From Susie and Leanne on The Nutrition Couch this episode:
- We review the new research showing a correlation between consumption of sugar free soft drinks and heard disease (atrial fibrillation).
- We also review new research about steps you can take to minimise the risk of your kids developing peanut allergies in adolescence;
- We review Coles Kitchen Ancient Grain & Chickpea Medley;
- We our listener question is about how to pick a health frozen meal.
So sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s episode!
New TNC Webinars
Here is all the info about our new TNC webinars. Both webinars are now on our website and are able to be purchases and watched any time.
Don't Miss an Episode
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode and follow us on social media @the_nutrition_couch_podcast to ask us questions & see our food product reviews.
It would mean the world to us if you could leave us a 5 star review in the purple Apple podcast app (scroll to the bottom of the app to find the ratings and reviews) as this really helps push up higher in the charts to expose our podcast to more ears.
Please follow Susie on her Instagram & Facebook and Leanne on her Instagram, TikTok and the Leanne Ward Nutrition Podcast.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you like a cheeky diet soft drink every now
and again, or do you know that you already drink
way too much.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Of the sweet stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Whether you feel like you're addicted to diet soft drink
or habit as an occasional habit that you know you
would like to kick, Today we share some scary new
research which maybe what you need to hear to kick
the diet soft drink habits for good.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm Susie Burrow and I'm lean Wood, and together we
bring you The Nutrition Couch, a weekly podcast that keeps
you update.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
On everything you need to know in the world of nutritions.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's not a diet soft drinks for anyone dealing with
some pinert allergy at the home.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We have some fascinating new research to share. We found
a yummy.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
New high fiber veggie option at one of our supermarkets,
and our listener question is all about fresh and frozen
meals and how to choose a good one.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So what I'll say before we start this.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Record is I have a terrible, terrible code. You might
hear it in my voice, and I'm going to do
my very best not to cough. But if Leanne suddenly
starts talking. That is the reason. So we need to
do this episode, and we're going to try and do
our best to control ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In our coughing.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So much for being a dietitian not getting sickly and hey, anyway,
soft drink. Now, as dietitians, it's safe to say we
don't like soft drink. Regular full strength soft drink is
packed full of sugar. A three seventy five milk can
has about nine tea spoons, a buddy bottle up to
thirteen teaspoons.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's highly addictive in the sense that more you have,
the more you want. Because it is.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Such an ultra sweet product, there's a lot of artificial colors.
There's often flavors, preservatives, and then you know, some of
us or as dieticians, we will suggest diet is a
better option in the sense you don't get the sugar.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But certainly we also know that nutritionally, there's.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Caused the concern over diet soft drinks, and as someone
who is partial to a diet coke, I'm very aware
of those issues and do try and minimize it, and
I certainly have clients who often lead It's funny do
not mention they like it when I first meet them,
and it comes out later that they're sort of quite
partial to a pepsi max in the afternoon or a
few diet cokes or some will admit very early. So
(02:01):
the first thing that springs to mind with clients when
they're having a lot of diet soft drink is do
they have an issue with glucose regulation? Because the thing
with anything artificially sweetened, and generally soft drinks are all
artificially sweet and doesn't matter what type they are, and
that's you get that intense sweetness, like two hundred times
sweeter than sugar, and that has a pronounced effect on
(02:23):
appetite regulation in the sense that the body recognizes that
you're having a sweet substance and then you're actually not
getting calories. And there's evidence to show it does impact
glucose levels and certainly craving control, and certainly in my experience,
people with glucose regulation issues are often almost addicted to
that sweet hit of it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it can sort of suggest that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Maybe there's some issues with inchlin and glucose, and you'll
know that you sort of really crave it because the
brain is so used to that intensely sweet substance. But
this was actually really interesting research because whilst we often
hear about the negatives associated with both diet soft drink
and soft drink from a weight control perspective, this was
evidence that really looked at the effect on heart health.
(03:03):
And it was published in a big international journal Circulation,
Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, and it was looking at the drinking
habits of over two hundred thousand people living in the
UK age between thirty seven and seventy three, so a
very big study. Now, these observational studies where people report
what they're eating and then look at the outcomes are
(03:24):
not as intense as an intervention study, but when you've
got such a large data set there can certainly it
makes some strong associations.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And it was found in.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This study the individuals who reported consuming more than two
liters of artificially sweetened drinks in twenty four hours, which
some listeners will be going.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh my god, that is so much.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But you know, if you're having two Buddy bottles through
the day and some moorre at night, you're up there,
you know, so it's not that extreme. Or I noticed
with younger people if they're going to movies and stuff.
They're getting those jumbo soft drink you drinks, so basically
it's for the people who.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Are drinking it all day every day, they had.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
A twenty percent higher chance of developing atual fibrillation, which
is a linkedally regular heartbeat basically, And to me that
makes sense in the case that a lot of diet
soft drink is also containing caffeine.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
But yeah, it was just an association.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But I thought it's something interesting because it shows that
it's perhaps not just impacting weight and behavior patterns with
food and regulating appetite and craving control, but if you
have got heart disease risk factors or are at risk
of uneven heart rate, it's certainly not a substance you
want to be adding back in. And often it's not
until we're much older that we realize that, and you
(04:41):
sort of have developed that habit over a.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Long period of time. But that didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Whether it was sugar sweetened or the diet stuff. It
was equally as bad when it came to heart health.
And I thought it was just interesting in terms of,
you know, it's not just always about weight. It's about
the impact some of these foods and in this case
process food has on a general health and well being
and in this case the health of our heart.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And in the study they found that people who had
reported consuming beverages with added sugar in it.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
So this isn't the diet kind.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
This is like the full sugar soft drink had an
increased risk of cardiac conditions way up to ten percent.
But the interesting thing was Susie on the flip side
of that consuming unsweetened juices. So we're talking about one
hundred percent natural orange juice as an example, that was
actually associated with a reduced risk of up to eight percent.
So are we advocating everybody go out there and drink
(05:35):
tons of juice. No, But if the choice was between
a coke or a natural glass of orange juice, at
least you're getting a little bit of fiber and vitamin
ced like, you're getting some nutrients out of the orange
juice versus the only real thing you're getting from coke
is pure sugar or glucose, which we know that that's
not great unless you're about to run like a marathon
(05:56):
or something, and a little bit of caffeine. And let's
be honest, I think too many Aussies and even around
the world, we probably drink far too much caffeine. A
lot of us are quite reliant on it. I can
speak from experience with two tiny humans. I do enjoy
nothing more than my couple of cups of coffee each day,
but I have mine at a half strenth just so
I can have to today, and they're both half strength,
so really I only have one, but my brain thinks
(06:17):
I'm having too, So we probably already have far too
much caffeine anyway. But just interesting because I think that,
you know, a lot of times things like juices are
really vilified, and people are like, we'll have diet soft drink,
it's so much better for you.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But we are seeing more.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And more emerging research that's now talking to the negatives
of not just normal soft drink, which we know it's
not great for us, but also some things like diet
soft drink as well. And I know it's heavily promoted
in the weight loss community. And I don't necessarily have
anything against dice soft drink, but I'm certainly you know,
if my clients want a little bit, I'd much rather
than have a diet lemonade, then something like a diet
(06:51):
Pepsi max, or you know, like a diet fanted with
all of those extra artificial colors like Susie talked about
as well, or even something there's a few more natural brands,
like I think the next brand has a little bit
more of natural sweetness versus the artificial ones in there
as well. So I think just the dose makes a
poison like anything. And this study really did show it
was over two liters a day and that equates, so
(07:12):
I think about six cans, you would basically need to
be drinking diet soft drink instead of water. That's really
the only way that somebody would drink that much of it,
And it does make sense that it would potentially impact
your heart, particularly if those cans. If you had six
plus cans a day and they were caffeinated, that'd be
a hell of a lot of caffeine. So just I
think something to be aware. If you know that friends
(07:33):
and families they have a bit of a habit, it
might be an interesting study to send.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
On to them.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Our friend Donald Chep has to be careful because I've
heard that he just drinks diricoke all day.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But just a few tips for the fans who really
rely on it, you know, particularly in the second.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Half of the day, just to give you the pep up.
I think volume is important and the more you have,
the more you want.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So when I'm trying to wean someone off it, I'll say,
go from if you're having the bottle, go down to
the can, and then even the smaller can over time,
and the same, the.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Less you have, the less you want.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Always have it with food rather than just on its
owing to help regulate blood glucose levels. And if you
can over time, like we describe swaps, something like a
sparkling water or one of those functional adaptogenic drinks that
you can see like the Kombucher's and there's a whole
range in supermarkets, and basically pro actively train yourself towards
(08:27):
a different flavor long term for your health. That's definitely
the best outcome. But if you keep buying the big
pack of you know that you buy the case of
the cans when they're on sale, and they work out
like fifty cent a can, you will have it. It's
like anything of it's in the house, you will drink it,
So it's more, you know, try.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And keep it for that.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I really need it day versus becoming reliant day in
day out and try and shift over time, and definitely
that's a better health outcome for a number of different reasons.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Nutritionally, I like the idea that you said trial some
other different I guess drinks with some slightly added benefits,
such as kombucha for example, and one of my favorite
ones to suggest to clients if they're going to like
a backyard barbecue and they're not wanting an alcoholic drink,
rather than drinking the standard can of coke or cann
of diet coke, I suggest that they take like a
ginger and lemon like kombucha, because that again the taste
(09:19):
it is not overly sweet. It's something that it is
a little bit quote unquote fancy, and then water. You're
getting some additional benefits of the probotic, so potentially having
some improved gut heals benefits. Some of the jury is
still out on some of the brands, but again, it's
not something that's super super sweet and then makes you
crave more sugar for the rest of the afternoon or
the rest of the night. So I really like some
(09:40):
of those more ginger based types of kombucher as well.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
All right, Susie.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Moving on to a interesting research study I found on peanuts,
and this has really picked my interest because my little
mea has five nut allergies, peanut being one of them.
She's highly allergic to peanuts, cashews, what else peanuts, cashews, walnuts,
pecans and stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I always remember the peas, all the.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Peace, yeah, all the peace possible nuts. And my niece
as well has that little genetic Lincoln. She also has
a peanut allergy and they've both done blood tests and
they're still quite moderate. My niece did do a challenge
and I think she only got to the third stage
in that before she had a reaction, so they've told
us she has to wait another year or two before
she can try again. The good news is that a
lot of children do grow out of their peanut allergy,
(10:24):
but unfortunately some it remains into their teen years and
into adulthood, and the longer that you have an allergy,
for the worse and more seriously reactions can get over time.
So I quite liked this new research study. It came
from the New England Journal of Medicine, which we know
was a very well respected journal and they're talking about
a three phase trial that's called the LIP series, so
(10:46):
LIP standing for Learning Early about Peanut Allergy l EAP.
So essentially, what this study has found was that introducing
children to peanuts early in life, from infancy right up
to age of five years old, can actually help to
improve their tolerance to peanuts into their teen years, irrespective
(11:06):
of subsequent peanut intakes during childhood.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
So introduce it early.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Even if you don't continue with it, or it's like
really sporadic the amount of times they might have it.
They might have pebe on toast every day for a
week and then not have it again for a year,
it still has beneficial effects.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
So this was I.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Think the second or third I think was this third
part of the trial. And in the initial LEAP research
trial they followed six hundred and forty children at risk
of developing nut allergies. And I didn't go through the
study thoroughly enough to figure out what at risk meant,
but I assume that it means something like you know
your loved one or genetic family member has has a
(11:44):
peanut allergy, therefore you're sort of at risk as well.
So the first part of the study of this series
found that introducing peanuts early to babies at around the
five to six month of age mark, rather than waiting
until later on. I think if I'm wrong, but I
think the research was. I remember my allergist saying they
used to say years ago to parents, introduce wait till
(12:06):
they're twelve months, and then introduced nuts. But the research
has now changed and they're saying to introduce all allogens
early and have trialed them all before twelve.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Months of age.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's the research that my pediatrician of my allergises has
said to us. So when we did Matilda when she
started solids for six months, she's now one, she had
her first birthday a few weeks ago. We've actually tried
all of the allergens and touchwood. She's good for now, Susi,
which I'm really.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Really happy about.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But we also started me at six months of age
when she started solids, and I think she had her
first reaction around eight months as we were working our
way through the different food allergens. So rather than avoiding them,
you need to start them early. If you trial a
lot of the allergens with your baby from that six
to twelve month age gap, it actually can cut the
risk of having a peanut allergy by eighty one percent
(12:52):
by the age of five years old. So even if
you've missed the boat and you're listening to this and
you think, oh, gosh, I've got a baby, you're a
small child in their tune. Now, it's all better to
introduce it now and give it regularly that it is
to just never let them have it, and you know,
never never let them have it again, and if they're
not someone that loves it a lot, that exposure can
be really helpful. So even if I'm not advocating this,
(13:13):
but for example, they having a teller on toast right,
even mixing a small amount of peanuts in there to
get the exposure and get them having it regularly so
that they still think they're having them to tell a spread,
but it's got a little bit of the peanuts in there.
That's going to do wonders in terms of reducing or
cutting the risk down to them potentially developing an allergy
later on. Now, because that trial was so successful in
(13:34):
the outcomes that they found, they did an extension of
the trial, a second phase of that, and then that
showed that even the effects of reducing the peanut allergy
persisted even after if the kids stopped eating peanuts after
one year of age, they just didn't have them again,
it still was really successful in reducing that risk longer term.
(13:54):
Now the third stage of the LEAP series, and LEAP
being learning early about peanut allergy, it involves five hundred
and eight children, so still a really large data set.
It's also really great because they followed these kids for
twelve years of age. So what this third phase of
the child set out to examine was the durability of
the peanut tolerance over time. So they followed these five
(14:16):
hundred and eight kids for twelve years. And even if
these kids just randomly or sporadically eight peanuts so like
you know, ad lib just ate them whenever they sort
of felt like it, maybe a couple of times a
week and then maybe not for months on a time,
even these periods of randomly eating peanuts on and off
again versus avoiding them all together, the finding showed that
(14:36):
by twelve years of age, the peanut allergy remained significantly
more prevalent in the groups of children who avoided peanuts
altogether versus the groups of children who had that sporadic
peanut consumption, so fifteen point four percent versus four point
four percent, so it's actually a clinically significant difference. So
basically there was a protective effect of early peanut consumption
(15:00):
and then continuing that no matter how random or soproatic,
that was well into the adolescent period and actually helped
to reduce pinut allergies overall. Because don't forget, they may
a lot of children it's after their first few exposures,
when their babies or infants that an allergy might come about.
But you can actually develop an allergy at any time.
A good friend of mine, she's what thirty four or something,
(15:21):
developed like an anaphylactic fish allergy, which she'd been eating
fish her entire life and now is completely anaphylactic to fish.
You can actually develop an allergy at any time. It's
not to say that just because you've got your bubb
through that first twelve months and they didn't have any reaction,
that they'll be completely fine forever.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
It is really important to keep.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
These allergens in the diet and keep regularly exposing children,
young jiwldren, teens, and adolescents to these particular allergens to
try to avoid the occurrence of an allergy later on.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So interesting because it's so incredibly common and as we've
know in Australia is one of the highest at highest
risk of childhood allergy.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Allergy capital of the world. Yeah, so I.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Think this is a straight This might be in a straight study,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I didn't look.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Actually it was a New England journal that was where
I was written up.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But I don't know if let me just don't a check.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, it just sounds vaguely familiar from when I went
to kids hospital. But I think because they've got such
a huge interest because allergy is so ripier and so sadly.
One of the teenage boys at my boys' school passed
away an allergy and.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
In the exposure at.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
A restaurant, and yeah, being a teenager and we don't
always have control, so it's really very serious. So I
think anyone who is touched byology will appreciate this research
all rightly, am We've sound some cool veggies, and as dieticians,
we love veggies. Now, I've always said when supermarkets do
good things, I'm very quick to praise them, because there's
(16:45):
certainly many things.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That we criticize them.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
For and this new I think another dietitian actually found this.
This is the Cole's Kitchen, which is that brand in
Cole's Fresh section where they've got soups and things.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But I believe this is a frozen product.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
It's called the Ancient Grain and Chickpea Medley, and it's
seven hundred and fifty grams in freezer sections and it
retails for seven dollars. But nutritionally, it's just got this
gorgeous mix of flavor into the veggies. Because one of
the things I think is tricky for clients, particularly when
we're trying to significantly increase their intake of veggies, is
you know, they can be a bit bland. So I'm
(17:21):
all for anything that flavors up veggies and increases people's intake.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Beless things taste good.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So the ingredient list there is twenty two percent of
green lentils, polyflower at thirteen percent, chickpeas at eleven percent,
kin wear at seven percent, red onion five percent, red
taxic on five percent, bring onion four percent.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Then it runs down.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know, there's some things such some cream, milk, kinoi onion,
and lots of herbs and spices.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Now it's a long ingredient list, but pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
There's sort of the flavors and additives used are pretty innocent,
nothing over concerning Nutritionally, it comes in about one hundred
and forty calories per serve, five grands of vegetable based
protein coming from those legs umes, thirteen point eight grams
of carbohydrate, very little sugars too, which would be mainly
naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
More than three grams of dietary fiber perserve.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's a little bit of sodium added for flavor, about
three hundred, but nothing to be concerned about. So I
think we like this product because it's just first of all,
flavoring legumes, because legumes have so many nutritional benefits.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
They're hyh directory five, they're high in protein.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But if you don't come from one of those cultural
groups who routinely have them, obviously we tend to have
them with Mexican food, and certainly if you're rarely background
sort of Middle Eastern, you're much more familiar with chip
peas and things as part of the cuisine.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
But many of us are not.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And so I think a product like this is great
because it's flavoring up something we want everyone to eat
more of and if you enjoy that kind of more curry.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Sort of flavor, it's a big thumbs up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Now, seven dollars for seven point fifty you're getting four serves.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's not inexpensive, but let's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Be honest, fresh veggies at the moment are just ridiculous
in price.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Point six serves actually, oh, six serves. Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
It's not such a flavor that I would personally go for,
but I know so many clients who would love this
mix to have some extra veggies and legumes with a
nice sort of curry flavor through it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
So yeah, big fans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, I think the flavor kind of limits what you
could put it into because it is that curry base.
You know, we've got ginger, we've got garlic, we've got
curry powder, turmeric, human fenagreek, cinnamon, like it is a
strong flavor profile mustard sees human turmeric. But I think
that you know, with a bit of rice, with a
bit of a lean proteins, also a big handful of
(19:32):
broccoli or green beans, you basically have a complete meal.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I really like.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And it's just under two serves of vegetables per serving.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
So seven dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It sounds a lot, but you're getting six serves out
of the packet, so you're getting quite a few meals
out of this, and it's a really solid.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Base of a meal.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I mean, it's only got thirteen grams of carbohydrate in there,
so I would be very happy if my client's pair
that would have a little bit of brown rice or
some kinoir, even a little bit of say buckwheat, plus
a bit of lean protein. You might want to steams
some beautiful fish with a little bit of lemon grass
and some other herbs and spices. You might want to
add a bit of chicken or tofu for this as well,
just to boost that overall protein because it's only got
(20:10):
five point six grams a serve. But I think it's
a really really strong based nutritionally, And as she said, Susie,
it's got a lot of ingredients, but they're mainly whole
food ingredients, and there is a little bit of added
cheese and cream in there, but there's saturated Fat's very
low one point eight grams per serve, and let's be honest,
the cream and cheese just adds to the nice flavor
profile where it makes it taste that little bit better.
(20:32):
We're hard pressed enough to get people to eat enough vegetables.
Ninety five percent of Australians do not eat enough vegetables,
and the statistics are pretty similar through the UK and
through the USA as well, So we know that people
don't eat enough vegetables, and I'm okay with adding some
flavoring to that to make them taste better.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
So I think it's a strong product.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I think with a really nice dollar of Greeks yogurt,
a little bit of say tofu or chicken or fish
added in there, and then a bit of rice on
the side, can really create a really nice, asked balanced meal.
And I like that, you know, I like products that
are kind of giving you about half a meal and
you just need to add to them, particularly on busy nights,
like you might get the kids back late from swimming
(21:11):
practice or from sport events, or you might finish work
really late and be rushing home or have a nighttime
session with your personal trainer. You don't want to spend
an hour cooking dinner. You could pull together a nourishing
meal using this as your base in under ten minutes.
So I think for me it's a five stars. It
is a new product. We do know that new products,
particularly in big supermarkets like holes, don't stay around a
(21:31):
lot if people don't buy them. So you know, we're
trying to get people to eat more vegetables. We're trying
to get them to eat more beans and pulses. Please guys,
jump on this one. Purchase a few bags, have them
in the freezer. This, you know, with a little bit
of rice and some crumbfish or something, could go a
long way as well as just a quick and easy
Thursday or Friday night meal after a long week.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So I love it. Gets a big thumbs up from me, Susie.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Also budget friendly, you know, that's what I always talking
about with dumpling recipes, Like you get home and you
can do at a mummy and dumplings, and it's so
relatively inexpensive meal compared to what we send them takeaway.
And this is the same if you did some steam
fresh fish filets with this, you're looking at a meal
that comes in under twenty dollars for the family and
nutritionally so rich.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I think it's a good find And if you try it,
let us know what you think, all right, we're to
finish off today. A question now, I'm actually pretty sure
we've had this question before, but I think I'm going
to repeat it because it's just such a common one
that comes up, and the question was about what to
look for when choosing pre made meals. Now, the pre
made meal market has changed dramatically even in the last
(22:36):
three to five years, Like it's gone from being a
few sort of frozen mixes to this whole section of
the supermarket dedicated to fresh meals that are already prepared,
and also an ever expanding range of frozen meals that
target a number of dietary requirements, whether it's lower carb,
whether it's high protein, whether it's hardy meal serves. And
(22:57):
from a budget perspective, goods, you know, you can find
meals for five, six, eight, ten dollars which are literally
impossible to prepare from scratch for those price points, and
I think the common misconception is that they're lacking nutritionally. Now,
certainly the old school frozen meal that was mostly pasta
and some creamy sauce is not ideal, but there certainly
(23:18):
are a growing range of higher protein options that are
pretty good nutritionally and from a frozen perspective, they're snap frozen,
so they retain the nutritional nutrients as when they were
first cooked. And in fact, some vegetables actually have high
nutritional quality when they're frozen versus fresh.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So you don't need to be alarmed. But the two
things I'm looking for with a meal, whether it's frozen
or fresh, or probably three things.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
The first is that I want a decent amount of protein,
because a well balanced meal will have at least twenty,
if not closer to thirty grams of protein per serve,
so I do think you better to pay a bit
more to get those higher protein amounts.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Then I would be looking at the overall energy density
of the meal. So we know that the majority of
our listeners are female, and we know that the majority.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Are looking to lose weight. Goal is weight loss.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I would say a good frozen meal for lunches anywhere
between the three to five hundred calorie mark.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
And if you're looking at dinner.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I would say, and obviously this depends on your requirements,
your body weight, your energy expenditure. A lot of things
go into determining what your sort of energy goals are.
But I think from a dinner perspective, anywhere between sort
of four to six seven hundred calories. Seven hundred might
be pushing in unless you're very active or quite large
for dinner is a well rounded meal, so looking at
protein and overall calorie goal for most frozen meals, and
(24:29):
then I say to my clients, don't stress too much
about the carbs or the fats, but what I do
want you to focus on is the fiber, because we
do know that if there's more dietary fiber in that meal, A,
we're getting some gut house benefits. B it's helping with
SATARTI along with the higher protein content. And see, it
just helps to keep us a little bit full of
for longer as well and helps us you know, chew
(24:49):
more and digest and break down that food. And generally
that fiber comes from either whole grains so better quality
carbohydrates or vegetables. And the bulk of the frozen meals
or the premie meals on the market significantly lack vegetables
because one, you know, people don't really naturally go towards them,
so I don't think companies put them in too much.
But be also, they tend to be quite expensive, and
(25:10):
I think what you'll find in the bulk of the
frozen meals is carrots, like they pretty much all contain
carrots because they're so cheap, or basically green peas. If
you ever see something like mushrooms or a little bit
of bockchoy or something like that in a frozen or
a fresh meal, you pit the jackpot so as many
vegetables as possible. What I say to my clients generally,
if you found a nice balance meal, it's got a
good amount of fiber or a good amount of protein
(25:32):
in there, and it sort of fits that calorie goal
that you have for yourself. It might be between say
four to five hundred calories. Then add in a big
handful of frozen broccoli or a big can full of
green peas or something to just boost the overall vegetable
volume of the meal. And the other thing that you'd
really want to look out for is making sure that
that meal doesn't have too many of the added you know,
(25:53):
emulsifiers and preservatives and additives and flavors and MMSG. You know,
flavor type in pants is like six two one, because
although that is common in a lot of these meals,
because a lot of the preservatives that emulsifiers help to
make it a little bit more shelf stable, help that
meal to last, you know, seven days on the shelf
versus two or three days if you were to make it.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Yourself at home.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
So, although some of that is normal, ideally the less
of it the better from a general health perspective. So
you actually want to scan the ingredient list as well
and not just look at the macro nutrient profile, which
I think a.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Lot of us do.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
We get quite obsessed with hitting the macros and hitting
the numbers and forget about the actual ingredients in that
meal as well. So ideally i'd either want to see
a protein or a vegetable as the top three ingredients
in that frozen meal. So first or second ingredient was
cream or sugar or pasta. I'd probably be putting that
back if my goal was health or weight loss, because
(26:46):
I just think that we're focusing on the wrong ingredients.
Because we know that the ingredient list is listed weight
for weight, with the most containing ingredients in that product
list being first on the ingredient list and the smallest
in that being one.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Of the last ingredients on the ingredient list.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
So ideally, we want to see either a protein or
a vegetable listed in the top one to two three
ingredients in that meal.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
True, And I think, as a general rule of thumb,
whenever we're talking about foods that are processed, the shorter
of the ingredient lists the better. And I'm often looking
for veggie serves. If you're getting at least two veggie serves,
that's a good starting point. So there's plenty of good
options out there, and in generally you do kind of
get what you pay for. But if you're seeing plenty
of veggies and protein high up on the list, you're
on the right track all right ly. And that brings
(27:29):
us to the end of a cow ridden nutrition couch.
Please keep telling your friends about us so we can
continue to keep growing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I think we're about tip five million downloads, which is exciting.
And for those of you who are familiar with our
supplement range to then by dieticians. In the next week
or two.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Our hot chocolate will launch, so we will have a
special episode talking about that very soon.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
So have a great week, Catch you guys next week.
Do you like a cheeky diet soft drink every now
and again, or do you know that you already drink
way too much.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Of the sweet stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Whether you feel like you're addicted to diet soft drink
or habit as an occasional habit that you know you
would like to kick, Today we share some scary new
research which maybe what you need to hear to kick
the diet soft drink habits for good.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm Susie Burrow and I'm lean Wood, and together we
bring you The Nutrition Couch, a weekly podcast that keeps
you update.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
On everything you need to know in the world of nutritions.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's not a diet soft drinks for anyone dealing with
some pinert allergy at the home.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We have some fascinating new research to share. We found
a yummy.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
New high fiber veggie option at one of our supermarkets,
and our listener question is all about fresh and frozen
meals and how to choose a good one.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So what I'll say before we start this.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Record is I have a terrible, terrible code. You might
hear it in my voice, and I'm going to do
my very best not to cough. But if Leanne suddenly
starts talking. That is the reason. So we need to
do this episode, and we're going to try and do
our best to control ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In our coughing.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So much for being a dietitian not getting sickly and hey, anyway,
soft drink. Now, as dietitians, it's safe to say we
don't like soft drink. Regular full strength soft drink is
packed full of sugar. A three seventy five milk can
has about nine tea spoons, a buddy bottle up to
thirteen teaspoons.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's highly addictive in the sense that more you have,
the more you want. Because it is.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Such an ultra sweet product, there's a lot of artificial colors.
There's often flavors, preservatives, and then you know, some of
us or as dieticians, we will suggest diet is a
better option in the sense you don't get the sugar.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But certainly we also know that nutritionally, there's.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Caused the concern over diet soft drinks, and as someone
who is partial to a diet coke, I'm very aware
of those issues and do try and minimize it, and
I certainly have clients who often lead It's funny do
not mention they like it when I first meet them,
and it comes out later that they're sort of quite
partial to a pepsi max in the afternoon or a
few diet cokes or some will admit very early. So
(02:01):
the first thing that springs to mind with clients when
they're having a lot of diet soft drink is do
they have an issue with glucose regulation? Because the thing
with anything artificially sweetened, and generally soft drinks are all
artificially sweet and doesn't matter what type they are, and
that's you get that intense sweetness, like two hundred times
sweeter than sugar, and that has a pronounced effect on
(02:23):
appetite regulation in the sense that the body recognizes that
you're having a sweet substance and then you're actually not
getting calories. And there's evidence to show it does impact
glucose levels and certainly craving control, and certainly in my experience,
people with glucose regulation issues are often almost addicted to
that sweet hit of it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it can sort of suggest that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Maybe there's some issues with inchlin and glucose, and you'll
know that you sort of really crave it because the
brain is so used to that intensely sweet substance. But
this was actually really interesting research because whilst we often
hear about the negatives associated with both diet soft drink
and soft drink from a weight control perspective, this was
evidence that really looked at the effect on heart health.
(03:03):
And it was published in a big international journal Circulation,
Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, and it was looking at the drinking
habits of over two hundred thousand people living in the
UK age between thirty seven and seventy three, so a
very big study. Now, these observational studies where people report
what they're eating and then look at the outcomes are
(03:24):
not as intense as an intervention study, but when you've
got such a large data set there can certainly it
makes some strong associations.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And it was found in.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This study the individuals who reported consuming more than two
liters of artificially sweetened drinks in twenty four hours, which
some listeners will be going.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh my god, that is so much.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But you know, if you're having two Buddy bottles through
the day and some moorre at night, you're up there,
you know, so it's not that extreme. Or I noticed
with younger people if they're going to movies and stuff.
They're getting those jumbo soft drink you drinks, so basically
it's for the people who.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Are drinking it all day every day, they had.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
A twenty percent higher chance of developing atual fibrillation, which
is a linkedally regular heartbeat basically, And to me that
makes sense in the case that a lot of diet
soft drink is also containing caffeine.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
But yeah, it was just an association.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But I thought it's something interesting because it shows that
it's perhaps not just impacting weight and behavior patterns with
food and regulating appetite and craving control, but if you
have got heart disease risk factors or are at risk
of uneven heart rate, it's certainly not a substance you
want to be adding back in. And often it's not
until we're much older that we realize that, and you
(04:41):
sort of have developed that habit over a.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Long period of time. But that didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Whether it was sugar sweetened or the diet stuff. It
was equally as bad when it came to heart health.
And I thought it was just interesting in terms of,
you know, it's not just always about weight. It's about
the impact some of these foods and in this case
process food has on a general health and well being
and in this case the health of our heart.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And in the study they found that people who had
reported consuming beverages with added sugar in it.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
So this isn't the diet kind.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
This is like the full sugar soft drink had an
increased risk of cardiac conditions way up to ten percent.
But the interesting thing was Susie on the flip side
of that consuming unsweetened juices. So we're talking about one
hundred percent natural orange juice as an example, that was
actually associated with a reduced risk of up to eight percent.
So are we advocating everybody go out there and drink
(05:35):
tons of juice. No, But if the choice was between
a coke or a natural glass of orange juice, at
least you're getting a little bit of fiber and vitamin
ced like, you're getting some nutrients out of the orange
juice versus the only real thing you're getting from coke
is pure sugar or glucose, which we know that that's
not great unless you're about to run like a marathon
(05:56):
or something, and a little bit of caffeine. And let's
be honest, I think too many Aussies and even around
the world, we probably drink far too much caffeine. A
lot of us are quite reliant on it. I can
speak from experience with two tiny humans. I do enjoy
nothing more than my couple of cups of coffee each day,
but I have mine at a half strenth just so
I can have to today, and they're both half strength,
so really I only have one, but my brain thinks
(06:17):
I'm having too, So we probably already have far too
much caffeine anyway. But just interesting because I think that,
you know, a lot of times things like juices are
really vilified, and people are like, we'll have diet soft drink,
it's so much better for you.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But we are seeing more.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And more emerging research that's now talking to the negatives
of not just normal soft drink, which we know it's
not great for us, but also some things like diet
soft drink as well. And I know it's heavily promoted
in the weight loss community. And I don't necessarily have
anything against dice soft drink, but I'm certainly you know,
if my clients want a little bit, I'd much rather
than have a diet lemonade, then something like a diet
(06:51):
Pepsi max, or you know, like a diet fanted with
all of those extra artificial colors like Susie talked about
as well, or even something there's a few more natural brands,
like I think the next brand has a little bit
more of natural sweetness versus the artificial ones in there
as well. So I think just the dose makes a
poison like anything. And this study really did show it
was over two liters a day and that equates, so
(07:12):
I think about six cans, you would basically need to
be drinking diet soft drink instead of water. That's really
the only way that somebody would drink that much of it,
And it does make sense that it would potentially impact
your heart, particularly if those cans. If you had six
plus cans a day and they were caffeinated, that'd be
a hell of a lot of caffeine. So just I
think something to be aware. If you know that friends
(07:33):
and families they have a bit of a habit, it
might be an interesting study to send.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
On to them.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Our friend Donald Chep has to be careful because I've
heard that he just drinks diricoke all day.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But just a few tips for the fans who really
rely on it, you know, particularly in the second.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Half of the day, just to give you the pep up.
I think volume is important and the more you have,
the more you want.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So when I'm trying to wean someone off it, I'll say,
go from if you're having the bottle, go down to
the can, and then even the smaller can over time,
and the same, the.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Less you have, the less you want.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Always have it with food rather than just on its
owing to help regulate blood glucose levels. And if you
can over time, like we describe swaps, something like a
sparkling water or one of those functional adaptogenic drinks that
you can see like the Kombucher's and there's a whole
range in supermarkets, and basically pro actively train yourself towards
(08:27):
a different flavor long term for your health. That's definitely
the best outcome. But if you keep buying the big
pack of you know that you buy the case of
the cans when they're on sale, and they work out
like fifty cent a can, you will have it. It's
like anything of it's in the house, you will drink it,
So it's more, you know, try.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And keep it for that.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I really need it day versus becoming reliant day in
day out and try and shift over time, and definitely
that's a better health outcome for a number of different reasons.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Nutritionally, I like the idea that you said trial some
other different I guess drinks with some slightly added benefits,
such as kombucha for example, and one of my favorite
ones to suggest to clients if they're going to like
a backyard barbecue and they're not wanting an alcoholic drink,
rather than drinking the standard can of coke or cann
of diet coke, I suggest that they take like a
ginger and lemon like kombucha, because that again the taste
(09:19):
it is not overly sweet. It's something that it is
a little bit quote unquote fancy, and then water. You're
getting some additional benefits of the probotic, so potentially having
some improved gut heals benefits. Some of the jury is
still out on some of the brands, but again, it's
not something that's super super sweet and then makes you
crave more sugar for the rest of the afternoon or
the rest of the night. So I really like some
(09:40):
of those more ginger based types of kombucher as well.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
All right, Susie.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Moving on to a interesting research study I found on peanuts,
and this has really picked my interest because my little
mea has five nut allergies, peanut being one of them.
She's highly allergic to peanuts, cashews, what else peanuts, cashews, walnuts,
pecans and stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I always remember the peas, all the.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Peace, yeah, all the peace possible nuts. And my niece
as well has that little genetic Lincoln. She also has
a peanut allergy and they've both done blood tests and
they're still quite moderate. My niece did do a challenge
and I think she only got to the third stage
in that before she had a reaction, so they've told
us she has to wait another year or two before
she can try again. The good news is that a
lot of children do grow out of their peanut allergy,
(10:24):
but unfortunately some it remains into their teen years and
into adulthood, and the longer that you have an allergy,
for the worse and more seriously reactions can get over time.
So I quite liked this new research study. It came
from the New England Journal of Medicine, which we know
was a very well respected journal and they're talking about
a three phase trial that's called the LIP series, so
(10:46):
LIP standing for Learning Early about Peanut Allergy l EAP.
So essentially, what this study has found was that introducing
children to peanuts early in life, from infancy right up
to age of five years old, can actually help to
improve their tolerance to peanuts into their teen years, irrespective
(11:06):
of subsequent peanut intakes during childhood.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
So introduce it early.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Even if you don't continue with it, or it's like
really sporadic the amount of times they might have it.
They might have pebe on toast every day for a
week and then not have it again for a year,
it still has beneficial effects.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
So this was I.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Think the second or third I think was this third
part of the trial. And in the initial LEAP research
trial they followed six hundred and forty children at risk
of developing nut allergies. And I didn't go through the
study thoroughly enough to figure out what at risk meant,
but I assume that it means something like you know
your loved one or genetic family member has has a
(11:44):
peanut allergy, therefore you're sort of at risk as well.
So the first part of the study of this series
found that introducing peanuts early to babies at around the
five to six month of age mark, rather than waiting
until later on. I think if I'm wrong, but I
think the research was. I remember my allergist saying they
used to say years ago to parents, introduce wait till
(12:06):
they're twelve months, and then introduced nuts. But the research
has now changed and they're saying to introduce all allogens
early and have trialed them all before twelve.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Months of age.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's the research that my pediatrician of my allergises has
said to us. So when we did Matilda when she
started solids for six months, she's now one, she had
her first birthday a few weeks ago. We've actually tried
all of the allergens and touchwood. She's good for now, Susi,
which I'm really.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Really happy about.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But we also started me at six months of age
when she started solids, and I think she had her
first reaction around eight months as we were working our
way through the different food allergens. So rather than avoiding them,
you need to start them early. If you trial a
lot of the allergens with your baby from that six
to twelve month age gap, it actually can cut the
risk of having a peanut allergy by eighty one percent
(12:52):
by the age of five years old. So even if
you've missed the boat and you're listening to this and
you think, oh, gosh, I've got a baby, you're a
small child in their tune. Now, it's all better to
introduce it now and give it regularly that it is
to just never let them have it, and you know,
never never let them have it again, and if they're
not someone that loves it a lot, that exposure can
be really helpful. So even if I'm not advocating this,
(13:13):
but for example, they having a teller on toast right,
even mixing a small amount of peanuts in there to
get the exposure and get them having it regularly so
that they still think they're having them to tell a spread,
but it's got a little bit of the peanuts in there.
That's going to do wonders in terms of reducing or
cutting the risk down to them potentially developing an allergy
later on. Now, because that trial was so successful in
(13:34):
the outcomes that they found, they did an extension of
the trial, a second phase of that, and then that
showed that even the effects of reducing the peanut allergy
persisted even after if the kids stopped eating peanuts after
one year of age, they just didn't have them again,
it still was really successful in reducing that risk longer term.
(13:54):
Now the third stage of the LEAP series, and LEAP
being learning early about peanut allergy, it involves five hundred
and eight children, so still a really large data set.
It's also really great because they followed these kids for
twelve years of age. So what this third phase of
the child set out to examine was the durability of
the peanut tolerance over time. So they followed these five
(14:16):
hundred and eight kids for twelve years. And even if
these kids just randomly or sporadically eight peanuts so like
you know, ad lib just ate them whenever they sort
of felt like it, maybe a couple of times a
week and then maybe not for months on a time,
even these periods of randomly eating peanuts on and off
again versus avoiding them all together, the finding showed that
(14:36):
by twelve years of age, the peanut allergy remained significantly
more prevalent in the groups of children who avoided peanuts
altogether versus the groups of children who had that sporadic
peanut consumption, so fifteen point four percent versus four point
four percent, so it's actually a clinically significant difference. So
basically there was a protective effect of early peanut consumption
(15:00):
and then continuing that no matter how random or soproatic,
that was well into the adolescent period and actually helped
to reduce pinut allergies overall. Because don't forget, they may
a lot of children it's after their first few exposures,
when their babies or infants that an allergy might come about.
But you can actually develop an allergy at any time.
A good friend of mine, she's what thirty four or something,
(15:21):
developed like an anaphylactic fish allergy, which she'd been eating
fish her entire life and now is completely anaphylactic to fish.
You can actually develop an allergy at any time. It's
not to say that just because you've got your bubb
through that first twelve months and they didn't have any reaction,
that they'll be completely fine forever.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
It is really important to keep.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
These allergens in the diet and keep regularly exposing children,
young jiwldren, teens, and adolescents to these particular allergens to
try to avoid the occurrence of an allergy later on.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So interesting because it's so incredibly common and as we've
know in Australia is one of the highest at highest
risk of childhood allergy.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Allergy capital of the world. Yeah, so I.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Think this is a straight This might be in a straight study,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I didn't look.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Actually it was a New England journal that was where
I was written up.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But I don't know if let me just don't a check.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, it just sounds vaguely familiar from when I went
to kids hospital. But I think because they've got such
a huge interest because allergy is so ripier and so sadly.
One of the teenage boys at my boys' school passed
away an allergy and.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
In the exposure at.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
A restaurant, and yeah, being a teenager and we don't
always have control, so it's really very serious. So I
think anyone who is touched byology will appreciate this research
all rightly, am We've sound some cool veggies, and as dieticians,
we love veggies. Now, I've always said when supermarkets do
good things, I'm very quick to praise them, because there's
(16:45):
certainly many things.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That we criticize them.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
For and this new I think another dietitian actually found this.
This is the Cole's Kitchen, which is that brand in
Cole's Fresh section where they've got soups and things.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But I believe this is a frozen product.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
It's called the Ancient Grain and Chickpea Medley, and it's
seven hundred and fifty grams in freezer sections and it
retails for seven dollars. But nutritionally, it's just got this
gorgeous mix of flavor into the veggies. Because one of
the things I think is tricky for clients, particularly when
we're trying to significantly increase their intake of veggies, is
you know, they can be a bit bland. So I'm
(17:21):
all for anything that flavors up veggies and increases people's intake.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Beless things taste good.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So the ingredient list there is twenty two percent of
green lentils, polyflower at thirteen percent, chickpeas at eleven percent,
kin wear at seven percent, red onion five percent, red
taxic on five percent, bring onion four percent.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Then it runs down.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know, there's some things such some cream, milk, kinoi onion,
and lots of herbs and spices.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Now it's a long ingredient list, but pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
There's sort of the flavors and additives used are pretty innocent,
nothing over concerning Nutritionally, it comes in about one hundred
and forty calories per serve, five grands of vegetable based
protein coming from those legs umes, thirteen point eight grams
of carbohydrate, very little sugars too, which would be mainly
naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
More than three grams of dietary fiber perserve.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's a little bit of sodium added for flavor, about
three hundred, but nothing to be concerned about. So I
think we like this product because it's just first of all,
flavoring legumes, because legumes have so many nutritional benefits.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
They're hyh directory five, they're high in protein.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But if you don't come from one of those cultural
groups who routinely have them, obviously we tend to have
them with Mexican food, and certainly if you're rarely background
sort of Middle Eastern, you're much more familiar with chip
peas and things as part of the cuisine.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
But many of us are not.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And so I think a product like this is great
because it's flavoring up something we want everyone to eat
more of and if you enjoy that kind of more curry.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Sort of flavor, it's a big thumbs up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Now, seven dollars for seven point fifty you're getting four serves.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's not inexpensive, but let's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Be honest, fresh veggies at the moment are just ridiculous
in price.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Point six serves actually, oh, six serves. Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
It's not such a flavor that I would personally go for,
but I know so many clients who would love this
mix to have some extra veggies and legumes with a
nice sort of curry flavor through it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
So yeah, big fans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, I think the flavor kind of limits what you
could put it into because it is that curry base.
You know, we've got ginger, we've got garlic, we've got
curry powder, turmeric, human fenagreek, cinnamon, like it is a
strong flavor profile mustard sees human turmeric. But I think
that you know, with a bit of rice, with a
bit of a lean proteins, also a big handful of
(19:32):
broccoli or green beans, you basically have a complete meal.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I really like.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And it's just under two serves of vegetables per serving.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
So seven dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It sounds a lot, but you're getting six serves out
of the packet, so you're getting quite a few meals
out of this, and it's a really solid.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Base of a meal.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I mean, it's only got thirteen grams of carbohydrate in there,
so I would be very happy if my client's pair
that would have a little bit of brown rice or
some kinoir, even a little bit of say buckwheat, plus
a bit of lean protein. You might want to steams
some beautiful fish with a little bit of lemon grass
and some other herbs and spices. You might want to
add a bit of chicken or tofu for this as well,
just to boost that overall protein because it's only got
(20:10):
five point six grams a serve. But I think it's
a really really strong based nutritionally, And as she said, Susie,
it's got a lot of ingredients, but they're mainly whole
food ingredients, and there is a little bit of added
cheese and cream in there, but there's saturated Fat's very
low one point eight grams per serve, and let's be honest,
the cream and cheese just adds to the nice flavor
profile where it makes it taste that little bit better.
(20:32):
We're hard pressed enough to get people to eat enough vegetables.
Ninety five percent of Australians do not eat enough vegetables,
and the statistics are pretty similar through the UK and
through the USA as well, So we know that people
don't eat enough vegetables, and I'm okay with adding some
flavoring to that to make them taste better.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
So I think it's a strong product.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I think with a really nice dollar of Greeks yogurt,
a little bit of say tofu or chicken or fish
added in there, and then a bit of rice on
the side, can really create a really nice, asked balanced meal.
And I like that, you know, I like products that
are kind of giving you about half a meal and
you just need to add to them, particularly on busy nights,
like you might get the kids back late from swimming
(21:11):
practice or from sport events, or you might finish work
really late and be rushing home or have a nighttime
session with your personal trainer. You don't want to spend
an hour cooking dinner. You could pull together a nourishing
meal using this as your base in under ten minutes.
So I think for me it's a five stars. It
is a new product. We do know that new products,
particularly in big supermarkets like holes, don't stay around a
(21:31):
lot if people don't buy them. So you know, we're
trying to get people to eat more vegetables. We're trying
to get them to eat more beans and pulses. Please guys,
jump on this one. Purchase a few bags, have them
in the freezer. This, you know, with a little bit
of rice and some crumbfish or something, could go a
long way as well as just a quick and easy
Thursday or Friday night meal after a long week.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So I love it. Gets a big thumbs up from me, Susie.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Also budget friendly, you know, that's what I always talking
about with dumpling recipes, Like you get home and you
can do at a mummy and dumplings, and it's so
relatively inexpensive meal compared to what we send them takeaway.
And this is the same if you did some steam
fresh fish filets with this, you're looking at a meal
that comes in under twenty dollars for the family and
nutritionally so rich.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I think it's a good find And if you try it,
let us know what you think, all right, we're to
finish off today. A question now, I'm actually pretty sure
we've had this question before, but I think I'm going
to repeat it because it's just such a common one
that comes up, and the question was about what to
look for when choosing pre made meals. Now, the pre
made meal market has changed dramatically even in the last
(22:36):
three to five years, Like it's gone from being a
few sort of frozen mixes to this whole section of
the supermarket dedicated to fresh meals that are already prepared,
and also an ever expanding range of frozen meals that
target a number of dietary requirements, whether it's lower carb,
whether it's high protein, whether it's hardy meal serves. And
(22:57):
from a budget perspective, goods, you know, you can find
meals for five, six, eight, ten dollars which are literally
impossible to prepare from scratch for those price points, and
I think the common misconception is that they're lacking nutritionally. Now,
certainly the old school frozen meal that was mostly pasta
and some creamy sauce is not ideal, but there certainly
(23:18):
are a growing range of higher protein options that are
pretty good nutritionally and from a frozen perspective, they're snap frozen,
so they retain the nutritional nutrients as when they were
first cooked. And in fact, some vegetables actually have high
nutritional quality when they're frozen versus fresh.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So you don't need to be alarmed. But the two
things I'm looking for with a meal, whether it's frozen
or fresh, or probably three things.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
The first is that I want a decent amount of protein,
because a well balanced meal will have at least twenty,
if not closer to thirty grams of protein per serve,
so I do think you better to pay a bit
more to get those higher protein amounts.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Then I would be looking at the overall energy density
of the meal. So we know that the majority of
our listeners are female, and we know that the majority.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Are looking to lose weight. Goal is weight loss.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I would say a good frozen meal for lunches anywhere
between the three to five hundred calorie mark.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
And if you're looking at dinner.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I would say, and obviously this depends on your requirements,
your body weight, your energy expenditure. A lot of things
go into determining what your sort of energy goals are.
But I think from a dinner perspective, anywhere between sort
of four to six seven hundred calories. Seven hundred might
be pushing in unless you're very active or quite large
for dinner is a well rounded meal, so looking at
protein and overall calorie goal for most frozen meals, and
(24:29):
then I say to my clients, don't stress too much
about the carbs or the fats, but what I do
want you to focus on is the fiber, because we
do know that if there's more dietary fiber in that meal, A,
we're getting some gut house benefits. B it's helping with
SATARTI along with the higher protein content. And see, it
just helps to keep us a little bit full of
for longer as well and helps us you know, chew
(24:49):
more and digest and break down that food. And generally
that fiber comes from either whole grains so better quality
carbohydrates or vegetables. And the bulk of the frozen meals
or the premie meals on the market significantly lack vegetables
because one, you know, people don't really naturally go towards them,
so I don't think companies put them in too much.
But be also, they tend to be quite expensive, and
(25:10):
I think what you'll find in the bulk of the
frozen meals is carrots, like they pretty much all contain
carrots because they're so cheap, or basically green peas. If
you ever see something like mushrooms or a little bit
of bockchoy or something like that in a frozen or
a fresh meal, you pit the jackpot so as many
vegetables as possible. What I say to my clients generally,
if you found a nice balance meal, it's got a
good amount of fiber or a good amount of protein
(25:32):
in there, and it sort of fits that calorie goal
that you have for yourself. It might be between say
four to five hundred calories. Then add in a big
handful of frozen broccoli or a big can full of
green peas or something to just boost the overall vegetable
volume of the meal. And the other thing that you'd
really want to look out for is making sure that
that meal doesn't have too many of the added you know,
(25:53):
emulsifiers and preservatives and additives and flavors and MMSG. You know,
flavor type in pants is like six two one, because
although that is common in a lot of these meals,
because a lot of the preservatives that emulsifiers help to
make it a little bit more shelf stable, help that
meal to last, you know, seven days on the shelf
versus two or three days if you were to make it.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Yourself at home.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
So, although some of that is normal, ideally the less
of it the better from a general health perspective. So
you actually want to scan the ingredient list as well
and not just look at the macro nutrient profile, which
I think a.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Lot of us do.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
We get quite obsessed with hitting the macros and hitting
the numbers and forget about the actual ingredients in that
meal as well. So ideally i'd either want to see
a protein or a vegetable as the top three ingredients
in that frozen meal. So first or second ingredient was
cream or sugar or pasta. I'd probably be putting that
back if my goal was health or weight loss, because
(26:46):
I just think that we're focusing on the wrong ingredients.
Because we know that the ingredient list is listed weight
for weight, with the most containing ingredients in that product
list being first on the ingredient list and the smallest
in that being one.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Of the last ingredients on the ingredient list.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
So ideally, we want to see either a protein or
a vegetable listed in the top one to two three
ingredients in that meal.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
True, And I think, as a general rule of thumb,
whenever we're talking about foods that are processed, the shorter
of the ingredient lists the better. And I'm often looking
for veggie serves. If you're getting at least two veggie serves,
that's a good starting point. So there's plenty of good
options out there, and in generally you do kind of
get what you pay for. But if you're seeing plenty
of veggies and protein high up on the list, you're
on the right track all right ly. And that brings
(27:29):
us to the end of a cow ridden nutrition couch.
Please keep telling your friends about us so we can
continue to keep growing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I think we're about tip five million downloads, which is exciting.
And for those of you who are familiar with our
supplement range to then by dieticians. In the next week
or two.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Our hot chocolate will launch, so we will have a
special episode talking about that very soon.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
So have a great week, Catch you guys next week.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.