March 4, 2025 • 31 mins
Is your diet hiding a potential health risk?
On this episode of The Nutrition Couch, Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell dive deep into aspartame, the controversial artificial sweetener that’s still lurking in popular foods and drinks. With new research linking it to inflammation and insulin resistance, we discuss what you need to know and how to make smarter choices.
Tune in to discover:
- Aspartame & Your Health: The latest research on its effects on heart health, insulin, and inflammation.
- Magnesium Myths & Facts: Why this essential mineral is suddenly everywhere—and who actually benefits from supplementing it.
- Smart Eating for Shift Workers: The best strategies to avoid weight gain and optimise energy when working irregular hours.
Plus, in this episode:
- A new supermarket marinade find that adds serious flavour without the junk.
- The hidden artificial sweeteners you need to watch for (and what to choose instead).
- A surprising link between magnesium and migraines, sleep, and insulin resistance.
Press play now to get the latest expert-backed nutrition insights!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Do you occasionally enjoy a diet soft drink or maybe
some sugar free gum. Low sugar and diet foods have
been around for some time, and while there are more
natural sweeteners available, there are still a handful of popular
foods that are sweetened with a spartanan, a sweetener that
the World Health Organization has declared a possible custynogym. On
today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we share the latest
(00:22):
research about a spartanm and our health and the foods
that still use this sweetener. Hi, I'm Sussi Burrow and
I'm Liam Wood, and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch,
the weekly podcast that keeps you up to date with
everything you need to know in the world of nutrition
as well as artificial sweetness. We thought it was time
to talk about the health benefits associated with magnesium. We
(00:42):
have a delicious and pretty healthy new seasoning to try,
and our listener question is all about how to eat
if you're a shift work up. So to kick us
off today, leanne I came across a study. It was
repeated or talked about on news dot com dot au,
but it specifically looked at the effect of high intakes
of a or artificial sweetener nine to five one on
(01:03):
inflammation and heart disease in the body, and it led
me to think about there's still a handful of foods
in supermarkets that we still get a spartanan from, and
in recent years it's been called for a complete band
by European countries because of concern labeled by the World
Health Organization suggesting that it is a possible causcinogen in
the diet. So I thought it was just time we
(01:24):
took a look at it again. And just off the
top of my head, foods that spring to mind that
contain a spar tame are our diet coke, but also
diet Sprite and diet Fantera, So that's in that same
group of soft drinks produced by Coca Cola. It's in
extra chewing gum. It's also in Jarra hot chocolate, which
we used to be actually my favorite hot chocolate. But
(01:45):
one of the reasons we wanted to formulate our own
hot chocolate was that we wanted the creaminess and richness
that a Jarra hot chocolate offers without the artificial sweetener.
Because as dieticians we know we really shouldn't be recommending
foods that contain them. So there are sort of a
small handful of supermarket foods that still contain it, and
I think it is worth being aware of it. So
(02:05):
the study that is being talked about on news dot
com was it was a rats study and they were
comparing the rats intake of quite high levels of a
spartan but also compared to regular sugar. But what they've
found specifically, which I think is quite of interest to
anyone listening with hormonal disorders like insulin resistance or pcos,
but also at high risk of heart disease. And the
(02:28):
mice were going to twelve but they were fed a
very controlled study in two different groups, and they found
that the rats that had exposure to the spartanan over
the twelve week period had significantly more aclorosclerosis, which is
the actual damage to the arteries around the heart and
the aorta, compared to other mice. And it also resulted
in higher levels of insulin, which we know is the
(02:50):
key hormone involved in fat regulation and blood glucose regulation
in the body. So I thought it was just a
telling time because there's no one saying that this is
good for us. But I thought specifically, it was relevant
to people who are at high risk of inflammatory conditions
or who do have install resistance and perhaps are considering
using a medication like ozen Peak or with Govi or
(03:11):
Manjaro to help lower it, that this is a substance
you really want to try and minimize in the diet.
And certainly I have clients who do still enjoy a
soft drink, a diet soft drink in particular, and certainly
as a mum, if I'm out, I would certainly say
to my kids, I would prefer them to have a
diet soft drink than regular. But I even myself need
to be more mindful of saying no, you can't have
(03:33):
diets brte, because this is one of the products that
it does leads into the diet. It's also in a
couple still of diet yogurts. I think when it says
diet or they're like the yo play diet, just check
it because you're looking for number nine five one. And
they're also very cheeky food companies because I've noticed and
they've started to just talk about the names of the sweetener.
(03:53):
So for example, they'll say sucrolose or they'll say a
Spartan k sull for me, which is another one involved
in diet soft drink, but I've not seen anyone written
as Spartan. But it's nine to five one. And if
you see anything that's got diet written on it, particularly
products that are coming out of the States, they're more
likely to still contain that sweetener. It is a good
(04:13):
one to ditch from the diet completely if possible. And
if you're someone who choose mints or say the gums
and mints that are diet, you really want to be
looking for ones that proactively say they're sweetened with stevia,
which is a natural plant form of sweetener, because if not,
it's highly likely to be a Spartanan or nine to
five to one, which let's be honestly, and it looks
like it's going to eventually get banned in the food supply.
(04:34):
If you're at banner, there'll be a lot of pressure
on the US and US to follow, So I suspect
it won't be even around for that much longer because
keep in mind, food industry are probably five to ten
years ahead of us. They know these substances aren't great
for us. It's not by chance they release coke zero.
They wanted to phase out diet coke for a reason.
So I think it's interesting to observe over time. And
(04:55):
it's like anything. It's not like you're having a diet
softdrink once a month you're going to get cancer. These
are all just factors increase our risk, and when we're
at high risk from environmental stresses, pressures, genetics, we obviously
all want to minimize that risk, and specifically for people
who have any pro inflammatory conditions at high risk of
heart disease, these are substances that are best avoided in
(05:15):
the diet completely.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, I agree, and it's important to highlight, you know,
is the research there, yes, is it an animal studies, Yes,
we can't directly link that to humans. We know that.
But as Susie said, these things aren't They're not fruits
and vegetables, right, They're not whole grains and legumes and
a bit of organic you know, yogurt. They're not actually
providing us with much nutritional benefit, but they do sneak
(05:38):
in more and more and more, particularly because Susie and
I both have a lot of clients that are actively
trying to lose weight to drop body fat. So I
certainly have many clients where you know, they might have
gone out Friday and Saturday night because they've had social things,
and they've said to me, hey, I've had to drinks
on Friday night. I don't want to drink tonight. Can
I just have a diet coke when I go out?
Because the reality is that if you're at some sort
(05:58):
of pubble bar, often it's alcohol, it's water, or the
only diet soft drink on the menu is generally diet coke,
and so it's kind of like you're picking from you know,
if you don't want to sit there nursing your cup
of water while everyone else is having an alcoholic drink,
sometimes it's a little bit nice to have something like,
I don't know, a diet coke or something. So it's
really about the frequency of that that matters. We're not
(06:19):
saying you can't ever have a diet coke, but it's
really like how often are you doing those things and
in combination with what else is going on in your
diet as well. But if you have the opportunity, if
you have a choice in the matter, I would say,
choose a different type of diet soft And if you're
someone who regularly has a diet coke with their lunch
because they enjoy that, and you've swapt from a normal
full sugar coke. Yes, that's probably better from a house perspective,
(06:42):
but there are certainly better lower sugar or no sugar
soft drinks available without those types of artificial sweetness in there.
And there are more and more brands using more natural
types of sweetness such as Stevier such as Monkcruite in
their products, whether that be drinks, whether that be you know, biscuits,
even cereals and musally bars. There's certainly brands that are
(07:02):
using the better types of ones, and certainly Susie Nina
when we've created out designed by dietitian range, we are
very very firm that we would either only use the
natural plant based types of sweetness such as Stebbier or
such as long fruit. Do you pay a lot more
for it? Yes, but really your health is something that
you know you can't get one body to live in.
So it's essential that you are making some of these
better choices when you are regularly consuming these foods. And
(07:26):
if you're somebody that choose chewing gum every single day,
you need to take a closer look at the nutrition label.
If you're someone that has a diet coke a couple
of times a week, you need to perhaps find a
different substitute for that because it's regularly coming into your diet.
So it's just a really good again, you know, have
a closer look at your diet. What are those things
that you're regularly consuming, what are the types of yoga
(07:46):
you regularly buy, what's the type of bread you regularly buy,
what's the type of protein powder you regularly have, Because
it's certainly a lot of these artificial sweetness are still
in a lot of different types of protein powder brands
as well. So it's the things that you're having regularly
in your diet that are really going to add up
over time. And that's what really is that risk that
we say, that risk of developing potentially certain types of
(08:07):
diseases later on. It's all about risks. Some people have
bad luck, some people have good luck. Some people are
increasing their risk over time. So a good reminder to
just take that closer look at your diet overall.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
True, And I should say it's published in the journal
Cell Metabolism, which is a very highly respected journal. You know,
there's a lot of publications you might see out there,
but that's got a very high impact factor, so very
strong scientific data. But I think from my perspective, it's
the link to insulin because we've always thought that our
sweetness have had a negligible effect on blood glucose levels.
But I, in my clinical experience think anecdotally sweet food,
(08:41):
intensely sweet food like artificial sweetness, which are two hundred
of times sweeter than sugar, do drive appetite. And that's
just an anecdotal experience working with people over long periods
of time. So certainly that growing range of drinks that
are in the soft drink section, which are sort of
more natural sweetened or sort of flavored waters, there's certainly
much better for you. And I just wanted to check
(09:02):
before we move on to the next topic, which is
really interesting. A lot of our listeners will be interested
in talking about magnesium. But I just was thinking, is
Red Bull and V got artificial sweetener in it? Do
you know that? Off the top of head, I'm something
a look, now, I suspect they do, but I just
wanted to check which one not sure because that also links,
of course to the growing evidence about gut dysfunction when
(09:23):
consuming energy drinks because of the touring link. But I
think also most of them do have artificial sweetener. I'm
going to just double check that as we're talking, but
you want to start. It's got a type of artificial sweetener.
Oh no, it does. The spar Taim is in Red Bull,
and I suspect V. Let's just double check that as well,
because people who might not be soft drink drinkers may
(09:45):
also be big V drinkers and I'm pretty sure both
of them are artificial. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, not great for us overall, and we should definitely
be limiting it bottom line.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Oh actually, interestingly, LeAnn V is sucrelose, which is a
type of artificial sweetner, but not a sparta aim, whereas
Red Bull is a spartaim but they don't list the numbers,
so you have to see check the name. So it
is really tricky.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Because it isn't Red Bull under the Coca Cola brand
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Possibly possibly that's why they've still got a spartam in.
So yeah, it's worth checking. But that's it's either nine
to five to one or a spar tame. To keep
an eye out, all.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Right, Moving on to our next segment. Magnesium something that
Susie and I as clinicians, what do we get asked
about it fifty times a week? Like it's so popular,
Like magnesium is having a moment, let's be honest. So
we're like, we need to address the magnesium and it
is a really important mineral. It's a really important mineral.
And typically both Susan and I have worked within hospital
systems before. It's something that you see quite low in
(10:40):
the blood of really critically unwell patients. You know, patients
who have had really terrible malabsorption issues. Their electrolytes are
all deranged, you know, they're all over the place. Magnesium
can be really low, Potassium can be really low, phosphate
as well. It can be really really dangerous or if
somebody's had a massive vomiting bug or they're just really
critically unwell. But besides that, it's very rare for me
(11:02):
to see like a magnesium deficiency on a blood test.
If I send off a patient for bloods, I'll say,
go get a full blood panel. I ask your doctor,
you know, we'll double check eye and check your you know,
your vitamin D levels, check you B twelve. If they
don't eat much red meat, that kind of thing, and
you rarely ever see magnesium come back low unless they
do have. I do have a lot of clients who
have you know, undiagnosed Celiac disease or those diseases where
(11:24):
you know they've got issues with absorption basically, so sometimes
chronic diarrhea. Sometimes those conditions can show low magnesium. But
in healthy, generally healthy adults, it's not something that we
see very often. So why is everybody taking magnesium? And why, Susie,
have I started thinking to myself, maybe I should be
taking some magnesium, right. I guess there's a lot to
(11:45):
cover when it comes to magnesium, but it's essentially at
the you know, the bare minimums an essential mineral that
the body needs, but it does have a really a
lot of important functions within our body, so it's really
it helps to regulate our muscles and our nerves. It
also can help with blood sugar redation, so listen up
if you have type two diabetes, insulin resistance, if you
had gestational diabetes when you're pregnant, and magnesium also has
(12:08):
a link to bone health as well, so most people
can and should be eating a sufficient amount of magnesium
in their diet, but there are certainly certain population groups
and types of people who may actually benefit from an
increased amount of magnesium. So where it links to bone health,
Approximately about sixty percent of the body's magnesium is stored
(12:29):
in our bones, so this plays a really crucial role
in bone formation and maintenance. And also some studies have
actually linked an adequate magnesium intake where a higher bone
mineral density, and that basically suggests a potential protective effect
against things like osteoporosis, particularly in our postmenopause or women.
Magnesium is also linked to cardiovascular health. It helps to
(12:50):
regulate our blood pressure. It also supports that you know
regular proper heart rhythm as well, and there is a
small amount of research that indicates that magnesium supplementation can
lead to a modest reduction in blood pressure as well. However,
in terms of reducing hypertension overall, the evidence is still
a bit inconclusive. There are some studies for it, some
studies against it. A diabetes management, there's been some newer
(13:13):
research that certainly shows that magnesium assists with glucose metabolism
and reducing some of that insulin sensitivity as well. However,
that's mostly in people who weren't getting enough magnesium in
the diet. And then some of the newer stuff that
I was looking at. Susie, a good dietician friend of mine,
mentioned that her doctor had recommended she start taking high
dose of magnesium for her migraines. And I was like, interesting,
(13:36):
because I've certainly had clients over the years who've had
absolutely debilitating migraines, like they've been out for two or
three days, dark room in bed, literally can't get a work,
can't do anything, cannot function, completely debilitating. And you know,
we've tried a lot of dietary strategies, we've tried a
lot of lifestyle strategies, they've tried different medications from their doctors,
and so some of this newer research around magnesium is
(13:57):
exciting for particular individuals, for particular medical I guess groups
put it that way. So when it comes to migraine prevention,
there are some studies that suggested that some magnesium supplementation
could help to reduce the frequency and the severity of migraines.
And if you are a regular migraine sufferer, if you
were to have less frequent migraines, and a less severity
(14:19):
of those migraines. I'm pretty sure you'd be pretty happy
with that. So some of the research really supported a
particular type of magnesium. So if you were to look
at supplementing with magnesium, you would look at the different types.
There are different types of magnesium. You've got magnesium citrate,
you've got magnesium oxidate, you've got mag theseum glycinate. And
there's also a new one. I think it's elth aarronate,
(14:40):
which has been linked to cognitive improvements and thinking and cognition,
and that's a really interesting one as well, Susie. But
when it comes to migraines, it's a really high DOSI.
It's typically a dose of about four to six hundred
milligrams a day, and a lot of the research is
pointing towards magnesium oxidide with that one as well, I believe. Now, Now,
when it comes to the recommended daily allowance for magnesium,
(15:03):
it's slightly different for men and women. Men is about
four hundred milligrams a day and women is just over three.
It's about three ten to three twenty milligrams a day. Now,
most people should be able to eat enough magnesium in
their diet, Susie, it comes from legumes, from nuts, from seeds,
some whole grains, and our diart green leafy veggies. It
comes from a balanced diet. But what is the reality.
(15:24):
The reality is that sixty to seventy percent of Australians
are overweight for obese and have poor quality diets. Therefore,
we are not getting in as much magnesium in our
diet as we should. Are we deficient in magnesium maybe
maybe not? Or are we just not getting in the
recommended amount of it every single day. We might be
getting in a little, but we're not getting in enough
(15:45):
to actually optimize some of these processes that magnesium may
be really important for. So we talked about the cardiovascular
healthy insulin sensitivity the bone house, but also there's been
a little bit of talk about magnesium linked to things
like constipation and also improving sleep and helping to just
relax and calm the body down as well. So if
you're not somebody who regularly eats legumes, nuts, seeds, really
(16:09):
good quality whole grains and our dark green leafy vegies,
Like if you're not having a serve of dark green
leafy vegetables every single day, what are you doing, Because
we've talked about it before, Susie, like you should be
having some form of green vegetable every single day is
so important. So as dietitians, food first, food always first.
But there are some individuals who may benefit from actually
(16:31):
supplementing with magnesium. But I would say you need to
either chat with your doctor or your dietitian. Don't just
go randomly supplementing. Don't go to doctor Google and you know,
find a mount. It's really important that you actually get
some clinical guidance around this, the type, the dose, and
if it's actually appropriate for you, because too much magnesium
can actually cause a lot of stomach upsets, a lot
of diarrhea and that sort of thing. So my grains
(16:53):
is one of the conditions. Constipation may be another one
where I've got a lot of clients I'm sure you
do too, Susie, taking high doses of magnesium to assist
with constipation as well. Again, because magnesium can act almost
like an osmodic laxity, It kind of draws water into
the bows. It can help to kind of help stimulate
those bower movements. Magnesium site trait and the oxidate are
(17:15):
probably the most commonly used forms of that, and I
have seen people taking you know, three four hundred, five
hundred grams of that like really high doses. So again,
really good to make sure that you're actually getting some
clinical guidance around this. Is that dose too high? Are
you taking the right type? Is it going to be
interacting or being affected by any other sort of medication
that you're taking as well. And the last one I'll
(17:36):
quickly touched on before I hand over to you, sus
is magnesium glacinate. That's the one that's really been linked
to more of the sleep quality. Like I've got a
lot of clients who either use the magnesium spray and
I certainly when I've had trouble sleeping before I had kids.
Now I have small children. Surprise, surprise, I have no
trouble sleeping. I'm out like a light the minute. My
head is a bilope. But prior to children, I was
(17:58):
using a bit of a magnesium spray on the soles
of my feet and I honestly did find that that helped.
I don't know if it was a placebo effect, but
they are saying that you can ingest magnesium and if
you do, glascinate is the preferred form because it can
help to just make you that little bit more sleepy,
and there's a kind of I think a few pathways
there that may be helpful with And it also has
a lower likelihood of causing any GI upsets, because the
(18:19):
last thing you want is to improve your sleep quality
and you're getting up a few times a night to
run to the bathroom because you've taken the wrong type,
and instead of helping with your sleep, you're actually stimulating
your bows. So not helpful with your sleep in that instance.
So just be mindful of the types that you take
in the doses as well, because I've certainly seen some
crazy high doses as well, you know, four or five,
six hundred milligrams as well. All Right, so I'll pass
(18:41):
over to you. How do you feel about magnesium? Do
you recommend that your clients supplement with it? You work
with a lot of women with insulin resistance type two diabetes.
Have you seen the new research coming out about how
it may help with insulin sensitivity.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's certainly a bit of a buzz because I remember
three or five years ago one of my very good
friends telling me that she was taking it. Looked and thought,
why would you take magnesium like it's not an issue,
Whereas You're right, they're sort of growing research or anecdotal
support for it. Particularly I find a lot of clients
use it to help go to the bathroom, which I
don't have a problem with, if I'm honest, because I'd
(19:14):
much rather they're using that than say aggressive supplementation or
fiber supplements. You know, it's a natural thing, and I
sort of agree whilst we may not be clinically deficient
unless you're really having a huge intake of fresh food
and leafy greens and nuts and seeds daily, and it
demands are high. You know, we know stressful lives mean
higher nutrient requirements, particularly as we move into the peri
(19:37):
and menopausal years, and yet we often need to eat
less for weight control, and just you know, the planning
required to keep the intake of fresh food optimal can
be quite tricky. I think you have to be really
careful with dosage. Like I think really high overdosing that
causes you know, diarrhea is contraindicated that's not going to
help you nutrient absorption. So I think like you get
(19:58):
good advice on a repidable way of taking it. I
generally prefer powder type forms that can be assimilated into
the diet as opposed to just capsual supplementation, because I
think it's a more natural way of getting it, and
then you tend to add it to smoothies and drinks
and hence it's going to be better tolerated and absorbed
nutritionally in the gut. But yeah, I think that it's
(20:18):
an option definitely if people have benefits from it. It's
more making sure you're not getting ripped off with the
supplement and also using it in the right way. But
just going back to food first, anyone listening, if you're
not having two serves of leafy green veggies a day,
you've got to smack yourself right now, because you've been
listening to the Nutrition Couch for some time and that
is one of the most powerful things you can do
for health and wellbeing. And in the case of magnesium,
(20:40):
it gives you a beautiful natural dose. So whether you
have a salad with rocket in it each day, you're
adding spinach to your eggs or your smoothies, two serves
a day for optimal health is a no brainer. That's
one of the most powerful things you can do for
anti cancer. And for magnesium intake. But absolutely I think
that if you're adding some extra in just use a
reputable I would say training company, try and consume it
(21:01):
in a food mechanism, and then over supplementing is never good,
so just keep an eye on the dosage. But yeah,
I think it can be a natural way and certainly
worth exploring if you do have interating and resistance as
an addition to help naturally lower levels over time, and
then tick the box on that essential nutrient. All right,
leanne Well, I found a new product. Well, a client
found a new product for me actually, which I always enjoy,
(21:24):
and she was asking me if the new otter Lengy
because all the people who love Ottolengies tails are wagging
right now. I think my favorite salad of all time
is Otto Lengi's Tomato Party, because I'm partial to a
tomato salad, So if you haven't had that one before,
look it up. It's amazing. But Ottolengy has a new
range of marinades available in Woolies, and I thought, we're
(21:44):
always looking for more flavor. And I often will say
to my clients to be honest, if you're having lots
of fresh food and lean protein, and you use marinades
or sauces within reason to give flavor. I have no
issue with it, because I'd much rather you have more
veggies and more lean meat that tastes good than just
a boring eight of you know, boiled broccoli and steamed
fish or chicken. We definitely want food to be flavorsome.
(22:05):
And I have to say this is a very clean
nutritional product. It's not cheap. It's thirteen dollars for one
hundred and eighty gram jar. Well, let's be honest, is it.
Nothing's cheap in the soupermarket now, is it so? But
you know it is, you know, a sort of more
of an investment piece. I'd describe it. The one I'm
going to review today is the Shawama marinate. So the
(22:26):
first ingredient is caramelized onion, which does have a little
bit of sugar with it, and a seed oil rape
seed oil, but overall the amounts of small and I'll
tell you whine a second onion, pure side of vinegar,
tomato paste at nine percent, olive oil, garlic, pure water,
sea salt, corn flour, some human propri car a little
bit of sugar, grand coriander or spiced lemon juice, turmeric
(22:48):
and clove, so it's a very aromatic mix. There's four
serfs per pack of forty five grams. Now, being the
tight ass Tuesday that I am, I would be making
that last a lot longer at thirteen dollars because for
four serves, what you're looking at like three dollars plus
per serve for a marinad. I think that's quite high,
so I'd definitely be stretching it out in my cooking.
(23:09):
But it's got less than one hundred calories per serve,
only grammar protein. It's overall got eleven percent fat, which
isn't low, but the saturated fat's very low overall, so
pretty insignificant. That's five grams of fat per serve. But
as I said, i'd be doubling the serving size in
that container you only get two point five. Then it's
got just over three grams of sugar perserve and close
(23:29):
to five hundred milligrams of sodium, which isn't insignificant. But again,
if you stretch it out like I'm suggesting, you would
have that. So I think that if you love those
flavorsome aromatics that Ottelengi does in terms of ingredient list
four marinate and sauce. It's pretty clean because most marinads
that you'll find produced by mainstream supplies like Master Foods
(23:52):
are packed full of processed ingredients. So I deem this
fairly clean. But I would be stretching it to get
eight serves per jar, so using a lot less of
it to flavor things up. But yeah, I think it's
pretty good. I like it, and if you are happy
to spend thirteen dollars on a source, I suspect it's
delicious and I'm pretty happy with it nutritionally. What do
(24:13):
you think? Have you tried it?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I haven't tried it, but I've never had a bad
hottling nerest.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
No, no one's had a battle nobody does. I would
you know?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I would give it my recommendation despite not even trying it.
It does sound delicious, but like you said, it does
sound quite rich already, so I think that you could
easily buffer that down and just use half of it,
and I think it'd be okay as well, because we
don't want to make our food so flavorsome, and that
I think sometimes primes over eating as well, because you're like,
oh my gosh, I was so delicious, and you go
back for more than you're just picking at it, and
(24:41):
before you know what, you've eaten one and a half portions.
We've eaten two two and a half portions of it.
Because the reality is that most of our listeners are
actually actively trying to lose weight. More than eighty percent
of our audience. We've surveyed over a thousand listeners. More
than eighty percent of our audience is actively trying to
lose weight. So I think using a little bit less
when it comes to things like dresses and seasonings and
marinades so that it's still really yummy and tasty. It's
(25:04):
better than a plate of steam broccoli by itself. But
you don't want to go overboard on these things as well,
because sometimes a little can go a long way. But yeah,
I'd be more than happy to recommend something like that
for your proteins, but also just adding it to a
little bit of your smy events as well, just to
give them that little bit of a boost in terms
of a flavor profile. So yeah, big thumbs up from us,
and if anyone dries it, let us know, drop us
(25:25):
a comment on our Instagram. At the Nutrition Couch and
let us know what you thought.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Perfect all right, for our last segment of the week,
it's our listener question, and I love this one. I
think we have covered it, but I think it's a
good reminder. The question is all about how do I
adjust my food intake when I am a shift worker?
And my standard response is that even though you may
be working in the nighttime and sleeping in the day,
the human body is programmed to burn calories in the
day and store and repair at nighttime. So the less
(25:52):
food you can consume in an overnight period and still
achieve a minimum fast of six hours, if not eight
or even ten, as I will suggest with anyone not
working shift hours, the better it'll be metabolically for you.
It's basically not good to be eating in the middle
of the night. And I've had this conversation with a
client of mine who gets up for work at four
am and she starts the day with coffee and milk,
(26:13):
and I said, you can't be eating at four am,
like It's just not a good habit to be in
if you can help it. Now. Obviously, there's extenuating circumstances.
If you are an emergency doctor and about to perform
a surgery at three am and need a coffee, go
for it. It's certainly not looking at extreme examples like that.
I'm talking about routine shift workers who four or five
days a week are up throughout the nighttime. So what
(26:33):
I suggest my shift workers do is try and have
at least a six hour fast between twelve and six am,
which might even be eleven and five am, to get
up in the afternoon and have the larger meal of
the day, whether you get up at four o'clock, two o'clock,
six o'clock, have one meal. Then I usually then suggest
a top up meal later in the evening, maybe ten o'clock.
(26:54):
Then try and have an overnight fast, and then have
another meal between five and seven am before they'll go
down to sleep, So between two or three meals a day,
but really trying to ensure that the food is still
going in in those hours in which the human body
would normally be eating if you weren't a shift worker.
If my shift workers need to eat overnight, I go
for lower carbohydrate options, so things like nuts, lower calorie,
(27:17):
low sugar fruits, things like passion fruit berries, even a
slice of cheese. If they really do need to eat
because they need the energy or to keep alert. But
I try and encourage at least a six hour overnight fast.
Do you have any other tips for shift workers?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Land Well, one of my great dietitians, Chloe, actually does
a lot of work with shift workers, and she presented
to my team the other day about, you know, some
really optimal strategies for shift workers, and just like you mentioned,
she very much said that you want that good overnight fast.
She recommends if you're doing an overnight shift, your last
coffee of the night should be before about eleven pm.
So she's like, if you need it, if you've started,
(27:52):
you know, a night shift at five o'clock, six seven o'clock,
have your coffee around nine or ten pm. Obviously this
is just for shift workers, not for normal individuals, and
then try not to have any caffeine past that eleven
midnight and then not again untill about six am the
next morning. So, like you, she very much recommends a
fast between midnight and six am and really having a
proper balanced meal, even if that means that your dinner
(28:13):
is at they might be five pm, then you're having
another meal at eleven pm. Really try hard to get
that six hour fast in and then if you're coming
off your night shift, have a light breakfast before you
actually go to bed, because the last thing you want
is to go to bed and you're absolutely starving. But
you also want to avoid just that constant snacking that
most people do during the night to try to keep
themselves awake, because the reality is that most of our
(28:35):
shift workers are very busy. They're not sitting there twiddling
their thumbs trying to stay awake. A lot of them
are doctors and nurses and they basically don't stop. They're
on their feet the whole time anyway, so they don't
need that constant drip supply of caffeine and sugar going
in to actually keep them awake. They're busy, they've got
things to do. They're, as you said, they're saving lives
half the time, so they're actually quite busy. They don't
(28:56):
need as much regular energy as they think they do.
And from men. I have to double check with Chloe,
but I'm sure she mentioned that overnight you actually burn.
If they did studies where people ate the same amount
of food during the day and the same amount of
food overnight and the night, people burned about eighty to
one hundred calories less during the night than they did
during the day, So your body actually burns less overnight
(29:19):
than it does during the day. So that was a
really interesting one. And then she also mentioned something about
the glucoster response to feeding as well, So the time
of the day, there's a difference in the post parandual
meal glucoster response and the morning. Obviously, Susi's always talked
about during the day, when you're up, you're active, your
body is sort of burning that feel better than it
is during the nighttime. Even if you're up and you're
(29:40):
active during the nighttime, the evening glucoster response tends to
be about double of the morning glucost response. So really
where you can focusing on that protein and that vegetable
and the lower GI on the whole grain type of
carbohydrate for your main meals, and focus on main meals.
If you're eating at random times overnight, you're having a
meal at three and you're having a meal at midnight,
(30:02):
make sure it's a balanced meal. Make sure it's not
just a pack of rice crackers and a diet coke
and you know, a couple of trick spars to get
you through. Really make sure you're focusing on a nice
balanced meal because you're going to keep your blood sugar
levels and your hormones far more stable and just feel
a lot better by the time you get to the
next morning. So that's all i'd add, basically exactly what
you said, but really important to highlight there is actually
(30:22):
research that shows as differences in the calories burned and
the glucose response from the morning to the night shift.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Perfect very well summarized. All right, Well, that brings us
to the end of the nutrition couch for another week.
Please keep telling your friends about us so we can
continue to grow. And if you're looking for a nutritional boost,
you must check out our range of supplements at designed
bydietitians dot com. We'll see you next Wednesday for a
regular episode drop have a great week, Catch you guys
next week.
Do you occasionally enjoy a diet soft drink or maybe
some sugar free gum. Low sugar and diet foods have
been around for some time, and while there are more
natural sweeteners available, there are still a handful of popular
foods that are sweetened with a spartanan, a sweetener that
the World Health Organization has declared a possible custynogym. On
today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we share the latest
(00:22):
research about a spartanm and our health and the foods
that still use this sweetener. Hi, I'm Sussi Burrow and
I'm Liam Wood, and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch,
the weekly podcast that keeps you up to date with
everything you need to know in the world of nutrition
as well as artificial sweetness. We thought it was time
to talk about the health benefits associated with magnesium. We
(00:42):
have a delicious and pretty healthy new seasoning to try,
and our listener question is all about how to eat
if you're a shift work up. So to kick us
off today, leanne I came across a study. It was
repeated or talked about on news dot com dot au,
but it specifically looked at the effect of high intakes
of a or artificial sweetener nine to five one on
(01:03):
inflammation and heart disease in the body, and it led
me to think about there's still a handful of foods
in supermarkets that we still get a spartanan from, and
in recent years it's been called for a complete band
by European countries because of concern labeled by the World
Health Organization suggesting that it is a possible causcinogen in
the diet. So I thought it was just time we
(01:24):
took a look at it again. And just off the
top of my head, foods that spring to mind that
contain a spar tame are our diet coke, but also
diet Sprite and diet Fantera, So that's in that same
group of soft drinks produced by Coca Cola. It's in
extra chewing gum. It's also in Jarra hot chocolate, which
we used to be actually my favorite hot chocolate. But
(01:45):
one of the reasons we wanted to formulate our own
hot chocolate was that we wanted the creaminess and richness
that a Jarra hot chocolate offers without the artificial sweetener.
Because as dieticians we know we really shouldn't be recommending
foods that contain them. So there are sort of a
small handful of supermarket foods that still contain it, and
I think it is worth being aware of it. So
(02:05):
the study that is being talked about on news dot
com was it was a rats study and they were
comparing the rats intake of quite high levels of a
spartan but also compared to regular sugar. But what they've
found specifically, which I think is quite of interest to
anyone listening with hormonal disorders like insulin resistance or pcos,
but also at high risk of heart disease. And the
(02:28):
mice were going to twelve but they were fed a
very controlled study in two different groups, and they found
that the rats that had exposure to the spartanan over
the twelve week period had significantly more aclorosclerosis, which is
the actual damage to the arteries around the heart and
the aorta, compared to other mice. And it also resulted
in higher levels of insulin, which we know is the
(02:50):
key hormone involved in fat regulation and blood glucose regulation
in the body. So I thought it was just a
telling time because there's no one saying that this is
good for us. But I thought specifically, it was relevant
to people who are at high risk of inflammatory conditions
or who do have install resistance and perhaps are considering
using a medication like ozen Peak or with Govi or
(03:11):
Manjaro to help lower it, that this is a substance
you really want to try and minimize in the diet.
And certainly I have clients who do still enjoy a
soft drink, a diet soft drink in particular, and certainly
as a mum, if I'm out, I would certainly say
to my kids, I would prefer them to have a
diet soft drink than regular. But I even myself need
to be more mindful of saying no, you can't have
(03:33):
diets brte, because this is one of the products that
it does leads into the diet. It's also in a
couple still of diet yogurts. I think when it says
diet or they're like the yo play diet, just check
it because you're looking for number nine five one. And
they're also very cheeky food companies because I've noticed and
they've started to just talk about the names of the sweetener.
(03:53):
So for example, they'll say sucrolose or they'll say a
Spartan k sull for me, which is another one involved
in diet soft drink, but I've not seen anyone written
as Spartan. But it's nine to five one. And if
you see anything that's got diet written on it, particularly
products that are coming out of the States, they're more
likely to still contain that sweetener. It is a good
(04:13):
one to ditch from the diet completely if possible. And
if you're someone who choose mints or say the gums
and mints that are diet, you really want to be
looking for ones that proactively say they're sweetened with stevia,
which is a natural plant form of sweetener, because if not,
it's highly likely to be a Spartanan or nine to
five to one, which let's be honestly, and it looks
like it's going to eventually get banned in the food supply.
(04:34):
If you're at banner, there'll be a lot of pressure
on the US and US to follow, So I suspect
it won't be even around for that much longer because
keep in mind, food industry are probably five to ten
years ahead of us. They know these substances aren't great
for us. It's not by chance they release coke zero.
They wanted to phase out diet coke for a reason.
So I think it's interesting to observe over time. And
(04:55):
it's like anything. It's not like you're having a diet
softdrink once a month you're going to get cancer. These
are all just factors increase our risk, and when we're
at high risk from environmental stresses, pressures, genetics, we obviously
all want to minimize that risk, and specifically for people
who have any pro inflammatory conditions at high risk of
heart disease, these are substances that are best avoided in
(05:15):
the diet completely.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, I agree, and it's important to highlight, you know,
is the research there, yes, is it an animal studies, Yes,
we can't directly link that to humans. We know that.
But as Susie said, these things aren't They're not fruits
and vegetables, right, They're not whole grains and legumes and
a bit of organic you know, yogurt. They're not actually
providing us with much nutritional benefit, but they do sneak
(05:38):
in more and more and more, particularly because Susie and
I both have a lot of clients that are actively
trying to lose weight to drop body fat. So I
certainly have many clients where you know, they might have
gone out Friday and Saturday night because they've had social things,
and they've said to me, hey, I've had to drinks
on Friday night. I don't want to drink tonight. Can
I just have a diet coke when I go out?
Because the reality is that if you're at some sort
(05:58):
of pubble bar, often it's alcohol, it's water, or the
only diet soft drink on the menu is generally diet coke,
and so it's kind of like you're picking from you know,
if you don't want to sit there nursing your cup
of water while everyone else is having an alcoholic drink,
sometimes it's a little bit nice to have something like,
I don't know, a diet coke or something. So it's
really about the frequency of that that matters. We're not
(06:19):
saying you can't ever have a diet coke, but it's
really like how often are you doing those things and
in combination with what else is going on in your
diet as well. But if you have the opportunity, if
you have a choice in the matter, I would say,
choose a different type of diet soft And if you're
someone who regularly has a diet coke with their lunch
because they enjoy that, and you've swapt from a normal
full sugar coke. Yes, that's probably better from a house perspective,
(06:42):
but there are certainly better lower sugar or no sugar
soft drinks available without those types of artificial sweetness in there.
And there are more and more brands using more natural
types of sweetness such as Stevier such as Monkcruite in
their products, whether that be drinks, whether that be you know, biscuits,
even cereals and musally bars. There's certainly brands that are
(07:02):
using the better types of ones, and certainly Susie Nina
when we've created out designed by dietitian range, we are
very very firm that we would either only use the
natural plant based types of sweetness such as Stebbier or
such as long fruit. Do you pay a lot more
for it? Yes, but really your health is something that
you know you can't get one body to live in.
So it's essential that you are making some of these
better choices when you are regularly consuming these foods. And
(07:26):
if you're somebody that choose chewing gum every single day,
you need to take a closer look at the nutrition label.
If you're someone that has a diet coke a couple
of times a week, you need to perhaps find a
different substitute for that because it's regularly coming into your diet.
So it's just a really good again, you know, have
a closer look at your diet. What are those things
that you're regularly consuming, what are the types of yoga
(07:46):
you regularly buy, what's the type of bread you regularly buy,
what's the type of protein powder you regularly have, Because
it's certainly a lot of these artificial sweetness are still
in a lot of different types of protein powder brands
as well. So it's the things that you're having regularly
in your diet that are really going to add up
over time. And that's what really is that risk that
we say, that risk of developing potentially certain types of
(08:07):
diseases later on. It's all about risks. Some people have
bad luck, some people have good luck. Some people are
increasing their risk over time. So a good reminder to
just take that closer look at your diet overall.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
True, And I should say it's published in the journal
Cell Metabolism, which is a very highly respected journal. You know,
there's a lot of publications you might see out there,
but that's got a very high impact factor, so very
strong scientific data. But I think from my perspective, it's
the link to insulin because we've always thought that our
sweetness have had a negligible effect on blood glucose levels.
But I, in my clinical experience think anecdotally sweet food,
(08:41):
intensely sweet food like artificial sweetness, which are two hundred
of times sweeter than sugar, do drive appetite. And that's
just an anecdotal experience working with people over long periods
of time. So certainly that growing range of drinks that
are in the soft drink section, which are sort of
more natural sweetened or sort of flavored waters, there's certainly
much better for you. And I just wanted to check
(09:02):
before we move on to the next topic, which is
really interesting. A lot of our listeners will be interested
in talking about magnesium. But I just was thinking, is
Red Bull and V got artificial sweetener in it? Do
you know that? Off the top of head, I'm something
a look, now, I suspect they do, but I just
wanted to check which one not sure because that also links,
of course to the growing evidence about gut dysfunction when
(09:23):
consuming energy drinks because of the touring link. But I
think also most of them do have artificial sweetener. I'm
going to just double check that as we're talking, but
you want to start. It's got a type of artificial sweetener.
Oh no, it does. The spar Taim is in Red Bull,
and I suspect V. Let's just double check that as well,
because people who might not be soft drink drinkers may
(09:45):
also be big V drinkers and I'm pretty sure both
of them are artificial. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, not great for us overall, and we should definitely
be limiting it bottom line.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Oh actually, interestingly, LeAnn V is sucrelose, which is a
type of artificial sweetner, but not a sparta aim, whereas
Red Bull is a spartaim but they don't list the numbers,
so you have to see check the name. So it
is really tricky.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Because it isn't Red Bull under the Coca Cola brand
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Possibly possibly that's why they've still got a spartam in.
So yeah, it's worth checking. But that's it's either nine
to five to one or a spar tame. To keep
an eye out, all.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Right, Moving on to our next segment. Magnesium something that
Susie and I as clinicians, what do we get asked
about it fifty times a week? Like it's so popular,
Like magnesium is having a moment, let's be honest. So
we're like, we need to address the magnesium and it
is a really important mineral. It's a really important mineral.
And typically both Susan and I have worked within hospital
systems before. It's something that you see quite low in
(10:40):
the blood of really critically unwell patients. You know, patients
who have had really terrible malabsorption issues. Their electrolytes are
all deranged, you know, they're all over the place. Magnesium
can be really low, Potassium can be really low, phosphate
as well. It can be really really dangerous or if
somebody's had a massive vomiting bug or they're just really
critically unwell. But besides that, it's very rare for me
(11:02):
to see like a magnesium deficiency on a blood test.
If I send off a patient for bloods, I'll say,
go get a full blood panel. I ask your doctor,
you know, we'll double check eye and check your you know,
your vitamin D levels, check you B twelve. If they
don't eat much red meat, that kind of thing, and
you rarely ever see magnesium come back low unless they
do have. I do have a lot of clients who
have you know, undiagnosed Celiac disease or those diseases where
(11:24):
you know they've got issues with absorption basically, so sometimes
chronic diarrhea. Sometimes those conditions can show low magnesium. But
in healthy, generally healthy adults, it's not something that we
see very often. So why is everybody taking magnesium? And why, Susie,
have I started thinking to myself, maybe I should be
taking some magnesium, right. I guess there's a lot to
(11:45):
cover when it comes to magnesium, but it's essentially at
the you know, the bare minimums an essential mineral that
the body needs, but it does have a really a
lot of important functions within our body, so it's really
it helps to regulate our muscles and our nerves. It
also can help with blood sugar redation, so listen up
if you have type two diabetes, insulin resistance, if you
had gestational diabetes when you're pregnant, and magnesium also has
(12:08):
a link to bone health as well, so most people
can and should be eating a sufficient amount of magnesium
in their diet, but there are certainly certain population groups
and types of people who may actually benefit from an
increased amount of magnesium. So where it links to bone health,
Approximately about sixty percent of the body's magnesium is stored
(12:29):
in our bones, so this plays a really crucial role
in bone formation and maintenance. And also some studies have
actually linked an adequate magnesium intake where a higher bone
mineral density, and that basically suggests a potential protective effect
against things like osteoporosis, particularly in our postmenopause or women.
Magnesium is also linked to cardiovascular health. It helps to
(12:50):
regulate our blood pressure. It also supports that you know
regular proper heart rhythm as well, and there is a
small amount of research that indicates that magnesium supplementation can
lead to a modest reduction in blood pressure as well. However,
in terms of reducing hypertension overall, the evidence is still
a bit inconclusive. There are some studies for it, some
studies against it. A diabetes management, there's been some newer
(13:13):
research that certainly shows that magnesium assists with glucose metabolism
and reducing some of that insulin sensitivity as well. However,
that's mostly in people who weren't getting enough magnesium in
the diet. And then some of the newer stuff that
I was looking at. Susie, a good dietician friend of mine,
mentioned that her doctor had recommended she start taking high
dose of magnesium for her migraines. And I was like, interesting,
(13:36):
because I've certainly had clients over the years who've had
absolutely debilitating migraines, like they've been out for two or
three days, dark room in bed, literally can't get a work,
can't do anything, cannot function, completely debilitating. And you know,
we've tried a lot of dietary strategies, we've tried a
lot of lifestyle strategies, they've tried different medications from their doctors,
and so some of this newer research around magnesium is
(13:57):
exciting for particular individuals, for particular medical I guess groups
put it that way. So when it comes to migraine prevention,
there are some studies that suggested that some magnesium supplementation
could help to reduce the frequency and the severity of migraines.
And if you are a regular migraine sufferer, if you
were to have less frequent migraines, and a less severity
(14:19):
of those migraines. I'm pretty sure you'd be pretty happy
with that. So some of the research really supported a
particular type of magnesium. So if you were to look
at supplementing with magnesium, you would look at the different types.
There are different types of magnesium. You've got magnesium citrate,
you've got magnesium oxidate, you've got mag theseum glycinate. And
there's also a new one. I think it's elth aarronate,
(14:40):
which has been linked to cognitive improvements and thinking and cognition,
and that's a really interesting one as well, Susie. But
when it comes to migraines, it's a really high DOSI.
It's typically a dose of about four to six hundred
milligrams a day, and a lot of the research is
pointing towards magnesium oxidide with that one as well, I believe. Now, Now,
when it comes to the recommended daily allowance for magnesium,
(15:03):
it's slightly different for men and women. Men is about
four hundred milligrams a day and women is just over three.
It's about three ten to three twenty milligrams a day. Now,
most people should be able to eat enough magnesium in
their diet, Susie, it comes from legumes, from nuts, from seeds,
some whole grains, and our diart green leafy veggies. It
comes from a balanced diet. But what is the reality.
(15:24):
The reality is that sixty to seventy percent of Australians
are overweight for obese and have poor quality diets. Therefore,
we are not getting in as much magnesium in our
diet as we should. Are we deficient in magnesium maybe
maybe not? Or are we just not getting in the
recommended amount of it every single day. We might be
getting in a little, but we're not getting in enough
(15:45):
to actually optimize some of these processes that magnesium may
be really important for. So we talked about the cardiovascular
healthy insulin sensitivity the bone house, but also there's been
a little bit of talk about magnesium linked to things
like constipation and also improving sleep and helping to just
relax and calm the body down as well. So if
you're not somebody who regularly eats legumes, nuts, seeds, really
(16:09):
good quality whole grains and our dark green leafy vegies,
Like if you're not having a serve of dark green
leafy vegetables every single day, what are you doing, Because
we've talked about it before, Susie, like you should be
having some form of green vegetable every single day is
so important. So as dietitians, food first, food always first.
But there are some individuals who may benefit from actually
(16:31):
supplementing with magnesium. But I would say you need to
either chat with your doctor or your dietitian. Don't just
go randomly supplementing. Don't go to doctor Google and you know,
find a mount. It's really important that you actually get
some clinical guidance around this, the type, the dose, and
if it's actually appropriate for you, because too much magnesium
can actually cause a lot of stomach upsets, a lot
of diarrhea and that sort of thing. So my grains
(16:53):
is one of the conditions. Constipation may be another one
where I've got a lot of clients I'm sure you
do too, Susie, taking high doses of magnesium to assist
with constipation as well. Again, because magnesium can act almost
like an osmodic laxity, It kind of draws water into
the bows. It can help to kind of help stimulate
those bower movements. Magnesium site trait and the oxidate are
(17:15):
probably the most commonly used forms of that, and I
have seen people taking you know, three four hundred, five
hundred grams of that like really high doses. So again,
really good to make sure that you're actually getting some
clinical guidance around this. Is that dose too high? Are
you taking the right type? Is it going to be
interacting or being affected by any other sort of medication
that you're taking as well. And the last one I'll
(17:36):
quickly touched on before I hand over to you, sus
is magnesium glacinate. That's the one that's really been linked
to more of the sleep quality. Like I've got a
lot of clients who either use the magnesium spray and
I certainly when I've had trouble sleeping before I had kids.
Now I have small children. Surprise, surprise, I have no
trouble sleeping. I'm out like a light the minute. My
head is a bilope. But prior to children, I was
(17:58):
using a bit of a magnesium spray on the soles
of my feet and I honestly did find that that helped.
I don't know if it was a placebo effect, but
they are saying that you can ingest magnesium and if
you do, glascinate is the preferred form because it can
help to just make you that little bit more sleepy,
and there's a kind of I think a few pathways
there that may be helpful with And it also has
a lower likelihood of causing any GI upsets, because the
(18:19):
last thing you want is to improve your sleep quality
and you're getting up a few times a night to
run to the bathroom because you've taken the wrong type,
and instead of helping with your sleep, you're actually stimulating
your bows. So not helpful with your sleep in that instance.
So just be mindful of the types that you take
in the doses as well, because I've certainly seen some
crazy high doses as well, you know, four or five,
six hundred milligrams as well. All Right, so I'll pass
(18:41):
over to you. How do you feel about magnesium? Do
you recommend that your clients supplement with it? You work
with a lot of women with insulin resistance type two diabetes.
Have you seen the new research coming out about how
it may help with insulin sensitivity.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's certainly a bit of a buzz because I remember
three or five years ago one of my very good
friends telling me that she was taking it. Looked and thought,
why would you take magnesium like it's not an issue,
Whereas You're right, they're sort of growing research or anecdotal
support for it. Particularly I find a lot of clients
use it to help go to the bathroom, which I
don't have a problem with, if I'm honest, because I'd
(19:14):
much rather they're using that than say aggressive supplementation or
fiber supplements. You know, it's a natural thing, and I
sort of agree whilst we may not be clinically deficient
unless you're really having a huge intake of fresh food
and leafy greens and nuts and seeds daily, and it
demands are high. You know, we know stressful lives mean
higher nutrient requirements, particularly as we move into the peri
(19:37):
and menopausal years, and yet we often need to eat
less for weight control, and just you know, the planning
required to keep the intake of fresh food optimal can
be quite tricky. I think you have to be really
careful with dosage. Like I think really high overdosing that
causes you know, diarrhea is contraindicated that's not going to
help you nutrient absorption. So I think like you get
(19:58):
good advice on a repidable way of taking it. I
generally prefer powder type forms that can be assimilated into
the diet as opposed to just capsual supplementation, because I
think it's a more natural way of getting it, and
then you tend to add it to smoothies and drinks
and hence it's going to be better tolerated and absorbed
nutritionally in the gut. But yeah, I think that it's
(20:18):
an option definitely if people have benefits from it. It's
more making sure you're not getting ripped off with the
supplement and also using it in the right way. But
just going back to food first, anyone listening, if you're
not having two serves of leafy green veggies a day,
you've got to smack yourself right now, because you've been
listening to the Nutrition Couch for some time and that
is one of the most powerful things you can do
for health and wellbeing. And in the case of magnesium,
(20:40):
it gives you a beautiful natural dose. So whether you
have a salad with rocket in it each day, you're
adding spinach to your eggs or your smoothies, two serves
a day for optimal health is a no brainer. That's
one of the most powerful things you can do for
anti cancer. And for magnesium intake. But absolutely I think
that if you're adding some extra in just use a
reputable I would say training company, try and consume it
(21:01):
in a food mechanism, and then over supplementing is never good,
so just keep an eye on the dosage. But yeah,
I think it can be a natural way and certainly
worth exploring if you do have interating and resistance as
an addition to help naturally lower levels over time, and
then tick the box on that essential nutrient. All right,
leanne Well, I found a new product. Well, a client
found a new product for me actually, which I always enjoy,
(21:24):
and she was asking me if the new otter Lengy
because all the people who love Ottolengies tails are wagging
right now. I think my favorite salad of all time
is Otto Lengi's Tomato Party, because I'm partial to a
tomato salad, So if you haven't had that one before,
look it up. It's amazing. But Ottolengy has a new
range of marinades available in Woolies, and I thought, we're
(21:44):
always looking for more flavor. And I often will say
to my clients to be honest, if you're having lots
of fresh food and lean protein, and you use marinades
or sauces within reason to give flavor. I have no
issue with it, because I'd much rather you have more
veggies and more lean meat that tastes good than just
a boring eight of you know, boiled broccoli and steamed
fish or chicken. We definitely want food to be flavorsome.
(22:05):
And I have to say this is a very clean
nutritional product. It's not cheap. It's thirteen dollars for one
hundred and eighty gram jar. Well, let's be honest, is it.
Nothing's cheap in the soupermarket now, is it so? But
you know it is, you know, a sort of more
of an investment piece. I'd describe it. The one I'm
going to review today is the Shawama marinate. So the
(22:26):
first ingredient is caramelized onion, which does have a little
bit of sugar with it, and a seed oil rape
seed oil, but overall the amounts of small and I'll
tell you whine a second onion, pure side of vinegar,
tomato paste at nine percent, olive oil, garlic, pure water,
sea salt, corn flour, some human propri car a little
bit of sugar, grand coriander or spiced lemon juice, turmeric
(22:48):
and clove, so it's a very aromatic mix. There's four
serfs per pack of forty five grams. Now, being the
tight ass Tuesday that I am, I would be making
that last a lot longer at thirteen dollars because for
four serves, what you're looking at like three dollars plus
per serve for a marinad. I think that's quite high,
so I'd definitely be stretching it out in my cooking.
(23:09):
But it's got less than one hundred calories per serve,
only grammar protein. It's overall got eleven percent fat, which
isn't low, but the saturated fat's very low overall, so
pretty insignificant. That's five grams of fat per serve. But
as I said, i'd be doubling the serving size in
that container you only get two point five. Then it's
got just over three grams of sugar perserve and close
(23:29):
to five hundred milligrams of sodium, which isn't insignificant. But again,
if you stretch it out like I'm suggesting, you would
have that. So I think that if you love those
flavorsome aromatics that Ottelengi does in terms of ingredient list
four marinate and sauce. It's pretty clean because most marinads
that you'll find produced by mainstream supplies like Master Foods
(23:52):
are packed full of processed ingredients. So I deem this
fairly clean. But I would be stretching it to get
eight serves per jar, so using a lot less of
it to flavor things up. But yeah, I think it's
pretty good. I like it, and if you are happy
to spend thirteen dollars on a source, I suspect it's
delicious and I'm pretty happy with it nutritionally. What do
(24:13):
you think? Have you tried it?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I haven't tried it, but I've never had a bad
hottling nerest.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
No, no one's had a battle nobody does. I would
you know?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I would give it my recommendation despite not even trying it.
It does sound delicious, but like you said, it does
sound quite rich already, so I think that you could
easily buffer that down and just use half of it,
and I think it'd be okay as well, because we
don't want to make our food so flavorsome, and that
I think sometimes primes over eating as well, because you're like,
oh my gosh, I was so delicious, and you go
back for more than you're just picking at it, and
(24:41):
before you know what, you've eaten one and a half portions.
We've eaten two two and a half portions of it.
Because the reality is that most of our listeners are
actually actively trying to lose weight. More than eighty percent
of our audience. We've surveyed over a thousand listeners. More
than eighty percent of our audience is actively trying to
lose weight. So I think using a little bit less
when it comes to things like dresses and seasonings and
marinades so that it's still really yummy and tasty. It's
(25:04):
better than a plate of steam broccoli by itself. But
you don't want to go overboard on these things as well,
because sometimes a little can go a long way. But yeah,
I'd be more than happy to recommend something like that
for your proteins, but also just adding it to a
little bit of your smy events as well, just to
give them that little bit of a boost in terms
of a flavor profile. So yeah, big thumbs up from us,
and if anyone dries it, let us know, drop us
(25:25):
a comment on our Instagram. At the Nutrition Couch and
let us know what you thought.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Perfect all right, for our last segment of the week,
it's our listener question, and I love this one. I
think we have covered it, but I think it's a
good reminder. The question is all about how do I
adjust my food intake when I am a shift worker?
And my standard response is that even though you may
be working in the nighttime and sleeping in the day,
the human body is programmed to burn calories in the
day and store and repair at nighttime. So the less
(25:52):
food you can consume in an overnight period and still
achieve a minimum fast of six hours, if not eight
or even ten, as I will suggest with anyone not
working shift hours, the better it'll be metabolically for you.
It's basically not good to be eating in the middle
of the night. And I've had this conversation with a
client of mine who gets up for work at four
am and she starts the day with coffee and milk,
(26:13):
and I said, you can't be eating at four am,
like It's just not a good habit to be in
if you can help it. Now. Obviously, there's extenuating circumstances.
If you are an emergency doctor and about to perform
a surgery at three am and need a coffee, go
for it. It's certainly not looking at extreme examples like that.
I'm talking about routine shift workers who four or five
days a week are up throughout the nighttime. So what
(26:33):
I suggest my shift workers do is try and have
at least a six hour fast between twelve and six am,
which might even be eleven and five am, to get
up in the afternoon and have the larger meal of
the day, whether you get up at four o'clock, two o'clock,
six o'clock, have one meal. Then I usually then suggest
a top up meal later in the evening, maybe ten o'clock.
(26:54):
Then try and have an overnight fast, and then have
another meal between five and seven am before they'll go
down to sleep, So between two or three meals a day,
but really trying to ensure that the food is still
going in in those hours in which the human body
would normally be eating if you weren't a shift worker.
If my shift workers need to eat overnight, I go
for lower carbohydrate options, so things like nuts, lower calorie,
(27:17):
low sugar fruits, things like passion fruit berries, even a
slice of cheese. If they really do need to eat
because they need the energy or to keep alert. But
I try and encourage at least a six hour overnight fast.
Do you have any other tips for shift workers?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Land Well, one of my great dietitians, Chloe, actually does
a lot of work with shift workers, and she presented
to my team the other day about, you know, some
really optimal strategies for shift workers, and just like you mentioned,
she very much said that you want that good overnight fast.
She recommends if you're doing an overnight shift, your last
coffee of the night should be before about eleven pm.
So she's like, if you need it, if you've started,
(27:52):
you know, a night shift at five o'clock, six seven o'clock,
have your coffee around nine or ten pm. Obviously this
is just for shift workers, not for normal individuals, and
then try not to have any caffeine past that eleven
midnight and then not again untill about six am the
next morning. So, like you, she very much recommends a
fast between midnight and six am and really having a
proper balanced meal, even if that means that your dinner
(28:13):
is at they might be five pm, then you're having
another meal at eleven pm. Really try hard to get
that six hour fast in and then if you're coming
off your night shift, have a light breakfast before you
actually go to bed, because the last thing you want
is to go to bed and you're absolutely starving. But
you also want to avoid just that constant snacking that
most people do during the night to try to keep
themselves awake, because the reality is that most of our
(28:35):
shift workers are very busy. They're not sitting there twiddling
their thumbs trying to stay awake. A lot of them
are doctors and nurses and they basically don't stop. They're
on their feet the whole time anyway, so they don't
need that constant drip supply of caffeine and sugar going
in to actually keep them awake. They're busy, they've got
things to do. They're, as you said, they're saving lives
half the time, so they're actually quite busy. They don't
(28:56):
need as much regular energy as they think they do.
And from men. I have to double check with Chloe,
but I'm sure she mentioned that overnight you actually burn.
If they did studies where people ate the same amount
of food during the day and the same amount of
food overnight and the night, people burned about eighty to
one hundred calories less during the night than they did
during the day, So your body actually burns less overnight
(29:19):
than it does during the day. So that was a
really interesting one. And then she also mentioned something about
the glucoster response to feeding as well, So the time
of the day, there's a difference in the post parandual
meal glucoster response and the morning. Obviously, Susi's always talked
about during the day, when you're up, you're active, your
body is sort of burning that feel better than it
is during the nighttime. Even if you're up and you're
(29:40):
active during the nighttime, the evening glucoster response tends to
be about double of the morning glucost response. So really
where you can focusing on that protein and that vegetable
and the lower GI on the whole grain type of
carbohydrate for your main meals, and focus on main meals.
If you're eating at random times overnight, you're having a
meal at three and you're having a meal at midnight,
(30:02):
make sure it's a balanced meal. Make sure it's not
just a pack of rice crackers and a diet coke
and you know, a couple of trick spars to get
you through. Really make sure you're focusing on a nice
balanced meal because you're going to keep your blood sugar
levels and your hormones far more stable and just feel
a lot better by the time you get to the
next morning. So that's all i'd add, basically exactly what
you said, but really important to highlight there is actually
(30:22):
research that shows as differences in the calories burned and
the glucose response from the morning to the night shift.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Perfect very well summarized. All right, Well, that brings us
to the end of the nutrition couch for another week.
Please keep telling your friends about us so we can
continue to grow. And if you're looking for a nutritional boost,
you must check out our range of supplements at designed
bydietitians dot com. We'll see you next Wednesday for a
regular episode drop have a great week, Catch you guys
next week.
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