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Far 2 Fabulous
Join Catherine & Julie, your feisty hosts at Far 2 Fabulous, as they lead you on a wellness revolution to embrace your fabulousness.
Julie, a Registered Nutritional Therapist with over 20 years of expertise, and Catherine, a former nurse turned Pilates Instructor and Vitality Coach, blend wisdom and laughter seamlessly.
Off the air, catch them harmonising in their local choir and dancing to 80's hits in superhero attire. Catherine braves the sea for year-round swims, while Julie flips and tumbles in ongoing gymnastics escapades.
With a shared passion for women's health and well-being, they bring you an engaging exploration of health, life, and laughter. Join us on this adventure toward a more fabulous and empowered you!
Far 2 Fabulous
Inside The Joe Wicks Protein Bar Controversy And What It Reveals About Ultra-Processed Food
Episode 95: Inside The Joe Wicks Protein Bar Controversy And What It Reveals About Ultra-Processed Food
What happens when a “healthy” label hides a legal sleight of hand? We sat down to watch Joe Wicks’ new documentary and found ourselves peeling back the bright colours, influencer endorsements, and protein promises to examine what ultra-processed foods really deliver to our bodies. From the first glossy montage to the cigarette-style warnings on a prototype bar, the story exposes how taste engineering and health halos pull us toward products that can be lawful yet still linked to serious health risks.
We talk through the scale of the problem in UK diets, why low-income families are disproportionately affected, and how the “it’s your choice” defence collapses under the weight of constant nudges and flavour profiles built for overconsumption. A shelf of additives tells its own tale: emulsifiers, sweeteners, and stabilisers that may pass regulations but raise red flags for metabolic health, inflammation, and the gut microbiome. The most unsettling part? Self-regulation means products can stack permitted additives to the limit, wrap them in nature-coded packaging, and market them as better-for-you.
Joe’s moral dilemma anchors the human side of the debate: should he release a bar designed to legal thresholds to prove the point? A lawyer deems it compliant yet wouldn’t let her children eat it. We unpack that tension and show how marketing splits its message—fun for kids on the front, soothing leaf motifs and vitamin claims for parents on the back—while the real sugar and additive story hides in the small print. Along the way we share practical moves you can make today: build your shop around real food, choose clean protein powders with single ingredients, batch-cook for speed, and carry simple snacks that don’t need a label to explain themselves.
Change won’t come from the till alone, so we call for clearer warnings and tighter limits on additives consistently tied to harm. Until policy catches up, knowledge and community are a powerful start. If this conversation sparked a rethink of your go-to bars, shakes, or snack swaps, tap follow, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find it. Then come tell us in our Facebook group: what’s the one “healthy” product you’re reconsidering after hearing this?
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We look forward to you joining us on the next episode.
Welcome to Party Fabulous. I'm just by Julie and Catherine. Join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefined wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candy chat, and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing. Let's dive in! Hello, hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the Far Two Fabulous, making sure I pronounce that properly. Notice podcast. And today, I do know what this is so funny. You know you have this whole thing, I'm off on a tangent already. You know you have this whole thing about work has to be well, not you necessarily, but people have this thing about work has to be hard. And so for us now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna watch the new Joe Wicks documentary. We've done this before on an episode with the Horman. The Hallman Doctor. So we're gonna watch it together because we haven't seen it, and basically we're gonna record our reactions as we go. And this feels very relaxed, very easy, very fun, and I don't feel like we're working hard enough. We always have fun doing the podcast, though, don't we? We really, really do. I was looking at um, I think something came up on on Instagram and it was talking about your business and stuff, and how it has to be something that you like doing to be successful, and it and the consistency has to be there as well. And I think of all the things that I do, apart from Vitality Rooms, this is the most consistent and the most fun.
SPEAKER_00:Hmm. It's really interesting because we had um a re like a financial review with a financial advisor. That's pretty great. It's very grown up. But she said, When are you looking to retire? And I said, Well, I actually do a job that I can't imagine not doing. Yeah. And I can't imagine like I might reduce the amount I do at some point, yeah, but I can't imagine not wanting to share that knowledge and help people for as long as I can.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I just said, I don't I don't know. I've got no plans to retire. It was quite interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I agree. I don't have a a thought about retiring that it would just it would just change and evolve as as I do. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. Well, there we go. Right then. So we are going to press play on it's Joe Wicks' licence to kill. So you will have seen all of the hype, I'm sure, about him bringing out these uh protein bars that he doesn't want us to buy. He does want us to buy them because I think they're going to raise money. I'm sure we'll find out properly in a minute, but he wants to highlight what's in them amongst other things.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, let's do it. Here we go. So we've watched the first five minutes, and I absolutely love the start where he was making the like, you know, everything looks super nice and fresh ingredients and pretty colours, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, and they almost did a bit of uh like using his sex appeal to sell the food and everything. I thought that was quite funny. Just how but that's how these this the advertising and the way that these foods or non-foods, as we come on to in a minute, are being shown to us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, greens, yellows, soft colours to make you think that they're good for you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and then he's met with the guy that the doctor who what's his name? Chris Chris Val Tolkien. Yes, is that right? It sounds like a hobbit's name, doesn't it? Who we absolutely love because he wrote the book about ultra-processed foods and he's really campaigning hard, and that is brilliant. But they've just been talking about that processed food isn't even food.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's yeah, can you even class it as food because it's been literally made in a lab. And what was really we loved at the beginning was that Joe is there in his car eating all these ultra-processed foods, eating the chocolate that's got hardly any chocolate anymore, it's just mostly sugar, isn't it? Sugar and fats, foolie hoops, monster munch, all of those things. And he says, you know, I love this food, I know what it's doing to my body, I love it, it makes you feel absolutely rubbish the next day, and yet you know all of this, it makes you feel rubbish, and you still go back to it. And he was highlighting that he thought, well, I mean, rightly, but probably not um maybe naively, that the government is supposed to be looking out for the health of the nation, and this is why he's trying to highlight it. And the other point I thought was really interesting was he'd said that 60% of an average diet an adult in the UK is ultra-processed food, and for people on for low-income families, that could be up to 80%. So that's 80% of of non-food food. Yeah, non-food food. It blows your mind, doesn't it? It's really scary, and and no wonder that like diabetes and heart disease, all these all these things that um are are related to obesity, no wonder it's all on the rise.
SPEAKER_00:But at the same time, he said, look, you know, I'm someone that works in the health and wellness industry and I still eat these foods. He, you know, he said, when I'm stressed, I'm not gonna go home and make a nice kale salad or something. And I've had this conversation with um my clients lately about the fact that if you have a moment where you are drawn to those foods, it's not really your fault. No. Those foods were never men, our brain didn't ever expect them to be available. No, and they do taste good because they're manufactured to light up those areas of the brain, and despite us knowing that, and we both know this, yeah, I'm not I'm not on a diet that is perfect or completely, you know, there are some ultra-processed foods in in my in my diet from time to time as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:And how hard it is for everybody, the like the supermarkets are set up for you to buy them, they are not set up for you not to buy them, yeah. And at the moment it is full-on Christmas everywhere, isn't it? Oh my goodness, and that's just it's like ultra-processed food city, isn't it? Yeah, supermarkets. Yeah, a whole aisle of non-food food. Terrifying. So they've just gone into uh the kitchen, and I don't know what they're gonna create in there. They he's uh he's likened it to uh a breaking bad lab as opposed to a kitchen, so we'll see. We shall see. So we've had to stop it there. The doctor has just shown Jo a shelf of all of the not all of, but a handful of the ingredients that are in lots of these ultra-processed foods. Yeah, like really common additives in yeah, in everyday foods. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And then talked about how harmful they are. Like for instance, aspartame that is classes, they've said a type 2 carcinogen. So the World Health Organization has said, yes, this contributes to causing cancer. And you know it's not a bad substance. No, and so all of these ingredients are linked to cancer, are linked to heart disease, are linked to like metabolic disorders, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory conditions, bowel conditions, yeah. Yeah, yeah, what it does to your microbiome is you don't even want to know, really, do you? And things like dementia as well. All these things are on the rise, and all these ultra-processed foods are on the rise, and it's not a coincidence, it's bloody terrifying, in fact.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so they're just about to go and talk about the legal side of it, what's actually the rules and regulations for these foods, and I think we're gonna find out that there's not that many rules and regulations. Which is incredible, isn't it? Yeah. So we've just been talking about the regulation side of these foods, and realizing that actually, although there are certain lists of additives and things that are permitted and the levels, there's not a lot of information, and these companies are actually meant to self-regulate. So they can do whatever they like, really.
SPEAKER_01:Literally anything they like, and it just shows that it's it's profit before anything else. It and it's in these foods that are so he's just he's just shown us all of these other protein bars, and they are they're probably worse than candy bars, actually, the stuff that's in them, and they're being advertised by not just the companies that sell them, but by influencers and uh like celebrities as as healthy food, and it's and it's absolutely not. And so, what they've just also highlighted so they're putting in the maximum amount of these of these chemicals into a protein bar that they are allowed, so they're remaining within the law, however, putting all of these things that could potentially make you ill just in one bar, and they are about to put some glycerol in that has been you will have seen this in the news that's been linked to um like slushy drinks, and there has been there have been, he said, eight cases, recorded cases, of children that have drunk too many of these products and become unconscious, like they've had to have medical treatment because they have drunk slushes containing glycerol.
SPEAKER_00:I mean that and and it's yeah, and you're totally it's still allowed, nothing has changed. Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? That they're it's allowed to go on.
SPEAKER_01:I just it made that made me go like cold goosebumpy. I had seen it on the news, I hadn't really totally registered. My kids go crazy for them. Like if they're available somewhere, they always want them and they always want the biggest one, which they never get, sadly for them. But you know, thankfully now I'm I'm glad. But I do still think, oh my god, what have I what have I done to my children? What have I done to my children's insides? I bet your children have never had one, have they?
SPEAKER_00:I don't believe I'm not aware that they've had a slushie actually, only because I've known about the slushie issue for quite a long time. I did a years ago, I did a post about it about slushes and put that on social media. So yeah, it's it's one of those things where I can't unknow what I know, and I do make sure that I don't give the stuff to my children, but I'm also mindful of of not being too harsh and they're missing out as well. So it's still easy to make slushes. So I know it's not the same as when you're out and things, but generally speaking, they don't they don't have those.
SPEAKER_01:No, and but that's it, you can make them when they don't need to have it in them. It's oh it's unbelievable. So at the moment they are they are making this bar and they've brought on an industry expert, somebody that normally works within these like protein bars and things, creating them for the taste value and definitely not the nutritional value.
SPEAKER_00:Or the health the no health benefits. Could you imagine if that was your actual job? I don't think I could I couldn't do that.
SPEAKER_01:No, absolutely, and we've we have just just discussed whether this guy is committing um career suicide. Career suicide because he's he's basically giving them all his inside knowledge, but we are we're grateful for it. Yeah, so we're gonna carry on watching them make this bar. Right, so they have created this bar. I think the general consensus is it it tastes good if you ignore what's in it, and so he's he's given it to the people that work in his office, and he's spoken to his wife. And what's really interesting is that you know he's had this brilliant idea, and now he's having doubts as to whether he can put this bar out into the public because it's so it's actually so dangerous to people's health. And what is really interesting is that so he's done it deliberately and he's doing it to raise awareness, and that all of these millions of other products are just sent out there with without I'm I'm I don't know this, but without any conscience at all.
SPEAKER_00:He's having a proper moral dilemma, and that's because he is someone that wants people to be healthy and well, and he has made this bar and he is aware that it causes health issues, but there are millions and millions of foods people consume day in and day out that does the same, and so there are like you said, there are all these companies. Why have they not got a moral dilemma? I tell you what shocked me actually that I hadn't fully realised is that they've made that bar in that laboratory or that industrial kitchen, and it doesn't have to be safety checked, it's a new product, and there's no checking that it meets the regulations and standards. That all they have to say is that they didn't exceed the dosages on those additives.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and as long as everything that is in the bar is on the packaging, yeah, there's no check good to go.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So you could make whatever you liked and just send it out to market, and you could write whatever you liked pretty much because there are certain terms on the labelling that you can put that gets around.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so they've they've put um vitamins and minerals in this, and the wording is that it can contribute to um good health, and and so that that works, that description works.
SPEAKER_00:Because it means nothing. So it can't be you can't come back at them and say, Well, it didn't contribute to my health, yeah, because in a legal situation. Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. So he's now having this big moral dilemma, and this is the bit that I what what I've struggled to understand for years and years, and it's the same with the water companies, right? Yeah, how can these people have families go to bed at night, get up and do a job that they know they can't not know what they're doing? Yeah, that's the part that that I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And actually, um Dr. Chris likened this whole industry to the smoking industry like 40 or 50 years ago, didn't he? Said, like, your doctor would have been sat there doing your consultation with a cigarette on the go. Yeah. And and then they there was lots of research that the the tobacco industry used to say that it was good for you for a long time, even though they knew that it actually wasn't. And so this is what's happening now. And I mean, please don't let it take another sort of 50 years before we realise or that the momentum happens that people are not consuming this. So many times they have said that these things uh increase your chance of death by 14%. 14%, yeah. Like, yeah, so how do people, how do companies let this stuff leave their factories? It ha it's just it's profit. That's the only, the only reason, and it's this profit above people's health and well-being. Like they were talking about the effects on mental health as well. It's absolutely terrifying. It is so it's really interesting watching him have this moral dilemma, and he knows what he's doing, like he is deliberately trying to highlight it. He he is going to tell people not to eat it, and he is still having this moral dilemma.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But just knowing that what he's created is not necessarily different from all the I mean, he's making a protein bar, it's not any different in terms of how damaging it is to the to your health compared to some of the other protein bars on the market.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:That are already there and people are already eating them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and in fact, they were they were trying to put more like vitamins and minerals in than any of the other bars. So, you know, in theory, it's actually better for you, but it really isn't.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we see which way it goes now and what he's gonna do with his moral dilemma. So after his moral dilemma, it was really interesting because Dr. Chris was like, I've been doing this type of campaigning for years and it's not making a difference. Whereas you could you need to put this bar out. He was really having a wobble as to whether he just gets to the point where he could put this bar out, and then he, yeah, he was thinking, will that be enough? And Dr. Chris was saying to him, No, it's not enough. And so he went to see a lawyer who specialises in, you know, the but she wrote in protein bars, wasn't she? Yeah, and she looked at the list of the ingredients and she said, This is perfectly safe to put out into the public domain, didn't she? It was legal, yeah. And uh he also said that she wouldn't eat it and wouldn't let her children eat it. No, and she picked up on some of the ingredients and the fact that she she know she knew straight away that that these ingredients had a laxative effect. So he got to the point where actually he realised he did need to put the bar out, and then they went to see somebody who specialises in marketing and branding and how that they how they spin that, how they make things look a certain way, and they used the Cocoa Pops bar, didn't they? The Kellogg's cocoa pops bar as an example, which was interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, all those bright colours and highlighting that it what was what were the good things about it that it highlighted?
SPEAKER_00:It was high in calcium and vitamin D, no artificial uh colours and things.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, yeah. So they had like the front of it, uh, was the advert for the kids with the monkey and the bright colours, and then on the back they had these lovely writing with leaves and and all that sort of stuff for the parents, and yeah, and then you'd have to dive in much, much deeper to find out it was like 25% sugar or something like that, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00:It was just yeah, but that's gen, it was really bad for you, and then so his branding was he did like two sides. So the the front of the bar was emphasizing the fact that he's strong and fit, so he's pictures on the front, that it was had 27 vitamins and minerals, over 200 health benefits, 19 grams of protein, fresh oranges on on the front, etc. And then on the back, they used the type of warnings that you get on cigarettes. So it was this can cause cancer, stroke, and it had all these diarrhoea, early chance of death.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, picture of him pretty much looking like looking like death with the grim reaper behind him. Yeah, I mean, like there was no like you you couldn't be unsure of their message on that side of the bar.
SPEAKER_00:No, exactly. So he's just he's he's done the press release for the bar and he's put it out there, and now people are starting to comment, and it's really interesting what's happening.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the the backlash about people saying that, oh, you know, we we know that these ultra-processed foods are bad for us. It that I think they're talking about like choice, basically, aren't they? And they and again, somebody else likened it to the tobacco industry. It's like we know that smoking is bad for us, we know that if we do it too much, it's gonna cause chaos to our health. Yet we have the choice, we can choose to do this.
SPEAKER_00:That was that was what lots of them were saying. And that's been the argument from the food manufacturers the whole time is that it's nothing to do with them, it's not their fault because you can choose to not eat them or you can choose to eat very little of them. But what Joe is trying to say, and I think this is really relevant, is that it's very hard to eat these things in moderation. Yeah, it's very hard to choose not to have them. Yeah, because it's in your face everywhere you go, and maybe having the correct wording on the packaging would give you that moment where you would think, hang a minute, do I actually want to eat this? Put that in my or give this to my kids.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Uh yeah, so it again he's having having doubts, but it is it's really interesting, and I think that the people that are part of this backlash potentially need to look at why they're so triggered, why they're so angry about this. Is this because we've been consuming these things and we feel tricked? We've maybe we feel a bit stupid about like what we've been consuming because we thought that it was good for us, and and then when you're it's like really in your face that it's not good for you, it's it's annoying, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. We're gonna watch the last few minutes of it and then we'll summarise.
SPEAKER_01:So we have finished watching it and it ended with statements from the government, it ended with statements from Huel and all of the products that weren't mentioned. Yeah, and basically they just actually they backed up everything that this programme was about, that they were within UK and EU regulations, and that their yeah, their packaging was all legal.
SPEAKER_00:Legally compliant was the word, and I think the biggest thing for me was that none of them, including the government, are taking ownership for any of it. It's it's put back to us again, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it's down to us yet again to I think we've got to show our disgusted it by not buying these products.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. I mean he just said, like Joe's just said, this should be the government looking after the health of the nation by using legislation. And I actually I don't think I don't think that food labelling goes far enough. I think that they need to restrict further the amount of crap that is allowed to be put into the foods. Like this is stuff that has been proven to cause death, to cause cancer. Like that's one of the scariest things a human being has to deal with. Yeah. And they are allowed to put this in your food. Because somebody said it's legal, so it's all right then. So it's all right, yeah. So yeah, you can't take me to court, you can't lock me up for it, so I'm gonna continue to allow it to go ahead. And if you ate too much, it's your fault. Yeah, yeah, because well, because the label was on there, it just might be really small. But you know, you can find out for yourself if you dig hard enough that it's not good for you, it's not my fault. And Joe said, you know, that's it's not actually his job to be highlighting this, but if he doesn't do it, then the government and these this massive industry just continues to get away with it, and it's and it isn't it isn't fair because you just you physically can't resist it sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:No, I mean we'd noticed that there was a definite switch in foods we were seeing in the supermarkets following the conversation around protein. Yeah, I think that was that's one of the most obvious ones I've seen in a long time. You know, we know that we need to eat more protein, um, and we've been talking about that, and the food companies just jump on that and then they manipulate the foods to give you what you want, really.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and they make them taste like they do with all of this processed crap so that you continue to buy them. Thinking that they are thinking that they're doing you some good.
SPEAKER_00:I think it would have been good if he could have developed something that was the polar opposite of it, you know, that would give you the health benefits, but from a natural perspective.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because he's got all these recipes and things. It would I think it would have been nice if he closed the show with, you know, we made this in our industrialised kitchen, we put all these, like he said, nothing was natural, it was all powders and potions. How you then make something that would give you the protein and the health benefits, but that is provided by nature so that you could see a direct comparison.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because I mean it's all well and good saying, don't eat this, but then you're like, Well, what do I want? What can I have instead? Because we appreciate that these the ultra-processed foods are convenience foods, aren't they? And we're and we're busy and we we want to be health conscious, and and so that's what these say that they are for us, uh, which they clearly are not. No. It's really difficult. I hope that I mean I did I I can see both sides of this argument. I I am actually very, very firmly on the side of Joe Wicks, and I and I hope that this is only the very, very beginning of this campaign for him, because I think that it is so important. Like the possibilities for it are endless. I mean, like he's got he's got big goals for the health of the nation, literally the health of the nation, our mental health, our cardio health, our like the obesity type two diabetes. It's just yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, he he he was getting very emotional about it, wasn't he? Because again, going back to that moral dilemma again, he he just wants you to be healthy and fit and happy and and lead a long, healthy life, which is exactly what we want for you as well, and ourselves, and yet we are in a situation now that makes it harder and harder to do that. You've really got to go left when everything else is going right, and it's not easy to do that, it's it and it takes more effort, and I just I just prioritize it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, no, I completely agree, I do as well. However, we are we are not normal, we are not normal, we are not normal, and the norm is that that this is just in front of people's faces all of the time, and the information and the warnings are not there, so people can't make an informed choice about it. And like he said, you know, he was a family that was on on benefits, and he said there was hardly any vegetables involved in his his diet whatsoever. And like we know that you can eat a healthy, balanced diet on a budget, however, it is harder, and at the moment, everything is so bloody hard that people cannot be blamed for reaching for the the easier version of something, especially when it tells you that it's good for you, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's telling you it's good for you, it's quicker, and it's cheaper in a lot of cases. Yeah, that's what we're up against.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, so well done, Joe. I think overall it was it was great. And for the people that that knock him because you know we've all got a we've all got a choice, or that you're not supposed to label foods as good or bad, like literally or figuratively, but they are bad, they are bad, and they should be labelled as that. And I mean, at least if they are labelled as that, then people can make an informed choice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. I would really love to continue this conversation in the far too fabulous Facebook group.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Has anyone bought one of the bars? Has anyone tasted the bar?
SPEAKER_01:I bet annoyingly, I bet they taste really good.
SPEAKER_00:They probably do, but then that is testament to the food industry again. They're very clever, and a lot of these foods they do taste really nice. I mean, I put a A post out leading up to Halloween about the sweets. You know, do I I'm in a dilemma at the moment because I'm thinking, do I buy sweets to give out? Yeah. Because I don't know if people are going to knock the door. And then if they don't, I'm left with sweets that are then going to speak to me because they do, don't they? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm in that dilemma, and I put about the fact that you've got to have a really good relationship with food in order to just ignore all that chatter and deal with that. But I just put a little caveat and I said, except for mini eggs, you know, there's always something that I can't I don't have any control around mini eggs. That's my one thing. Munches. Mini eggs. At least they're not out all the time, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I that's one of the reasons I don't I don't buy things like that. I'm what I'm really grateful for is because I'm vegetarian, I don't eat many of the jelly kind of products like Haribo and stuff, because they put gelatine in. Um you avoid those. I avoid those completely, which I am hugely grateful for because I pretty much guarantee I wouldn't be able to stop eating those.
SPEAKER_00:No, and no, again, that's the thing, isn't it? They do taste nice, and that brain connection is really, really powerful. Yeah. And it's so it's very hard.
SPEAKER_01:So if you're on the back foot, it's really, really unfair.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. So something's got to change, and at the moment it's it's down to us to choose not to eat these things, but we also recognise that that is in many cases very difficult.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this the the stuff that is proven to kill you should not be in things that are supposed to be food. It shouldn't be called food for a start, should it?
SPEAKER_00:No, perhaps they should be in their own shop. Yes. I was thinking the same just then. They shouldn't be in a shop with food.
SPEAKER_01:They should be in their own their own shop. You know, like you've got vape shops.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They should be in in an ultra-processed food shop that you have to actually go and walk in.
SPEAKER_00:I think we should message Joe Wicks and give him that idea and see if he can if he can push that forward. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because I mean you've got like greengrocers where you go in for your for your fruit and your vegetables, uh, and that's where and again that's the trouble, isn't it? And I think we again total tangent. We've we've we were threatening to finish this about five minutes ago. But once upon a time we would do our shopping down in the high street, and you would specifically go into your fruit and veg shop and you buy all of your fruit and veg, and then perhaps you go into a supermarket and buy a piece or the yeah, yeah. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And you would just buy the other extra bits and bits and pieces in a in a supermarket, but it would you wouldn't have the selection of things that you do now. Whereas now we come out of the town, we go out into big, big supermarkets. And I don't know about you, but I actually only shop in what maybe a quarter of the of the aisles.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so if you had a supermarket that was actually just for food, like actual food, you'd pretty much have the fruit and veg section, the meat and fish section, some of maybe like the lentils and pulses kind of thing, wouldn't you? Yeah. Maybe some frozen, maybe some frozen the frozen stuff, and that would actually be a proper food shop. Wouldn't that be interesting if someone actually did that? This is a a shop for food, and then anything else is somewhere else. Yeah. I like that idea. Yeah, well, perhaps we'll pitch it to Joe. Let's pitch it to Joe. Let's tag him when we put the podcast up.
SPEAKER_01:But we are there, we're behind you, we are cheering you all of the way. And yeah, let us know in the Facebook group if you have tried the bars.
SPEAKER_00:Let us know if you and if you eat protein bars, has it made you look at the ingredients? It has me. It has me.
SPEAKER_01:And it's I again I'm carrying on. It's annoying because protein shakes are so such a convenient way of consuming some protein, and if I don't have time for to make something to eat, it's a really it's just a simple, quick way of doing it, and it's and it just is what it's going to cause me to do is have to think about an another way of doing it, which actually is is a really good thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I don't actually have an issue so much with using a protein powder. I'm very specific about using a really good quality one that is completely, it has no the one I use has absolutely nothing except for the pea or the hemp in it. That's the two that I tend to use. And so I made a smoothie this this morning that had protein powder, uh leafy greens, frozen berries, some Greek yogurt, some nut butter, and some uh oat milk I used actually this morning. That was that was my that was my smoothie. I don't have an issue with that. So you can have your protein shake, yeah, as long as you're making it. Processed ones. You're making it yourself and you're putting in the protein powder that you you know is a clean protein.
SPEAKER_01:Clean one, yeah, absolutely. And I think that's the that but that is the difficulty, isn't it? The protein powders are as bad as the protein bars. They are as protest processed, they've got as much crap in them as the bars have. So again, yeah, just making those different decisions.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, gotta read the labels. Okay, well, come join us in a Facebook group and we will chat some more about this subject, I think. Yeah, see you next week. See you next time.
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