April 1, 2025 • 16 mins
A shocking 90% of Australian baby and toddler foods fail to meet international guidelines, yet manufacturers employ deceptive marketing tactics to make us believe they're healthy choices. In this eye-opening episode, paediatric dietitian Kareena Savage reveals how "organic" labels and Health Star Ratings can mislead parents, with some toddler snacks containing more sugar than white chocolate. Learn practical strategies for decoding food labels, avoiding nutritional traps, and creating healthier, more affordable lunchboxes your kids will actually eat.
Quote of the Episode:
"We as parents in 2025 have it tougher than any other parent has ever had it in terms of trying to understand what is a healthy food choice for our child or for our family."
Key Points:
- Food manufacturers use deceptive marketing, with 90% of Australian baby/toddler foods failing international guidelines.
- Many products marketed as healthy (like "97% fruit and yoghurt") contain more sugar than white chocolate.
- When reading food labels, check the ingredients list first—shorter is better.
- Avoid products with sugar in the top three ingredients.
- For packaged foods, aim for less than 20g sugar per 100g.
- Keep sodium under 350mg per 100g.
- The Health Star Rating system has significant flaws—companies know how to "game" the system.
- Packaged foods are typically more expensive and less nutritious than whole foods.
- Homemade treats are healthier than commercial versions, even with similar ingredients.
- Setting clear boundaries around packaged foods helps children develop better eating habits.
Resources Mentioned:
- Visit nourishwithkarina.com for free recipes and nutrition information.
- Nourishing Kids support program
- Black bean brownie recipe
Action Steps for Parents:
- Examine ingredient lists—choose products with shorter lists and recognisable ingredients.
- Check sugar content—aim for less than 20g per 100g in cereals and snacks.
- Monitor sodium levels—keep under 350mg per 100g.
- Be sceptical of Health Star Ratings, especially on highly processed foods.
- Limit children to 1-2 packaged items per day in lunchboxes.
- Buy in bulk to reduce costs of healthier packaged options.
- Batch-cook healthier versions of treats on weekends (using wholemeal flour and less sugar).
- Set clear family boundaries around packaged food consumption.
- Modify recipes by adding nutritious ingredients (extra egg, chia seeds, wholemeal flour).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
What do those food labels mean? How can we understand
them so that we can make sure that we're nourishing
our children with the stuff they need to have the
energy and the vitality to live happy, healthy lives. Today
it's a conversation about kids, diet and what we put
in our shopping trolleys. Hello and welcome to the Happy
Families Podcast, Real parenting Solutions every day on Australia's most
(00:28):
downloaded parenting podcast. My name is doctor Justin Couson and
today I'm joined by pediatric dietitian, TV commentator, founder of
Nourishing Kids and Nourish with Karina and mum of two
Karina Savage to talk all these things. Hey, Karina, thanks
for being on the pod today.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi, thanks so much for having me. It's great to
be here.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Whereabouts does this conversation find you?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Corina? I am in Sydney today, Sydney Mclinic.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Karina. When we go shopping with the kids, we're marching
up down the aisles pushing the supermarket trollie and we
pull that thing off the shelf and look at the
back of it to see the ingredients. What are we
looking for? Because this is confusing there are so many
different categories proteins, sugars, carbohydrates, per serving, per hundred grams,
(01:14):
what's the stuff that matters most if I want to
make sure that I'm feeding my child healthy food.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Justin I think we as parents in twenty twenty five
have it tougher than any other parent has ever had
it in terms of trying to understand what is a healthy.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Food choice for our child or for our family.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Currently, with our current food standards and food labeling laws,
manufacturers can really use a lot of deception around food labeling,
and as parents it's really tricky. Hopefully, in the future,
with a lot of you know, I guess encouragement from
(01:55):
people such as myself and groups lobbying for this, we
will have better food labeling laws in the future where
food manufacturers cannot be as deceptive.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
But currently they.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Are able to pour as much salt and sugar into
food as they want. They are currently able to label
things organic good for us basically when they're.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Not hold the phone, hang on a sec. I didn't
know this. So they can use the word organic, yeah,
even if food is not organically grown up.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, sorry, they can use the word organic and it
is actually organic, but they will use the label organic
to make it sound healthy when there's a bucket load
of sugar poort into it.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
So what you're saying is that it already feels overwhelming.
The information we get is contradictory, and the food industrial
complex is using deceptive marketing to make things seem better
for our kids than they actually are.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Absolutely, when we've had a recent review of our foods
in Australia, ninety percent of them of baby and toddler
food did not meet international guidelines, and our food marketing
is where a lot of it came down.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Of food labeling.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was always of the opinion that in Australia we had
really great legislation and we didn't have to worry about
the stuff that they're worried about in America because they're
a bit crazy in the US when it comes to
commercialization and big farmer and big food and big tech
and that sort of thing. I thought we were alway
better than that here you're suggesting.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
No, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
We have toddler foods marketed as ninety seven percent fruit
and yogurt that is actually worse than white chocolate when
you flip it around and you look at the ingredients list.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It's got more.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Sugar in it than white chocolate. Yeah, it says on
the front of the label. They are allowed to say
ninety seven percent fruit and yogurt. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, So I asked you about the labels a second ago,
But I'm going to tell you what I do.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeap.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
In our family, we are, I would say, far more
health conscious than most families. We try as much as
possible to just eat whole foods. We try not to
eat stuff out of packets. But if I'm going to
eat something out of a packet, I don't understand. Even
though I'm born in the nineteen seventies, I still don't
really know what I'm looking for in terms of the
(04:05):
nutritional information. So I tell my kids look at the
ingredients list, and if sugar or salt is in the
top five, then it's a highly processed, highly unhealthy and
probably quite an addictive food. If it's out of the
top five, I'm usually pretty blase about it and we'll
give it a go. No one can see your face,
but you're cracking up right now, like this guy has.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
No idea You've got this huge you do.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I'm looking to smile on your face, and I'm interpreting.
I'm interpreting that as he's a gumby.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
No, I love it. I love it. Look. A lot
of what you say is true.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I always say the shorter of the ingredients list the better.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Oh yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yes, there are ingredients in that ingredients list that you
don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Carpronow's grandmother wouldn't know. You know, it's put it back.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, there's so much highly processed, refined stuff that goes
into our kid's food, ingredients and green and we don't
even know what they are, and numbers and all thoughts.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's it's phenomenal. So yes, absolutely. If sugar is.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
In the top three, definitely, you know, kick it to
the curb. Salt is quite highly concentrated, so yeah, definitely,
even not five, I would avoid it, and I would
encourage people to look to the nutrition table, and in
kids food, I will in all food, generally, it's good
to compare per hundred grams, so comparing apples with apples,
(05:27):
So for example, in a muslibar, you would ideally keep
the sugar less than twenty grams per hundred grams. Same
goes through breakfast cereals under twenty grams per hundred grams,
I mean the lower the better. If you can get
it under fifteen or ten, fantastic, But start with under
twenty grams one hundred grams to sugar and salt otherwise
known as sodium under three fifty per hundred grams, so
(05:50):
under three fifty milligrams per hundred grams for sodium.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So start with those two.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But definitely looking at the ingredients list is a really
good place to start because you can look for those
those real words.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, you want to be seeing real words like
apple or oats or nuts.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You don't want to be seeing things like sugar or
concentrated fruit pures or concentrated fruit pastes because that's the
way they're currently getting around a lot of these the
pouring the sugar into these toddler foods because they say
it's natural when it's a real concentrated source of fruit,
but they currently allowed to call it just a no
(06:28):
added sugar.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I've been looking for additives, like for spices, like if
I'm going to have for heaters or wraps, that that
kind of thing. And what I discovered even on the
very popular taco mixes for example, sugar is one of
the top ingredients in those things. I found one the
other day and it literally had three or four ingredients
and I knew every single word, and not one of
(06:49):
them was sugar. I was like, oh, these are actually
these are the spices. This is going to be much
healthier for me. So to restate, you're looking for words
that you understand and know, and you want to keep sugar,
particularly at least out of the top three, and preferably
the further down the list it is, the less likely
it is that that food is going to be unhealthy
for you.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Absolutely, we do need to be mindful though, of artificial sweetness,
because they're creeping in more and more and more than
more people are being health conscious around loose sugar. We're
now seeing a rise of artificial sweetness, but they have
their own health risks and change is to our gut microbiota.
So yeah, we really want to try and keep them
out as much as possible as well.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
After the break, I want to throw you a curly
one about the health Star ratings they vex me Carina.
That's coming up in just a second. The podcast It's
a Happy Family's podcast. This is doctor Justin Courslom today
hanging out with pediatric dietitian and founder of Nourish with
(07:49):
Carina Karina Savage. We're talking about the stuff we put
on our kids plates and they put in their mouths.
We've talked about what's on the back of the label,
and I want to talk about what's in the front
of the label. Big food, the food industrial complex, loves
to trumpet their health Star rating, and yet when I
look at some of these foods that have four, four
(08:12):
and a half even five stars, Karina, I have to
scratch my head because on the back there's a lot
of sugar. I don't recognize a lot of the things
in the ingredients list, and yet these things are considered healthy.
Certain muslibars are a very easy example of that, as
well as some spreads that we put on sandwiches. Help
me to understand what is going on with health Star
(08:32):
ratings and are they believable at all? Or is the
entire system rigged a kleptocracy. Is there's some kind of
just insidious cash for health stars. Then going on with
the people who are running the bureaucracy, what's the deal.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I don't trust them, and I don't trust them for
my family. Because companies know how to work the system,
They know the loopholes to jump through to get an
just star rating. There's criteria that enabled them to get
more stars or less stars, and they know that they
may need to just nudge that fiber up a little bit,
(09:09):
or nudge that protein up, or nudge that salt down.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Just a fraction to get that extra star. But it
doesn't take.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Away from the fact that some of these foods that
have four four and a half stars are highly processed foods,
and they've highly processed ingredients that are so far removed
from Mother Nature and the original food that it came from.
So I find incredible that some highly processed foods that
are really poor for us and our gut health are
(09:37):
getting these star ratings. And there absolutely needs to be
and there is. I think it's coming a big reform
of the Health Star rating system and the criteria by
which companies are rated, because at the moment, you know,
artificial sweetness and things like that, I don't believe they're
factored into Health Star ratings when really they should be.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I think it's quite.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
An archaic system and we need to be much more
forward than with how we're raiding our food created.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Back on January twenty eight, Kylie and I did a
podcast episode about a new study that was published here
in Australia looking at what goes into the average school
kids lunch box. I think it was something like one
two hundred. I might have the number wrong, but about
twelve hundred lunch boxes were photographed as kids came into school.
The researchers had permission to take a photo of what's
in the lunch box, and what they found was that
(10:23):
the average lunchbox has about four dollars fifty worth of
food in it, and the more food in packaging, the
more expensive the lunchbox would be. But also the more
food in packaging, the less healthy the lunchbox would be.
I took that to indicate that we are paying more
(10:44):
for a worse outcome, and that if we use and
eat whole foods as much as possible, our kids are
going to be healthier and we're actually going to be
financially better off. But of course the kids will then
swap lunch or throw it in the bin because they
like the stuff that comes into packets. And so I'm
a little bit stuck here, and I was wondering as
we as we discussed this highly processed food food industrial
(11:07):
complex dilemma, what rules do you have to live by
when it comes to putting together an economic but tasty
lunch box that the kids will eat.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Number One, buying bulk and have bulk amounts of packet
foods or bulk amounts of cheese and crackers. So that
actually reduced the daily cost of crackers or cheese or
whatever you might be putting in the lunch box. So
buying bulk, buying in bulk can help to reduce the
(11:44):
daily cost of the lunch box.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Same if you're buying bags.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Of popcorn or newsleibars, trying to buy them in bulk
when they're on special and then storing them.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Now, I think we still need to consider.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Though, the frequency and the number of packet lunch the
number of packaged processed foods that go into lunchbox.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Because you're right, kids love them.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Anything that's white and salty and crunchy or sweet, they
love them. And it's PESTI power. You know, parents are
time poor. These foods are quick, convenient, tasty, kids love them.
You know, it's a win wind from that perspective. But
it's very much a lose lose from a you know,
hitting the hip pocket like they're expensive, and from a
nutritional perspective, they're often very low in fiber and nutrition.
(12:30):
They're very high in processed ingredients, and so really for parents,
I think if you can give them maybe one package
processing and their lunchbox too maximum, but really trying to
limit the number.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Of packaged foods each day.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So it's just not a free for all because often
kids have your free range to the pantry and they
will literally go and just grab another packet of oreos
or another packet of crackers, or another packet.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Of chicken crimpiece.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So it's setting clear boundaries for your family around what's
except maybe they have one packet in their lunch box
and one packet after school and that's it.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Or maybe you have none.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Maybe you just have bulk rice, crackers and cheese and
chop thedgees, or maybe you do toasted peanut butter after
school and there are no crackers. So it's trying to
set some clear boundaries for your family, buying in bulk
where possible, and really trying to limit these process foods
because at the end of the day, it is a
lose lose, even though kids love them, it's not good
(13:24):
for finances and that's not good for their nutrition.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, it hits your hip pocket, but it also hits
your hips absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It drives into it drives obesity.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
These white fast sugars.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, I like that one. I made that up right there.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So I'm as guilty as anyone on this. And this
is the last question, because we're out of time, and
I know the answer, which is why I make a
big deal about it, And yet I'm inclined to ask
are we making too much of a big deal about this?
I mean, when we were kids growing up, our parents
just gave us heaps of junk. We're eating fairy bread
and taking cupcakes to school, hands that cookies and whatever
(14:01):
else Mum through in the oven the night before on
the weekend, and we were pretty happy to eat all
the sugary junkie stuff. It just was it was coming
out of our ovens and our fridge and pantries rather
than coming off the supermarket shelves.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's exactly right. It's coming out of mum's oven.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's using ingredients that your mum knew that you know,
she made it out of you know, ingredients in her
fridge and her pantry. It's not highly processed foods. Sorry,
I should say highly processed ingredients. And this is the
difference I think. You know, back in the day, it
was a sandwich and apple a cookie. I don't think
there was as much packet fits. I think today it's
(14:34):
so accepted. It's like that herd like mentality. Everyone has it,
everyone's doing it. It's fine, it's normal, it's okay. But
it's actually not okay on so many levels. But yet
it happens to all of us, you know, my kids included,
because they love that stuff, because it's tasty, it's sugary.
Where possible, though, I will try and bake a few
things when I make time, when I carve out, you know,
(14:56):
thirty forty minutes on the weekend to make a batch
of cookies or make a batch of you know, black
being brownie, which is one of my favorite recipes. I
don't have to rely on the packet food as much.
So if we can try and be a little organized
on the weekend just to batch cook some foods, then
we won't have to rely on these, you know, the
oreos and the diny teddies as much.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So you're saying, though, that a home cooked anzect cookie
or a home baked cupcake is going to be I mean,
it's still still chunk food, but you're saying it's not
as bad as the holy process stuff that comes off
the supermarket shelf.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Correct because you can add in an extra egg, you
can use homewheel flour, you can throw in a bit
of chea, you know, all of these little tweaks that
I often talk to parents about. You can make it
more nutritious but still tasty, and that's going to That's
where the beauty is because they're still getting a so
called treat, but it's going to be a lot healthier
and a lot more wholesome with real food ingredients.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, we just have the sugar or or drop it
bay more than that and the kids don't notice.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That's exactly right, Karina.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I love this conversation. They're never long enough. If if
people want to want to hear more from you, because
you've got so much to offer, where should they go
and what can they get?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
So head to my website, Nourished with Karina dot com.
I've got lots of free information, free recipes there I've
also got my flagship Nourishing Kids support program, so you
can click on the link to find out more about that.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
There to help parents.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Busy parents who are filling overwhelmed with feeding set up
a really healthy feeding plan for their family, so you
can find all of that on my website Nourish.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
With Karina dot com. We will link to that in
the show notes. Really appreciate your time and I love
these chats. Thanks so much, Thanks Justin. The Happy Families
podcast is produced by Justin Roland from Bridge Media. More
information and resources available on the show notes and at
happy families dot com dot u
What do those food labels mean? How can we understand
them so that we can make sure that we're nourishing
our children with the stuff they need to have the
energy and the vitality to live happy, healthy lives. Today
it's a conversation about kids, diet and what we put
in our shopping trolleys. Hello and welcome to the Happy
Families Podcast, Real parenting Solutions every day on Australia's most
(00:28):
downloaded parenting podcast. My name is doctor Justin Couson and
today I'm joined by pediatric dietitian, TV commentator, founder of
Nourishing Kids and Nourish with Karina and mum of two
Karina Savage to talk all these things. Hey, Karina, thanks
for being on the pod today.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi, thanks so much for having me. It's great to
be here.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Whereabouts does this conversation find you?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Corina? I am in Sydney today, Sydney Mclinic.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Karina. When we go shopping with the kids, we're marching
up down the aisles pushing the supermarket trollie and we
pull that thing off the shelf and look at the
back of it to see the ingredients. What are we
looking for? Because this is confusing there are so many
different categories proteins, sugars, carbohydrates, per serving, per hundred grams,
(01:14):
what's the stuff that matters most if I want to
make sure that I'm feeding my child healthy food.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Justin I think we as parents in twenty twenty five
have it tougher than any other parent has ever had
it in terms of trying to understand what is a healthy.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Food choice for our child or for our family.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Currently, with our current food standards and food labeling laws,
manufacturers can really use a lot of deception around food labeling,
and as parents it's really tricky. Hopefully, in the future,
with a lot of you know, I guess encouragement from
(01:55):
people such as myself and groups lobbying for this, we
will have better food labeling laws in the future where
food manufacturers cannot be as deceptive.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
But currently they.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Are able to pour as much salt and sugar into
food as they want. They are currently able to label
things organic good for us basically when they're.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Not hold the phone, hang on a sec. I didn't
know this. So they can use the word organic, yeah,
even if food is not organically grown up.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, sorry, they can use the word organic and it
is actually organic, but they will use the label organic
to make it sound healthy when there's a bucket load
of sugar poort into it.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
So what you're saying is that it already feels overwhelming.
The information we get is contradictory, and the food industrial
complex is using deceptive marketing to make things seem better
for our kids than they actually are.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Absolutely, when we've had a recent review of our foods
in Australia, ninety percent of them of baby and toddler
food did not meet international guidelines, and our food marketing
is where a lot of it came down.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Of food labeling.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was always of the opinion that in Australia we had
really great legislation and we didn't have to worry about
the stuff that they're worried about in America because they're
a bit crazy in the US when it comes to
commercialization and big farmer and big food and big tech
and that sort of thing. I thought we were alway
better than that here you're suggesting.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
No, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
We have toddler foods marketed as ninety seven percent fruit
and yogurt that is actually worse than white chocolate when
you flip it around and you look at the ingredients list.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It's got more.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Sugar in it than white chocolate. Yeah, it says on
the front of the label. They are allowed to say
ninety seven percent fruit and yogurt. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, So I asked you about the labels a second ago,
But I'm going to tell you what I do.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeap.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
In our family, we are, I would say, far more
health conscious than most families. We try as much as
possible to just eat whole foods. We try not to
eat stuff out of packets. But if I'm going to
eat something out of a packet, I don't understand. Even
though I'm born in the nineteen seventies, I still don't
really know what I'm looking for in terms of the
(04:05):
nutritional information. So I tell my kids look at the
ingredients list, and if sugar or salt is in the
top five, then it's a highly processed, highly unhealthy and
probably quite an addictive food. If it's out of the
top five, I'm usually pretty blase about it and we'll
give it a go. No one can see your face,
but you're cracking up right now, like this guy has.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
No idea You've got this huge you do.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I'm looking to smile on your face, and I'm interpreting.
I'm interpreting that as he's a gumby.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
No, I love it. I love it. Look. A lot
of what you say is true.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I always say the shorter of the ingredients list the better.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Oh yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yes, there are ingredients in that ingredients list that you
don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Carpronow's grandmother wouldn't know. You know, it's put it back.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, there's so much highly processed, refined stuff that goes
into our kid's food, ingredients and green and we don't
even know what they are, and numbers and all thoughts.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's it's phenomenal. So yes, absolutely. If sugar is.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
In the top three, definitely, you know, kick it to
the curb. Salt is quite highly concentrated, so yeah, definitely,
even not five, I would avoid it, and I would
encourage people to look to the nutrition table, and in
kids food, I will in all food, generally, it's good
to compare per hundred grams, so comparing apples with apples,
(05:27):
So for example, in a muslibar, you would ideally keep
the sugar less than twenty grams per hundred grams. Same
goes through breakfast cereals under twenty grams per hundred grams,
I mean the lower the better. If you can get
it under fifteen or ten, fantastic, But start with under
twenty grams one hundred grams to sugar and salt otherwise
known as sodium under three fifty per hundred grams, so
(05:50):
under three fifty milligrams per hundred grams for sodium.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So start with those two.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But definitely looking at the ingredients list is a really
good place to start because you can look for those
those real words.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, you want to be seeing real words like
apple or oats or nuts.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You don't want to be seeing things like sugar or
concentrated fruit pures or concentrated fruit pastes because that's the
way they're currently getting around a lot of these the
pouring the sugar into these toddler foods because they say
it's natural when it's a real concentrated source of fruit,
but they currently allowed to call it just a no
(06:28):
added sugar.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I've been looking for additives, like for spices, like if
I'm going to have for heaters or wraps, that that
kind of thing. And what I discovered even on the
very popular taco mixes for example, sugar is one of
the top ingredients in those things. I found one the
other day and it literally had three or four ingredients
and I knew every single word, and not one of
(06:49):
them was sugar. I was like, oh, these are actually
these are the spices. This is going to be much
healthier for me. So to restate, you're looking for words
that you understand and know, and you want to keep sugar,
particularly at least out of the top three, and preferably
the further down the list it is, the less likely
it is that that food is going to be unhealthy
for you.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Absolutely, we do need to be mindful though, of artificial sweetness,
because they're creeping in more and more and more than
more people are being health conscious around loose sugar. We're
now seeing a rise of artificial sweetness, but they have
their own health risks and change is to our gut microbiota.
So yeah, we really want to try and keep them
out as much as possible as well.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
After the break, I want to throw you a curly
one about the health Star ratings they vex me Carina.
That's coming up in just a second. The podcast It's
a Happy Family's podcast. This is doctor Justin Courslom today
hanging out with pediatric dietitian and founder of Nourish with
(07:49):
Carina Karina Savage. We're talking about the stuff we put
on our kids plates and they put in their mouths.
We've talked about what's on the back of the label,
and I want to talk about what's in the front
of the label. Big food, the food industrial complex, loves
to trumpet their health Star rating, and yet when I
look at some of these foods that have four, four
(08:12):
and a half even five stars, Karina, I have to
scratch my head because on the back there's a lot
of sugar. I don't recognize a lot of the things
in the ingredients list, and yet these things are considered healthy.
Certain muslibars are a very easy example of that, as
well as some spreads that we put on sandwiches. Help
me to understand what is going on with health Star
(08:32):
ratings and are they believable at all? Or is the
entire system rigged a kleptocracy. Is there's some kind of
just insidious cash for health stars. Then going on with
the people who are running the bureaucracy, what's the deal.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I don't trust them, and I don't trust them for
my family. Because companies know how to work the system,
They know the loopholes to jump through to get an
just star rating. There's criteria that enabled them to get
more stars or less stars, and they know that they
may need to just nudge that fiber up a little bit,
(09:09):
or nudge that protein up, or nudge that salt down.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Just a fraction to get that extra star. But it
doesn't take.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Away from the fact that some of these foods that
have four four and a half stars are highly processed foods,
and they've highly processed ingredients that are so far removed
from Mother Nature and the original food that it came from.
So I find incredible that some highly processed foods that
are really poor for us and our gut health are
(09:37):
getting these star ratings. And there absolutely needs to be
and there is. I think it's coming a big reform
of the Health Star rating system and the criteria by
which companies are rated, because at the moment, you know,
artificial sweetness and things like that, I don't believe they're
factored into Health Star ratings when really they should be.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I think it's quite.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
An archaic system and we need to be much more
forward than with how we're raiding our food created.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Back on January twenty eight, Kylie and I did a
podcast episode about a new study that was published here
in Australia looking at what goes into the average school
kids lunch box. I think it was something like one
two hundred. I might have the number wrong, but about
twelve hundred lunch boxes were photographed as kids came into school.
The researchers had permission to take a photo of what's
in the lunch box, and what they found was that
(10:23):
the average lunchbox has about four dollars fifty worth of
food in it, and the more food in packaging, the
more expensive the lunchbox would be. But also the more
food in packaging, the less healthy the lunchbox would be.
I took that to indicate that we are paying more
(10:44):
for a worse outcome, and that if we use and
eat whole foods as much as possible, our kids are
going to be healthier and we're actually going to be
financially better off. But of course the kids will then
swap lunch or throw it in the bin because they
like the stuff that comes into packets. And so I'm
a little bit stuck here, and I was wondering as
we as we discussed this highly processed food food industrial
(11:07):
complex dilemma, what rules do you have to live by
when it comes to putting together an economic but tasty
lunch box that the kids will eat.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Number One, buying bulk and have bulk amounts of packet
foods or bulk amounts of cheese and crackers. So that
actually reduced the daily cost of crackers or cheese or
whatever you might be putting in the lunch box. So
buying bulk, buying in bulk can help to reduce the
(11:44):
daily cost of the lunch box.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Same if you're buying bags.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Of popcorn or newsleibars, trying to buy them in bulk
when they're on special and then storing them.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Now, I think we still need to consider.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Though, the frequency and the number of packet lunch the
number of packaged processed foods that go into lunchbox.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Because you're right, kids love them.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Anything that's white and salty and crunchy or sweet, they
love them. And it's PESTI power. You know, parents are
time poor. These foods are quick, convenient, tasty, kids love them.
You know, it's a win wind from that perspective. But
it's very much a lose lose from a you know,
hitting the hip pocket like they're expensive, and from a
nutritional perspective, they're often very low in fiber and nutrition.
(12:30):
They're very high in processed ingredients, and so really for parents,
I think if you can give them maybe one package
processing and their lunchbox too maximum, but really trying to
limit the number.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Of packaged foods each day.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So it's just not a free for all because often
kids have your free range to the pantry and they
will literally go and just grab another packet of oreos
or another packet of crackers, or another packet.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Of chicken crimpiece.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So it's setting clear boundaries for your family around what's
except maybe they have one packet in their lunch box
and one packet after school and that's it.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Or maybe you have none.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Maybe you just have bulk rice, crackers and cheese and
chop thedgees, or maybe you do toasted peanut butter after
school and there are no crackers. So it's trying to
set some clear boundaries for your family, buying in bulk
where possible, and really trying to limit these process foods
because at the end of the day, it is a
lose lose, even though kids love them, it's not good
(13:24):
for finances and that's not good for their nutrition.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, it hits your hip pocket, but it also hits
your hips absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It drives into it drives obesity.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
These white fast sugars.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, I like that one. I made that up right there.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So I'm as guilty as anyone on this. And this
is the last question, because we're out of time, and
I know the answer, which is why I make a
big deal about it, And yet I'm inclined to ask
are we making too much of a big deal about this?
I mean, when we were kids growing up, our parents
just gave us heaps of junk. We're eating fairy bread
and taking cupcakes to school, hands that cookies and whatever
(14:01):
else Mum through in the oven the night before on
the weekend, and we were pretty happy to eat all
the sugary junkie stuff. It just was it was coming
out of our ovens and our fridge and pantries rather
than coming off the supermarket shelves.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's exactly right. It's coming out of mum's oven.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's using ingredients that your mum knew that you know,
she made it out of you know, ingredients in her
fridge and her pantry. It's not highly processed foods. Sorry,
I should say highly processed ingredients. And this is the
difference I think. You know, back in the day, it
was a sandwich and apple a cookie. I don't think
there was as much packet fits. I think today it's
(14:34):
so accepted. It's like that herd like mentality. Everyone has it,
everyone's doing it. It's fine, it's normal, it's okay. But
it's actually not okay on so many levels. But yet
it happens to all of us, you know, my kids included,
because they love that stuff, because it's tasty, it's sugary.
Where possible, though, I will try and bake a few
things when I make time, when I carve out, you know,
(14:56):
thirty forty minutes on the weekend to make a batch
of cookies or make a batch of you know, black
being brownie, which is one of my favorite recipes. I
don't have to rely on the packet food as much.
So if we can try and be a little organized
on the weekend just to batch cook some foods, then
we won't have to rely on these, you know, the
oreos and the diny teddies as much.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So you're saying, though, that a home cooked anzect cookie
or a home baked cupcake is going to be I mean,
it's still still chunk food, but you're saying it's not
as bad as the holy process stuff that comes off
the supermarket shelf.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Correct because you can add in an extra egg, you
can use homewheel flour, you can throw in a bit
of chea, you know, all of these little tweaks that
I often talk to parents about. You can make it
more nutritious but still tasty, and that's going to That's
where the beauty is because they're still getting a so
called treat, but it's going to be a lot healthier
and a lot more wholesome with real food ingredients.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, we just have the sugar or or drop it
bay more than that and the kids don't notice.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That's exactly right, Karina.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I love this conversation. They're never long enough. If if
people want to want to hear more from you, because
you've got so much to offer, where should they go
and what can they get?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
So head to my website, Nourished with Karina dot com.
I've got lots of free information, free recipes there I've
also got my flagship Nourishing Kids support program, so you
can click on the link to find out more about that.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
There to help parents.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Busy parents who are filling overwhelmed with feeding set up
a really healthy feeding plan for their family, so you
can find all of that on my website Nourish.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
With Karina dot com. We will link to that in
the show notes. Really appreciate your time and I love
these chats. Thanks so much, Thanks Justin. The Happy Families
podcast is produced by Justin Roland from Bridge Media. More
information and resources available on the show notes and at
happy families dot com dot u
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