Whereas now we're all going in and having, you know, having machines in our house or going and buying a very different type of coffee.

Yeah, and the thing is that the caffeine content of these coffees can range quite greatly.

And there was studies done which they went in and bought the same cup of coffee in a coffee shop Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and it differed greatly.

It differed quite substantially from maybe 250 milligrams of caffeine in it to about 500 or more.

So in other words, you could get double the caffeine content one day compared to another.

And I think as well that people assume that perhaps all coffees would be the same.

But if you get a cappuccino or your favourite coffee in one coffee shop, the caffeine content of that coffee can differ greatly to the next coffee shop.

We are running out of time, Orla, but can I ask, is the same to be said for caffeinated drinks, the energy drinks?

That's the category you're looking at.

That's exactly what it is.

So at kind of post-primary level, these kids need a specialist environment.

And when they move from primary school, they've got one teacher and then they might have the resource teacher or their special classroom.

But when they move up to secondary school, the environment completely changes.

Now, some of these kids, I will say, including my own, have struggled at a primary school, but they may have survived it or they may have fallen out of it.

But when you go to post-primary, you know, all that support kind of isn't there.

What would a classroom like this look like? Obviously, small numbers to start with, and then breakout areas, etc.

That's the category you're looking at.

That's exactly what it is.

So at kind of post-primary level, these kids need a specialist environment.

And when they move from primary school, they've got one teacher and then they might have the resource teacher or their special classroom.

But when they move up to secondary school, the environment completely changes.

Now, some of these kids, I will say, including my own, have struggled at a primary school, but they may have survived it or they may have fallen out of it.

But when you go to post-primary school, you know all that support kind of isn't there and i have to say there are amazing teachers out there who do amazing work and it's not the school's fault it's just the environment and these kids need a better environment so what we want to propose is um a school where these kids can go, where their needs are going to be met, whether sensory needs, whether that's emotional needs, where they can go and they can learn and they can be, we can see it especially If you look at St. Killian's, they have a section of their school, which is called the reading school, or they call them the multistream classes, where kids at primary level can go, where they may have fallen out of education, where they're struggling because of dyslexia, because of dyscalculia, because of ADHD, ASD.

That's Q-U-O dot com slash tech.

But you were at pains to say, look, it's all great to fuel yourself correctly for your exercise class, but really think about fueling yourself into the future.

Yeah, I think a lot of people are focused on the here and now and that is a good thing.

But they have to keep in mind that at some stage they will be an older person and I want people to consider what that will look like for them.

Because the work you put in now will pay off dividends in the future.

For example, building strength now and building muscle mass and bone tissue now will mean that you will be a stronger 70 year old.

You'll be a stronger, sturdier 80 year old.

If you want to be able to carry your shopping when you're 80, you have to be able to lift something a lot heavier now.

Balance is always where it's at.

Tell me a little bit about the sorts of events and activities that are taking place.

Okay, so we've a packed calendar in September.

So we have after Pinocchio on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And then on Tuesday, the 8th, we have Pause for Thought, our Camino walk.

So what we do is we invite everyone from all around the community to bring their furry animals or whatever, cat, dog, whatever, and dress them in purple and we go for a walk.

And if you can do the whole Camino, that's amazing.

If you can't, that's okay too.

Sorry, go on.

Why is that? Like, just how important is it? And how much do you think people should absolutely supplement with it? Or is it not that big a deal?

Well, the HSE guidelines would be supplement with vitamin D from about Halloween to St. Patrick's Day.

So 15 micrograms.

But that's the guidelines for people with white skin.

So if you're brown skin, you might need to supplement all year round.

It's simply that the sun shines on our skin and we produce the vitamin D ourself.

And the people who...

Why is it so important all

I did wonder, actually, is it that we a- we all drink more water and that that makes us feel less hungry during, uh, y- you know, hot spells like this?

Yeah, there's lots of different ways the body can feel satiety or that f- f- sense of feeling full, and one of them is simply that our stomach is full up of water, and the water pushes against the stomach wall and sends signals to the brain to say that the stomach is full.

And we have a cool study that, um, was done years ago where it simply got a group of people and made them drink, drink a pint of water 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they naturally ate less and lost weight as a result.

So we know that water can have a suppressing, um, effect on the body.

But also, y- I suppose a lot of listeners can relate to the simple fact that when they have a fever, for instance, they have a reduced appetite, or if you are out exercising and it's, you're quite hot, sometimes you will lose your appetite, um, for a short while afterwards.

And it's simply your body is just busy doing a different job trying to get the heat, um, within your body reduced, and it's less focused on you consuming food at that time.

You see, what happens when our body is overheated is that our blood is shunted to the periphery of our body, away from an- our internal organs, including our gut.

... you know, when you, when you eat a lot of meat or heavier foods that, uh, you kind of overheat.

Mm

... and there's more on show.

Um, I think it's the same all year round, it's just the food is cold rather than hot, you know? And I think when it comes to good nutrition, as boring as this sounds, we have to go back to basics and look at the things that we're simply just not doing well, and that's we're not consuming, um, enough hy- like water hydration.

Um, it is easier often for a lot of people during summertime, but we generally need two liters as a female, and maybe up to three liters as a male, and that's not considering h- if you've gone for a run or if it's a particularly hot day.

So I'd say hydration is important, but the main thing is fruit and veg intake.

So in Ireland, we don't eat enough fruit and veg.

We are definitely better than other countries around the world.

Well, speaking of purpose then, you know, I suppose finding your why nearly, is it fair to say then that's nearly more important than focusing on the scales?

Why are some people more sensitive to caffeine than others?

Well, it is a drug.

And with drugs, drugs have a half-life.

So if you were to look at caffeine and go, OK, how long does it take to be eliminated from a system? On average, the half-life is five hours, which means that just say you had a cup of coffee this morning.

Five hours later, it's half there.

Five hours after that, it's a quarter there.

Five hours after that, there's still an eighth there.

Okay.

On the latest episode of Real Health with me, Karl Henry, we are chatting all things visceral fat with dietician Orla Walsh.

We want food to go into our belly, and we want it to press against the sides of our belly and say, "You're full.

If you eat anymore, you'll barf," right? So we want that satiety feeling where our belly feels lovely and full after a meal.

You know, you can hit your protein and fiber targets, but if your meal is tiny, you'll still want more.

Mm-hmm.

And you get volume without over-consuming calories if you get enough fruit and veg.

It is fascinating, Orla, to think here in Ireland, the UK, we might maybe never or previously have put ourselves on par with the US, that more than half the average diet now consists of ultra-processed foods.

Yeah, and I suppose the problem comes from what is in ultra-processed foods, but also when you're eating ultra-processed foods, you're not eating whole foods.

And they have ultra-processed foods and a lot of these takeaways.

They provide very few vitamins and minerals.

They're high in things we already eat too much of, low in things that we need to eat more of.

But I guess the other issue from a health point of view is that because they're high in fat, they're high in calories per bite.

And because they're soft, you eat them quickly.

We're all seeking convenience.

Let's do visceral fat SOS.

Okay.

So firstly, fat is just one of our tissues, and there's subcutaneous fat, that pinchable stuff under our skin.

Um, and then we have fat in and around our organs, and we're learning a lot more about fat as we go on.

Before we were like, oh, there's brown fat that babies have, and there's, you know, the other fat that the rest of us have.

But the situation of the fat is important, and we also know that there's lots of different types of fats.

Um, but if we were to break it down into subcutaneous and visceral just for this pod, just to understand it a bit more clearer, the visceral fat is in and around our organs.

Fiber-rich foods?

So before you go on the run, don't have a bowl of bran flakes and two cups of coffee.

Yeah, well, yes and no, because most runners actually feel more comfortable going for a run once they've done the first two of the day.

And so what we try and do is we try and stimulate that.

So, for example, we might have... a snack late at night that we know will stimulate the bowels to move so that you defecate first thing in the morning so for example we might do a yogurt with two kiwis and some flaxseed or else some prunes and then the coffee coffee is brilliant at stimulating the guts to move and it's not just the caffeine in it it's the coffee itself it will stimulate the gut to move as much as a very large meal.

So we bring that in, usually an espresso, and that gets things going.

People then need to poo.

They poo at home in their own bathroom and there's a sense of relief then that they know that they can go for a run and there's nothing waiting there that could cause any sort of urgency then while they're on the run.

For people, though, Orla, who run marathons or even ultra marathons, how do they manage it?

Why is 6.28pm the perfect time, Orla?

very precise isn't it isn't it very precise I struggle to get a healthy dinner on the table on Monday to Friday as it is let alone if there was a stopwatch attached to it I think you know when it comes to dinner it's these things are a problem if they're a problem so if we're eating late and we have reflux and it's affecting our sleeping then it's obviously not a good idea to be eating dinner so late.

The other problem with eating dinner so late is that we tend to get quite hungry.

And while we're even making dinner in the kitchen, we'll be picking on other things before the dinner is even on the table.

So really, it is beneficial to have your dinner earlier to prevent getting too hungry and therefore eating too much or eating too fast, which gives digestive issues.

But I suppose it's a hard one in our busy lifestyles to get the dinner on the table at a certain time, especially if you have kids with activities.

She's wondering what's the best time for a six-year-old to eat dinner? Should it be a little earlier?

Yeah, it would be because a six-year-old's probably going to bed at half seven, eight because they do still need up to 12 hours a night.

Do we need it?

We don't need protein supplements, but they can be useful.

So younger people, their muscles are really easy to stimulate, to grow and repair.

And if someone was exercising too intense and they're young, it's actually easy enough to hit their protein requirements that would maximize that muscle building process.

It's about 1.6 grams per kilo per day.

And that's easy enough to achieve for the vast majority.

I suppose protein supplements become handy the older you get, the harder it is to stimulate your muscles to grow and repair.

Is that not enough once you turn 40, 50, 60, whatever, whatever age people are at?