November 25, 2025 • 33 mins
Are the foods in your trolley really Australian owned, and should you be worried about MSG or that 2-kilo overnight weight jump after a salty meal?
In this episode of The Nutrition Couch, dietitians Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell unpack how to support Aussie-owned brands, the real story on MSG, and why salt can make the scales jump without you gaining body fat.
In this episode, we cover:
The Aussie-owned supermarket brands worth supporting
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Why there are so few 100% Australian-owned and operated food companies on our shelves
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The big-name Aussie brands Leanne and Susie actually buy, including cereals, dairy, oils, snacks and condiments
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How Australian ownership, local jobs and higher ingredient standards often translate to better nutritional quality
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Fun facts about Sanitarium’s not-for-profit structure and SPC as the last remaining Australian-owned fruit and veg processor
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Smaller state-based dairies and boutique brands to look out for in your local supermarket
MSG: what the science says vs what social media says
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What MSG actually is, how it’s made, and why glutamate naturally occurs in foods like tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese
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How to spot MSG and other flavour enhancers on labels (621, 635 and friends)
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Why major health bodies consider MSG safe at normal intakes, and why “Chinese restaurant syndrome” hasn’t held up in blinded trials
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The real issue: ultra-processed, highly flavoured snacks that drive overeating, especially in kids
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Common supermarket foods that still contain flavour enhancers, and how to choose plainer, less “more-ish” options instead
Product Spotlight: the Moroccan tomato dip Leanne and Susie love
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A deep dive on Tahini Miri Moroccan Matbucha, a chunky tomato-based dip with 87% tomatoes
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Why the ingredient list is so impressive compared to most dips in the fridge section
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How to use it: on veggie sticks, crackers, omelettes, eggs, sourdough or as a salsa-style base for quick meals
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Why cooked tomato products are a great way to boost lycopene and plant intake, especially during party season
Salt, fluid retention and “overnight” weight gain
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The recommended daily sodium and salt limits for healthy adults, and how much Australians are actually having
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Why your weight can jump 1–2 kilos after a salty meal or takeaway, even if you’ve been eating well
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Who genuinely needs to watch salt more closely (e.g. high blood pressure, kidney or fluid issues) and who doesn’t need to stress over a pinch in home cooking
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Simple label-reading rules: what counts as low, moderate and high sodium per serve
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Practical ways to cut back on salt without eating bland food, using herbs, spices and smarter product choices
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How to keep party-season canapés, chips and takeaway in check without feeling deprived
Plus
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How Leanne and Susie think about “supporting local” in a realistic, supermarket-based way
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Why choosing more minimally processed options automatically helps with both salt and additive intake
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Reassurance that balance matters more than perfection when it comes to salt, MSG and processed foods
If your goal is to shop more consciously, support local brands, and stop panicking about every ingredient on the label, this episode will give you a clear, calm roadmap.
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 (00:04):
Due by Australian It might come as a surprise to
hear that there are only a handful of Aussie food
companies who are one hundred percent owned and operated in Australia.
On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we share the
handful of Aussie brands out there and the healthy products
that we like to buy from them.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi, I'm lean Ward.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And I'm Sidney Burrow, and.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast
that keeps you up to date on everything that you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as Ossie supermarket Brands, which at everything that you need
to know about supermarket foods that may contain MSG. We
have another delicious dip to share for party season, and
our listener question is all about swimming.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, it's all about it resalt.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's s's it's the same, isn't it, Leanne. And you
haven't even been to Melbourne Cup, so you're not even hungover.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Same thing now, I'm fresh as a daisy, I'm caffeinated.
It's all good things today.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
You're looking very sprightly on your video. All of a sudden,
she's got it down, Pat, someone's obviously mucked up the scripript.
That's the script, but you could add live because you're
a podcast professional.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So I rap at the S.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I just got the wrong S. So swimming is on
the next week's podcast. It's all about salt on this
week's podcast, it is it is. Indeed s's with Aussie brands.
There's a couple that begin with S as well. So
I think we had a listener question about this, didn't
we like, what a what are a handful of the
Aussie brands that we can actually support in supermarkets because
you know, it's one thing to go down to the
locals farmers markets and support local and we love to
(01:30):
do that. But the reality is that we do do
the bulk of our shopping for the household at the supermarket.
Like there's really not much, you know, we can't really
get around that. So where there are Australian brands that
we can support, we absolutely love to, don't we, Suzie.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I think it's always alarming when you hear some sort
of stat is like ninety percent of supermarket products come
from a handful of brands. They're owned by massive multinationals,
and for better or for worse, that's the way of
a capitalistic society, but there are still a handful of
Australian owned and produced brands. Now in saying that a
lot of big brands will still produce here in Australia,
(02:07):
you know that we've got access to great manufacturing and
raw ingredients here, but they may not be owned. So
the ones we're going to go through are owned Australian,
one hundred percent Australian owned and manufacture and produced here.
And I think that the standout feature to me, and
I just love it as a concept because it's not
obviously this is a nutrition podcast. It's not about the
(02:29):
nutritionals specifically. I think it all makes us feel good
to buy and support Australian and I think what we
do see though, is some really top quality foods being
produced here and long term larger companies do like to
buy them because they're very good. The issue, of course
is sometimes that gets diluted in bigger industries. But they
(02:51):
are certainly stand out brands and I feel very strongly
that we should support them when we can. You know,
it creates jobs, We know the qualities there of Australian produced.
It's a feel good thing, but it will be a
shock to hear how few there are, but these are
the ones that stand out both for being Austrayan owned
and operated but also stand out nutritional properties. So the
(03:12):
first is Carmens Fine Foods, which is headed by Carolyn
Creswell and probably some of the best musleis and snack bars.
They're also sort of branched into popcorn. So Carmens, despite
its size, remains one hundred percent Austrayan owned and operated
and certainly stand out cereals in the supermarket section which
(03:34):
is dominated by other big companies. I should, of course
say Sanitarium. Sanitarium is not in my list actually, but Sanitarium,
of course in the cereal section is and hence you
know Australia Number one cereally is wheatbeaks. But they also
produce some amazing plant based milks that are fortified with
the central nutrients. They produce some amazing vegetarian and meat
(03:55):
alternatives which are very rich in nutrient quality nuts spread.
So Sanitarium is another one that is outstanding nutritional profile.
Cobbram olive oil has been around for twenty I think
only just about twenty years. They started with their olive
trees and you know the Australian extravergent olive oil is
top quality, extremely high in antioxidants and certainly the only
(04:16):
oil that I use in cooking. A smaller company is
Twisted Twisted Healthy Treats, so they original frozen yogurt cups
and they've branched out more into some lower carb and
some ice blocks for kids. Very strong and growing Australian
company that we love to support. Buller Dairy is one
hundred percent astrain and owned and operated, and they've got
a really wide portfolio of products including those amazing ice creams.
(04:40):
You know, you can get those mini frozen yogurt sticks
as well as proper ice cream of course, dairy things
like cottage cheese as well, MAVs, nuts, breads. You know,
there's a really wide range of those one hundred percent
nut based products. That's a great company too. Sunrice is
also Australian. You know, they've got a wide and growing
range of rice so grain based products and supermarkets. So
(05:02):
that's when you can be as short is locally produced.
When that surprised me actually and I hadn't known as
san Remo. San Remo Pasta is also one hundred percent Australian,
even though it sounds very daly are not, but that
is an Australian pasta company, Bickford's Cordials, so they've got
also a range of low sugar alternatives. So and I
think juices as well. I think Bickfords do the pomegranate
(05:22):
juice and the blueberry juice which are really strong nutritionally,
so that is and also SPC. So SPC do baked beans,
and they do a range of tin fruits. So it's
a small how many is that leanne it's like ten
with names. It's not many. Of course there are some
more sort of smaller brands that are growing, you know,
some of the boutique ones that are in the health
food section. But I've picked those just because they are
(05:44):
kind of major brands that frequent our shopping trolley. And
you might now think, actually, when I am going to
buy some ice cream, I will buy Buller, you know,
if I can, or I will choose Bulle Dairy over others,
because knowing now it is Australian and I think I'm
sort of it's always shocked and surprised and almost disappointed
that there's so few, but at least they do span
(06:05):
most of the grocery section in supermarket, so a lot
of that you can support in major kind of industries overall.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Do you want to know a fun fact about this SPC?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I do tell me later.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I'd love fun fact.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Remaining Australian owned fruit and vegetable processor and it's been
in operation since nineteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So fun fact.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And then I have a fun fact about Sanitarium for
you too.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Oh, I love it too. I love a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So up in Brisbane, you were here last time.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We were going to get a cheeky Starbucks on our
way down to our retreating King Sklip, which was amazing
as well, and I said to you, I was taking
you down there, and we drove past the Sanitarium factory
in Uruka, and I said, like when it's cooking day,
like when they're making the week Bix, if you put
the windows down, you can just smell like we'd biks
through the whole suburb and on the Facebook like the
Maruca grapevine, everyone always.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Says it's weird Bix day or it's baking day because you.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Can just smell it. It smells amazing. But Sanitarian it is
one hundred percent Australian owned but it's a not for
profit organization that is actually owned by this Seventh Day
Inventist church. So the ownership structure means that the profits
are actually reinvested back into things like community programs and
health initiatives rather than actually being distributed to as profit
to shareholders. So that's a really nice one to support
(07:11):
because they actually do a lot of great health initiatives
and community programs. Is not just going to a board
of you know, investors and shareholders who are just like
lining their pockets. It's a good one. And they do
a lot of good cereal and stuff as well, so
yeah too. They've also got an amazing nutrition team. Because
the cost of food is high and profit margins are
so tight in supermarket, it's really hard for brands and
(07:32):
products to survive, and that's why you might have seen
that new products can last as little as three months
on a shelf, because that's all they're given by major
supermarkets to basically sell very quickly. So they're under huge
amounts of pressure. But so as such, many will not
have it in house dietician because they just can't afford
the budget spend. They've got to allocate that to marketing budget.
And things are really tight. But Sanitarium have always invested
(07:53):
heavily in nutrition education, so they've always had a big
team of dietitians on board, producing and providing a lot
of recipe and resources for the community. And the reason
their plant based milk stand out as do their veggie
replacements for products, is that they're often fortified with essential
nutrients because they know the benefit of that for people
who are choosing to follow a plant based diet. So
(08:15):
you know, they do reinvest certainly in nutrition to help
the health of Australians. And I don't want to say
that it has to be Australian to be healthy, because
that is not the case. But what I will say
is that Australian foods are often superior nutritionally in many
different ways. You know, we've got really high quality standards,
Our raw ingredients are strong, and I can safely say
that I think every one of those brands that I've mentioned,
(08:37):
if they're not one hundred percent healthy, a significant component
their portfolio is and they stand out nutritionally, and so
we have to support them lyan because otherwise what happens
is they disappear and everything become owns by big multinationals
and that dilutes the nutritional quality and something we were
talking about at the retreat, which had amazing group of
women come from all over Perth as far as Bunderberg, Tasmania,
(08:59):
like just a gorgeous group of women ranging in age
from in their thirties all the way up to almost
eighty and they were just having such a great community
time together. Because you and I love to get out
with our listeners because most of the time we spend
behind a screen, so it's always good to get some
energy from some of our listeners who so supportive. But
we were showcasing different breakfast cereals and I won't name
and Shane brands, but we brought out a couple of
(09:21):
brands and we were comparing to a couple of the
Australian options versus maybe a couple of multinationals, and the
difference in the quality of the ingredients and the list
of the panel because those companies are deeply committed to
providing healthy and nutritious and tasty foods for Australians, whereas
unfortunately the big other companies get they sometimes get diluted
in the big structure of big.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Business and profits. So there's many benefits that come from
supporting Australian industry, and if I was taking it a
step further, I would be encouraging there to be significant
subsidies for Australian companies who produce healthy food in Australia
to encourage them to be competitive and remain so in supermarkets.
But that's broader legislative changes, but that's ultimately what we
need to encourage bridge small providers and help them to
(10:02):
remain in a very competitive supermarket space.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And I've got a couple more to add to the list,
so Rosella. So that's like do you remember the tomato
sauce back in the day, So it's Australian owned. It
was actually there was a period of foreign ownership when
I looked into it, but it has been Australian owned
since April twenty thirteen. So if you like your good
Aussie tomato sauce, that's a good one, as is the
Berenberg So that's a whole hundred percent Australian owned and
operated too. They do a lot of like sauces. Jams
(10:27):
Chutney's Condomies yep Nrco is another Australian percent owned Dairy
Dairy cop Since eighteen ninety five, NRCO has been Austraian owned.
And then there's a lot of smaller dairy brands. If
you go to you know the select cheese sections, there's
Malaney Dairy that's a Queensland based one. There's a Baramba Organics,
there's Banister Downs Dairy in Western Australia. There's Gippsland, Jersey
(10:49):
and Victoria, the Brossa Cheese Company in South Australia, South
Coast Dairy on the New Southwest South Coast and Ashgrove
Dairy in Tasmania. So there's some of the smaller dairy
ones that it might be locational, state specific, but really good.
If you do see these smaller ones, like for me
in Queensland, like whenever I see a Malaney Dairy, we
do try to support that because it does have really
great quality. So there's some of the smaller dairy ones,
(11:11):
but certainly if you're in that condiment source kind of
chutney Ale, the Rosella and the Berenberg are really good
Aussie brands to support.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Look at you doing so much research, pretty meat a
shame today before we popped on.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The fun facts. Yes, very good.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Let's see how mutually know about MSG. Now let's go a.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Little bit more.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Okay, you want me to run a MSG section, All right,
let's go. All right, So MSG what is it? It
is a natural flavor enhancer. And I think we have
a little bit of a different stance on this because MSG.
I think it gets a little bit of a bad
rap in the media, particularly because it is actually something
that is natural. I think a lot of people think
MSG is just just really bad, negative thing to add
(11:50):
to food. But it's simply just a flavor enhancer. It's
made from glutamate, which is an amino acid, and it
is actually naturally found in foods. So glutamate occurs in
really highly fla foods, things like mushrooms, cheeses, tomatoes. There's
even glutamate in breast milk as well. So MSG is
just the sodium or the salt form of glutamate, and
so your body metabolizes it basically in the same way
(12:12):
that it would metabolize natural glutamate from food. And on
an Australian label, MSG is labeled as what's called a
flavor enhanser, or you'll see the number six two one
on an ingredient list. So if you pick up a
product and it's got the number six two one, that
essentially means that it contains a flavor enhancer or MSG.
So there has been decades of research around MSG and
(12:35):
multiple reviews from big big you know, things like Weld
Heath Organization for Zan's, the US FDA, and multiple reviews
have concluded that MSG is actually safe at normal dietary intakes.
There is a component of what you would call MSG
sensitivity or what you know some people term Chinese restaurant syndrome,
where people say that all of that added MSG will
(12:58):
give them symptoms. I certainly feel like I get mouth
poless when I eat too much all I do when
I eat too much MSG. I've had other people say
that they get, you know, really fatigue, they might have
itchy skin, they might have weird things happening with their breathing.
So there's certainly what people would describe as an MSG sensitivity.
But when you actually deep dive through research, it's really interesting, Susie,
(13:19):
that it never comes up like this suppose of MSG
reaction when they've actually done clinical trials, They've done blinded studies,
they've done placebos. People they can't experience the MSG reaction
the same throughout the entire trial. They only seem to
experience a reaction when they know that they've been given
a food with MSG in it. So it isn't actually scientific,
(13:42):
I guess, or in clinical research trials, this whole MSG sensitivity.
It's more anecdotal.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And I can't say that I'm making up that I
get mouth poleses when I eat too much MSG, but
I certainly feel that anecdotally, a lot of my clients,
from a lot of what I hear, some people, some
more sensitive people, don't seem to do too well with
too much MSG. So the issue isn't MSG because MSG
actually contains about two thirds less sodium than table salt,
and it actually has this really nice like umami type flavoring,
(14:11):
so it actually helps to enhance the natural flavor of
a meal. And so that's why I think food matterfactures
use it is to really just enhance the flavoring of
the meal. So MSG in itself isn't inherently harmful or bad.
The issue is that it's added to a lot of
like ultra process snacks, chips, biscuits, instant noodles, soup, sauces,
(14:31):
and a lot of these products are quite poor nutritionally,
and MSG tends to drive over consumption of the food.
So the real issue I feel isn't MSG. It's the
ultra processed foods that it's added to at the amount
at which people tend to consume those types of food.
So when people ask me if you wanted a black
or wright, response, is MSG bad? My response would be
(14:52):
no if you ask me, But I would follow that
up with the caveat that. But MSG happens to be
added to a lot of ultra processed foods, and that
that in itself isn't great from a health perspective because
we tend to overeat it because it is so highly
flavored that we do tend to eat far more than
it than you know, what an average serving size is.
And I know that we have kind of differing views
(15:13):
around this, But would you kind of agree with that
or you're you're kind of a blanket hard MSG, No,
aren't you?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
No, No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I'm saying that adding MSG to food promotes over consumption.
That's the issue because it's not in the same context
because it's naturally occurring in say mushrooms, tomatoes. It's literally,
I would argue, impossible to overeat in its natural form.
So the issue, well, that's I disagree even with that, okay,
(15:42):
because the other place we get it is when we
eat cuisines, which is high. So one of the highest
is Asian cuisine because they'll use a lot of sauces
and the sources have a lot in it. So soy
is naturally a very rich source of glutamatees and we
tend to have it across multiple dishes, and then you
might also use fish or oyster orysin. So it's very
(16:02):
very high in salt in general, but high, and I
think it is easy to eat that kind of food
because it basically primes the brain like a drug. It
lights up and just loves it, and the more the better.
So the issue when I'm communicating about MSG, I will
say added MSG is a problem to food because if
you look at all of the foods that it's added to,
typically corn chips, two minute noodles, shapes, and foods that
(16:28):
masquerade is being healthy, like those harvest piece snaps, which
often people would think are very healthy because they're maskarating
is vegetable chips and a healthier alternative to potato chips
when you're actually better to have a plain red rock
Deli potato chip that's got potato, salt and oil. And
that's what studies of consumption have shown. So the biggest
(16:48):
issue is that it's in foods that you wouldn't expect
to have that ingredient. So there's no chicken in two
minute noodles, there's no cheese in shapes, there's no chicken
in chicken crimpies. Like it's in those foods that shouldn't
naturally occur, and so studies will show that when people
are exposed to it, they keep eating. And that's why
I have to be careful because I don't want to
get sued. But my understanding is gurritos don't have added MSG,
(17:13):
but secs still do. So you might see it as
flavor enhants are sixty one, but also six three five
is just as bad in the sense it's still enhancing
the flavor of something that's not naturally inclined soul. The
studies would suggest that if you sat down with some
plain corn chips, we would use for Natcho's the ones
that are good quality that just have corn and oil
and salt, versus say something like a CEC's, you would
(17:36):
eat a lot more CEC's just because of that Moorish feeling.
And the other big issue I have with it, it's
in a lot of kids foods, so foods that we're
encouraging or are often marketed to children, like packets of
shapes for the kids lunch boxes, the harvest piece snaps,
the corn chips they've got, and a lot of flavored
chips like cheese and onion chicken chips will have it in.
(17:57):
So I think that there's a lot to be said
for kind of avoiding it as an additive, and it
is one of the additives I generally avoid. If I'm
buying potato chips, corn chips, I will go out of
my way to not give that to the children because
I think that that in a society which it's so
easy to over eat all the time, it's an additive
that I think isn't great. Now, you're right, there's not
(18:19):
huge evidence to show it's dangerous or negative. There's no
evidence to show it's dangerous, but some people will report
side effects like they might be restless, and they will
just describe it as Chinese restless syndrome. And after Chinese
food or any cuisine that has that dose. So I
think for parents listening or for listeners thinking about additives
in their diet, if I think avoiding it on processed
(18:42):
food is important. So potato chips, the two minute noodles,
the cheat like the rice crackers, they're the main ones
that come to mind. But even dumpling, so some dumpling
brands will include it, whereas I tend to go for
mister Chen's, which is another Australian company actually because they
don't include added and you'll see that on the labor
will say no added MSG. Because it's the additive. There's
(19:03):
a flavor enhancer and concentrated amounts. That's an issue for
volume and feeling satisfied after eating.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, I agree, So yeah, I think bottom line is
it's not a villain, but it isn't great if you
know the goal is to cut down on how much
ultra processed foods you're consuming. And we know, like if
you could give your kids, you know, a plane corn
chip or like a highly flavored what triple cheese type
of corn chip, it's just basic you know, common sense
that you don't want to give your kids highly flavored
(19:30):
things because you get that sticky, cheesy stuff all over
their fingers. For one, and secondary, they do tend to
eat a lot more of it, and they tend to
be a lot thirsty or it's very salty. So I
think for young children in particular, the bland of the
food the better when it comes to packet based food
because yeah, we really just don't need as much salt
in our diet. And that is a listener question coming up,
So we won't go any further on add.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But I just have a list. Let me read out
my list because I just had an article on it
for people who want a food list. So foods where
you'll find it. So the shape flavors specifically chicken simpy
and nutcho cheese, two minute noodles in general, both beef
and chicken, twisties, both cheese and chicken. Smith chips specifically
barbecue chicken cheese, and onion and meatball. Oh my god,
(20:12):
there's a meatballs.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Meat flavored chip.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
What crazy this time? I am a cheese and onion fan.
So this is upsetting Pringles sour cream. So if you
get to eat Pringles and you pop and you can't stop,
go for a plane. The mission Mexican corn chips, which
I have to say are delicious, but they are smothered.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I've bought them before.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Okay, Sea Seas and then Doritos don't have six two one,
but I think they have six three five, which is
also a flavorede anser chicken in a biscuit. That's a
good old nineties favorite. The Delights rice snacks, now, I've
noticed myself that in the rice cracker section a lot
of the brands have removed it, but the Delights brand,
(20:53):
which have both in the box the flavored chip, the
flavored kind of crackers and the tray of rice crackers,
still it in and the Harvest Snaps particularly the chili
has six to one I believe, whereas the Plane and
He has six three five. So yeah, that's sort of
a summary point. It is only your handful of fods,
and let's be honest, they're probably foods. We wouldn't be
encouraging people to have a whole lot of in general,
(21:15):
but if you're having kids party. Actually, my kids went
to a kid's party last week and my child came
home and advised me that he'd had three cups of
full strength coke. I was not impressed. So you know,
I think parents who are having parties like try you
can get naturally sweet and drinks. Now you can get
plenty of snack foods that are slightly better. I get
plain chips, you know, like, if you can avoid feeding
(21:38):
heaps of other kids that food, I think it's quite
a good thing too.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, all right, on to better things.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
So I'm making you do the whole thing because you
found a good dip. So I will lead in because
usually if someone said to me to have a tomato
dip like a sorcer, I'd be like, oh, boring, like
no one wants to eat salca, Like, let's be honest.
But you showed me this dip. I hadn't seen. I've
got it here actually on camera. This brand I hadn't
seen either. And I think it's actually a little bit
(22:04):
confusing because this it's called Moroccan Matt Butcher, but it
comes under the brand Tarhini NEARI that's the brand. So
I feel it's confusing because I said to you, no,
I don't like Tahini when you showed it to me,
and you were like, no, no, it's not teeny, And
so I do think there's a little bit of messiness
with the brand. But this is in Cole's and Leanne.
When I went to buy this, your laugh. I went
(22:25):
to buy it and I promptly dropped one on the floor.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Everywhere I went all over It went all over my
shoes and went all over the floor. No, so anyway,
story anyway, I've got one home because it is amazing.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Fine, isn't it? How long have you known about this?
Speaker 4 (22:41):
It for?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I think it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I found it at Coles literally like two weeks ago,
just before you came up, and then we had it.
Well I didn't have it because I was a little
bit unwell.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Knew how that's right?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
And you said it was really good.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So yeah, So the brand is Tarhani Neari and they
do do I think a Tahani based version of it,
because I bought that one and then the tomato based one.
But the one we're going to showcase today is a
Moroccan match butcher. And they say it's Matt Booker. Matt
Booker pronounce it so Matt ma booka Mabooker. And it's
basically a chunky tomato dip. So you can scoop it,
(23:12):
you can use it on like a sandwich, you can
use it on a wrap. It's quite versatile. And when
I picked up the ingredient list, I was shocked, and
not a lot of products in the soupermarket these days
shocked me, and they shocked me for a good reason,
which is what we like. Because when you read the
ingredient list, it's eighty seven percent tomatoes, which is incredible.
So if you don't like tomatoes, this is not your dip.
Don't dms on Instagram and say what could I sub
(23:33):
the tomatoes for that? There's no such shit. This is
a tomaket based dip. If you're not into tomatoes, this
isn't your thing. Next, the ingredient is canola oil, garlic, salt, spices.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Like you, you couldn't make a better dip in your
home kitchen basically, and tomato is pretty expensive as well,
so I think this is a really good option. I
picked it up on sale for three dollars fifty I think,
which you know, out of all of the dips on average,
is actually a really good price. And as I said,
they did do like a tahini version of that, which
I haven't tried yet, but I would think it's in
my fridge upstairs. It's sort of similar to like a
(24:04):
thicker kind of homice type dip, so it retails. I
found it in coals, I'm not sure if it's in Woolworth.
It's in a two hundred gram tub, which is a
standard like dip size. It's began, it's dairy free, it's
gluten free, so it ticks all the boxes from kind
of an allergy perspective, and yeah it's great.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, information showed you the nuitation panel.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, so perserving, which I imagine it doesn't say.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
How twenty gram, thirty gram.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Twenty third yes, about one twenty thirty boons. Yeah, yeah,
has ninety one killer jewel, so very very low energy.
You know, we're talking twenty twenty five calories per serve,
half a gram of protein, two grams of carbs, basically
no fat, you know, only a gram of fat and
sodium only two hundred milligrams are served, which is incredibly
low for a lot of dips. And we're going to
(24:51):
cover salt in a minute, but this is a very
low salt dip as well. It does have some added salt,
but salt is the second last ingredient, so that's sort
of what you want to see in nutrition information panels.
If the goal is weight loss, if you know, if
you enjoy the cheeses and the you know, the process
meats and stuff on your plant, this is a good
way to kind of balance it out with some added
veggie sticks, because you could scoop it with veggie sticks,
you could scoop it with crackers, or as we said,
(25:13):
you could use it as a like a spread on
sandwiches on sour dough. Even if you're having like an
omelet or some scrambled eggs in the morning, this would
go really well with that as well. So it's very
versatile and quite a i'd say balance price point for
you know, the average dipsale.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
There's such a wide range of vegetable content of dips,
ranging from like an eighty eight percent for a good
quality of beila guacamolele to you know, as low as
like ten twelve percent and mostly it's fat. So you
really do have to put have a good look at
your labels. But the thing about this was not only
was it incredibly rich in tomatoes, but it tastes good
because I think a lot of sulcer is quite watery
(25:50):
and doesn't have that sort of mouth feel, whereas they've
managed to get a really rich mouthfeel with the tomatoes.
And we should also say that cook tomatoes are especially
rich inlycopain, which is a very powerful anti cancer agent.
So I will be using this all summer. I thought
it was outstanding. I'm with you. I would love my
clients to be adding this to their morning eggs because
I'm constantly saying add some vegetables, not just avocado or fetter,
(26:12):
add some veggies in there. So it would go beautiful
with omelet, with scrambled eggs. Mexican you could use it
as you know, a nutrient rich type of salsa. So yeah,
I think they've done a really good job and it
just goes really well with vegetables, so you still feel
like you're having a bit of a treat and something
indulgent with just superior nutritional properties too. I'd say ninety
percent of the dips that are out there, So yeah,
(26:32):
I've only seen it in coals as well, but it's
a massive thumbs up for me. They do have a tahini.
I don't love tahini myself. Leanne's going to try that
and give us some feedback next week, but yeah, it
was an excellent find. And it's just as I said,
don't just You've got to really look for the tomato one.
It's not easy to differentiate. Just look for Moroccan on
the label, but it's that's only small the Matt Butcher
is you sign you're onto.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
The right one?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yes, all right, okay, Leeann.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
That leads us to our final segment, which is all
about salt, because I've had a few clients who I've
been distressed after weighing in and noticing that their weight
has crept up a kilo or two, and then when
I deep dive what's gone on, Inevitably they've had some
salty food the day or day before. And you know,
when we're doing a body weight it's not measuring body fat,
(27:17):
it's measuring just composition. You know, if you have had
a salty meal, you can retain as much as a
couple of kilos of fluid. Even after say heavy weight session,
your muscles will retain more weight and more fluid, and
that can bump it up. So you know, it really
does affect it. And that's why having a gradual trend
over time or weighing, you know a couple of times
a week to see the patterns. How much is too much.
(27:38):
It's really hard because some people are more salt sensitive
than others. Some people can have bucket loads of salt.
It doesn't have a negative effect, you know, It's generally
not good for us because for some people who are
so sensitive it may increase blood pressure. But that's not everyone,
and certainly not even reducing salt will always reduce blood pressure.
It's a little bit more complicated than that. But what
I will say is that astrains in general have far
(27:59):
too much. So it's recommended that we have less than
two thousand milligrams of sodium per day. But that is
about I think how many grams of salt. I need
to quickly check, but we're having about eight to ten
grams of salt per day when we should be having
far far less. So it's basically if I'm looking at
that doesn't make a lot of sense at all. But
in terms of amounts on food packaging, I am always
(28:24):
looking for products that are no more than say six
eight hundred, and the lower the better. So as soon
as products are coming in over a thousand milligrams land
and I don't like it, it's too much knowing you've
kind of got two thousand, maybe three thousand a day
to play within. Australians are having I think four or
five times like four or five thousand milligrams per day.
We're having about double what we should be. So if
(28:46):
you can stick to things that range between three and
six hundred milligrams per serve, you'll be on the right track.
If you look at fast food and it's two thousand
and the meal, that's the problem. It's those foods that
are all over a thousand, which include things like pizza,
soy sauce, two minute noodle bowls, processed meats like bacon
a particularly high Pershudo is incredibly high. Smoked salmon is
(29:08):
quite high as well. Now you'd argue there's benefits to
having that, but again that's why would say, don't load
up on too much smoked salmon, have a small portion
and just be mindful it is a salty food. But
I think the biggest contributor is fast and take away food,
and also when we eat out at restaurants, because celebrity
chefs might make food that taste amazingly good, but they
use bucket loads of salt to get there, and so
the less you eat out and have that fried and
(29:30):
fast food take away, the better.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
The other thing is that when you're seasoning at home,
really try and use a range of different herbs and
spices rather than just adding on the salt straight away.
That's another trick to it, but there's some nuances with it.
So for example, if you're having a vegetable soup and
you add salt to it and it's got six eight
hundred milligrams of salt, I'm not gonna be worried because
the benefits of the vegetables outweigh the salt. It's when
(29:55):
you're not getting any nutritional value, you're not getting any
fresh food with it. It's particularly the problem which is
why fast food and fried food is so bad for
us coming into party season where there's a lot of
that salty kind of cannapays around. So yeah, it's sort
of you're looking at labels. Anything under three hundred is
very low. Six to eight hundred per serve is reasonable,
(30:15):
and per day you've got two thousand maybe three thousand
total to play with. Anything less than that is ideal.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
So the recommendations for healthy adults are two thousand milligrams
of salt and no more than five grams of salt today,
so it's roughly about a tearspooner day. And I'm like, look,
if I have a client that has high blood pressure,
that has issues with their kidneys, that for whatever reason
needs to limit their fluid or retains fluid, I'm careful
about salt. But if I'm being on a susie, I
don't even blinkt salt for ninety percent of my clients
(30:45):
because the goal of seeing a dietician is to basically
help defy the diet, right, Like we're cutting down on
eating out, we're cutting down on takeaway foods. If they
are eating out, they're adding a side salad, they're adding
some more vegetables, They're consuming less process and packet foods overall,
consuming more fresh foods, and that naturally takes out the
bulk of the salt in the diet. So when clients
(31:06):
say to me, can I add a little bit of
salt to that recipe? Like it was really yummy but
it needed a bit of salt, no problem. Like I
rarely ever say to a client or watch your salt
because I know that I'm actively trying to reduce it
in all other aspects of their diet. But I would
say for the nutrition catch listeners, probably the vast majority
don't need to stress about salt at all because they
are you know, we're preaching to the converted.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
They're the healthy listeners.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It's the other Australians who really don't listen to the
nutrition catch that probably should be mindful of their salt
intake because they are consuming a lot of packet based foods,
a lot of bottles of sauces, you know, a lot
of takeaway tight meals. So I think, when you know
we're working with clients, we're not really that concerned because
they're generally healthy. They just need some diet twigs and
we're adding in more fresh foods. So I personally add
(31:47):
salt to all of my meals. I don't really see
it as an issue, but I do appreciate that if
there are some medical conditions, it does need to be limited.
And then I think as well, if you're exercising, you
have a job where you're working in the hot sun,
you live somewhere like means Land in summer it's quite hot,
the more you sweat, the more you naturally actively need
to replace some of that salt as well, So there's
certainly nuances there, but I think on average, I mean,
(32:09):
Australians aren't the healthiest, but so for the average person,
they probably do need to be a little bit more
mindful of their salt intake. But I would argue that
the nutrition catch listener is far above the average health
of most Astorians.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Well, definitely, we would say if you're having olive oil
by some vinegar and salt as you're dressing, there's no
cause for concern, like it's make the salad taste good.
And certainly having lived with Italians, Northern Italians, oh the
buckets of salt that go in, but they have very
little processed food and huge amounts of fresh food. So
it's about the ratios. It's more important. And as I said,
if you keep away from that middle aisle and really
(32:42):
avoid the fried and fast food and acknowledge that occasionally
when you do have an Indian or tie takeaway, you
are going to be a bit fluidy the next day.
You know, that's pretty good balance, which is always what
we promote here on the Nutrition Couch. We're all about balance,
all right. Well, that brings us to the end of
another episode. And if you know that you're main need
a little bit more protein or creatine or magnesium. You
(33:02):
can go and check out our scientifically formulated range of
supplements at design bidietitians dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
If you haven't checked out our brand new YouTube, there's
also little shorts on YouTube as well. They're sort of
similar to reels on Instagram. If you want to go
and have a little visual I don't know, increase in
your knowledge along with the visual aspect, go and check
us out on YouTube as well, where just the nutrition
capture on YouTube. Go give us a follow, go subscribe
to the channel, and thank you for your time. We'll
catch you on next week's episode.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
See you next week.
Due by Australian It might come as a surprise to
hear that there are only a handful of Aussie food
companies who are one hundred percent owned and operated in Australia.
On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we share the
handful of Aussie brands out there and the healthy products
that we like to buy from them.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi, I'm lean Ward.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And I'm Sidney Burrow, and.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast
that keeps you up to date on everything that you
need to know in the world of nutrition, as well
as Ossie supermarket Brands, which at everything that you need
to know about supermarket foods that may contain MSG. We
have another delicious dip to share for party season, and
our listener question is all about swimming.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, it's all about it resalt.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's s's it's the same, isn't it, Leanne. And you
haven't even been to Melbourne Cup, so you're not even hungover.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Same thing now, I'm fresh as a daisy, I'm caffeinated.
It's all good things today.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
You're looking very sprightly on your video. All of a sudden,
she's got it down, Pat, someone's obviously mucked up the scripript.
That's the script, but you could add live because you're
a podcast professional.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So I rap at the S.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I just got the wrong S. So swimming is on
the next week's podcast. It's all about salt on this
week's podcast, it is it is. Indeed s's with Aussie brands.
There's a couple that begin with S as well. So
I think we had a listener question about this, didn't
we like, what a what are a handful of the
Aussie brands that we can actually support in supermarkets because
you know, it's one thing to go down to the
locals farmers markets and support local and we love to
(01:30):
do that. But the reality is that we do do
the bulk of our shopping for the household at the supermarket.
Like there's really not much, you know, we can't really
get around that. So where there are Australian brands that
we can support, we absolutely love to, don't we, Suzie.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I think it's always alarming when you hear some sort
of stat is like ninety percent of supermarket products come
from a handful of brands. They're owned by massive multinationals,
and for better or for worse, that's the way of
a capitalistic society, but there are still a handful of
Australian owned and produced brands. Now in saying that a
lot of big brands will still produce here in Australia,
(02:07):
you know that we've got access to great manufacturing and
raw ingredients here, but they may not be owned. So
the ones we're going to go through are owned Australian,
one hundred percent Australian owned and manufacture and produced here.
And I think that the standout feature to me, and
I just love it as a concept because it's not
obviously this is a nutrition podcast. It's not about the
(02:29):
nutritionals specifically. I think it all makes us feel good
to buy and support Australian and I think what we
do see though, is some really top quality foods being
produced here and long term larger companies do like to
buy them because they're very good. The issue, of course
is sometimes that gets diluted in bigger industries. But they
(02:51):
are certainly stand out brands and I feel very strongly
that we should support them when we can. You know,
it creates jobs, We know the qualities there of Australian produced.
It's a feel good thing, but it will be a
shock to hear how few there are, but these are
the ones that stand out both for being Austrayan owned
and operated but also stand out nutritional properties. So the
(03:12):
first is Carmens Fine Foods, which is headed by Carolyn
Creswell and probably some of the best musleis and snack bars.
They're also sort of branched into popcorn. So Carmens, despite
its size, remains one hundred percent Austrayan owned and operated
and certainly stand out cereals in the supermarket section which
(03:34):
is dominated by other big companies. I should, of course
say Sanitarium. Sanitarium is not in my list actually, but Sanitarium,
of course in the cereal section is and hence you
know Australia Number one cereally is wheatbeaks. But they also
produce some amazing plant based milks that are fortified with
the central nutrients. They produce some amazing vegetarian and meat
(03:55):
alternatives which are very rich in nutrient quality nuts spread.
So Sanitarium is another one that is outstanding nutritional profile.
Cobbram olive oil has been around for twenty I think
only just about twenty years. They started with their olive
trees and you know the Australian extravergent olive oil is
top quality, extremely high in antioxidants and certainly the only
(04:16):
oil that I use in cooking. A smaller company is
Twisted Twisted Healthy Treats, so they original frozen yogurt cups
and they've branched out more into some lower carb and
some ice blocks for kids. Very strong and growing Australian
company that we love to support. Buller Dairy is one
hundred percent astrain and owned and operated, and they've got
a really wide portfolio of products including those amazing ice creams.
(04:40):
You know, you can get those mini frozen yogurt sticks
as well as proper ice cream of course, dairy things
like cottage cheese as well, MAVs, nuts, breads. You know,
there's a really wide range of those one hundred percent
nut based products. That's a great company too. Sunrice is
also Australian. You know, they've got a wide and growing
range of rice so grain based products and supermarkets. So
(05:02):
that's when you can be as short is locally produced.
When that surprised me actually and I hadn't known as
san Remo. San Remo Pasta is also one hundred percent Australian,
even though it sounds very daly are not, but that
is an Australian pasta company, Bickford's Cordials, so they've got
also a range of low sugar alternatives. So and I
think juices as well. I think Bickfords do the pomegranate
(05:22):
juice and the blueberry juice which are really strong nutritionally,
so that is and also SPC. So SPC do baked beans,
and they do a range of tin fruits. So it's
a small how many is that leanne it's like ten
with names. It's not many. Of course there are some
more sort of smaller brands that are growing, you know,
some of the boutique ones that are in the health
food section. But I've picked those just because they are
(05:44):
kind of major brands that frequent our shopping trolley. And
you might now think, actually, when I am going to
buy some ice cream, I will buy Buller, you know,
if I can, or I will choose Bulle Dairy over others,
because knowing now it is Australian and I think I'm
sort of it's always shocked and surprised and almost disappointed
that there's so few, but at least they do span
(06:05):
most of the grocery section in supermarket, so a lot
of that you can support in major kind of industries overall.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Do you want to know a fun fact about this SPC?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I do tell me later.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I'd love fun fact.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Remaining Australian owned fruit and vegetable processor and it's been
in operation since nineteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So fun fact.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And then I have a fun fact about Sanitarium for
you too.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Oh, I love it too. I love a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So up in Brisbane, you were here last time.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We were going to get a cheeky Starbucks on our
way down to our retreating King Sklip, which was amazing
as well, and I said to you, I was taking
you down there, and we drove past the Sanitarium factory
in Uruka, and I said, like when it's cooking day,
like when they're making the week Bix, if you put
the windows down, you can just smell like we'd biks
through the whole suburb and on the Facebook like the
Maruca grapevine, everyone always.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Says it's weird Bix day or it's baking day because you.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Can just smell it. It smells amazing. But Sanitarian it is
one hundred percent Australian owned but it's a not for
profit organization that is actually owned by this Seventh Day
Inventist church. So the ownership structure means that the profits
are actually reinvested back into things like community programs and
health initiatives rather than actually being distributed to as profit
to shareholders. So that's a really nice one to support
(07:11):
because they actually do a lot of great health initiatives
and community programs. Is not just going to a board
of you know, investors and shareholders who are just like
lining their pockets. It's a good one. And they do
a lot of good cereal and stuff as well, so
yeah too. They've also got an amazing nutrition team. Because
the cost of food is high and profit margins are
so tight in supermarket, it's really hard for brands and
(07:32):
products to survive, and that's why you might have seen
that new products can last as little as three months
on a shelf, because that's all they're given by major
supermarkets to basically sell very quickly. So they're under huge
amounts of pressure. But so as such, many will not
have it in house dietician because they just can't afford
the budget spend. They've got to allocate that to marketing budget.
And things are really tight. But Sanitarium have always invested
(07:53):
heavily in nutrition education, so they've always had a big
team of dietitians on board, producing and providing a lot
of recipe and resources for the community. And the reason
their plant based milk stand out as do their veggie
replacements for products, is that they're often fortified with essential
nutrients because they know the benefit of that for people
who are choosing to follow a plant based diet. So
(08:15):
you know, they do reinvest certainly in nutrition to help
the health of Australians. And I don't want to say
that it has to be Australian to be healthy, because
that is not the case. But what I will say
is that Australian foods are often superior nutritionally in many
different ways. You know, we've got really high quality standards,
Our raw ingredients are strong, and I can safely say
that I think every one of those brands that I've mentioned,
(08:37):
if they're not one hundred percent healthy, a significant component
their portfolio is and they stand out nutritionally, and so
we have to support them lyan because otherwise what happens
is they disappear and everything become owns by big multinationals
and that dilutes the nutritional quality and something we were
talking about at the retreat, which had amazing group of
women come from all over Perth as far as Bunderberg, Tasmania,
(08:59):
like just a gorgeous group of women ranging in age
from in their thirties all the way up to almost
eighty and they were just having such a great community
time together. Because you and I love to get out
with our listeners because most of the time we spend
behind a screen, so it's always good to get some
energy from some of our listeners who so supportive. But
we were showcasing different breakfast cereals and I won't name
and Shane brands, but we brought out a couple of
(09:21):
brands and we were comparing to a couple of the
Australian options versus maybe a couple of multinationals, and the
difference in the quality of the ingredients and the list
of the panel because those companies are deeply committed to
providing healthy and nutritious and tasty foods for Australians, whereas
unfortunately the big other companies get they sometimes get diluted
in the big structure of big.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Business and profits. So there's many benefits that come from
supporting Australian industry, and if I was taking it a
step further, I would be encouraging there to be significant
subsidies for Australian companies who produce healthy food in Australia
to encourage them to be competitive and remain so in supermarkets.
But that's broader legislative changes, but that's ultimately what we
need to encourage bridge small providers and help them to
(10:02):
remain in a very competitive supermarket space.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And I've got a couple more to add to the list,
so Rosella. So that's like do you remember the tomato
sauce back in the day, So it's Australian owned. It
was actually there was a period of foreign ownership when
I looked into it, but it has been Australian owned
since April twenty thirteen. So if you like your good
Aussie tomato sauce, that's a good one, as is the
Berenberg So that's a whole hundred percent Australian owned and
operated too. They do a lot of like sauces. Jams
(10:27):
Chutney's Condomies yep Nrco is another Australian percent owned Dairy
Dairy cop Since eighteen ninety five, NRCO has been Austraian owned.
And then there's a lot of smaller dairy brands. If
you go to you know the select cheese sections, there's
Malaney Dairy that's a Queensland based one. There's a Baramba Organics,
there's Banister Downs Dairy in Western Australia. There's Gippsland, Jersey
(10:49):
and Victoria, the Brossa Cheese Company in South Australia, South
Coast Dairy on the New Southwest South Coast and Ashgrove
Dairy in Tasmania. So there's some of the smaller dairy
ones that it might be locational, state specific, but really good.
If you do see these smaller ones, like for me
in Queensland, like whenever I see a Malaney Dairy, we
do try to support that because it does have really
great quality. So there's some of the smaller dairy ones,
(11:11):
but certainly if you're in that condiment source kind of
chutney Ale, the Rosella and the Berenberg are really good
Aussie brands to support.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Look at you doing so much research, pretty meat a
shame today before we popped on.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The fun facts. Yes, very good.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Let's see how mutually know about MSG. Now let's go a.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Little bit more.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Okay, you want me to run a MSG section, All right,
let's go. All right, So MSG what is it? It
is a natural flavor enhancer. And I think we have
a little bit of a different stance on this because MSG.
I think it gets a little bit of a bad
rap in the media, particularly because it is actually something
that is natural. I think a lot of people think
MSG is just just really bad, negative thing to add
(11:50):
to food. But it's simply just a flavor enhancer. It's
made from glutamate, which is an amino acid, and it
is actually naturally found in foods. So glutamate occurs in
really highly fla foods, things like mushrooms, cheeses, tomatoes. There's
even glutamate in breast milk as well. So MSG is
just the sodium or the salt form of glutamate, and
so your body metabolizes it basically in the same way
(12:12):
that it would metabolize natural glutamate from food. And on
an Australian label, MSG is labeled as what's called a
flavor enhanser, or you'll see the number six two one
on an ingredient list. So if you pick up a
product and it's got the number six two one, that
essentially means that it contains a flavor enhancer or MSG.
So there has been decades of research around MSG and
(12:35):
multiple reviews from big big you know, things like Weld
Heath Organization for Zan's, the US FDA, and multiple reviews
have concluded that MSG is actually safe at normal dietary intakes.
There is a component of what you would call MSG
sensitivity or what you know some people term Chinese restaurant syndrome,
where people say that all of that added MSG will
(12:58):
give them symptoms. I certainly feel like I get mouth
poless when I eat too much all I do when
I eat too much MSG. I've had other people say
that they get, you know, really fatigue, they might have
itchy skin, they might have weird things happening with their breathing.
So there's certainly what people would describe as an MSG sensitivity.
But when you actually deep dive through research, it's really interesting, Susie,
(13:19):
that it never comes up like this suppose of MSG
reaction when they've actually done clinical trials, They've done blinded studies,
they've done placebos. People they can't experience the MSG reaction
the same throughout the entire trial. They only seem to
experience a reaction when they know that they've been given
a food with MSG in it. So it isn't actually scientific,
(13:42):
I guess, or in clinical research trials, this whole MSG sensitivity.
It's more anecdotal.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And I can't say that I'm making up that I
get mouth poleses when I eat too much MSG, but
I certainly feel that anecdotally, a lot of my clients,
from a lot of what I hear, some people, some
more sensitive people, don't seem to do too well with
too much MSG. So the issue isn't MSG because MSG
actually contains about two thirds less sodium than table salt,
and it actually has this really nice like umami type flavoring,
(14:11):
so it actually helps to enhance the natural flavor of
a meal. And so that's why I think food matterfactures
use it is to really just enhance the flavoring of
the meal. So MSG in itself isn't inherently harmful or bad.
The issue is that it's added to a lot of
like ultra process snacks, chips, biscuits, instant noodles, soup, sauces,
(14:31):
and a lot of these products are quite poor nutritionally,
and MSG tends to drive over consumption of the food.
So the real issue I feel isn't MSG. It's the
ultra processed foods that it's added to at the amount
at which people tend to consume those types of food.
So when people ask me if you wanted a black
or wright, response, is MSG bad? My response would be
(14:52):
no if you ask me, But I would follow that
up with the caveat that. But MSG happens to be
added to a lot of ultra processed foods, and that
that in itself isn't great from a health perspective because
we tend to overeat it because it is so highly
flavored that we do tend to eat far more than
it than you know, what an average serving size is.
And I know that we have kind of differing views
(15:13):
around this, But would you kind of agree with that
or you're you're kind of a blanket hard MSG, No,
aren't you?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
No, No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I'm saying that adding MSG to food promotes over consumption.
That's the issue because it's not in the same context
because it's naturally occurring in say mushrooms, tomatoes. It's literally,
I would argue, impossible to overeat in its natural form.
So the issue, well, that's I disagree even with that, okay,
(15:42):
because the other place we get it is when we
eat cuisines, which is high. So one of the highest
is Asian cuisine because they'll use a lot of sauces
and the sources have a lot in it. So soy
is naturally a very rich source of glutamatees and we
tend to have it across multiple dishes, and then you
might also use fish or oyster orysin. So it's very
(16:02):
very high in salt in general, but high, and I
think it is easy to eat that kind of food
because it basically primes the brain like a drug. It
lights up and just loves it, and the more the better.
So the issue when I'm communicating about MSG, I will
say added MSG is a problem to food because if
you look at all of the foods that it's added to,
typically corn chips, two minute noodles, shapes, and foods that
(16:28):
masquerade is being healthy, like those harvest piece snaps, which
often people would think are very healthy because they're maskarating
is vegetable chips and a healthier alternative to potato chips
when you're actually better to have a plain red rock
Deli potato chip that's got potato, salt and oil. And
that's what studies of consumption have shown. So the biggest
(16:48):
issue is that it's in foods that you wouldn't expect
to have that ingredient. So there's no chicken in two
minute noodles, there's no cheese in shapes, there's no chicken
in chicken crimpies. Like it's in those foods that shouldn't
naturally occur, and so studies will show that when people
are exposed to it, they keep eating. And that's why
I have to be careful because I don't want to
get sued. But my understanding is gurritos don't have added MSG,
(17:13):
but secs still do. So you might see it as
flavor enhants are sixty one, but also six three five
is just as bad in the sense it's still enhancing
the flavor of something that's not naturally inclined soul. The
studies would suggest that if you sat down with some
plain corn chips, we would use for Natcho's the ones
that are good quality that just have corn and oil
and salt, versus say something like a CEC's, you would
(17:36):
eat a lot more CEC's just because of that Moorish feeling.
And the other big issue I have with it, it's
in a lot of kids foods, so foods that we're
encouraging or are often marketed to children, like packets of
shapes for the kids lunch boxes, the harvest piece snaps,
the corn chips they've got, and a lot of flavored
chips like cheese and onion chicken chips will have it in.
(17:57):
So I think that there's a lot to be said
for kind of avoiding it as an additive, and it
is one of the additives I generally avoid. If I'm
buying potato chips, corn chips, I will go out of
my way to not give that to the children because
I think that that in a society which it's so
easy to over eat all the time, it's an additive
that I think isn't great. Now, you're right, there's not
(18:19):
huge evidence to show it's dangerous or negative. There's no
evidence to show it's dangerous, but some people will report
side effects like they might be restless, and they will
just describe it as Chinese restless syndrome. And after Chinese
food or any cuisine that has that dose. So I
think for parents listening or for listeners thinking about additives
in their diet, if I think avoiding it on processed
(18:42):
food is important. So potato chips, the two minute noodles,
the cheat like the rice crackers, they're the main ones
that come to mind. But even dumpling, so some dumpling
brands will include it, whereas I tend to go for
mister Chen's, which is another Australian company actually because they
don't include added and you'll see that on the labor
will say no added MSG. Because it's the additive. There's
(19:03):
a flavor enhancer and concentrated amounts. That's an issue for
volume and feeling satisfied after eating.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, I agree, So yeah, I think bottom line is
it's not a villain, but it isn't great if you
know the goal is to cut down on how much
ultra processed foods you're consuming. And we know, like if
you could give your kids, you know, a plane corn
chip or like a highly flavored what triple cheese type
of corn chip, it's just basic you know, common sense
that you don't want to give your kids highly flavored
(19:30):
things because you get that sticky, cheesy stuff all over
their fingers. For one, and secondary, they do tend to
eat a lot more of it, and they tend to
be a lot thirsty or it's very salty. So I
think for young children in particular, the bland of the
food the better when it comes to packet based food
because yeah, we really just don't need as much salt
in our diet. And that is a listener question coming up,
So we won't go any further on add.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But I just have a list. Let me read out
my list because I just had an article on it
for people who want a food list. So foods where
you'll find it. So the shape flavors specifically chicken simpy
and nutcho cheese, two minute noodles in general, both beef
and chicken, twisties, both cheese and chicken. Smith chips specifically
barbecue chicken cheese, and onion and meatball. Oh my god,
(20:12):
there's a meatballs.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Meat flavored chip.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
What crazy this time? I am a cheese and onion fan.
So this is upsetting Pringles sour cream. So if you
get to eat Pringles and you pop and you can't stop,
go for a plane. The mission Mexican corn chips, which
I have to say are delicious, but they are smothered.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I've bought them before.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Okay, Sea Seas and then Doritos don't have six two one,
but I think they have six three five, which is
also a flavorede anser chicken in a biscuit. That's a
good old nineties favorite. The Delights rice snacks, now, I've
noticed myself that in the rice cracker section a lot
of the brands have removed it, but the Delights brand,
(20:53):
which have both in the box the flavored chip, the
flavored kind of crackers and the tray of rice crackers,
still it in and the Harvest Snaps particularly the chili
has six to one I believe, whereas the Plane and
He has six three five. So yeah, that's sort of
a summary point. It is only your handful of fods,
and let's be honest, they're probably foods. We wouldn't be
encouraging people to have a whole lot of in general,
(21:15):
but if you're having kids party. Actually, my kids went
to a kid's party last week and my child came
home and advised me that he'd had three cups of
full strength coke. I was not impressed. So you know,
I think parents who are having parties like try you
can get naturally sweet and drinks. Now you can get
plenty of snack foods that are slightly better. I get
plain chips, you know, like, if you can avoid feeding
(21:38):
heaps of other kids that food, I think it's quite
a good thing too.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, all right, on to better things.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
So I'm making you do the whole thing because you
found a good dip. So I will lead in because
usually if someone said to me to have a tomato
dip like a sorcer, I'd be like, oh, boring, like
no one wants to eat salca, Like, let's be honest.
But you showed me this dip. I hadn't seen. I've
got it here actually on camera. This brand I hadn't
seen either. And I think it's actually a little bit
(22:04):
confusing because this it's called Moroccan Matt Butcher, but it
comes under the brand Tarhini NEARI that's the brand. So
I feel it's confusing because I said to you, no,
I don't like Tahini when you showed it to me,
and you were like, no, no, it's not teeny, And
so I do think there's a little bit of messiness
with the brand. But this is in Cole's and Leanne.
When I went to buy this, your laugh. I went
(22:25):
to buy it and I promptly dropped one on the floor.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Everywhere I went all over It went all over my
shoes and went all over the floor. No, so anyway,
story anyway, I've got one home because it is amazing.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Fine, isn't it? How long have you known about this?
Speaker 4 (22:41):
It for?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I think it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I found it at Coles literally like two weeks ago,
just before you came up, and then we had it.
Well I didn't have it because I was a little
bit unwell.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Knew how that's right?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
And you said it was really good.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So yeah, So the brand is Tarhani Neari and they
do do I think a Tahani based version of it,
because I bought that one and then the tomato based one.
But the one we're going to showcase today is a
Moroccan match butcher. And they say it's Matt Booker. Matt
Booker pronounce it so Matt ma booka Mabooker. And it's
basically a chunky tomato dip. So you can scoop it,
(23:12):
you can use it on like a sandwich, you can
use it on a wrap. It's quite versatile. And when
I picked up the ingredient list, I was shocked, and
not a lot of products in the soupermarket these days
shocked me, and they shocked me for a good reason,
which is what we like. Because when you read the
ingredient list, it's eighty seven percent tomatoes, which is incredible.
So if you don't like tomatoes, this is not your dip.
Don't dms on Instagram and say what could I sub
(23:33):
the tomatoes for that? There's no such shit. This is
a tomaket based dip. If you're not into tomatoes, this
isn't your thing. Next, the ingredient is canola oil, garlic, salt, spices.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Like you, you couldn't make a better dip in your
home kitchen basically, and tomato is pretty expensive as well,
so I think this is a really good option. I
picked it up on sale for three dollars fifty I think,
which you know, out of all of the dips on average,
is actually a really good price. And as I said,
they did do like a tahini version of that, which
I haven't tried yet, but I would think it's in
my fridge upstairs. It's sort of similar to like a
(24:04):
thicker kind of homice type dip, so it retails. I
found it in coals, I'm not sure if it's in Woolworth.
It's in a two hundred gram tub, which is a
standard like dip size. It's began, it's dairy free, it's
gluten free, so it ticks all the boxes from kind
of an allergy perspective, and yeah it's great.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, information showed you the nuitation panel.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, so perserving, which I imagine it doesn't say.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
How twenty gram, thirty gram.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Twenty third yes, about one twenty thirty boons. Yeah, yeah,
has ninety one killer jewel, so very very low energy.
You know, we're talking twenty twenty five calories per serve,
half a gram of protein, two grams of carbs, basically
no fat, you know, only a gram of fat and
sodium only two hundred milligrams are served, which is incredibly
low for a lot of dips. And we're going to
(24:51):
cover salt in a minute, but this is a very
low salt dip as well. It does have some added salt,
but salt is the second last ingredient, so that's sort
of what you want to see in nutrition information panels.
If the goal is weight loss, if you know, if
you enjoy the cheeses and the you know, the process
meats and stuff on your plant, this is a good
way to kind of balance it out with some added
veggie sticks, because you could scoop it with veggie sticks,
you could scoop it with crackers, or as we said,
(25:13):
you could use it as a like a spread on
sandwiches on sour dough. Even if you're having like an
omelet or some scrambled eggs in the morning, this would
go really well with that as well. So it's very
versatile and quite a i'd say balance price point for
you know, the average dipsale.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
There's such a wide range of vegetable content of dips,
ranging from like an eighty eight percent for a good
quality of beila guacamolele to you know, as low as
like ten twelve percent and mostly it's fat. So you
really do have to put have a good look at
your labels. But the thing about this was not only
was it incredibly rich in tomatoes, but it tastes good
because I think a lot of sulcer is quite watery
(25:50):
and doesn't have that sort of mouth feel, whereas they've
managed to get a really rich mouthfeel with the tomatoes.
And we should also say that cook tomatoes are especially
rich inlycopain, which is a very powerful anti cancer agent.
So I will be using this all summer. I thought
it was outstanding. I'm with you. I would love my
clients to be adding this to their morning eggs because
I'm constantly saying add some vegetables, not just avocado or fetter,
(26:12):
add some veggies in there. So it would go beautiful
with omelet, with scrambled eggs. Mexican you could use it
as you know, a nutrient rich type of salsa. So yeah,
I think they've done a really good job and it
just goes really well with vegetables, so you still feel
like you're having a bit of a treat and something
indulgent with just superior nutritional properties too. I'd say ninety
percent of the dips that are out there, So yeah,
(26:32):
I've only seen it in coals as well, but it's
a massive thumbs up for me. They do have a tahini.
I don't love tahini myself. Leanne's going to try that
and give us some feedback next week, but yeah, it
was an excellent find. And it's just as I said,
don't just You've got to really look for the tomato one.
It's not easy to differentiate. Just look for Moroccan on
the label, but it's that's only small the Matt Butcher
is you sign you're onto.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
The right one?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yes, all right, okay, Leeann.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
That leads us to our final segment, which is all
about salt, because I've had a few clients who I've
been distressed after weighing in and noticing that their weight
has crept up a kilo or two, and then when
I deep dive what's gone on, Inevitably they've had some
salty food the day or day before. And you know,
when we're doing a body weight it's not measuring body fat,
(27:17):
it's measuring just composition. You know, if you have had
a salty meal, you can retain as much as a
couple of kilos of fluid. Even after say heavy weight session,
your muscles will retain more weight and more fluid, and
that can bump it up. So you know, it really
does affect it. And that's why having a gradual trend
over time or weighing, you know a couple of times
a week to see the patterns. How much is too much.
(27:38):
It's really hard because some people are more salt sensitive
than others. Some people can have bucket loads of salt.
It doesn't have a negative effect, you know, It's generally
not good for us because for some people who are
so sensitive it may increase blood pressure. But that's not everyone,
and certainly not even reducing salt will always reduce blood pressure.
It's a little bit more complicated than that. But what
I will say is that astrains in general have far
(27:59):
too much. So it's recommended that we have less than
two thousand milligrams of sodium per day. But that is
about I think how many grams of salt. I need
to quickly check, but we're having about eight to ten
grams of salt per day when we should be having
far far less. So it's basically if I'm looking at
that doesn't make a lot of sense at all. But
in terms of amounts on food packaging, I am always
(28:24):
looking for products that are no more than say six
eight hundred, and the lower the better. So as soon
as products are coming in over a thousand milligrams land
and I don't like it, it's too much knowing you've
kind of got two thousand, maybe three thousand a day
to play within. Australians are having I think four or
five times like four or five thousand milligrams per day.
We're having about double what we should be. So if
(28:46):
you can stick to things that range between three and
six hundred milligrams per serve, you'll be on the right track.
If you look at fast food and it's two thousand
and the meal, that's the problem. It's those foods that
are all over a thousand, which include things like pizza,
soy sauce, two minute noodle bowls, processed meats like bacon
a particularly high Pershudo is incredibly high. Smoked salmon is
(29:08):
quite high as well. Now you'd argue there's benefits to
having that, but again that's why would say, don't load
up on too much smoked salmon, have a small portion
and just be mindful it is a salty food. But
I think the biggest contributor is fast and take away food,
and also when we eat out at restaurants, because celebrity
chefs might make food that taste amazingly good, but they
use bucket loads of salt to get there, and so
the less you eat out and have that fried and
(29:30):
fast food take away, the better.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
The other thing is that when you're seasoning at home,
really try and use a range of different herbs and
spices rather than just adding on the salt straight away.
That's another trick to it, but there's some nuances with it.
So for example, if you're having a vegetable soup and
you add salt to it and it's got six eight
hundred milligrams of salt, I'm not gonna be worried because
the benefits of the vegetables outweigh the salt. It's when
(29:55):
you're not getting any nutritional value, you're not getting any
fresh food with it. It's particularly the problem which is
why fast food and fried food is so bad for
us coming into party season where there's a lot of
that salty kind of cannapays around. So yeah, it's sort
of you're looking at labels. Anything under three hundred is
very low. Six to eight hundred per serve is reasonable,
(30:15):
and per day you've got two thousand maybe three thousand
total to play with. Anything less than that is ideal.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
So the recommendations for healthy adults are two thousand milligrams
of salt and no more than five grams of salt today,
so it's roughly about a tearspooner day. And I'm like, look,
if I have a client that has high blood pressure,
that has issues with their kidneys, that for whatever reason
needs to limit their fluid or retains fluid, I'm careful
about salt. But if I'm being on a susie, I
don't even blinkt salt for ninety percent of my clients
(30:45):
because the goal of seeing a dietician is to basically
help defy the diet, right, Like we're cutting down on
eating out, we're cutting down on takeaway foods. If they
are eating out, they're adding a side salad, they're adding
some more vegetables, They're consuming less process and packet foods overall,
consuming more fresh foods, and that naturally takes out the
bulk of the salt in the diet. So when clients
(31:06):
say to me, can I add a little bit of
salt to that recipe? Like it was really yummy but
it needed a bit of salt, no problem. Like I
rarely ever say to a client or watch your salt
because I know that I'm actively trying to reduce it
in all other aspects of their diet. But I would
say for the nutrition catch listeners, probably the vast majority
don't need to stress about salt at all because they
are you know, we're preaching to the converted.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
They're the healthy listeners.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It's the other Australians who really don't listen to the
nutrition catch that probably should be mindful of their salt
intake because they are consuming a lot of packet based foods,
a lot of bottles of sauces, you know, a lot
of takeaway tight meals. So I think, when you know
we're working with clients, we're not really that concerned because
they're generally healthy. They just need some diet twigs and
we're adding in more fresh foods. So I personally add
(31:47):
salt to all of my meals. I don't really see
it as an issue, but I do appreciate that if
there are some medical conditions, it does need to be limited.
And then I think as well, if you're exercising, you
have a job where you're working in the hot sun,
you live somewhere like means Land in summer it's quite hot,
the more you sweat, the more you naturally actively need
to replace some of that salt as well, So there's
certainly nuances there, but I think on average, I mean,
(32:09):
Australians aren't the healthiest, but so for the average person,
they probably do need to be a little bit more
mindful of their salt intake. But I would argue that
the nutrition catch listener is far above the average health
of most Astorians.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Well, definitely, we would say if you're having olive oil
by some vinegar and salt as you're dressing, there's no
cause for concern, like it's make the salad taste good.
And certainly having lived with Italians, Northern Italians, oh the
buckets of salt that go in, but they have very
little processed food and huge amounts of fresh food. So
it's about the ratios. It's more important. And as I said,
if you keep away from that middle aisle and really
(32:42):
avoid the fried and fast food and acknowledge that occasionally
when you do have an Indian or tie takeaway, you
are going to be a bit fluidy the next day.
You know, that's pretty good balance, which is always what
we promote here on the Nutrition Couch. We're all about balance,
all right. Well, that brings us to the end of
another episode. And if you know that you're main need
a little bit more protein or creatine or magnesium. You
(33:02):
can go and check out our scientifically formulated range of
supplements at design bidietitians dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
If you haven't checked out our brand new YouTube, there's
also little shorts on YouTube as well. They're sort of
similar to reels on Instagram. If you want to go
and have a little visual I don't know, increase in
your knowledge along with the visual aspect, go and check
us out on YouTube as well, where just the nutrition
capture on YouTube. Go give us a follow, go subscribe
to the channel, and thank you for your time. We'll
catch you on next week's episode.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
See you next week.
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