March 22, 2026 • 30 mins
Ensuring your kids are properly fed can feel like an impossible task, especially if they're picky or have dietary requirements. Rebecca Bruce is a paediatric dietician and mum of two who understand how hard it can be to feed your kids with healthy, delicous, simple food.
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Or if you'd like to see Rebecca in person you can at Tiny Giants Paediatric Specialists https://tinygiants.co.nz/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, So we need to talk Tony Street's Lifestyle and
Wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We need to talk. It is lovely
to have you with us now. If you're a parent
of a sporty or active child, you will know how
hard it is to get good quality food into them
as they whip from practice to practice. In fact, I've
got a big afternoon ahead of me today throwing a
kid that's fussy or has special dietary requirements, and it
can be a real headache. I'm one of these parents.
(00:29):
Two of my kids will pretty much eat anything, but
one is now lactose intolerant and just doesn't ever seem
to eat enough food for the amount of exercise she's doing.
And I think that can actually affect her energy and
her temperament. So I've enlisted some help today from dietitian
Rebecca Bruce from Smart Nutrition. Bex runs a women's wellbeing
Reset program. She is a pediatric dietitian and is also
(00:51):
mum to a teen and a preteen, so she is
living this life too, Bex. It's lovely to have you here.
It is quite hard to have enough food on board
at that age, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yes, absolutely, and I think this is something that I
get asked a lot, both in my job but also
in the school community and sports teams, because I think
as parents, we really want to make sure that we
are feeling our kids well, that we are doing everything,
but sometimes it's really hard to actually know am I
getting it right.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
One of the things that I think I struggle with
is I try to avoid packaged food because we know
that whole food is better, but because of convenience and
because we're whipping from one thing to the next, that's
not always practical. So what would your advice be to
sort of avoid packaged food but also be getting in
quality food and as packaged food okay sometimes absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I think it's about trying to be practical and not
trying to be perfect about things, but also keep it simple,
so keeping it to things like crackers and cheese, a smoothie,
some fruit and yogat, a bit of baking. A music bar. Yes,
music bars can be full of sugar, but actually if
it's a pre training snack, that can actually be helpful
to have some of those quick carbohydrates that we digestintives
(02:01):
all quickly are there for energy, so I think they
have a time and a place. So yeah, I think
take that pressure off yourself, keep it simple, and yeah
it is okay to resort to some of those convenience
foods sometimes, but really trying to probably base your meals
around more of the whole foods.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Do you think that we are fueling our kids enough
by and large from what you have seen in your
clinics and anecdotally from parents you've spoken to, Given that
we're in an era where a lot of kids are
playing sometimes potentially up to three winter sports at a time,
three summer sports at a time, with extra activities on
top of that, we're in quite a different world to
(02:36):
when we grew up, where we had one or two sports. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Absolutely, I think kids are doing a lot these days,
and I think, you know, they're going from one thing
to the next, and it's really hard to kind of
keep on top of that or plan for you know,
what have we got on today? This Toil's got this,
this Tiel's got this. How am I going to package
that up to kind of fuel them all through the day? So,
I mean, I think it really varies. I definitely do
see situations where it's not kind of going to plan
(03:00):
in terms of fueling them well. So it depends on
the child, It depends on the schedule, depends on their appetite,
how picky they are with food, whether there's food allergies
or on tolerances that you mentioned. Also does access to
nutritious food, and also the cost of living. I mean,
it's really expensive to buy food now, so that's a
part of it as well. But I guess some situations
where I do see it going wrong would be in
(03:23):
a child that's eating enough for their daily activities, maybe
enough to fuel their activities, but they're not eating enough
to sustain their growth. So I guess those are the
kids that end up getting referred to me because they're
not growing well. So that is something that you want
to keep an eye on. Like if you can notice
that your child is becoming smaller than their peers, that
they're not keeping up with their growth, then obviously you
(03:45):
would see your GP as a first porter call get
a referral to a pediatric dietician. But even I see
quite a bit as well where children might be eating
enough in terms of enough calories they're growing, but it
might be poor nutritional density. So it could be a
lot of those refined carbohydrates and sugars or a lot
of those processed foods that you referred to, whether they're
not getting the nutrients, so they're they're not getting enough
(04:07):
of the iron or the calcium, the B twilve, vitamin C.
It might be that that presents as a nutritional deficiency,
or it might be just across the board, they're just
not doing as well as they call it. You notice
it getting more tired, or another situation that I think
we all see as parents as the angry child, Right,
So when your child's just having a meltdown, and it
might be because they haven't eaten enough, or it could
(04:29):
be that they've not eaten enough of the right food.
So if they've just been having you know, those kind
of quick carb kind of snacks, you know, then they
have the energy crash, their blood sugars drop, they're tired,
they're hungry, they can't control their emotions, and I think
that's something that as parents we all see at times.
But yeah, those are some of the situations where I
think there's signs that we're not fueling them adequately. And
I think if you've got any of those concerns, then
(04:52):
absolutely it's worth getting some help with that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I am definitely one of those parents that have noticed
one of my children gets home and is hangry. Nice
suspect it's because you know, she'll often do a run
club before school, and then she'll go to school, and
then they'll have a practice at lunch time, and then
maybe they have pe and even though we feel like
we give her a decent breakfast and we give her
enough snacks for lunch, that's still not enough. So where
(05:15):
would you start with a child like that that is
crashing after school.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I think that's a bit of a combination of issues there.
And again, this is something that's quite common, the timing
or of their meals or the timing between meals. So
some kids aren't really they're interested in breakfast. They don't
need a good breakfast before they go after school. It
might be that they're coming home with their lunch box
half full they haven't even really touched it because they'd
rather go and play with their friends, or that I
(05:40):
want to lose their friends at lunchtime. Some kids are
finishing school and going straight into a sports practice, so
they're not making the time of the priority for having
that snack before training. And then there's the kids that
have got a late practice or a late game and
they're getting home and they're over it. They're just not
interested in eating, and you're trying to get a man thirty.
So sometimes you need to look at what their day
(06:00):
looks like and look at the opportunities. So kids really
should be eating every kind of two and a half
to four hours if you're fueling them, and you want
to make sure that they are having those three meals
as well as two to three snacks depending on what
their activity and their you know, their hunger, their growth is,
you know where that is at. But you do need
to look at their schedule and looking at when we
can fit this in making sure they've got access to
(06:23):
the food that the simple things that they can grab
on the go. And also the other side of it
is that kind of refueling after you know, after training
or after sport. If a child's got a late game,
then I often suggest actually giving them an early dinner,
having their main meal. It might be that they're having
their dinner at four thirty or five o'clock to then
be able to go and have their game and then
(06:44):
having a lighter snack afterwards. So it's just kind of
working out with your kid where you know when, what
time of day they have better appetite, making the most
of that time, but also looking at how you're structuring
their meals. So you do want to make sure that
with each meal you are including protein, a carbohydrate, fruit
and or vegetable, and some healthy fats. And we might
go into that a little bit more, but it is
(07:07):
about making sure that they're having those that good sustainable
energy for their meals. And then you might be doing
something like more carbohydrate based as a pre training or
a pre game snack and then making sure you're getting
some carbohydrates and protein and within that kind of half
an hour to afterwards. So you do kind of need
to look at your child, their appetite, their schedule, and
when it kind of works to fit that in for them.
(07:29):
So it will vary, and it will vary even between
your children, but it is important to make sure that
they've got enough and they've got access to that to
feel themselves. Otherwise you do start to see it impacting
you know, their energy levels during training, their recovery afterwards,
and you know mood and things as well.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
You mentioned breakfast that some kids don't like eating breakfast
and I've definitely got one of those. When I was young,
it was breakfast is the most important meal of the day,
and I remember the messaging being you should have cereal
and fruit and toast and all of these things. Is
it a disaster in this modern world if they don't
like breakfast and they have more food later.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
It's not great for children not to have breakfast, So
in terms of eating, they do need those regular meals.
If you think of a child has had dinner the
night before, it's a really long time. Then if they're
leaving the house without breakfast and not eating to a
morning tea. So I guess there's a few differences between
adults and children there in that children have smaller fuel tanks,
so they have a lot less muscle, they have much
(08:29):
smaller liver, so we store carbohydrate as energy and our
muscles and liver as glycogen, but they don't have those
same reserves to draw on. So we do need to
make sure that they're fueling regularly. And if they just
come off the back of an overnight fast and turning
up to school, they haven't got their energy. So a
child's brain primarily uses glucose for energy. If they haven't
got their energy, they're going to really struggle with concentrating
(08:51):
with their focus and things at school. So often I
suggest if a child isn't into breakfast, they don't feel
like eating that actually sometimes drinking something can be easier
than physically eating something. So often that's where smoothie can
be really helpful, because it might be easier to kind
of drink your calories rather than eat if you're just
not interested. But also just making sure looking at the
(09:12):
child's schedule, so are they getting to bed early enough
that they're then waking at a time that they've actually
got time for breakfast, Because I do see a lot
of kids as well that are saying, oh, I don't
have time for breakfast in the morning. Let's have a
look at what time are you're going to bed, what
time you're getting up. We need to make time. It's
actually a real priority to make sure that children are
going to school feed because it does have a huge
impact on the energy levels. But then they also just
(09:34):
need it, you know, for their growth and meeting the
nutrition requirements. If we're cutting out one of three meals
in a day, it's actually really hard to get in
everything they need over the day.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, you forget about that smaller fuel tank, don't you
that you know that's why they need food more regularly.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Now back we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Let's go through the meals of the day now. So
let's start at breakfast time. You've just recommended a smoothie.
What are other options that you would recommend for sporty
preteens and teens that would set them up well for
the day.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So with any of the meals, I do bring it
back to kind of having that sort of composition where
you've got carbohydrate, protein, fruit and or vegetables, which is
your color, that's your fiber, that's also your a lot
of your micronutrients, and some healthy fats. So what that
might look like in terms of breakfast, it could be
some eggs and avocado on toast. It could be a
(10:28):
smoothie that's got your sort of milk or milk alternative
in there, which is giving you sort of fluid and calcium.
You've got some fruits, maybe some veggies in there for fiber.
You can add some healthy fats in terms of avocado
or nut butters. There's lots of different things you can
tweak and add into it. For kids, it might be
that they're having a cereal for breakfast. And I think
(10:49):
there's huge variety in cereals, and I'm not a huge
fan of a lot of the high sugar cereals on
the shelf, but I think you can take a low
sugar option and then make that into a balanced meal
by adding some Greek yogurt some fruit to that. You know,
if you have a child that's not into that, it
could be that they're having leftovers from dinner for breakfast.
I think in our mind we often think of breakfast
(11:11):
foods as the things that are on you know, the
breakfast cereal shelves or the toast area and the supermarket,
But actually what we have for dinner is often the
most nutritious meal. So if your child really likes what
they had for dinner, heading that out for leftovers is
actually a great option the next morning.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But it chok it all right, yeah every meal? If
white kids have that, okay, so that's good for breakfast.
Is there any particular cereal that you do really like?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oats is always a good one because that's actually something
in its natural form. You know, it's the sort of
least process option, and you can make different things with
that in terms of like a porridge or you know,
make it into a muse le, or you can make
it into an overnight oats. So yeah, I think it
does come down a bit to preference, but I do
think you need to be mindful of the sugar content,
also making sure that you are getting in protein and
(11:58):
fiber breakfast so that you've got that systemable energy. If
you're just having a high sugar cereal for breakfast, their
blood sugars are going to spike, they'll drop off, and
then you know, probably getting through that morning of school
where it's going to be really challenging when they're having
a blood sugar crash and they're sort of losing their concentration.
They're getting to that handry state and they might not
melt down in front of the teacher, but they might
(12:18):
be finding it really hard to focus.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Okay, let's talk snacks now, so morning afternoon tea and
potentially snacks post school before they compete or have trainings.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
So I think it's keeping it simple. I think you know,
often we are like, oh, what, you know, what's some
amazing snack that I can give? But I think it's
actually just bringing it back to basics. So things like
some fruit and yogurt, some crackers and cheese, a sandwich,
making a cheesecase adea which sounds fancy, it's not. It's
just cheasing a rap, right. You can throw it on
the toasting machine and take it for them after school.
(12:48):
It might be some baking, it might be a music bar.
Like I said, there's sometimes situations where you're going into
a practice or again that actually those you know, sort
of quick carbohydrates can actually be good for fueling. So
it's you don't need to be fancy, you don't have
to be you know, just keeping it simple to basic
things that you can throw together at home.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I think, okay, lunch lunch boxes at school for a
kid that doesn't like sandwiches, just asking for a friend.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yeah, I've had that situation with one of mine actually
as well, so I think it is. I think a
lot of people actually find lunch boxes challenging and a
little bit groundhog day. I know that a lot of parents,
including myself, it's like school holidays are a bit of
break from that and it's quite refreshing. So one thing again,
thinking of dinners that can be really helpful for lunches.
(13:34):
Is that just doing leftovers. If you've got one of
those services, I think they're really great. If you've got
cook a bit extra at dinner, it might be somebolinized
left from the night before, heading that up and they
can have a hot lunch at school. I think getting
them the child involved, depending on their age, getting them
involved in making their lunch box as well, because when
they have a little bit of ownership of it, or
they feel like they've got a little bit of autonomy
(13:55):
in terms of what goes in there, sometimes that helps
with interest in actually eating it. But you do want
to make sure again that you are kind of ticking
all of the boxes. So you want to make sure
you've got some carbohydrate. So that could be in the
form of a sandwich, it could be a wrap. It
could be some chicken on rice. It could be some
leftover pasta or pasta salad. Some kind of carbohydrate. Protein
(14:16):
is one that I often notice is missing in the
lunch box. So that could be yogurt, and I know
a lot of kids don't like yogurt in their lunch
box because it gets warm, particularly in the summer. Something
that I often suggest is freezing the yogurt patches and
then they kind of a frost by lunchtime, or putting
the yogurt in a little poddle, putting some frozen fruit
in there, and then that helps to keep it cool.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Cheese is a really easy protein that you can put
in the lunch box, some left over meat, if you've
got some COOLi packs in there. It might even be
some baked items that have a bit higher protein content.
So it might be that making some pipe clots and
you're putting milk in there, and you're putting eggs in there,
or you might make a muffin recipe that's got extra
kind of yogurt and eggs in it. So there's ways
that you can incorporate protein into things, but I do
(14:57):
think that's something that's often missing from lunch boxes. And
then obviously we want to have fruit in there, ideally
a vegetable in some form as well if you can,
because I think a lot of kids are not getting
enough vegetables in across the day, and so if you
can throw in some carrot sticks, so it might be cucumber,
it might be something in their sandwich that really helps
(15:18):
with getting enough in across the day as.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, So right before trainings, Like let's say it's after
school and they got a netball or a basketball practice,
what is the best thing that they could have straight
before training to make sure that they can have the
best output.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So with that, you're really focusing on carbo hydrated at
point in you don't want to be having anything that's
too high in fat or too high in fiber because
that can kind of upset their tummy a little bit
when they're training. So fat tends to sit in, you know,
things that are high fat sitting our tummy for longer.
You don't want it to be repeating on you when
you're running around the basketball court or the netball court.
So yeah, something that is primarily carbohydrate based without too
(15:56):
much fiber. So normally I would be saying, you know,
going for whole grains and things, but actually in that
snack pre training or pre game, you're better to go
something without the fiber and something that is quick to
digest so that you've then actually got that carbohydrate available
in your bloodstream to fuel you for that game or
fuel you for that practice.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So the cheese cascissody would be a good option.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Then, yes, it could be it could be something like that.
It could be a musy bar. It could be you know,
like I said, like pikelets or something that you make
put a bit of jam on it, because that's that
quick carbohydrate. It's Yeah, it does depend a little bit
on the child and what their preferences are, but also
what sits well in their stomach, because it does vary
(16:37):
a little bit between children. But if you're thinking kind
of card base, it might just be a sandwich, and
it could be even with something like some jam or
some honey in it, because that's giving you that quick
carbo hydrate to feel them for their you know, for
what they're about to do. If it's a you know,
fairly relaxed practice, you're not having to kind of worry
so much about that. You're just wanting to make sure
(16:58):
they're eating something. But if they're going into sort of
an hour of intense training, then absolutely you want to
be focusing on those carbohydrates.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
What about straight after the game? There's one area I
have to say, I forget. I know that they need
something beforehand. Should they be eating in a certain time
window after a big sports.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Game, ideally within half an hour to an hour after
training or sports, particularly like you said, if it's been
a big game or a big training session, that often
for kids coincides with coming into a meal anyway. So
if a child's got their practice after school or they've
got a game after school, then if you've prepared with
dinner to be able to feed them soon after they
(17:35):
get home. That's where I love a slow cook meal.
You know, you walk in and it's done, or it
might be that you've cooked extra the night before so
you can feed them as soon as they walk in
the door, but trying to make sure you've got something
ready for them. If you haven't, it might just be,
you know, depending on the timing and it's still a
few hours to dinner, that might be when you just
do something like some fruit and yogurt or a smoothie,
or some cheese and crackers or something like that. More
(17:57):
that combination of protein and carbohydrate kind of thinking. After
they've been training, we need to replenish deck like a
gen stores, you know, their fuel tanks, but also get
some protein in which is really important for muscle recovery
and repair as well.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
All Right, I'm going to throw some foods at you now,
put you on the spot to get your perspective on
whether it's a good thing to have or not. I'm
going to start with something that I was told when
I was playing red netbar as a kid. We had
bucket loads of it on our netball tournaments, and that
is chocolate milk. Where do you sit on that.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
That can be good for fuelling particular tournaments and where
you've got, you know, is a combination of protein and carbohydrates.
So it's definitely not something that I recommend is in
day to day nutrition. But I think it can absolutely
play a place for active kids that are playing a
lot of sports. So I think it's got, you know,
it's a situational kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Up and goes.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I would say that they are quite a processed option,
so again I don't recommend them as a day to
day thing. They have got added froc toos in so
that can upset the tummy for some children. That's a
for mental carbohydrate. And when you look at the ingredients,
that is quite a long list, you know. Rather, I
would suggest, if you're at home, make it smoothie, because
(19:10):
then you're putting in whole ingredients into there that you
know are going to be good for your child. So
when you're at home, definitely make your own. But I
do think that that can be a convenience option for
a situation where a child might need to fuel after
a morning, say basketball practice, and then they're going straight
to school or something like that. But when you're at home,
(19:33):
try and make your own protein balls. These vary a lot,
so I think the ones that you buy often can
be quite high in sugars. Again, you know, they tend
to be a process option, so ones you make yourself,
you're going to know exactly what's in there, But we
don't all I have time for that, so it depends
again on the context that you're having them. If it's
(19:53):
just a day to day lunch box item, then you
do need to be looking a little bit at what's
in there, at the sugars and things like that. But
if it's to feel yourself before sports and absolutely then
that can be actually a good thing. So they very hugely.
I think it's good to start learning to actually look
at the nutrition information and actually comparing between products to
kind of go, Okay, what's in this one compared to
(20:14):
this one, or you know, what am I actually doing
it for? Is it a bit of a you know,
a sweet treat. Is it something that's going in the
lunch box every day or is it something that is
a pre training snack. So I do think it depends
on how you're using them. And when they say protein
balls as well, I think that varies hugely in terms
of how much protein's actually in there.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What's a good amount of protein.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
That's a bit of a tricky one because it depends
who's eating it, It depends on the age of the child,
it depends on the size of the child. So I
wouldn't say there's a specific number that you're looking for
in terms of protein requirements. You do work that out
according to the age and the size of the child.
So it's quite hard to kind of stay across the board.
(20:56):
But you do need to be careful not to overdo
it because I think there's a huge push, particularly in
adults and in sort of certain stages of life that
we're really kind of trying to up our protein intake.
And kids need protein absolutely, but they don't need as
much as we do, so you don't want to be
doing full serves of protein powder. You know, in a child,
(21:17):
you definitely can overdo that, so Yeah, it's it's it's
a little bit of a depends on the child, But
I think I guess where you get a gauge is
kind of comparing this ball's got one gram or you know,
this ball's got five but those protein bars that have
got forty five grams of protein, and that's totally not
appropriate for a child. Like that's giving some children their
(21:37):
full protein requirements in one bar, but not in a
natural form. Right, So yeah, it's I think we need
to be a little bit careful about using protein sort
of high protein options for children rather try they can
definitely get enough protein from whole foods.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
All right, Do you have one snack that is the
Unicorn of snacks? If you could recommend that for us?
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I have to say my go to is a smoothie
in that situation, and it depends where you are because
you can't always have access to one, but you can
put it in one of those cooly cups. But the
reason I love it as a snack for active kids
is it ticks a lot of boxes. So one, it's
giving them fluid, it's giving them protein. If you're using
milk or milk alternative that's fortified with calcium you've got
calcium in there. You know, you've got your fruit and
(22:24):
maybe vegetable component in there. You can easily add some
healthy fats if you need to increase the calorie density,
like adding some nut butters or some ground nuts or
some avocado if you've got a child that's struggling to
get enough energy in So there's so many ways that
we can tweak it to really tick all of the
boxes that I think that would be my number one.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Do you have a particular type of smoothie that you
find is very popular with kids that you could recommend
to us now?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So I would say very SMOOTHI as wells a popular one,
and that's just using your milk or calcium fortified malk alternative.
You may be putting some great yogurt in there. Frozen
banana is really great and smoothies because it makes it
go nice and thick and creamy, and you can kind
of use up the old bananas that no one wants
to eat. Your frozen berries. One ingredient that sounds really weird,
but I always encourage families to put into their smoothies,
(23:14):
particularly if you've got a kid that doesn't like eating
a lot of vegetables is frozen corget and you can't
taste it in there, but it just kind of gives
a really nice creamy texture to the smoothie and is
a nice way of getting an extra server of edgies.
So yeah, a very smoothie and you can kind of
do lots of different versions of that, but I think
that generally goes down quite well with kids. Another one
(23:34):
that I find quite popular is like a chop put
peanut butter smoothie, So that might be sort of your
banana in their still to get those carbs in there.
You know, a bit of peanut butter, a bit of
cocoa powder, and again I put the coujyt in because
I think when you haven't got the frozen fruit in there,
it makes it. It gives it that kind of nice
kind of creamy texture to it. So I'd say those
are two quite popular ones with kids that I see
(23:56):
in my household too.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I just want to talk now, just changing tech a
little bit. You've got a women's well being program. Tell
me about that and why you created this as well.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So I've been working as a dietitian for over twenty
years now, and I guess what I've seen again and
again is women getting stuck, particularly from that thirty five
plus kind of age group, so you know, sort of
mid thirties, forties, fifties and beyond, where women do start
to feel like what they've always been doing does isn't
working for them anymore, and they get really confused. They
go back to trying what's worked for them before. It's
not working. They're trying all these different diets and maybe
(24:34):
it works for a little bit. Then they you know,
kind of rebound or they're feeling tired, they're not feeling
like themselves, and I just felt like I wanted to
put something together to really support women through the stage
so that they can feel their best. I think it's
really really common, particularly in that perimenopausal and post menopausal phase,
for women to feel tired, to feel a little bit
(24:55):
out of control, where they're eating, where they're constantly feeling hungry,
they're constantly thinking about food, You've got those cravings, you know,
maybe your weight's increasing, and you're just feeling uncomfortable in
your body. And it's really just giving empowering women to
actually go you can feel good at this stage of
your life. You should, you deserve to feel good, and
I can help you to do this. So I wanted
(25:15):
to put together a program that kind of takes all
of the boxes. I guess I've seen and working in
lots of different aspects of a weight loss over the
years what actually works. And I think women like to
have a plan. They like to have something that they
can follow, but it needs to have flexibility, right, So
they want to know, you know, if I eat this meal,
is it going to take all the boxes? Am I
(25:35):
going to get everything that I need? But I want
to enjoy it as well. So I've put together a
program with the meal plans, the recipes. It's all in
an easy to use, convenient app because I wanted it
to be really easy to access, so it's at your
fingertips so that you can, I guess, learn to eat
for this stage of your life, but also really enjoy it.
So enjoy the journey, enjoy the food. It was really
(25:57):
important to me that the meals were satisfying and enjoyable,
but also family friendly. I'm really not into a woman
cooking separate meals for themselves for the rest of the family.
And partly that is, you know, role modeling for your
children and your family, but also the convenience who wants
to cook to different meals. So I wanted to make
sure it's family friendly. So all of the recipes have
(26:19):
been tested on my husband and my children, all approved,
and yeah, they are designed to be flexible as well,
so if there's something that you don't like, there's always
something you can swap it out for. There's yeah, a
lot of flexibility with it. I do seasonal meal plans
so that we use sort of in seasoned produce, but
also that you never get bored, you know, so there's
(26:40):
always something new to try. You don't kind of get
that groundhog day, and it just takes away the overwhelm
of thinking, I just don't know what I should be
eating because I feel like there's so much information and
noise out there about you should be doing this or
you shouldn't be doing this. So it really is designed
as high protein, high fiber, so really a big focus
on health and plant diversity. It is a bit lower
(27:03):
in cabs, but absolutely not no cabs, so you'll still
get some toasts in there, you'll still get your fruit,
your fruit in there, but it is designed to be
a bit lower and looking at the type of carbohydrates
so that we stabilize bud sugar levels. You don't have
that three p three pm energy crash that a lot
of women find where they're reaching for caffeine or they're
reaching for sugar to sort of get themselves through the afternoon,
(27:24):
to cake the kids, to sports practice, or to make dinner,
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So I love that sort of nature of being a
bit more even keeled, you know, at the stage of life.
And I have tried some of the recipes and I
can attest to the fact that they are very delicious
and that easy to do. What sort of results have
you had from the reset and also what changes does
it make to your life? I guess in terms of
(27:47):
your temperament. And we've just talked about our kids being
move we can be moody too, where we're angry.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Absolutely, So I think a lot of women go into
it having particular goals around their health and wellbeing and
someone they're similar in terms of their intentions and some
have slightly different intentions. But the idea is that if
your goal is weight loss, to support you in achieving
sustainable weight loss, and that really is you know what
I'm seeing. I had a lady talking the other day
(28:13):
about how she's two years and now, you know, she's
lost ten kilos and she's sustained that and this is
just her way of life now. So absolutely women are
achieving that sustainable weight loss, but in a way that
actually nourishes their body and nourishes their gart. If your
goal is not weight loss, it might be more around
actually that sustainable energy and not having to you know,
have coffee at three o'clock. That's seen keeping you awake
(28:36):
at night. I think also a lot of women notice,
particularly coming into perimenopause and postmenopause, that things change in
their gart. A lot of women have a lot more
issues with bloating, their digestion changes, and it's actually supporting
through that stage as well, so you're not finding that
by the afternoon you have to under the top button
because you're feeling, you know that really kind of uncomfortable bloating.
(28:58):
But I think there've also been benefits. You know, some
woman have said, you know, on my skin so much better,
just with nourishing your body from the inside out and
basing your nutrition around whole foods, reducing down you know,
the process package foods and really looking after your gut
health as well. And I guess some of the other
individual kind of feedback that I've had from people as
women coming to me saying, hey, I was pre diabetic
(29:21):
and now my HbA one C is normal. My cholesterol
was high and now I've got it back down to normal.
So I think, you know, another lady that sort of
had signs in her liver function of fatty liver disease,
and now her liver function has normalized. So I think
those things are huge and I think that absolutely like
just makes this all worthwhile for me because I think
(29:42):
when I set out to do this, I you know,
I had all these goals of what I wanted women
to feel, what I wanted them to achieve. So when
I get this kind of feedback, it's, yeah, it's just amazing.
And I think I've ended up being busier than I've
ever been with doing this, but it's all worth it
when I get that kind.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Of feedback and walking the talk as well. You be
able to see a BEX on Instagram and our clips,
but you're a picture of health, you know, great weight management,
great energy, great vitality for a woman in her forties.
So thank you Bex for all of your advice today.
And we have got a week code for people listening
to this today. So if you're listening and you're like,
the woman's well being is what I want to do.
(30:19):
What's your website?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
So it's Smartnesutrition dot Z. I will put a link
so that if anyone's interested in that and learning more
about the reset, that they can have a little lot.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thanks for listening to we need to talk. Get in
contact with us on Instagram at we need to Talk
with Tony Street, or email we need to Talk at
Costonline dot co dot nz
Welcome, So we need to talk Tony Street's Lifestyle and
Wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We need to talk. It is lovely
to have you with us now. If you're a parent
of a sporty or active child, you will know how
hard it is to get good quality food into them
as they whip from practice to practice. In fact, I've
got a big afternoon ahead of me today throwing a
kid that's fussy or has special dietary requirements, and it
can be a real headache. I'm one of these parents.
(00:29):
Two of my kids will pretty much eat anything, but
one is now lactose intolerant and just doesn't ever seem
to eat enough food for the amount of exercise she's doing.
And I think that can actually affect her energy and
her temperament. So I've enlisted some help today from dietitian
Rebecca Bruce from Smart Nutrition. Bex runs a women's wellbeing
Reset program. She is a pediatric dietitian and is also
(00:51):
mum to a teen and a preteen, so she is
living this life too, Bex. It's lovely to have you here.
It is quite hard to have enough food on board
at that age, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yes, absolutely, and I think this is something that I
get asked a lot, both in my job but also
in the school community and sports teams, because I think
as parents, we really want to make sure that we
are feeling our kids well, that we are doing everything,
but sometimes it's really hard to actually know am I
getting it right.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
One of the things that I think I struggle with
is I try to avoid packaged food because we know
that whole food is better, but because of convenience and
because we're whipping from one thing to the next, that's
not always practical. So what would your advice be to
sort of avoid packaged food but also be getting in
quality food and as packaged food okay sometimes absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I think it's about trying to be practical and not
trying to be perfect about things, but also keep it simple,
so keeping it to things like crackers and cheese, a smoothie,
some fruit and yogat, a bit of baking. A music bar. Yes,
music bars can be full of sugar, but actually if
it's a pre training snack, that can actually be helpful
to have some of those quick carbohydrates that we digestintives
(02:01):
all quickly are there for energy, so I think they
have a time and a place. So yeah, I think
take that pressure off yourself, keep it simple, and yeah
it is okay to resort to some of those convenience
foods sometimes, but really trying to probably base your meals
around more of the whole foods.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Do you think that we are fueling our kids enough
by and large from what you have seen in your
clinics and anecdotally from parents you've spoken to, Given that
we're in an era where a lot of kids are
playing sometimes potentially up to three winter sports at a time,
three summer sports at a time, with extra activities on
top of that, we're in quite a different world to
(02:36):
when we grew up, where we had one or two sports. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Absolutely, I think kids are doing a lot these days,
and I think, you know, they're going from one thing
to the next, and it's really hard to kind of
keep on top of that or plan for you know,
what have we got on today? This Toil's got this,
this Tiel's got this. How am I going to package
that up to kind of fuel them all through the day? So,
I mean, I think it really varies. I definitely do
see situations where it's not kind of going to plan
(03:00):
in terms of fueling them well. So it depends on
the child, It depends on the schedule, depends on their appetite,
how picky they are with food, whether there's food allergies
or on tolerances that you mentioned. Also does access to
nutritious food, and also the cost of living. I mean,
it's really expensive to buy food now, so that's a
part of it as well. But I guess some situations
where I do see it going wrong would be in
(03:23):
a child that's eating enough for their daily activities, maybe
enough to fuel their activities, but they're not eating enough
to sustain their growth. So I guess those are the
kids that end up getting referred to me because they're
not growing well. So that is something that you want
to keep an eye on. Like if you can notice
that your child is becoming smaller than their peers, that
they're not keeping up with their growth, then obviously you
(03:45):
would see your GP as a first porter call get
a referral to a pediatric dietician. But even I see
quite a bit as well where children might be eating
enough in terms of enough calories they're growing, but it
might be poor nutritional density. So it could be a
lot of those refined carbohydrates and sugars or a lot
of those processed foods that you referred to, whether they're
not getting the nutrients, so they're they're not getting enough
(04:07):
of the iron or the calcium, the B twilve, vitamin C.
It might be that that presents as a nutritional deficiency,
or it might be just across the board, they're just
not doing as well as they call it. You notice
it getting more tired, or another situation that I think
we all see as parents as the angry child, Right,
So when your child's just having a meltdown, and it
might be because they haven't eaten enough, or it could
(04:29):
be that they've not eaten enough of the right food.
So if they've just been having you know, those kind
of quick carb kind of snacks, you know, then they
have the energy crash, their blood sugars drop, they're tired,
they're hungry, they can't control their emotions, and I think
that's something that as parents we all see at times.
But yeah, those are some of the situations where I
think there's signs that we're not fueling them adequately. And
I think if you've got any of those concerns, then
(04:52):
absolutely it's worth getting some help with that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I am definitely one of those parents that have noticed
one of my children gets home and is hangry. Nice
suspect it's because you know, she'll often do a run
club before school, and then she'll go to school, and
then they'll have a practice at lunch time, and then
maybe they have pe and even though we feel like
we give her a decent breakfast and we give her
enough snacks for lunch, that's still not enough. So where
(05:15):
would you start with a child like that that is
crashing after school.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I think that's a bit of a combination of issues there.
And again, this is something that's quite common, the timing
or of their meals or the timing between meals. So
some kids aren't really they're interested in breakfast. They don't
need a good breakfast before they go after school. It
might be that they're coming home with their lunch box
half full they haven't even really touched it because they'd
rather go and play with their friends, or that I
(05:40):
want to lose their friends at lunchtime. Some kids are
finishing school and going straight into a sports practice, so
they're not making the time of the priority for having
that snack before training. And then there's the kids that
have got a late practice or a late game and
they're getting home and they're over it. They're just not
interested in eating, and you're trying to get a man thirty.
So sometimes you need to look at what their day
(06:00):
looks like and look at the opportunities. So kids really
should be eating every kind of two and a half
to four hours if you're fueling them, and you want
to make sure that they are having those three meals
as well as two to three snacks depending on what
their activity and their you know, their hunger, their growth is,
you know where that is at. But you do need
to look at their schedule and looking at when we
can fit this in making sure they've got access to
(06:23):
the food that the simple things that they can grab
on the go. And also the other side of it
is that kind of refueling after you know, after training
or after sport. If a child's got a late game,
then I often suggest actually giving them an early dinner,
having their main meal. It might be that they're having
their dinner at four thirty or five o'clock to then
be able to go and have their game and then
(06:44):
having a lighter snack afterwards. So it's just kind of
working out with your kid where you know when, what
time of day they have better appetite, making the most
of that time, but also looking at how you're structuring
their meals. So you do want to make sure that
with each meal you are including protein, a carbohydrate, fruit
and or vegetable, and some healthy fats. And we might
go into that a little bit more, but it is
(07:07):
about making sure that they're having those that good sustainable
energy for their meals. And then you might be doing
something like more carbohydrate based as a pre training or
a pre game snack and then making sure you're getting
some carbohydrates and protein and within that kind of half
an hour to afterwards. So you do kind of need
to look at your child, their appetite, their schedule, and
when it kind of works to fit that in for them.
(07:29):
So it will vary, and it will vary even between
your children, but it is important to make sure that
they've got enough and they've got access to that to
feel themselves. Otherwise you do start to see it impacting
you know, their energy levels during training, their recovery afterwards,
and you know mood and things as well.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
You mentioned breakfast that some kids don't like eating breakfast
and I've definitely got one of those. When I was young,
it was breakfast is the most important meal of the day,
and I remember the messaging being you should have cereal
and fruit and toast and all of these things. Is
it a disaster in this modern world if they don't
like breakfast and they have more food later.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
It's not great for children not to have breakfast, So
in terms of eating, they do need those regular meals.
If you think of a child has had dinner the
night before, it's a really long time. Then if they're
leaving the house without breakfast and not eating to a
morning tea. So I guess there's a few differences between
adults and children there in that children have smaller fuel tanks,
so they have a lot less muscle, they have much
(08:29):
smaller liver, so we store carbohydrate as energy and our
muscles and liver as glycogen, but they don't have those
same reserves to draw on. So we do need to
make sure that they're fueling regularly. And if they just
come off the back of an overnight fast and turning
up to school, they haven't got their energy. So a
child's brain primarily uses glucose for energy. If they haven't
got their energy, they're going to really struggle with concentrating
(08:51):
with their focus and things at school. So often I
suggest if a child isn't into breakfast, they don't feel
like eating that actually sometimes drinking something can be easier
than physically eating something. So often that's where smoothie can
be really helpful, because it might be easier to kind
of drink your calories rather than eat if you're just
not interested. But also just making sure looking at the
(09:12):
child's schedule, so are they getting to bed early enough
that they're then waking at a time that they've actually
got time for breakfast, Because I do see a lot
of kids as well that are saying, oh, I don't
have time for breakfast in the morning. Let's have a
look at what time are you're going to bed, what
time you're getting up. We need to make time. It's
actually a real priority to make sure that children are
going to school feed because it does have a huge
impact on the energy levels. But then they also just
(09:34):
need it, you know, for their growth and meeting the
nutrition requirements. If we're cutting out one of three meals
in a day, it's actually really hard to get in
everything they need over the day.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, you forget about that smaller fuel tank, don't you
that you know that's why they need food more regularly.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Now back we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Let's go through the meals of the day now. So
let's start at breakfast time. You've just recommended a smoothie.
What are other options that you would recommend for sporty
preteens and teens that would set them up well for
the day.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So with any of the meals, I do bring it
back to kind of having that sort of composition where
you've got carbohydrate, protein, fruit and or vegetables, which is
your color, that's your fiber, that's also your a lot
of your micronutrients, and some healthy fats. So what that
might look like in terms of breakfast, it could be
some eggs and avocado on toast. It could be a
(10:28):
smoothie that's got your sort of milk or milk alternative
in there, which is giving you sort of fluid and calcium.
You've got some fruits, maybe some veggies in there for fiber.
You can add some healthy fats in terms of avocado
or nut butters. There's lots of different things you can
tweak and add into it. For kids, it might be
that they're having a cereal for breakfast. And I think
(10:49):
there's huge variety in cereals, and I'm not a huge
fan of a lot of the high sugar cereals on
the shelf, but I think you can take a low
sugar option and then make that into a balanced meal
by adding some Greek yogurt some fruit to that. You know,
if you have a child that's not into that, it
could be that they're having leftovers from dinner for breakfast.
I think in our mind we often think of breakfast
(11:11):
foods as the things that are on you know, the
breakfast cereal shelves or the toast area and the supermarket,
But actually what we have for dinner is often the
most nutritious meal. So if your child really likes what
they had for dinner, heading that out for leftovers is
actually a great option the next morning.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But it chok it all right, yeah every meal? If
white kids have that, okay, so that's good for breakfast.
Is there any particular cereal that you do really like?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oats is always a good one because that's actually something
in its natural form. You know, it's the sort of
least process option, and you can make different things with
that in terms of like a porridge or you know,
make it into a muse le, or you can make
it into an overnight oats. So yeah, I think it
does come down a bit to preference, but I do
think you need to be mindful of the sugar content,
also making sure that you are getting in protein and
(11:58):
fiber breakfast so that you've got that systemable energy. If
you're just having a high sugar cereal for breakfast, their
blood sugars are going to spike, they'll drop off, and
then you know, probably getting through that morning of school
where it's going to be really challenging when they're having
a blood sugar crash and they're sort of losing their concentration.
They're getting to that handry state and they might not
melt down in front of the teacher, but they might
(12:18):
be finding it really hard to focus.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Okay, let's talk snacks now, so morning afternoon tea and
potentially snacks post school before they compete or have trainings.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
So I think it's keeping it simple. I think you know,
often we are like, oh, what, you know, what's some
amazing snack that I can give? But I think it's
actually just bringing it back to basics. So things like
some fruit and yogurt, some crackers and cheese, a sandwich,
making a cheesecase adea which sounds fancy, it's not. It's
just cheasing a rap, right. You can throw it on
the toasting machine and take it for them after school.
(12:48):
It might be some baking, it might be a music bar.
Like I said, there's sometimes situations where you're going into
a practice or again that actually those you know, sort
of quick carbohydrates can actually be good for fueling. So
it's you don't need to be fancy, you don't have
to be you know, just keeping it simple to basic
things that you can throw together at home.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I think, okay, lunch lunch boxes at school for a
kid that doesn't like sandwiches, just asking for a friend.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yeah, I've had that situation with one of mine actually
as well, so I think it is. I think a
lot of people actually find lunch boxes challenging and a
little bit groundhog day. I know that a lot of parents,
including myself, it's like school holidays are a bit of
break from that and it's quite refreshing. So one thing again,
thinking of dinners that can be really helpful for lunches.
(13:34):
Is that just doing leftovers. If you've got one of
those services, I think they're really great. If you've got
cook a bit extra at dinner, it might be somebolinized
left from the night before, heading that up and they
can have a hot lunch at school. I think getting
them the child involved, depending on their age, getting them
involved in making their lunch box as well, because when
they have a little bit of ownership of it, or
they feel like they've got a little bit of autonomy
(13:55):
in terms of what goes in there, sometimes that helps
with interest in actually eating it. But you do want
to make sure again that you are kind of ticking
all of the boxes. So you want to make sure
you've got some carbohydrate. So that could be in the
form of a sandwich, it could be a wrap. It
could be some chicken on rice. It could be some
leftover pasta or pasta salad. Some kind of carbohydrate. Protein
(14:16):
is one that I often notice is missing in the
lunch box. So that could be yogurt, and I know
a lot of kids don't like yogurt in their lunch
box because it gets warm, particularly in the summer. Something
that I often suggest is freezing the yogurt patches and
then they kind of a frost by lunchtime, or putting
the yogurt in a little poddle, putting some frozen fruit
in there, and then that helps to keep it cool.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Cheese is a really easy protein that you can put
in the lunch box, some left over meat, if you've
got some COOLi packs in there. It might even be
some baked items that have a bit higher protein content.
So it might be that making some pipe clots and
you're putting milk in there, and you're putting eggs in there,
or you might make a muffin recipe that's got extra
kind of yogurt and eggs in it. So there's ways
that you can incorporate protein into things, but I do
(14:57):
think that's something that's often missing from lunch boxes. And
then obviously we want to have fruit in there, ideally
a vegetable in some form as well if you can,
because I think a lot of kids are not getting
enough vegetables in across the day, and so if you
can throw in some carrot sticks, so it might be cucumber,
it might be something in their sandwich that really helps
(15:18):
with getting enough in across the day as.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, So right before trainings, Like let's say it's after
school and they got a netball or a basketball practice,
what is the best thing that they could have straight
before training to make sure that they can have the
best output.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
So with that, you're really focusing on carbo hydrated at
point in you don't want to be having anything that's
too high in fat or too high in fiber because
that can kind of upset their tummy a little bit
when they're training. So fat tends to sit in, you know,
things that are high fat sitting our tummy for longer.
You don't want it to be repeating on you when
you're running around the basketball court or the netball court.
So yeah, something that is primarily carbohydrate based without too
(15:56):
much fiber. So normally I would be saying, you know,
going for whole grains and things, but actually in that
snack pre training or pre game, you're better to go
something without the fiber and something that is quick to
digest so that you've then actually got that carbohydrate available
in your bloodstream to fuel you for that game or
fuel you for that practice.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So the cheese cascissody would be a good option.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Then, yes, it could be it could be something like that.
It could be a musy bar. It could be you know,
like I said, like pikelets or something that you make
put a bit of jam on it, because that's that
quick carbohydrate. It's Yeah, it does depend a little bit
on the child and what their preferences are, but also
what sits well in their stomach, because it does vary
(16:37):
a little bit between children. But if you're thinking kind
of card base, it might just be a sandwich, and
it could be even with something like some jam or
some honey in it, because that's giving you that quick
carbo hydrate to feel them for their you know, for
what they're about to do. If it's a you know,
fairly relaxed practice, you're not having to kind of worry
so much about that. You're just wanting to make sure
(16:58):
they're eating something. But if they're going into sort of
an hour of intense training, then absolutely you want to
be focusing on those carbohydrates.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
What about straight after the game? There's one area I
have to say, I forget. I know that they need
something beforehand. Should they be eating in a certain time
window after a big sports.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Game, ideally within half an hour to an hour after
training or sports, particularly like you said, if it's been
a big game or a big training session, that often
for kids coincides with coming into a meal anyway. So
if a child's got their practice after school or they've
got a game after school, then if you've prepared with
dinner to be able to feed them soon after they
(17:35):
get home. That's where I love a slow cook meal.
You know, you walk in and it's done, or it
might be that you've cooked extra the night before so
you can feed them as soon as they walk in
the door, but trying to make sure you've got something
ready for them. If you haven't, it might just be,
you know, depending on the timing and it's still a
few hours to dinner, that might be when you just
do something like some fruit and yogurt or a smoothie,
or some cheese and crackers or something like that. More
(17:57):
that combination of protein and carbohydrate kind of thinking. After
they've been training, we need to replenish deck like a
gen stores, you know, their fuel tanks, but also get
some protein in which is really important for muscle recovery
and repair as well.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
All Right, I'm going to throw some foods at you now,
put you on the spot to get your perspective on
whether it's a good thing to have or not. I'm
going to start with something that I was told when
I was playing red netbar as a kid. We had
bucket loads of it on our netball tournaments, and that
is chocolate milk. Where do you sit on that.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
That can be good for fuelling particular tournaments and where
you've got, you know, is a combination of protein and carbohydrates.
So it's definitely not something that I recommend is in
day to day nutrition. But I think it can absolutely
play a place for active kids that are playing a
lot of sports. So I think it's got, you know,
it's a situational kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Up and goes.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I would say that they are quite a processed option,
so again I don't recommend them as a day to
day thing. They have got added froc toos in so
that can upset the tummy for some children. That's a
for mental carbohydrate. And when you look at the ingredients,
that is quite a long list, you know. Rather, I
would suggest, if you're at home, make it smoothie, because
(19:10):
then you're putting in whole ingredients into there that you
know are going to be good for your child. So
when you're at home, definitely make your own. But I
do think that that can be a convenience option for
a situation where a child might need to fuel after
a morning, say basketball practice, and then they're going straight
to school or something like that. But when you're at home,
(19:33):
try and make your own protein balls. These vary a lot,
so I think the ones that you buy often can
be quite high in sugars. Again, you know, they tend
to be a process option, so ones you make yourself,
you're going to know exactly what's in there, But we
don't all I have time for that, so it depends
again on the context that you're having them. If it's
(19:53):
just a day to day lunch box item, then you
do need to be looking a little bit at what's
in there, at the sugars and things like that. But
if it's to feel yourself before sports and absolutely then
that can be actually a good thing. So they very hugely.
I think it's good to start learning to actually look
at the nutrition information and actually comparing between products to
kind of go, Okay, what's in this one compared to
(20:14):
this one, or you know, what am I actually doing
it for? Is it a bit of a you know,
a sweet treat. Is it something that's going in the
lunch box every day or is it something that is
a pre training snack. So I do think it depends
on how you're using them. And when they say protein
balls as well, I think that varies hugely in terms
of how much protein's actually in there.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What's a good amount of protein.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
That's a bit of a tricky one because it depends
who's eating it, It depends on the age of the child,
it depends on the size of the child. So I
wouldn't say there's a specific number that you're looking for
in terms of protein requirements. You do work that out
according to the age and the size of the child.
So it's quite hard to kind of stay across the board.
(20:56):
But you do need to be careful not to overdo
it because I think there's a huge push, particularly in
adults and in sort of certain stages of life that
we're really kind of trying to up our protein intake.
And kids need protein absolutely, but they don't need as
much as we do, so you don't want to be
doing full serves of protein powder. You know, in a child,
(21:17):
you definitely can overdo that, so Yeah, it's it's it's
a little bit of a depends on the child, But
I think I guess where you get a gauge is
kind of comparing this ball's got one gram or you know,
this ball's got five but those protein bars that have
got forty five grams of protein, and that's totally not
appropriate for a child. Like that's giving some children their
(21:37):
full protein requirements in one bar, but not in a
natural form. Right, So yeah, it's I think we need
to be a little bit careful about using protein sort
of high protein options for children rather try they can
definitely get enough protein from whole foods.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
All right, Do you have one snack that is the
Unicorn of snacks? If you could recommend that for us?
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I have to say my go to is a smoothie
in that situation, and it depends where you are because
you can't always have access to one, but you can
put it in one of those cooly cups. But the
reason I love it as a snack for active kids
is it ticks a lot of boxes. So one, it's
giving them fluid, it's giving them protein. If you're using
milk or milk alternative that's fortified with calcium you've got
calcium in there. You know, you've got your fruit and
(22:24):
maybe vegetable component in there. You can easily add some
healthy fats if you need to increase the calorie density,
like adding some nut butters or some ground nuts or
some avocado if you've got a child that's struggling to
get enough energy in So there's so many ways that
we can tweak it to really tick all of the
boxes that I think that would be my number one.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Do you have a particular type of smoothie that you
find is very popular with kids that you could recommend
to us now?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So I would say very SMOOTHI as wells a popular one,
and that's just using your milk or calcium fortified malk alternative.
You may be putting some great yogurt in there. Frozen
banana is really great and smoothies because it makes it
go nice and thick and creamy, and you can kind
of use up the old bananas that no one wants
to eat. Your frozen berries. One ingredient that sounds really weird,
but I always encourage families to put into their smoothies,
(23:14):
particularly if you've got a kid that doesn't like eating
a lot of vegetables is frozen corget and you can't
taste it in there, but it just kind of gives
a really nice creamy texture to the smoothie and is
a nice way of getting an extra server of edgies.
So yeah, a very smoothie and you can kind of
do lots of different versions of that, but I think
that generally goes down quite well with kids. Another one
(23:34):
that I find quite popular is like a chop put
peanut butter smoothie, So that might be sort of your
banana in their still to get those carbs in there.
You know, a bit of peanut butter, a bit of
cocoa powder, and again I put the coujyt in because
I think when you haven't got the frozen fruit in there,
it makes it. It gives it that kind of nice
kind of creamy texture to it. So I'd say those
are two quite popular ones with kids that I see
(23:56):
in my household too.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I just want to talk now, just changing tech a
little bit. You've got a women's well being program. Tell
me about that and why you created this as well.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So I've been working as a dietitian for over twenty
years now, and I guess what I've seen again and
again is women getting stuck, particularly from that thirty five
plus kind of age group, so you know, sort of
mid thirties, forties, fifties and beyond, where women do start
to feel like what they've always been doing does isn't
working for them anymore, and they get really confused. They
go back to trying what's worked for them before. It's
not working. They're trying all these different diets and maybe
(24:34):
it works for a little bit. Then they you know,
kind of rebound or they're feeling tired, they're not feeling
like themselves, and I just felt like I wanted to
put something together to really support women through the stage
so that they can feel their best. I think it's
really really common, particularly in that perimenopausal and post menopausal phase,
for women to feel tired, to feel a little bit
(24:55):
out of control, where they're eating, where they're constantly feeling hungry,
they're constantly thinking about food, You've got those cravings, you know,
maybe your weight's increasing, and you're just feeling uncomfortable in
your body. And it's really just giving empowering women to
actually go you can feel good at this stage of
your life. You should, you deserve to feel good, and
I can help you to do this. So I wanted
(25:15):
to put together a program that kind of takes all
of the boxes. I guess I've seen and working in
lots of different aspects of a weight loss over the
years what actually works. And I think women like to
have a plan. They like to have something that they
can follow, but it needs to have flexibility, right, So
they want to know, you know, if I eat this meal,
is it going to take all the boxes? Am I
(25:35):
going to get everything that I need? But I want
to enjoy it as well. So I've put together a
program with the meal plans, the recipes. It's all in
an easy to use, convenient app because I wanted it
to be really easy to access, so it's at your
fingertips so that you can, I guess, learn to eat
for this stage of your life, but also really enjoy it.
So enjoy the journey, enjoy the food. It was really
(25:57):
important to me that the meals were satisfying and enjoyable,
but also family friendly. I'm really not into a woman
cooking separate meals for themselves for the rest of the family.
And partly that is, you know, role modeling for your
children and your family, but also the convenience who wants
to cook to different meals. So I wanted to make
sure it's family friendly. So all of the recipes have
(26:19):
been tested on my husband and my children, all approved,
and yeah, they are designed to be flexible as well,
so if there's something that you don't like, there's always
something you can swap it out for. There's yeah, a
lot of flexibility with it. I do seasonal meal plans
so that we use sort of in seasoned produce, but
also that you never get bored, you know, so there's
(26:40):
always something new to try. You don't kind of get
that groundhog day, and it just takes away the overwhelm
of thinking, I just don't know what I should be
eating because I feel like there's so much information and
noise out there about you should be doing this or
you shouldn't be doing this. So it really is designed
as high protein, high fiber, so really a big focus
on health and plant diversity. It is a bit lower
(27:03):
in cabs, but absolutely not no cabs, so you'll still
get some toasts in there, you'll still get your fruit,
your fruit in there, but it is designed to be
a bit lower and looking at the type of carbohydrates
so that we stabilize bud sugar levels. You don't have
that three p three pm energy crash that a lot
of women find where they're reaching for caffeine or they're
reaching for sugar to sort of get themselves through the afternoon,
(27:24):
to cake the kids, to sports practice, or to make dinner,
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So I love that sort of nature of being a
bit more even keeled, you know, at the stage of life.
And I have tried some of the recipes and I
can attest to the fact that they are very delicious
and that easy to do. What sort of results have
you had from the reset and also what changes does
it make to your life? I guess in terms of
(27:47):
your temperament. And we've just talked about our kids being
move we can be moody too, where we're angry.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Absolutely, So I think a lot of women go into
it having particular goals around their health and wellbeing and
someone they're similar in terms of their intentions and some
have slightly different intentions. But the idea is that if
your goal is weight loss, to support you in achieving
sustainable weight loss, and that really is you know what
I'm seeing. I had a lady talking the other day
(28:13):
about how she's two years and now, you know, she's
lost ten kilos and she's sustained that and this is
just her way of life now. So absolutely women are
achieving that sustainable weight loss, but in a way that
actually nourishes their body and nourishes their gart. If your
goal is not weight loss, it might be more around
actually that sustainable energy and not having to you know,
have coffee at three o'clock. That's seen keeping you awake
(28:36):
at night. I think also a lot of women notice,
particularly coming into perimenopause and postmenopause, that things change in
their gart. A lot of women have a lot more
issues with bloating, their digestion changes, and it's actually supporting
through that stage as well, so you're not finding that
by the afternoon you have to under the top button
because you're feeling, you know that really kind of uncomfortable bloating.
(28:58):
But I think there've also been benefits. You know, some
woman have said, you know, on my skin so much better,
just with nourishing your body from the inside out and
basing your nutrition around whole foods, reducing down you know,
the process package foods and really looking after your gut
health as well. And I guess some of the other
individual kind of feedback that I've had from people as
women coming to me saying, hey, I was pre diabetic
(29:21):
and now my HbA one C is normal. My cholesterol
was high and now I've got it back down to normal.
So I think, you know, another lady that sort of
had signs in her liver function of fatty liver disease,
and now her liver function has normalized. So I think
those things are huge and I think that absolutely like
just makes this all worthwhile for me because I think
(29:42):
when I set out to do this, I you know,
I had all these goals of what I wanted women
to feel, what I wanted them to achieve. So when
I get this kind of feedback, it's, yeah, it's just amazing.
And I think I've ended up being busier than I've
ever been with doing this, but it's all worth it
when I get that kind.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Of feedback and walking the talk as well. You be
able to see a BEX on Instagram and our clips,
but you're a picture of health, you know, great weight management,
great energy, great vitality for a woman in her forties.
So thank you Bex for all of your advice today.
And we have got a week code for people listening
to this today. So if you're listening and you're like,
the woman's well being is what I want to do.
(30:19):
What's your website?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
So it's Smartnesutrition dot Z. I will put a link
so that if anyone's interested in that and learning more
about the reset, that they can have a little lot.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thanks for listening to we need to talk. Get in
contact with us on Instagram at we need to Talk
with Tony Street, or email we need to Talk at
Costonline dot co dot nz
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