From Leanne and Susie on The Nutrition Couch this episode:
- We reveal how much salt is too much, where extra salt is slipping into your diet and how to keep your salt intake low but your food still tasty;
- We examine the link between nutrition and ovulation;
- Our listener question is about how much fat (in this case halloumi) is too much.
So sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s episode!
Tune in on Wednesday for our next episode road-testing 2 common supermarket products.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you know how much salt you eat? On a
daily basis? The average Australian consumes double the daily recommended
intake of salt, too much of which can leave us
feeling tired, bloated and puffy. On today's episode of The
Nutrition Couch, we take a closer look at where extra
salt is sitting into your diet and how to keep
it much lower but still tastes good.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm Susie Burrell and I'm Leanne Wood and each week
we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the bi weekly podcast
that keeps you up to date on everything you need
to know in the world of nutrition, as well as
all things salt. Leanna and I are going to talk
about a topic that will be a big interest to
many of our listeners, diet and ovulation, and we share
what the science shows about improving your cycle and improving
(00:41):
your fertility. And our listener question, Leanne, has been spurred
on by the number of clients of mine who seem
to have taken a liking to halloumi, and the question
is about how much fat is too much? Now, Leanne,
I suspect you are a Halloomi lover.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Tell me absolutely. I also find it funny that for
some reason some of my US clients either haven't really
had it or it's not as readily available as what
it is in Australia. Like in the Australia brunch scene,
Hallumi is on every menu. Like I've even said to David,
I won't go to a cafe that doesn't serve Hallumi.
I'm absolutely you know me, I'm a cheese girl at
heart and a Halluli lover at heart. But my goodness,
they give you big portions. And to be fair, some
(01:19):
cafes charged like seven eight dollars for a site of Hallumi,
so you know they've got to give you a decent amount.
But it's a fair calorie bomb, isn't It's very high fat.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I like white cheese, so I love goats cheese and feta.
And actually some of my friends are horrified that if
I go to a cafe that doesn't serve it, I'll
take it with me because I just love eggs with
goats cheese in particular. But the issue, of course with
Hallumi is such thick, big slices, and so I think
where our listeners here, actually how much fat is in there?
Perhaps they too may swap to goats, cheese or fetter,
(01:50):
just for a little bit more portion control. But we
will come back to all things that are fabulous and
cheesy in a minute. But to start the end, I
wanted to talk about something that does come up in
our work, but it's not one of those buzz lines.
Like we hear a lot about diets and fat loss
and fasting and you know, reverse dieting and all those
kind of buzz terms that come up time and time again,
(02:10):
But I don't think we've spoken about salt for quite
some time. And salt is one of those things kind
of like fruit and vegetables, we sort of sometimes assume
people are aware of it. But the reason I wanted
to talk about it was that at times it can
really slippy in and I'll have instances with clients where
they'll be doing their weekly weight check or measurement check,
and they'll be really disappointed that even though they feel
(02:30):
that they've been on track with their diet and eating
really well, that suddenly the scales won't budge or it
may even shoot up. Inevitably, every single time, I'll say
to them, did you eat something salty the night before?
And it's not uncommon someone might have had dumplings, or
they might have even had sushi, or they might have
had Mexican and you know, it can put a couple
of kilos of fluid on. So I thought, in terms
of how we feel in our tummy each day, how
(02:53):
puffy our skin looks, whether we're bloated, probably is worth
having a little bit of a chat about salt and food,
where it comes from, and how you can kind of
avoid what we would call the salt super bombs, particularly
if you're sensitive, because it is one of those things
that some people will be more sensitive to salt than others. Indeed,
when it comes to the relationship between blood pressure and salt,
some people are more sensitive. So blanket rules to eat
(03:13):
a lower salt diet for blood pressure. It doesn't really
always apply to people. Some people are more salt sensitive
than others, but certainly those who do have high blood pressure,
you would be particularly mindful about not having these particularly
high salt foods we want to talk about. So the
d we know that Austrains consume close to ten grams
of salt per day, and our salt is sodium chloride,
and it's specifically the sodium amount we want to keep
(03:36):
relatively low, and we want that to be less than
two thousand milligrams per day. So when you're looking on
food labels, you'll see that it's the sodium that is
actually listed, and that is why there's a difference between
how much salt is in a food and then the
actual sodium content. So that nine point six grams talking
about total salt, and then the proportion of that is
the sodium, and we ideally want to be keeping that
(03:57):
below about two thousand per day. We go through your seat.
There are some foods that give you two thousand in
a single serve, and certainly if you've been to a
Chinese restaurant or any kind of Asian food, really you'll
be going well over that, I would say, just because
of the concentration of sauces.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And that's two thousand milligrams.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
What did I say, two thousand gram.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You just kept saying two thousand. Oh sorry, you said
ten grams.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And the two thousand milligrams, yes, good pick out. So
it's nine point six grams of total salt, but that
weeds down to the amount of sodium, which is two
thousand milligrams or two grams of sodium itself in total,
but basically the less the better, and some people maybe
even be on a limitation of less than fifteen hundred
per day. Now, most foods will contain some sodium. So
for example, if you look at bread, breakfast cereal, you'll
(04:39):
have about three hundred milligrams per serve, and that's probably
a reference that I'll use. That's a reasonable amount. Once
it's getting up to about six hundred milligrams per serve,
it's getting to the higher side. And then we have
this group of foods which are sort of heavily seasoned.
So things like packet soups, sauces, two minute noodles, process meat,
or even things like wraps actually can have upwards of
(05:01):
one thousand milligrams per serve. And that's where we start
to get a little bit edgy about it in terms
of where it's coming from. So according to some data,
in terms of where people are getting their sodium from
in the diet, there's certainly a handful of foods that
stand out. So this is some old data in Australia
and it's going back over ten years, but it won't
have changed, if anything, it will only have got worse.
(05:21):
So where the highest amounts per serve were coming in
were potato chips, processed meat. So we're talking sausages, we're
talking meat pies, we're talking brestudo, ham, turkey, anything in a.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Packet, the luncheon type deli meats.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
There's a lot of things like sausage rolls, chicken nuggets
in terms of kids and them getting a taste of salt,
cheese and pizza, and then very close with the sauces
and condiments. So when you look at any kind of
sauce seasoning in particularly the Asian sauces, like your hOistin
your soy sauce, you know a server of even low
sodium soy will have five hundred milligrams in a single serve,
(05:58):
which can be as little as one teaspoon. So if
you're thinking back to how many different sources you might
add to a sturfry. You might add some hOistin, you
might add some sweet chili, you might add some soy,
you can see straight away it just ends up being
a complete overload. And without a doubt, any kind of
fast food meal that includes burgers and fries will have
two three thousand milligrams per meal, which is potentially why
(06:21):
you wake up in the night thirsty, you're feeling bloated
the next day because when the high proportion of sodium
is around in the blood, it basically attracts water, so
it's retaining a fluid and hence explains why you are
getting the bloat. So just some very practical ways to
sort of cut as much as possible straight away. I
(06:41):
would only ever use one type of sauce if possible,
in any kind of mixed dish. So for example, if
you're making a stir fry, I would try and edge
away from adding several different sauces, So don't do fish
and oyster and hOistin if you can, just try and
stick to one. And if you can find a salt
reduced for variety, and there are quite a few salt
(07:01):
reduced varieties of soy sauce, that is a very smart
thing to swap to. And even something like a plain
chili is actually really really quite low, so there's definitely
some low choices as well. I think with wraps, I've
got a lot of rap fans out there, and don't
get me wrong, they can be a very practical solution
to quick and easy meals on the goow particularly when
you're choosing for whole grain varieties, but some of the
(07:23):
raps leand it's actually those large ones. Large white ones
can have up to eight hundred milligrams of sodium, which
is just way too high for a bread based product.
So you're looking for three four hundred milligrams max. So
certainly check that label out. And there's a lot of
wraps that are very very high, and then if you
imagine adding ham or smoke salmon to it, it can
really blow out, so be mindful of that. Definitely, any
(07:44):
kind of processed meat, ham, turkey, if you can get
actually the breast meat, whether it's turkey, breast, chicken, breast
that you've cooked yourself, that's going to be a much
better swap. Two minute noodles as a snack food, particularly
for young teenagers, that little sachet of seed has got
more than your entire recommended daily intake of sodium. So
if you can use the noodles as a base and
(08:06):
not add the sachet, that's a really smart swap, as
is a plain noodle like a hoykin, which doesn't have
any actual sodium with it. And in general, leand the
tin soups, so those kind of pots and tins are
among the highest. They have sort of upwards of eight
hundred milligrams per serve, whereas a number of the pouches
are much lower, particularly when they've got that tetra kind
(08:26):
of seal on them, and they can be much lower.
Sort of less than six hundred milligrams per serve for
a soup's pretty good, because, let's be honest, a soup
that doesn't have any sodium tends to be pretty harsh
on the palate. And then the other thing, and I'll
come to you at a second land with your best
salt swaps without just completely hogging the mic today. The
other thing I wanted everyone just to keep in mind
is that because the way sodium works in the body
(08:49):
is potassium is a buffer. So if you do have
that liking for sodium and salt, you don't have any
blood pressure issues. You do like to season your food,
you do like it with a bit of flavor, Sure
choose salt reduced varieties of save pisada, tomato paste, soy sauce,
where you can steer clear of your process meats like
your bacon and your presseudo, which are huge amounts in
(09:10):
those but the more fresh fruits and vegetables you can
consume those seven to ten serves as recommended on a
Mediterranean diet, that will help to buffer that sodium and
help to reduce fluid retention. So that's another good rushing
off for increasing your greens, green type juices, munching on
some celery cucumber that will to a certain extent help
to buffer the effects of higher sodium meals, so you
(09:33):
don't just have all the fluid keeping on board and
nothing to wash it out.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, definitely, And I think that you make a good
point because I'm not really with my clients. You know,
most of them are younger active, they don't really have
issues with blood pleasure or cholesterol or up sort of diseases,
all that sort of things. So I'm not really overly
concerned with my client salt recommendations. But having said that,
you're on my clients, SUSI, they're eating two, three, four
times the amount of vegetables and what the standard austrain
is eating. So I think if you have an overall
(09:57):
good quality diet, you've got tons of fresh fruit and veggies,
like you said, with that addition of the potassium in there,
it is helping to buffer some of that salt as well,
and if you're doing a lot of activity, you're sweating
some of that. So some added salt in the diet
is perfectly okay, but I think a lot of us
are just getting it from the wrong sources. Or it's
really that process sauce that gets the biscuits and the
crackers and the chips and the tons of bread and
(10:18):
wraps and that sort of thing, or like you mentioned
the two minute noodles or the one of those really
one people love the magoring type noodles, those type of ones.
So a lot of that process food and the.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Little bowls and the for you add the water.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Too, Yeah, and Rahm and that sort of thing. And
I have a funny story, actually we had time. It
was last night or the night before. I think I
got a couple of different stir friers to share a
curry and a noodle dish, and that night I remember
taking a glass of water with me to bed, which
I don't normally do because I'm pregnant and I hate
waking up to pee during the night. I hate that.
And I actually had to get up twice during the
night to pee because I had to drink so much
water because I felt so parched before I went to bed,
(10:53):
and then the next morning we went out, so I'm like,
and I put my wedding rings on, and I actually
couldn't get my wedding band on either, so I was like, oh,
and out of curiosity, I jumped on the scale and
I was up eight hundred grams, which you know is
not because I just had a huge meal or anything
like that. It's really just to do with the higher carbon,
high salt intake. So if you are someone who's regularly
checking their weight on the scale, like Susie mentioned at
(11:14):
the start, just be aware that eating apt can often
be higher carbon, higher salt, which can make your body
basically retain a little bit more water, which causes the
scale to go up. It's not necessarily fat gain, it's
just your body's retaining a little bit more. So I
think it all comes back to sort of a healthy,
balanced lifestyle. But as much as we can to reduce
a lot of the overly process or ultra process and
(11:36):
a lot of the packet foods as well, the better,
and using things like curbs and spices to flavor your
meals versus adding in too many bottled sauces and condiments,
like Susie said, even doing smart things like using a
jyrup tomato pisada instead of using a jarrap say spaghetti
bolonaise sauce itself, because you're still getting that nice flavor,
but it's significantly less salt to that as well, and
being very careful with babies under one. I remember when
(11:57):
Mia was just learning to each must have been maybe
six seven, eight months. They gave us some of those
like baby rice crackers, and David tried someone. He was like,
these tastes like grab. It was like, because they're not salted,
they're not flavored. Babies shouldn't have salt. Little toddlers and
little kids shouldn't really either, but they can get away
with a tiny bit more. But babies it should be
basically like nothing. Their little kidneys just can't handle it.
So being very aware when you're first teaching your kids
(12:18):
to eat, or you know, starting solid, make sure that
the salt is basically non existent. Reading the labels is
really really important if you are giving kids foods from
packets as well.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
True and as a reference, if you are looking at
those tiny labels, put your glasses on at the supermarket
but anything over eight hundred, even six hundred milligrams per
serve is not insignificant. You've only got two thousand a
day to play with, so you know, anything sort of
I like about three hundred per serve is my reference point,
and particularly with soups, if you can get at sort
of six eight hundred, But once it's over a thousand,
(12:49):
that's a food you really want to be mindful that
that's extremely high in salt and probably best avoided for
those who do have considerable issues with blood pressure.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
All righty, and then we are going to our next segment, SUSI,
which we thought was very interesting, and I will handle
it over to you in a second, because I must
say you're far more across the snian at the moment.
But you found a really interesting study online that was
published in the Journal of Nutrients. It's a new one
so April twenty twenty two, and it's called The Influence
of diet on Ovulation Disorders in Women. It's a narrative
review and it basically goes through some of the I
(13:19):
guess influences that nutrition and lifestyle factors may have on ovulation.
So the article sort of starts off by saying that
female infertility is actually quite common, but it's basically due
to in large part ovulation disorders, and the most common
one is pcos SO polycystic ovarian syndrome, and that's actually
one of the most common endocrind disorders that affect women
of reproductive ages. The article also talks about other sort
(13:41):
of ovulation related infertility factors, including things like stress, smoking, cigarettes, age,
substance abuse, and also physical activity as well, but also diet,
and interestingly enough, the article actually called out the Mediterranean
diet for being a beneficial addition to ovulation as well
and other things in the article that they found played
(14:01):
a really positive influence and population where carbohydrates in particular
having a low GI so basically the rate at which
the energy is absorbed and released by the body is
lower compared to sort of higher GI products. Focusing on
plant protein was really helpful. And we're not talking about zuzi,
the type of plant protein that's like the vegan fake
sausage meat. We're talking about you know, our beans, our legumes,
(14:24):
our tofu, those wonderful more whole food sources of plant protein.
Getting your fat mix right. So going towards the unsaturated,
so the money and the polyunsupturated fatty acids. Also focusing
on things like folic acid, vitamin d ion and antioxidants
as well. So just having a well rounded, good quality
diet I think was really important. But you had some
more specific things and even a little case study that
(14:45):
you wanted to share with our listeners today, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I know that a lot of our listeners are going
through a fertility journey and it can be really challenging,
and of course one of the first things many of
us are keen to do is have a look at
our diet, particularly if you've got a history of pcos
and insul and resistance. But even if not, you know,
if you've had any history of low body weight disordered eating,
perhaps you're following a gluten free diet or actually true
siliac because that can have really pronounced effects. One for
(15:09):
the pituitary gland to have been vulnerable to severe calorie
restriction at times, but then secondary perhaps eliminating food groups
for a range of different reasons, that does have a
profound effect on our nutrient intake.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I thought the.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Two key areas that stand out to me when it
comes to eating for fertility and indeedly and there are
some expert dieticians who specialize in this field. The dietologist
is an expert in this field. She's got a podcast,
so it would encourage you to also listen to that.
And I know you've had several experts on this area
on Lily and Ward Nutrition podcast as well. Have you
done ovulation before or just fertility.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Just on fertility in general. Yeah, it's a great chat
to have.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
A listen to that. You can get that from iTunes
as well. But in terms of a couple of things,
just to be considering if this is your journey and
you're struggling with a cycle or regaining your cycle, even
if you've already conceived and struggling again. The first thing
that comes to mind is what I would coral and
we've discussed it before, chronic calorie deprivation, but it may
even be more specific to that. So for a number
(16:06):
of reasons, people may be restricting their carbohydrate intake or
secondary to say, following a diet for ciliate disease or
a gluten free diet, even not being aware that their
intake of whole grains and carbohydrates is considerably lower than
it normally would be. So if you're someone who in
the morning has an omelet for breakfast, or a protein
shake or even some yoga and maybe just a small
(16:26):
amount of a gluten free cereal, and then you have
a traditional salad for lunch or even sushi, and then
you come for dinner and have protein and vegetables, because
that is a gluten free diet. If you count the
number of whole grain serves or carbohydrate serves, it's quite low.
And what we know about the pituitary gland or even
the ability to conceive or ovulation is highly affected by
(16:50):
calorie availability and also fat balance, which will come to
in a minute. So it really is worth checking to
make sure that you're consuming enough carbohydrate and enough whole
grain content to support and nourish the glands, the hormones,
and the cycles, because if the body is perceiving calorie
deprivation even though your nutrition is ticked, that is a
(17:12):
factor that we do need to take into account. So
I think indirectly for people avoiding gluten that can be
a pertinent issue and just making sure that you are
consuming an amount of carbohydrate. So if I graft that
diet ly and in terms of how much carbohydrate that
could be as long as twenty to thirty percent, which
is about half what's recommended for I guess the healthy
active people, and even for my insulin resistance or PCOS,
(17:34):
I'd want it to be at least forty kind percent.
So you can see that it can get right down
to twenty thirty percent. And if that quality of carbohydrates
not there, you're not getting whole grains from brown rice
or you know, various oats, you know, good quality carbohydrates. Again,
you're not ticking the box on those key nutrients that
can be linked. So it's certainly worth paying attention to
(17:54):
your carbohydrate intake overall. And if your preference is not
to have grain based carbohydrate, there's other options. As you mentioned.
You can go for legumes, you can use you att
amamae beans, you can use your fruit, you your vegetables,
your potato and a jacket sweet potato corn. There are
many sources of carbohydrate that don't have to be rice
and pasta, but nutritionally you do need to be ticking
(18:14):
the box on those for energy availability and also a
number of nutrients to make sure that you're not giving
the body a perceived starvation, which can indirectly affect petuitary
gland and ove litory cycles. So that's the first thing.
The second thing to look at is your fat. Now
we're going to talk about fat in a minute at
a broader level, but if you consider for optimal what
(18:35):
we know from the science in terms of eating for fertility,
it's about having a very high proportion even beyond thirty,
even up to forty percent of a good quality fat diet.
So when we talk about good fats, we're talking about avocado,
we're talking about oily fish like our salmon, we're talking
about nuts, we're talking about seeds, and in my experience
of working with clients and even myself leanne Unless you're
(18:57):
proactively eating oily fish and having a serve of nuts
and seeds per day, you won't be reaching those targets
at all. But what we do is we get plenty
of fat from the wrong sources. So we all love
our cheese, we all love our dairy, we love our meat,
we love our chocolate, we love our chips, So they
get all that sort of proportion of poor quality fat,
but we're failing to get the good quality fat without
(19:18):
those key foods. So for those listening who perhaps are
wanting to restore ovulation. You want to be getting three
to four serves of good fat every single day. So
that's one or two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
That's avocado caught over an avocado, a serve of nuts
and seeds about a tablespoon worth at a minimum. So
I'm talking you know, almonds, walnuts, papeters, even trail mix.
(19:40):
We're going to review trail mix in one of our episodes,
or have done recently. So it's about getting that mix
of nuts and seeds and oily fish. And the reason
we bang on about salmon, and admittedly an ambassador for Tassau,
but salmon is one of the richest natural sources of
amiga three fat. Sardines is another great one. You don't
get a lot from tin tuna. Unfortunately, most tuna is
low fat. So that salmon, if you like it, getting
(20:03):
that in at least every second day, or sardines if
you like it, absolutely crucial because natural anti inflammatories very
closely linked to hormone production in the body. It's making
sure you're not in a calorie deficit and it will
not contribute excessively to weight gain. It's only when we
eat the bad fats, the saturated fats, which are more
likely to be stored. The good fats have a much
more functional role in the body and very very important
(20:25):
when it comes to contributing to fertility and ovlituary cycles.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Absolutely and diet matters. And just before we jumped on
the Poddy, we were talking about a couple of clients
of ours and even friends of ours who have had
children and now start sort of struggling to have a
second child because of basically potentially the die it's not
up to all potentially it's something else as well, but
a lot of people are just struggling to actually get
their period back post baby, and whether or not they're
(20:50):
actually bastfeeding. I've got a friend now and she's going
on a year and a half. She weaned it, you know,
just before twelve months, and it's still been six months
and that period hasn't come back yet. So I think
nutrition quality we always look at the diet and the
lifestyle first, particularly make sure you're not over exercising, making
sure you're doing things to manage your stress on a
daily basis as well. And as you mentioned, SUSI that
(21:10):
diet is so critical. So I'll just summarize and bring
us up to speed with what this sort of article
because it was a really great one for ovulation and fertility. Again,
what we think positively influences ovulation, So it's good quality,
whole grand carbohydrates with a focus on low GI carbohydrates,
focusing on plant protein, the right types of fat, and
our key nutrients such as folic acid, vitamin D, iron
(21:33):
and also antioxidants. And if you're looking towards a structure
or a style of diet that's very beneficial, definitely look
up the Mediterranean diet, and as Susi mentioned, I've had
a couple of episodes talking about the Mediterranean diet and
also what good quality fats are as well on the
leand Ward Nutrition podcast. Now on the flip side of that,
things that appear to negatively influence ovulation and fertility include
(21:54):
four types of carbohydrates, in particular those with a high
glycemic index, large amounts of more proteins, the wrong types
of fat so are saturated and are trans fats, and
more of that Western style process nutrition model. So really
moving away from what most of us are doing more
towards a whole food, plant focused sort of diet as well,
(22:15):
are really the key things this article rounds up so
it sounds like basic healthy eating, but what we know
is is that sixty to seventy percent of adults aren't
getting this right.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
No, well, most people don't get the whole grains. I
think it's like three out of ten of strains get
their recommended daily intake of whole grains. I would say anecdotally,
very few people get their AMEGA three recommended daily and
take unless they're people who are eating salmon really regularly,
and that can even be tin salmon. It's a really
rich sauce as well, and quite affordable. And certainly nuts
and seeds. I find that people are either nuts and
(22:44):
seeds eaters, and they might have a daily nutbar, or
they might use a granola that's got a really beautiful
mix of good fats.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
But a lot of people don't.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Often we're grabbing, you know, toasting things on the go,
which is always sour dough, so no whole grain, picking
up lunches, and they're always even if it's salad so healthy,
it's often got high saturated fat dressings. They're not using
extra vergin olive will, and they're certainly not getting any
whole grain carbohydrate. And then dinner, we're trying to be good,
you know, and we're having protein and veggies, but again
we're not necessarily getting that range of nutrients, and in
(23:13):
particular the good fats or the good quality carbohydrates. So
they're really things to concentrate on, particularly if you have
had a history of disordered eating, or actively restrict carbohydrates,
whether it's for weight control or whether it's because you're
avoiding gluten. Just keep a little eye on that, because yeah,
even though you might sort of think on the surface
you're eating pretty well, there's often things that we can
do and adding in which can be hugely beneficial, particularly
(23:35):
when it comes to fertility. And I think just talking
about your friend and people that I know, I think
some of the issue with mum's second time round is
that they're often still breastfeeding, depleted from a first pregnancy, exhausted,
and often don't have time to prepare balanced meals for themselves.
They're more worried about what they're toddler's having, so you
can see how their own nutrition falls by the wayside
(23:55):
when they're basically in survival mode. For that theirs five
years of life with some more children. Certainly not a
judgment from Meann and I. It's just a permission to
really take a look at your own nutrition if that's
something that you're working on and want to be keeping
as healthy and fit and get your period back end
or conceive again.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
And we'll definitely just give a shout out to our
colleagues as well, working with a credit to practicing dietitian
particularly somebody who focuses in this fertility and ovulation area
is so key. So you know, there's some big events
coming up, Susie. There's Easter, there's Mother's Day, hopefully someone
will have a birthday during the year, then there's Christmas.
Ask for that as part of a gift. Often people say, well,
what would you like for Mother's Day? Or what would
you David always ask me and rather than those things,
(24:33):
we think, oh, you know, they can get buy us
a perfume, they can buy us a gift utterer or something.
Take it into your control and really make twenty twenty
three of the year that you focus on your health
and ask for a consult with a dietitian or ask
you know, for your loved ones. To put some money
together so you can go and access some great quality
healthcare because that's going to better fit you and your
family better, because you can't pour for an empty cup.
And I find that most mums, like you said, Susie's
(24:55):
not a judgment for us. We know we're all knee
deep and up and going through it at the moment.
It's it's exhausting, but you can't pour from an empty cups.
If you don't take care of yourself, you can't really
long term take care of your family as well. So
make twenty twenty three about you and the year that
we actually go and see a professional rather than result
to Google for our nutrition advice.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Perfect all right, Well, for our final segment of the day,
it was triggered by hallumi Leanne because hallummi is very
popular on the Saturday and Sunday food diaries that come through.
And I just had a little bit of a chuckle
to myself because it's one of those foods that we
all love to eat, but dietitians hate it because it's
(25:33):
so high in fat, like a serve of halluomi whin
it can be massive. So you think about a block
of sort of hallumi cheese, which is about one hundred grams,
So you would have to make that into about six serves,
so that that would come in as sort of less
than twenty grams because he hallumi's about twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Just stand helluma is even one eighty, Like, you're being
very generous at one hundred grams. I guess that a
block of hallumi, I'm sure is one sixty one eighty grams.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
You reckon it's one eighty. Yeah, So most we're getting
in a cafe a thirty to fifty grams. Now, that
is at least ten to fifteen grams of fat in
one hit, and it's all saturated. There's no good fat
in halluomi. So I just thought it lent itself to
a bit of a discussion about the foods that are
patful of fat. Now, Lean and I are certainly not
anti fat. If anything fat can be very sati eating. Certainly,
(26:18):
if I'm seeing food that doesn't have any good quality
dressing or some seeds or nuts at it, I'm concerned
because I do want that full factor of good fat.
But as I mentioned, what we choose to have, particularly
on the weekends, tends to be the bad fats. And
hallumi was one that comes all the time. And you
made a good point that when people are ordering hallumi
at the cafe, it's often part of what did you
describe avotoast with, Like.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
The avotoast with the you know, the good drizzle of
extra version olive oil and all the dooker and the
nuts on top, and then people often get a side
of bacon and fat. Or I had a client deal
date and you said, oh, the corn fruits look so
good on the menu. Can I have that with bacon
or hallumi for protein? And I was like, who, how
many snacks you up for the week? Food? Now it's
quite an energy bomb when you really think about it,
Like these by themselves are big enough, and then we're
(27:02):
adding big serves of bacon and hallumi to the side
of them as well.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So cheese is not a protein. Everyone thinks cheese is
a protein. Now it does contain protein, but proportionally it's
got more fat. So when I'm modeling diets, I don't
count cheese as a protein. I count it as a fat.
And that's more the case with hallumi, which is massive.
So I would argue you're much better to go for
the fetter or the goats cheese that you can spread
in a much smaller quantity than those big slubs are
hallumi because they are massive when you order it as
(27:27):
a side, and rightly so, they're clustering, like five six dollars.
But it's just a calorie fat overload, so just be
aware of that. I think the other one is, like
you describe the bacon, I see a lot of bacon
going in on the weekend. Now it's a process meat.
It's not We're ideally not consuming too much process meat.
I don't dislike it as much as I dislike hallumi.
But again, as you describe land, if you're having avo
(27:49):
plus bacon plus halloumi, like, that's forty grams of fat.
So in terms of how much do we need, which
was the original question, the average small female will need
roughly sixty to eighty grams per day, but everyone's different.
The higher the energy requirements, the more that you'll be
able to burn and process. But the key thing for
all of us is that less than thirty percent of
that should be saturated fat, and that comes in at
(28:10):
twenty thirty grams max. Of saturated fat. Now, if you
consume some red meat, if you consume some dairy that's
basically saturated fat, and then if we add chocolate and cheese,
you're going way over. So certainly, any place that we
can cut it out with things like the extra haloomies
and things is a smart choice, particularly if your goal
is fat loss. But some other little ones that do
creep in the bacon's. One of them are certainly sausages. Now,
(28:33):
I love sausages like the rest of people, and I
used to consult to Peppercorn, which is one of the
leanest sausages on the market, and peppercorn sausages have less
than ten percent fat overall less I think they are
about three grams saturated, and there's a growing range I've noticed,
particularly of the chicken sausages in both coals and woolies
that come in less than ten percent fat. But most
sausages people buy, like the good old pork plain, beef ones,
(28:56):
chippoladas that you buy for kids barbecues, are about twenty
thirty percent fat. So if you're having a meal of
sausages once a week, which aren't the extra lean ones,
you will absolutely be getting a truck load and that'll
be coming in at probably ten grams per sausage and
the other products land. Oh my god, I hate chicken
thighs and chicken drumstick.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Ih so you can say chicken nugets.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Because they're so they're like twenty to thirty percent fat
and people think it's chicken. It's like massive amounts of
extra fat slipping in. So you're much better to buy
the tenderlins. You're much better to do the breast. You know,
it's not you can tea it's not chicken meat. You
can see how much fat and things. It's not the
same thing. So that's another easy way to strip out
a lot of extra fat that can slip into clients
diets each week. Just to really it really bumps you
(29:36):
up over that sixty eighty grams and that will be
where you won't be getting fat loss because your overall
fat intake will be too high.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Another big one for the weekend, things like big breakfasts.
You know, you've got the mini sausages, you've got the bacon,
you've got the hash browns. Often you know people will
then have a bit of like calumi or avocado with
that as well. The weekend barbecues are a big one.
Like you mentioned the sausages, there's steaks, there's lamb cutlets.
If it's on my fancy then we've got the sides
of like the potat tato baked, the potato salad, the
pasta salad often drowned in like mayonnaise. We've got garlic
(30:04):
bread on the side. Often before we even get to
the barbecue, there's the cheese platters with the chips and
the cheese and you know the jats crackers damn. So
it slips in a lot, particularly on the weekend. So
it's really important to know that if you are eating
out a little bit more, you've got to actively try
for those leaner choices or like we said, work towards
a better fat balance. So it's not all coming from
(30:24):
the saturated and the trans fats as well. But I
think the big ones, particularly you know, being budget friendly,
are some of the meats that a lot of us
are eating. Like you mentioned the bacon, the salami, the sausages,
the deli style meats, the more kind of affordable options,
but they're definitely not the leaner or the healthier options.
So it's really trying to get that balance right throughout
the week. But you mentioned for a small female, I
think you said about sixty to eighty grams. Typically, as
(30:46):
a rule of some I'll say to my clients, at
a minimum, you want one gram of fat per killer
gram as a general rule, at an absolute minimum, So
for female that weighs seventy killers, you'd want a minimum
of seventy grams of fat. If you weigh a hundred killos,
you'd want a minimum of a hundred grams of that
in per day. And that's not a minimum because what
you'll find is that if you don't, you're not getting
enough fat in through your diet. It starts to affects hormones,
(31:08):
it starts to as fix cellular processes, hair, skin, nails,
that sort of thing. So the body really does need
a minimum amount of fat, and we definitely want that
mix right. And most austrains aren't getting that mixed right.
They're getting too much of the bad stuff and not
enough of the good stuff. Or what I'm finding, SUSI
is my clients will go out and they'll smash the cheese,
letters A'll smash the alcohol. They'll happily go and have
a big breakfast, but they're fearing adding fat into the
(31:30):
weak like they fear using good quality extra version olive
all they're feeling having a handful of nuts for a snack.
They'll happily have their carbs like their popcorn, their fruit,
their crackers, but they're just so fearful of things like
nuts or using you know, some good quality avocado or
something on a salad because they just want to keep
it low carb and low calorie. But they go out
on the weekend and they're getting these huge, you know,
(31:50):
saturated fat bombs, like we've talked about from all the
meals that they're choosing. They're going to getting pizza and
pastas and cocktails, and they're happy to do that, yet
they fear the good quality stuffs. Getting that mixed runt
or it does long term promote more of that inflammatory
type pathway, which can lead to things like chronic and
autoimmune diseases long term as well. So definitely it's something
(32:11):
we want to focus on. So take a step back
and look at the overall quality of your diet where
these fats are coming in, and actively try to include
more good fats to buffer off some of those more
saturated and transpats we seem to pick up more so
on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, I've thought of two more so mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Well that QB mayonnaise everyone left that.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Comes in all the time, like a tablespoon of mayonnaise.
I want to say, it's got like what eight to
twelve grams of fat per serve, Like it's massive. So
if you love mayo and I have clients to negotiate,
no problem. But you've got to cut the portion way
down and blend it with something else so you get
the flavor without the full load. Because so thick, it's
hard to get it thin anyway. So that's one. The
other one that you just mentioned to dips, Oh my god,
(32:51):
dips are just generally fat in a container, like unless
you're having like salsa or tazeki or like there's an
Egyptian beetroot one from Chris's which is really low. Most
of them are twenty thirty percent fat and they've just
got a vegetable oil or cheesy like cream cheese base.
So there's nothing healthy generally about dips. It's generally fat
in a container. And even hommers. You got to check
(33:12):
your brands, so some have got a higher proportion of chickpeas.
I think off the top of my head, the alinas
is quite good, the pilpel, but they're really those ones
are still high and fat overall. But all the others,
like the cream cheese based dip, the Philly kind of
French onion spinach. If you look, the first ingredients usually cream,
cheese or oil, so it's generally just fat and you're
just dipping away in fat. So there's just three areas
(33:35):
that perhaps are slipping in without realizing that they're just
most kind of pure fat going in. And it's really
important to be mindful of that and try and regulate
portions and or look for lighter options if you can.
And I don't want to ruin your Sunday breakfast too much,
but I'm telling your goats cheese alright ly, and it's
like less than twenty percent fat. You spread it much thinner,
you'll get all the flavor. I have to say, ditch
(33:57):
the HALLOOMI.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Well, I love boats, slamonn advocate for both, but we
really just want to drill home the take home message
here is not that fat as bad. We are absolutely
advocating for fat, but we're advocating for the right types
of fat, and sadly most Australias it is getting that
mixed wrong, So we're really advocating for fat. We're basically
we're pro fat. We like it, we just don't want
too much of it, and we definitely don't want it
coming from too many of the wrong sources. Balance is
(34:19):
absolutely key, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
So that brings us to standard the Nutrition Couch for
another Sunday. If you haven't done so, don't forget to
subscribe and tell your friends about us so we can
continue to grow. We're just about to launch, and we've
been saying it for a few weeks because some of
us are not doing our work land, but we are
going to commit to doing it today and have our
takeaway guide out to you in the next couple of weeks.
But if you're also interested in supermarket products, you can
find our supermarket guide for sale on our website, the
(34:43):
New Nutritioncouch dot com. And we will see you on
Wednesday for our regular product review.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
East
Do you know how much salt you eat? On a
daily basis? The average Australian consumes double the daily recommended
intake of salt, too much of which can leave us
feeling tired, bloated and puffy. On today's episode of The
Nutrition Couch, we take a closer look at where extra
salt is sitting into your diet and how to keep
it much lower but still tastes good.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm Susie Burrell and I'm Leanne Wood and each week
we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the bi weekly podcast
that keeps you up to date on everything you need
to know in the world of nutrition, as well as
all things salt. Leanna and I are going to talk
about a topic that will be a big interest to
many of our listeners, diet and ovulation, and we share
what the science shows about improving your cycle and improving
(00:41):
your fertility. And our listener question, Leanne, has been spurred
on by the number of clients of mine who seem
to have taken a liking to halloumi, and the question
is about how much fat is too much? Now, Leanne,
I suspect you are a Halloomi lover.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Tell me absolutely. I also find it funny that for
some reason some of my US clients either haven't really
had it or it's not as readily available as what
it is in Australia. Like in the Australia brunch scene,
Hallumi is on every menu. Like I've even said to David,
I won't go to a cafe that doesn't serve Hallumi.
I'm absolutely you know me, I'm a cheese girl at
heart and a Halluli lover at heart. But my goodness,
they give you big portions. And to be fair, some
(01:19):
cafes charged like seven eight dollars for a site of Hallumi,
so you know they've got to give you a decent amount.
But it's a fair calorie bomb, isn't It's very high fat.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I like white cheese, so I love goats cheese and feta.
And actually some of my friends are horrified that if
I go to a cafe that doesn't serve it, I'll
take it with me because I just love eggs with
goats cheese in particular. But the issue, of course with
Hallumi is such thick, big slices, and so I think
where our listeners here, actually how much fat is in there?
Perhaps they too may swap to goats, cheese or fetter,
(01:50):
just for a little bit more portion control. But we
will come back to all things that are fabulous and
cheesy in a minute. But to start the end, I
wanted to talk about something that does come up in
our work, but it's not one of those buzz lines.
Like we hear a lot about diets and fat loss
and fasting and you know, reverse dieting and all those
kind of buzz terms that come up time and time again,
(02:10):
But I don't think we've spoken about salt for quite
some time. And salt is one of those things kind
of like fruit and vegetables, we sort of sometimes assume
people are aware of it. But the reason I wanted
to talk about it was that at times it can
really slippy in and I'll have instances with clients where
they'll be doing their weekly weight check or measurement check,
and they'll be really disappointed that even though they feel
(02:30):
that they've been on track with their diet and eating
really well, that suddenly the scales won't budge or it
may even shoot up. Inevitably, every single time, I'll say
to them, did you eat something salty the night before?
And it's not uncommon someone might have had dumplings, or
they might have even had sushi, or they might have
had Mexican and you know, it can put a couple
of kilos of fluid on. So I thought, in terms
of how we feel in our tummy each day, how
(02:53):
puffy our skin looks, whether we're bloated, probably is worth
having a little bit of a chat about salt and food,
where it comes from, and how you can kind of
avoid what we would call the salt super bombs, particularly
if you're sensitive, because it is one of those things
that some people will be more sensitive to salt than others. Indeed,
when it comes to the relationship between blood pressure and salt,
some people are more sensitive. So blanket rules to eat
(03:13):
a lower salt diet for blood pressure. It doesn't really
always apply to people. Some people are more salt sensitive
than others, but certainly those who do have high blood pressure,
you would be particularly mindful about not having these particularly
high salt foods we want to talk about. So the
d we know that Austrains consume close to ten grams
of salt per day, and our salt is sodium chloride,
and it's specifically the sodium amount we want to keep
(03:36):
relatively low, and we want that to be less than
two thousand milligrams per day. So when you're looking on
food labels, you'll see that it's the sodium that is
actually listed, and that is why there's a difference between
how much salt is in a food and then the
actual sodium content. So that nine point six grams talking
about total salt, and then the proportion of that is
the sodium, and we ideally want to be keeping that
(03:57):
below about two thousand per day. We go through your seat.
There are some foods that give you two thousand in
a single serve, and certainly if you've been to a
Chinese restaurant or any kind of Asian food, really you'll
be going well over that, I would say, just because
of the concentration of sauces.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And that's two thousand milligrams.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
What did I say, two thousand gram.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You just kept saying two thousand. Oh sorry, you said
ten grams.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And the two thousand milligrams, yes, good pick out. So
it's nine point six grams of total salt, but that
weeds down to the amount of sodium, which is two
thousand milligrams or two grams of sodium itself in total,
but basically the less the better, and some people maybe
even be on a limitation of less than fifteen hundred
per day. Now, most foods will contain some sodium. So
for example, if you look at bread, breakfast cereal, you'll
(04:39):
have about three hundred milligrams per serve, and that's probably
a reference that I'll use. That's a reasonable amount. Once
it's getting up to about six hundred milligrams per serve,
it's getting to the higher side. And then we have
this group of foods which are sort of heavily seasoned.
So things like packet soups, sauces, two minute noodles, process meat,
or even things like wraps actually can have upwards of
(05:01):
one thousand milligrams per serve. And that's where we start
to get a little bit edgy about it in terms
of where it's coming from. So according to some data,
in terms of where people are getting their sodium from
in the diet, there's certainly a handful of foods that
stand out. So this is some old data in Australia
and it's going back over ten years, but it won't
have changed, if anything, it will only have got worse.
(05:21):
So where the highest amounts per serve were coming in
were potato chips, processed meat. So we're talking sausages, we're
talking meat pies, we're talking brestudo, ham, turkey, anything in a.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Packet, the luncheon type deli meats.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
There's a lot of things like sausage rolls, chicken nuggets
in terms of kids and them getting a taste of salt,
cheese and pizza, and then very close with the sauces
and condiments. So when you look at any kind of
sauce seasoning in particularly the Asian sauces, like your hOistin
your soy sauce, you know a server of even low
sodium soy will have five hundred milligrams in a single serve,
(05:58):
which can be as little as one teaspoon. So if
you're thinking back to how many different sources you might
add to a sturfry. You might add some hOistin, you
might add some sweet chili, you might add some soy,
you can see straight away it just ends up being
a complete overload. And without a doubt, any kind of
fast food meal that includes burgers and fries will have
two three thousand milligrams per meal, which is potentially why
(06:21):
you wake up in the night thirsty, you're feeling bloated
the next day because when the high proportion of sodium
is around in the blood, it basically attracts water, so
it's retaining a fluid and hence explains why you are
getting the bloat. So just some very practical ways to
sort of cut as much as possible straight away. I
(06:41):
would only ever use one type of sauce if possible,
in any kind of mixed dish. So for example, if
you're making a stir fry, I would try and edge
away from adding several different sauces, So don't do fish
and oyster and hOistin if you can, just try and
stick to one. And if you can find a salt
reduced for variety, and there are quite a few salt
(07:01):
reduced varieties of soy sauce, that is a very smart
thing to swap to. And even something like a plain
chili is actually really really quite low, so there's definitely
some low choices as well. I think with wraps, I've
got a lot of rap fans out there, and don't
get me wrong, they can be a very practical solution
to quick and easy meals on the goow particularly when
you're choosing for whole grain varieties, but some of the
(07:23):
raps leand it's actually those large ones. Large white ones
can have up to eight hundred milligrams of sodium, which
is just way too high for a bread based product.
So you're looking for three four hundred milligrams max. So
certainly check that label out. And there's a lot of
wraps that are very very high, and then if you
imagine adding ham or smoke salmon to it, it can
really blow out, so be mindful of that. Definitely, any
(07:44):
kind of processed meat, ham, turkey, if you can get
actually the breast meat, whether it's turkey, breast, chicken, breast
that you've cooked yourself, that's going to be a much
better swap. Two minute noodles as a snack food, particularly
for young teenagers, that little sachet of seed has got
more than your entire recommended daily intake of sodium. So
if you can use the noodles as a base and
(08:06):
not add the sachet, that's a really smart swap, as
is a plain noodle like a hoykin, which doesn't have
any actual sodium with it. And in general, leand the
tin soups, so those kind of pots and tins are
among the highest. They have sort of upwards of eight
hundred milligrams per serve, whereas a number of the pouches
are much lower, particularly when they've got that tetra kind
(08:26):
of seal on them, and they can be much lower.
Sort of less than six hundred milligrams per serve for
a soup's pretty good, because, let's be honest, a soup
that doesn't have any sodium tends to be pretty harsh
on the palate. And then the other thing, and I'll
come to you at a second land with your best
salt swaps without just completely hogging the mic today. The
other thing I wanted everyone just to keep in mind
is that because the way sodium works in the body
(08:49):
is potassium is a buffer. So if you do have
that liking for sodium and salt, you don't have any
blood pressure issues. You do like to season your food,
you do like it with a bit of flavor, Sure
choose salt reduced varieties of save pisada, tomato paste, soy sauce,
where you can steer clear of your process meats like
your bacon and your presseudo, which are huge amounts in
(09:10):
those but the more fresh fruits and vegetables you can
consume those seven to ten serves as recommended on a
Mediterranean diet, that will help to buffer that sodium and
help to reduce fluid retention. So that's another good rushing
off for increasing your greens, green type juices, munching on
some celery cucumber that will to a certain extent help
to buffer the effects of higher sodium meals, so you
(09:33):
don't just have all the fluid keeping on board and
nothing to wash it out.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, definitely, And I think that you make a good
point because I'm not really with my clients. You know,
most of them are younger active, they don't really have
issues with blood pleasure or cholesterol or up sort of diseases,
all that sort of things. So I'm not really overly
concerned with my client salt recommendations. But having said that,
you're on my clients, SUSI, they're eating two, three, four
times the amount of vegetables and what the standard austrain
is eating. So I think if you have an overall
(09:57):
good quality diet, you've got tons of fresh fruit and veggies,
like you said, with that addition of the potassium in there,
it is helping to buffer some of that salt as well,
and if you're doing a lot of activity, you're sweating
some of that. So some added salt in the diet
is perfectly okay, but I think a lot of us
are just getting it from the wrong sources. Or it's
really that process sauce that gets the biscuits and the
crackers and the chips and the tons of bread and
(10:18):
wraps and that sort of thing, or like you mentioned
the two minute noodles or the one of those really
one people love the magoring type noodles, those type of ones.
So a lot of that process food and the.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Little bowls and the for you add the water.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Too, Yeah, and Rahm and that sort of thing. And
I have a funny story, actually we had time. It
was last night or the night before. I think I
got a couple of different stir friers to share a
curry and a noodle dish, and that night I remember
taking a glass of water with me to bed, which
I don't normally do because I'm pregnant and I hate
waking up to pee during the night. I hate that.
And I actually had to get up twice during the
night to pee because I had to drink so much
water because I felt so parched before I went to bed,
(10:53):
and then the next morning we went out, so I'm like,
and I put my wedding rings on, and I actually
couldn't get my wedding band on either, so I was like, oh,
and out of curiosity, I jumped on the scale and
I was up eight hundred grams, which you know is
not because I just had a huge meal or anything
like that. It's really just to do with the higher carbon,
high salt intake. So if you are someone who's regularly
checking their weight on the scale, like Susie mentioned at
(11:14):
the start, just be aware that eating apt can often
be higher carbon, higher salt, which can make your body
basically retain a little bit more water, which causes the
scale to go up. It's not necessarily fat gain, it's
just your body's retaining a little bit more. So I
think it all comes back to sort of a healthy,
balanced lifestyle. But as much as we can to reduce
a lot of the overly process or ultra process and
(11:36):
a lot of the packet foods as well, the better,
and using things like curbs and spices to flavor your
meals versus adding in too many bottled sauces and condiments,
like Susie said, even doing smart things like using a
jyrup tomato pisada instead of using a jarrap say spaghetti
bolonaise sauce itself, because you're still getting that nice flavor,
but it's significantly less salt to that as well, and
being very careful with babies under one. I remember when
(11:57):
Mia was just learning to each must have been maybe
six seven, eight months. They gave us some of those
like baby rice crackers, and David tried someone. He was like,
these tastes like grab. It was like, because they're not salted,
they're not flavored. Babies shouldn't have salt. Little toddlers and
little kids shouldn't really either, but they can get away
with a tiny bit more. But babies it should be
basically like nothing. Their little kidneys just can't handle it.
So being very aware when you're first teaching your kids
(12:18):
to eat, or you know, starting solid, make sure that
the salt is basically non existent. Reading the labels is
really really important if you are giving kids foods from
packets as well.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
True and as a reference, if you are looking at
those tiny labels, put your glasses on at the supermarket
but anything over eight hundred, even six hundred milligrams per
serve is not insignificant. You've only got two thousand a
day to play with, so you know, anything sort of
I like about three hundred per serve is my reference point,
and particularly with soups, if you can get at sort
of six eight hundred, But once it's over a thousand,
(12:49):
that's a food you really want to be mindful that
that's extremely high in salt and probably best avoided for
those who do have considerable issues with blood pressure.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
All righty, and then we are going to our next segment, SUSI,
which we thought was very interesting, and I will handle
it over to you in a second, because I must
say you're far more across the snian at the moment.
But you found a really interesting study online that was
published in the Journal of Nutrients. It's a new one
so April twenty twenty two, and it's called The Influence
of diet on Ovulation Disorders in Women. It's a narrative
review and it basically goes through some of the I
(13:19):
guess influences that nutrition and lifestyle factors may have on ovulation.
So the article sort of starts off by saying that
female infertility is actually quite common, but it's basically due
to in large part ovulation disorders, and the most common
one is pcos SO polycystic ovarian syndrome, and that's actually
one of the most common endocrind disorders that affect women
of reproductive ages. The article also talks about other sort
(13:41):
of ovulation related infertility factors, including things like stress, smoking, cigarettes, age,
substance abuse, and also physical activity as well, but also diet,
and interestingly enough, the article actually called out the Mediterranean
diet for being a beneficial addition to ovulation as well
and other things in the article that they found played
(14:01):
a really positive influence and population where carbohydrates in particular
having a low GI so basically the rate at which
the energy is absorbed and released by the body is
lower compared to sort of higher GI products. Focusing on
plant protein was really helpful. And we're not talking about zuzi,
the type of plant protein that's like the vegan fake
sausage meat. We're talking about you know, our beans, our legumes,
(14:24):
our tofu, those wonderful more whole food sources of plant protein.
Getting your fat mix right. So going towards the unsaturated,
so the money and the polyunsupturated fatty acids. Also focusing
on things like folic acid, vitamin d ion and antioxidants
as well. So just having a well rounded, good quality
diet I think was really important. But you had some
more specific things and even a little case study that
(14:45):
you wanted to share with our listeners today, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I know that a lot of our listeners are going
through a fertility journey and it can be really challenging,
and of course one of the first things many of
us are keen to do is have a look at
our diet, particularly if you've got a history of pcos
and insul and resistance. But even if not, you know,
if you've had any history of low body weight disordered eating,
perhaps you're following a gluten free diet or actually true
siliac because that can have really pronounced effects. One for
(15:09):
the pituitary gland to have been vulnerable to severe calorie
restriction at times, but then secondary perhaps eliminating food groups
for a range of different reasons, that does have a
profound effect on our nutrient intake.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I thought the.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Two key areas that stand out to me when it
comes to eating for fertility and indeedly and there are
some expert dieticians who specialize in this field. The dietologist
is an expert in this field. She's got a podcast,
so it would encourage you to also listen to that.
And I know you've had several experts on this area
on Lily and Ward Nutrition podcast as well. Have you
done ovulation before or just fertility.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Just on fertility in general. Yeah, it's a great chat
to have.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
A listen to that. You can get that from iTunes
as well. But in terms of a couple of things,
just to be considering if this is your journey and
you're struggling with a cycle or regaining your cycle, even
if you've already conceived and struggling again. The first thing
that comes to mind is what I would coral and
we've discussed it before, chronic calorie deprivation, but it may
even be more specific to that. So for a number
(16:06):
of reasons, people may be restricting their carbohydrate intake or
secondary to say, following a diet for ciliate disease or
a gluten free diet, even not being aware that their
intake of whole grains and carbohydrates is considerably lower than
it normally would be. So if you're someone who in
the morning has an omelet for breakfast, or a protein
shake or even some yoga and maybe just a small
(16:26):
amount of a gluten free cereal, and then you have
a traditional salad for lunch or even sushi, and then
you come for dinner and have protein and vegetables, because
that is a gluten free diet. If you count the
number of whole grain serves or carbohydrate serves, it's quite low.
And what we know about the pituitary gland or even
the ability to conceive or ovulation is highly affected by
(16:50):
calorie availability and also fat balance, which will come to
in a minute. So it really is worth checking to
make sure that you're consuming enough carbohydrate and enough whole
grain content to support and nourish the glands, the hormones,
and the cycles, because if the body is perceiving calorie
deprivation even though your nutrition is ticked, that is a
(17:12):
factor that we do need to take into account. So
I think indirectly for people avoiding gluten that can be
a pertinent issue and just making sure that you are
consuming an amount of carbohydrate. So if I graft that
diet ly and in terms of how much carbohydrate that
could be as long as twenty to thirty percent, which
is about half what's recommended for I guess the healthy
active people, and even for my insulin resistance or PCOS,
(17:34):
I'd want it to be at least forty kind percent.
So you can see that it can get right down
to twenty thirty percent. And if that quality of carbohydrates
not there, you're not getting whole grains from brown rice
or you know, various oats, you know, good quality carbohydrates. Again,
you're not ticking the box on those key nutrients that
can be linked. So it's certainly worth paying attention to
(17:54):
your carbohydrate intake overall. And if your preference is not
to have grain based carbohydrate, there's other options. As you mentioned.
You can go for legumes, you can use you att
amamae beans, you can use your fruit, you your vegetables,
your potato and a jacket sweet potato corn. There are
many sources of carbohydrate that don't have to be rice
and pasta, but nutritionally you do need to be ticking
(18:14):
the box on those for energy availability and also a
number of nutrients to make sure that you're not giving
the body a perceived starvation, which can indirectly affect petuitary
gland and ove litory cycles. So that's the first thing.
The second thing to look at is your fat. Now
we're going to talk about fat in a minute at
a broader level, but if you consider for optimal what
(18:35):
we know from the science in terms of eating for fertility,
it's about having a very high proportion even beyond thirty,
even up to forty percent of a good quality fat diet.
So when we talk about good fats, we're talking about avocado,
we're talking about oily fish like our salmon, we're talking
about nuts, we're talking about seeds, and in my experience
of working with clients and even myself leanne Unless you're
(18:57):
proactively eating oily fish and having a serve of nuts
and seeds per day, you won't be reaching those targets
at all. But what we do is we get plenty
of fat from the wrong sources. So we all love
our cheese, we all love our dairy, we love our meat,
we love our chocolate, we love our chips, So they
get all that sort of proportion of poor quality fat,
but we're failing to get the good quality fat without
(19:18):
those key foods. So for those listening who perhaps are
wanting to restore ovulation. You want to be getting three
to four serves of good fat every single day. So
that's one or two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
That's avocado caught over an avocado, a serve of nuts
and seeds about a tablespoon worth at a minimum. So
I'm talking you know, almonds, walnuts, papeters, even trail mix.
(19:40):
We're going to review trail mix in one of our episodes,
or have done recently. So it's about getting that mix
of nuts and seeds and oily fish. And the reason
we bang on about salmon, and admittedly an ambassador for Tassau,
but salmon is one of the richest natural sources of
amiga three fat. Sardines is another great one. You don't
get a lot from tin tuna. Unfortunately, most tuna is
low fat. So that salmon, if you like it, getting
(20:03):
that in at least every second day, or sardines if
you like it, absolutely crucial because natural anti inflammatories very
closely linked to hormone production in the body. It's making
sure you're not in a calorie deficit and it will
not contribute excessively to weight gain. It's only when we
eat the bad fats, the saturated fats, which are more
likely to be stored. The good fats have a much
more functional role in the body and very very important
(20:25):
when it comes to contributing to fertility and ovlituary cycles.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Absolutely and diet matters. And just before we jumped on
the Poddy, we were talking about a couple of clients
of ours and even friends of ours who have had
children and now start sort of struggling to have a
second child because of basically potentially the die it's not
up to all potentially it's something else as well, but
a lot of people are just struggling to actually get
their period back post baby, and whether or not they're
(20:50):
actually bastfeeding. I've got a friend now and she's going
on a year and a half. She weaned it, you know,
just before twelve months, and it's still been six months
and that period hasn't come back yet. So I think
nutrition quality we always look at the diet and the
lifestyle first, particularly make sure you're not over exercising, making
sure you're doing things to manage your stress on a
daily basis as well. And as you mentioned, SUSI that
(21:10):
diet is so critical. So I'll just summarize and bring
us up to speed with what this sort of article
because it was a really great one for ovulation and fertility. Again,
what we think positively influences ovulation, So it's good quality,
whole grand carbohydrates with a focus on low GI carbohydrates,
focusing on plant protein, the right types of fat, and
our key nutrients such as folic acid, vitamin D, iron
(21:33):
and also antioxidants. And if you're looking towards a structure
or a style of diet that's very beneficial, definitely look
up the Mediterranean diet, and as Susi mentioned, I've had
a couple of episodes talking about the Mediterranean diet and
also what good quality fats are as well on the
leand Ward Nutrition podcast. Now on the flip side of that,
things that appear to negatively influence ovulation and fertility include
(21:54):
four types of carbohydrates, in particular those with a high
glycemic index, large amounts of more proteins, the wrong types
of fat so are saturated and are trans fats, and
more of that Western style process nutrition model. So really
moving away from what most of us are doing more
towards a whole food, plant focused sort of diet as well,
(22:15):
are really the key things this article rounds up so
it sounds like basic healthy eating, but what we know
is is that sixty to seventy percent of adults aren't
getting this right.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
No, well, most people don't get the whole grains. I
think it's like three out of ten of strains get
their recommended daily intake of whole grains. I would say anecdotally,
very few people get their AMEGA three recommended daily and
take unless they're people who are eating salmon really regularly,
and that can even be tin salmon. It's a really
rich sauce as well, and quite affordable. And certainly nuts
and seeds. I find that people are either nuts and
(22:44):
seeds eaters, and they might have a daily nutbar, or
they might use a granola that's got a really beautiful
mix of good fats.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
But a lot of people don't.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Often we're grabbing, you know, toasting things on the go,
which is always sour dough, so no whole grain, picking
up lunches, and they're always even if it's salad so healthy,
it's often got high saturated fat dressings. They're not using
extra vergin olive will, and they're certainly not getting any
whole grain carbohydrate. And then dinner, we're trying to be good,
you know, and we're having protein and veggies, but again
we're not necessarily getting that range of nutrients, and in
(23:13):
particular the good fats or the good quality carbohydrates. So
they're really things to concentrate on, particularly if you have
had a history of disordered eating, or actively restrict carbohydrates,
whether it's for weight control or whether it's because you're
avoiding gluten. Just keep a little eye on that, because yeah,
even though you might sort of think on the surface
you're eating pretty well, there's often things that we can
do and adding in which can be hugely beneficial, particularly
(23:35):
when it comes to fertility. And I think just talking
about your friend and people that I know, I think
some of the issue with mum's second time round is
that they're often still breastfeeding, depleted from a first pregnancy, exhausted,
and often don't have time to prepare balanced meals for themselves.
They're more worried about what they're toddler's having, so you
can see how their own nutrition falls by the wayside
(23:55):
when they're basically in survival mode. For that theirs five
years of life with some more children. Certainly not a
judgment from Meann and I. It's just a permission to
really take a look at your own nutrition if that's
something that you're working on and want to be keeping
as healthy and fit and get your period back end
or conceive again.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
And we'll definitely just give a shout out to our
colleagues as well, working with a credit to practicing dietitian
particularly somebody who focuses in this fertility and ovulation area
is so key. So you know, there's some big events
coming up, Susie. There's Easter, there's Mother's Day, hopefully someone
will have a birthday during the year, then there's Christmas.
Ask for that as part of a gift. Often people say, well,
what would you like for Mother's Day? Or what would
you David always ask me and rather than those things,
(24:33):
we think, oh, you know, they can get buy us
a perfume, they can buy us a gift utterer or something.
Take it into your control and really make twenty twenty
three of the year that you focus on your health
and ask for a consult with a dietitian or ask
you know, for your loved ones. To put some money
together so you can go and access some great quality
healthcare because that's going to better fit you and your
family better, because you can't pour for an empty cup.
And I find that most mums, like you said, Susie's
(24:55):
not a judgment for us. We know we're all knee
deep and up and going through it at the moment.
It's it's exhausting, but you can't pour from an empty cups.
If you don't take care of yourself, you can't really
long term take care of your family as well. So
make twenty twenty three about you and the year that
we actually go and see a professional rather than result
to Google for our nutrition advice.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Perfect all right, Well, for our final segment of the day,
it was triggered by hallumi Leanne because hallummi is very
popular on the Saturday and Sunday food diaries that come through.
And I just had a little bit of a chuckle
to myself because it's one of those foods that we
all love to eat, but dietitians hate it because it's
(25:33):
so high in fat, like a serve of halluomi whin
it can be massive. So you think about a block
of sort of hallumi cheese, which is about one hundred grams,
So you would have to make that into about six serves,
so that that would come in as sort of less
than twenty grams because he hallumi's about twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Just stand helluma is even one eighty, Like, you're being
very generous at one hundred grams. I guess that a
block of hallumi, I'm sure is one sixty one eighty grams.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
You reckon it's one eighty. Yeah, So most we're getting
in a cafe a thirty to fifty grams. Now, that
is at least ten to fifteen grams of fat in
one hit, and it's all saturated. There's no good fat
in halluomi. So I just thought it lent itself to
a bit of a discussion about the foods that are
patful of fat. Now, Lean and I are certainly not
anti fat. If anything fat can be very sati eating. Certainly,
(26:18):
if I'm seeing food that doesn't have any good quality
dressing or some seeds or nuts at it, I'm concerned
because I do want that full factor of good fat.
But as I mentioned, what we choose to have, particularly
on the weekends, tends to be the bad fats. And
hallumi was one that comes all the time. And you
made a good point that when people are ordering hallumi
at the cafe, it's often part of what did you
describe avotoast with, Like.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
The avotoast with the you know, the good drizzle of
extra version olive oil and all the dooker and the
nuts on top, and then people often get a side
of bacon and fat. Or I had a client deal
date and you said, oh, the corn fruits look so
good on the menu. Can I have that with bacon
or hallumi for protein? And I was like, who, how
many snacks you up for the week? Food? Now it's
quite an energy bomb when you really think about it,
Like these by themselves are big enough, and then we're
(27:02):
adding big serves of bacon and hallumi to the side
of them as well.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So cheese is not a protein. Everyone thinks cheese is
a protein. Now it does contain protein, but proportionally it's
got more fat. So when I'm modeling diets, I don't
count cheese as a protein. I count it as a fat.
And that's more the case with hallumi, which is massive.
So I would argue you're much better to go for
the fetter or the goats cheese that you can spread
in a much smaller quantity than those big slubs are
hallumi because they are massive when you order it as
(27:27):
a side, and rightly so, they're clustering, like five six dollars.
But it's just a calorie fat overload, so just be
aware of that. I think the other one is, like
you describe the bacon, I see a lot of bacon
going in on the weekend. Now it's a process meat.
It's not We're ideally not consuming too much process meat.
I don't dislike it as much as I dislike hallumi.
But again, as you describe land, if you're having avo
(27:49):
plus bacon plus halloumi, like, that's forty grams of fat.
So in terms of how much do we need, which
was the original question, the average small female will need
roughly sixty to eighty grams per day, but everyone's different.
The higher the energy requirements, the more that you'll be
able to burn and process. But the key thing for
all of us is that less than thirty percent of
that should be saturated fat, and that comes in at
(28:10):
twenty thirty grams max. Of saturated fat. Now, if you
consume some red meat, if you consume some dairy that's
basically saturated fat, and then if we add chocolate and cheese,
you're going way over. So certainly, any place that we
can cut it out with things like the extra haloomies
and things is a smart choice, particularly if your goal
is fat loss. But some other little ones that do
creep in the bacon's. One of them are certainly sausages. Now,
(28:33):
I love sausages like the rest of people, and I
used to consult to Peppercorn, which is one of the
leanest sausages on the market, and peppercorn sausages have less
than ten percent fat overall less I think they are
about three grams saturated, and there's a growing range I've noticed,
particularly of the chicken sausages in both coals and woolies
that come in less than ten percent fat. But most
sausages people buy, like the good old pork plain, beef ones,
(28:56):
chippoladas that you buy for kids barbecues, are about twenty
thirty percent fat. So if you're having a meal of
sausages once a week, which aren't the extra lean ones,
you will absolutely be getting a truck load and that'll
be coming in at probably ten grams per sausage and
the other products land. Oh my god, I hate chicken
thighs and chicken drumstick.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Ih so you can say chicken nugets.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Because they're so they're like twenty to thirty percent fat
and people think it's chicken. It's like massive amounts of
extra fat slipping in. So you're much better to buy
the tenderlins. You're much better to do the breast. You know,
it's not you can tea it's not chicken meat. You
can see how much fat and things. It's not the
same thing. So that's another easy way to strip out
a lot of extra fat that can slip into clients
diets each week. Just to really it really bumps you
(29:36):
up over that sixty eighty grams and that will be
where you won't be getting fat loss because your overall
fat intake will be too high.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Another big one for the weekend, things like big breakfasts.
You know, you've got the mini sausages, you've got the bacon,
you've got the hash browns. Often you know people will
then have a bit of like calumi or avocado with
that as well. The weekend barbecues are a big one.
Like you mentioned the sausages, there's steaks, there's lamb cutlets.
If it's on my fancy then we've got the sides
of like the potat tato baked, the potato salad, the
pasta salad often drowned in like mayonnaise. We've got garlic
(30:04):
bread on the side. Often before we even get to
the barbecue, there's the cheese platters with the chips and
the cheese and you know the jats crackers damn. So
it slips in a lot, particularly on the weekend. So
it's really important to know that if you are eating
out a little bit more, you've got to actively try
for those leaner choices or like we said, work towards
a better fat balance. So it's not all coming from
(30:24):
the saturated and the trans fats as well. But I
think the big ones, particularly you know, being budget friendly,
are some of the meats that a lot of us
are eating. Like you mentioned the bacon, the salami, the sausages,
the deli style meats, the more kind of affordable options,
but they're definitely not the leaner or the healthier options.
So it's really trying to get that balance right throughout
the week. But you mentioned for a small female, I
think you said about sixty to eighty grams. Typically, as
(30:46):
a rule of some I'll say to my clients, at
a minimum, you want one gram of fat per killer
gram as a general rule, at an absolute minimum, So
for female that weighs seventy killers, you'd want a minimum
of seventy grams of fat. If you weigh a hundred killos,
you'd want a minimum of a hundred grams of that
in per day. And that's not a minimum because what
you'll find is that if you don't, you're not getting
enough fat in through your diet. It starts to affects hormones,
(31:08):
it starts to as fix cellular processes, hair, skin, nails,
that sort of thing. So the body really does need
a minimum amount of fat, and we definitely want that
mix right. And most austrains aren't getting that mixed right.
They're getting too much of the bad stuff and not
enough of the good stuff. Or what I'm finding, SUSI
is my clients will go out and they'll smash the cheese,
letters A'll smash the alcohol. They'll happily go and have
a big breakfast, but they're fearing adding fat into the
(31:30):
weak like they fear using good quality extra version olive
all they're feeling having a handful of nuts for a snack.
They'll happily have their carbs like their popcorn, their fruit,
their crackers, but they're just so fearful of things like
nuts or using you know, some good quality avocado or
something on a salad because they just want to keep
it low carb and low calorie. But they go out
on the weekend and they're getting these huge, you know,
(31:50):
saturated fat bombs, like we've talked about from all the
meals that they're choosing. They're going to getting pizza and
pastas and cocktails, and they're happy to do that, yet
they fear the good quality stuffs. Getting that mixed runt
or it does long term promote more of that inflammatory
type pathway, which can lead to things like chronic and
autoimmune diseases long term as well. So definitely it's something
(32:11):
we want to focus on. So take a step back
and look at the overall quality of your diet where
these fats are coming in, and actively try to include
more good fats to buffer off some of those more
saturated and transpats we seem to pick up more so
on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, I've thought of two more so mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Well that QB mayonnaise everyone left that.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Comes in all the time, like a tablespoon of mayonnaise.
I want to say, it's got like what eight to
twelve grams of fat per serve, Like it's massive. So
if you love mayo and I have clients to negotiate,
no problem. But you've got to cut the portion way
down and blend it with something else so you get
the flavor without the full load. Because so thick, it's
hard to get it thin anyway. So that's one. The
other one that you just mentioned to dips, Oh my god,
(32:51):
dips are just generally fat in a container, like unless
you're having like salsa or tazeki or like there's an
Egyptian beetroot one from Chris's which is really low. Most
of them are twenty thirty percent fat and they've just
got a vegetable oil or cheesy like cream cheese base.
So there's nothing healthy generally about dips. It's generally fat
in a container. And even hommers. You got to check
(33:12):
your brands, so some have got a higher proportion of chickpeas.
I think off the top of my head, the alinas
is quite good, the pilpel, but they're really those ones
are still high and fat overall. But all the others,
like the cream cheese based dip, the Philly kind of
French onion spinach. If you look, the first ingredients usually cream,
cheese or oil, so it's generally just fat and you're
just dipping away in fat. So there's just three areas
(33:35):
that perhaps are slipping in without realizing that they're just
most kind of pure fat going in. And it's really
important to be mindful of that and try and regulate
portions and or look for lighter options if you can.
And I don't want to ruin your Sunday breakfast too much,
but I'm telling your goats cheese alright ly, and it's
like less than twenty percent fat. You spread it much thinner,
you'll get all the flavor. I have to say, ditch
(33:57):
the HALLOOMI.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Well, I love boats, slamonn advocate for both, but we
really just want to drill home the take home message
here is not that fat as bad. We are absolutely
advocating for fat, but we're advocating for the right types
of fat, and sadly most Australias it is getting that
mixed wrong, So we're really advocating for fat. We're basically
we're pro fat. We like it, we just don't want
too much of it, and we definitely don't want it
coming from too many of the wrong sources. Balance is
(34:19):
absolutely key, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
So that brings us to standard the Nutrition Couch for
another Sunday. If you haven't done so, don't forget to
subscribe and tell your friends about us so we can
continue to grow. We're just about to launch, and we've
been saying it for a few weeks because some of
us are not doing our work land, but we are
going to commit to doing it today and have our
takeaway guide out to you in the next couple of weeks.
But if you're also interested in supermarket products, you can
find our supermarket guide for sale on our website, the
(34:43):
New Nutritioncouch dot com. And we will see you on
Wednesday for our regular product review.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
East
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The Bobby Bones Show
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