This special episode brings together the moments from 2025 that listeners told us had the biggest impact on how they eat, think, and feel. It’s been a year full of surprising insights, practical shifts, and ideas that made healthy eating feel a little more doable.
From gut health breakthroughs to simple food habits that spark real change, this episode highlights the advice that resonated most - that people returned to, shared, and said genuinely helped them feel better.
Whether you’re pausing to take stock of the year or simply looking for small ideas to weave into everyday life, this episode offers some science-backed inspiration you can carry forward in your own way.
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Timecodes
00:00 Intro
02:20 A wake-up call for change
04:20 The mindset shift that saved a life
08:30 Why your body is silently inflamed
12:20 The chemical that cools inflammation
14:40 The simple trick that unlocks broccoli’s benefits
17:00 The fermented food discovery that shocked researchers
19:20 The truth about autophagy everyone gets wrong
21:30 How to get fasting benefits without starving yourself
23:40 Can fasting really reverse biological age?
25:50 Dementia starts decades before symptoms
28:10 One diet’s astonishing impact on Alzheimer’s risk
30:20 The nutrient your brain literally can’t function without
32:40 The biggest drink trend of 2025 - and why it matters
34:50 The 900-year secret behind matcha’s power
36:40 Why matcha feels different from coffee in your brain
38:30 The nutritional showdown: matcha vs coffee
40:10 The bedtime twist nobody expects about matcha
41:10 The perfect first-time matcha recipe
41:55 How to get matcha’s full benefits (and avoid a common mistake)
42:20 Final takeaway for 2026
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
The Food For Life Cookbook
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector
Free resources from ZOE
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks
Better Breakfast Guide
ZOE’s Holiday Hosting Guide
Mentioned in today's episode
MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging, A&D (2015)
Effects of a personalized nutrition program on cardiometabolic health: a randomized controlled trial, Nature Medicine (2024)
Fasting-mimicking diet causes hepatic and blood markers changes indicating reduced biological age and disease risk, Nature Communications (2024)
Fasting in diabetes treatment (FIT) trial: study protocol for a randomised, controlled, assessor-blinded intervention trial on the effects of intermittent use of a fasting-mimicking diet in patients with type 2 diabetes, BMC Endocrine Disorders (2024)
Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.
Episode transcripts are available here.