Emily English on overcoming an eating disorder and nutrition as skincare

The Beauty Desk

Nutritionist Emily English joins the show to discuss the profound connection between nutrition and skincare, sharing how dietary choices imp

Key takeaways

• Emily English emphasizes that skin health is directly linked to gut health and the consumption of healthy fats like flaxseed oil and walnuts.
• She highlights that red-colored foods like red peppers and tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which protects against UV-induced collagen breakdown.
• The guest shares her recovery from an eating disorder, noting the importance of finding specialized CBT therapists who understand the emotional complexity of the condition.
• A high-protein breakfast strategy, such as using extra egg whites, is recommended to maintain satiety throughout the morning.
• Beauty essentials mentioned include the Dyson Air Up for hair and La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5 for maintaining the skin barrier.

Main topics

• Nutrition as skincare
• Eating disorder recovery
• Beauty product recommendations

Notable quotes

Your skin is a reflection of your emotion, your mood and your diet.

Conclusion

A comprehensive look at how holistic nutrition and mindful daily habit

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Hi, I'm Katie Prescott from the Times Tech Podcast. AI is already changing business and medicine, but could it also change the way we look after our own health? In a special episode in Paid Partnership with Vitality, we look at how AI, wearables and everyday health data could help shift healthcare from treating illness to preventing it. Listen to the Times Tech Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 2 (0:24) At PwC, we optimize the systems that put your data to work so you can scale your AI from proof of concept to competitive edge and accelerate your tech evolution so you can redefine what's possible. From blueprint to breakthrough, we take you further with tech so you can outthink, outpace, and outperform. PwC. So you can. PwC refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Speaker 5 (0:57) Emily English is a nutritionist whose social media posts have amassed nearly 3 million followers. But it was actually recovering from an eating disorder that led her to study a degree in nutrition. When Speaker 4 (1:08) I first went to the doctor, the NHS doctor, she turned around and she says, you're not skinny enough to have an eating disorder. We Speaker 5 (1:14) managed to discuss everything from cottage cheese and flax seeds to why before dinner is the sexiest time of day in our household. We Speaker 4 (1:23) love a pre-dinner. Love session. Because is there anything better? You just both got out the shower. Okay. You're lovely, fresh, clean. Everyone's smelling nice. In this episode, Speaker 5 (1:34) I ask Emily the biggest lies we're told when it comes to nutrition. It's Speaker 4 (1:38) a Speaker 5 (1:38) myth, yeah. Speaker 4 (1:40) These are just normal human things and it doesn't make you a bad person. What you should eat for glowing skin. You walked in today and I was like, oh, for bloody Speaker 5 (1:48) hell's sake, Speaker 4 (1:48) you actually are so Speaker 5 (1:50) glowing. What foods are proven to make you glow? I love it. I mean, it's basically what my fridge looks like. And crucially, what she orders at Nando's. We just got back from Crete last week. I love Crete. Oh, it's great, isn't it? That's literally what we did. We drank wine and ate. Catch you later. And Speaker 4 (2:08) Greek chips, why are they so good? Speaker 5 (2:09) Actually, why are Greek chips so good? I Speaker 4 (2:12) think it's potatoes. I was going to say, is it the salt? And they fry them in olive oil. Yes, but there's always a herb on it. What is the herb? Oregano. Okay, there you go. Speaker 5 (2:21) Obviously, you knew that. Speaker 4 (2:23) Welcome, ladies and Speaker 5 (2:24) gentlemen, to Em, the Nutritionist. Do people call you that? Instead of saying your full name, are they like, hi, I'm the Nutritionist? Speaker 4 (2:31) Yeah, because I think I've become merged. in between like the two so I'm Emily English but I also am Emily Nutritionist. Speaker 5 (2:37) Yes totally have you ever thought should I make my Instagram name Emily English now? Speaker 4 (2:42) I can't change it. Speaker 5 (2:43) Emily English welcome I know you are always just given so many nutrition questions because that is what you do that is what you breathe that is your passion but today is also going to be about beauty. naturally. And we've decided for this series to start every episode by really just very simply asking what you see. So this is your mirror and you can take your time. It can be more than one thing. But when you look at yourself, a lot of people hate looking at themselves in the mirror. Even now Speaker 4 (3:14) I'm like trying to like not look at myself. I'm just looking at you. Speaker 5 (3:17) But what do you see? Speaker 4 (3:20) I see someone who has grown and changed a lot. I see great skin because that is something that I always think you are what you eat and your skin is a reflection of your emotion, your mood and your diet. So I see very good skin. Also down to the vitamin C routine that I have in the morning, Perricone MD. That vitamin C line, I swear by. With a lovely rosy glow from, this is actually a Refai blush. I'm always a big fan of cream products. I think anything that's kind of quite creamy, glowy, hydrating. So yeah, the skin is skinning. I am very, very low maintenance actually. But the one thing that I always do is eyelash extensions. So great eyelashes. Speaker 5 (4:10) Have you got eyelash extensions? I've got eyelash extensions on. Speaker 4 (4:13) Shout out to my woman, Mila. She's been doing my lashes for like five years and I swear by her. Speaker 5 (4:19) Can the average person book in with Mila? Yeah, absolutely. Where is she Speaker 4 (4:22) based? She is based on High Street Ken. Okay. And she's wicked. And I can see the remnants of tiredness and stress. It's been a crazy year for me work-wise. So I'm just trying to do everything to battle that aging process since I hit 30 and also the kind of chronic stress that I have with my job. I feel confident and I feel pretty and I feel like I look like I've got my life together, even if I'm like a swan with my feet going crazy underneath me. Speaker 5 (4:55) And you know what? Well done, because I don't think many people would look in the mirror and be able to compliment themselves. I think probably a lot to do with society. We're sort of told to not say that we're pretty or to hide behind our hair. Speaker 4 (5:10) almost not be able to say I feel proud with what I see or so well done. Thank you. You don't have to be narcissistic and it's all about you but the way that you speak to yourself the way that you nourish and nurture your brain will affect the other parts of your life whether it comes your relationships with other people your relationship with work your confidence and work and just your self-belief so I think we all just need to be a little bit kinder to yourself. Speaker 5 (5:33) So true. Let's get to business. Beauty Ride or Die. So we ask every guest for three beauty products that you just love. Okay. So. Have you got them with you? I Speaker 4 (5:47) do have them with me. You can bring them out. Yeah, let's Speaker 5 (5:50) do Speaker 4 (5:50) some show and tell. Speaker 5 (5:53) Oh, look, here she comes. Here she comes with all the goods. And I am already going to disqualify you because these are not all beauty products in front of me. No, but there is rhyme and reason. Okay. Hit me up. So Speaker 4 (6:06) number one is my Dyson Air Up. Sorry, Speaker 5 (6:10) that plug is ridiculous. The plug Speaker 4 (6:11) is absolutely ridiculous. Dyson, I love you, but this is causing havoc. If you go to a hotel room and you've got the plug and you can't quite fit it in, you've got to pull the chest of drawers out. It's a little bit crazy. This is what Speaker 5 (6:24) we call not travel friendly. Speaker 4 (6:25) It's not travel friendly, but I travel everywhere with Speaker 5 (6:27) it. Speaker 4 (6:27) You'll always find it in my bag no matter where I go. Everyone always says, well, I love your hair. This is what I use. And Speaker 5 (6:33) I can say that that is true because you've just done your hair before we started. The Speaker 4 (6:37) key is not too much product. Don't make your hair too heavy. Less is more. And I like to air wrap it and then let it set and then air wrap it again and it will hold for the day. Speaker 5 (6:48) Wow. Okay, just very quickly, technique. Speaker 4 (6:50) So I will get a little strand that's about an inch thick. Speaker 4 (6:57) up to the root, get the root lift, make sure you knock the end, hold it, then pull it down and then let it sit. Go get dressed, do your makeup, do anything else. And then a quick zhuzh at the end and it will always look lovely. And I've been using this religiously for five years now. So, so that's number one. Yeah. Number two. Speaker 4 (7:22) La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5. You can see it's actually a little bit dirty because I use it every single night. If you want glass skin, if you are having skin that is, especially in winter, a little bit dry, a little bit irritated, this is the last thing that I use. This is what I use to just seal in all of my serums, all of my moisturizers, all of my skincare. I swear by this stuff. I absolutely love it. Okay, so that's a ride or die. Yeah. And then last but not least. No. Speaker 5 (7:50) Out. So it's not Speaker 4 (7:52) beauty. It's not beauty. This is Speaker 5 (7:54) a beauty podcast, Emily. This Speaker 4 (7:56) is skincare. So I always say you are what you eat and you can see it in your skin. So there are two types of berries in here. Berries are one of the best foods that you can eat for your skin. So raspberries are one of the highest fiber fruits per 100 grams. Why that is important is because they are so good for your gut health and your gut and your skin is so much more connected than you realize. So when you have a well-nourished microbiome that's full of loads of diversity, it reduces inflammation. This will actually directly reduce inflammation within the skin. It can also help your skin stay kind of calmer, even hydrate the skin barrier if you're thinking about just kind of reducing the overall stress and state of your skin. making it glow, eat a handful of raspberries every single day. And then the blueberries are a potent source of antioxidants. That's something called polyphenols, specifically anthocyanins. So anthocyanins are what makes blueberries purple. And what they do is when you eat them, they can cause your blood vessels, all these tiny little capillaries to vasodilate, which basically means to expand. So if you want healthy glowing skin, Me personally, I will have a handful of raspberries and then something deeply colored purple every single day. Speaker 5 (9:15) We have some now because we Speaker 4 (9:17) haven't washed them. And I think all of my American followers go crazy. They're like, do we need to? What do you Speaker 5 (9:23) what's your official line? No, Speaker 4 (9:25) I don't. They've already been. Would you like? Sorry. Speaker 5 (9:28) Yes, please. I always see people use like bicarbonate soda to wash their fruit because that and then you see all the stuff that comes off. Speaker 4 (9:37) I mean, I've lived to tell the tale. Speaker 5 (9:39) Yeah. And I haven't. So I don't need to do that. Speaker 4 (9:41) Look, you're even more glowing just after that handful of berries. Speaker 5 (9:45) What's the last beauty product you bought? Oh, Speaker 4 (9:48) it was the Charlotte Tilbury Setting Spray. Oh, Speaker 5 (9:54) so good. Speaker 4 (9:55) And I've sobbed and I've cried and I've had a mental breakdown at the end of my therapy session. My therapist goes, Em, your makeup still looks great. Speaker 2 (10:03) I was just like. Speaker 4 (10:05) Crucially. Crucially, it's Charlotte's Real Reserting Spray. That one is wonderful. What other beauty treatments do you swear by? Love a bit of Botox. Okay. Give me the Botox all the way. Where are we doing it? Forehead. Yeah. Lifting. Anything that's going to kind of lift. my eyes make me feel a little bit more awake. I'm quite expressionate. So I'm actually do a top up. So don't worry, guys, this is not what I look like. We're going to know what Emily really thinks Speaker 5 (10:26) today.