Show Notes
Supermarket shelves are full of foods promising to be healthy: high-protein, low-fat, gluten-free, sugar-free. How do you know what's true?
Today, Professors Tim Spector and Sarah Berry, world-leading experts in nutrition and diet, share the six rules they use for their own weekly grocery shopping. They cover which food labels are worth trusting and which are just marketing scams, how to make snacking a part of a healthy diet, and why your daily staples, like bread, matter more than the occasional treat.
By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what to reach for on your next shop, and what to leave on the shelf.
How many "healthy" scams are sitting in your basket?
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Timecodes
Intro
Why supermarkets stock 30,000 products (and why that's bad for you)
Is low-fat food actually healthy? A nutrition scientist explains
Why 'sugar-free' labels should make you suspicious
Why this professor avoids gluten-free food (unless you need it)
The protein label that tricks 70% of shoppers into buying junk food
How a cheap dairy waste product got rebranded as a health food
How many ingredients are really in a bag of Pringles?
The 30-second trick to spot ultra-processed food at the shop
How to tell a healthy granola from a fake one
Is cheese actually bad for your heart? Doctors got this wrong
The snack swap that cut heart disease risk by 30% in a real study
The 6 everyday foods that matter most for your long-term health
The simple fiber-to-carb ratio for picking a healthy bread
The 'unhealthy' breakfast a nutrition scientist admits to craving
Switching to whole grain could lower your risk of dying early
The label trick that makes fake kefir look healthy
What to check on a kombucha label before you buy it
Why 30 plants a week beats the old '5 a day' rule
The 'diversity jar' hack for hitting 30 plants a week fast
The pantry staple that quietly boosts your plant count
The most underrated vegetable for lowering blood pressure
The 6 rules two nutrition scientists use to shop for food
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector
Free resources from ZOE
The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt
The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra
Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint
How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks
Mentioned in today's episode
The effect of snacking on nuts on heart health, The American journal of clinical nutrition (2020)
Low fat diets for long-term weight loss, The Lancet (2015)
Wholegrain consumption and all cause mortality, BMJ (2016)
Episode transcripts are available here.
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