Easter is a time for indulging in your favourite treats—hot cross buns, chocolate eggs, and festive snacks—but how can you stay on track with your health goals while enjoying all the fun? In this episode of The Nutrition Couch, Susie and Leanne share their expert strategies for balancing indulgence with health during the Easter period.
They discuss how to enjoy your favourite Easter treats without guilt, tips for keeping your exercise routine going, and the importance of setting boundaries around chocolate consumption. Plus, they dive into the science of cortisol, exposing the truth behind supplements that claim to reduce cortisol levels, and offer practical tips for managing stress. The episode concludes with a discussion on cholesterol—how to manage it naturally through diet and lifestyle without relying on medication.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
How many Easter buns have you already indulged in? What
about Easter eggs? There has been Easter treats available in
supermarkets since Boxing Day, and with the holidays almost upon us,
we share our best tips on how to enjoy the
Easter holidays with your health goals on track.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, I'm Cussie Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as all things Easter treats. We are going to discuss
the science of diet and high quarterisole levels. There is
a new chocolate yogurt that looks a little bit too
good to be true, and our listener question is all
about diet and cholesterol. So lead is actually your podcast today.
(00:41):
But you have specifically asked that I allow you to
What was it you just ask me to preserve your voice?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I don't know why my voice is on the line here,
but ammarently you're very sensitive today.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So Leanne has a tickle in her throat.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So let's see she's been partying for Happy Birthday, David.
David has just turned is is it a big party,
A big party, Happy birthday to our third member of
the nutrition couch who does all the hard work, really
and Leanne and I sworn around looking fabulous. Happy birthday
to your husband. So yeah, so she's a bit under
(01:16):
the weather. So she's asked me to drive the podcast
with my DOLCID tones. I will say, though she won't
be able to stop interbed if she's got anything she
wants to say. So let's see how much she preserves
her voice when we're talking about controversial eras nutrition. So
it is just before the Easter holiday period, my favorite
time of the Yearlien, not because of all the East eggs,
but because we get several days off in a row,
(01:36):
and I know a lot of our listeners will also
be gearing up for school holiday time. Where As we
know from experience, all diet rules tend to completely fall
off the rails, All exercise regimes are canceled in the
short term, and we give ourselves permission to eat whatever
we like. So that would be fine if Easter was
a day, but it tends to be more like three weeks.
So we thought it was a really opportune time to
(01:58):
chat a little bit about how to enjoy the holiday
season without completely overdoing things. So the first thing I
always will talk to clients about is, yes, East treats
have been available for many months now, but really Easter
is just.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
A couple of key days.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So really, if you've been buying Hot Cross buns and
Easter eggs for weeks, mind Julianne. The cost of those
products are so very high. I suspect that consumption has
been tapered for many of us because in some outlets
here in Sydney, like the Hot Cross buns are like
ten or twelve dollars a packet for like gourmet bakery
(02:34):
ones like yeah, like I'm not joking, they're like sometimes
five dollars each. If you go like to the Sourdough
bakeries or even Baker's Delight, they've gone up excruciatingly high prices.
And then what about the Easter exam Those tiny packets
of Easter eggs are like five six dollars, like there's
hardly any in there. So I feel like that is
(02:56):
naturally helping us have less.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And the other thing about Easter eggs and treats I
find is there the same every single year, and they
just get a bit boring, Whereas what I would encourage
people to do similar is hot cross buns.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We all love a hot Cross bun, but.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
You know, enjoy it on Good Friday, enjoy it this
a Sunday, but spend get a great sour dough one,
get a gorgeous fresh one, enjoy it with butter, rather
than just have the mass produced soft ones every single day. Nutritionally,
they're pretty high in carbohydrate. They're about sixty grams of
card perserved, particularly like the chocolate ones.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So I think, get the buns.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
That you like over the Easter weekend and enjoy them,
but don't fall into the trap of having them every day.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And the same with eggs.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I was at like a gourmet grocer on the south
side of Sydney and they had all these amazing, beautiful
imported eggs from Europe, just different eggs, and I bought
a little packet of Praleine eggs and they were so delicious.
I thought, I'm not even going to waste my money
on the same old brands in supermarket this year. I'm
going to go there and spend a little bit more
(03:55):
on less and get good quality ones that are really delicious.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You and I actually a beg fan of the Audi eggs.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now, Leanne is very upset actually because Leanne tell us,
what's happened with your Audi eggs this Easter.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We went into Aldi last week, so it was about
three weeks before Christmas, and we couldn't find them anywhere.
So they've either sold out because we've been spreading the
good world.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And everyone's now they're not there, or they're just not
maybe they're just not even there this year, so they're
just well stop. They've got the bigger pray lead.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
She likes the Praileene ones, the little aroundity old Prailey.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Ones, but they're not in there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But they do have a larger Prailine package in the blue,
which are very good, I have to admit, but they're
like double water, triple the size of eggs. So before
we just indulge our love of chocolate, I think the
key thing is to buy the eggs you enjoy, and
enjoy them on the key Easter holidays, and then the
key is to get them out of the house, because
what happens with Easter chocolate, particularly if you've got kids
who hold it and they don't need it, It sits
(04:48):
around for months and months and months, and then every
night you get a bit package watching TV and you
go and have more of it. So I think, you know,
enjoy the eggs that you like, whether it's a Ferrero,
a share Bunny, whether it's a lint to whatever you
can afford this Easter, and have it on the day
and then get over it. Because we live in a
world where there is so much treats and chocolate around.
If we're not careful, it will just go on for
weeks and weeks. So I think that's the key, you know,
(05:09):
indulge in, invest in something you really like, and then
move on from it and get it out of the house.
But perhaps most importantly, you know, I have all of
these women who are just pushed to the max, smash
with work, smash with kids, smash with family demands, and
then they really struggle to fit in their exercise and
movement each day. But then in the holidays it gets
(05:29):
scrapped as well because they're busy with family. But for
busy all of us Easter, particularly all those several public
holidays in a row that really links up to Anzac Day,
there is no excuse not to exercise every day like
absolutely should be at least exercising once, if not twice.
Use time like that to move your body because often
time is our most precious resource, and often we never
(05:52):
have days like that where we can go for a
walk or can do extras. So you know, have that
rule that you are going to go to the gym
each day, or you're going to do a walk every day,
or do two because you are eating more. That is
a non negotiable because we suddenly do have a lot
more time around, and you know, if you don't ask
for the time or say you're going, no one's going
to offer it to you. But this is the time
(06:12):
of year with daylight savings wrapping up, that we really
need to make a plan for movement.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And I will be quite.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Irritated at my client's listening if they haven't sort of maintained,
if not done more exercise than they normally would. Yeah,
I agree, and I'll just link it back to the
chocolate where I find that because there is just so
much chocolate around, it is really important to have almost
like some boundaries, particularly with the family. Like I always
say to my little kids, and they're only really little.
My kids are like three and one, and so it's
(06:37):
more towards me the three year old, where I kind
of say, all, we can open all of the chocolates
from the bunnies, and you know, there's a little chocolate,
and there's some new pajamas, and there's you know, a
special toy or something. You just don't give them too much,
like Susie said, buy better quality and just buy a
small amount rather than just buying, you know, a ton
and ton of Easter egs to fill it up. Then
I say, you know, we're going to have breakfast first,
(06:58):
and then you can have chocolate. Like if you're the
kids to have chocolate from six am, they're just going
to be running off sugar all day long and you're
going to pay for it later. So I think boundaries
in terms of chocolate sometimes is a really good idea,
particularly as we mentioned that Easter kind of when it
links up to Anzac Day, it's almost like a whole
week for most people, sometimes even a little bit longer.
So again I think some boundaries with chocolate, like you know,
(07:19):
we don't have chocolate at breakfast time. You know, we
only have chocolate once or twice a day. Sometimes those boundaries,
particularly for children, are really really important. But also for ourselves,
particularly if your goal is weight loss or health or
a balanced lifestyle, to have a bit of sort of
firmer boundaries or structure in place when there is a
ton of chocolate around the house, and to also get
it out of sight and out of mind. Like if
(07:41):
you have a bowl of chocolate Easter eggs on the
counter from you know, the day before Good Friday all
the way up until Anzac Day, guess how many of
those chocolate Easter eggs you're going to eat. Pretty much,
you're gonna have one every single time you walk past
that bowl. So get it out of sight because it
really is that familiar saying out of sight, out of mind.
It absolutely makes a difference when it comes to how
(08:02):
much overall you consume of that. And then the last
tip I'll have for really surviving these Easter holidays and
trying to balance it out when you are going to
friends places, when you're going to family gatherings, take a
healthy dish because you don't need to take the extra
chocolate eggs. You don't need to take the hot gross bune,
you don't need to take the ice cream, whatever, because
there will always be an abundance of unhealthy food there.
(08:24):
That is just the society that we live in. That
is the environment that we live in. Take a veggie platter,
take some fresh fruit, you know, take an extra salad
to go with the Easter lunch or whatever it might be.
Because it's always the fresh, healthy food that is lacking.
You'll always find an abundance of the chocolate and the
desserts and the carb heavy dishes.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But if you want to eat well.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
You have to take power in that and you have
to actually show up with something that you yourself want
to consume on a regular basis. And I say this,
and this is not so much appropriate for Easter, but
I say it to my clients who're teachers all the time.
There's constantly morning tea, there's constantly celebrations. There's constantly like
fundraises for you.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Know, X, Y and Z.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
With those morning teas, it's always just cakes and lollies
and biscuits and slices. When was last time somebody showed
up with a vegetable platt, or somebody showed up with
a bit of fresh fruit, or somebody showed up with
some you know, sandwiches with a little bit of turkey
and some salad in there because they're the things that
people actually want to eat. Yet we're also drawn to
bringing the unhealthy things, and then we'd get disappointed in
(09:27):
ourselves for eating so much of that unhealthy food, and
we think, oh my gosh, what's wrong with me? I
don't have any willpower. It's not you, it's the environment
that you're in. So if you control the environment and
you make that easier for yourself, you'll make it easier
for yourself to actually eat well as well. So remember
this Easter, you know, holiday period time, have healthy food around,
(09:47):
have it in abundance, take it with you wherever you go.
If you're taking the kids out of the park, rather
than taking all the extra Easter eggs, take some veggie sticks,
take a couple of boiled eggs, take a bit of
a salad or a lunch box with you to the park,
so you're not just filling up and junk the whole
east to holidays because you will regret it because it
doesn't make you feel good long term. So that's probably
my biggest I guess tip for the Easter holidays is
(10:08):
out of sight, out of mind. Have some boundaries with
the amount of chocolate you yourself, but also the children consume,
and really make it your mission to provide the healthy
options wherever you go when it comes to a sort
of a socialization perspective, because.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Other people will eat it too.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We all want to eat healthy, but for most of
us it's not at the forefront of our mind and
we don't go out of our way to make it happen,
and therefore it becomes ten times harder. So they're my
sort of Easter Holidays survival tips.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
True, and I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I sort of let the kids have whatever they want
on at the ease to Sunday itself, and then I'll
just pop them away. But one of the things I do,
I've got one child who's chocolate obsessed and one who
really couldn't care less, and so after a couple of days,
I'll grab all the stuff I can melt down. So
keep in mind that like mixed eggs don't melt as well.
If I'm getting like a whole one hundred percent Cabarry chocolate,
(10:59):
and I'll then use it for baking, so like chop
it up into muffins or banana bread, or use it
as a topping, because sometimes I make like a mass
bar Slye, which is indulgent, but it costs me. Like
if I get the chocolate on sale, it's at least
six eight dollars of chocolate on top to top it
like it's a lot. Whereas if you get least left
over Easter chocolate, you can use it and use it
(11:20):
for baking or cut it up into muffins and it
just means you're not wasting it and no one's eating
the extra calories. But can we just also share with
our audience the reaction of Leanne's child, So we're taking
advice from Leanne. This is Leanne before we go and retreat,
so all say she's gone. This shows are very human, right,
So we've got to bribe the children. She's got like
two and three year old, like it's just chaos. And
(11:43):
the whole time Maya was like, She's like, Mia, I've
got it. I'll give you a treat before I go away,
a treat. So Maya was just can I have my
treat now? Treat now, treat now. Anyway, we're in the
morning before we went down to Kingslip and we do
the big reveal of the treat and Mia, who's just
the most divine looking child, I've seen so gorgeous. She
gets takes one look at this. Was it a kinder
(12:03):
bunny Like it was a kinder boney one. It was
like a little three pack of kinder Bunny. Yeah, the
kinder bunny, the little ones.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Length, the only little yeah, the only little three packs.
I gave them one each.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And she looks at it. She gets it in her hand.
She looks at her mother and she goes not very big,
and Liamne was like, let's she was not very happy,
but I had to love because for me as she
waited all this time, and she was like, Jesus, this
is what you've given me, this tiny mini egg. Like
you are joking right, So yeah, good luckily An. I'm
(12:36):
saying that. But I usually also think for women, just
going back to time of day on Easter Sunday, I
do let the kids have what they want, but I
do say for women, don't. It's like when you don't
break the seal when you've been drinking, Like, don't have
sweet food in the day. If you start eating chocolate,
you'll eat it all day, Like have a wait till
the afternoon, wait till the evening. Because once you trigger,
(12:57):
particularly if you've got interest and resistance or blood glucose
regular issues. As soon as you start eating it, you'll
see yourself. The more you have, the more you want.
If you start eating sweetfood in the morning, you'll be
craving it all day. So if you do love chocolate
and you're looking forward to having some, you don't get
the same rule as a chia where you can eat
chocolate all day, like wait till the afternoon, wait till
the evening, and have some, because if you start you'll
(13:18):
eat two three, five hundred grams by the end of
the day. Like have some sort of control over it,
because yeah, you're not a child, and let's be honest,
Easter and chocolate really is more for children, So I
think that's fair to save too. Just don't break the
seal when you're going for sweet food.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I think the most important thing, even if you do
want to have a bit of chocolate in the day,
have some protein first, because protein buffers the blood sugar spike.
So it might be a really nice protein rich breakfast,
some cottage chees and avocado on toast. It might be
a nice hot cooked breakfast with some eggs, a bit
of halloomy, or it might just be a design by
dietitian protein shake. On the side, you might have your
coffee and you might have a couple of little Easter eggs.
(13:54):
If you want to have a bit of chocolate in
the day, that's fine, but have some protein first and
or a little bit of fiber to it at least
buffer the blood sugar spike. And that's our number one
ted because if you don't do that, you're going to
feel crap the whole day. Because nobody can eat chocolate
all day and actually feel great afterwards.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
If you're being on a steep down, it will not
make you feel good. So if you absolutely need to
have a bit of chocolate in the day, you need
to buffer it out with a bit of protein and
a bit of fiber, and you and your blood sugars
and your hormones would just feel so much better for it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
True, true, All right, le Anne. Well, sometimes I'll message
Leanne and I'm in a rage. And one of those
rages happened this week when I saw a supplement brand
promoting a dietary supplement for high quarterisole levels, and I
just went no way, because yes, it is true that
high blood quartersole levels is in and I'll say indirectly
(14:47):
linked to weight gain, because just because you have high
quartersole levels acutely or chronic doesn't mean that you're natural,
you're It basically means you're more likely just or fat
around the abdominal area. But it's definitely not your stress.
You've got high cordisole your game weight. It's usually mediated
(15:07):
by changes in hormones, lifestyle, eating more, all of those things.
It's basically very complicated. So it really annoys me when
I see supplements and products claiming to reduce cortisol because
I think, I call bs on that it doesn't quite
work like that in the endocrine system. And I think
that people selling supplements with no scientific qualification are often
(15:30):
taking advantage of vulnerable women who are desperate for an
answer to their underlying physiological stress response, and there is
no such thing. So when I see people selling pills
and powders for fifty six dollars a pot that claim
to do this, I think that's taking advantage of people.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I don't like it one bit.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So I wanted to have a chance to chat a
little bit about cortisole because I know it's of interest
to many people. I'll often have clients say I've got
high cortisol levels, and I want to be really clear
that ultimately, there is very little dietary evidence in the
scientific literature that is strong to show a dietary intervention
or supplement will directly reduce cortisol levels. I want to
(16:12):
be very clear on that, because if there was lean,
it would be recommended routinely by endocrinologists and those qualified
to do so.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So, Cortisol in the body.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Is a complicated endocrine interaction and it's not a matter
of just supplementing with one product to help reduce it.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Now, in my experience, when you talk.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
To people who say that they've got high dietary cortisol,
and I'm thinking back in the day where someone would
come with it, you know, ten times the recommended level
at most, an endochronologists would suggest supplementing with vitamin C
at most. I have never seen another dietary intervention that
is proven. There are some hypotheses that herbal supplements may
(16:56):
help to reduce it, but in my clinically experience, when
I'm working with people who are highly stressed and have
high quartersole levels, there is much more benefit to having
an overall look at the pro inflammatory markers in your body,
making sure you're doing everything to support good sleep, that
you are exercising regularly and not overtraining, which they will
(17:18):
talk about in a minute. And I will guarantee that
ninety percent of people who are buying a supplement to
help reduce circulating quartersole levels will not be eating seven
to ten serves of fresh fruit and vegetables a day,
they won't be getting their recommended daily intake of AMaGA
three fats, and they'll be eating far more processed and
ultra processed food than they should be. So for all
(17:39):
of us, the message is, unfortunately, there is not one
supplement you can go and pay a shitload of money
to get that will reduce quartersole levels. So save your money,
eat more fresh food, look after yourself a little bit more.
You're probably better to have a night in a hotel
and have a good night's sleep than you are to
spend on an expensive supplement that claims to support sleep
(18:00):
and reduced corterisole level.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And I'm telling you it'll do nothing. Nice Rand wellt
us wear on the podcast thes I know, I just
thought that, actually, do I need to be better? It
wasn't a bad it wasn't a complete bomb. Definitely not
the family friendly podcast. You don't want to pump in
the car this one, because he's is on. It just
makes me so angry because I see how much they
sell these supplements for and they market it on these
those touch points hormones, sleep, cortisols.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's not true, it won't work. Yeah, it's marketing to
vulnerable people. Yeah, it is marketing to vulnerable people. And
you see cortisole. Oh, I've got high cordisole. I'm stressed.
I'm gonna buy that.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And it's it's not cheap, like we're talking fifty sixty dollars,
Like that's half few weeks gross, well not half a week,
but it's at least a couple of meals, you know. Like,
I just think that takes advantage of people. And I've
said it before and I'm going to say it again.
Don't buy dietary supplements from people who aren't qualified to
be producing them.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It takes advantagees ripping you off. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, And there are certainly so many things that you
can do from a lifestylestive if you have high dietary
cortisol because if you have high cortisol, chances are you're
not sleeping properly. You're drinking too much alcohol, you're having
too much caffeine, you're skipping meals, you're not having a
good quality diet. Your exercise isn't regulated enough, Like you're
waking up at five am, you're training fasted, you're flogging
(19:17):
yourself at a high intensity you know, CrossFit type session
of a gym. Then you're going into work. You know
you're having a high stressful job. You're going back into
the stress of family. You're not sleeping enough. You're using
wine to relax and calm you down at nighttime, which
is preventing you from getting into a deep iram type sleep.
It's all of these dietary factors and lifestyle factors that
(19:37):
we can optimize. It's not just simply popping a pill.
It's like saying, oh, I want to lose weight, let's
take a fat burning pill. It just doesn't work like that.
And cortisol can take weeks, if not months, more likely
months to actually lower in your diet. So if you
do have high dietary cortisol, and let's be honest, so
many of us do because we're busy women. So the
first thing I would say is the most important thing
(19:59):
is to not skip else actually eat regularly, because prolonged
periods of fasting and sporadic, inconsistent eating patterns can actually
trigger a low level, sort of elevated cortersole response. So
aim to have a protein rich breakfast within about two
hours of waking up. This supports circadian cortisole rhythms and
control within the body. The next thing is try not
(20:21):
to work out on a fasted stomach, So actually eat
a little something if you are doing a workout with
any sort of intensity behind it. If you're going for
a morning walk, no problem. If you're doing a yoga
session or priate session, no problem. But if you're going
into the gym you're going to throw around some heavyweights,
you're doing a metcon, you're doing any form of high
intensity burpies, squat jump, sprints, any of that kind of activity,
(20:45):
you need to be eating a little bit of protein,
particularly for women, and or carbohydrate depending on the length
of your workout. Because exercise itself is a stress of
a body and will increase your quartersole. But generally exercise
is a healthy stress and the body can regulate that.
But when you are coming off a lack of a
bad sleep, like not enough sleep, training fasted at five am,
(21:08):
doing a high intensity type workout, the body does struggle
to recover from that. So we need to train smarter,
not necessarily just train for the sake of training. So
there are two things. Another one, reduce your caffeine intake.
There are so many of my clients that are just
having cup of coffee up to cup of coffee, up
to cup of coffee because we get stuck in this
(21:30):
like negative feedback loop where we're exhausted because we're eating
crabby food, we're not sleeping enough, we're scrolling really late
at nighttime, we're not doing a nice sort of winding
down nighttime routine, and we're having way too much coffee
and all alcohol throughout the day and it's impacting the
quality of our sleep. Then we wake up, we flog
ourselves at the gym at five or six am, and
we do it all over again. So caffeine has a
(21:52):
six hour half life. It can raise quartersole acutely, and
it can also affect the quality of your sleep. So
I always recommend to my clients your last cup of
coffee for the day needs to be basically midday maybe
one pm max. Because in six hours time you still
have half of their matter caffeine circulating through your system.
It's also better a buffer the quartersol effect of food
(22:15):
with caffeine as well. Now, the quartersol rise will be
greater in people that are very caffeine sensitive, so there
is that genetic component. Some people are just really highly
affected by caffeine, and other people could literally have a
double strength latte or a double strength expresso at ten
pm and sleep like a baby twenty minutes later, So
there is that genetic component as well. If you're more
(22:36):
susceptible to caffeine, you will feel the effects of the
quartisol rise a little.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Bit more as well.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Now, magnesium is an interesting one where there's not a
huge amount of research for magnesium supplements with cortisol, but
definitely from a food first perspective because dietry magnesium can
play a key role in regulating the HPA access, which
can help to calm the nervous system. So you need
to be loading up on dark green leafy veggies, your nuts,
your seeds, your legumes, a very small amount of good
(23:04):
quality dark chocolate over seventy percent and some good quality
hole grains. The amount of times I'm saying to my clients,
you need more fresh food, you need more leafy greens,
where's the nuts, what about the seeds? When was last
time you had a legume or a bean in your diet.
It's so important that we get enough magnesium through our diet,
and that is just general good quality eating. And same
(23:25):
deal with amiga threes. I have so many clients that
don't like salmonal fish, and that's fine. I'm not going
to force it on them if they don't like it.
But that's where something like a supplement can come in
really helpful, because enough amiga threes in your diet can
help to reduce inflammation. So fatty fish, salmon, sardines, flax seeds,
cheer seeds, good plant based sources as well, and or
a supplement if you feel like you need it. And
(23:46):
then the last thing I'll mention is really to prioritize
your gut health because a healthy gut microbiome lowers inflammation
overall and may help to regulate cortisol production in the body.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So naturally, try to.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Include probotics through your food as much as possible, So
probotic type yogurts such as activia. You want some kaffir,
you want some kimchi, you want some saukra added out
into your salads.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
You want as many.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Natural prebiotic fibers as you can, and there are a
lot of probiotic type foods apples, asparagus, onions, garlics, and
as much diversity as you can with your plants, your beans,
your legumes, and your different types of fibers going in
through your diet. Again, good gut health is just good, diverse,
general healthy eating. But all of these things help to
(24:31):
positively influence cortisol levels without actually really touching a supplement,
barring the omega three that I sort of mentioned. So
all of these things are just good quality dietary and
lifestyle strategies. They help with healthy eating, they help with
weight control, They help with dietary cordisole levels as well. So,
like Susie said, don't get sucked into this magic pill
is going to fix my cortisole levels. You have cordisole
(24:53):
issues because you have dietary and lifestyle issues.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
It's not as simple fix.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
You can't pop a magic elixa or pillar or a powder.
You need to do the hard work through your diet,
and there is huge, huge benefit from seeing a dietitian
one on one to optimize your diet and your lifestyle
because dieticians don't just look at your diet, they look
at the holistic body. They look at the entire lifestyle
and what you're doing overall, plus what you're actually eating
(25:18):
as well. So huge, huge benefits from seeing a dietitian
one on one such as Susi and myself to actually
get some of these things under control, because unfortunately there
is no magic pillar Elisa out there.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Four quartersol levels true.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And just one other thing about the sleep, because I
hear that a lot of sleeping terribly and people are
so desperate to sleep. I can't stress enough how powerful
it is to eat a lighter meal at night. You know,
we're busy. I still have my women coming home seven
eight pm and having the heaviest meal of the day,
you know, picking at the kids leftovers and then having
stir fry curry heavy meals. So if sleep is really
(25:54):
on your mind in terms of what you're not getting,
I can't stress how if you start to have a
bigger meal in the day and then a much lighter
dinner of a bowl of souper protein shake. It will
have a huge effect on the quality of sleep that
you have if you used to eating more like eight
o'clock at night. So it's definitely worth giving.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That a go.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right, Leanne, I've got a new product for you.
I haven't briefly on on this product, so we're going
to get her raw thoughts on that. But I've had
a few clients coming and saying to me that there
was a chocolate yogurt in the supermarket. Have you had
anyone ask you about the high protein chocolate yogurt doing
the rounds?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
No, But I always feel like it's it's always going
to be like a what do you call it? A
health halo, because I'm like, yogurt is traditionally a healthy food,
So the minute you add chocolate into it.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's a dessert. It's not a yogurt. Oh yeah, hit me,
show me it, show me it. I love it. Just
wait ly and don't judge yet. I'm going to show you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So this is the Pools plus chocolate protein yogurt. You've
heard it here first, and it's got the big protein
sign on itsh now let's have a look at the ingredients.
So ingredients skim milk, water, milks, dolls, lemon pulp, thickener,
cacao powder, natural flavors, cocoa powder, sweetness nine five zero
(27:07):
nine five five salt, natural color, stabilizer, live cultures. So
certainly on the surface, the ingredient list is clean. If
we look at the nutritionals just over one hundred cow
this serves one sixty so similar in size to yopro
shaban tub. There's also got a pouch as well, just
over one hundred calories and massive sixteen grams of protein
carbohydrate seven point four grams and five point four sugars.
(27:30):
Because they're pulling from a sweetener which I'll come to
in a minute, and very low saturated fat. So if
I didn't see on their lean a nice dose of
artificial sweetener, I would be loving this product silly, because
it means you can have a sort of sweet tasting
yogurt without the sugar and fat and calories as well
as some protein. But I don't know why our good
(27:51):
friends at Paul's have decided to add two artificial sweetness
in there. So one is sucralose and one is they
call it ace K, which is nine feet a sulfamine potassium,
which is very similar to these sweeteners in coke zero.
Now it's not a spartan, which is nine to five
to one, which is sort of our diet coke friend.
(28:11):
But the issue I have is I'm really trying to
not promote artificial sweetener because I think that we know
they're not overly good for us. They're sweet, much sweeter
than sugar. Certainly, it's not a spartan, but it is
also artificial, So I'm a bit torn leanne because it
is nutritionally quite good.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
The ingredients are pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It is a sort of sweet tasting chocolate type yoga
for a hundred cow. But would we give it the
thumbs down? No go because of the artificial sweetener. What
do you think?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It's a tough one.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Like if a client came to me, I said, oh
my goodness, I love it. It's really helping me get particularly
if I had like a vegan or a vegetarian client
that wasn't getting in enough protein, Like all was really
difficult to get a bit of protein in.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, a vegetarian won't be a vegan, will it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, they struggle to get protein in it's.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Vegetarian.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Sorry, it's a bit she's had some cold flut tablets.
Today's vegetarian vegetarian only. Yeah, I agree, Like I think
occasionally it would be fine, but it's definitely not something
i'd be writing into a meal plan every single week, because,
like you, the more artificial sweetness we tend to have
in the diet, it does tend to drive excessive consumption
of other sweet food and we've certainly seen the research
(29:22):
with that where we've had, you know, in studies, obese
people have been consuming normal type soft drink, you've swapted
them to diet soft drink, and they don't actually really
lose weight, They just, you know, then tend to over
consume other sweet products in the day. So yes, we
replace out the calories from the diet sweetener, but then
they tend to go to more, you know, other type
sweet products. So I'm not a huge fan of artificial sweetness.
(29:43):
I do prefer if we can get something with a
bit of steavier or a bit of monk fruit or
something a more natural type plant based sweetener instead, but
I'm not against it. Pauls do tend to use a
lot of artificial sweetness. There is also that Paul's Protein
Yoga I think we did review, and that's also got
artificial sweet in it as well, so I'm not against it,
but it's also not my favorite product.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Like I wouldn't be writing this again. I don't know.
I'm torn. It's hard, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
We're torn, We're very torn. I probably would say it's
more like a once a week yogurt.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I wouldn't do it every day. Yeah, that's how I
like a diet coke. Not a diet coke. It's like
a coke zero.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
So I would say to clients, look, I don't want
you to have it every day, but if you did
it once a week, it's it's not too bad.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And we say Paul's are friends at Paul's.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
If you're listening, like you got to get rid of
the artificial sweetener, man, that's circa nineteen eighties, Like it's
time to go. So yeah, I think it's an occasional
It wouldn't be my daily choice based on that, but
it's certainly interesting and hopefully our friends at Shabanne and
Yopro replicate it with a natural sweetener very soon.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
All right, Leanne.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Last segment for the day. Our listener question is I
want to reduce my cholesterol without taking a statin drug.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
How can I do this?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I put this up today actually because doctor America
A Harbor, who does some great met stuff on menopause,
did a great summary side on her Instagram about all
of the dietary changes you could make without resorting to
a statin drug. Now, I've had this conversation come up
socially for me recently, where someone I knew had got
her blood results back in her late forties and she
(31:09):
had elevated cholesterol, a family history of heart disease, and
her GP rightly so sent her off for what we
call a calcification score. Now, I wanted to mention this
because there'll be a lot of our listeners thinking about
high cholesterol levels, and we spoke recently about gradually increasing
LDL levels being indicative of perry and the menopausal phases,
so very good to be monitoring that. So first of all,
(31:31):
anyone listening with high cholesterol, you absolutely must go and
have a calcification score done. Now, this lady's doctor shouldn't
have waited till she's almost fifty. You should get it
done as soon as you realize that you have high
cholesterol and a family history of heart disease, you must
go and get that scan done. It's an elective scan,
you will pay for it, but it basically will determine
if you're at high risk for plaqueforming in the arteries
(31:53):
of the heart, which is what we know is particularly damaging,
and in that case you would absolutely need most likely
to be on a statin drug because the preventative benefits
that come from protecting the heart muscle and preventing those
deposits forming plaque in the arteries outweigh the negatives generally
of taking a statin drug. But all means chat to
your GP about it, see a cardiologist, but that's in general.
(32:15):
If you've got a family history that's positive and c calcification,
you usually will need some medical support. Same for people
with familiar hypercholesterolemia. The preventative benefits of a good quality
statin or a statin drug outweigh the negatives. For those
who don't have calcification scores and sort of cholesterols sitting
five to six and want to naturally reduce it, there
are a number of key dietary strategies you can use
(32:39):
that will help to lower cholesterol. So I'll run through
some of them because, as I said, Mary Clear however,
beautifully summarize this on her Instagram account this this morning,
which I thought was brilliant of the different changes that
you will get from implementing different dietary changes. So the
first is that you absolutely want to get some natural
plant sterols into your diet that is clinically proven to
(33:02):
reduce cholesterol by about ten percent. And the key ways
to do that are you can use the milk that
they've got. We tend not to urge towards the margarines
because that's adding a sort of more process fat into
the diet. But what I've been doing with some of
my clients Leanne, is actually using a plant sterol supplement
that you can get through a health food store, and
that will give you the same result without using a margarine,
(33:25):
which I'm not a fan of.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
You want two to three grams a day of plant sterols.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yes, and that's what you'll get in a supplementary form. Definitely,
bumping up your intake of soluble fiber and getting thirty
grams of total fiber crucial because that will naturally help
to clear out basically the fat in the arteries itself.
So key foods for that include your oats, include your
foods like your legumes, chickpeas, lentils, a serve of those
most days. Certain fruits including apples, peaches, nectarines are all
(33:52):
rich in soluble fiber. Certainly, a little bit of weight
loss if you're overweight, losing five percent of body weight
will help to clinically improve cholesterol level.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What else am I missing?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Lanne keeping saturated fat low, So that's when Leanne and
I are evaluating products, we're looking for foods that have
got less than three grams of saturated fat perserve because
we're really trying to keep calories less than ten percent
at least from saturated fat, which is where choosing extremely
lean meat, sticking to fish and white meats, and also
the richest sources of saturated fat in our diets tend
(34:24):
to be dairy meats and processed foods like banana breads, muffins, pastry,
so really being quite strict on those foods is important.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
What else, anything that I've missed.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Exercise is really good because it can help to raise HDL,
which is our good cholesterol, and help to lower LDL,
which is that bad cholesterol. So from a public guideline perspective,
the recommendations are for a healthy adults about one hundred
and fifty minutes of moderate activity a week. It's not
a little walk, it's moderate activity a week, so you
should be sort of huffy puffy and sort of struggle
(34:54):
to hold a proper conversation. So if you're out walking,
that's great, you might want to pick up the pace
a little bit to give you that kind of moderate
intensity activity. And then lastly, just from a lifestyle perspective,
alcohol and smoking are huge ones in terms of lowering
your cholesterol because both alcohol and smoking can raise blood
traglysrines and so it's not a great thing.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So really trying to minimize, if not.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Decrease completely both of these to help improve your liquid
profile I think are really really important things.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
True, And I always used to like ten walnuts a
day when I did a lot more cholesterol work. Ten
walnuts used to get some pretty clinical good results. So yeah,
these are the steps, but you know it's not for everyone.
Some people absolutely need a stat and drug, particularly if
they've got calcification and strong positive family history. If not,
and it's at a reasonable level for you know, five
(35:42):
six and you can bring it down, but certainly if
you've got familiar levels which are up seven to eight
and above, you probably will need to consult the GP
or cardiologists for the extra support because the benefits that
come with protecting that half muscle far outwigh the negatives.
And keep in mind that fifty is too late. You
should be well on top of your cholesterol levels in
your late thirties and forties because damage will have occurred
(36:03):
by your fifties if you've left it that late. So
don't think, oh, it's gradually increasing, but it's okay. If
it's gradually increasing, do something about it now.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
And a really good reminder just to go and get
a blood test if you haven't had a blood test
in the last sort of twelve months, particularly if you're
a female going through those per menopause all years, head
off to your GP and get some blood cholesterol levels
checked because perimenopause itself can tend to increase.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Blood cholesterol levels.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So really really good idea for all busy women or
women who listen to the podcast to go and get
a yearly blood test.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Not just cholesterol.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There's a few other things we recommend, but absolutely stay
on top of your cholesterol in those peri years because
it does tend to increase.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah. True, And now how's the voice saying you're preserved?
Nothing else gone great?
Speaker 3 (36:45):
I only had a couple of cops, only had to
edit out a co few times or JOm me to
finish it off. Yeah, why don't you just do a
guest appearance let's go. Yeah, sure, thing alright. So that
brings us to the end of the nutrition catch for
another week. And if you know that your dad needs
a little bit more protein or a little bit of
cretine in your diet, check out our scientifically formulated range
of supplements designed by experts I must say at designed
(37:08):
bydietitians dot com. Thank you for listening, have a nice
Sistar and we will catch you in the next podcast episode.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Go for a walk, see you too,
How many Easter buns have you already indulged in? What
about Easter eggs? There has been Easter treats available in
supermarkets since Boxing Day, and with the holidays almost upon us,
we share our best tips on how to enjoy the
Easter holidays with your health goals on track.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, I'm Cussie Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as all things Easter treats. We are going to discuss
the science of diet and high quarterisole levels. There is
a new chocolate yogurt that looks a little bit too
good to be true, and our listener question is all
about diet and cholesterol. So lead is actually your podcast today.
(00:41):
But you have specifically asked that I allow you to
What was it you just ask me to preserve your voice?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I don't know why my voice is on the line here,
but ammarently you're very sensitive today.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So Leanne has a tickle in her throat.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So let's see she's been partying for Happy Birthday, David.
David has just turned is is it a big party,
A big party, Happy birthday to our third member of
the nutrition couch who does all the hard work, really
and Leanne and I sworn around looking fabulous. Happy birthday
to your husband. So yeah, so she's a bit under
(01:16):
the weather. So she's asked me to drive the podcast
with my DOLCID tones. I will say, though she won't
be able to stop interbed if she's got anything she
wants to say. So let's see how much she preserves
her voice when we're talking about controversial eras nutrition. So
it is just before the Easter holiday period, my favorite
time of the Yearlien, not because of all the East eggs,
but because we get several days off in a row,
(01:36):
and I know a lot of our listeners will also
be gearing up for school holiday time. Where As we
know from experience, all diet rules tend to completely fall
off the rails, All exercise regimes are canceled in the
short term, and we give ourselves permission to eat whatever
we like. So that would be fine if Easter was
a day, but it tends to be more like three weeks.
So we thought it was a really opportune time to
(01:58):
chat a little bit about how to enjoy the holiday
season without completely overdoing things. So the first thing I
always will talk to clients about is, yes, East treats
have been available for many months now, but really Easter
is just.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
A couple of key days.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So really, if you've been buying Hot Cross buns and
Easter eggs for weeks, mind Julianne. The cost of those
products are so very high. I suspect that consumption has
been tapered for many of us because in some outlets
here in Sydney, like the Hot Cross buns are like
ten or twelve dollars a packet for like gourmet bakery
(02:34):
ones like yeah, like I'm not joking, they're like sometimes
five dollars each. If you go like to the Sourdough
bakeries or even Baker's Delight, they've gone up excruciatingly high prices.
And then what about the Easter exam Those tiny packets
of Easter eggs are like five six dollars, like there's
hardly any in there. So I feel like that is
(02:56):
naturally helping us have less.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And the other thing about Easter eggs and treats I
find is there the same every single year, and they
just get a bit boring, Whereas what I would encourage
people to do similar is hot cross buns.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We all love a hot Cross bun, but.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
You know, enjoy it on Good Friday, enjoy it this
a Sunday, but spend get a great sour dough one,
get a gorgeous fresh one, enjoy it with butter, rather
than just have the mass produced soft ones every single day. Nutritionally,
they're pretty high in carbohydrate. They're about sixty grams of
card perserved, particularly like the chocolate ones.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So I think, get the buns.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
That you like over the Easter weekend and enjoy them,
but don't fall into the trap of having them every day.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And the same with eggs.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I was at like a gourmet grocer on the south
side of Sydney and they had all these amazing, beautiful
imported eggs from Europe, just different eggs, and I bought
a little packet of Praleine eggs and they were so delicious.
I thought, I'm not even going to waste my money
on the same old brands in supermarket this year. I'm
going to go there and spend a little bit more
(03:55):
on less and get good quality ones that are really delicious.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You and I actually a beg fan of the Audi eggs.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now, Leanne is very upset actually because Leanne tell us,
what's happened with your Audi eggs this Easter.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We went into Aldi last week, so it was about
three weeks before Christmas, and we couldn't find them anywhere.
So they've either sold out because we've been spreading the
good world.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And everyone's now they're not there, or they're just not
maybe they're just not even there this year, so they're
just well stop. They've got the bigger pray lead.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
She likes the Praileene ones, the little aroundity old Prailey.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Ones, but they're not in there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But they do have a larger Prailine package in the blue,
which are very good, I have to admit, but they're
like double water, triple the size of eggs. So before
we just indulge our love of chocolate, I think the
key thing is to buy the eggs you enjoy, and
enjoy them on the key Easter holidays, and then the
key is to get them out of the house, because
what happens with Easter chocolate, particularly if you've got kids
who hold it and they don't need it, It sits
(04:48):
around for months and months and months, and then every
night you get a bit package watching TV and you
go and have more of it. So I think, you know,
enjoy the eggs that you like, whether it's a Ferrero,
a share Bunny, whether it's a lint to whatever you
can afford this Easter, and have it on the day
and then get over it. Because we live in a
world where there is so much treats and chocolate around.
If we're not careful, it will just go on for
weeks and weeks. So I think that's the key, you know,
(05:09):
indulge in, invest in something you really like, and then
move on from it and get it out of the house.
But perhaps most importantly, you know, I have all of
these women who are just pushed to the max, smash
with work, smash with kids, smash with family demands, and
then they really struggle to fit in their exercise and
movement each day. But then in the holidays it gets
(05:29):
scrapped as well because they're busy with family. But for
busy all of us Easter, particularly all those several public
holidays in a row that really links up to Anzac Day,
there is no excuse not to exercise every day like
absolutely should be at least exercising once, if not twice.
Use time like that to move your body because often
time is our most precious resource, and often we never
(05:52):
have days like that where we can go for a
walk or can do extras. So you know, have that
rule that you are going to go to the gym
each day, or you're going to do a walk every day,
or do two because you are eating more. That is
a non negotiable because we suddenly do have a lot
more time around, and you know, if you don't ask
for the time or say you're going, no one's going
to offer it to you. But this is the time
(06:12):
of year with daylight savings wrapping up, that we really
need to make a plan for movement.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And I will be quite.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Irritated at my client's listening if they haven't sort of maintained,
if not done more exercise than they normally would. Yeah,
I agree, and I'll just link it back to the
chocolate where I find that because there is just so
much chocolate around, it is really important to have almost
like some boundaries, particularly with the family. Like I always
say to my little kids, and they're only really little.
My kids are like three and one, and so it's
(06:37):
more towards me the three year old, where I kind
of say, all, we can open all of the chocolates
from the bunnies, and you know, there's a little chocolate,
and there's some new pajamas, and there's you know, a
special toy or something. You just don't give them too much,
like Susie said, buy better quality and just buy a
small amount rather than just buying, you know, a ton
and ton of Easter egs to fill it up. Then
I say, you know, we're going to have breakfast first,
(06:58):
and then you can have chocolate. Like if you're the
kids to have chocolate from six am, they're just going
to be running off sugar all day long and you're
going to pay for it later. So I think boundaries
in terms of chocolate sometimes is a really good idea,
particularly as we mentioned that Easter kind of when it
links up to Anzac Day, it's almost like a whole
week for most people, sometimes even a little bit longer.
So again I think some boundaries with chocolate, like you know,
(07:19):
we don't have chocolate at breakfast time. You know, we
only have chocolate once or twice a day. Sometimes those boundaries,
particularly for children, are really really important. But also for ourselves,
particularly if your goal is weight loss or health or
a balanced lifestyle, to have a bit of sort of
firmer boundaries or structure in place when there is a
ton of chocolate around the house, and to also get
it out of sight and out of mind. Like if
(07:41):
you have a bowl of chocolate Easter eggs on the
counter from you know, the day before Good Friday all
the way up until Anzac Day, guess how many of
those chocolate Easter eggs you're going to eat. Pretty much,
you're gonna have one every single time you walk past
that bowl. So get it out of sight because it
really is that familiar saying out of sight, out of mind.
It absolutely makes a difference when it comes to how
(08:02):
much overall you consume of that. And then the last
tip I'll have for really surviving these Easter holidays and
trying to balance it out when you are going to
friends places, when you're going to family gatherings, take a
healthy dish because you don't need to take the extra
chocolate eggs. You don't need to take the hot gross bune,
you don't need to take the ice cream, whatever, because
there will always be an abundance of unhealthy food there.
(08:24):
That is just the society that we live in. That
is the environment that we live in. Take a veggie platter,
take some fresh fruit, you know, take an extra salad
to go with the Easter lunch or whatever it might be.
Because it's always the fresh, healthy food that is lacking.
You'll always find an abundance of the chocolate and the
desserts and the carb heavy dishes.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But if you want to eat well.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
You have to take power in that and you have
to actually show up with something that you yourself want
to consume on a regular basis. And I say this,
and this is not so much appropriate for Easter, but
I say it to my clients who're teachers all the time.
There's constantly morning tea, there's constantly celebrations. There's constantly like
fundraises for you.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Know, X, Y and Z.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
With those morning teas, it's always just cakes and lollies
and biscuits and slices. When was last time somebody showed
up with a vegetable platt, or somebody showed up with
a bit of fresh fruit, or somebody showed up with
some you know, sandwiches with a little bit of turkey
and some salad in there because they're the things that
people actually want to eat. Yet we're also drawn to
bringing the unhealthy things, and then we'd get disappointed in
(09:27):
ourselves for eating so much of that unhealthy food, and
we think, oh my gosh, what's wrong with me? I
don't have any willpower. It's not you, it's the environment
that you're in. So if you control the environment and
you make that easier for yourself, you'll make it easier
for yourself to actually eat well as well. So remember
this Easter, you know, holiday period time, have healthy food around,
(09:47):
have it in abundance, take it with you wherever you go.
If you're taking the kids out of the park, rather
than taking all the extra Easter eggs, take some veggie sticks,
take a couple of boiled eggs, take a bit of
a salad or a lunch box with you to the park,
so you're not just filling up and junk the whole
east to holidays because you will regret it because it
doesn't make you feel good long term. So that's probably
my biggest I guess tip for the Easter holidays is
(10:08):
out of sight, out of mind. Have some boundaries with
the amount of chocolate you yourself, but also the children consume,
and really make it your mission to provide the healthy
options wherever you go when it comes to a sort
of a socialization perspective, because.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Other people will eat it too.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We all want to eat healthy, but for most of
us it's not at the forefront of our mind and
we don't go out of our way to make it happen,
and therefore it becomes ten times harder. So they're my
sort of Easter Holidays survival tips.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
True, and I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I sort of let the kids have whatever they want
on at the ease to Sunday itself, and then I'll
just pop them away. But one of the things I do,
I've got one child who's chocolate obsessed and one who
really couldn't care less, and so after a couple of days,
I'll grab all the stuff I can melt down. So
keep in mind that like mixed eggs don't melt as well.
If I'm getting like a whole one hundred percent Cabarry chocolate,
(10:59):
and I'll then use it for baking, so like chop
it up into muffins or banana bread, or use it
as a topping, because sometimes I make like a mass
bar Slye, which is indulgent, but it costs me. Like
if I get the chocolate on sale, it's at least
six eight dollars of chocolate on top to top it
like it's a lot. Whereas if you get least left
over Easter chocolate, you can use it and use it
(11:20):
for baking or cut it up into muffins and it
just means you're not wasting it and no one's eating
the extra calories. But can we just also share with
our audience the reaction of Leanne's child, So we're taking
advice from Leanne. This is Leanne before we go and retreat,
so all say she's gone. This shows are very human, right,
So we've got to bribe the children. She's got like
two and three year old, like it's just chaos. And
(11:43):
the whole time Maya was like, She's like, Mia, I've
got it. I'll give you a treat before I go away,
a treat. So Maya was just can I have my
treat now? Treat now, treat now. Anyway, we're in the
morning before we went down to Kingslip and we do
the big reveal of the treat and Mia, who's just
the most divine looking child, I've seen so gorgeous. She
gets takes one look at this. Was it a kinder
(12:03):
bunny Like it was a kinder boney one. It was
like a little three pack of kinder Bunny. Yeah, the
kinder bunny, the little ones.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Length, the only little yeah, the only little three packs.
I gave them one each.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And she looks at it. She gets it in her hand.
She looks at her mother and she goes not very big,
and Liamne was like, let's she was not very happy,
but I had to love because for me as she
waited all this time, and she was like, Jesus, this
is what you've given me, this tiny mini egg. Like
you are joking right, So yeah, good luckily An. I'm
(12:36):
saying that. But I usually also think for women, just
going back to time of day on Easter Sunday, I
do let the kids have what they want, but I
do say for women, don't. It's like when you don't
break the seal when you've been drinking, Like, don't have
sweet food in the day. If you start eating chocolate,
you'll eat it all day, Like have a wait till
the afternoon, wait till the evening. Because once you trigger,
(12:57):
particularly if you've got interest and resistance or blood glucose
regular issues. As soon as you start eating it, you'll
see yourself. The more you have, the more you want.
If you start eating sweetfood in the morning, you'll be
craving it all day. So if you do love chocolate
and you're looking forward to having some, you don't get
the same rule as a chia where you can eat
chocolate all day, like wait till the afternoon, wait till
the evening, and have some, because if you start you'll
(13:18):
eat two three, five hundred grams by the end of
the day. Like have some sort of control over it,
because yeah, you're not a child, and let's be honest,
Easter and chocolate really is more for children, So I
think that's fair to save too. Just don't break the
seal when you're going for sweet food.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I think the most important thing, even if you do
want to have a bit of chocolate in the day,
have some protein first, because protein buffers the blood sugar spike.
So it might be a really nice protein rich breakfast,
some cottage chees and avocado on toast. It might be
a nice hot cooked breakfast with some eggs, a bit
of halloomy, or it might just be a design by
dietitian protein shake. On the side, you might have your
coffee and you might have a couple of little Easter eggs.
(13:54):
If you want to have a bit of chocolate in
the day, that's fine, but have some protein first and
or a little bit of fiber to it at least
buffer the blood sugar spike. And that's our number one
ted because if you don't do that, you're going to
feel crap the whole day. Because nobody can eat chocolate
all day and actually feel great afterwards.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
If you're being on a steep down, it will not
make you feel good. So if you absolutely need to
have a bit of chocolate in the day, you need
to buffer it out with a bit of protein and
a bit of fiber, and you and your blood sugars
and your hormones would just feel so much better for it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
True, true, All right, le Anne. Well, sometimes I'll message
Leanne and I'm in a rage. And one of those
rages happened this week when I saw a supplement brand
promoting a dietary supplement for high quarterisole levels, and I
just went no way, because yes, it is true that
high blood quartersole levels is in and I'll say indirectly
(14:47):
linked to weight gain, because just because you have high
quartersole levels acutely or chronic doesn't mean that you're natural,
you're It basically means you're more likely just or fat
around the abdominal area. But it's definitely not your stress.
You've got high cordisole your game weight. It's usually mediated
(15:07):
by changes in hormones, lifestyle, eating more, all of those things.
It's basically very complicated. So it really annoys me when
I see supplements and products claiming to reduce cortisol because
I think, I call bs on that it doesn't quite
work like that in the endocrine system. And I think
that people selling supplements with no scientific qualification are often
(15:30):
taking advantage of vulnerable women who are desperate for an
answer to their underlying physiological stress response, and there is
no such thing. So when I see people selling pills
and powders for fifty six dollars a pot that claim
to do this, I think that's taking advantage of people.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I don't like it one bit.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So I wanted to have a chance to chat a
little bit about cortisole because I know it's of interest
to many people. I'll often have clients say I've got
high cortisol levels, and I want to be really clear
that ultimately, there is very little dietary evidence in the
scientific literature that is strong to show a dietary intervention
or supplement will directly reduce cortisol levels. I want to
(16:12):
be very clear on that, because if there was lean,
it would be recommended routinely by endocrinologists and those qualified
to do so.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So, Cortisol in the body.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Is a complicated endocrine interaction and it's not a matter
of just supplementing with one product to help reduce it.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Now, in my experience, when you talk.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
To people who say that they've got high dietary cortisol,
and I'm thinking back in the day where someone would
come with it, you know, ten times the recommended level
at most, an endochronologists would suggest supplementing with vitamin C
at most. I have never seen another dietary intervention that
is proven. There are some hypotheses that herbal supplements may
(16:56):
help to reduce it, but in my clinically experience, when
I'm working with people who are highly stressed and have
high quartersole levels, there is much more benefit to having
an overall look at the pro inflammatory markers in your body,
making sure you're doing everything to support good sleep, that
you are exercising regularly and not overtraining, which they will
(17:18):
talk about in a minute. And I will guarantee that
ninety percent of people who are buying a supplement to
help reduce circulating quartersole levels will not be eating seven
to ten serves of fresh fruit and vegetables a day,
they won't be getting their recommended daily intake of AMaGA
three fats, and they'll be eating far more processed and
ultra processed food than they should be. So for all
(17:39):
of us, the message is, unfortunately, there is not one
supplement you can go and pay a shitload of money
to get that will reduce quartersole levels. So save your money,
eat more fresh food, look after yourself a little bit more.
You're probably better to have a night in a hotel
and have a good night's sleep than you are to
spend on an expensive supplement that claims to support sleep
(18:00):
and reduced corterisole level.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And I'm telling you it'll do nothing. Nice Rand wellt
us wear on the podcast thes I know, I just
thought that, actually, do I need to be better? It
wasn't a bad it wasn't a complete bomb. Definitely not
the family friendly podcast. You don't want to pump in
the car this one, because he's is on. It just
makes me so angry because I see how much they
sell these supplements for and they market it on these
those touch points hormones, sleep, cortisols.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It's not true, it won't work. Yeah, it's marketing to
vulnerable people. Yeah, it is marketing to vulnerable people. And
you see cortisole. Oh, I've got high cordisole. I'm stressed.
I'm gonna buy that.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And it's it's not cheap, like we're talking fifty sixty dollars,
Like that's half few weeks gross, well not half a week,
but it's at least a couple of meals, you know. Like,
I just think that takes advantage of people. And I've
said it before and I'm going to say it again.
Don't buy dietary supplements from people who aren't qualified to
be producing them.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It takes advantagees ripping you off. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, And there are certainly so many things that you
can do from a lifestylestive if you have high dietary
cortisol because if you have high cortisol, chances are you're
not sleeping properly. You're drinking too much alcohol, you're having
too much caffeine, you're skipping meals, you're not having a
good quality diet. Your exercise isn't regulated enough, Like you're
waking up at five am, you're training fasted, you're flogging
(19:17):
yourself at a high intensity you know, CrossFit type session
of a gym. Then you're going into work. You know
you're having a high stressful job. You're going back into
the stress of family. You're not sleeping enough. You're using
wine to relax and calm you down at nighttime, which
is preventing you from getting into a deep iram type sleep.
It's all of these dietary factors and lifestyle factors that
(19:37):
we can optimize. It's not just simply popping a pill.
It's like saying, oh, I want to lose weight, let's
take a fat burning pill. It just doesn't work like that.
And cortisol can take weeks, if not months, more likely
months to actually lower in your diet. So if you
do have high dietary cortisol, and let's be honest, so
many of us do because we're busy women. So the
first thing I would say is the most important thing
(19:59):
is to not skip else actually eat regularly, because prolonged
periods of fasting and sporadic, inconsistent eating patterns can actually
trigger a low level, sort of elevated cortersole response. So
aim to have a protein rich breakfast within about two
hours of waking up. This supports circadian cortisole rhythms and
control within the body. The next thing is try not
(20:21):
to work out on a fasted stomach, So actually eat
a little something if you are doing a workout with
any sort of intensity behind it. If you're going for
a morning walk, no problem. If you're doing a yoga
session or priate session, no problem. But if you're going
into the gym you're going to throw around some heavyweights,
you're doing a metcon, you're doing any form of high
intensity burpies, squat jump, sprints, any of that kind of activity,
(20:45):
you need to be eating a little bit of protein,
particularly for women, and or carbohydrate depending on the length
of your workout. Because exercise itself is a stress of
a body and will increase your quartersole. But generally exercise
is a healthy stress and the body can regulate that.
But when you are coming off a lack of a
bad sleep, like not enough sleep, training fasted at five am,
(21:08):
doing a high intensity type workout, the body does struggle
to recover from that. So we need to train smarter,
not necessarily just train for the sake of training. So
there are two things. Another one, reduce your caffeine intake.
There are so many of my clients that are just
having cup of coffee up to cup of coffee, up
to cup of coffee because we get stuck in this
(21:30):
like negative feedback loop where we're exhausted because we're eating
crabby food, we're not sleeping enough, we're scrolling really late
at nighttime, we're not doing a nice sort of winding
down nighttime routine, and we're having way too much coffee
and all alcohol throughout the day and it's impacting the
quality of our sleep. Then we wake up, we flog
ourselves at the gym at five or six am, and
we do it all over again. So caffeine has a
(21:52):
six hour half life. It can raise quartersole acutely, and
it can also affect the quality of your sleep. So
I always recommend to my clients your last cup of
coffee for the day needs to be basically midday maybe
one pm max. Because in six hours time you still
have half of their matter caffeine circulating through your system.
It's also better a buffer the quartersol effect of food
(22:15):
with caffeine as well. Now, the quartersol rise will be
greater in people that are very caffeine sensitive, so there
is that genetic component. Some people are just really highly
affected by caffeine, and other people could literally have a
double strength latte or a double strength expresso at ten
pm and sleep like a baby twenty minutes later, So
there is that genetic component as well. If you're more
(22:36):
susceptible to caffeine, you will feel the effects of the
quartisol rise a little.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Bit more as well.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Now, magnesium is an interesting one where there's not a
huge amount of research for magnesium supplements with cortisol, but
definitely from a food first perspective because dietry magnesium can
play a key role in regulating the HPA access, which
can help to calm the nervous system. So you need
to be loading up on dark green leafy veggies, your nuts,
your seeds, your legumes, a very small amount of good
(23:04):
quality dark chocolate over seventy percent and some good quality
hole grains. The amount of times I'm saying to my clients,
you need more fresh food, you need more leafy greens,
where's the nuts, what about the seeds? When was last
time you had a legume or a bean in your diet.
It's so important that we get enough magnesium through our diet,
and that is just general good quality eating. And same
(23:25):
deal with amiga threes. I have so many clients that
don't like salmonal fish, and that's fine. I'm not going
to force it on them if they don't like it.
But that's where something like a supplement can come in
really helpful, because enough amiga threes in your diet can
help to reduce inflammation. So fatty fish, salmon, sardines, flax seeds,
cheer seeds, good plant based sources as well, and or
a supplement if you feel like you need it. And
(23:46):
then the last thing I'll mention is really to prioritize
your gut health because a healthy gut microbiome lowers inflammation
overall and may help to regulate cortisol production in the body.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So naturally, try to.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Include probotics through your food as much as possible, So
probotic type yogurts such as activia. You want some kaffir,
you want some kimchi, you want some saukra added out
into your salads.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
You want as many.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Natural prebiotic fibers as you can, and there are a
lot of probiotic type foods apples, asparagus, onions, garlics, and
as much diversity as you can with your plants, your beans,
your legumes, and your different types of fibers going in
through your diet. Again, good gut health is just good, diverse,
general healthy eating. But all of these things help to
(24:31):
positively influence cortisol levels without actually really touching a supplement,
barring the omega three that I sort of mentioned. So
all of these things are just good quality dietary and
lifestyle strategies. They help with healthy eating, they help with
weight control, They help with dietary cordisole levels as well. So,
like Susie said, don't get sucked into this magic pill
is going to fix my cortisole levels. You have cordisole
(24:53):
issues because you have dietary and lifestyle issues.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
It's not as simple fix.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
You can't pop a magic elixa or pillar or a powder.
You need to do the hard work through your diet,
and there is huge, huge benefit from seeing a dietitian
one on one to optimize your diet and your lifestyle
because dieticians don't just look at your diet, they look
at the holistic body. They look at the entire lifestyle
and what you're doing overall, plus what you're actually eating
(25:18):
as well. So huge, huge benefits from seeing a dietitian
one on one such as Susi and myself to actually
get some of these things under control, because unfortunately there
is no magic pillar Elisa out there.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Four quartersol levels true.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And just one other thing about the sleep, because I
hear that a lot of sleeping terribly and people are
so desperate to sleep. I can't stress enough how powerful
it is to eat a lighter meal at night. You know,
we're busy. I still have my women coming home seven
eight pm and having the heaviest meal of the day,
you know, picking at the kids leftovers and then having
stir fry curry heavy meals. So if sleep is really
(25:54):
on your mind in terms of what you're not getting,
I can't stress how if you start to have a
bigger meal in the day and then a much lighter
dinner of a bowl of souper protein shake. It will
have a huge effect on the quality of sleep that
you have if you used to eating more like eight
o'clock at night. So it's definitely worth giving.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That a go.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right, Leanne, I've got a new product for you.
I haven't briefly on on this product, so we're going
to get her raw thoughts on that. But I've had
a few clients coming and saying to me that there
was a chocolate yogurt in the supermarket. Have you had
anyone ask you about the high protein chocolate yogurt doing
the rounds?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
No, But I always feel like it's it's always going
to be like a what do you call it? A
health halo, because I'm like, yogurt is traditionally a healthy food,
So the minute you add chocolate into it.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's a dessert. It's not a yogurt. Oh yeah, hit me,
show me it, show me it. I love it. Just
wait ly and don't judge yet. I'm going to show you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So this is the Pools plus chocolate protein yogurt. You've
heard it here first, and it's got the big protein
sign on itsh now let's have a look at the ingredients.
So ingredients skim milk, water, milks, dolls, lemon pulp, thickener,
cacao powder, natural flavors, cocoa powder, sweetness nine five zero
(27:07):
nine five five salt, natural color, stabilizer, live cultures. So
certainly on the surface, the ingredient list is clean. If
we look at the nutritionals just over one hundred cow
this serves one sixty so similar in size to yopro
shaban tub. There's also got a pouch as well, just
over one hundred calories and massive sixteen grams of protein
carbohydrate seven point four grams and five point four sugars.
(27:30):
Because they're pulling from a sweetener which I'll come to
in a minute, and very low saturated fat. So if
I didn't see on their lean a nice dose of
artificial sweetener, I would be loving this product silly, because
it means you can have a sort of sweet tasting
yogurt without the sugar and fat and calories as well
as some protein. But I don't know why our good
(27:51):
friends at Paul's have decided to add two artificial sweetness
in there. So one is sucralose and one is they
call it ace K, which is nine feet a sulfamine potassium,
which is very similar to these sweeteners in coke zero.
Now it's not a spartan, which is nine to five
to one, which is sort of our diet coke friend.
(28:11):
But the issue I have is I'm really trying to
not promote artificial sweetener because I think that we know
they're not overly good for us. They're sweet, much sweeter
than sugar. Certainly, it's not a spartan, but it is
also artificial, So I'm a bit torn leanne because it
is nutritionally quite good.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
The ingredients are pretty clean.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It is a sort of sweet tasting chocolate type yoga
for a hundred cow. But would we give it the
thumbs down? No go because of the artificial sweetener. What
do you think?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It's a tough one.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Like if a client came to me, I said, oh
my goodness, I love it. It's really helping me get particularly
if I had like a vegan or a vegetarian client
that wasn't getting in enough protein, Like all was really
difficult to get a bit of protein in.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, a vegetarian won't be a vegan, will it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, they struggle to get protein in it's.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Vegetarian.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Sorry, it's a bit she's had some cold flut tablets.
Today's vegetarian vegetarian only. Yeah, I agree, Like I think
occasionally it would be fine, but it's definitely not something
i'd be writing into a meal plan every single week, because,
like you, the more artificial sweetness we tend to have
in the diet, it does tend to drive excessive consumption
of other sweet food and we've certainly seen the research
(29:22):
with that where we've had, you know, in studies, obese
people have been consuming normal type soft drink, you've swapted
them to diet soft drink, and they don't actually really
lose weight, They just, you know, then tend to over
consume other sweet products in the day. So yes, we
replace out the calories from the diet sweetener, but then
they tend to go to more, you know, other type
sweet products. So I'm not a huge fan of artificial sweetness.
(29:43):
I do prefer if we can get something with a
bit of steavier or a bit of monk fruit or
something a more natural type plant based sweetener instead, but
I'm not against it. Pauls do tend to use a
lot of artificial sweetness. There is also that Paul's Protein
Yoga I think we did review, and that's also got
artificial sweet in it as well, so I'm not against it,
but it's also not my favorite product.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Like I wouldn't be writing this again. I don't know.
I'm torn. It's hard, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
We're torn, We're very torn. I probably would say it's
more like a once a week yogurt.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I wouldn't do it every day. Yeah, that's how I
like a diet coke. Not a diet coke. It's like
a coke zero.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
So I would say to clients, look, I don't want
you to have it every day, but if you did
it once a week, it's it's not too bad.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And we say Paul's are friends at Paul's.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
If you're listening, like you got to get rid of
the artificial sweetener, man, that's circa nineteen eighties, Like it's
time to go. So yeah, I think it's an occasional
It wouldn't be my daily choice based on that, but
it's certainly interesting and hopefully our friends at Shabanne and
Yopro replicate it with a natural sweetener very soon.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
All right, Leanne.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Last segment for the day. Our listener question is I
want to reduce my cholesterol without taking a statin drug.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
How can I do this?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
And I put this up today actually because doctor America
A Harbor, who does some great met stuff on menopause,
did a great summary side on her Instagram about all
of the dietary changes you could make without resorting to
a statin drug. Now, I've had this conversation come up
socially for me recently, where someone I knew had got
her blood results back in her late forties and she
(31:09):
had elevated cholesterol, a family history of heart disease, and
her GP rightly so sent her off for what we
call a calcification score. Now, I wanted to mention this
because there'll be a lot of our listeners thinking about
high cholesterol levels, and we spoke recently about gradually increasing
LDL levels being indicative of perry and the menopausal phases,
so very good to be monitoring that. So first of all,
(31:31):
anyone listening with high cholesterol, you absolutely must go and
have a calcification score done. Now, this lady's doctor shouldn't
have waited till she's almost fifty. You should get it
done as soon as you realize that you have high
cholesterol and a family history of heart disease, you must
go and get that scan done. It's an elective scan,
you will pay for it, but it basically will determine
if you're at high risk for plaqueforming in the arteries
(31:53):
of the heart, which is what we know is particularly damaging,
and in that case you would absolutely need most likely
to be on a statin drug because the preventative benefits
that come from protecting the heart muscle and preventing those
deposits forming plaque in the arteries outweigh the negatives generally
of taking a statin drug. But all means chat to
your GP about it, see a cardiologist, but that's in general.
(32:15):
If you've got a family history that's positive and c calcification,
you usually will need some medical support. Same for people
with familiar hypercholesterolemia. The preventative benefits of a good quality
statin or a statin drug outweigh the negatives. For those
who don't have calcification scores and sort of cholesterols sitting
five to six and want to naturally reduce it, there
are a number of key dietary strategies you can use
(32:39):
that will help to lower cholesterol. So I'll run through
some of them because, as I said, Mary Clear however,
beautifully summarize this on her Instagram account this this morning,
which I thought was brilliant of the different changes that
you will get from implementing different dietary changes. So the
first is that you absolutely want to get some natural
plant sterols into your diet that is clinically proven to
(33:02):
reduce cholesterol by about ten percent. And the key ways
to do that are you can use the milk that
they've got. We tend not to urge towards the margarines
because that's adding a sort of more process fat into
the diet. But what I've been doing with some of
my clients Leanne, is actually using a plant sterol supplement
that you can get through a health food store, and
that will give you the same result without using a margarine,
(33:25):
which I'm not a fan of.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
You want two to three grams a day of plant sterols.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yes, and that's what you'll get in a supplementary form. Definitely,
bumping up your intake of soluble fiber and getting thirty
grams of total fiber crucial because that will naturally help
to clear out basically the fat in the arteries itself.
So key foods for that include your oats, include your
foods like your legumes, chickpeas, lentils, a serve of those
most days. Certain fruits including apples, peaches, nectarines are all
(33:52):
rich in soluble fiber. Certainly, a little bit of weight
loss if you're overweight, losing five percent of body weight
will help to clinically improve cholesterol level.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What else am I missing?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Lanne keeping saturated fat low, So that's when Leanne and
I are evaluating products, we're looking for foods that have
got less than three grams of saturated fat perserve because
we're really trying to keep calories less than ten percent
at least from saturated fat, which is where choosing extremely
lean meat, sticking to fish and white meats, and also
the richest sources of saturated fat in our diets tend
(34:24):
to be dairy meats and processed foods like banana breads, muffins, pastry,
so really being quite strict on those foods is important.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
What else, anything that I've missed.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Exercise is really good because it can help to raise HDL,
which is our good cholesterol, and help to lower LDL,
which is that bad cholesterol. So from a public guideline perspective,
the recommendations are for a healthy adults about one hundred
and fifty minutes of moderate activity a week. It's not
a little walk, it's moderate activity a week, so you
should be sort of huffy puffy and sort of struggle
(34:54):
to hold a proper conversation. So if you're out walking,
that's great, you might want to pick up the pace
a little bit to give you that kind of moderate
intensity activity. And then lastly, just from a lifestyle perspective,
alcohol and smoking are huge ones in terms of lowering
your cholesterol because both alcohol and smoking can raise blood
traglysrines and so it's not a great thing.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So really trying to minimize, if not.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Decrease completely both of these to help improve your liquid
profile I think are really really important things.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
True, And I always used to like ten walnuts a
day when I did a lot more cholesterol work. Ten
walnuts used to get some pretty clinical good results. So yeah,
these are the steps, but you know it's not for everyone.
Some people absolutely need a stat and drug, particularly if
they've got calcification and strong positive family history. If not,
and it's at a reasonable level for you know, five
(35:42):
six and you can bring it down, but certainly if
you've got familiar levels which are up seven to eight
and above, you probably will need to consult the GP
or cardiologists for the extra support because the benefits that
come with protecting that half muscle far outwigh the negatives.
And keep in mind that fifty is too late. You
should be well on top of your cholesterol levels in
your late thirties and forties because damage will have occurred
(36:03):
by your fifties if you've left it that late. So
don't think, oh, it's gradually increasing, but it's okay. If
it's gradually increasing, do something about it now.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
And a really good reminder just to go and get
a blood test if you haven't had a blood test
in the last sort of twelve months, particularly if you're
a female going through those per menopause all years, head
off to your GP and get some blood cholesterol levels
checked because perimenopause itself can tend to increase.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Blood cholesterol levels.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So really really good idea for all busy women or
women who listen to the podcast to go and get
a yearly blood test.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Not just cholesterol.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There's a few other things we recommend, but absolutely stay
on top of your cholesterol in those peri years because
it does tend to increase.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah. True, And now how's the voice saying you're preserved?
Nothing else gone great?
Speaker 3 (36:45):
I only had a couple of cops, only had to
edit out a co few times or JOm me to
finish it off. Yeah, why don't you just do a
guest appearance let's go. Yeah, sure, thing alright. So that
brings us to the end of the nutrition catch for
another week. And if you know that your dad needs
a little bit more protein or a little bit of
cretine in your diet, check out our scientifically formulated range
of supplements designed by experts I must say at designed
(37:08):
bydietitians dot com. Thank you for listening, have a nice
Sistar and we will catch you in the next podcast episode.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Go for a walk, see you too,
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