April 21, 2026 • 32 mins
If your dinner creeps out to 8 or 9pm most nights and your fat loss has stalled, this one is worth 30 minutes of your week.
In this episode of The Nutrition Couch, Leanne and Susie unpack why late dinners quietly derail body composition for so many women — and why the fix isn't as simple as just eating earlier.
Do late dinners actually stall fat loss? Why pushing your last meal out often triggers a calorie catch-up spiral: over-hunger, reliance on bars and snacks, and a heavier meal than your body actually needed. Susie and Leanne explain how circadian rhythm and insulin sensitivity quietly stack the deck against you, why some women (think CrossFit at 5am, or insulin-resistant clients) genuinely need different approaches, and the simple shift of moving more calories into lunch and the afternoon snack that changes everything.
The 12-hour overnight window for gut health Why Susie aims for a minimum 10 hours — ideally 12 — between your last mouthful at night and breakfast the next day, and what happens to next-day hunger regulation when that window gets squeezed.
Is the protein pudding trend actually necessary? Pools, Arlo, Rockabees, Muscle Nation. The hosts weigh in on whether you really need another 20g of protein after a dinner that already hit 30–40g, and when a protein pudding genuinely earns its place.
Tinned tuna ranked: Coles vs Aldi vs Woolworths vs Sirena vs John West Susie runs the actual tuna percentages inside the tin across every major supermarket brand. The Aldi range that beats tuna triple the price. The Coles home brand that comes in at 80% tuna for $1.10. Why Woolworths home brand falls short. And why tinned red salmon at around $10 might quietly be one of the best-value high-protein lunches going.
Product review: Sunny Queen Bacon & Cheese Protein Bites 27g of protein on the front of the pack, a long additive-heavy ingredient list inside, and a 200g "single serve" that raises serious questions. The hosts' verdict on whether this one earns a spot in your trolley.
Listener question: How should shift workers eat? Long-time listener Nicole asks for a practical framework around day, afternoon, and night shifts. Susie and Leanne walk through meal timing, the low-fuel snack options that keep you alert without blowing out calories, and why structure beats "eating lighter" every time.
For the range of protein, creatine, collagen, and magnesium Leanne and Susie refer to at the close of this episode, head to Designed by Dietitians.
Hit subscribe so you never miss a Wednesday drop, and share this one with someone who always eats dinner too late.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Are you one of our many listeners who find yourself
eating dinner as late as seven point thirty, maybe even
eight o'clock every night?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The mix of long.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hours, long commutes, gym, school, exercise keeps you out of
the house until pretty late and at which point you're
often exhausted and pretty damn hungry.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So in today's episode of.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
The Nutrition Couch, we deep dive late dinners and how
you can take control of the foods you eat later
in the evening as well as your weight long term.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Bye. I'm Leanne Wood.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
And I'm Sissy Burrel, and together.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that
keeps you up to date with everything that you need
to know in the world of nutrition as well as
late night dinners. Today we discuss tinned tune up. We
talk about how to differentiate between the good, the better,
and the best brands. We've also found a high protein
frozen egg option worth discussing, and our listener question is
(00:53):
all about shift work. So to kick us off today, Susie,
we are chatting all things late night dinner, and we
want to start off the segment by saying that eating
late is inherently bad. It's not a bad thing. But
for some people what tends to happen is when you
push that last meal of the night out longer and longer,
it can end up being quite a heavy, large meal,
(01:15):
because what happens is ultimately you get to the point
where you're so starving that you tend to overeat, and
often it is sort of those poorer food choices, or
it may be skipping dinner completely and just having more
snacks at nighttime, which tips the balance from like a nice, balanced,
healthy meal to more of that snacky kind of ultra
processed food. So it's not inherently a bad thing to
(01:37):
eat later at night. The context certainly matters. But if
you are someone that finds themselves, you know, eating quite
late at night heavy meals, not waking up hungry the
next morning, perhaps this is a segment for you, because
we certainly do have clients where they don't mean to
do it, but it's just the business of life and
it tends to just happen, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Quite occasionally, lan are going to talk about the elephant
in the room, about why the podcast has been a
whole for the past for three or four weeks, So he's.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Gonna over it's gonna be nice.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's gonna be nice, and I've just got a gloss
over it and pretend we haven't done forty seven practice
runs of the same episode.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But yeah, you're welcome be my guest.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Feel that because we've got our community of people on
the nutrition couch, we owe them an apology or we
owe them an explanation about what's been happening behind the scenes. No,
LeAnn and I haven't had a big fight. We've had
the worst technical glitch we've ever had. So we had
decided to take a little break from the podcast over
Easter because we are pretty burnt out with overwork in general,
(02:38):
and we thought people are away will have a break.
So we had bulk recorded a lot of episodes and
then sort of had several weeks with no recording, and
then last week when we came to return, we could
literally not get my computer to record. Now, I'll be
very honest to say that I am a little bit
older than Land and I work on a PC and
(02:59):
she is mackel the way baby, and for some reason,
my PC just would not work with my microphone for
no known reason, which actually turns out that mic hasn't
been working my editor Tom tells me now for weeks
that we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
He said that Susie sounds like she's recording it a cave.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And for some reason my mic just was just my
PC has just rejected it. So we've literally spent two
well we recorded last week, it didn't work, kept getting
kicked out, and I was thinking, I don't know if
we're ever coming back on the podcast because we literally
could not get the tech working. So finally I have
relented and come upstairs to use the Mac the Children News,
(03:39):
and we today after many attempts, have got it going.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
But it was hit and miss for a while.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We were pretty keen to just throw it in because
it was we were just not compatible where we can
not compatible.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To use her new Mac for years.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And then the minute she comes upstairs and tunes in
it works first time.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So no, that's a lilia and it didn't work the
first time we had. We had to little little bit.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
But it does appear that my road mike is now
working after several months it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Anyway, we're back.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Maybe we're back, baby, and we won't be having a
break again like that because it just started a cascade
of events where anyway, so this is the second time
we've recorded this episode, so what we're feeling positive as.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Good as the first one. But thanks to.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Give it a crack, thanks to your patience.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
But that's what's going on in the background anyway, late
night dinners. Yes, it's yeah. I see it all the
time with busy people. And often I think it's that
they're trying to get to the gym as well for
some in some cases, or it may be that they're
trying to have dinner with the family. So what happens
(04:43):
is it gets pushed back later and later, so it
starts at sort of six thirty seven, becomes seven thirty eight,
and then all of a sudden, people are still eating
their snacks and treats it at nine o'clock at night.
And the issue is inevitably the two things I see
is that people get almost over hungry. So I've got
clients who are then having a snack at five o'clock
(05:03):
and not something insignificant, you know, a couple of hundred calories,
and I'm like, you should actually be eating dinner, and
they're like, oh, but I want to go to the gym,
and it's like, well, you know, according to circadian rhythm. Really,
the earlier you eat the dinner, the better, And in
some cases I'd say I'd rather you come home and
have an earlier dinner than be having going to the
gym and then having dinner at eight o'clock. So I
think it's just being realistic with your schedule. I think
(05:26):
for some women it's acknowledging that your nutritional needs are
different from the families. So just I know it's nice
to sit down with the family, but if you've got
teenage boys a husband who comes home quite late, you
know you're really sacrificing your nutritional needs for them. Depending
on what your goals are, and specifically, if your goal
is fat loss, you will certainly be better to prioritize
your own nutritional needs earlier and have that meal earlier, even.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
If you can.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
If you can't routinely and you still want to sit down,
I'd say you've got to shift your calories more into
the day where lunch is more substantial, afternoon snack at
four is more substantial, so dinner can be that lighter
top up if you haven't eaten very much between lunchtime
at one o'clock and eight o'clock at night, you will
overeat because your body's trying to play catch up with it.
(06:13):
So I think just be realistic about where the calories sit,
and if you do choose to have the late night dinner,
pre empt that by having more in the day so
you don't end up over hungry. And the other thing
I'm seeing with a lot of clients lean is that
they're all in love with the protein pudding. So there's
several brands who have protein puddings. I think there's the Pools,
there's the r Low and the RockA Bees, and they're
(06:34):
increasing in range every time I look. There's more. I
think Muscle Nation have got a new range of protein. Yeah,
now you don't need to sit down to a meal
of chicken breast or steak and veggies and then load
up with another twenty grams of protein an hour later.
I know there's a lot of focus on protein in
the diet, but if you're having a decent server protein
(06:56):
that is giving you thirty even forty grams, you don't
need to then back it up with twenty for dessert.
So keep that in mind as well. It works well
I find for vegetarian clients who maybe struggle to get
the protein in at dinner, but if you eat animal
based food, you don't need them to back up your
dessert with a protein load. I'm happy with it just
to be more of a one hundred calorie frozen yogurt
or ice cream on a stick or limpball. You don't
(07:18):
need the extra protein. So I'm seeing that too, So yeah,
I think it's just being adjusting and just making sure nutritionally,
particularly what your goals are.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I've got some girls who are trading cross fit up
super early and they eat eight o'clock at night, and
they'll still have a portion of carbohydrate that's very different
from someone who's ninety kilo's insulin resistant and really needs
to wake up hungry or and shift calories into the
first half.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Of the day.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
So I generally try and have the final meal by seven,
and then if people are having a dessert by eight,
aiming for that ideal twelve hours overnight without food to
allow the gut microbiome to have a break and regenerate.
So at a minimum you'd want ten, but I really
would try and get twelve. And you can see that
if you're eating at eight or nine at night and
(08:04):
then having snacks later, it's shifting everything back the next day,
you're not waking out hungry. Hence the rationale for what
is a lighter dinner. And in terms of lighter dinners,
you know, if it's after eight o'clock at night and
you're having sort of a bigger lunch and afternoon snack,
that's where it's that more three hundred cow dinner when
it's later. So things like the soup, the white fish
(08:24):
and green veggies, the plain chicken breastir fry, you know
that kind of food then. But yeah, I would just
argue that if you're playing calorie catch up, it's sort
of it's not ideal when it particularly comes to body
fat loss.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
And I think it is worth noting, like we said
in the beginning, it's not something that is like a
one size fits.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
All rule really.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I mean, ultimately it comes down to calories, right. It
is really how many calories you consume throughout the entire
day that's going to make a difference in terms of
fat loss. But there are some small things like as
Susie mentioned, Katie, and rhythm does play a role. The
body is a little bit more insulinced sensitive earlier in
the day. Yes, some of these things matter, but you know,
we can't overhype them. For some people they don't matter
as much. For others they matter a little bit more.
(09:06):
But really, timing, yes, we like to you know, it
plays a role in terms of how well you're sleeping
at nine, maybe gut health, digestion, but it's not more
important than how much you're eating overall, if the ultimate
goal is fat loss. But if you ask someone that
is really prioritizing more of that snack based food, you
have to remember that you're never going to get the
type of good quality nutrition that you can get from
(09:28):
a well balanced meal from multiple snacks. And often i'll
you know, like Susia have clients who get to five
o'clock and they say, look, dinner won't be till seven thirty, eight,
eight thirty because hubby's working late, the kids are eating.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Now what should I do?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I'm like, hands down, eat your dinner, eat a proper
well balanced meal, don't have a snack then, and then
try to have a little snack later on with hubby
when he gets home at eight o'clock because it's just
too like, it's too late. So you're far better off
having a well balanced meal earlier in the day and
then having something a little bit lighter, like a protein
putting at eight pm. If you've had a well balanced
dinner five five point thirty early, if you've got little
(10:02):
kids like I do, so it is okay to have
a snack or two later on if you're hungry, but
don't do it at the expense of having a well
balanced meal, because you can never get the type of
good quality nutrition that a well balanced meal provides in
multiple snacks. You might hit the macro targets, you might
get any bit of carbs and protein from many snacks,
but you're not going to get in the micro nutrients
(10:23):
and the volume. And that's a tidy factor that are
really well balanced meal with low GI carbohydrates, a good
source of protein, some healthy fats, and you know, lots
of fiber and fresh food. What that well balanced meal
will provide will not come from multiple snacks. So that's
probably the main focus we want you to think about
as dieticians is where can I get that well balanced
(10:43):
dinner in. And for a lot of us, the earlier
the better because it does tend to prevent some of
that late night snacking. So that's probably just the point
we really want to hit home about, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Yeah, the five o'clock is too late, and then you're
better to have a soup or a salad then almost
half the dinner earlier, rather than allowing yourself to have
the snack for which, of course, as we know, Leanne,
what does everyone love? Everyone loves the bars, So yes,
you better to have dinner all right? Well, moving on
to quick and easy meals, We're going to talk about
a topic that I think will be interesting to a
(11:14):
lot of our listeners for anyone who enjoys canned tuna,
because can tuna is without doubt one of the most
nutrient rich, budget friendly, high protein foods you can have
in your diet. We don't can tuna in Australia. There's
a couple of boutique brands that do have some, but
in general the mainstream brands you see in supermarket are
all important and there is a really wide range of
(11:36):
varieties available and also price points, you know. And what
we've found having a look at this is that just
because you pay more for your tuna doesn't necessarily guarantee
the quality or the basically the amount of tuna that
you would get in a tin. So as a general
rule of thumb, when it comes to canned goods, what
(11:56):
you're looking for is the highest percentage of the actual
ingredient in there. So, for example, there's been some recent
posts on Instagram looking at tin tomatoes, and it can differ.
You know, some varieties can have as much as eighty
percent tomato that you're paying for and some as low
as forty or fifty, so that it does differ. And
just because something's a dollar doesn't mean it's got the
lowest amount of tomatoes by any means.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And same with tuna.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
You really got to take your magnifying glass and work
through to see how much is in there. Now, first
I would say is that I'm a tin salmon fan,
which some people are not. But when you buy, even
though it's quite expensive, the tinned red salmon, and you
look at the ingredient list, it's ninety nine percent salmon.
So even though it's quite expensive, I think it's about
(12:39):
fifteen dollars for the large can, you're getting all fish
in there. There's no filler, there's no water, it's just
a little bit of salt and salmon. So in terms
of you're basically getting what you're paying for in terms
of a lot of good quality fish. That is not
the case with tuna. My chemeras are surprisely and that
the highest percentage of tuna in tin tuna is about
(12:59):
seventy five percent. Generally it's a lot of water added
it might be oil. Where you see the oil varieties,
there's quite a big difference in the percentages, but overall
that's the highest amount you'll get is about seventy to
seventy five. Now, we would generally say if you're buying
tin fish, you're much better to pay just for the
fish in spring water, or if you want it in oil.
(13:21):
The options that have extravaginal I think generally just olive
oil in there is key because you generally they're the
ones with the higher percentage of fish. So I'm just
looking at one of them. The Serena lemon and pepper
is seventy eight percent tuna compared to say the Mexican
style wil worst tuna, which is only thirty five percent tuna.
(13:42):
So that basically means you're paying for a whole lot
of fillers and sauces. And if you don't mind having
the tuna in spring water and then adding your own
flavors to it. You're there knowing that you're paying for
the fish and you can season it yourself, but you're
going to get a much higher percentage overall rolling through
actually because another dietician's done all the work of the numbers.
(14:03):
So from Daily Serve Nutrition, we thank you. But yeah,
in terms of brands Serena, most Serena varieties, even if
they've got a flavor through them, are over seventy percent tuna.
Some of them go down a little bit lower, but
the most popular varieties that I know people have, which
are in sort of the Italian style source, the light variety,
the plain one in Chile, they're all over seventy percent.
(14:25):
So they're all pretty good varieties, as is the Wild
Tides variety, and that also is quite a lot cheaper,
so that's almost half what you're paying for the Serena tuna,
which I guess known as a more boutique brand. The
pouches are pretty good. The Safgo pouches are all over
seventy percent as well, and when you get to green
(14:46):
seas that's when it starts to reduce down. So the
highest one they've got, which is a skip jack tuna
they're tuna and oil is only sixty eight percent and
goes down as long as fifty. The John West Premium
in the black all over seventy, but again you're paying
a lot more for it, and John West in general,
you're paying a lot more for it, And something like
their mango Chili one is as low as forty four
(15:08):
percent tuna, but still retailing close to three dollars for
ninety five grams. You also lean can't assume that because
it's home brand it's poorer quality, because some of the
home brands, for example, the Audi range can actually be
incredibly high, as can the coal. So the coals specific
yellow fins are all over seventy percent, as are the
ocean Rise range stocked in Audi, which again retails at
(15:30):
about half the price of the mainstream tumors, and they
with the exception of one variety, the put and Esca,
the others are all over seventy. So you would argue
that in terms of budget costs and quality of tuna,
Audi actually rates incredibly highly in their tin tuna amounts,
in both their kind of prestige ocean Rise brand as
(15:52):
well as their sort of port view which is known
as the cheaper one, So in many cases you're not
better to spend more on tuna. You're actually getting pretty
good amounts tuna, particularly in the yellow range at Aliti,
just as high as the Serrena and certainly the John
West at about half the price point. The next best
option after that is the Coals range, which the majority
(16:14):
are over seventy percent, and in fact their lemon and
pepper is eighty percent tuna for a dollar ten, so
an incredibly good investment, whereas Woolly's fair far poorer Leanne
in their tuna. So I think they've got this boutique
range Pacific. Their Pacific one is better at two dollars twenty,
but they're one dollar ten range. They're all under sixty
(16:34):
five percent, and most of them are under sixty coming
in at fifty. So you'd actually when you're going for
home brand, you'd be more inclined to go for the
basic coals varieties, which self are just over a dollar
and you're getting in most of them over seventy percent tuna.
So it doesn't translate paying more for the boutique brands,
it really and I understand flavors a thing. I know
(16:57):
a lot of my clients prefer Serena as a flavor option,
but you certainly pay up to three times as much
for that, Whereas if you want to put a bit
of your own sauce and seasoning in the coal's home
brand or the Audi varieties both there prestige and lesser brand,
you're actually getting much better value for money, which I
think is really important at this time when we're just
(17:17):
getting bent over with three prices NonStop.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
You're a tuna eater. What do you buy?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I'm a tune reader, but I'll say it, I don't
love it.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I eat it because it's convenient, be its high protein
and see it's very budget friendly. But I can't do
can salmon like to me, it's too fishy, and a
lot of the tuna varieties for me are too fishy.
So I don't really do spring water unless I am
putting some like male or something stronger tasting through it,
or mixing it with, sayor a cottage. She is an avocado.
A lot of my clients like yours, like the Serena
(17:47):
from a taste perspective, And let's be honest, who's buying
tuna full price? Like I always wait till it's you know,
thirty forty fifty percent off, and the home band varieties
don't really go on sale, so it is better if
you are someone that likes something like the Tuna Serena
or the Wild Tide's brand, wait till they're on sale
and stock up because tuna has a great shelf life,
like you can keep them in the pantry for months
and months. My favorite one actually is the Wild Tied
(18:10):
smoked one, so only get it when it's fifty percent off,
and it's like, you know, a dollar something in tin,
and I find that that smoky texture gets rid of
that fishy smell and fishy taste.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And my girls eat the smoke one as well.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So it is a little bit higher in sodium, but
to me, it's so versatile you can basically put it
into anything. And my little kids eat it too, which
it's really hard to get small children to eat things
like tin tuna because it is quite should we say
offensive smelling, like it's very strong, let's be honest, And
that's why I have a lot of clients who really
shrugle to have tuna in any form because of the
smell and the taste of it. So I think that
(18:43):
if you ask someone that likes the flavored varieties, that's fine.
But knowing that you know a lot of those flavored
varieties are twelve thirteen grams of protein and tin only,
so perhaps using two tins is a good hack really
to drive that protein closer to that twenty five thirty
grams of protein, which if you're a female thirty forty
plus and you're looking to lose weight, that's ideally where
you want your protein range to sit. So perhaps two
(19:05):
tins of the flavored option or a tin plus adding
it a bit more protein like some chickpeas or some
cottage cheese or something like that, or putting it on
a couple of good slices of quality grainy bread like
a berg and soy lin is going to really help
to drive that protein range up. So it's one thing
to know what you're paying for, but I think the
taste is really a really key part as well. But
me personally, my hack is to get the smoked range
(19:27):
because you're still getting a really high percentage of tuna.
The one I like is like seventeen points something grams
per tin, which is great, And then if I put
that onto like a sandwich, I might use a bit
of cottage cheese or a slice of say the Yellsberg
Swiss cheese or something like that to add a little
couple of extra grams of protein to get that well
over sort of twenty grams. And to me, that's a
very budget friendly, sort of easy lunch option as well.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
True true trudery. So buyer beware when it comes to
your tuna. But again, you know, if you're eating tuna,
we wouldn't say to eat tuna every day anyway, because
you can have a bit too much of it, But
say you're eating it every second day, you can literally
save yourself three five bucks a week every week just
by swapping your tuner over to one that you like.
So check out the ones at Aldi and even the Coals,
and if you lack one with the flavor, anything over
(20:11):
seventy is a pretty good investment. And really, if you
like salmon, go the tin red salmon because you're getting
a much higher amount of Amiga threes. So if you
buy the ten dollar one in the Coals or Allies
brand and getting four or five lunches out of it,
you're still any paying two dollars and you're getting a
lot more nutrition with no additives at all. Okay, Lee Anne,
Now I've got to high protein food you're going to
(20:31):
review for us today. And I think this is a
super interesting product because I think if you picked it
up as I did initially for one of my trolleys,
I thought it was going to be an amazing option.
But it's an interesting one, isn't it. The Sunny Queen
Bacon and Cheese protein bites. They're definitely in coals. I'm
not sure if they're in Willies. But have you seen them?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I have seen them. I haven't tried them, I think
quite a while ago.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
I tried them, but they were like a vegetarian version,
maybe with a bit of tomato or spinach or something.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
And they were good.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
But let's run through and we'll have a discussion because
they're interesting is a good word. So they're the Sunny
Queen Bacon and Cheese protein bytes. A bag is two
hundred grams and on the front of the packet the
three call outs are twenty seven grams of protein, so
high in protein, high in fiber, with seventeen grams of
carb and three hundred and eighty one calories included free.
So they're the call outs on the front of the pack. Now,
(21:23):
when we look at the ingredient list, it's pretty long
for like a little egg bite Like that was my
first sort of you know reference. I was like, that's
a long ingredient list. So it's exit sixty nine percent,
followed by skim milk powder, and then cheese with you know, milk, salt, cultures, enzymes,
anti caking, Adrian preservatives. Then you've got bacon, pork, water, salt, sugar,
(21:43):
and mulsified dextros. Then you've got some antioxidants, some acidity regulators,
some sodium nitrate, some flavor, some vegetable oil, some modified
corn starch, some stabilizers, some salt, some natural smoke flavor,
and some herbs. So definitely not what we would call
a very wholesome ingredient list. They are certainly using some
more processed foods to make up this processed food, but
(22:06):
it is sort of, I guess, aimed at a convenient,
protein based snack. So looking at the nutritionals, the first
thing that to me makes this very interesting was that
it's one server pack and I was like, that's a
big bag, so they expect you to eat that entire
two hundred grand bag in one serve. To me, I'd
be like, oh no, that's way too much flavor fatigue,
Like it's just too much. Like to me, you'd have
(22:27):
a couple as a snack, or you'd put a few
on the side of a meal, and that's a meal
in itself. I don't see any world where somebody's eating
an entire bag of these, So that's the first point
I'll make. But per serving, which is obviously the whole
two hundred grand bag, you've got basically sixteen hundred kilogels,
So that's like close to four hundred calories coming in
(22:47):
in just your little eggy protein botes. And yes, you're
getting twenty seven point six grams of protein, but I
could probably think of one hundred better ways to get
twenty seven grams of protein for four hundred calories, let's
be honest. So it's not what I would consider a
good protein load for the calorie ratio basically. And then
fat wise, it is twenty one grams of fat, so
about ten and a half percent fat, so not low fat,
(23:10):
a seven point two of that being saturated fat due
to I'm imagining the cheese and the bacon seventeen point
four gram of carbohydrate and six hundred milligrams of sodium,
which is a big whack of sodium. But again, I
don't think anyone's eating that whole bag. And then there's
a call out saying that it's high in fiber, and
then there's six grams of dietary fiber per little for
(23:32):
the entire bag as well, and I'm like, where is
this dietary fiber coming from? And I'm thinking that it's
the modified corn starch because that's the only thing on
the ingredient list I can see that would give you fiber.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I just think that it's deeply misleading to be claiming
twenty seven grams of protein when you have.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
To eat the whole bag.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Like, to me, it's a product you want to add
one or two in, and the protein on one or
two is so low. I'm thinking it's not even a
great egg option. Like yeah, So I just found it
fascinating because it looks really high protein, but the truth
is perserve so yeah, like, yeah, it doesn't even tell
you how many you are in there to work out
(24:15):
a serving. Yeah, but you're getting the three grams per one. Well,
just eat an egg, you're going to get six or eight.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
We'll literally get more protein out of one egg from
a much better health perspective as well, you know you're
not getting the added bacon. And also, like in this
day and age, bacon it's not great, it's not healthy.
We know that, like it should really be a special
occasion kind of treat food, Whereas I feel like this
is marketed as a real convenient food that people would
probably eat quite often. So you're never going to see
me writing bacon into a meal plan unless it's, you know,
(24:46):
something that is a real soul food for someone and
sort of you know, maybe once or twice a month.
Definitely not something that you'd look at as a convenient
option a few times a week, which I believe is
how they're sort of marketing this product.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So I feel like they've missed the mark.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I feel like they've been a bit misleading, and it's
probably not something I would recommend, not the entire bag anyway,
not for four hundred calories and only twenty seven grams
of protein. As I said, I can think of far
better ways to get that protein.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
In true, true, true, So I think it's just another
example of how You've got to be careful whenever you
see a protein claim on supermarket foods, it's not always
better and it's not always used at the right time,
which is a good example of the yogurts. You know,
the yogats can be great in the day, but you
don't need it as a dessert. So it's not about
the more protein the better. It's about using it in
strategic foods and generally speaking, when you get it from
(25:30):
whole natural foods, it's always going to be better from
a more process variety like this. All right, Len, Our
final segment is our listener question, and this was one
that came through from a long term listening and a
call a big shout out to Nick asking about a
reminder of nutritional guidelines for shift work. And I think
shift week's interesting because we think of it as overnight,
but it may not be. It might be just afternoon
(25:51):
shift where you're not finishing to eleven or starting a
day shift at six am, so you're up at four
and wondering when to eat. So the most important thing
to remember for shift workers is the closer that you
keep your food intake to your natural circadian rhythm where
you're eating the bulk of calories in daylight hours the better,
and there is an art to doing that when you're
up overnight. But metabolically it doesn't matter that you're working overnight.
(26:14):
The body remains programmed to burn in the day and
store at nighttime, which is why it's so easy for
shift workers to gain weight. So a routine that I
or regime I will encourage or try with my shift
workers is that if they are starting, for example, on
a night shift, where they might have their final bigger
meal of the day before they start that shift, maybe
(26:35):
eight or nine at night, and then try and still
have eight hours minimum overnight without food. I'll come back
to that in a minute. And then they might have
an early breakfast before they go and sleep for the day.
So they might have a breakfast at five six am,
then get home, have a sleep, wake up at three
or four, and then have kind of their lunch meal late.
Now that can work quite well. Then if they struggle
(26:57):
with neating snacks and things overnight, I'll try and keep
the fuel load as low as possible, so I would
use lighter fruits, things like berries, plain tea, even things
like nuts that don't have a heavy carbohydrate load, so
if they do need a little top up snack to
keep alert, it's lower on the fuel side. So yeah,
it's trying not to have extra meals because of course
it's the same when we fly overseas. We tend to
(27:19):
eat an extra two meals on an overseas flight because
we're eating at both ends of the day. You've got
to steal try and stick to kind of three meals
and maybe one light snack, but minimize the calories that
are going in overnight the best you can. And it's
like everything, it is a programming effect. If you've programmed
to eat your biggest meal at two am, your body
will look for it. But really, ideally when it comes
(27:40):
to metabolism and hormone control and weight control, you will
be better if you can still have at least stay
between midnight and six am or ten and six am
or ten and five am without food with minimal calories
going in, And that would be a timely And I
would maybe use things like those sort of low sugar
lollies and things that people are having some calories but
(28:00):
minimal in terms of the better to have that than
natural chocolate or miles bars to keep themselves up late
at night, functional foods that are low sugar, just to
keep them up if they need it, but really trying
to work on minimizing the intake of food overnight.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I think it's a.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Really tricky one because shipwork in general, breaks are so sporadic.
Like I have so many of my ladies who are
you know, they might be doctors, nurses, that kind of thing,
and like it's so hit and miss whether they even
get a meal break. Like, yes, legally they should, but
the reality is that often, particularly during day shifts, things
can just go sideways so quickly, and you know, if
I've got some clients that are doctors or nurses and
(28:34):
they're in a surgery or something, they might be in
there for eight, ten, twelve hours, like they just don't
really get that regular meal break. So I do find
the benefit of my shift workers on overnight shifts is
that you do sort of get that opportunity to have
a little bit more of a regular meal break because
it doesn't tend to be as chaotic overnight than it
does during the day. But I think that with shipwork,
(28:55):
your bodyclock is so disrupted, and I think for a
lot of people they don't regularly do that shift where
it's overnight. They might do it for say a week on,
a couple of weeks off, then go back on it again.
So it makes it so difficult for your body clock,
and it really does throw off things like your hunger hormone,
your energy levels, even digestion can go way off when
you're doing overnight shifts or different shift work. So I think,
(29:17):
like you said, Susie, that consistent meal timing and that
structure is really key to staying in control. So really
set yourself a goal like, as Susie said, have you
a bigger meal just before you start. To me, I
like to sort of have that early morning meal. Like
I think, to me, going eight ten hours without a
proper meal is a really really long time. I know myself,
(29:37):
I would really struggle with that. So if I am
going to get a meal break and it might be
around that sort of two three am, I would encourage
someone to have sort of a breakfast meal, then when
they come home, have something quite light and go straight
to bed, rather than trying not to eat overnight and
then having a big meal and then going directly to bed.
So I'd sort of do that a little bit differently
where they're coming home, they're having something light like a
(29:58):
little bit of a snack and maybe a tea, and
then they're heading off for their big sleep. So I
think it is that structure, however it works for you,
is super important. But the probably the most important thing
is to minimize snacking as much as possible, and it's
so difficult, particularly if you are in a hospital. Susie
and I've both worked in hospitals before. There's just food everywhere.
There's there's biscuits, there's lollies, there's chocolate, like patients bring
(30:20):
you gifts. It's just food absolutely everywhere. So it's it's
easier said than done. Don't snack, but it is really
something that if you can try to prioritize, minimize the
snacking and go for really those balanced meals because you
need that vegetable load, you need that lower GI carbohydrate,
you need that adequate amount of protein to really get
you through those massive shifts and prevent a lot of
(30:41):
that fatigue or those blood sugar spikes and drops. So
that's probably the most effective strategy for shift working is
balance meals, but trying to get the timing of those right,
like Susie said, and it will work a little bit
different to everyone, but ideally you still want to be
having a good three four hours between meals, even if
you are on an overnight shift, and you're better off
(31:01):
to have a well balanced meal then trying to eat
quote unquote lightly and just having a snack every one
or two hours, which I feel like people might do
because they feel like it's lighter, but the reality is
it's actually more calories overall, and it does tend to
be heavier in terms of carbohydrates in fats than what
a well balanced meal may be as well. So that's
probably a good little takeaway frashship workers is try to
(31:22):
maintain that structure as much as possible, focus on well
balanced meals, and try as best as you can to
minimize that snacking if you can.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
What do you think true true true? All very good tips.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well brings us to the end of the Nitiing Catch
episode number forty seven in Draft, which we finally managed
to knock out, which we're very proud of. And if
you do know that your diet needs a little bit
more protein, a creatine hit, maybe a bit of collagen
or a magnesium boost to help with your sleep, go
and check out our range of scientifically formulated supplements at
design Bydietitians.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Dot com and we will catch you next week for
the next episode.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Drop
Are you one of our many listeners who find yourself
eating dinner as late as seven point thirty, maybe even
eight o'clock every night?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The mix of long.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hours, long commutes, gym, school, exercise keeps you out of
the house until pretty late and at which point you're
often exhausted and pretty damn hungry.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So in today's episode of.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
The Nutrition Couch, we deep dive late dinners and how
you can take control of the foods you eat later
in the evening as well as your weight long term.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Bye. I'm Leanne Wood.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
And I'm Sissy Burrel, and together.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that
keeps you up to date with everything that you need
to know in the world of nutrition as well as
late night dinners. Today we discuss tinned tune up. We
talk about how to differentiate between the good, the better,
and the best brands. We've also found a high protein
frozen egg option worth discussing, and our listener question is
(00:53):
all about shift work. So to kick us off today, Susie,
we are chatting all things late night dinner, and we
want to start off the segment by saying that eating
late is inherently bad. It's not a bad thing. But
for some people what tends to happen is when you
push that last meal of the night out longer and longer,
it can end up being quite a heavy, large meal,
(01:15):
because what happens is ultimately you get to the point
where you're so starving that you tend to overeat, and
often it is sort of those poorer food choices, or
it may be skipping dinner completely and just having more
snacks at nighttime, which tips the balance from like a nice, balanced,
healthy meal to more of that snacky kind of ultra
processed food. So it's not inherently a bad thing to
(01:37):
eat later at night. The context certainly matters. But if
you are someone that finds themselves, you know, eating quite
late at night heavy meals, not waking up hungry the
next morning, perhaps this is a segment for you, because
we certainly do have clients where they don't mean to
do it, but it's just the business of life and
it tends to just happen, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Quite occasionally, lan are going to talk about the elephant
in the room, about why the podcast has been a
whole for the past for three or four weeks, So he's.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Gonna over it's gonna be nice.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's gonna be nice, and I've just got a gloss
over it and pretend we haven't done forty seven practice
runs of the same episode.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But yeah, you're welcome be my guest.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Feel that because we've got our community of people on
the nutrition couch, we owe them an apology or we
owe them an explanation about what's been happening behind the scenes. No,
LeAnn and I haven't had a big fight. We've had
the worst technical glitch we've ever had. So we had
decided to take a little break from the podcast over
Easter because we are pretty burnt out with overwork in general,
(02:38):
and we thought people are away will have a break.
So we had bulk recorded a lot of episodes and
then sort of had several weeks with no recording, and
then last week when we came to return, we could
literally not get my computer to record. Now, I'll be
very honest to say that I am a little bit
older than Land and I work on a PC and
(02:59):
she is mackel the way baby, and for some reason,
my PC just would not work with my microphone for
no known reason, which actually turns out that mic hasn't
been working my editor Tom tells me now for weeks
that we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
He said that Susie sounds like she's recording it a cave.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And for some reason my mic just was just my
PC has just rejected it. So we've literally spent two
well we recorded last week, it didn't work, kept getting
kicked out, and I was thinking, I don't know if
we're ever coming back on the podcast because we literally
could not get the tech working. So finally I have
relented and come upstairs to use the Mac the Children News,
(03:39):
and we today after many attempts, have got it going.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
But it was hit and miss for a while.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We were pretty keen to just throw it in because
it was we were just not compatible where we can
not compatible.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To use her new Mac for years.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And then the minute she comes upstairs and tunes in
it works first time.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So no, that's a lilia and it didn't work the
first time we had. We had to little little bit.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
But it does appear that my road mike is now
working after several months it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Anyway, we're back.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Maybe we're back, baby, and we won't be having a
break again like that because it just started a cascade
of events where anyway, so this is the second time
we've recorded this episode, so what we're feeling positive as.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Good as the first one. But thanks to.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Give it a crack, thanks to your patience.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
But that's what's going on in the background anyway, late
night dinners. Yes, it's yeah. I see it all the
time with busy people. And often I think it's that
they're trying to get to the gym as well for
some in some cases, or it may be that they're
trying to have dinner with the family. So what happens
(04:43):
is it gets pushed back later and later, so it
starts at sort of six thirty seven, becomes seven thirty eight,
and then all of a sudden, people are still eating
their snacks and treats it at nine o'clock at night.
And the issue is inevitably the two things I see
is that people get almost over hungry. So I've got
clients who are then having a snack at five o'clock
(05:03):
and not something insignificant, you know, a couple of hundred calories,
and I'm like, you should actually be eating dinner, and
they're like, oh, but I want to go to the gym,
and it's like, well, you know, according to circadian rhythm. Really,
the earlier you eat the dinner, the better, And in
some cases I'd say I'd rather you come home and
have an earlier dinner than be having going to the
gym and then having dinner at eight o'clock. So I
think it's just being realistic with your schedule. I think
(05:26):
for some women it's acknowledging that your nutritional needs are
different from the families. So just I know it's nice
to sit down with the family, but if you've got
teenage boys a husband who comes home quite late, you
know you're really sacrificing your nutritional needs for them. Depending
on what your goals are, and specifically, if your goal
is fat loss, you will certainly be better to prioritize
your own nutritional needs earlier and have that meal earlier, even.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
If you can.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
If you can't routinely and you still want to sit down,
I'd say you've got to shift your calories more into
the day where lunch is more substantial, afternoon snack at
four is more substantial, so dinner can be that lighter
top up if you haven't eaten very much between lunchtime
at one o'clock and eight o'clock at night, you will
overeat because your body's trying to play catch up with it.
(06:13):
So I think just be realistic about where the calories sit,
and if you do choose to have the late night dinner,
pre empt that by having more in the day so
you don't end up over hungry. And the other thing
I'm seeing with a lot of clients lean is that
they're all in love with the protein pudding. So there's
several brands who have protein puddings. I think there's the Pools,
there's the r Low and the RockA Bees, and they're
(06:34):
increasing in range every time I look. There's more. I
think Muscle Nation have got a new range of protein. Yeah,
now you don't need to sit down to a meal
of chicken breast or steak and veggies and then load
up with another twenty grams of protein an hour later.
I know there's a lot of focus on protein in
the diet, but if you're having a decent server protein
(06:56):
that is giving you thirty even forty grams, you don't
need to then back it up with twenty for dessert.
So keep that in mind as well. It works well
I find for vegetarian clients who maybe struggle to get
the protein in at dinner, but if you eat animal
based food, you don't need them to back up your
dessert with a protein load. I'm happy with it just
to be more of a one hundred calorie frozen yogurt
or ice cream on a stick or limpball. You don't
(07:18):
need the extra protein. So I'm seeing that too, So yeah,
I think it's just being adjusting and just making sure nutritionally,
particularly what your goals are.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I've got some girls who are trading cross fit up
super early and they eat eight o'clock at night, and
they'll still have a portion of carbohydrate that's very different
from someone who's ninety kilo's insulin resistant and really needs
to wake up hungry or and shift calories into the
first half.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Of the day.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
So I generally try and have the final meal by seven,
and then if people are having a dessert by eight,
aiming for that ideal twelve hours overnight without food to
allow the gut microbiome to have a break and regenerate.
So at a minimum you'd want ten, but I really
would try and get twelve. And you can see that
if you're eating at eight or nine at night and
(08:04):
then having snacks later, it's shifting everything back the next day,
you're not waking out hungry. Hence the rationale for what
is a lighter dinner. And in terms of lighter dinners,
you know, if it's after eight o'clock at night and
you're having sort of a bigger lunch and afternoon snack,
that's where it's that more three hundred cow dinner when
it's later. So things like the soup, the white fish
(08:24):
and green veggies, the plain chicken breastir fry, you know
that kind of food then. But yeah, I would just
argue that if you're playing calorie catch up, it's sort
of it's not ideal when it particularly comes to body
fat loss.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
And I think it is worth noting, like we said
in the beginning, it's not something that is like a
one size fits.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
All rule really.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I mean, ultimately it comes down to calories, right. It
is really how many calories you consume throughout the entire
day that's going to make a difference in terms of
fat loss. But there are some small things like as
Susie mentioned, Katie, and rhythm does play a role. The
body is a little bit more insulinced sensitive earlier in
the day. Yes, some of these things matter, but you know,
we can't overhype them. For some people they don't matter
as much. For others they matter a little bit more.
(09:06):
But really, timing, yes, we like to you know, it
plays a role in terms of how well you're sleeping
at nine, maybe gut health, digestion, but it's not more
important than how much you're eating overall, if the ultimate
goal is fat loss. But if you ask someone that
is really prioritizing more of that snack based food, you
have to remember that you're never going to get the
type of good quality nutrition that you can get from
(09:28):
a well balanced meal from multiple snacks. And often i'll
you know, like Susia have clients who get to five
o'clock and they say, look, dinner won't be till seven thirty, eight,
eight thirty because hubby's working late, the kids are eating.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Now what should I do?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I'm like, hands down, eat your dinner, eat a proper
well balanced meal, don't have a snack then, and then
try to have a little snack later on with hubby
when he gets home at eight o'clock because it's just
too like, it's too late. So you're far better off
having a well balanced meal earlier in the day and
then having something a little bit lighter, like a protein
putting at eight pm. If you've had a well balanced
dinner five five point thirty early, if you've got little
(10:02):
kids like I do, so it is okay to have
a snack or two later on if you're hungry, but
don't do it at the expense of having a well
balanced meal, because you can never get the type of
good quality nutrition that a well balanced meal provides in
multiple snacks. You might hit the macro targets, you might
get any bit of carbs and protein from many snacks,
but you're not going to get in the micro nutrients
(10:23):
and the volume. And that's a tidy factor that are
really well balanced meal with low GI carbohydrates, a good
source of protein, some healthy fats, and you know, lots
of fiber and fresh food. What that well balanced meal
will provide will not come from multiple snacks. So that's
probably the main focus we want you to think about
as dieticians is where can I get that well balanced
(10:43):
dinner in. And for a lot of us, the earlier
the better because it does tend to prevent some of
that late night snacking. So that's probably just the point
we really want to hit home about, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Yeah, the five o'clock is too late, and then you're
better to have a soup or a salad then almost
half the dinner earlier, rather than allowing yourself to have
the snack for which, of course, as we know, Leanne,
what does everyone love? Everyone loves the bars, So yes,
you better to have dinner all right? Well, moving on
to quick and easy meals, We're going to talk about
a topic that I think will be interesting to a
(11:14):
lot of our listeners for anyone who enjoys canned tuna,
because can tuna is without doubt one of the most
nutrient rich, budget friendly, high protein foods you can have
in your diet. We don't can tuna in Australia. There's
a couple of boutique brands that do have some, but
in general the mainstream brands you see in supermarket are
all important and there is a really wide range of
(11:36):
varieties available and also price points, you know. And what
we've found having a look at this is that just
because you pay more for your tuna doesn't necessarily guarantee
the quality or the basically the amount of tuna that
you would get in a tin. So as a general
rule of thumb, when it comes to canned goods, what
(11:56):
you're looking for is the highest percentage of the actual
ingredient in there. So, for example, there's been some recent
posts on Instagram looking at tin tomatoes, and it can differ.
You know, some varieties can have as much as eighty
percent tomato that you're paying for and some as low
as forty or fifty, so that it does differ. And
just because something's a dollar doesn't mean it's got the
lowest amount of tomatoes by any means.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And same with tuna.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
You really got to take your magnifying glass and work
through to see how much is in there. Now, first
I would say is that I'm a tin salmon fan,
which some people are not. But when you buy, even
though it's quite expensive, the tinned red salmon, and you
look at the ingredient list, it's ninety nine percent salmon.
So even though it's quite expensive, I think it's about
(12:39):
fifteen dollars for the large can, you're getting all fish
in there. There's no filler, there's no water, it's just
a little bit of salt and salmon. So in terms
of you're basically getting what you're paying for in terms
of a lot of good quality fish. That is not
the case with tuna. My chemeras are surprisely and that
the highest percentage of tuna in tin tuna is about
(12:59):
seventy five percent. Generally it's a lot of water added
it might be oil. Where you see the oil varieties,
there's quite a big difference in the percentages, but overall
that's the highest amount you'll get is about seventy to
seventy five. Now, we would generally say if you're buying
tin fish, you're much better to pay just for the
fish in spring water, or if you want it in oil.
(13:21):
The options that have extravaginal I think generally just olive
oil in there is key because you generally they're the
ones with the higher percentage of fish. So I'm just
looking at one of them. The Serena lemon and pepper
is seventy eight percent tuna compared to say the Mexican
style wil worst tuna, which is only thirty five percent tuna.
(13:42):
So that basically means you're paying for a whole lot
of fillers and sauces. And if you don't mind having
the tuna in spring water and then adding your own
flavors to it. You're there knowing that you're paying for
the fish and you can season it yourself, but you're
going to get a much higher percentage overall rolling through
actually because another dietician's done all the work of the numbers.
(14:03):
So from Daily Serve Nutrition, we thank you. But yeah,
in terms of brands Serena, most Serena varieties, even if
they've got a flavor through them, are over seventy percent tuna.
Some of them go down a little bit lower, but
the most popular varieties that I know people have, which
are in sort of the Italian style source, the light variety,
the plain one in Chile, they're all over seventy percent.
(14:25):
So they're all pretty good varieties, as is the Wild
Tides variety, and that also is quite a lot cheaper,
so that's almost half what you're paying for the Serena tuna,
which I guess known as a more boutique brand. The
pouches are pretty good. The Safgo pouches are all over
seventy percent as well, and when you get to green
(14:46):
seas that's when it starts to reduce down. So the
highest one they've got, which is a skip jack tuna
they're tuna and oil is only sixty eight percent and
goes down as long as fifty. The John West Premium
in the black all over seventy, but again you're paying
a lot more for it, and John West in general,
you're paying a lot more for it, And something like
their mango Chili one is as low as forty four
(15:08):
percent tuna, but still retailing close to three dollars for
ninety five grams. You also lean can't assume that because
it's home brand it's poorer quality, because some of the
home brands, for example, the Audi range can actually be
incredibly high, as can the coal. So the coals specific
yellow fins are all over seventy percent, as are the
ocean Rise range stocked in Audi, which again retails at
(15:30):
about half the price of the mainstream tumors, and they
with the exception of one variety, the put and Esca,
the others are all over seventy. So you would argue
that in terms of budget costs and quality of tuna,
Audi actually rates incredibly highly in their tin tuna amounts,
in both their kind of prestige ocean Rise brand as
(15:52):
well as their sort of port view which is known
as the cheaper one, So in many cases you're not
better to spend more on tuna. You're actually getting pretty
good amounts tuna, particularly in the yellow range at Aliti,
just as high as the Serrena and certainly the John
West at about half the price point. The next best
option after that is the Coals range, which the majority
(16:14):
are over seventy percent, and in fact their lemon and
pepper is eighty percent tuna for a dollar ten, so
an incredibly good investment, whereas Woolly's fair far poorer Leanne
in their tuna. So I think they've got this boutique
range Pacific. Their Pacific one is better at two dollars twenty,
but they're one dollar ten range. They're all under sixty
(16:34):
five percent, and most of them are under sixty coming
in at fifty. So you'd actually when you're going for
home brand, you'd be more inclined to go for the
basic coals varieties, which self are just over a dollar
and you're getting in most of them over seventy percent tuna.
So it doesn't translate paying more for the boutique brands,
it really and I understand flavors a thing. I know
(16:57):
a lot of my clients prefer Serena as a flavor option,
but you certainly pay up to three times as much
for that, Whereas if you want to put a bit
of your own sauce and seasoning in the coal's home
brand or the Audi varieties both there prestige and lesser brand,
you're actually getting much better value for money, which I
think is really important at this time when we're just
(17:17):
getting bent over with three prices NonStop.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
You're a tuna eater. What do you buy?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I'm a tune reader, but I'll say it, I don't
love it.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I eat it because it's convenient, be its high protein
and see it's very budget friendly. But I can't do
can salmon like to me, it's too fishy, and a
lot of the tuna varieties for me are too fishy.
So I don't really do spring water unless I am
putting some like male or something stronger tasting through it,
or mixing it with, sayor a cottage. She is an avocado.
A lot of my clients like yours, like the Serena
(17:47):
from a taste perspective, And let's be honest, who's buying
tuna full price? Like I always wait till it's you know,
thirty forty fifty percent off, and the home band varieties
don't really go on sale, so it is better if
you are someone that likes something like the Tuna Serena
or the Wild Tide's brand, wait till they're on sale
and stock up because tuna has a great shelf life,
like you can keep them in the pantry for months
and months. My favorite one actually is the Wild Tied
(18:10):
smoked one, so only get it when it's fifty percent off,
and it's like, you know, a dollar something in tin,
and I find that that smoky texture gets rid of
that fishy smell and fishy taste.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And my girls eat the smoke one as well.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So it is a little bit higher in sodium, but
to me, it's so versatile you can basically put it
into anything. And my little kids eat it too, which
it's really hard to get small children to eat things
like tin tuna because it is quite should we say
offensive smelling, like it's very strong, let's be honest, And
that's why I have a lot of clients who really
shrugle to have tuna in any form because of the
smell and the taste of it. So I think that
(18:43):
if you ask someone that likes the flavored varieties, that's fine.
But knowing that you know a lot of those flavored
varieties are twelve thirteen grams of protein and tin only,
so perhaps using two tins is a good hack really
to drive that protein closer to that twenty five thirty
grams of protein, which if you're a female thirty forty
plus and you're looking to lose weight, that's ideally where
you want your protein range to sit. So perhaps two
(19:05):
tins of the flavored option or a tin plus adding
it a bit more protein like some chickpeas or some
cottage cheese or something like that, or putting it on
a couple of good slices of quality grainy bread like
a berg and soy lin is going to really help
to drive that protein range up. So it's one thing
to know what you're paying for, but I think the
taste is really a really key part as well. But
me personally, my hack is to get the smoked range
(19:27):
because you're still getting a really high percentage of tuna.
The one I like is like seventeen points something grams
per tin, which is great, And then if I put
that onto like a sandwich, I might use a bit
of cottage cheese or a slice of say the Yellsberg
Swiss cheese or something like that to add a little
couple of extra grams of protein to get that well
over sort of twenty grams. And to me, that's a
very budget friendly, sort of easy lunch option as well.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
True true trudery. So buyer beware when it comes to
your tuna. But again, you know, if you're eating tuna,
we wouldn't say to eat tuna every day anyway, because
you can have a bit too much of it, But
say you're eating it every second day, you can literally
save yourself three five bucks a week every week just
by swapping your tuner over to one that you like.
So check out the ones at Aldi and even the Coals,
and if you lack one with the flavor, anything over
(20:11):
seventy is a pretty good investment. And really, if you
like salmon, go the tin red salmon because you're getting
a much higher amount of Amiga threes. So if you
buy the ten dollar one in the Coals or Allies
brand and getting four or five lunches out of it,
you're still any paying two dollars and you're getting a
lot more nutrition with no additives at all. Okay, Lee Anne,
Now I've got to high protein food you're going to
(20:31):
review for us today. And I think this is a
super interesting product because I think if you picked it
up as I did initially for one of my trolleys,
I thought it was going to be an amazing option.
But it's an interesting one, isn't it. The Sunny Queen
Bacon and Cheese protein bites. They're definitely in coals. I'm
not sure if they're in Willies. But have you seen them?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I have seen them. I haven't tried them, I think
quite a while ago.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
I tried them, but they were like a vegetarian version,
maybe with a bit of tomato or spinach or something.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
And they were good.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
But let's run through and we'll have a discussion because
they're interesting is a good word. So they're the Sunny
Queen Bacon and Cheese protein bytes. A bag is two
hundred grams and on the front of the packet the
three call outs are twenty seven grams of protein, so
high in protein, high in fiber, with seventeen grams of
carb and three hundred and eighty one calories included free.
So they're the call outs on the front of the pack. Now,
(21:23):
when we look at the ingredient list, it's pretty long
for like a little egg bite Like that was my
first sort of you know reference. I was like, that's
a long ingredient list. So it's exit sixty nine percent,
followed by skim milk powder, and then cheese with you know, milk, salt, cultures, enzymes,
anti caking, Adrian preservatives. Then you've got bacon, pork, water, salt, sugar,
(21:43):
and mulsified dextros. Then you've got some antioxidants, some acidity regulators,
some sodium nitrate, some flavor, some vegetable oil, some modified
corn starch, some stabilizers, some salt, some natural smoke flavor,
and some herbs. So definitely not what we would call
a very wholesome ingredient list. They are certainly using some
more processed foods to make up this processed food, but
(22:06):
it is sort of, I guess, aimed at a convenient,
protein based snack. So looking at the nutritionals, the first
thing that to me makes this very interesting was that
it's one server pack and I was like, that's a
big bag, so they expect you to eat that entire
two hundred grand bag in one serve. To me, I'd
be like, oh no, that's way too much flavor fatigue,
Like it's just too much. Like to me, you'd have
(22:27):
a couple as a snack, or you'd put a few
on the side of a meal, and that's a meal
in itself. I don't see any world where somebody's eating
an entire bag of these, So that's the first point
I'll make. But per serving, which is obviously the whole
two hundred grand bag, you've got basically sixteen hundred kilogels,
So that's like close to four hundred calories coming in
(22:47):
in just your little eggy protein botes. And yes, you're
getting twenty seven point six grams of protein, but I
could probably think of one hundred better ways to get
twenty seven grams of protein for four hundred calories, let's
be honest. So it's not what I would consider a
good protein load for the calorie ratio basically. And then
fat wise, it is twenty one grams of fat, so
about ten and a half percent fat, so not low fat,
(23:10):
a seven point two of that being saturated fat due
to I'm imagining the cheese and the bacon seventeen point
four gram of carbohydrate and six hundred milligrams of sodium,
which is a big whack of sodium. But again, I
don't think anyone's eating that whole bag. And then there's
a call out saying that it's high in fiber, and
then there's six grams of dietary fiber per little for
(23:32):
the entire bag as well, and I'm like, where is
this dietary fiber coming from? And I'm thinking that it's
the modified corn starch because that's the only thing on
the ingredient list I can see that would give you fiber.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I just think that it's deeply misleading to be claiming
twenty seven grams of protein when you have.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
To eat the whole bag.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Like, to me, it's a product you want to add
one or two in, and the protein on one or
two is so low. I'm thinking it's not even a
great egg option. Like yeah, So I just found it
fascinating because it looks really high protein, but the truth
is perserve so yeah, like, yeah, it doesn't even tell
you how many you are in there to work out
(24:15):
a serving. Yeah, but you're getting the three grams per one. Well,
just eat an egg, you're going to get six or eight.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
We'll literally get more protein out of one egg from
a much better health perspective as well, you know you're
not getting the added bacon. And also, like in this
day and age, bacon it's not great, it's not healthy.
We know that, like it should really be a special
occasion kind of treat food, Whereas I feel like this
is marketed as a real convenient food that people would
probably eat quite often. So you're never going to see
me writing bacon into a meal plan unless it's, you know,
(24:46):
something that is a real soul food for someone and
sort of you know, maybe once or twice a month.
Definitely not something that you'd look at as a convenient
option a few times a week, which I believe is
how they're sort of marketing this product.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So I feel like they've missed the mark.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I feel like they've been a bit misleading, and it's
probably not something I would recommend, not the entire bag anyway,
not for four hundred calories and only twenty seven grams
of protein. As I said, I can think of far
better ways to get that protein.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
In true, true, true, So I think it's just another
example of how You've got to be careful whenever you
see a protein claim on supermarket foods, it's not always
better and it's not always used at the right time,
which is a good example of the yogurts. You know,
the yogats can be great in the day, but you
don't need it as a dessert. So it's not about
the more protein the better. It's about using it in
strategic foods and generally speaking, when you get it from
(25:30):
whole natural foods, it's always going to be better from
a more process variety like this. All right, Len, Our
final segment is our listener question, and this was one
that came through from a long term listening and a
call a big shout out to Nick asking about a
reminder of nutritional guidelines for shift work. And I think
shift week's interesting because we think of it as overnight,
but it may not be. It might be just afternoon
(25:51):
shift where you're not finishing to eleven or starting a
day shift at six am, so you're up at four
and wondering when to eat. So the most important thing
to remember for shift workers is the closer that you
keep your food intake to your natural circadian rhythm where
you're eating the bulk of calories in daylight hours the better,
and there is an art to doing that when you're
up overnight. But metabolically it doesn't matter that you're working overnight.
(26:14):
The body remains programmed to burn in the day and
store at nighttime, which is why it's so easy for
shift workers to gain weight. So a routine that I
or regime I will encourage or try with my shift
workers is that if they are starting, for example, on
a night shift, where they might have their final bigger
meal of the day before they start that shift, maybe
(26:35):
eight or nine at night, and then try and still
have eight hours minimum overnight without food. I'll come back
to that in a minute. And then they might have
an early breakfast before they go and sleep for the day.
So they might have a breakfast at five six am,
then get home, have a sleep, wake up at three
or four, and then have kind of their lunch meal late.
Now that can work quite well. Then if they struggle
(26:57):
with neating snacks and things overnight, I'll try and keep
the fuel load as low as possible, so I would
use lighter fruits, things like berries, plain tea, even things
like nuts that don't have a heavy carbohydrate load, so
if they do need a little top up snack to
keep alert, it's lower on the fuel side. So yeah,
it's trying not to have extra meals because of course
it's the same when we fly overseas. We tend to
(27:19):
eat an extra two meals on an overseas flight because
we're eating at both ends of the day. You've got
to steal try and stick to kind of three meals
and maybe one light snack, but minimize the calories that
are going in overnight the best you can. And it's
like everything, it is a programming effect. If you've programmed
to eat your biggest meal at two am, your body
will look for it. But really, ideally when it comes
(27:40):
to metabolism and hormone control and weight control, you will
be better if you can still have at least stay
between midnight and six am or ten and six am
or ten and five am without food with minimal calories
going in, And that would be a timely And I
would maybe use things like those sort of low sugar
lollies and things that people are having some calories but
(28:00):
minimal in terms of the better to have that than
natural chocolate or miles bars to keep themselves up late
at night, functional foods that are low sugar, just to
keep them up if they need it, but really trying
to work on minimizing the intake of food overnight.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I think it's a.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Really tricky one because shipwork in general, breaks are so sporadic.
Like I have so many of my ladies who are
you know, they might be doctors, nurses, that kind of thing,
and like it's so hit and miss whether they even
get a meal break. Like, yes, legally they should, but
the reality is that often, particularly during day shifts, things
can just go sideways so quickly, and you know, if
I've got some clients that are doctors or nurses and
(28:34):
they're in a surgery or something, they might be in
there for eight, ten, twelve hours, like they just don't
really get that regular meal break. So I do find
the benefit of my shift workers on overnight shifts is
that you do sort of get that opportunity to have
a little bit more of a regular meal break because
it doesn't tend to be as chaotic overnight than it
does during the day. But I think that with shipwork,
(28:55):
your bodyclock is so disrupted, and I think for a
lot of people they don't regularly do that shift where
it's overnight. They might do it for say a week on,
a couple of weeks off, then go back on it again.
So it makes it so difficult for your body clock,
and it really does throw off things like your hunger hormone,
your energy levels, even digestion can go way off when
you're doing overnight shifts or different shift work. So I think,
(29:17):
like you said, Susie, that consistent meal timing and that
structure is really key to staying in control. So really
set yourself a goal like, as Susie said, have you
a bigger meal just before you start. To me, I
like to sort of have that early morning meal. Like
I think, to me, going eight ten hours without a
proper meal is a really really long time. I know myself,
(29:37):
I would really struggle with that. So if I am
going to get a meal break and it might be
around that sort of two three am, I would encourage
someone to have sort of a breakfast meal, then when
they come home, have something quite light and go straight
to bed, rather than trying not to eat overnight and
then having a big meal and then going directly to bed.
So I'd sort of do that a little bit differently
where they're coming home, they're having something light like a
(29:58):
little bit of a snack and maybe a tea, and
then they're heading off for their big sleep. So I
think it is that structure, however it works for you,
is super important. But the probably the most important thing
is to minimize snacking as much as possible, and it's
so difficult, particularly if you are in a hospital. Susie
and I've both worked in hospitals before. There's just food everywhere.
There's there's biscuits, there's lollies, there's chocolate, like patients bring
(30:20):
you gifts. It's just food absolutely everywhere. So it's it's
easier said than done. Don't snack, but it is really
something that if you can try to prioritize, minimize the
snacking and go for really those balanced meals because you
need that vegetable load, you need that lower GI carbohydrate,
you need that adequate amount of protein to really get
you through those massive shifts and prevent a lot of
(30:41):
that fatigue or those blood sugar spikes and drops. So
that's probably the most effective strategy for shift working is
balance meals, but trying to get the timing of those right,
like Susie said, and it will work a little bit
different to everyone, but ideally you still want to be
having a good three four hours between meals, even if
you are on an overnight shift, and you're better off
(31:01):
to have a well balanced meal then trying to eat
quote unquote lightly and just having a snack every one
or two hours, which I feel like people might do
because they feel like it's lighter, but the reality is
it's actually more calories overall, and it does tend to
be heavier in terms of carbohydrates in fats than what
a well balanced meal may be as well. So that's
probably a good little takeaway frashship workers is try to
(31:22):
maintain that structure as much as possible, focus on well
balanced meals, and try as best as you can to
minimize that snacking if you can.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
What do you think true true true? All very good tips.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Well brings us to the end of the Nitiing Catch
episode number forty seven in Draft, which we finally managed
to knock out, which we're very proud of. And if
you do know that your diet needs a little bit
more protein, a creatine hit, maybe a bit of collagen
or a magnesium boost to help with your sleep, go
and check out our range of scientifically formulated supplements at
design Bydietitians.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Dot com and we will catch you next week for
the next episode.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Drop
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