The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast

In this episode, we're building an emotional toolkit for something a lot of us are dealing with: overwhelm.
That feeling of too much coming at you at once. The pressure to get everything right with your health, your work, your relationships and still feel like you're just about keeping your head above water.
If you've ever struggled to switch off at night, felt constantly on edge or caught yourself spiralling in your own thoughts, this is for you.

Today's guest: Dr Julie Smith 🧠
Dr Julie (@drjulie on Instagram) is a clinical psychologist and one of the most trusted voices in mental health online. Her latest book “Open When” is one of the best tools I've come across for navigating the harder moments in life. It went straight to number one and is a New York Times Bestseller.

We cover:
What overwhelm feels like
Early warning signs you’re at full capacity
Social media, comparison and people pleasing
The inner critic and how to change that voice
Simple tools to regulate emotions in real time
How to create space for your brain in a noisy world

You'll come away with a few simple tools you can use straight away. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
If you're more of a visual person, the analogy Dr Julie shows us on YouTube is one I won't forget 👇

🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website

☕️ Try Exhale Coffee here
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
📷 Follow on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If there are five people in a room with eczema, they’re probably all dealing with it for completely different reasons.
And that’s something we don’t talk about enough.
Eczema, acne, psoriasis… these are rarely just skin issues. They’re often a reflection of what’s happening inside the body, particularly in the gut.
So instead of just asking what to put on your skin, this episode is about asking a better question. What’s actually driving this underneath?
My guest today is Farzanah Nasser, a registered nutritionist and certified functional medicine practitioner specialising in gut health, immune health and chronic skin conditions.
She works with people every day, dealing with long-standing skin issues using a practical, gut-first approach.
She’s also the author of “The Everyday High-Fibre Plan”, full of simple, gut-friendly recipes… including those cookies on the table if you’re watching on YouTube 👀

We cover 👇🏽
How gut health impacts skin conditions like eczema, acne and psoriasis
A functional medicine approach to eczema
How to build your meals for better skin health
Foods that support liver function
Whether food sensitivity tests are worth it
Farzanah’s personal journey with psoriasis
Tips to reduce bloating when increasing fibre

🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website

☕️ Try Exhale Coffee here
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
📷 Follow on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a fascinating ancient system of medicine called Ayurveda, originating in India over 3,000 years ago, that has helped millions of people tune into their bodies through simple food, daily rhythms and plants.
I grew up thinking it was just a set of beliefs and traditions, but my guest today really challenged that. What I came to understand is that Ayurveda is actually a codified system of observations and experiments, documented, debated and written in Sanskrit texts.
My guest is Dr Vijay Murthy, an internationally acclaimed integrative physician who blends Ayurveda with modern, evidence-based medicine. He has over 30 years of clinical experience and regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals.
What’s remarkable is that many of the practices we unpack today closely mirror what modern research now tells us about gut health, lifestyle medicine and nutrition.
This conversation genuinely made me reflect on my own daily routines in a different way. And there are a couple of simple practices in here that you might want to try for yourself.

We cover:
What Ayurveda actually is
Daily routines and living in sync with natural cycles
How to identify your dominant dosha and what it means
How Ayurveda can support gut health and digestion
How to eat according to Ayurvedic food principles
What an Ayurvedic breakfast looks like
Key herbs used in Ayurveda for digestion, blood sugar, thyroid health, skin and hair
How to choose high-quality herbs and avoid contaminants

🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website

☕️ Try Exhale Coffee here
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
📷 Follow on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the biggest myths about brain health is that decline is inevitable as we get older. That at some point our memory fades, our thinking slows down, and there’s not much we can do about it.
My guest today argues the opposite.
Dr Tommy Wood is a neuroscientist, Professor at the University of Washington, and performance consultant to world-class athletes.
He’s published more than 100 scientific papers and has lectured all over the world on brain health, metabolism, physical activity and human performance.
He’s also the author of the brilliant new book The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age (Harmony, March 2026).

It’s a really practical conversation about small, everyday habits that can keep your mind 🧠 sharper for longer, without needing extreme diets or stacks of nootropics.

He walks us through 3 powerful levers to sharpen your mind:
How to stimulate it with specific exercises and mental challenges
How to supply it with key nutrients
And how to support it by changing your perspective on stress and sleep

I’ve already changed a few simple things in my daily routine, and I’ve been sharing it with friends and family because this is something that really matters to most of us: keeping our minds sharp through life. I hope you find this conversation as useful and motivating as I did.

If you want specific recipes and meal ideas, we have a whole brain‑healthy collection on the Doctor’s Kitchen app and website to help you put these principles into practice straight away.

🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website

☕️ Try Exhale Coffee here
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
📷 Follow on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We breathe over 20,000 times a day. Those breaths do far more than just keep us alive. They shape your sleep, your focus, your energy, even your blood pressure and long-term risk of disease.
That’s over 20,000 opportunities to support your health, every single day.
The challenge is that modern life makes it harder to breathe well. We sit hunched over laptops, we’re constantly switched on, we chew softer foods, and many of us mouth-breathe, especially at night.
My guest today is on a mission to improve our health through our breath.
James Nestor is an award-winning science journalist and author of the bestseller “Breath”. He’s travelled the world to understand how our breathing has changed, and most importantly, what simple, practical steps we can take to improve it.
This episode genuinely shifted things for my team and me. I hope it inspires you to make a few small changes too. And if you know a committed mouth breather, send it their way.
We cover:
The risks of mouth breathing and James’ 10-day experiment
Why nasal breathing makes such a difference
Tips for a blocked nose or deviated septum
How to train your diaphragm for easier breathing
Why softer modern diets can affect your airways
Whether “mewing” is worth trying
Easy breathing habits you can start today

🎬 Watch the podcast on YouTube here
📱 Download The Doctor’s Kitchen app
🌐 View full show notes, including guest details, on our website

☕️ Try Exhale Coffee here
🥗 Join the newsletter and receive a 7 day meal plan
📷 Follow on Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.