Healthy Plate, Healthy Mind isn’t about dieting. It’s about feeling better.

In this timely episode of ConnectForHealth, a Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa initiative in partnership with mentl, host Scott Armstrong (Founder of mentl) and co-host Maissa Al Khafajy (Head of Government Affairs & Strategic Communications, Cigna Healthcare) sit down with Dr Shefali Verma to explore how the food you eat, and when you eat it, can shape your mood, focus, energy, and mental clarity, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

From brain fog and headaches to sleep disruption and cravings, the conversation focuses on the changes that make fasting feel steadier, and the habits that can carry beyond Ramadan.

💬 Topics include:

• The mindset shift that makes Ramadan feel less like deprivation and more like a sustainable lifestyle change
• Meal timing, digestion, and why eating close to bedtime can sabotage sleep quality
• Hydration and electrolytes: why water alone is not always enough
• Breaking the fast: dates, sugar, and small choices that make a big difference
• When to train while fasting, and how to choose what fits your routine
• Constipation during Ramadan, and why it can affect mood, irritability, and anxiety

🎧 Whether you’re fasting for the month, supporting someone who is, or simply curious about the link between nutrition and mental wellbeing, this episode is designed to leave you with clarity you can use immediately.

📌 ConnectForHealth is a podcast and live webinar series from Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa in partnership with mentl, helping you thrive through every stage of life.

Chapter List:

03:35 Ramadan eating window, digestion and sleep basics
05:07 Mindset going into Ramadan (lifestyle vs “diet” thinking)
13:50 Meal timing before bed and improving sleep quality
16:22 Audience questions begin (live Q&A thread kicks off)
22:53 Electrolytes, hydration, headaches and mental clarity
26:56 Breaking the fast: dates, sugar, and practical choices
28:31 When to train during Ramadan (before or after iftar)
33:07 Constipation in Ramadan, mood, and what to do
58:15 Closing and wrap

Failure is uncomfortable - especially when it’s our children experiencing it. But what if failure is one of the most powerful teachers we can give them?

In this episode of ConnectForHealth, host Scott Armstrong, Founder of mentl, and co-host Maissa Al Khafajy, Head of Government Affairs and Strategic Communications at Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa, explore The Power of Failure and what setbacks can teach our kids about resilience, confidence, and emotional intelligence.

Joining the conversation are two powerful voices:

• Sebastian Bates, Founder and CEO of The Warrior Academy and The Bates Foundation, whose work in character education is shaped by personal experience - from childhood bullying to a life-changing accident - and who has mentored over 50,000 families across seven countries.
• Lee Ryan, Manager of Sports Excellence and Athlete Development for Cognita Schools Middle East through the Enrich ME programme, bringing a coach’s perspective on how challenge, loss, and failure in sport can shape stronger, more resilient young people.

Together, they unpack:

• Why shielding children from failure can do more harm than good
• How setbacks build confidence, emotional intelligence, and self-belief
• The role parents, coaches, and schools play in reframing failure
• How sport and physical challenge help kids process disappointment
• What failure teaches children that success never can

This is a must for parents, educators, coaches, and anyone involved in shaping young people’s lives.

Chapter List

00:00 – Welcome & episode context
Introduction to Connect for Health and why resilience and failure matter for children.

03:06 – What is resilience really?
Sebastian Bates and Lee Ryan define resilience as coping, recovery, and repetition.

05:24 – The parental instinct to shield children
Why protecting children from pain can unintentionally weaken resilience.

09:02 – Reframing failure
Failure as unmet expectations, learning loops, and the foundation of success.

12:37 – Lived experience and bullying
Sebastian shares his childhood bullying story and how it shaped his work today.

17:47 – How bullying actually works
Body language, empathy, confidence signaling, and practical tools for children.

22:54 – Cyberbullying and digital resilience
Why online bullying is different and how parents can reduce harm and build self-worth.

30:43 – Working parents and quality time
Non-negotiable connection, presence over perfection, and daily rituals that matter.

39:39 – Supporting children through failure
Practical advice for academic pressure, exclusion, and confidence after setbacks.

55:00 – Final reflections and key takeaways
Courage, character, and why failure is a teacher, not a threat.

In this episode of ConnectForHealth, Scott Armstrong and Maissa Al Khafajy are joined by chartered accountant and money coach Carol Glynn of Conscious Finance Coaching to explore one of the most universal sources of stress: money.

Drawing on years of coaching experience and audience insights, Carol explains why financial pressure affects every part of our lives - our sense of safety, our relationships, our wellbeing and how we make daily choices.

The discussion looks at why people across all income levels experience money anxiety, including those in senior, high-earning roles. Carol breaks down how mindset, self-esteem and inherited beliefs shape our relationship with money, and why earning more rarely solves the underlying problem.

They examine how men and women often view money differently, why couples can struggle to understand each other’s financial behaviour, and how arguments about money usually stem from emotional meaning rather than numbers.

Carol shares practical tools for getting clarity, understanding spending patterns, building a cash-flow plan, and aligning money with your values. The conversation also explores how financial stress affects families and how children absorb money behaviours from the adults around them.

Later in the episode, Carol explains the foundations of financial wellness, from budgeting and needs versus wants, to saving with purpose, building a cash cushion, managing debt and approaching investing with confidence and understanding.

This session is part of the ConnectForHealth series from Cigna Healthcare Middle East and Africa, supported by mentl.

Chapter List:

00:00:10 – Welcome to Connect for Health

00:02:03 – Why money impacts every part of our lives

00:03:55 – Mindset, self-esteem and stress around money

00:04:46 – Two families, same income story, different outcomes

00:08:27 – How men and women think differently about money

00:11:10 – What money means to you: audience perspectives

00:17:01 – Values, clarity and purpose: the core money mindset shift

00:20:24 – Are we living our values or the ‘hamster wheel’?

00:23:34 – What causes financial stress: clarity, planning and debt

00:43:37 – Building financial skills: budgeting, investing and long-term goals