After Hours with Dr Vincent and Stephen

In this episode of After Hours, Christian and I unpack the real story behind ultra processed foods and why they have become so hard to escape. We talk about how these products are engineered for convenience, speed and hyper-palatability, not nourishment. They are foods made in factories rather than kitchens, designed to override your natural hunger cues and keep you reaching for more. For many people including us the challenge is not lack of discipline but living in an environment where convenience is everywhere and real food takes time.

Christian and I also explore the science of what ultra processed foods do to the body. They disrupt digestion, inflame tissues and interfere with hormonal signalling. They change your energy, your mood and even how your metabolism functions. We discuss why people can feel tired, foggy or constantly hungry even when they are eating plenty. The body is not broken, it is reacting to additives, emulsifiers, poor fats and low fibre that put pressure on cells every single day.

The episode ends on a practical note. You do not need to eliminate ultra processed foods completely to protect your health. Christian and I talk about realistic shifts like the 80 20 rule, adding more whole foods, increasing fibre and using antioxidants like apple phenolics to reduce the daily inflammation load. Modern life makes perfect eating impossible but it also makes small, intentional choices more powerful than ever. This conversation is about understanding what you are up against and giving your body the support it needs to feel energised, steady and well.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

In this episode of After Hours, Christian and I dive into the uncomfortable yet empowering truth about illness. We often think of getting sick as something that happens to us, a random strike of bad luck, but the body is always talking long before symptoms appear. Illness is not just an event. It is a signal, a consequence, a pattern that has been forming quietly in the background. When we understand that, we stop feeling helpless and start seeing the early clues our body leaves for us.

We also explore why modern life makes this harder. Most people are juggling work, parenting, stress and poor sleep while living in an environment that constantly inflames the body. When you are tired or run-down or eating on the go, the immune system becomes reactive instead of responsive. Christian and I talk about the difference between fighting an illness and supporting the body so it does not need to fight as often. We look at digestion, inflammation, gut health and how your daily choices either protect or pressure your system.

The heart of the episode is this message. Your body is not failing. It is adapting. Symptoms are not the enemy. They are the language of the body asking for help. When you understand the science behind immunity and inflammation you stop blaming yourself and start giving your body what it needs to repair and reset. Knowledge is power and in this conversation we show how small, intentional changes can shift your whole relationship with illness and your health.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Inflammation is one of those words people love to throw around without really knowing what it means. Most people picture a swollen ankle, a red rash or a puffy joint and think, “That’s inflammation.” Yes, that is one version of it, but it is only the surface. Inflammation is actually one of the most powerful communication systems in your body. It is how your cells send a distress signal and say, “Something is wrong, send help.” When that system is controlled and short term, it literally keeps you alive. When it is switched on all the time in the background, it slowly wears you down from the inside, long before you feel or see anything obvious.

At the cellular level, inflammation is really about stress and control. Your cells are under constant pressure from normal life, and one of the biggest drivers is oxidation. Every time you breathe, move, think, digest food or just exist, your body produces free radicals. These are unstable molecules that are missing an electron and are constantly trying to steal one to stabilise themselves. In small amounts, your body is very good at handling them. The problem starts when free radicals are being produced faster than your natural antioxidants can neutralise them. Your cells become unstable, your systems start to overcompensate and that unstable state is one of the main pathways into chronic inflammation.

Why does this matter so much? Because chronic, low grade inflammation sits behind many of the modern health issues I talk about every week. Only about 5 to 10 percent of cancers are truly hereditary. The majority begin as normal, healthy cells that are repeatedly inflamed, stressed and forced to mutate over time. The same concept applies to a lot of autoimmune conditions, joint pain, gut problems, skin issues, low energy and even poor sleep. Your gut lining, for example, is meant to inflame and repair quickly as part of normal digestion. When you are healthy, the repair matches the damage. When inflammation is out of control, that balance is lost. You start to notice bloating, food intolerances, reflux, constipation or loose stools, gassiness, discomfort after eating and changes in your microbiome that you cannot see but you definitely feel.

Your skin and joints tell their own inflammation story. Conditions like eczema and psoriasis are not simply “dry skin” problems, they are inflammatory and often autoimmune, where your immune system is literally attacking your own skin barrier. Acne begins with a bacterial infection, but inflamed skin is far more likely to break out and to heal with scarring. In the joints, inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis are driven by the immune system attacking the joint structures. When I first gave my grandma early samples of activated phenolic antioxidants from my research, my only hope was to reduce her pain, because pain is caused by inflammation. What happened went far beyond that. By lowering her inflammation at the cellular level, we gave her cells the time and “space” to repair. Her cartilage recovered, her pain reduced and she went from being wheelchair bound to walking and dancing again in her 80s. That is the power of addressing the root cause, not just numbing the symptom.

The challenge is that we now live in a world that almost feels designed to inflame us. Ultra processed food, low fibre diets, constant sugar hits, disrupted sleep, chronic stress, sitting all day, pollution, smoking or vaping, poor hydration, microplastics and forever chemicals, they all add pressure to your cells. Even when you try to be “healthy” you are exposed, for example through takeaway coffee cups with plastic coatings and single use containers that exist for three minutes but leave a chemical footprint for much longer. I am not telling you this to make you paranoid, but to explain why so many people feel tired, puffy, moody or “off” even when their blood tests look normal. Your body is stuck in code red, diverting its resources to fighting stress and inflammation, while digestion, immunity, hormones, mood and sleep are quietly sacrificed.

The good news is that you have more control than you think. Start with your gut. Aim for at least 80 percent of your diet to come from whole, minimally processed foods that naturally help to reduce inflammation. This means fruit, especially apples, vegetables, healthy fats, nuts, legumes, whole grains and omega 3 rich foods. Be cautious with harsh “detox” greens, spirulina and tree bark powders that simply irritate your gut and send you to the toilet. That is not detox, that is inflammation and water loss. Respect your proteins by how you cook them, more steaming, baking and gentle roasting, less deep frying and constant charring that turns a good ingredient into an inflammatory one. Remember, what you put into your body is what your cells have to work with.

From there, protect your repair systems and your barriers. Prioritise your sleep as a non negotiable part of your health routine, not an afterthought. Sleep is when your body does its deepest repair work and resets your hormones and immune system. Move your body every day and aim for around ten thousand steps as a healthy goal rather than a punishment. Manage your stress in realistic, human ways: walking, sunlight, gardening, time in nature, deep breathing, real social connection. Finally, look after your skin barrier with the same respect you give your gut. Use gentle, supportive skincare that calms rather than strips, because broken barriers, whether on your skin or in your gut, are open invitations to inflammation. You do not need to be perfect. Follow my favourite rule: be good 80 percent of the time, live and let live 20 percent of the time. Health is not about perfection, it is about consistency. If you can make small, consistent changes to reduce inflammation, you give yourself the best chance at a longer, healthier and happier life.

Hydration is one of the simplest, cheapest and most overlooked parts of health. In this week’s After Hours episode, Christian and I talk about why so many people feel exhausted, foggy or irritable all day. They don’t realize the real problem isn’t sleep, stress or sugar. It’s dehydration. Your body is roughly 60 percent water and your brain is around 75 percent. Lose even a tiny amount and your mood, focus, energy, digestion and performance all take a hit.

Yet somehow water has become complicated. Between giant trend cups, electrolyte packets, flavored “smart waters” and every influencer insisting tap water is toxic, it’s no wonder people are confused. For everyday life the best hydrator is still simple H₂O. Clean, safe, filtered if you prefer. But not miracle water, not “activated” water and not bottled marketing hype. Most people don’t need electrolytes unless they’re running a marathon, training intensely or sweating heavily. Your cells just need plain water.

We also break down what counts and doesn’t count as hydration. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and “healthy sodas” don’t hydrate as efficiently as water. They can even push your body to lose more fluid. That’s why so many of us feel hungry, tired or mentally dull long before we feel “thirsty”. One of the best tools is also the simplest: check your urine. Aim for pale straw or light yellow. Not dark yellow. Not clear all the time. Just balanced.

Finally, start your morning with water before anything else. Keep it visible while you work. Drink steadily, not in huge bursts. You’ll think clearer, digest better, feel lighter and function more consistently. You’ll feel this long before you notice it’s happening.

If this episode gets you to pick up a glass of water today, we’ve succeeded.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

We’ve all heard it: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But is it really? New research suggests that for many people, skipping breakfast can actually be a smart and beneficial choice, especially if your goal is weight management without obsessively counting calories.

The Calorie Buffer Effect

The simplest reason skipping breakfast works is math. Most breakfasts range between 300–600 calories, I’m talking cereal with milk, a couple of slices of toast, a smoothie, or a coffee with a muffin - not to mention an Aussie-style Big Brekky which can easily be double that!

Even the seemingly “healthy” options add up fast. A granola bowl with yogurt and honey can pack 500–700 calories. An açai bowl, loaded with blended fruit, nut butter, and toppings, can easily reach 600–800 calories (which worryingly can sometimes be more than a burger and fries). For people who find calorie counting stressful or unrealistic, this creates an automatic deficit that supports weight management.

Because by choosing to skip that meal, you immediately create a calorie buffer of several hundred calories per day without needing to measure, track or log every bite.

Insulin and Metabolic Flexibility

When you skip breakfast, essentially you extend your overnight fast. This gives your body more time in a low-insulin state, which can improve metabolic flexibility - the ability to switch between burning glucose and burning fat for fuel.

Studies on time-restricted eating show that eating within a shorter daily window (for example, 12pm–8pm) can:

* Improve insulin sensitivity

* Support fat oxidation

* Reduce overall energy intake without deliberate restriction

This doesn’t mean everyone should skip breakfast, but for those who can, it’s a simple way to harness fasting physiology.

Appetite Regulation and Simplicity

Skipping breakfast isn’t about starving yourself. For many people, appetite naturally adjusts: they don’t eat more at lunch to “make up” for the missed meal. In fact, some studies show people who skip breakfast end up eating fewer total calories across the day, not more. It also simplifies decision-making. One less meal means fewer chances for hidden calories, fewer food choices to worry about and less stress about tracking numbers.

Who Might Benefit Most

People who aren’t hungry in the morning: forcing yourself to eat when you’re not hungry can lead to overeating later. Busy professionals or parents: skipping breakfast can save time, energy, and decision fatigue. People struggling with calorie tracking: it’s an easy, practical shortcut to create a daily deficit.

Who Should Be Cautious

Skipping breakfast isn’t for everyone. Children, pregnant women, people with diabetes or blood sugar regulation issues or those with a history of disordered eating should avoid this approach unless advised by a healthcare professional.

The Takeaway

Skipping breakfast isn’t a magic trick. But for many adults, it’s a simple, scientifically supported strategy to cut hundreds of calories without calorie counting. It improves metabolic flexibility, reduces decision fatigue, and creates a sustainable “buffer” that helps manage weight and health more easily.

If you’re asking me (after all, it’s called Ask Dr Vincent😊), the old saying may need an update: Breakfast can be important — but only if it works for you.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. For more information about my products: www.renovatio.com.au

In this week’s episode of After Hours, Christian and I dive into one of the most overlooked pillars of health: sleep. What makes a good night’s rest? Why do some people wake up tired even after eight hours? And what really happens inside your body when you dream?

We live in a world that glorifies productivity, where sleep is often treated like an inconvenience rather than a necessity. But sleep isn’t a pause button: it’s the most sophisticated repair system your body has.

During the night, every cell in your body gets a chance to detox, rebuild and reset. It’s not just rest; it’s regeneration. Yet, so many people wake up exhausted, even after what looks like a full night’s sleep. The truth is, you can’t fix tiredness by adding more hours. You fix it by improving how you sleep.

A good night’s sleep moves through several stages. It starts with light sleep, when your body drifts between consciousness and rest. Then comes Stage 2, where your heart rate slows, your temperature drops, and your brain starts filing away memories. Stage 3 is deep sleep, this is your body’s healing mode, when growth hormones are released and tissues repair. Finally, you enter REM, or rapid eye movement sleep. This is when you dream. It’s your brain’s emotional and creative maintenance window, sorting thoughts, processing feelings and strengthening neural connections. Miss this stage, and you’ll wake up foggy, moody and mentally flat — no matter how long you slept.

So why do we still feel tired after sleeping? Because modern life sabotages our sleep architecture. Blue light from screens delays melatonin release, alcohol and heavy meals block deep sleep, and stress hormones like cortisol spike at night when they should be low. Even low-grade inflammation can prevent your body from reaching restorative sleep. That’s why quality matters far more than quantity. Seven solid hours of uninterrupted, rhythmic sleep will do more for your brain, skin and mood than ten restless ones.

When it comes to sleep aids, not everything that knocks you out helps you sleep. Melatonin can be useful for jet lag, but using it nightly can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm, basically it tells your body when to sleep, not how deeply. CPAP machines, on the other hand, are life-changing for people with sleep apnea, ensuring proper oxygen flow.

For those without clinical sleep issues, I often recommend natural options like phenolics combined with passionflower. Passionflower gently calms the nervous system, while apple phenolics reduce inflammation that interferes with deep sleep. Together, they help you drift off naturally and stay asleep, without confusing your body’s biological clock.

Good sleep isn’t a luxury, it’s a foundation. It’s where memory, metabolism, and mood repair themselves. It’s also where your skin heals, your hormones rebalance, and your body learns how to cope with stress. Think of sleep as one of your most powerful antioxidants, a nightly detox that money can’t buy. Honour it, protect it and you’ll wake up not just rested, but restored.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of After Hours: “Why You Still Feel Tired After Sleeping” — where science gets personal.

Listen to the full episode: After Hours — The Science of Weight LossWhere science gets personal.

We’ve been told that weight loss is simple. Eat less, move more. But the truth is, your body isn’t a calculator. It’s a chemistry lab. Calories matter, yes, but how your body processes them depends on far more than diet and exercise.

In my latest After Hours episode, we unpacked the science of weight loss and why some people lose weight easily while others struggle even when they do everything right. The missing piece for many is inflammation.

The Inflammation Connection

When your body is inflamed, your cells become resistant to insulin, the hormone that helps move glucose from your blood into your cells for energy. When insulin can’t do its job properly, excess glucose gets stored as fat. Inflammation also disrupts leptin and ghrelin, the hormones that control hunger and fullness. That’s why some people feel hungry even after eating. Their hunger signals are confused.

Inflammation doesn’t only come from unhealthy food. It’s also triggered by stress, lack of sleep, processed sugar, alcohol and environmental toxins. Over time this creates a metabolic state where your body starts to fight against weight loss.

Why Traditional Diets Fail

When you dramatically cut calories or skip meals, your body senses danger and slows down your metabolism to conserve energy. This is a survival mechanism known as adaptive thermogenesis. You lose weight at first, but once you go back to normal eating your body rebounds and stores even more.

That’s why the real key to lasting weight loss isn’t restriction. It’s restoration. Restoring metabolic balance, gut health and hormonal sensitivity so your body can burn fat naturally again.

The Gut–Brain Axis of Weight

Your gut doesn’t just digest food, it talks directly to your brain. When your gut microbiome is out of balance, it can trigger cravings for sugar and high-fat foods, affect your mood and change how efficiently you use energy. A disrupted gut microbiome also fuels inflammation, which ties gut health and weight closely together.

Foods rich in prebiotics like apples, oats and garlic feed good bacteria, while phenolic antioxidants help calm inflammation. This is why I often talk about apple phenolics. They lower inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity and support the gut-brain connection without disrupting your natural sleep-wake rhythm the way stimulants or artificial aids can.

Beyond Numbers: What Healthy Weight Really Means

True health isn’t about chasing a number on the scale. It’s about lowering chronic inflammation, improving energy, mental clarity and overall wellbeing. When your body is balanced, your weight becomes a reflection of health, not a punishment.

If there’s one message from The Science of Weight Loss, it’s this. Your body doesn’t need to be forced into change. It needs to be supported into balance.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

In this week’s episode, Christian and I dove into two things we don’t usually think of together — gut health and day drinking. On the surface, it feels light and social: brunch mimosas, Aperol spritz in the sun, rosé by the pool. But we pulled back the curtain on what’s really happening inside your gut when you drink during the day.

Alcohol isn’t just about the buzz, it reshapes your microbiome. It wipes out good bacteria, feeds the bad ones, and inflames your gut lining, which is why bloating and gas are so common. Add in sugary cocktails or greasy brunch food, and you’ve created what I like to call a “microbiome hangover”; a gut crash that explains why day drinking often leaves you wiped out before the evening even starts.

We also talked about how timing matters. Drinking earlier in the day can sometimes hit harder, because your body is less hydrated and your gut is more sensitive. But the real trick isn’t whether you drink at brunch or at night, it’s what you do around it. Prebiotic foods before, water and electrolytes during, and antioxidants after can help your gut recover. And trust me, never drink on an empty stomach.

The takeaway? You don’t need to give up your spritz. Just know what’s going on inside your gut and make smarter choices so you can enjoy it without the bloat, the crash, or the sluggish next day.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

In the latest episode of After Hours, Christian and I dove deep into one of my favourite topics — gut health. I called the episode Gut Feeling because our digestive system is far more than just a place where food is broken down. It’s central to how we feel every single day — influencing mood, energy, focus, and even how we respond to stress. Listeners often tell me they “trust their gut” when making decisions, but the truth is, that saying is grounded in biology.

The gut and brain are connected through the vagus nerve, constantly sending signals back and forth. That means when your gut is inflamed or unbalanced, your mind feels it too.

One of the big discussions was whether probiotics are the ultimate fix. I explained why we’ve been looking at it the wrong way — it’s not probiotics, but prebiotics, the functional fibres that feed our good bacteria, that truly build long-term gut resilience.

Also, during the episode, I answered some of the our listener questions! From skincare, skin health and parenting.

What I loved most about this episode was how personal the questions were. People aren’t just curious about their physical health, they want to know how health affects their daily lives, their focus at work, their relationships and even their skin. That’s the beauty of science when it gets personal: it stops being abstract and starts being useful.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!

The future of healthcare isn’t coming, it’s already here. From AI and robots in hospitals to immunotherapy that teaches your immune system to fight smarter, we’re standing on the edge of a medical revolution. But the question is: will it actually make us healthier?

In this episode of After Hours, Christian and I dive into the messy, fascinating world of tomorrow’s medicine. We talk about the trauma from the infamous thalidomide, whether biohacking is genius or snake oil and how stress, toxins, and inflammation are quietly rewriting our biology. We even pull apart that infamous hot mic moment between Putin and Xi Jinping discussing organ transplants - because the future of health is not just science, it’s politics.

And through it all, I bring it back to the one truth I’ve seen in my own research: if 80% of disease is driven by inflammation, then building resilience is everything. That’s where activated phenolics — nature’s ultra antioxidants — have a powerful role to play in keeping us healthy in a world that’s getting more complex by the day.

This isn’t a lecture. It’s an unfiltered conversation about what’s coming, what’s real, and how you can protect yourself. Because staying healthy in the future starts with the choices you make right now.

👉 Listen in, share it with someone curious about the future, and remember: today is a great day to be healthy and happy.

We are so grateful for your support, so we’d like to offer you a special Renovatio deal:

PS: This session was recorded LIVE, thank you to everyone who tuned in!