Most Australians eat chicken schnitzel regularly. Most are unknowingly buying one where barely a third of the product is actually chicken.
This week Leanne and Susie went through every pre-crumbed and frozen chicken schnitzel option across Coles, Woolworths, and Aldi, checked the labels, compared the protein and chicken percentages, and came back with a definitive ranking of which ones are genuinely worth buying and which ones are quietly ripping you off.
Spoiler: the best option in the whole supermarket is not what most people expect.
In this episode:
A full ranking of supermarket chicken schnitzels by chicken percentage and protein content, including the specific products from Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Lilydale, Steggles, and Cleavers Organic that Leanne and Susie actually recommend
Why some schnitzels are as low as 28% chicken, what is filling the rest of the product, and the one word to look for on the label that almost always signals a better option
Why a chicken schnitzel from the supermarket has roughly half the protein and double the calories of a plain chicken breast, and how to build it into a meal without undoing your nutrition goals
How to make a significantly better version at home in under 10 minutes using ingredients you probably already have, including an air fryer method Susie swears by
New research from a 25-year longitudinal study at the University of Manchester on breakfast timing, cognitive ageing, and why the timing of your meals in older age is a more important health marker than most people realise
Why your parents eating dinner at 5pm might actually be a sign they are ageing well, and the subtle shift in meal habits that can signal early cognitive decline worth paying attention to
Flavoured Medjool dates: the True Dates range reviewed, why dates have a significant health halo that the numbers do not fully support, and when Leanne actually recommends them to clients
The high-protein yogurt question answered: is it actually worth paying more for Chobani, YoPro, or Coles Perform over standard Greek yogurt, and when does the extra protein genuinely matter
Shop Designed by Dietitians:
If your protein, creatine, magnesium, or hydration needs a bit of a boost, explore the full evidence-based range at designedbydietitians.com
Keep telling your friends about The Nutrition Couch so this show can keep reaching the people who need it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Are you one of our many listeners who loves a
chicken snitty Whether you crumb your own, whether you buy
pre crumbed or op for a frozen option, The quality
of crumb chicken in supermarkets differs significantly, so on today's
episode of The Nutrition Couch, we look at all of
the different chicken snitzel options in the supermarket and share
which ones are on our family's favorite list and which
ones are not. Hi. I'm Leanne Wood and I'm Sussi Burrew,
(00:26):
and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast with everything that you need to know in the
world of nutrition as well as chicken snizles. We have
a new study which explores the link between breakfast and aging.
We also have a new potentially healthy snack option, and
our listener question is all about yogurt. But to kick
is off today, Susie chicken snitties, Like, who doesn't love
(00:49):
a chicken sizl Right, it's like a staple, It's like
an Aussie staple.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
True, But I.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Think there's we need to because our listeners don't see
us well, they see us online, but they're not seeing
us all the time each day having a chatli Leanne,
who I speak to more than anyone in my life,
the best part of my days. But Leanne, you've got
a new relationship that I think you need to talk
about with our listeners. Have you not, Leanne, who do
you engage with more on a daily basis than myself
(01:14):
and my husband?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Be honest or my children? GDP, me and AI are
becoming roy good friends lately, Lianne.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It puts everything through chat GPT now, so even when
I get a message and I can tell she's cranky,
I can tell that she's put it into chat GTPP.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I say, respectfully, help me reply to SUSI, what do.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I do with a business partner? It's making me furious,
But yeah, you're getting a lot out of our chat GTP,
including our data on Chicken sitzal today, which she popped
in and said, what's the best chicken citzil and supermarkets?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Did you not?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, I've got a marketing plan for designed by dieticians.
It helps me run the numbers. When my accountant sends
me stuff back which looks like another language, I say,
put this in layman's terms and explain what my accountant
means has.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Been making me.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
She us chat GPT, and I have been very resistant
because I naturally think that my writing's better than anything
in the world. But even I now am putting everything
through chat GTP, I'm thinking, oh, my EM's sounding so
much nice, so I do a little jews. We're putting
all that ads through it. It's addictive. I won't lie
to you. It's addictive.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, But you do have to check the quality
of the stuff that comes out of it, because it
is a yes man. It just tells you everything you
want to hear, and often things are very incorrect.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, when Leanne says my business partner's annoying me, they
don't say to Leanne, it's your problem. They say it's
the business partner. But no, in all seriousness, we're mucking around, obviously,
But I do think in terms of and I've written
an article on this for Body and Soul about using
AI for diets because people you can literally and a
client of mine did this. So I wrote her meal
plan and then she said to me that she put
(02:43):
it into chat GTP. I was horrified for a minute
till I thought, oh, well, she put it into chat GPT,
because then chat GP wrote her her shopping list off.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It, and I thought, how good's that? That's super smart.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So whilst I would you can't get an individualized plan
that's right for you through chat GTP. You can get
a rough guide, absolutely, but it's never going to include
all the ranges of brands the best options for you
that you get from a dietitian.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'll firmly stand by that.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But I thought it was a smart way of doing
it because she put it through to get the shopping list,
and you can then say, so, I thought that that
was actually quite smart. So I think you can use
it for tools like that, or you might say I've
got this ingredient or I need this kind of meal.
What can you come up with using these ingredients? So
I think that can be a really good use of
it too. But you deep dive it, like I've started
(03:33):
to put our little ads through it, and it's addictive,
like you just are on it NonStop, like so I
think you have to manage your use of it. But
certainly it's fascinating the volume of stuff that it can
churn out when you're doing things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, it's basically a supercharged Google like it basically is
a huge, huge search engine and database so it gets
you to it. I always say, it gets you to
the first base fast basically, and then you start with
the first base and you optimize it from.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
The invitations and tiles and graphics amazing, Like my friend
just did her fiftieth birthday invitations on it. Like, yeah,
super fun to have a bit of a play. But yeah,
he's David getting annoyed with you that you're always on it.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now he's on it more than I am. He's addicted. No,
he's addicted to Claude lately. Actually, he's coding our entire websites.
So if anyone's to go check out designed by dieticians.
That's all David Stae work coding with. He's now considered
himself a program coder with claud and AI. He's done
a very good job optimizing our website. He's actually fired
our website developers because you've got the ships that they
were taking too long and we're going back and forth
(04:33):
and they weren't understanding what we wanted. So he fired
them and he's taken over himself and he's actually done
a really great job. The website's looking very smick lately.
You don't have to have meetings with GTB. You just
have to tell it and I keep writing thank you,
thank you. I don't think that chats. It's also you
can forget your manners, so don't forget. I always say please,
thank you when it does stuff for me. So yes,
(04:53):
Madame Black, you know robots might take over the world.
You've got to keep them on side, you got to
keep them happy. True, very truuge manners.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Serious topics where we've used its off like chick.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Chicken we love it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
No, we will say we have vetted this, We've gone
through the soupermarket, We've checked it all to make sure
it is accurate. We did not use chat gitp SEUs.
It's not making us sound bad. It is all better.
I've checked the labels were all good. But we are
talking about chicken stint cells because the reality is that
every Aussie including us, loves a chicken ctitda. But if
you go to the pub, it is very likely probably
about double the amount of food that most women need.
(05:27):
It's not really the most efficient source of protein either,
because it's breaded, it's crumbed, its steep fried. So if
you compare a chicken stent sel to a regular chicken breast.
It's often about half the protein and often about double
the calorie load, So it does make it difficult because
it does have additional carbohydrates and fat in there in
the crumbing and the deep frying of the chicken stitt sel,
(05:48):
But it is very, very delicious. So how you have
that chicken stetcel on, how you build that into a
balanced meal is probably another discussion, because today we are
just talking about the best pre made options in supermarket.
So you're never going to find a chicken snitzel obviously
with like ninety or one hundred percent chicken on the label,
because it's got the crumbing and the breading and that
kind of thing. So anything over about sixty percent you're
(06:11):
onto an absolute winner, sixty percent chicken. If it's over
about fifty fifty percent, it's still better than some of
the options because some of the options are actually as
low as twenty or thirty percent chicken, which really does
I guess bug the question like what are you actually
eating If your chicken Stitzel's only got thirty five percent chicken?
What is the rest? You know, what is in there?
So realistically, you want if you can find upwards of
(06:34):
fifty five sixty percent chicken. So one of the best
ones we've found in the supermarket is the wool worst
macro range, the free range chicken breast filets and the
crumbsnitzew s. There's two in the pack that had sixty
seven percent chicken. Each filet was one hundred and eighty
five calories and sixteen grams of protein. So you can
see how if that was a full chicken breast that
would easily have close to thirty grams of protein, if
(06:57):
not more in it. This full snitzel only seen grams
of protein, so it does come at a cost. Is
it delicious, yes, But if really driving up your protein
intake to support your metabolical satiety, that kind of thing
is your goal, perhaps the chicken breast is more on
an occasional thing rather than a regular weekly kind of thing. Now,
the next option we founded the soupermarket that was very
(07:19):
good is lily Dale, the lily Dale fresh range of
chicken breast snitzls and that had two hundred and fifteen
calories of fill it but only thirteen grams of protein.
And one of the ones in the frozen section was Stegulls,
the crumbed chicken breast snitzl. And I think there's a
difference where all three of the top ones we found
in terms of the percentage of chicken all had breast
(07:39):
in the name, so chicken breast fill it or chicken
breast snitzl. Whereas if I look down my list at
some of the lower protein options, they didn't have chicken breast.
They all just said chicken snitzel. So I think if
there's something that you look out for on the label,
look for the chicken stinsels or the crumbed chicken that
have breast in the name, and you're probably onto a winner.
So the Staggulls one was the crumb chicken breast snitzl
(08:01):
one Philip was one hundred and eighty five calories with
sixteen grams of protein, So that one's pretty much on
part with the wool worst macro free range one. That
one's a fresh version, rosisteguls ones is a frozen version.
Now in coals, the best option was the coals fresh
chicken Snitzl. That one had sixty percent chicken for one
hundred and seventy five calories for a little philet with
(08:24):
sixteen grams of protein too, So still pretty good. The
highest protein percentage we were able to find in the
supermarket was sixteen grams. We didn't find higher than that
in one sizzle. And then there's also another brand called
Cleaver's Organic that's a little bit harder to find. That
was sixty percent chicken with thirteen grams of protein and
two sixty calories. Now, when we talk about some of
the dud suzie, some of the worst ones we found
(08:47):
was the Coals one, but the Coals Fresh one of
the Coals Fresh the simply Chicken Snitzl. So the good
one was the Coals Chicken Snitzl with sixteen grams of
protein a filet. The dud one was the Simply Fresh
Chicken Stinzl with only thirty nine percent chicken, which only
had nine grams of protein a serve yet two hundred
(09:08):
and seventy calories. The good one in wool Worst is
a free range macro chicken breast filet. And the dud
one in Woolworst was the Woolworst Chicken Snitzal and there's
eight no twelve in that packet. That one only had
forty one percent chicken for eleven grams of protein. And
then when we looked at Aldi, the options were not
great from a high protein percentage, they were pretty low,
(09:31):
and actually one of the worst ones we saw in
Aldi was the Audi Fresh version, which only had twenty
eight percent chicken, Like what else are you putting in
their Aldi for eleven grams of protein and two sixty
calories per snitzele So that's a little rundown of the
best options in the supermarket, but two out of the
four of the highest ones with the home brand variety,
So it's not to say that just paying more is
(09:53):
a better option, whereas the Woolworst Macro range actually came
out as one of the best options, and then of
course a Lily was next, So it's not necessarily a
thing of if you pay more you're going to get
better quality or higher protein. This is really one of
those cases where you do need to read the nutrition label.
And of course, you know we always get common susie
with people, so make your own yes, But the reality
(10:15):
is that of course that's going to be better. But
a lot of women are very busy and they want
a quick Friday night dinner, something that doesn't break the budget,
and sometimes some crumb chicken from the supermarket is delicious
and a lot more budget friendly than going out the
pub and paying thirty forty dollars for just you know,
one meal. So, of course homemade is always going to
be best. If you can blitz up some whole grain bread,
put a few lindseeds in there, make your own crumbing
(10:37):
pan fried in some extraversion olive oil, of course that
is going to be a better option. But if you
are busy and you want something that is pre made,
these are probably your best option. And I personally would
be heading to Calls and wil West because the Aldi
ones didn't really stack up.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
True.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I think that if you get some chicken tenderloins and
smash up some different grains like oats work quite well,
and do it in the air fryer, you're absolutely better off.
Like it's actually super hard to find a good quality schinzl.
I'll often see clients who'll grab, say the lily Dale
ones because they look healthier, and then they're shocked when
(11:16):
they're two or three hundred calories for a single piece
of schnitzel that might have less than twenty grams of protein.
So I think that the fish isn't much better, but
at least with fish you've got like the steam fresh
filets that are all sort of fish eighty percent fish.
The chicken ale needs a lot of work. I buy
one from Costco, which is a Kinwa crumb on a
(11:39):
Stegles and I think it's like sixty to maybe even
sixty seven percent chicken. It's pretty high and they're small
chicken pieces with a whole grain type crumb. They're really good.
But I notice they're not readily available in supermarkets. But
it's certainly a section that I'd love to just completely
go through and rebuild. It's really poor in general, so
(12:01):
whilst there's a couple that aren't too bad, you are
a hundred times better to do it yourself. I do
sometimes in my ebooks like a crumb with LSA mix
where you just put the egg and do it LSA,
or like a nut or sea crumb that's incredibly good
for you. And then if you do it in the
air fa you get them nice and crispy. So the
takeout messages, if you have capacity, you are a million
times better to crumb yourself. Oh even and of course
(12:22):
lean with old bread, just blitz it up if you've
got old burg and soilin or any kind of multi
grain crumb that is going to be a million times
better than most of the store bought options. So there
are some that aren't too bad, but ultimately we have
to be honest, they're not great nutritionally on the whole,
so be sort of careful and just because they look healthy,
(12:43):
most of those ones are only fifty percent chicken. And
another option is, you know, if you've got just a
chicken breast and cooked it with a little bit of
mozzarella cheese grated some pasada, you'll get a flavored chicken
breast that way, and then you avoid the crumb altogether.
And that can be just as quick and easy too.
So there are options, all rightly. And when I stumbled
across a new study in a big journal and an
(13:05):
article published in Nature, which is one of the biggest
scientific journals in the world, and it tickled my fancy
because it was talking about breakfast timing and health and
well being for older adults. So it was part of
a really big study published in Oh I thought it
was in Nature, but this is saying it's in Communications Medicine.
Oh no, it's part of Nature. Sorry, And it's quite new.
(13:25):
It was published just last year, and it was looking
at positive health steps older individuals can take to preserve
health as they move through the lifespan, and with an
aging population, that's quite relevant of people looking how do
you improve quality of life and health outcomes and variables.
So it was data from over twenty nine hundred individuals
(13:47):
enrolved in a longer chudental study coming out of the
University of Manchester called the University of Manchester Longer Itudinal
Study of Cognition in Normal Healthy Old Age with five
repeated assessments over a twenty five year period, and one
of the key variables that they found was that the
time of day that older people were consuming their meals
(14:11):
were influencing their cognitive capacity. So they found that in
older age, later breakfast in dinner times, later eating midpoint,
which is where you have the bulk of your calories,
and a shorter daily eating windows, so for example, they
were your age worse when you basically had everything pushed
(14:33):
back in the day. And that was assessing a whole
range of health variables including fatigue, oral health, depression, anxiety,
and regular disease states. And one of the most powerful
variables was that particularly later breakfasts were associated with reduced
cognitive efficiency through the lifespan. So they thought that, yeah,
(14:54):
even that lifestyle habit or one of the areas we study,
which is called chrono neutral a show, which is the
timing of meals with something that we could all be
on top of. Now, what I find interesting with these
is that my experience with older populations, including my own parents,
is that meal times are very very important, and my
(15:16):
parents would certainly, who are seventy eight, would not start
the day without breakfast. My mum eats breakfast at seven
o'clock every day, and dinner is certainly very high on
the agenda.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So I was interested.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Because I know that you know, we'll laugh about being
at the RSL clubs and having dinner at five and
six pm earlier, which is what the research is showing
is better for aging and cognitive aging in particular. But yeah,
so I don't know who are the old people in
these studies who are eating late, because it's certainly not
my experience with an aging population.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
What about your parents, Leanna, are they early or late eaters?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I think they're around like seven o'clock for dinner, and
then yeah, they have brecky normally around that sort of
seven am mark. My dad sort of eats seminity wakes up,
so sometimes it's, you know, five point thirty six o'clock
years is wet Bix's banana and light milk, because that
this is staple for years and years and years and
years and years. Whereas my mum soap is very very healthy.
There's always a bit of you know, ls A mix
and flax and all these sorts of different superfoods going
(16:10):
on her breakfast. But yeah, they're pretty regular and pretty set.
But I thought it was an interesting study because the
messaging isn't like, if you don't eat breakfast early, you'll
you know, die from coma pititi is That's not the
messaging here. It's really that it is picking up potentially
early cognitive decline. Isn't that right? When people start moving
their meals back later and later, that is potentially a
(16:30):
sign of some cognitive aging. Basically, it's not necessarily regarding
a health perspective. More so, it is more so that
it is sort of linked to decreasing cognitive health, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
It's saying that prioritizing your meals is a key factor
that grounds the day, and it appears that when people
who are aging start to lose that meal structure. It
can be a marker of cognitive and physical decline. So
actually parents who are prioritizing their meals are actually basically
(17:04):
self caring in a way that suggests they're aging and
looking after themselves. Whereas once they start to maybe miss meals,
not getting up until later in the day and then
forgetting to eat or forgetting to have a real dinner like,
they're all signs that the self cares not happening and
a marker of a negative aging state. So yeah, I
thought it was interesting. It's also a sample from the
(17:27):
UK and northern UK, and keep in mind that in
that area the light is also a big factor. They
have very short days in winter, they're probably inside a
lot more, it's incredibly cold, you know, So I think
that probably is a variable that's impacting those things as well.
Whereas Australia, luckily we have we're more seasonally blessed. We
(17:49):
don't have those particularly cold or short days the way
they do in northern Europe, and certainly the types of
foods available there to are not great. As we know,
the UK's health in general, it's not great, So yeah,
I think it's a good reminder that our parents being
focused on dinner at five six o'clock is actually associated
with better health outcomes. Like, my parents are exactly the same,
(18:11):
Like they get up and like literally my mom runs
down to the kitchen to.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Make a brain friend and we love.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
But now I'm thinking, this is obviously a good thing.
My parents are in good nick but they take the
meal times very seriously and that's actually good for their
health and certainly cognitive and aging in general. So I thought,
keep an eye on your parents meal time habits because
it can be indicative of what's going on with their
bodies in general, and if they're getting their nutrition, their
protein and prioritizing self care to be able to continue
to stay home and live hopefully a long and relatively
(18:39):
healthy life if they are in that phase. Alright, Lenne,
We've had a big debate about talking about this product
before we've hopped on, because I've had quite a few
dms asking me about these products, and I was ignoring
them because I hadn't seen them, and the company had
messaged me about talking about them, and I still haven't
(19:01):
seen them. But when I've had a look, they are
out there and people are obviously super interested in them.
And the product that we are going to have a
closer look at today is called true dates, and this
is these kind of flavored dates, which I believe there's
a lot of varieties. Like I'm looking at the Healthy
Life website, which is a subsidiary of WHAS, and it's
(19:22):
got like creamy peanut butter, sour apple flavor, watermelon cookies
and cream, so like it seems to be like an
indulgent date. And then online, certainly people make these special
dates themselves, don't they. They get a date and they put
peanut butter in it and have it as a special
treat and all these things. So we've decided to cover it,
(19:43):
and we've got some thoughts don't really end. So first
of all, have you seen them in your willigues? That's
where apparently they are.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
No, No, my will is only has this standard plane
modual dates. But yeah, modual dates are certainly having a
moment online. One of my clients sent me a recipe
the other day. She's like, I really want to make
this and her goal is to lose fifteen killers. I said,
are you sure? It was like all of these midial
dates smashed up and like crushed with the bottom of
a glass, and then you pour peanut butter over the top,
then you pour chocolate over the top, and then sprinkle
(20:11):
sea salt. I was like, this is this is this
is pretty indulgent. I was like, if you make this
whole thing, You've got an entire tray of it, what
are you going to do? She like lives by herself,
and I was like, you can, but it's going to
be very, very very tempting. So I think madial dates
are having a moment, and they've definitely got a perceived
health halo light. Do they have some fiber and nutrients, absolutely,
but are they still higher and sugar. Absolutely. So I
(20:31):
love to use mideal dates personally as like a pre
workout option. So say I'm going to the gym and
I'm doing like a big leg day or a big
sort of conditioning session, and I need a bit of
extra carb. I'll have a couple of madial dates. I
think that's a great option. But what I'm seeing more
and more is clients using them as a I guess
healthier alternative to dessert. Right, So instead of having some chocolate,
they'll have a couple of medial dates, so it's not,
(20:54):
you know, nothing's a bad thing. It's all relative. It's all, well,
what's your goal, what's your energy input and output? All
that kind of thing. But I haven't seen these, but
they do. They do look delicious. So the one you've
chosen today is the true date sweet peach flavor. So
they're not Aussie. I go to the website and they're
in pounds, so they're made in Denmark. They say rich
(21:14):
in fiber, no added sugar, and natural flavors. So actually
finding the nutrition was a little bit hard. They don't
have the nutrition in the photos. I couldn't find it
on the wool Worst website either, but on the website
in dinyvont is the ingredient in the pitted dates with
the taste of peach. So date set ninety five percent,
which is good, it's what we'd expect, followed by trickery
root fiber my least favorite fiber from an IBS perspective,
(21:37):
followed by a vegetable fat, followed by natural flavoring and
malic acid. So just a tiny amount of things in there.
I guess to make that date a peach flavor with
ninety five percent dates, and then when you look at
the nutritional value, they've only got per one hundred gram.
So if we're talking about a madual date, I think
that's probably roughly about four dates. Right, it goes to
(21:58):
fourteen hundred killer you', which is about three hundred and
thirty calories. Of that only one point five grams of fat,
which would you expect, you know, a date is all
carbohydrate and sugar. We wouldn't want to see too much
fat in there. But here it is susy seventy one
grams of carbohydrate, of which sixty eight grams of that
is sugar. And people will say, but it's natural, Yeah,
(22:19):
it's natural sugar, But the body doesn't know if they're
differentiating between honey or syrup or natural sugar or normal
white cane sugar. It's still sugar. It still has to
go somewhere, right, It's still carbohydrate that if you're not
burning off that carbohydrate, it's going to be stored. And
then the winner here is the ten grams of natural
fiber in the dates. So I do love natural fiber
(22:39):
and madual dates. They are certainly more of a treat
than what you would call a piece of fruit. If
you had a date as is sort of like a
fruit serve. Can you count madial dates as a fruit serf?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Let's drive fruit? You can?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You could, but it is extremely concentrated sugar. So what
would a serve be?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Two? Maybe three?
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I'd say one or two on one or two? One
hundred grams is you know, seventy one grams of carbon
sixty eight grams of sugar. So as I said, that's
roughly about four four dates, I wouldn't really be recommending
four dates in a serve. I'd say more like two
maybe three is a good amount. But I certainly am
not someone who's going to be chowing down on a
dual dates at you know, nine to ten pm at
(23:18):
night as a treat. If I did want a treat,
I'd probably just have a bit of chocolate. I certainly
use dates as more of a pre or a post
workout option because they've got a great amount of carbon
sugar in there to help replenish energy stores. But I
don't think they're a bad product. I think they're a
good product, but I think there is certainly a health
halo around it. Do I prescribe and dull dates to
my clients outside of a pre or post workout option.
(23:39):
Not really. I do have some clients that love them.
Sometimes I'll give them one or two with a little
bit of peanut butter in the middle, and they're quite
happy with that as a treat or as a bit
of a snack. But I certainly don't recommend them really
on a daily basis. And you know, probably people will say,
but aren't these better than a bag of lollies? Well, yeah, sure,
but you're still probably getting the same amount of sugar,
you're just getting a more natural version. Then you've got
(24:01):
a bit of fiber in there which helps to buffer
some of that sugar load as well. But just be
where I would say in terms of the amount that
you consume, because that sugar content, like sixty eight grams
of sugar in one hundred gram serve is pretty hectic.
It's pretty high.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
True.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I think that their dates are tricky because they have
a little bit of a health halo. So we'll see
people using them in a lot of protein balls and bars,
because when you're trying to make a protein ball or
healthy music buy, you've got to have something that sticks together,
so they're often used for that. But they load the
car right up, so I'll have often people message is
there a protein boil recipe? And I'm like, well, not really,
(24:37):
because to get the protein above five or ten grams,
which is what you want from a higher protein snack,
you have to use so much protein powder makes it
really gluggy and also expensive, and then on top of that,
to get it to bind, you got to add so
much sugar, so it kind of negates the health benefits
of them. So I'm sort of I love dates too,
particularly beautiful fresh dates, but I don't use them very
(25:00):
often because they are so concentrated in sugar, unless I'm
making a Lumberjack cake, which is one of the best
cakes made with a lot of dates. So yeah, I
think you have to be careful with them. And I
think that one hundred grams is not a big packet,
like you'd eat that in one sitting if you weren't
fairly controlled. So yeah, I think they're kind of middle
ground if you like them. Sure, I haven't seen how
much they are, but I haven't even seen them, so
(25:20):
I think if they're a bit obscure, how much do
they say? Can you see on that?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Well? West says five ninety five for one hundred grand packet.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Okay, So yeah, so I'm sort of torn. I think,
if you love them, go for it. But I wouldn't
be adding them to my meal plans because I just
think that they're a risky sugary food unless I was
dealing with someone who was doing a lot of high
level training and needed that extra carbohydrate. So yeah, middle
ground on that one for me. I think they've done
a good job at keeping the bulk of the food,
the whole food, with a little bit of flavor. But
(25:47):
are they sort of super food?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
For me, they're very, like you, concentrated source of energy,
and that wouldn't suit all of our clients, all right,
they I now listener question which I don't even know
how to answer, So we'll see. You're more of a
yoga expert than I am. But it's a valid question.
There are so many high protein yogurts. Is there a
better one? And I'd be saying probably the one on sale,
because they also pack a pretty penny like if you
(26:10):
look at like Greek yogurt, like the good Old Farmer's
Union or the Coals of Willig's Greek yogat the bigger
tub sells for about four dollars that's got about eight
to ten grams of protein and ten percent fat, whereas
you're paying a lot more for the higher protein yogurts,
whether it's Shabany, Yo Pro the coals Perform, which we
also really like, the new one that's come out from
(26:31):
Farmers Union. So what do I say about it? I
like the plainer brands, so don't have a lot of
stuff at it if I'm honest. And the truth is
that if you go to Aldi and by the Audi brand,
it probably is Shabani or one of the others underneath it,
and it's a lot cheaper. So I think that I
just get the plain ones, particularly if I'm using them
for a bircher or cereal bowl, the one I will
(26:52):
invest in more than the others. I do love the
yo pro Perform range because they're so mega high and
calcium like they've got four hundred milligrams of calcium in
that black range, but you do pay extra for that.
So I always say to my clients, actually have the
one that you like, because I think yogats quite a
distinct taste, so it's important that there's one that you
actually enjoy as well. So is there a standout one.
(27:15):
I don't think there is. I think that the only
standout one nutritionally is the high Calcem Perform one. But again,
it's a distinct flavor, it's not for everyone, and it's sweetened.
It doesn't become in a plain option. I like the
Calls Perform because I think it's a nice nutrient mix
and it's at a decent price point. I used to
love the EVR, but unfortunately Willy's got rid of the
(27:35):
low fat one. They've only got full fat, so I
don't recommend that as much. But yeah, I think basically
you won't go wrong with any of them. They're pretty good,
and it's kind of splitting hairs whether it's got fifteen
or thirteen or twenty grams of protein, Like, it's not
that big a deal if you're having it as part
of a balance meal.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, I agree. I kind of feel like most of
the brands have just copied each other. If you'd ask
me this question probably three or five years ago, i'd so, yes,
there's definitely some staf and outs, but at this time,
you know, so many brands are so good. So as
a general rule, a lot of the Greek yogurt's on
the market, you've either got the full fat ones or
the lower fat Greek yogurts, and most of them have
roughly eight to maybe ten grams of protein to serve.
When you're looking at the higher protein yogurts, they're sort
(28:15):
of fifteen grams and upwards. So that's sort of the difference.
And I've had a lot of clients who say to me,
is it worth it, and it's yes and no. You know,
if you're using that and you're a vegetarian and you
really need that extra five six seven grams of protein
between the difference of a Greek and a higher protein
then yeah, it probably is worth it. But for a
lot of people who might be putting their yogurt in
a smoothie with some protein powder and with some milk,
(28:37):
and with some cheeseyas or peanut butter, which also, you know,
is protein, and all of those foods too combined will
already give you thirty forty grams of protein, you probably
don't need an additional five grams from a higher protein yogurt.
So in a lot of cases, I actually just recommend
Greek yogat to my clients because it is, you know
ingredient wise, it is a lot better sometimes, and then
you've got this whole range of like skier as well,
(28:57):
like they're naturally higher in protein. But I always say,
if you're looking at a pure protein yogurt, I'd probably
want at least fifteen grams a serve. I'd check the
label for sugars and artificial sweeteners, and then i'd look
because a lot of the high protein yoga's, like some
of those chibanis, are more like dessert ranges than a
healthy yogurt. So there is a bit of a protein
halo as well out there. And if you can get
(29:19):
something with a bit of live cultures or added probotics
with your protein, I always think that's also ideal from
a GOT health perspective. But I personally don't think there's
really a standout brand these days. There are so many
good ones, and yeah, I'm like USUSI I tend to
kind of just go with what's on sale or one
of my favorite one is on Zaal. I kind of
stuck up from that.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Perspective, true, true, sure, I always think have what you
like as well. It's really important that we're not eating
stuff that we think is good for us and don't
actually enjoy. That's super important as well. All right, Leane,
what that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. Since we've been on as chat
GTP had anything to say about the podcast that you've
had to check.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, it's saying that you should let me finish it
because this is my episode.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
That is such a fun We were all over it.
You are absolutely right, very good for cout. She is listening.
I apologize profusely.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. If you know that you're dieting,
it's a little bit of work in terms of protein, creatine, hydration,
or magnesium. Go and check out our scientifically designed and
formulated range of supplements at designed Bydietitians dot com. This
podcast was not sponsored by chat GGP, but if it
would like to reach out and sponsor us, we are
(30:26):
all is.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Thank you for listening, Thanks for listening.
Are you one of our many listeners who loves a
chicken snitty Whether you crumb your own, whether you buy
pre crumbed or op for a frozen option, The quality
of crumb chicken in supermarkets differs significantly, so on today's
episode of The Nutrition Couch, we look at all of
the different chicken snitzel options in the supermarket and share
which ones are on our family's favorite list and which
ones are not. Hi. I'm Leanne Wood and I'm Sussi Burrew,
(00:26):
and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast with everything that you need to know in the
world of nutrition as well as chicken snizles. We have
a new study which explores the link between breakfast and aging.
We also have a new potentially healthy snack option, and
our listener question is all about yogurt. But to kick
is off today, Susie chicken snitties, Like, who doesn't love
(00:49):
a chicken sizl Right, it's like a staple, It's like
an Aussie staple.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
True, But I.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Think there's we need to because our listeners don't see
us well, they see us online, but they're not seeing
us all the time each day having a chatli Leanne,
who I speak to more than anyone in my life,
the best part of my days. But Leanne, you've got
a new relationship that I think you need to talk
about with our listeners. Have you not, Leanne, who do
you engage with more on a daily basis than myself
(01:14):
and my husband?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Be honest or my children? GDP, me and AI are
becoming roy good friends lately, Lianne.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It puts everything through chat GPT now, so even when
I get a message and I can tell she's cranky,
I can tell that she's put it into chat GTPP.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I say, respectfully, help me reply to SUSI, what do.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I do with a business partner? It's making me furious,
But yeah, you're getting a lot out of our chat GTP,
including our data on Chicken sitzal today, which she popped
in and said, what's the best chicken citzil and supermarkets?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Did you not?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, I've got a marketing plan for designed by dieticians.
It helps me run the numbers. When my accountant sends
me stuff back which looks like another language, I say,
put this in layman's terms and explain what my accountant
means has.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Been making me.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
She us chat GPT, and I have been very resistant
because I naturally think that my writing's better than anything
in the world. But even I now am putting everything
through chat GTP, I'm thinking, oh, my EM's sounding so
much nice, so I do a little jews. We're putting
all that ads through it. It's addictive. I won't lie
to you. It's addictive.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, But you do have to check the quality
of the stuff that comes out of it, because it
is a yes man. It just tells you everything you
want to hear, and often things are very incorrect.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, when Leanne says my business partner's annoying me, they
don't say to Leanne, it's your problem. They say it's
the business partner. But no, in all seriousness, we're mucking around, obviously,
But I do think in terms of and I've written
an article on this for Body and Soul about using
AI for diets because people you can literally and a
client of mine did this. So I wrote her meal
plan and then she said to me that she put
(02:43):
it into chat GTP. I was horrified for a minute
till I thought, oh, well, she put it into chat GPT,
because then chat GP wrote her her shopping list off.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It, and I thought, how good's that? That's super smart.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So whilst I would you can't get an individualized plan
that's right for you through chat GTP. You can get
a rough guide, absolutely, but it's never going to include
all the ranges of brands the best options for you
that you get from a dietitian.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'll firmly stand by that.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But I thought it was a smart way of doing
it because she put it through to get the shopping list,
and you can then say, so, I thought that that
was actually quite smart. So I think you can use
it for tools like that, or you might say I've
got this ingredient or I need this kind of meal.
What can you come up with using these ingredients? So
I think that can be a really good use of
it too. But you deep dive it, like I've started
(03:33):
to put our little ads through it, and it's addictive,
like you just are on it NonStop, like so I
think you have to manage your use of it. But
certainly it's fascinating the volume of stuff that it can
churn out when you're doing things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, it's basically a supercharged Google like it basically is
a huge, huge search engine and database so it gets
you to it. I always say, it gets you to
the first base fast basically, and then you start with
the first base and you optimize it from.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
The invitations and tiles and graphics amazing, Like my friend
just did her fiftieth birthday invitations on it. Like, yeah,
super fun to have a bit of a play. But yeah,
he's David getting annoyed with you that you're always on it.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now he's on it more than I am. He's addicted. No,
he's addicted to Claude lately. Actually, he's coding our entire websites.
So if anyone's to go check out designed by dieticians.
That's all David Stae work coding with. He's now considered
himself a program coder with claud and AI. He's done
a very good job optimizing our website. He's actually fired
our website developers because you've got the ships that they
were taking too long and we're going back and forth
(04:33):
and they weren't understanding what we wanted. So he fired
them and he's taken over himself and he's actually done
a really great job. The website's looking very smick lately.
You don't have to have meetings with GTB. You just
have to tell it and I keep writing thank you,
thank you. I don't think that chats. It's also you
can forget your manners, so don't forget. I always say please,
thank you when it does stuff for me. So yes,
(04:53):
Madame Black, you know robots might take over the world.
You've got to keep them on side, you got to
keep them happy. True, very truuge manners.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Serious topics where we've used its off like chick.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Chicken we love it.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
No, we will say we have vetted this, We've gone
through the soupermarket, We've checked it all to make sure
it is accurate. We did not use chat gitp SEUs.
It's not making us sound bad. It is all better.
I've checked the labels were all good. But we are
talking about chicken stint cells because the reality is that
every Aussie including us, loves a chicken ctitda. But if
you go to the pub, it is very likely probably
about double the amount of food that most women need.
(05:27):
It's not really the most efficient source of protein either,
because it's breaded, it's crumbed, its steep fried. So if
you compare a chicken stent sel to a regular chicken breast.
It's often about half the protein and often about double
the calorie load, So it does make it difficult because
it does have additional carbohydrates and fat in there in
the crumbing and the deep frying of the chicken stitt sel,
(05:48):
But it is very, very delicious. So how you have
that chicken stetcel on, how you build that into a
balanced meal is probably another discussion, because today we are
just talking about the best pre made options in supermarket.
So you're never going to find a chicken snitzel obviously
with like ninety or one hundred percent chicken on the label,
because it's got the crumbing and the breading and that
kind of thing. So anything over about sixty percent you're
(06:11):
onto an absolute winner, sixty percent chicken. If it's over
about fifty fifty percent, it's still better than some of
the options because some of the options are actually as
low as twenty or thirty percent chicken, which really does
I guess bug the question like what are you actually
eating If your chicken Stitzel's only got thirty five percent chicken?
What is the rest? You know, what is in there?
So realistically, you want if you can find upwards of
(06:34):
fifty five sixty percent chicken. So one of the best
ones we've found in the supermarket is the wool worst
macro range, the free range chicken breast filets and the
crumbsnitzew s. There's two in the pack that had sixty
seven percent chicken. Each filet was one hundred and eighty
five calories and sixteen grams of protein. So you can
see how if that was a full chicken breast that
would easily have close to thirty grams of protein, if
(06:57):
not more in it. This full snitzel only seen grams
of protein, so it does come at a cost. Is
it delicious, yes, But if really driving up your protein
intake to support your metabolical satiety, that kind of thing
is your goal, perhaps the chicken breast is more on
an occasional thing rather than a regular weekly kind of thing. Now,
the next option we founded the soupermarket that was very
(07:19):
good is lily Dale, the lily Dale fresh range of
chicken breast snitzls and that had two hundred and fifteen
calories of fill it but only thirteen grams of protein.
And one of the ones in the frozen section was Stegulls,
the crumbed chicken breast snitzl. And I think there's a
difference where all three of the top ones we found
in terms of the percentage of chicken all had breast
(07:39):
in the name, so chicken breast fill it or chicken
breast snitzl. Whereas if I look down my list at
some of the lower protein options, they didn't have chicken breast.
They all just said chicken snitzel. So I think if
there's something that you look out for on the label,
look for the chicken stinsels or the crumbed chicken that
have breast in the name, and you're probably onto a winner.
So the Staggulls one was the crumb chicken breast snitzl
(08:01):
one Philip was one hundred and eighty five calories with
sixteen grams of protein, So that one's pretty much on
part with the wool worst macro free range one. That
one's a fresh version, rosisteguls ones is a frozen version.
Now in coals, the best option was the coals fresh
chicken Snitzl. That one had sixty percent chicken for one
hundred and seventy five calories for a little philet with
(08:24):
sixteen grams of protein too, So still pretty good. The
highest protein percentage we were able to find in the
supermarket was sixteen grams. We didn't find higher than that
in one sizzle. And then there's also another brand called
Cleaver's Organic that's a little bit harder to find. That
was sixty percent chicken with thirteen grams of protein and
two sixty calories. Now, when we talk about some of
the dud suzie, some of the worst ones we found
(08:47):
was the Coals one, but the Coals Fresh one of
the Coals Fresh the simply Chicken Snitzl. So the good
one was the Coals Chicken Snitzl with sixteen grams of
protein a filet. The dud one was the Simply Fresh
Chicken Stinzl with only thirty nine percent chicken, which only
had nine grams of protein a serve yet two hundred
(09:08):
and seventy calories. The good one in wool Worst is
a free range macro chicken breast filet. And the dud
one in Woolworst was the Woolworst Chicken Snitzal and there's
eight no twelve in that packet. That one only had
forty one percent chicken for eleven grams of protein. And
then when we looked at Aldi, the options were not
great from a high protein percentage, they were pretty low,
(09:31):
and actually one of the worst ones we saw in
Aldi was the Audi Fresh version, which only had twenty
eight percent chicken, Like what else are you putting in
their Aldi for eleven grams of protein and two sixty
calories per snitzele So that's a little rundown of the
best options in the supermarket, but two out of the
four of the highest ones with the home brand variety,
So it's not to say that just paying more is
(09:53):
a better option, whereas the Woolworst Macro range actually came
out as one of the best options, and then of
course a Lily was next, So it's not necessarily a
thing of if you pay more you're going to get
better quality or higher protein. This is really one of
those cases where you do need to read the nutrition label.
And of course, you know we always get common susie
with people, so make your own yes, But the reality
(10:15):
is that of course that's going to be better. But
a lot of women are very busy and they want
a quick Friday night dinner, something that doesn't break the budget,
and sometimes some crumb chicken from the supermarket is delicious
and a lot more budget friendly than going out the
pub and paying thirty forty dollars for just you know,
one meal. So, of course homemade is always going to
be best. If you can blitz up some whole grain bread,
put a few lindseeds in there, make your own crumbing
(10:37):
pan fried in some extraversion olive oil, of course that
is going to be a better option. But if you
are busy and you want something that is pre made,
these are probably your best option. And I personally would
be heading to Calls and wil West because the Aldi
ones didn't really stack up.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
True.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I think that if you get some chicken tenderloins and
smash up some different grains like oats work quite well,
and do it in the air fryer, you're absolutely better off.
Like it's actually super hard to find a good quality schinzl.
I'll often see clients who'll grab, say the lily Dale
ones because they look healthier, and then they're shocked when
(11:16):
they're two or three hundred calories for a single piece
of schnitzel that might have less than twenty grams of protein.
So I think that the fish isn't much better, but
at least with fish you've got like the steam fresh
filets that are all sort of fish eighty percent fish.
The chicken ale needs a lot of work. I buy
one from Costco, which is a Kinwa crumb on a
(11:39):
Stegles and I think it's like sixty to maybe even
sixty seven percent chicken. It's pretty high and they're small
chicken pieces with a whole grain type crumb. They're really good.
But I notice they're not readily available in supermarkets. But
it's certainly a section that I'd love to just completely
go through and rebuild. It's really poor in general, so
(12:01):
whilst there's a couple that aren't too bad, you are
a hundred times better to do it yourself. I do
sometimes in my ebooks like a crumb with LSA mix
where you just put the egg and do it LSA,
or like a nut or sea crumb that's incredibly good
for you. And then if you do it in the
air fa you get them nice and crispy. So the
takeout messages, if you have capacity, you are a million
times better to crumb yourself. Oh even and of course
(12:22):
lean with old bread, just blitz it up if you've
got old burg and soilin or any kind of multi
grain crumb that is going to be a million times
better than most of the store bought options. So there
are some that aren't too bad, but ultimately we have
to be honest, they're not great nutritionally on the whole,
so be sort of careful and just because they look healthy,
(12:43):
most of those ones are only fifty percent chicken. And
another option is, you know, if you've got just a
chicken breast and cooked it with a little bit of
mozzarella cheese grated some pasada, you'll get a flavored chicken
breast that way, and then you avoid the crumb altogether.
And that can be just as quick and easy too.
So there are options, all rightly. And when I stumbled
across a new study in a big journal and an
(13:05):
article published in Nature, which is one of the biggest
scientific journals in the world, and it tickled my fancy
because it was talking about breakfast timing and health and
well being for older adults. So it was part of
a really big study published in Oh I thought it
was in Nature, but this is saying it's in Communications Medicine.
Oh no, it's part of Nature. Sorry, And it's quite new.
(13:25):
It was published just last year, and it was looking
at positive health steps older individuals can take to preserve
health as they move through the lifespan, and with an
aging population, that's quite relevant of people looking how do
you improve quality of life and health outcomes and variables.
So it was data from over twenty nine hundred individuals
(13:47):
enrolved in a longer chudental study coming out of the
University of Manchester called the University of Manchester Longer Itudinal
Study of Cognition in Normal Healthy Old Age with five
repeated assessments over a twenty five year period, and one
of the key variables that they found was that the
time of day that older people were consuming their meals
(14:11):
were influencing their cognitive capacity. So they found that in
older age, later breakfast in dinner times, later eating midpoint,
which is where you have the bulk of your calories,
and a shorter daily eating windows, so for example, they
were your age worse when you basically had everything pushed
(14:33):
back in the day. And that was assessing a whole
range of health variables including fatigue, oral health, depression, anxiety,
and regular disease states. And one of the most powerful
variables was that particularly later breakfasts were associated with reduced
cognitive efficiency through the lifespan. So they thought that, yeah,
(14:54):
even that lifestyle habit or one of the areas we study,
which is called chrono neutral a show, which is the
timing of meals with something that we could all be
on top of. Now, what I find interesting with these
is that my experience with older populations, including my own parents,
is that meal times are very very important, and my
(15:16):
parents would certainly, who are seventy eight, would not start
the day without breakfast. My mum eats breakfast at seven
o'clock every day, and dinner is certainly very high on
the agenda.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So I was interested.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Because I know that you know, we'll laugh about being
at the RSL clubs and having dinner at five and
six pm earlier, which is what the research is showing
is better for aging and cognitive aging in particular. But yeah,
so I don't know who are the old people in
these studies who are eating late, because it's certainly not
my experience with an aging population.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
What about your parents, Leanna, are they early or late eaters?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I think they're around like seven o'clock for dinner, and
then yeah, they have brecky normally around that sort of
seven am mark. My dad sort of eats seminity wakes up,
so sometimes it's, you know, five point thirty six o'clock
years is wet Bix's banana and light milk, because that
this is staple for years and years and years and
years and years. Whereas my mum soap is very very healthy.
There's always a bit of you know, ls A mix
and flax and all these sorts of different superfoods going
(16:10):
on her breakfast. But yeah, they're pretty regular and pretty set.
But I thought it was an interesting study because the
messaging isn't like, if you don't eat breakfast early, you'll
you know, die from coma pititi is That's not the
messaging here. It's really that it is picking up potentially
early cognitive decline. Isn't that right? When people start moving
their meals back later and later, that is potentially a
(16:30):
sign of some cognitive aging. Basically, it's not necessarily regarding
a health perspective. More so, it is more so that
it is sort of linked to decreasing cognitive health, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
It's saying that prioritizing your meals is a key factor
that grounds the day, and it appears that when people
who are aging start to lose that meal structure. It
can be a marker of cognitive and physical decline. So
actually parents who are prioritizing their meals are actually basically
(17:04):
self caring in a way that suggests they're aging and
looking after themselves. Whereas once they start to maybe miss meals,
not getting up until later in the day and then
forgetting to eat or forgetting to have a real dinner like,
they're all signs that the self cares not happening and
a marker of a negative aging state. So yeah, I
thought it was interesting. It's also a sample from the
(17:27):
UK and northern UK, and keep in mind that in
that area the light is also a big factor. They
have very short days in winter, they're probably inside a
lot more, it's incredibly cold, you know, So I think
that probably is a variable that's impacting those things as well.
Whereas Australia, luckily we have we're more seasonally blessed. We
(17:49):
don't have those particularly cold or short days the way
they do in northern Europe, and certainly the types of
foods available there to are not great. As we know,
the UK's health in general, it's not great, So yeah,
I think it's a good reminder that our parents being
focused on dinner at five six o'clock is actually associated
with better health outcomes. Like, my parents are exactly the same,
(18:11):
Like they get up and like literally my mom runs
down to the kitchen to.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Make a brain friend and we love.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
But now I'm thinking, this is obviously a good thing.
My parents are in good nick but they take the
meal times very seriously and that's actually good for their
health and certainly cognitive and aging in general. So I thought,
keep an eye on your parents meal time habits because
it can be indicative of what's going on with their
bodies in general, and if they're getting their nutrition, their
protein and prioritizing self care to be able to continue
to stay home and live hopefully a long and relatively
(18:39):
healthy life if they are in that phase. Alright, Lenne,
We've had a big debate about talking about this product
before we've hopped on, because I've had quite a few
dms asking me about these products, and I was ignoring
them because I hadn't seen them, and the company had
messaged me about talking about them, and I still haven't
(19:01):
seen them. But when I've had a look, they are
out there and people are obviously super interested in them.
And the product that we are going to have a
closer look at today is called true dates, and this
is these kind of flavored dates, which I believe there's
a lot of varieties. Like I'm looking at the Healthy
Life website, which is a subsidiary of WHAS, and it's
(19:22):
got like creamy peanut butter, sour apple flavor, watermelon cookies
and cream, so like it seems to be like an
indulgent date. And then online, certainly people make these special
dates themselves, don't they. They get a date and they put
peanut butter in it and have it as a special
treat and all these things. So we've decided to cover it,
(19:43):
and we've got some thoughts don't really end. So first
of all, have you seen them in your willigues? That's
where apparently they are.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
No, No, my will is only has this standard plane
modual dates. But yeah, modual dates are certainly having a
moment online. One of my clients sent me a recipe
the other day. She's like, I really want to make
this and her goal is to lose fifteen killers. I said,
are you sure? It was like all of these midial
dates smashed up and like crushed with the bottom of
a glass, and then you pour peanut butter over the top,
then you pour chocolate over the top, and then sprinkle
(20:11):
sea salt. I was like, this is this is this
is pretty indulgent. I was like, if you make this
whole thing, You've got an entire tray of it, what
are you going to do? She like lives by herself,
and I was like, you can, but it's going to
be very, very very tempting. So I think madial dates
are having a moment, and they've definitely got a perceived
health halo light. Do they have some fiber and nutrients, absolutely,
but are they still higher and sugar. Absolutely. So I
(20:31):
love to use mideal dates personally as like a pre
workout option. So say I'm going to the gym and
I'm doing like a big leg day or a big
sort of conditioning session, and I need a bit of
extra carb. I'll have a couple of madial dates. I
think that's a great option. But what I'm seeing more
and more is clients using them as a I guess
healthier alternative to dessert. Right, So instead of having some chocolate,
they'll have a couple of medial dates, so it's not,
(20:54):
you know, nothing's a bad thing. It's all relative. It's all, well,
what's your goal, what's your energy input and output? All
that kind of thing. But I haven't seen these, but
they do. They do look delicious. So the one you've
chosen today is the true date sweet peach flavor. So
they're not Aussie. I go to the website and they're
in pounds, so they're made in Denmark. They say rich
(21:14):
in fiber, no added sugar, and natural flavors. So actually
finding the nutrition was a little bit hard. They don't
have the nutrition in the photos. I couldn't find it
on the wool Worst website either, but on the website
in dinyvont is the ingredient in the pitted dates with
the taste of peach. So date set ninety five percent,
which is good, it's what we'd expect, followed by trickery
root fiber my least favorite fiber from an IBS perspective,
(21:37):
followed by a vegetable fat, followed by natural flavoring and
malic acid. So just a tiny amount of things in there.
I guess to make that date a peach flavor with
ninety five percent dates, and then when you look at
the nutritional value, they've only got per one hundred gram.
So if we're talking about a madual date, I think
that's probably roughly about four dates. Right, it goes to
(21:58):
fourteen hundred killer you', which is about three hundred and
thirty calories. Of that only one point five grams of fat,
which would you expect, you know, a date is all
carbohydrate and sugar. We wouldn't want to see too much
fat in there. But here it is susy seventy one
grams of carbohydrate, of which sixty eight grams of that
is sugar. And people will say, but it's natural, Yeah,
(22:19):
it's natural sugar, But the body doesn't know if they're
differentiating between honey or syrup or natural sugar or normal
white cane sugar. It's still sugar. It still has to
go somewhere, right, It's still carbohydrate that if you're not
burning off that carbohydrate, it's going to be stored. And
then the winner here is the ten grams of natural
fiber in the dates. So I do love natural fiber
(22:39):
and madual dates. They are certainly more of a treat
than what you would call a piece of fruit. If
you had a date as is sort of like a
fruit serve. Can you count madial dates as a fruit serf?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Let's drive fruit? You can?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You could, but it is extremely concentrated sugar. So what
would a serve be?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Two? Maybe three?
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I'd say one or two on one or two? One
hundred grams is you know, seventy one grams of carbon
sixty eight grams of sugar. So as I said, that's
roughly about four four dates, I wouldn't really be recommending
four dates in a serve. I'd say more like two
maybe three is a good amount. But I certainly am
not someone who's going to be chowing down on a
dual dates at you know, nine to ten pm at
(23:18):
night as a treat. If I did want a treat,
I'd probably just have a bit of chocolate. I certainly
use dates as more of a pre or a post
workout option because they've got a great amount of carbon
sugar in there to help replenish energy stores. But I
don't think they're a bad product. I think they're a
good product, but I think there is certainly a health
halo around it. Do I prescribe and dull dates to
my clients outside of a pre or post workout option.
(23:39):
Not really. I do have some clients that love them.
Sometimes I'll give them one or two with a little
bit of peanut butter in the middle, and they're quite
happy with that as a treat or as a bit
of a snack. But I certainly don't recommend them really
on a daily basis. And you know, probably people will say,
but aren't these better than a bag of lollies? Well, yeah, sure,
but you're still probably getting the same amount of sugar,
you're just getting a more natural version. Then you've got
(24:01):
a bit of fiber in there which helps to buffer
some of that sugar load as well. But just be
where I would say in terms of the amount that
you consume, because that sugar content, like sixty eight grams
of sugar in one hundred gram serve is pretty hectic.
It's pretty high.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
True.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I think that their dates are tricky because they have
a little bit of a health halo. So we'll see
people using them in a lot of protein balls and bars,
because when you're trying to make a protein ball or
healthy music buy, you've got to have something that sticks together,
so they're often used for that. But they load the
car right up, so I'll have often people message is
there a protein boil recipe? And I'm like, well, not really,
(24:37):
because to get the protein above five or ten grams,
which is what you want from a higher protein snack,
you have to use so much protein powder makes it
really gluggy and also expensive, and then on top of that,
to get it to bind, you got to add so
much sugar, so it kind of negates the health benefits
of them. So I'm sort of I love dates too,
particularly beautiful fresh dates, but I don't use them very
(25:00):
often because they are so concentrated in sugar, unless I'm
making a Lumberjack cake, which is one of the best
cakes made with a lot of dates. So yeah, I
think you have to be careful with them. And I
think that one hundred grams is not a big packet,
like you'd eat that in one sitting if you weren't
fairly controlled. So yeah, I think they're kind of middle
ground if you like them. Sure, I haven't seen how
much they are, but I haven't even seen them, so
(25:20):
I think if they're a bit obscure, how much do
they say? Can you see on that?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Well? West says five ninety five for one hundred grand packet.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Okay, So yeah, so I'm sort of torn. I think,
if you love them, go for it. But I wouldn't
be adding them to my meal plans because I just
think that they're a risky sugary food unless I was
dealing with someone who was doing a lot of high
level training and needed that extra carbohydrate. So yeah, middle
ground on that one for me. I think they've done
a good job at keeping the bulk of the food,
the whole food, with a little bit of flavor. But
(25:47):
are they sort of super food?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
For me, they're very, like you, concentrated source of energy,
and that wouldn't suit all of our clients, all right,
they I now listener question which I don't even know
how to answer, So we'll see. You're more of a
yoga expert than I am. But it's a valid question.
There are so many high protein yogurts. Is there a
better one? And I'd be saying probably the one on sale,
because they also pack a pretty penny like if you
(26:10):
look at like Greek yogurt, like the good Old Farmer's
Union or the Coals of Willig's Greek yogat the bigger
tub sells for about four dollars that's got about eight
to ten grams of protein and ten percent fat, whereas
you're paying a lot more for the higher protein yogurts,
whether it's Shabany, Yo Pro the coals Perform, which we
also really like, the new one that's come out from
(26:31):
Farmers Union. So what do I say about it? I
like the plainer brands, so don't have a lot of
stuff at it if I'm honest. And the truth is
that if you go to Aldi and by the Audi brand,
it probably is Shabani or one of the others underneath it,
and it's a lot cheaper. So I think that I
just get the plain ones, particularly if I'm using them
for a bircher or cereal bowl, the one I will
(26:52):
invest in more than the others. I do love the
yo pro Perform range because they're so mega high and
calcium like they've got four hundred milligrams of calcium in
that black range, but you do pay extra for that.
So I always say to my clients, actually have the
one that you like, because I think yogats quite a
distinct taste, so it's important that there's one that you
actually enjoy as well. So is there a standout one.
(27:15):
I don't think there is. I think that the only
standout one nutritionally is the high Calcem Perform one. But again,
it's a distinct flavor, it's not for everyone, and it's sweetened.
It doesn't become in a plain option. I like the
Calls Perform because I think it's a nice nutrient mix
and it's at a decent price point. I used to
love the EVR, but unfortunately Willy's got rid of the
(27:35):
low fat one. They've only got full fat, so I
don't recommend that as much. But yeah, I think basically
you won't go wrong with any of them. They're pretty good,
and it's kind of splitting hairs whether it's got fifteen
or thirteen or twenty grams of protein, Like, it's not
that big a deal if you're having it as part
of a balance meal.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, I agree. I kind of feel like most of
the brands have just copied each other. If you'd ask
me this question probably three or five years ago, i'd so, yes,
there's definitely some staf and outs, but at this time,
you know, so many brands are so good. So as
a general rule, a lot of the Greek yogurt's on
the market, you've either got the full fat ones or
the lower fat Greek yogurts, and most of them have
roughly eight to maybe ten grams of protein to serve.
When you're looking at the higher protein yogurts, they're sort
(28:15):
of fifteen grams and upwards. So that's sort of the difference.
And I've had a lot of clients who say to me,
is it worth it, and it's yes and no. You know,
if you're using that and you're a vegetarian and you
really need that extra five six seven grams of protein
between the difference of a Greek and a higher protein
then yeah, it probably is worth it. But for a
lot of people who might be putting their yogurt in
a smoothie with some protein powder and with some milk,
(28:37):
and with some cheeseyas or peanut butter, which also, you know,
is protein, and all of those foods too combined will
already give you thirty forty grams of protein, you probably
don't need an additional five grams from a higher protein yogurt.
So in a lot of cases, I actually just recommend
Greek yogat to my clients because it is, you know
ingredient wise, it is a lot better sometimes, and then
you've got this whole range of like skier as well,
(28:57):
like they're naturally higher in protein. But I always say,
if you're looking at a pure protein yogurt, I'd probably
want at least fifteen grams a serve. I'd check the
label for sugars and artificial sweeteners, and then i'd look
because a lot of the high protein yoga's, like some
of those chibanis, are more like dessert ranges than a
healthy yogurt. So there is a bit of a protein
halo as well out there. And if you can get
(29:19):
something with a bit of live cultures or added probotics
with your protein, I always think that's also ideal from
a GOT health perspective. But I personally don't think there's
really a standout brand these days. There are so many
good ones, and yeah, I'm like USUSI I tend to
kind of just go with what's on sale or one
of my favorite one is on Zaal. I kind of
stuck up from that.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Perspective, true, true, sure, I always think have what you
like as well. It's really important that we're not eating
stuff that we think is good for us and don't
actually enjoy. That's super important as well. All right, Leane,
what that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. Since we've been on as chat
GTP had anything to say about the podcast that you've
had to check.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, it's saying that you should let me finish it
because this is my episode.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
That is such a fun We were all over it.
You are absolutely right, very good for cout. She is listening.
I apologize profusely.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And that brings us to the end of the Nutrition
Couch for another week. If you know that you're dieting,
it's a little bit of work in terms of protein, creatine, hydration,
or magnesium. Go and check out our scientifically designed and
formulated range of supplements at designed Bydietitians dot com. This
podcast was not sponsored by chat GGP, but if it
would like to reach out and sponsor us, we are
(30:26):
all is.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Thank you for listening, Thanks for listening.
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