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.