December 31, 2024 • 37 mins
Happy New Year from The Nutrition Couch! As we step into 2025, it’s the perfect time to hit reset and plan for a healthier, happier you. In this episode, dietitians Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell guide you through:
- Building Core Healthy Habits: Easy, sustainable tips for planning meals, eating more veggies, and rethinking alcohol consumption.
- Brutal Honesty & Accountability: Why being real about your behaviours is key to achieving your goals.
- Sustainable Weight Loss Strategies: The truth about “eating clean” and how to create a calorie deficit without deprivation.
- Motivation Made Simple: The psychology of behavioural change and how small actions can create lasting momentum.
- Expert Insights on Exercise: Why mixing up your workouts matters for fat loss and fitness.
Whether you want to lose weight, improve your fitness, or simply feel better in your body, this episode provides actionable advice to help you thrive in the new year.
Plus: Susie and Leanne review popular “healthy” treats and share why they might not be as nutritious as they seem.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to two thousand and twenty five. A new year
is always a good time to take some time to
reflect and consider what you would like to be different
this time next year, specifically in the area of health
and fitness. Would you like to be a little bit
more organized when it comes to your food. Would you
like to lean up just a little bit. Perhaps you'd
(00:21):
like to be a little bit fitter. Maybe you have
a health related goal, or you just want to get
your nutrition sorted for good. Well, the good news is
on this new year's episode of The Nutrition Couch, We've
got you covered. So let's make twenty twenty five your
healthiest year yet. Hi. I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susy Borrow,
(00:41):
and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything that
you need to know in the world of nutrition. Today
we chat all things healthy, habits, how to find and
keep your motivation in twenty twenty five, and the foods
that you need to be eating more. But to kick
us off this year, Susie and we must say we
(01:03):
must be honest with our listeners. We're recording a little
bit in advance. We can't really say you just yet
for us, because it is still December. But what is
something that you are looking forward to in twenty twenty
five this year?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, it's safe to say that at the end of
twenty twenty four we are both pretty tired and hence
really keen to wrap this up. So hopefully our energy
has returned by the first of January twenty twenty five,
and I think clean that is my favorite time of year,
those days between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. It's
real permission to have a real break. So yes, I'm
(01:36):
hoping you all have had a lovely Christmas and that
you are really enjoying this space and time to map
out a healthy and happy twenty twenty five. What am
I looking forward to? I think it's just about the
fresh start, isn't it. It's the opportunity to clear out
and really redefine what you want to work on. I
think at the beginning of this year, I'm really looking
to focus my working in In the past few years,
(01:59):
I've done a lot of different things, whereas this year
I really want to lean into a couple of key
areas that I'm finding more fulfilling and probably have a
little bit better life balance. You know, being able to
really work hard some days and take a bit more
time off others, which I wasn't able to do this
last couple of years for a number of reasons, but
probably most excitedly, we are launching a whole new range
(02:20):
of products in early twenty twenty five with our company
Designed by Dietitians. It is the one year anniversary of
Designed by Dietitians. It has gone far better than we
would have ever imagined, and so I'm really again leaning
into that and really excited to bring some new products
to our women in twenty twenty five to optimize health
and well being. So like all of us, it's a
(02:41):
real excitement and the time to clear out and get started.
And it is now November, but by the time it
gets to januaryly and both of my fridges would have
been cleaned out. I would have a clean oven and
a completely clean house, which I haven't had for several weeks.
So I'll just be happier because every time I look
in my fridge at the it's just an abomination. And
I'm really looking forward to having someone come and give
(03:03):
it a really good clean out. So there's many reasons
to be joyous on the first of January twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And actually having a good
clean out it's so important because how often do you
have a little pig back there and you think, oh God,
how long has that dead cucumber been there for? You
pick up a jar of pace and you think, geez,
when was the last time I used this? So just
like the new year is a good reset, it's a
good time to reset your pantry, and it's a good
time to reset your fridge as well. So yeah, really
nice little tips there from you, Susie. But let's dive
(03:32):
into our word of the year because this is something
that you brought to the potty a few years ago
and we're going to continue it on this year because
we like to pick a word of the year And
thinking back, I can't remember I should have gone back
to the potty and listen last year. But I feel
like my word of the year was something around balance
because last year, you know, I had two hundred two
little kids and it was a lot like I was
(03:52):
working full time, my hubby was working full time, the
kids were really little. I think the word of the
year last year was balanced. Did I achieve it some days,
but probably most days. No, let's be honest. So what
is my word of the year for twenty twenty five?
It's thrive, Susie. And it's not just surviving, it's trying
to thrive. So actually being intentional with my habits, intentional
(04:14):
with my work, my days off, my training, my nutrition,
and really actually thriving and making some progress and not
just you know, trying to thread water and keep my
head above water and survive, actually giving it my best
crack to really make some forward momentums and forward progress
and thrive during twenty twenty five? Do you have a
(04:35):
word of the year that you'd like to share with
our listeners this year?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
The one that I keep coming back to is freedom.
But it's more freedom to be able to do the
projects I want rather than feeling like this stuff I
have to do and don't want to So I'm really
keen to have that space and time to do really
immerse in the work that I enjoy. So yeah, my
word for twenty twenty five is freedom. So yeah, let's
see how we go with it. I kind of remember
(04:58):
my word last year, so it's not free powerful is it?
But I definitely know that your balance could do with
some work. So hopefully you're seriously, I know she's not balance.
She should hear how f resul she is. Some days
I'm thinking, yeah, no, no balance there.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I was packing orders at eleven pm at night, which
you know, I do not complain about it, like I
love that our little company designed by dieticians is you know,
it's doing so well, so it doesn't upset me at all.
But yeah, I was up at eleven PM packing orders,
and I set my alarm at five thirtieth and I'm
going to get up to the gym. And then I
woke up this morning and I was like, oh man,
but this year, twenty twenty five, it's all about thriving.
It's about finding that balance. It's about thriving. But along
(05:35):
with our word of the Year, we wanted to talk
about core healthy habits because January is a big time
where you know, people go on a diet, they do
a bit of a detox, they follow a really strict
gym challenge. They just they they go a bit too hard,
and let's be honest, they go too hard. They fall
off the wagon and everything's like undone by you know,
two three weeks into January, what's the research about really
(05:57):
strict diets and habits. It's something about like the major
already people have fallen off the wagon within you know,
by February basically, isn't it like most people can't actually
maintain their resolutions into February, let alone for an entire year.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Well, the idea of a diet instantly conscious up images
of restriction. So it's about punishing yourself by eliminating certain
food groups or you know, really being strict with what
you're eating. And that's just not sustainable, which is why
for us, the word diet is much more about developing
a regime that is sustainable and includes those more indulgent
foods as part of it, rather than a strict program.
(06:31):
And what I would say is every year I do
launch a reset program, a thirty day reset program that
you can find on my website. But what I do is,
in that kind of stricter regime, I only put it
to five days because I think that that is if
people want to feel sort of virtuous and really have
a period of time of what they call clean eating
or stricter eating, I think five days maybe seven is reasonable.
(06:55):
Not only are you able to drop a couple of
fluid kilos in that time period, but it's not creating
that unachievable, unsustainable model of weeks at a time of
restrictive eating. So I think it's more how you approach it,
and if you do want or have that desire to
focus on something strict, you know, at most five maybe
(07:15):
seven days is reasonable because life gets in the way.
We can't most of us can't go away on a
retreat indefinitely and just eat this clean, pure diet forever.
It has to be off to be integrated into day
to day life. So I think that's what I would
encourage people to do. If you are feeling a bit yuck,
you have over eaten, you're feeling a bit bloated, sure
do a sort of healthier, cleaner meal plan, but just
do it for a shorter period of time, rather than
(07:36):
expecting yourself to commit to thirty days of completely clean,
pure eating, because it's just not achievable and we just
set ourselves up for failure. And I think that the
other thing with that Leanna's resolutions, people will make twenty
like it's too much. Our life is too busy, you know,
to start with one or two small things and bill
is a much more powerful way to approach it. So
if you've got twelve months, even if you work on
(07:58):
one habit at a time, at the end of twelve months,
that's significant when you look at the change over time.
So really give yourself that space and time to make
sustainable change. And if you do want to embark on
something more intensive, a week max is the time of allocation.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I'll give it, yeah, and really thinking about what are
my habits and intentions just for January. Just start with
January because we know that the research shows is most
people don't make it past January with they're healthy eating anyway,
So don't set yourself up for twelve months, which is
really overwhelming. Actually, just focus on January and think about
these core healthy habits. The top three that I go
(08:31):
through consistently with nearly every kind of mine is planning
ahead with your meals, because if you're not planning ahead
with your meals, you're going to get to the point
where you're so hungry, you're opening the fridge of the pantry,
you're rating it, you're eating all of the snacks, and
then you've oversnacked and then you don't even want lunch
or dinner because you've overetten on all the snacks. So
you have to have some level of planning that goes
into your nutrition. It might be meal prepping all of
(08:53):
your meals. It might just be chopping up your veggies
and roasting them so it's easy enough to add some
extra veggies into dinner. It might just be chopping and
marinating some chicken so you can throw them into a
healthy stur ry for dinner. You've got a plan ahead
with your nutrition and you have to have a rough
idea of what your meals are going to be and
your snacks on a day to day basis. The other
one is vegetables. We think we eat enough, but the
(09:15):
reality is that ninety five percent of Australians don't. We
eat vegetables. Yes, I'm not saying that we don't, but
we don't need enough. We need five plus serves of
vegetables or salads every day. And a serving of vegetables
or salads is a cup of salad or half a
cup of cook vegetables. So unless you're going to eat
five cups of salad at your dinner, and let's be
(09:36):
honest to the majority of us, aren't we lucky? If
we get one to two cups on your plate, you
can't get in at dinner, so you have to aim
for a really good bulk at lunch. And some veggies
either in breakfast or with your snacks as well, some
veggie sticks and dip, you know, making some let us
roll ups or something like that, or adding a bit
of spinach into your smoothie with a bit of design
by dietitians. Protein powder. You've got to find a way again,
(09:58):
plan ahead, get that vegetable vulk in because not only
is it super low calorie so it'll help with fat
loss and keeping you full of for longer. There's also fiber,
there's nutrients, there's vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polyphenals. All of our
vegetables and salads have really good quality nutrients in there
as well. So if you're not getting in the bulk
that you should, you're not going to thrive. My word
(10:20):
year in January or in twenty twenty five. And the
other big one is it's alcohol. We are conditioned as
a country in Australia. Like I've had so many clients
that have really limited their alcohol intake in December and
their friends and family have been like, what's wrong with you?
Why aren't you drinking? Are you pregnant? And it's like
you're the odd one out if you're not drinking, Like
(10:40):
we have such an ingrained culture that everybody drinks an
obsessive amount of alcohol here that you're honestly the odd
one out if you don't drink. So really make it
a core focus this year to pull back on alcohol.
Make it a special occasion thing only if you love it.
If you don't, get rid of it, because alcohol is
not actually good for you. It's a toxin for the body.
So I don't love it. Like I sometimes have clients
(11:01):
who go, oh, I had a drink because everybody else
was having a drink. Ll you know, I kind of
felt like it, but I didn't really like it, but
I drank it anyway. Really, if it's not something that
you love, get rid of it because it's not actually
serving you from a helth or from a nutritional perspective.
So be very very mindful of the amount of alcohol
that you have, particularly in January, but also throughout twenty
(11:22):
twenty five. Really make it the year to be mindful
and intentional. If you are going to have some, make
sure it's something that you love and make sure it's
a very special occasion type of thing. So they're the
three kind of core healthy habits that I like to
focus on with clients. But the other thing I will
say is that January is a great time to book
in with a dietician because there's so much noise and
(11:44):
confusing and conflicting advice on social media in particular, that
clients are so confused, they're overwhelmed. And if you're just
going to do a strict art you're going to lose
a couple of kilos, you're going to sign up to
the gym challenge, it's all going to come back again.
Because those things aren't actually sustainable. So build some core,
foundational healthy habits that are going to work for you
and your family long term. So if you're going to
(12:05):
lose a couple of killers in January, it's actually going
to stick and it's going to stay off and not
come back on again. So both Susie and I offer coaching,
So if you'd like to get in touch with us,
jump on our websites. Mine's leannwardnutrition dot com and Susie's
asusiborow dot com and just inquire and just sort of
see if it's something that might work for you. If
you've got private health you can claim some dieteticgrebates as well.
(12:26):
If not, seek out another dietician or somebody to keep
you accountable this time of year, because I think that
we all need a level of accountability because we're just busy,
and if we're not really onto it every single day,
we'll last a couple of days, a couple of weeks,
and we'll be back falling off the wagon again, and
before you know what, you're healthy eating goals are out
the year and it's not even February yet.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
True. I think a couple I'd like to add is
if you can learn the art of compensation, because I
think there's a belief that you have to always be
strict with your food no matter what. So even if
you're out for dinner, you should be making healthier choices,
or if it's a birth you should feel guilty about
the cake, which is not the message. The messages there
will always be times that we over consume calories as humans,
(13:07):
because high calorie food can be celebratory, it can taste great.
There's nothing wrong with including it occasionally. But what we
don't do is compensate when we've had it. So we
go out for dinner and have an indulgent takeaway or
dessert or a few drinks, and then we wake up
at seven am and eat breakfast, hungry or not. So
I think if you can factor in when you do
have more indulgent periods of eating to compensate with lighter
(13:27):
meals or an increased fasting window, that is a skill
that will hold you for your entire life. And I
also think factoring in foods you like regularly will help
to get rid of the diet cycle. So rather than
think that you should never have chocolate, or never have
a glass of wine, or avoid avoid avoid, actually factoring
that INNI in controlled amounts, whether it's a treat once
(13:49):
a day or a couple of more indulgent meals, will
be ultimately what creates a balance and a sustainable model
of eating for you. And I would encourage people to
do that rather than what I see with my client
is they try and be extra good and not have
any treats. And for what It's not like you get
to the end of the road and you get extra
points or extra kilos loss because you're stricter. It doesn't
work that way. So I think factoring in foods you're
(14:11):
enjoying controlled amounts and learning to eat indulgip foods without
overeating them is an important part of developing a sustainable
model for weight loss but also healthy eating wrong term.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
All right, lee Anne, Well a little bit. Moving on
now to the psychology of behavioral change and motivation, And
what I would like to start with is my background
is in psychology. I've got an undergraduate in psychology as
well as a postgraduate in coaching psychology, so I'm certainly
I'm not a registered psychologist, but I certainly come with
a fair lack of training in this space. And of
course Leanne works primarily in a coaching capacity with her women,
(14:44):
so we're very skilled with behavioral change and are comfortable
talking about it. But what we've spoken about motivation several
times and talked about one of the key things to
motivation is action propels and sustains motivation. So the best
thing we can all do a feeling unmotivated is actually
do something positive. But a concept I wanted to discuss today,
which I think is an opportune time given where at
(15:04):
the brand new start of a year and people listening
maybe sort of looking for that little golden egg of information,
is that it's safe to say that if you're carrying
a significant amount of weight and or are not getting
sustainable change and constantly finding yourself on a cycle of
dieting or getting frustrated that your weight's increasing, or not
being able to maintain an exercise program, it's safe to
(15:27):
say that your underlying habits need to change. And one
of the biggest differences that I see between my clients
who do incredibly well, which is won't.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Lie to you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Most of them do pretty well. But when I do
have a client who is sort of holding themselves back,
it's because they've come to see a dietician because they've
thought they've thrown some money at the problem so it
will work, but they're not actually prepared to make the changes.
So what I want you to be considering today on
January first, twenty twenty five, is that if you don't
(15:58):
get the results you're looking for, and you have a
perception you're eating well and exercising, or your weight continues
to increase, or you may have started ozim peak or
Manjaro and still not really getting significant weight loss. The
harsh reality Leanne is is that something you're doing is
not taking you to the next level. So you might
think that you're doing the right thing. But this is
(16:19):
where a health professional, a coach, a dietitian can come
in really handy, because at some point in time in
the change cycle, it becomes my job to tell a
client when they're overindulging, when they're eating too much, when
they're using food as a crutch and eating when they're
not hungry, when they are psychologically compensating with exercise and overeating,
(16:39):
when they're being a little bit lazy, and when they're
using excuses. Now, they're never overly nice conversations to have,
because if I get to that point, it's safe to
save my client's and a little bit of denial. And
they don't want to hear it because otherwise they would
have made the changes. But it's a good time of
year to get brutally honest with yourself. And the truth is,
if you're not losing weight, you're either eating too much,
(17:01):
you're treating yourself too much, or you're exercising but you're
not actually efficiently burning extra calories. And I see it
all the time where I've got yeah, but I did
my steps, or I'm trying hard, but they're actually not
taking it to the next level and really doing what
they need to do to take things to the next level.
And that's why they're getting okay results. They may not
(17:22):
be gaining and they might be losing half a kilo
every two weeks, but they're not getting those one to
two kilo losses a week, and they're not getting that
consistent significant loss over time. So I think it's time
to get brutally honest with yourself and to say, am
I someone who eats too much? Am I someone who
treats myself too much? Am I maintaining rather than training
when I exercise? And what do I need to do?
(17:42):
If I have the vision of significantly reducing my weight
or my fitness and changing my life, I'm going to
have to make some changes. And I think sometimes we're
not always prepared to do that, and in many cases
lead it's our job to make it apparent that that
client is, you know, maybe just eating too much, eating
when they're not hungry, not exercising efficiently. So it's brutal honesty,
(18:04):
is my first thing. What do you need to actually
be really honest with yourself about rather than using distraction
and paying a personal trainer or paying a ditation, but
actually not prepared to make the changes, which links into
the power of accountability, because accountability isn't just about sending
someone your weight each week. It's about having someone give
(18:26):
feedback on those variables. So part of a coaching model
of change for us to do our job, it's for
our clients to bring data to us and it's for
us to then give feedback to come to a mutually
acceptable agreement on what's going to be required to move forward.
And that's where having someone to check your food diaries,
(18:47):
to check in with with your choices at the grocery store,
to ask why you made that choice, why you were
eating out, is a really good way to be able
to reset your baseline, have someone feedback to you in
an honest way what's actually going on, and you being
open to make those changes. And certainly if I've got
more rigid personalities or very strong women, that can be
(19:09):
very difficult to hear because in your life you're very
used to making the decisions, being right at home, knowing
what's best for you, so it can be very confronting
to have someone come in and say, actually, were you
hungry when you had that? Or could you have gone
for a walk and you chose to stay on the couch,
And it can be a little bit confronting, but the
best place to be is an openness to acknowledge what
(19:30):
you're doing is not working, because my interest is only
ever taking my clients to that next level where they
claim to want to go. It's not a personal attack,
it's more developing a regime and a model that's sustainable
for that client. So that is where the accountability comes in.
Really really handy to actually have someone put that mirror
up to you and your behavior and be questioning it,
(19:52):
which can be very confronting, but long term be the
key that transforms you from where you are now to
where you want to go. And then, like I always say,
leanne when in doubt, the best thing you can do
is take some action. So here we are sitting first
of jan. Inevitably, you probably haven't moved as much as
you should have. You probably drunk a bit too much,
probably eating a bit too much, as we all have.
(20:12):
The best thing you can do today is start Because
what I also find is people very keen to delay.
I'm going to start next week. I'm going to start Monday.
I'm going to start when the kids go back to school,
and we just lose so much time. There's never a
perfect time life. Modern life is so busy, there's never
a perfect time. We're always too busy. There's always stuff on,
there's always celebrations. So the best thing you can do
is start today, Go for a walk, make a healthy
(20:35):
meal choice. We're not saying it has to be perfect,
it just has to be consistent, and there is nothing
nothing to say you can't start now even if you're
on holidays, because you actually have more space and time
to be able to do the things you need to do.
When real life is back and we're at work, we
often do have limitations on our time. So there my
key points. It's about identifying motivation, but really getting brutally
(20:55):
honest with self, looking at ways for accountability to get
that feedback in an evidence based way, and remaining action
focused every single day from now, rather than waiting for
the perfect time to get going.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
And I really liked how you were talking about brutal
honesty because I've got the perfect example, which funnily enough
popped up on Facebook today about brutal honesty and accountability
and action. And I'm part of a Brisbane mum's Facebook
group essentially, and everyone shares like mom type of stuff
and tips and tricks and everybody asked for help, etc.
And a lady posted this morning actually and she was like, Mums,
I need some brutal honesty. I don't know what I'm
(21:30):
doing wrong. She's like, I eat clean all the time,
really healthy. I've been trying so hard for months. I
have one cheap day a week, but my weight is
not budging. And she's like, I started some weight loss
medication three weeks ago. I literally haven't even lost a
couple of hundred grams on the scale. She's like, where
am I going wrong? And all these mums are jumping
in and they're like giving some tips and tricks, And
I thought I can sum that up in basically just
(21:51):
a couple of sentences, because being brutally honest and sometimes
you can't see what's right in front of your face,
which is why having a dietician who works within a
coaching model use in daily contact with you can be
so powerful. Because one cheat day week is the first
thing that I'll say, because I've seen you know, I've
seen people do cheat days two three fourth, you know,
thousand calories, Like you can consume a couple of thousand
(22:13):
calories in a whole cheat day, So that in itself
is a huge thing that I would just get rid of,
Like if you want to have a lovely meal out, absolutely,
but it's not an entire cheat day because honestly, what
happens is the cheat day turns into the cheat weekend,
which is like two three days off track from like
Friday afternoon to Sunday night, and then you've only really
been on track for four and a half days and
you've been off track for the other three. So a
(22:33):
cheap day in itself is a whole nother issue. But
what I really find is probably the crux of it
is I eat healthy, you know, I eat really clean,
because healthy eating doesn't translate to fat loss. It's all
about the numbers. Unfortunately, with fat loss, it is about
the numbers. So I think she was being brutally honest
in the fact that she was like, I'm trying really hard,
I don't know where I'm going wrong, but brutal honesty,
(22:54):
like what are you actually eating? On that cheat day.
How much are you actually moving each day? When it
comes to clean eating, you might be eating well, but
are you snacking all day long? Are you not building
balanced meals? You might be making healthy choices, but are
you skipping lunch and over eating the snacks. You're having
a massive lunch and then having a massive dinner as well,
even if it's healthy, clean food, are the portions just
(23:14):
not right for you? So there's brutal honesty, Then there's accountability.
Then there's the action that you talks about. But there's
also getting that personalized advice to actually find where you're
going wrong. And probably the best place to post isn't
the mum's Facebook group to get good feedback and advice,
because then when Mum's posting about try this detox, this,
Mum's like, I'm about to start at a week challenge,
(23:34):
join my challenge, And I just thought, you know what,
There's so much I can say here, but I can't
because that poor lady would be so overwhelmed with all
of these women telling her to do this challenge and
this diet and check your carbs and go kido and
do this detox and have you seen this new diet
and try this medication that it's just so overwhelming and
we have to get that personalized level of advice for us.
(23:56):
But I also think when we're talking about brutal honesty,
is what are we giving ourselves permission to do? And
I've had quite a few clients that will skip meals
in order to basically give themselves permission to overeat later on.
So that's another big one that I've pulled up quite
a few of my ladies and they are trying so
hard and they're doing so so well. But when you've
(24:16):
got decades of ingrain behavior where you have skip meals
in order to give yourself psychological permission to have a
bit of a binge on chocolate later on, that's decades
of ingrain behavior. So again, that accountability is so key
for me to say to my client, you shouldn't have
skipped lunch. You know that, you know what happens is
that you're just going to over eat later on if
you're skipping a proper meal. And sometimes we just need
(24:38):
to hear it because it's right in front of our face.
We know we shouldn't be doing it, we know what
it's going to lead to later on. But we just
need that. I guess that person in our corner saying, Hey,
I need you to eat a really well balanced lunch. Yes,
I still need you to add the carbohydrates serve to dinner,
even if you overdid it in the afternoon. I still
need you to balance dinner. You don't need to go light,
you don't need to skip it. Sometimes we just to
(25:00):
hear these like reaffirming messages from someone else in our
corner as well. So I do think that the key
piece for most people, particularly with the amount of overwhelming
information out there lately, is the accountability piece. So get
some accountability. Is it a dietitian? Are you going to
come and work in zoosing my coaching models. Are you
going to go see another dietitian? Are you going to
be accountable to your personal trainer? Is it your loved
(25:22):
one who's going to keep your accountable? But be very
careful there, because so many times we have you know,
partners and loved ones saying I'll hold you accountable and
let's be honest, let's be brutally honest. It lasts a
couple of weeks and you're back at square one. So
make sure that accountability body is somebody that's actually trained
to give you brutal, honest feedback and feedback that is
personalized to you to actually positively influence your journey long term.
(25:46):
So there's nothing wrong with having an accountability body, but
you actually need to make sure they're giving you proper
feedback that's going to positively influence your journey long term.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Two And I just want to actually make a comment
about personal trainers and accountability because I've got personal trainer.
They can be fantastic to check exercise and even on
surface level to check a food diary, but in most
cases they are not qualified to be giving prescriptive nutrition advice. Now, literally,
any chain of gyms that you go to at the
(26:15):
start of a new year has a diet program. In
some cases they may have a dietician, in many more
they don't. And then you have a personal trainer perusing
your diet based on what their understanding is of what
macro should be. And I cannot tell you how many
times I've seen clients on way too low carbohydrate load
or way too much protein because the personal trainer has
given diet advice and they should not be. So if
(26:36):
you have joined a gym or planning to I would
be very mindful of where you're getting the dietary advice
from their hearts in the right place. Ultimately they'll be
talking about what works for them or what their training
is or what their understanding is. But it is not
specific for women, particularly women who have hormonal issues like
internal resistance going through perimenopause. It is a complex area
(26:56):
of nutrition and personal trainers should not be giving that
specific dietary advice. So they can facilitate, they might have
to check a diary, but in general, you need to
see a dietitian if you're going through any of those
time periods or hormonial changes or in general to get
a model that is evidence based and right for you,
rather than a one size fix or model at the
gym sort of se six week reset progo or whatever
(27:19):
they're spreaking at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And I was to say, when we're talking about accountability
and getting an expert in your corner, dietitians are wonderful
because we're trained in evidence based practice. We go through many,
many years of university and supervised study. But not all
dietitians are fat loss experts. We're very trained in how
to treat complex clinical conditions. We're very well trained in
how to get clients to eat well, but most dieticians
(27:41):
aren't actually an expert in fat loss science. So really
seek out a dietitian who is an expert in fat loss.
Don't just go to a dietitian say hey, I want
to lose body, fight I want to lose weight, and
think that they're going to be a great person to
help you. So, of course Susie and I specialize in
fataloss science, but also I have a whole team of
dietitians as well who work online virtually. They will see
you anywhere in the world. If you don't want to
(28:01):
do a twelve week coaching model with Susie and I,
I have a whole team of dietitians who also specialize
in fat loss that you can just have a single
concept with, check a couple of things off, ask a
couple of questions with, and see that anywhere in the
world from basically the comfort of your own home. So
it's that's leanne Wood Nutrition Virtual Clinic as well. Well.
That's easy. Moving on to our supermarket product section this week,
(28:22):
and we are going to be talking about healthy treats
specifically things that our clients like to eat a lot of,
but as dietitians, we don't really love that much. And
one of those examples is the how do you pronounce it?
Is it? No shoe?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No? Yeah, no shoe, no shoe, no shoe.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
No shoe. Peanut caramel nougat bar. I have a lot
of clients eating these because they're chocolatey, they're sweet. They
love them, but they're also in that mindset where there's
so much healthier for me. So I can eat them
every single day, or I can eat them quite regularly,
But the reality is that most bars on the market
are ultra process foods. And there's something that Susie and
(28:58):
I both recommend in a pine like if you're traveling,
if you're, you know, doing a long commute in the car,
if you're between meetings, like you just there's something that
you use occasionally when you're in a pinch, not regularly.
They're never something that I would write regularly into a
client's meal plan. So let's go through the milk, chocolate,
peanut and caramel nougat bar. So ingredient wise twenty six
(29:19):
percent peanuts, milk solids, chickar root, fiber, which you know,
causia terribly react to when most people with IBS have
a super hard time processing that. It causes tons of
bloating and gas and diarrhye and all sorts of negative
side effects for a lot of people with a sensitive bound.
So I don't love chicken root fiber, vegetable fat, sober
corn fiber, polydextros sorbatole known gmo erythrotol, vegetable glycerine, cocoa, powder, flavors, emulsifies, salt,
(29:47):
apple extract, and mink fruit extract. So these are better ingredients,
but they're far down the list, Like you might go, oh,
it's sweetened with apple extract and monk's root extract, But
there's so many sweetness in there that I thin. I
think it kind of it's kind of like an offset set,
like there's minimal of that actually in there, and there's
way more of that highly processed foods. There's also some
steavier and some antioxidants in there. So ingredient wise, the
(30:10):
only real whole food in that entire ingredient list is
peanuts and milk salids. Everything else in there is not
something that you would actually have in your pantry or
kitchen that you would use regularly. And that's how we
define an ultra processed food is how many ingredients in
that ingredient list are things that you would regularly cook
or bake with that you can regularly find in your
(30:31):
pantry or in your kitchen. And hand on my heart,
SUSI sorry, three peanuts. I don't have milk salts, but
milk solids I would consider mostly a whole food and
cocoa powder. They're really the only things in that list.
Like I don't have chickory root fiber, I don't have
vegetable fats. I don't have sober corn fib. I don't
have polydextros, sorbitols, vegetable glycerins. Like there's a whole bunch
of ingredients in there that I'm not actually loving when
(30:54):
it comes to this bar. But breaking down the nutrition
information panel, so serving size forty two gram an overly
large bar, Like in all honesty, you could finish that
in three or four bytes. Like it's not a huge bar.
So forty two grams per serving, energy wise, is just
over seven hundred kilo duels, so roughly about one hundred
and seventy calories per bar. Seven point nine grams of protein,
(31:16):
ten grams of fat, so certainly not a low fat product,
with four point six of that being saturated fat, four
point four grams of carbohydrates, so quite low carbohydrate for
a bar with three point two grams of that being sugar,
ten point three grams of dietary fiber. I just think
that's probably too much fiber. And it's all like that
modified fiber. It's not the great type of fiber you're
(31:36):
seeing in natural wal grains and legumes like, it's basically
artificially type created fiber, which for people with some gut
issues and a sensitive tummy, it's not gonna sit well.
So ten point three grams of fiber in a small
forty gram bar is fas too much in my opinion.
I would never put that much in thirty and y
is seventy two milligrams, so quite low. Sorbatol one point
five grams glycerool one point four grams and two grams
(31:58):
of a wreath throttops well a lot of sugar, alcohols
and sweetness in this type of bar, So it's essentially
like masquerading is a healthy dessert. Would you agree? Like?
I think a lot of clients are eating them because
they're like, I want something sweet. It's really delicious, but
in reality, like it's it might be slightly healthier than
a chocolate bar, but it's still an ultra processed food.
It's never something you'd see me right into a meal plan.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's interesting because I have a group of clients who
love them, and I think one of the things I'll
say about the range is there's a huge difference in
the number of calories between the different products. So the
ones that I've got open on my computer is the
double chopped Brownie Indulgent Bar, and that's just about one
hundred calories. So I think, first of all, if that's
your preference for a sort of sweeter treat, just check
(32:40):
the calories because there are differences, and I generally encourage
clients to stick to sort of one hundred calories or less.
For those extra foods, I agree with you that I
think they're ultra processed, and I would much prefer clients have,
say some dark chocolate or a twisted frozen yogurt, which
is much more natural. I don't say no to them
because I agree they are recontrol a little bit like
(33:01):
the Fiber Plus or fiber one bars, which are under
about one hundred calories as well. But I think that yes,
let's not forget they are ultra processed, and I'd be
saying to my client, do you really love it? Because
one of the things with ultra processed foods is you
don't get the mouth feel and fullness of whole food
(33:21):
the same way as you had Dutch chocolate. It's very rich,
it's got a real mouthfeel. As soon as you start
to include all of those artificial or they're not artificial,
some of them natural but process sugar, alternatives and ingredients,
is that it changes the natural processing of the food
in the body and you won't necessarily get as much pleasure.
So really ask yourself if you love it, rather than
think that you're eating it because it's healthier when it
(33:43):
actually isn't. So I think they sit in that gray
area again with my clients. If they have them and
enjoy them, I don't stop them. But again, it's not
the one thing that I necessarily refer to. I'm much
more likely to refer to the Dutch chocolate or the
more natural kind of hundred cow treats. So yeah, check them,
because there is vast differences in the calories. They're not
all one hundred calories. They differ quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
All right. And then our final segment for the Potti
Suzie is a listener question which I feel like we've
kind of touched on, but a good one. It kind
of ties everything together. The listener question, which we pulled
from our Instagram social messages, is I already eat well
and I exercise, but my weight never changes. What am
I doing wrong? I think the biggest thing is it's
really hard to give advice like this when we don't
know you, because, particularly for fat loss, it has to
(34:27):
be personalized, because just eating well will not elicit fat loss.
You have to be in a calorie deficit just because
you're eating well, just because you're eating clean, just because
you're eating healthy or not automatically equal fat loss. You
have to actually be in a calorie deficit. So if
you're eating the same amount of food and you're exercising
the same way and your weight never changes, you need
to do something different. So whether you eat slightly less,
(34:49):
whether you change up the type of exercise, whether you
get more steps in, whether you shave off ten to
fifteen percent of the portion of each meal and bring
that down slightly, whether you swap the ti type of
protein at that you're having. You might be having fattier
cuts of meat like lamb and sausages and that sort
of thing, and swap that out for a little bit
leaner fish, or you know, maybe a couple of vegetarian
(35:09):
based meals a week. I just think if nothing changes,
nothing changes, Like you just need to have a change
in terms of your nutrition and in terms of your exercise,
because if not, it's going to stay the same. So
just eating well won't actually automatically egor fat loss. So
actually try to play with the types of meals you have,
play with the portions that you're having, and maybe even
reduce the snacks down on some non exercise days and
(35:30):
see how you feel there and see if that gives
you the results on the scale. But that's probably as
much advice as we can give without actually knowing your
background or knowing the specifics of what you do day
to day to actually elicit that loss advice.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, I think for me, it's when I see diaries
are the same every single day, Like no one should
be getting up and having breakfast at the same time
every day. There is no way that you are at
the same level of hunger on a Saturday morning. It's
exam as you would be on a Thursday morning. It's
exam if you've been to the gym. So soon as
I see that same same every day eating time meal size,
(36:03):
I'm like, you're not eating according to hunger, you're eating
on AUTOQ. So it's a really good time of you
to really push out meal times and really check if
you're actually hungry when you have your meals and mix
things up. You know, you should be having a long
class once a week and really mixing up the meal timings.
And I think that other main reason I think most
people are maintaining with their exercise and not training. They're
(36:24):
doing the same walk, the same gym workout, the same
time each day, and they think they're burning a lot
more calories than they are when the human body is very,
very efficient and it will burn fewer and fewer calories
on the same workout. So you've got to mix things
up and do different kinds of exercise at different times
this day to continually challenge the body and remain in
that burning phase. So it's just about mixing those things
(36:45):
up as well, all.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Right, well, that brings us to the end of the
nutrition catch for another week and also for fresh new year.
So thank you for your support and thank you for
joining us for really healthy and happy twenty twenty five.
We can't wait to go along on this journey with you.
And if you knew listening to the Popcast and you
don't know, Susie and I have a scientifically formulated range
of protein powders, hot chocolts and brand new creatine supplements
(37:07):
found at designed by Dietitians dot com, so we would
love it if you go and checked it out. They're
available Australia and New Zealand and hopefully, we hope that
sometime this year we can take that worldwide as well.
So thank you for listening and thank you for your supports.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Happy New Year,
Welcome to two thousand and twenty five. A new year
is always a good time to take some time to
reflect and consider what you would like to be different
this time next year, specifically in the area of health
and fitness. Would you like to be a little bit
more organized when it comes to your food. Would you
like to lean up just a little bit. Perhaps you'd
(00:21):
like to be a little bit fitter. Maybe you have
a health related goal, or you just want to get
your nutrition sorted for good. Well, the good news is
on this new year's episode of The Nutrition Couch, We've
got you covered. So let's make twenty twenty five your
healthiest year yet. Hi. I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susy Borrow,
(00:41):
and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything that
you need to know in the world of nutrition. Today
we chat all things healthy, habits, how to find and
keep your motivation in twenty twenty five, and the foods
that you need to be eating more. But to kick
us off this year, Susie and we must say we
(01:03):
must be honest with our listeners. We're recording a little
bit in advance. We can't really say you just yet
for us, because it is still December. But what is
something that you are looking forward to in twenty twenty
five this year?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, it's safe to say that at the end of
twenty twenty four we are both pretty tired and hence
really keen to wrap this up. So hopefully our energy
has returned by the first of January twenty twenty five,
and I think clean that is my favorite time of year,
those days between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. It's
real permission to have a real break. So yes, I'm
(01:36):
hoping you all have had a lovely Christmas and that
you are really enjoying this space and time to map
out a healthy and happy twenty twenty five. What am
I looking forward to? I think it's just about the
fresh start, isn't it. It's the opportunity to clear out
and really redefine what you want to work on. I
think at the beginning of this year, I'm really looking
to focus my working in In the past few years,
(01:59):
I've done a lot of different things, whereas this year
I really want to lean into a couple of key
areas that I'm finding more fulfilling and probably have a
little bit better life balance. You know, being able to
really work hard some days and take a bit more
time off others, which I wasn't able to do this
last couple of years for a number of reasons, but
probably most excitedly, we are launching a whole new range
(02:20):
of products in early twenty twenty five with our company
Designed by Dietitians. It is the one year anniversary of
Designed by Dietitians. It has gone far better than we
would have ever imagined, and so I'm really again leaning
into that and really excited to bring some new products
to our women in twenty twenty five to optimize health
and well being. So like all of us, it's a
(02:41):
real excitement and the time to clear out and get started.
And it is now November, but by the time it
gets to januaryly and both of my fridges would have
been cleaned out. I would have a clean oven and
a completely clean house, which I haven't had for several weeks.
So I'll just be happier because every time I look
in my fridge at the it's just an abomination. And
I'm really looking forward to having someone come and give
(03:03):
it a really good clean out. So there's many reasons
to be joyous on the first of January twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And actually having a good
clean out it's so important because how often do you
have a little pig back there and you think, oh God,
how long has that dead cucumber been there for? You
pick up a jar of pace and you think, geez,
when was the last time I used this? So just
like the new year is a good reset, it's a
good time to reset your pantry, and it's a good
time to reset your fridge as well. So yeah, really
nice little tips there from you, Susie. But let's dive
(03:32):
into our word of the year because this is something
that you brought to the potty a few years ago
and we're going to continue it on this year because
we like to pick a word of the year And
thinking back, I can't remember I should have gone back
to the potty and listen last year. But I feel
like my word of the year was something around balance
because last year, you know, I had two hundred two
little kids and it was a lot like I was
(03:52):
working full time, my hubby was working full time, the
kids were really little. I think the word of the
year last year was balanced. Did I achieve it some days,
but probably most days. No, let's be honest. So what
is my word of the year for twenty twenty five?
It's thrive, Susie. And it's not just surviving, it's trying
to thrive. So actually being intentional with my habits, intentional
(04:14):
with my work, my days off, my training, my nutrition,
and really actually thriving and making some progress and not
just you know, trying to thread water and keep my
head above water and survive, actually giving it my best
crack to really make some forward momentums and forward progress
and thrive during twenty twenty five? Do you have a
(04:35):
word of the year that you'd like to share with
our listeners this year?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
The one that I keep coming back to is freedom.
But it's more freedom to be able to do the
projects I want rather than feeling like this stuff I
have to do and don't want to So I'm really
keen to have that space and time to do really
immerse in the work that I enjoy. So yeah, my
word for twenty twenty five is freedom. So yeah, let's
see how we go with it. I kind of remember
(04:58):
my word last year, so it's not free powerful is it?
But I definitely know that your balance could do with
some work. So hopefully you're seriously, I know she's not balance.
She should hear how f resul she is. Some days
I'm thinking, yeah, no, no balance there.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I was packing orders at eleven pm at night, which
you know, I do not complain about it, like I
love that our little company designed by dieticians is you know,
it's doing so well, so it doesn't upset me at all.
But yeah, I was up at eleven PM packing orders,
and I set my alarm at five thirtieth and I'm
going to get up to the gym. And then I
woke up this morning and I was like, oh man,
but this year, twenty twenty five, it's all about thriving.
It's about finding that balance. It's about thriving. But along
(05:35):
with our word of the Year, we wanted to talk
about core healthy habits because January is a big time
where you know, people go on a diet, they do
a bit of a detox, they follow a really strict
gym challenge. They just they they go a bit too hard,
and let's be honest, they go too hard. They fall
off the wagon and everything's like undone by you know,
two three weeks into January, what's the research about really
(05:57):
strict diets and habits. It's something about like the major
already people have fallen off the wagon within you know,
by February basically, isn't it like most people can't actually
maintain their resolutions into February, let alone for an entire year.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Well, the idea of a diet instantly conscious up images
of restriction. So it's about punishing yourself by eliminating certain
food groups or you know, really being strict with what
you're eating. And that's just not sustainable, which is why
for us, the word diet is much more about developing
a regime that is sustainable and includes those more indulgent
foods as part of it, rather than a strict program.
(06:31):
And what I would say is every year I do
launch a reset program, a thirty day reset program that
you can find on my website. But what I do is,
in that kind of stricter regime, I only put it
to five days because I think that that is if
people want to feel sort of virtuous and really have
a period of time of what they call clean eating
or stricter eating, I think five days maybe seven is reasonable.
(06:55):
Not only are you able to drop a couple of
fluid kilos in that time period, but it's not creating
that unachievable, unsustainable model of weeks at a time of
restrictive eating. So I think it's more how you approach it,
and if you do want or have that desire to
focus on something strict, you know, at most five maybe
(07:15):
seven days is reasonable because life gets in the way.
We can't most of us can't go away on a
retreat indefinitely and just eat this clean, pure diet forever.
It has to be off to be integrated into day
to day life. So I think that's what I would
encourage people to do. If you are feeling a bit yuck,
you have over eaten, you're feeling a bit bloated, sure
do a sort of healthier, cleaner meal plan, but just
do it for a shorter period of time, rather than
(07:36):
expecting yourself to commit to thirty days of completely clean,
pure eating, because it's just not achievable and we just
set ourselves up for failure. And I think that the
other thing with that Leanna's resolutions, people will make twenty
like it's too much. Our life is too busy, you know,
to start with one or two small things and bill
is a much more powerful way to approach it. So
if you've got twelve months, even if you work on
(07:58):
one habit at a time, at the end of twelve months,
that's significant when you look at the change over time.
So really give yourself that space and time to make
sustainable change. And if you do want to embark on
something more intensive, a week max is the time of allocation.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I'll give it, yeah, and really thinking about what are
my habits and intentions just for January. Just start with
January because we know that the research shows is most
people don't make it past January with they're healthy eating anyway,
So don't set yourself up for twelve months, which is
really overwhelming. Actually, just focus on January and think about
these core healthy habits. The top three that I go
(08:31):
through consistently with nearly every kind of mine is planning
ahead with your meals, because if you're not planning ahead
with your meals, you're going to get to the point
where you're so hungry, you're opening the fridge of the pantry,
you're rating it, you're eating all of the snacks, and
then you've oversnacked and then you don't even want lunch
or dinner because you've overetten on all the snacks. So
you have to have some level of planning that goes
into your nutrition. It might be meal prepping all of
(08:53):
your meals. It might just be chopping up your veggies
and roasting them so it's easy enough to add some
extra veggies into dinner. It might just be chopping and
marinating some chicken so you can throw them into a
healthy stur ry for dinner. You've got a plan ahead
with your nutrition and you have to have a rough
idea of what your meals are going to be and
your snacks on a day to day basis. The other
one is vegetables. We think we eat enough, but the
(09:15):
reality is that ninety five percent of Australians don't. We
eat vegetables. Yes, I'm not saying that we don't, but
we don't need enough. We need five plus serves of
vegetables or salads every day. And a serving of vegetables
or salads is a cup of salad or half a
cup of cook vegetables. So unless you're going to eat
five cups of salad at your dinner, and let's be
(09:36):
honest to the majority of us, aren't we lucky? If
we get one to two cups on your plate, you
can't get in at dinner, so you have to aim
for a really good bulk at lunch. And some veggies
either in breakfast or with your snacks as well, some
veggie sticks and dip, you know, making some let us
roll ups or something like that, or adding a bit
of spinach into your smoothie with a bit of design
by dietitians. Protein powder. You've got to find a way again,
(09:58):
plan ahead, get that vegetable vulk in because not only
is it super low calorie so it'll help with fat
loss and keeping you full of for longer. There's also fiber,
there's nutrients, there's vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polyphenals. All of our
vegetables and salads have really good quality nutrients in there
as well. So if you're not getting in the bulk
that you should, you're not going to thrive. My word
(10:20):
year in January or in twenty twenty five. And the
other big one is it's alcohol. We are conditioned as
a country in Australia. Like I've had so many clients
that have really limited their alcohol intake in December and
their friends and family have been like, what's wrong with you?
Why aren't you drinking? Are you pregnant? And it's like
you're the odd one out if you're not drinking, Like
(10:40):
we have such an ingrained culture that everybody drinks an
obsessive amount of alcohol here that you're honestly the odd
one out if you don't drink. So really make it
a core focus this year to pull back on alcohol.
Make it a special occasion thing only if you love it.
If you don't, get rid of it, because alcohol is
not actually good for you. It's a toxin for the body.
So I don't love it. Like I sometimes have clients
(11:01):
who go, oh, I had a drink because everybody else
was having a drink. Ll you know, I kind of
felt like it, but I didn't really like it, but
I drank it anyway. Really, if it's not something that
you love, get rid of it because it's not actually
serving you from a helth or from a nutritional perspective.
So be very very mindful of the amount of alcohol
that you have, particularly in January, but also throughout twenty
(11:22):
twenty five. Really make it the year to be mindful
and intentional. If you are going to have some, make
sure it's something that you love and make sure it's
a very special occasion type of thing. So they're the
three kind of core healthy habits that I like to
focus on with clients. But the other thing I will
say is that January is a great time to book
in with a dietician because there's so much noise and
(11:44):
confusing and conflicting advice on social media in particular, that
clients are so confused, they're overwhelmed. And if you're just
going to do a strict art you're going to lose
a couple of kilos, you're going to sign up to
the gym challenge, it's all going to come back again.
Because those things aren't actually sustainable. So build some core,
foundational healthy habits that are going to work for you
and your family long term. So if you're going to
(12:05):
lose a couple of killers in January, it's actually going
to stick and it's going to stay off and not
come back on again. So both Susie and I offer coaching,
So if you'd like to get in touch with us,
jump on our websites. Mine's leannwardnutrition dot com and Susie's
asusiborow dot com and just inquire and just sort of
see if it's something that might work for you. If
you've got private health you can claim some dieteticgrebates as well.
(12:26):
If not, seek out another dietician or somebody to keep
you accountable this time of year, because I think that
we all need a level of accountability because we're just busy,
and if we're not really onto it every single day,
we'll last a couple of days, a couple of weeks,
and we'll be back falling off the wagon again, and
before you know what, you're healthy eating goals are out
the year and it's not even February yet.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
True. I think a couple I'd like to add is
if you can learn the art of compensation, because I
think there's a belief that you have to always be
strict with your food no matter what. So even if
you're out for dinner, you should be making healthier choices,
or if it's a birth you should feel guilty about
the cake, which is not the message. The messages there
will always be times that we over consume calories as humans,
(13:07):
because high calorie food can be celebratory, it can taste great.
There's nothing wrong with including it occasionally. But what we
don't do is compensate when we've had it. So we
go out for dinner and have an indulgent takeaway or
dessert or a few drinks, and then we wake up
at seven am and eat breakfast, hungry or not. So
I think if you can factor in when you do
have more indulgent periods of eating to compensate with lighter
(13:27):
meals or an increased fasting window, that is a skill
that will hold you for your entire life. And I
also think factoring in foods you like regularly will help
to get rid of the diet cycle. So rather than
think that you should never have chocolate, or never have
a glass of wine, or avoid avoid avoid, actually factoring
that INNI in controlled amounts, whether it's a treat once
(13:49):
a day or a couple of more indulgent meals, will
be ultimately what creates a balance and a sustainable model
of eating for you. And I would encourage people to
do that rather than what I see with my client
is they try and be extra good and not have
any treats. And for what It's not like you get
to the end of the road and you get extra
points or extra kilos loss because you're stricter. It doesn't
work that way. So I think factoring in foods you're
(14:11):
enjoying controlled amounts and learning to eat indulgip foods without
overeating them is an important part of developing a sustainable
model for weight loss but also healthy eating wrong term.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
All right, lee Anne, Well a little bit. Moving on
now to the psychology of behavioral change and motivation, And
what I would like to start with is my background
is in psychology. I've got an undergraduate in psychology as
well as a postgraduate in coaching psychology, so I'm certainly
I'm not a registered psychologist, but I certainly come with
a fair lack of training in this space. And of
course Leanne works primarily in a coaching capacity with her women,
(14:44):
so we're very skilled with behavioral change and are comfortable
talking about it. But what we've spoken about motivation several
times and talked about one of the key things to
motivation is action propels and sustains motivation. So the best
thing we can all do a feeling unmotivated is actually
do something positive. But a concept I wanted to discuss today,
which I think is an opportune time given where at
(15:04):
the brand new start of a year and people listening
maybe sort of looking for that little golden egg of information,
is that it's safe to say that if you're carrying
a significant amount of weight and or are not getting
sustainable change and constantly finding yourself on a cycle of
dieting or getting frustrated that your weight's increasing, or not
being able to maintain an exercise program, it's safe to
(15:27):
say that your underlying habits need to change. And one
of the biggest differences that I see between my clients
who do incredibly well, which is won't.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Lie to you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Most of them do pretty well. But when I do
have a client who is sort of holding themselves back,
it's because they've come to see a dietician because they've
thought they've thrown some money at the problem so it
will work, but they're not actually prepared to make the changes.
So what I want you to be considering today on
January first, twenty twenty five, is that if you don't
(15:58):
get the results you're looking for, and you have a
perception you're eating well and exercising, or your weight continues
to increase, or you may have started ozim peak or
Manjaro and still not really getting significant weight loss. The
harsh reality Leanne is is that something you're doing is
not taking you to the next level. So you might
think that you're doing the right thing. But this is
(16:19):
where a health professional, a coach, a dietitian can come
in really handy, because at some point in time in
the change cycle, it becomes my job to tell a
client when they're overindulging, when they're eating too much, when
they're using food as a crutch and eating when they're
not hungry, when they are psychologically compensating with exercise and overeating,
(16:39):
when they're being a little bit lazy, and when they're
using excuses. Now, they're never overly nice conversations to have,
because if I get to that point, it's safe to
save my client's and a little bit of denial. And
they don't want to hear it because otherwise they would
have made the changes. But it's a good time of
year to get brutally honest with yourself. And the truth is,
if you're not losing weight, you're either eating too much,
(17:01):
you're treating yourself too much, or you're exercising but you're
not actually efficiently burning extra calories. And I see it
all the time where I've got yeah, but I did
my steps, or I'm trying hard, but they're actually not
taking it to the next level and really doing what
they need to do to take things to the next level.
And that's why they're getting okay results. They may not
(17:22):
be gaining and they might be losing half a kilo
every two weeks, but they're not getting those one to
two kilo losses a week, and they're not getting that
consistent significant loss over time. So I think it's time
to get brutally honest with yourself and to say, am
I someone who eats too much? Am I someone who
treats myself too much? Am I maintaining rather than training
when I exercise? And what do I need to do?
(17:42):
If I have the vision of significantly reducing my weight
or my fitness and changing my life, I'm going to
have to make some changes. And I think sometimes we're
not always prepared to do that, and in many cases
lead it's our job to make it apparent that that
client is, you know, maybe just eating too much, eating
when they're not hungry, not exercising efficiently. So it's brutal honesty,
(18:04):
is my first thing. What do you need to actually
be really honest with yourself about rather than using distraction
and paying a personal trainer or paying a ditation, but
actually not prepared to make the changes, which links into
the power of accountability, because accountability isn't just about sending
someone your weight each week. It's about having someone give
(18:26):
feedback on those variables. So part of a coaching model
of change for us to do our job, it's for
our clients to bring data to us and it's for
us to then give feedback to come to a mutually
acceptable agreement on what's going to be required to move forward.
And that's where having someone to check your food diaries,
(18:47):
to check in with with your choices at the grocery store,
to ask why you made that choice, why you were
eating out, is a really good way to be able
to reset your baseline, have someone feedback to you in
an honest way what's actually going on, and you being
open to make those changes. And certainly if I've got
more rigid personalities or very strong women, that can be
(19:09):
very difficult to hear because in your life you're very
used to making the decisions, being right at home, knowing
what's best for you, so it can be very confronting
to have someone come in and say, actually, were you
hungry when you had that? Or could you have gone
for a walk and you chose to stay on the couch,
And it can be a little bit confronting, but the
best place to be is an openness to acknowledge what
(19:30):
you're doing is not working, because my interest is only
ever taking my clients to that next level where they
claim to want to go. It's not a personal attack,
it's more developing a regime and a model that's sustainable
for that client. So that is where the accountability comes in.
Really really handy to actually have someone put that mirror
up to you and your behavior and be questioning it,
(19:52):
which can be very confronting, but long term be the
key that transforms you from where you are now to
where you want to go. And then, like I always say,
leanne when in doubt, the best thing you can do
is take some action. So here we are sitting first
of jan. Inevitably, you probably haven't moved as much as
you should have. You probably drunk a bit too much,
probably eating a bit too much, as we all have.
(20:12):
The best thing you can do today is start Because
what I also find is people very keen to delay.
I'm going to start next week. I'm going to start Monday.
I'm going to start when the kids go back to school,
and we just lose so much time. There's never a
perfect time life. Modern life is so busy, there's never
a perfect time. We're always too busy. There's always stuff on,
there's always celebrations. So the best thing you can do
is start today, Go for a walk, make a healthy
(20:35):
meal choice. We're not saying it has to be perfect,
it just has to be consistent, and there is nothing
nothing to say you can't start now even if you're
on holidays, because you actually have more space and time
to be able to do the things you need to do.
When real life is back and we're at work, we
often do have limitations on our time. So there my
key points. It's about identifying motivation, but really getting brutally
(20:55):
honest with self, looking at ways for accountability to get
that feedback in an evidence based way, and remaining action
focused every single day from now, rather than waiting for
the perfect time to get going.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
And I really liked how you were talking about brutal
honesty because I've got the perfect example, which funnily enough
popped up on Facebook today about brutal honesty and accountability
and action. And I'm part of a Brisbane mum's Facebook
group essentially, and everyone shares like mom type of stuff
and tips and tricks and everybody asked for help, etc.
And a lady posted this morning actually and she was like, Mums,
I need some brutal honesty. I don't know what I'm
(21:30):
doing wrong. She's like, I eat clean all the time,
really healthy. I've been trying so hard for months. I
have one cheap day a week, but my weight is
not budging. And she's like, I started some weight loss
medication three weeks ago. I literally haven't even lost a
couple of hundred grams on the scale. She's like, where
am I going wrong? And all these mums are jumping
in and they're like giving some tips and tricks, And
I thought I can sum that up in basically just
(21:51):
a couple of sentences, because being brutally honest and sometimes
you can't see what's right in front of your face,
which is why having a dietician who works within a
coaching model use in daily contact with you can be
so powerful. Because one cheat day week is the first
thing that I'll say, because I've seen you know, I've
seen people do cheat days two three fourth, you know,
thousand calories, Like you can consume a couple of thousand
(22:13):
calories in a whole cheat day, So that in itself
is a huge thing that I would just get rid of,
Like if you want to have a lovely meal out, absolutely,
but it's not an entire cheat day because honestly, what
happens is the cheat day turns into the cheat weekend,
which is like two three days off track from like
Friday afternoon to Sunday night, and then you've only really
been on track for four and a half days and
you've been off track for the other three. So a
(22:33):
cheap day in itself is a whole nother issue. But
what I really find is probably the crux of it
is I eat healthy, you know, I eat really clean,
because healthy eating doesn't translate to fat loss. It's all
about the numbers. Unfortunately, with fat loss, it is about
the numbers. So I think she was being brutally honest
in the fact that she was like, I'm trying really hard,
I don't know where I'm going wrong, but brutal honesty,
(22:54):
like what are you actually eating? On that cheat day.
How much are you actually moving each day? When it
comes to clean eating, you might be eating well, but
are you snacking all day long? Are you not building
balanced meals? You might be making healthy choices, but are
you skipping lunch and over eating the snacks. You're having
a massive lunch and then having a massive dinner as well,
even if it's healthy, clean food, are the portions just
(23:14):
not right for you? So there's brutal honesty, Then there's accountability.
Then there's the action that you talks about. But there's
also getting that personalized advice to actually find where you're
going wrong. And probably the best place to post isn't
the mum's Facebook group to get good feedback and advice,
because then when Mum's posting about try this detox, this,
Mum's like, I'm about to start at a week challenge,
(23:34):
join my challenge, And I just thought, you know what,
There's so much I can say here, but I can't
because that poor lady would be so overwhelmed with all
of these women telling her to do this challenge and
this diet and check your carbs and go kido and
do this detox and have you seen this new diet
and try this medication that it's just so overwhelming and
we have to get that personalized level of advice for us.
(23:56):
But I also think when we're talking about brutal honesty,
is what are we giving ourselves permission to do? And
I've had quite a few clients that will skip meals
in order to basically give themselves permission to overeat later on.
So that's another big one that I've pulled up quite
a few of my ladies and they are trying so
hard and they're doing so so well. But when you've
(24:16):
got decades of ingrain behavior where you have skip meals
in order to give yourself psychological permission to have a
bit of a binge on chocolate later on, that's decades
of ingrain behavior. So again, that accountability is so key
for me to say to my client, you shouldn't have
skipped lunch. You know that, you know what happens is
that you're just going to over eat later on if
you're skipping a proper meal. And sometimes we just need
(24:38):
to hear it because it's right in front of our face.
We know we shouldn't be doing it, we know what
it's going to lead to later on. But we just
need that. I guess that person in our corner saying, Hey,
I need you to eat a really well balanced lunch. Yes,
I still need you to add the carbohydrates serve to dinner,
even if you overdid it in the afternoon. I still
need you to balance dinner. You don't need to go light,
you don't need to skip it. Sometimes we just to
(25:00):
hear these like reaffirming messages from someone else in our
corner as well. So I do think that the key
piece for most people, particularly with the amount of overwhelming
information out there lately, is the accountability piece. So get
some accountability. Is it a dietitian? Are you going to
come and work in zoosing my coaching models. Are you
going to go see another dietitian? Are you going to
be accountable to your personal trainer? Is it your loved
(25:22):
one who's going to keep your accountable? But be very
careful there, because so many times we have you know,
partners and loved ones saying I'll hold you accountable and
let's be honest, let's be brutally honest. It lasts a
couple of weeks and you're back at square one. So
make sure that accountability body is somebody that's actually trained
to give you brutal, honest feedback and feedback that is
personalized to you to actually positively influence your journey long term.
(25:46):
So there's nothing wrong with having an accountability body, but
you actually need to make sure they're giving you proper
feedback that's going to positively influence your journey long term.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Two And I just want to actually make a comment
about personal trainers and accountability because I've got personal trainer.
They can be fantastic to check exercise and even on
surface level to check a food diary, but in most
cases they are not qualified to be giving prescriptive nutrition advice. Now, literally,
any chain of gyms that you go to at the
(26:15):
start of a new year has a diet program. In
some cases they may have a dietician, in many more
they don't. And then you have a personal trainer perusing
your diet based on what their understanding is of what
macro should be. And I cannot tell you how many
times I've seen clients on way too low carbohydrate load
or way too much protein because the personal trainer has
given diet advice and they should not be. So if
(26:36):
you have joined a gym or planning to I would
be very mindful of where you're getting the dietary advice
from their hearts in the right place. Ultimately they'll be
talking about what works for them or what their training
is or what their understanding is. But it is not
specific for women, particularly women who have hormonal issues like
internal resistance going through perimenopause. It is a complex area
(26:56):
of nutrition and personal trainers should not be giving that
specific dietary advice. So they can facilitate, they might have
to check a diary, but in general, you need to
see a dietitian if you're going through any of those
time periods or hormonial changes or in general to get
a model that is evidence based and right for you,
rather than a one size fix or model at the
gym sort of se six week reset progo or whatever
(27:19):
they're spreaking at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And I was to say, when we're talking about accountability
and getting an expert in your corner, dietitians are wonderful
because we're trained in evidence based practice. We go through many,
many years of university and supervised study. But not all
dietitians are fat loss experts. We're very trained in how
to treat complex clinical conditions. We're very well trained in
how to get clients to eat well, but most dieticians
(27:41):
aren't actually an expert in fat loss science. So really
seek out a dietitian who is an expert in fat loss.
Don't just go to a dietitian say hey, I want
to lose body, fight I want to lose weight, and
think that they're going to be a great person to
help you. So, of course Susie and I specialize in
fataloss science, but also I have a whole team of
dietitians as well who work online virtually. They will see
you anywhere in the world. If you don't want to
(28:01):
do a twelve week coaching model with Susie and I,
I have a whole team of dietitians who also specialize
in fat loss that you can just have a single
concept with, check a couple of things off, ask a
couple of questions with, and see that anywhere in the
world from basically the comfort of your own home. So
it's that's leanne Wood Nutrition Virtual Clinic as well. Well.
That's easy. Moving on to our supermarket product section this week,
(28:22):
and we are going to be talking about healthy treats
specifically things that our clients like to eat a lot of,
but as dietitians, we don't really love that much. And
one of those examples is the how do you pronounce it?
Is it? No shoe?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No? Yeah, no shoe, no shoe, no shoe.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
No shoe. Peanut caramel nougat bar. I have a lot
of clients eating these because they're chocolatey, they're sweet. They
love them, but they're also in that mindset where there's
so much healthier for me. So I can eat them
every single day, or I can eat them quite regularly,
But the reality is that most bars on the market
are ultra process foods. And there's something that Susie and
(28:58):
I both recommend in a pine like if you're traveling,
if you're, you know, doing a long commute in the car,
if you're between meetings, like you just there's something that
you use occasionally when you're in a pinch, not regularly.
They're never something that I would write regularly into a
client's meal plan. So let's go through the milk, chocolate,
peanut and caramel nougat bar. So ingredient wise twenty six
(29:19):
percent peanuts, milk solids, chickar root, fiber, which you know,
causia terribly react to when most people with IBS have
a super hard time processing that. It causes tons of
bloating and gas and diarrhye and all sorts of negative
side effects for a lot of people with a sensitive bound.
So I don't love chicken root fiber, vegetable fat, sober
corn fiber, polydextros sorbatole known gmo erythrotol, vegetable glycerine, cocoa, powder, flavors, emulsifies, salt,
(29:47):
apple extract, and mink fruit extract. So these are better ingredients,
but they're far down the list, Like you might go, oh,
it's sweetened with apple extract and monk's root extract, But
there's so many sweetness in there that I thin. I
think it kind of it's kind of like an offset set,
like there's minimal of that actually in there, and there's
way more of that highly processed foods. There's also some
steavier and some antioxidants in there. So ingredient wise, the
(30:10):
only real whole food in that entire ingredient list is
peanuts and milk salids. Everything else in there is not
something that you would actually have in your pantry or
kitchen that you would use regularly. And that's how we
define an ultra processed food is how many ingredients in
that ingredient list are things that you would regularly cook
or bake with that you can regularly find in your
(30:31):
pantry or in your kitchen. And hand on my heart,
SUSI sorry, three peanuts. I don't have milk salts, but
milk solids I would consider mostly a whole food and
cocoa powder. They're really the only things in that list.
Like I don't have chickory root fiber, I don't have
vegetable fats. I don't have sober corn fib. I don't
have polydextros, sorbitols, vegetable glycerins. Like there's a whole bunch
of ingredients in there that I'm not actually loving when
(30:54):
it comes to this bar. But breaking down the nutrition
information panel, so serving size forty two gram an overly
large bar, Like in all honesty, you could finish that
in three or four bytes. Like it's not a huge bar.
So forty two grams per serving, energy wise, is just
over seven hundred kilo duels, so roughly about one hundred
and seventy calories per bar. Seven point nine grams of protein,
(31:16):
ten grams of fat, so certainly not a low fat product,
with four point six of that being saturated fat, four
point four grams of carbohydrates, so quite low carbohydrate for
a bar with three point two grams of that being sugar,
ten point three grams of dietary fiber. I just think
that's probably too much fiber. And it's all like that
modified fiber. It's not the great type of fiber you're
(31:36):
seeing in natural wal grains and legumes like, it's basically
artificially type created fiber, which for people with some gut
issues and a sensitive tummy, it's not gonna sit well.
So ten point three grams of fiber in a small
forty gram bar is fas too much in my opinion.
I would never put that much in thirty and y
is seventy two milligrams, so quite low. Sorbatol one point
five grams glycerool one point four grams and two grams
(31:58):
of a wreath throttops well a lot of sugar, alcohols
and sweetness in this type of bar, So it's essentially
like masquerading is a healthy dessert. Would you agree? Like?
I think a lot of clients are eating them because
they're like, I want something sweet. It's really delicious, but
in reality, like it's it might be slightly healthier than
a chocolate bar, but it's still an ultra processed food.
It's never something you'd see me right into a meal plan.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's interesting because I have a group of clients who
love them, and I think one of the things I'll
say about the range is there's a huge difference in
the number of calories between the different products. So the
ones that I've got open on my computer is the
double chopped Brownie Indulgent Bar, and that's just about one
hundred calories. So I think, first of all, if that's
your preference for a sort of sweeter treat, just check
(32:40):
the calories because there are differences, and I generally encourage
clients to stick to sort of one hundred calories or less.
For those extra foods, I agree with you that I
think they're ultra processed, and I would much prefer clients have,
say some dark chocolate or a twisted frozen yogurt, which
is much more natural. I don't say no to them
because I agree they are recontrol a little bit like
(33:01):
the Fiber Plus or fiber one bars, which are under
about one hundred calories as well. But I think that yes,
let's not forget they are ultra processed, and I'd be
saying to my client, do you really love it? Because
one of the things with ultra processed foods is you
don't get the mouth feel and fullness of whole food
(33:21):
the same way as you had Dutch chocolate. It's very rich,
it's got a real mouthfeel. As soon as you start
to include all of those artificial or they're not artificial,
some of them natural but process sugar, alternatives and ingredients,
is that it changes the natural processing of the food
in the body and you won't necessarily get as much pleasure.
So really ask yourself if you love it, rather than
think that you're eating it because it's healthier when it
(33:43):
actually isn't. So I think they sit in that gray
area again with my clients. If they have them and
enjoy them, I don't stop them. But again, it's not
the one thing that I necessarily refer to. I'm much
more likely to refer to the Dutch chocolate or the
more natural kind of hundred cow treats. So yeah, check them,
because there is vast differences in the calories. They're not
all one hundred calories. They differ quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
All right. And then our final segment for the Potti
Suzie is a listener question which I feel like we've
kind of touched on, but a good one. It kind
of ties everything together. The listener question, which we pulled
from our Instagram social messages, is I already eat well
and I exercise, but my weight never changes. What am
I doing wrong? I think the biggest thing is it's
really hard to give advice like this when we don't
know you, because, particularly for fat loss, it has to
(34:27):
be personalized, because just eating well will not elicit fat loss.
You have to be in a calorie deficit just because
you're eating well, just because you're eating clean, just because
you're eating healthy or not automatically equal fat loss. You
have to actually be in a calorie deficit. So if
you're eating the same amount of food and you're exercising
the same way and your weight never changes, you need
to do something different. So whether you eat slightly less,
(34:49):
whether you change up the type of exercise, whether you
get more steps in, whether you shave off ten to
fifteen percent of the portion of each meal and bring
that down slightly, whether you swap the ti type of
protein at that you're having. You might be having fattier
cuts of meat like lamb and sausages and that sort
of thing, and swap that out for a little bit
leaner fish, or you know, maybe a couple of vegetarian
(35:09):
based meals a week. I just think if nothing changes,
nothing changes, Like you just need to have a change
in terms of your nutrition and in terms of your exercise,
because if not, it's going to stay the same. So
just eating well won't actually automatically egor fat loss. So
actually try to play with the types of meals you have,
play with the portions that you're having, and maybe even
reduce the snacks down on some non exercise days and
(35:30):
see how you feel there and see if that gives
you the results on the scale. But that's probably as
much advice as we can give without actually knowing your
background or knowing the specifics of what you do day
to day to actually elicit that loss advice.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, I think for me, it's when I see diaries
are the same every single day, Like no one should
be getting up and having breakfast at the same time
every day. There is no way that you are at
the same level of hunger on a Saturday morning. It's
exam as you would be on a Thursday morning. It's
exam if you've been to the gym. So soon as
I see that same same every day eating time meal size,
(36:03):
I'm like, you're not eating according to hunger, you're eating
on AUTOQ. So it's a really good time of you
to really push out meal times and really check if
you're actually hungry when you have your meals and mix
things up. You know, you should be having a long
class once a week and really mixing up the meal timings.
And I think that other main reason I think most
people are maintaining with their exercise and not training. They're
(36:24):
doing the same walk, the same gym workout, the same
time each day, and they think they're burning a lot
more calories than they are when the human body is very,
very efficient and it will burn fewer and fewer calories
on the same workout. So you've got to mix things
up and do different kinds of exercise at different times
this day to continually challenge the body and remain in
that burning phase. So it's just about mixing those things
(36:45):
up as well, all.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Right, well, that brings us to the end of the
nutrition catch for another week and also for fresh new year.
So thank you for your support and thank you for
joining us for really healthy and happy twenty twenty five.
We can't wait to go along on this journey with you.
And if you knew listening to the Popcast and you
don't know, Susie and I have a scientifically formulated range
of protein powders, hot chocolts and brand new creatine supplements
(37:07):
found at designed by Dietitians dot com, so we would
love it if you go and checked it out. They're
available Australia and New Zealand and hopefully, we hope that
sometime this year we can take that worldwide as well.
So thank you for listening and thank you for your supports.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Happy New Year,
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