules You Need To Forget 

1. You are too young/old to do X 

You don’t need permission from anyone or an arbitrary rule to do anything. 

Even the most successful people are making things up as they go along. In my medical school year group there was a guy studying to become a doctor at the age of 43. He had a wife, 4 kids and a business which he put on hold to study. At the age of 49, he graduated and became a doctor. 

I spoke to him just before the pandemic in 2019 and at the age of 54, he was still a doctor (he was now an emergency medicine physician) and was loving life despite already making plans to retire... 

Remember the only thing that is keeping you from having what you actually want in life, is your own internal narrative. 

2. You have to be good at everything 

The most successful people double down on their key strengths and find people to help them cover their weaknesses. Perfection is an illusion and chasing the dream of flawlessness is a fool’s errand. Time is better spent acknowledging your imperfections and honing your existing strengths 

3. If you fail, you will be judged 

The spotlight effect is a cognitive bias which suggests we overestimate the amount of attention other people pay us.

Harsh truth; people don’t care about your successes or failures as much as you think they do. 

Harsh truth 2: you will begin to move with far more freedom once you come to the realisation that nobody is thinking about you. 

Why You Shouldn’t Eat Right Before Bed... 

You have biological clocks all over the body in every cell of every organ which help your body tell the time. All the clocks take cues from the master clock in the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus... but small tweaks from external factors can disrupt your body’s perception of time.... 

1. With the above in mind, as the day progresses your digestive function actually slows down.

   Your bile acid production, digestive hormones release and gut motility all slowly power down in the evening, compared to its peak in the middle of the afternoon.

   Eating late at night increases the chances of bloating and acid reflux due to a decrease in digestive power 

2. Your stomach takes around 90 minutes to empty 50% of its contents into the small intestine

   So the shorter the gap between a meal and lying flat in bed (<90mins) .. the higher the chance a majority of the food being in your stomach

   And thus, a higher chance of acid reflux which can fracture your sleeping pattern. 

3. One of the things the body likes to do to help it sleep is reduce its core body temperature.

   Eating food is antagonistic to that as your body needs to burn calories and the thermic effect of food means your body temperature will rise slightly during digestion.

   This can lengthen the time it takes to fall asleep and for your core body temperature to come down.... the thermic effect of high protein and fibre meals will be highest.

4. Eating food late at night can also increase your cortisol levels – this is a stress hormone which can disrupt your sleep quality and keep you alert longer 

P.S if you want to learn more about sleep and simple evidence based hacks to improve your sleep quality, order my book “This Book May Save Your Life”:

P.P.S if you’ve already read it, drop a review on amazon (every little one helps!) 

Does Ashwagandha Help To Lower Anxiety & Stress? 

When I spent summers in India as a kid I remember seeing the Ashwagandha herb in Ayurvedic and herbal shops but never did I think it would become repurposed, repackaged and exported to the world from India as the next supplement craze... 

Whilst it has been used in Ayurvedic medicine in India for thousands of years (using the actual herb, not powders)... this doesn’t mean you should or could take it as the studies examining its role for the multitude of benefits it claims are often low quality. 

Regarding its role for relieving stress a large review of 12 studies including 1002 participants in total did in fact suggest this supplement lowered stress and anxiety but even the researchers acknowledge the quality and certainty of evidence was extremely low.   

Could Ashwagandha have some benefits? Maybe. Possibly. 

But it’s not been studied effectively to the point where you can justify the use of this over other low or zero cost options for stress or anxiety... or looking past factors in our lives which we could optimise more (sleep, diet, movement, sunlight, avoiding nutrient deficiencies etc) 

It’s also worth noting that as a herbal supplement it can still interact with medications and have its own side effects.

Not to mention that supplements as a class are not tightly regulated and that what you are promised on the packaging of the supplement may not align with what you end up consuming. 

Why A Pet Could Help Your Brain... 

I can’t tell you if my brain has improved or its ageing process has slowed down since I got my dog Shadow in 2021 (yes he was a lockdown puppy but now my beast for life!)... but my mood certainly has improved globally... and perhaps in part my cognitive abilities as a result.  

As we age, the inevitable march of time means your cognitive abilities – including  memory, language and attention – all deteriorate... 

But fear not because there are things we can do it slow it down... in fact one of them might just be keeping a pet... 

One large US based population study in 2022 looked at the cognitive abilities of 1,369 across 6 years. Around 50% of participants had pets and found that their cognitive abilities in key areas were preserved for a greater degree of time than non pet owners.  

In fact another data set from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) found that pet ownership slowed cognitive decline more than not owning a pet, especially benefitting those who lived alone!

We know that isolation and loneliness is another factor that raises the risk of dementia so those little furry critters might hold more value than we realise... 

Now... I wonder if I can claim my 75kg dog’s food bills on health insurance...   

Essential Rules For Improving Skin Health 

1. Less is more: You probably don’t need a fancy, elaborate skincare routine and in fact sometimes too many abrasive, harsh chemicals on the skin can be counter intuitive and affect the skin barrier. Most people don’t need more than a cleanser, moisturisers and sunscreen. If you have a specific dermatological condition, see a specialist before creating an elaborate routine! 

2. There is good, strong data showing that vitamin A based products like retinoids can help aesthetically improve the skin – by boosting collagen production and even managing blemishes. 

3. There is no such things as “men’s” or “women’s” skincare products. It’s all branding and marketing. 

4. You do not need a separate skincare regimen for day and then night.. again branding and marketing to make you buy more than you need. The only exception is if you are using a retinol based cream which is likely better to use at night as retinoids can make the skin more photosensitive 

5. Your low hanging fruit for skincare is... fruit (and vegetables). Foods rich in vitamin C and E (Kiwi in fact has a good hit of both) are powerful antioxidants that can help protect the skin.