This episode, Stephen and I finally dove into a topic that I have been wanting to tackle for a while: inflammation. And I want to be honest about why I find this so frustrating as a scientist. Eighty percent of our illnesses and diseases are rooted in inflammation, yet it is consistently one of the most overlooked health conversations out there. Unlike a broken arm or a deep cut, inflammation hides. It shows up as brain fog you brush off as a bad night’s sleep. It shows up as that low-level tiredness you keep blaming on a busy week. We talked about how conditions like PCOS and endometriosis were dismissed for decades, not because patients were wrong, but because the signs were subtle and the pattern was slow. That is the insidious thing about inflammation: because it does not demand your attention the way an obvious injury does, most people put it in the back burner until it has compounded into something far harder to reverse. The key message I kept coming back to is this: know yourself, look for the pattern, and do not wait for a crisis.
From there we got practical. I shared the two atomic habits I genuinely believe make the biggest difference when it comes to managing inflammation over time: hydration and plants. Water is unglamorous advice but it is foundational, and I pushed back on the obsession with apps and tracking. We actually discussed a study showing that people with pre-existing sleep issues who started obsessively recording their sleep scores ended up sleeping worse because of the anxiety it created. The same principle applies more broadly: a little bit of honest self-awareness trumps drowning in data.
I also launched a seven-day challenge on my Instagram, asking people to include four different colored vegetables in at least one meal per day. The digestive tract repairs itself every three to five days, so within a week of doing this consistently, you will feel the difference in energy, regularity, and even skin quality. Four vegetables, seven days. That is not a diet overhaul, that is just the beginning of a new pattern.
We also had a genuinely fun conversation about food, including Stephen’s wife’s complicated relationship with lamb, the correct way to cook Brussels sprouts in an air fryer (dark soy, mirin, sesame oil, a little crisp on the outside), and the surprising botanical reality that tomatoes, coffee, and chocolate are all technically fruit.
I also shared something personal heading into the recording: the next day I was flying to Dallas and then Austin to appear on ShopLC again, this time for two shows including a Monday primetime slot broadcasting to 70 million US households. I still get nervous before those moments, but I talked about something I genuinely believe, which is that the energy you put out matters.
After Hours is where science gets personal. Hosted by Dr Vincent, your friendly neighbourhood scientist and Stephen!
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