Low-Cal “Free Foods” That Actually Help Fat-Loss + How Much Protein Is Too Much?

Trying to eat more without gaining weight? Wondering how much protein you actually need — or if you’ve gone overboard? And what about that burning reflux that ruins your sleep?

In this week’s episode of The Nutrition Couch, dietitians Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell cut through the confusion with practical, no-BS advice that real women can use every day.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• The truth about “free foods” and fat loss — what dietitians really mean by low-calorie “free” foods, and how to use them to bulk up meals, feel satisfied, and enjoy more flavour without blowing your calories.
• Protein myths busted — how much women actually need for fat loss, hormones and muscle support, what “too much” looks like, and why overdoing protein can leave you bloated, gassy, and tired.
• Healthy, affordable protein swaps — the best whole-food and budget-friendly sources of protein (and why most “protein everything” snacks aren’t helping your gut or your wallet).
• Smarter drink choices for summer — the surprising truth about tonic water sugar, and the best low-sugar options for your next G&T or alcohol-free spritz.
• Reflux fixes that actually work — how to eat at night without triggering reflux, which foods make it worse, and the simple evening habits that can finally help you sleep better.

If you want to eat well, feel full, and still hit your health goals — without tracking every calorie or giving up your favourite foods — this episode is your blueprint.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What foods do you think of when we talk about
free foods? Maybe fruit, maybe veggies, maybe even popcorn. On
today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we take a closer
look at what are free foods, what the term means,
and how you can add more bulk and flavor into
your favorite healthy meals. Hi, I'm Leane Ward and I'm
City Burrow, and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch,

(00:25):
the weekly podcast that keeps you up to date on
everything that you need to know in the world of
nutrition as well as free foods. Today we discussed if
it's possible to eat too much protein. Our product is
a favorite for those who may enjoy your cheeky little
gin every now and then, and our listener question is
all about a common issue that may impact our sleep.

(00:46):
So to kick us off today, Susie, we are chatting
all things free foods. And this may be even perhaps
a controversial topic because I know a lot of dieticians
who would classify some you know, and say there are
no free foods because all free, you know, all food
besides water calories. But then when we say free foods,
we aren't technically saying foods that have zero calories. We're
really meaning foods that are very low in energy and

(01:08):
quite high in volume. And a lot of these foods
are quite nutrient dense as well, so they helped to
fill you up for minimal calories. So we're not saying
to our listeners that they have no calories. Basically everything
is calories, even vegetables, but they're very minimal calories. And
when you're thinking about bang for your buck in terms
of feeding, filling yourself up, volume, eating fat loss, these
are probably good amounts of foods to add into the diet,

(01:31):
aren't they.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think it came to mind because I'd been talking
to clients about their dinners and they had a lot
of question about seasoning, so things like marinades and you know,
spices and saucers, and I said, oh, well, you can
have a kind of as much of those as you like.
And I thought, oh, that's an interesting concept. I don't
think we talk a lot about foods that people perhaps

(01:54):
have to limit or be mindful of portions, or how
much protein are you having?

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Are you having too much carbohydrate?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
You know, we speak about that often, and that we
don't speak as often about what I would and certainly
I think you too will consider as insignificant. So there's
that concept of free and by way of history, where
the idea about free foods came from with a diabetic model.
So back you know, twenty thirty, forty fifty years ago,
when type one diabetics specifically were counting what we called

(02:24):
their carbohydrate exchanges because they were injecting insulin. One of
the tools we used to educate sufferers about food was
what we would call exchanges. So we would say, you know,
if you're using this many units of insulin, and of
course that's changed now for people who have type one
who are using insulin pumps, it's kind of regulated for you,
but we would say, you know, you need to count
two or three carbohydrate exchanges per meal, and then these

(02:47):
foods are free. So basically we talked about them free
in terms of having a negligible effect on blood glucose levels,
and that's where it's evolved from. And then of course
in dieting culture, when people, I think the weight watches
had always also included that idea of these things are free.
So if you're counting calories, or you're counting fat grams,
or you're counting whatever, you don't need to count these

(03:10):
because they have insignificant number of calories. So that's where
it's actually come from. It's not designed to tell people
you can eat as much as you want, rather than
it's okay to, for example, flavor foods up. So the
main one I will discuss it with clients is that
there's certain vegetables that have a higher carbohydrate load than others. Now,

(03:31):
let's be very clearly in all vegetables are extremely good
for us, whether it's sweet potato, whether it's corn, whether
it's leafy greens, whether it's salad. Vegetables, they all are
a rich source of nutrients, but a lot of them
have what we would call it insignificant number of calories.
And really it takes more calories to chew them and
burn them off and digest them than it does that

(03:53):
what's in them. Because vegetables are generally mostly water, so
things like carrots, celery leaks, I would even say things
like orange veggies, leafy greens. The calories are so insignificant
and a lot of the calorie load is coming from
fiber that isn't always absorbed in the digestive track, that
we define them as free or you can literally eat
as much as you want the benefits outweigh the negatives.

(04:14):
I know some kind of gym models and fat loss
models talk about certain vegetables, like specifically punk and carrot,
things that are orange having more carbohydrate. They do, but
it's still pretty low overall. They've got a much higher
water content. Now in the case of starchy veggue, potato,
sweet potato, corn, traditionally you would need to count those
in a carbohydrate exchange, but they are still pretty low

(04:37):
in calorie density overall. Of course, the way we tend
to eat fried potato, potato chips, mashed potato, that's concentrated,
but if you had a single jacket potato, it's actually
pretty low generally as well. But as we said, that's
not always how we choose to eat those foods. But
the ones that I wanted to specifically talk about was
foods that we can really use to flavor up food

(04:58):
that have an insignificant number of calori. So straightaway, things
like balsamic vinegar, mustard chutney largely insignificant, even things like
relatively low calorie gravy. I know, the range of mingle
seasonings and sauces you generally, I would describe most of
them as being pretty free. They've got very little in them.
They've got a lot of flavor coming from low calorie ingredients,

(05:20):
and ultimately, if they're flavoring up lean proteins, they're flavoring
up vegetables. I'm very happy for clients to use them.
Most salad dressings, i'd probably say the same, like with
the exception of QP mayonnaise and ranch dressing and caesar
like things like an Italian dressing. I know the Marions
dressings we've talked about before. They're quite salty about calorie wise,

(05:42):
they're very very low things like beech root relishes, horseradish, garlic, onions, spices,
soy sauce, most kind of clear type sauces, they're all
pretty light. Like I'd even say tomato pisada and a
lot of those Domeo type pasta sauces for me, are
pretty free. Like when you look at them, they're mostly

(06:03):
tomato and a little bit of herbs and spices or vegetables.
Like if you had chicken breast and you baked it
in a napolitana pasada with a little bit of mozzarella
on fetta on top, I wouldn't have an issue with
that at all.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
I would literally not count it.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
So yeah, I wanted to use it as a way
of don't being scared to flavor up healthy food using
things like that, because for me, most of them are
pretty free in the grand scheme of things, fish, sauce,
even small amounts of oyster. It has a little bit
of sugar, but in the grand scheme it's pretty light.
As I said, a lot of those mixed mingle type
dressings now all very very light. And so yeah, basically,

(06:40):
don't be scared to flavor up healthy food with sort
of even if it's a little bit of added calories,
because the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, a great like any type of as you said,
herbs and spices, vinegar, lemon, juice. I always said of clients, mustard, salsa,
even pickles are a great way to add flavor to meals. Yeah,
even as you said, popcorn or as I said in
the beginning, popcorn can be really option. We're not talking
about the heavily buttered popcorn or the heavily oiled popcorn.
A lot of times if you see the popcorn that's
like a light version. It doesn't use butter, but it

(07:09):
actually uses oil. So just check the back of the packet.
All you're looking for is air pop popcorn. A couple
of cups of that clocks in it well under one
hundred calories, and it gives you quite a lot of
volume as well, and some good fiber popcorn's actually considered
a whole grain as well, and he get the soup's
like a veggie soup, and he has a clear brost
even Like miso soup is really great in terms of
like filling you up pre meal. Like if I've got
any clients who want to go Sushi train, I'm like, great,

(07:31):
the first thing you eat is a bowl of miso soup.
The second thing is you're at a marmae, and then
you can sell it and your sushi after that, because
it fills your tummy up so much more instead of
eating multiple plates of sushi at the Sushi train. Your
tummy is, you know, twenty twenty five percent fuller than
it would have been if you didn't have the miso
soup and the bowl of Eda marmae because you're getting
a lot of volume from the soup basically, and a
lot of fiber and even some protein out of the

(07:52):
etta marmae as well, and then I agree with you
all the veggies like cucumber, tomato, let us, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms,
even celery capsicum, they're the real MVPs when you talk
about free foods or a very low calorie, nonstanchy veggies.
Even fruit wise, a lot of people, you know, are
quite scared of fruit due to the sugar and fruit.
You'll never hear a dietitian saying, you know, don't eat fruit,
but of course moderation is key because it does naturally

(08:14):
have a little bit of sugar. But any of your berries, watermelon,
kiwi fruits and oranges, they're probably the top four I
would say to clients are very low calorie and really
high sort of water volume as well, so they you know,
they fill you up, they give you a nice sweet hit,
and they've often got quite a lot of fiber in
there as well. And speaking of kiwi fruits, we are
going to bring that in the next podcast we're chatting

(08:35):
about as well, because it's some really interesting research around
kiwi fruits and certainly a lot of my clients are
eating significantly more kiwi fruits than they were a year
or two ago. But they're a really great little little
superfood when it comes to our fruit.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, passion fruit is the other one. I love passion fruits.
I love to see up they're crunching on the seeds
and now some people can't stand it, but my Harry
actually wrong child. Gus loves Kiwi fruit. He loves all fruit,
but he potentially loves passion fruit. Will sit there and
eat through all the seeds and if you like them,
they're they're actually quite good for people who are what
I call mindless munches, so they actually really like to

(09:07):
have something in their mouth, but they're really trying to
cut back on calories, so that kind of crunchy food
stimulas which is still offering some positive nutritionals. Fermented vench
is another one for anyone who ferments and does that
as a side dish. You know, sometimes you go and
have a secutary plate and you'll have pate, and you'll
have cheese land and I love a cheeky secutary slash snackplate.

(09:28):
And you know, sometimes you'll go and they'll do like
the pickles and the fermented vegs to sort of top
with the pad or the crackers. That's a great addition
coming into celebratory party season. And I know what else
you said, the soups, which is actually excellent because any
of the broth type soups are definitely in that category.
So even if like you have the daari soup, will
do yourself a broth like literally, I would not count
that same as any soup that's one hundred percent vegetables.

(09:50):
So I'm not talking like minnestroni with beans and pasta,
but any plain, sort of clear broth soup that has
a base of just onion, cellery, garlic stock pretty much
I would describe as free any benefits that are typically fiber.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
So that's a great.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
One coming again if you need more nutrition going into
party season and a lot of that, there's a growing
number of very low calorie dips out there, so things
like Tazeki salsa is another one that's completely that would
be free. And also that Chris is Egyptian beetroot, extremely
low in calories and quite rich in nutrition, so it
is entirely possible to make healthy snack platters with these

(10:27):
much lower calorie ingredients that have plenty of flavor. So yeah,
I think that hopefully that gives you some ideas of
different things we can use to season and make things
taste great without feeling guilty.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
D percent. I'll even add one last one. When you're
talking about dips. This one perhaps isn't as low calorie.
But if you make your own homemade GUACAMOLEI we'd say
half an avocado, but put tomatoes, capsic and red onion,
squeeze of lemon juice, a little bit of chili flakes
or something in there, bit of salt and pepper. Yes,
it's got a little bit of avocado, but that can
go such a long way if you're just having that
with veggie sticks, or even if you want an afternoon

(10:58):
snack to balance it at all, a bit more little
cheese round or a little boiled egg or something to
give you a bit of protein that can help you
eat more vegetables in a in a tasty way. Because
let's be honest, veggies it's great if you've got them
in a stirf fry, you've got some noodles, you've got
some sauce, but just buy themselves. Not many people are
really that keen to snack on plaining veggies by themselves
all of the time. Like adding some form of dip

(11:19):
to it. Can go a really, really long way. So
I talk to my clients a lot about like a
homemade guacamole, just be careful with like the avocado dips
and the guacumoles and supermarkets because a lot of them
have a heavy cream cheese base, like they're more cream
cheese and they are avocado and some of the brands,
So the best thing you can do is make it
yourself or what's that other brands.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'm not going to say it though, because you know
what we've now got and your product guide.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Is finally dropped and it's in there.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
So the twenty twenty five Nutrition Couch Product Guide, for
the first time in three years, has now been updated.
Unlike old models where we listed the top two foods
in each category, so we'd listed the top two breads,
the top two cereals, We've now included all of our
face favorites in each category. So there's over two hundred
and fifty foods listed under every food category, whether it's snacks,

(12:05):
whether it's cheeses, whether it's bread cereal. We've also got
a section on audi products, and we've got a section
on gluten free products. It's taken us for ever to
put it together, but we're finally the alien, So you
can find that on the Nutrition Couches website nutritioncouch dot com.
It's thirty four ninety nine ninety nine, and it's got
all of our commentary around those foods, and we've got

(12:26):
a full list of our favorite six or eight dips
that tick the box nutritionally as being lower calorie or
in the case avocado, we've got the one that's ninety
eight percent avocado. So find it at the nutritioncouch dot com.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
And I'll also add that it's over two hundred pages
as well. It is a download, so it's a pdf
downloads an ebook. It's not a physical hardcopy book. It's
an ebook that's a couple of questions we've had.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
It's designed to keep on your phone so when you're
in the supermarket you can scroll through and keep the
photos of the products so you don't have to spend
hours and hours looking. We've done the hard work for
you and it's got all the products to look for
where you can find it, our rating, why we like them,
and why they stand out nutritionally. And these are certainly
lean the products that you and I buy each and
every week.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, and there's a new star rating as well. So
what we've decided this time because there's been a lot
of talk about ultra processed foods and processed foods, and
some of these foods can still be really, really healthy
and included in a well balanced time, particularly for busy
women and busy families. So we've actually given every single
products either silver star or gold star to differentiate. All
of these products are great, they're healthy, they're things Susie

(13:26):
and I buy and recommend to our clients. But it
basically splits the difference between some of these are more
processed and other of these are more whole food based.
So that is your thing, if it floats your boat.
That is in the guide as well, to make it
a little bit clearer at this time between yes, there are,
it's kind of like the A plus products and the
A A products. If you're into report carts in school.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yes, yes, yes, yes we did so find that at
the nutritioncouch dot com. All right, leanne times talk all
things protein. Everything's protein, protein, fish, protein, pizzas, protein, chocolate, protein, protein,
protein powder. How much leanne is too much? We've got
some new research about that because I often the reason
I thought about this was that I actually there's a

(14:07):
couple of reasons I wanted to talk about it today.
And you've got some brand new research that's come which
is really fascinating to share as well. But I'd been
having a few issues with some of my clients who
had been having a certain type of protein shake, which
I don't want it mentioned on the pody because it's
not our brand or not our band.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
It's gonna say good.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
And they were making it and so it would have
thirty grams of protein, and then they would also have
that with milk in the morning, and then they would
have a second one, so some of them would have
to and use it as a meal replacement, and then
they would have say protein yogurt, so they were getting
like one hundred grams of protein in say by lunchtime,
and they had a lot of stomach problem with it.
So I just wanted to talk about it in terms

(14:45):
of it's not necessarily the more the better is it
when it comes to optimizing protein intake for women.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
One hundred percent? Like everything, too much of anything can
be a bad thing. If you ate truckloads of broccoli,
you're probably going to run into some digestive problems as well.
Just because it's healthy or just because we're talking about it,
doesn't mean that you can eat as much of it
as you want. There is certainly a ceiling. Too little
protein is not good, but too much protein is not
good either, And when you look at the general health

(15:12):
guidelines for adults in Australia, I'm pretty sure the guidelines
sit around zero point eight to one gram of protein
per day. Susie and I hard no disagree on that
adult healthy adults, particularly those who are trying to lose weight,
and particularly those going through the perimenopause or menopause or
out the other side of menopause years, need more protein.
So women need, in my opinion, about one point two

(15:35):
to one point six grams of protein per kilogram of
body weight. So for a lot of us, it's sitting
in that eighty to one hundred and twenty grams of
protein per day, and as much as possible we want
to spread that out throughout the day, particularly if you're
in a calorie deficit. It's going to just be better
for Satardian fullness and probably even blood sugars if you're
sort of spreading that more evenly out throughout the day,

(15:55):
not like Susie said, getting one hundred, one hundred and
twenty grams in before lunchtime. That's quite a whack. So
that's sort of the guidelines for most healthy women. I
would say on average, most of my ladies are having,
you know, around about that kind of one hundred grams
of protein. Mark. Of course, people are very different. You
can have someone in a sixty kilo body somebody in
one hundred and twenty kiler body. Their requirements are going
to be different, which is why we talk about protein

(16:17):
roughly based on how many grams you need based on
your body weight. So that is kind of where the
research sits. I mean, as I said, the health guidelines
in Australia have not called up to the current research
around hormones and menopause for women, all the research around
fat loss, because when you're in a calorie deficit, if
you're not eating enough protein, what you're losing is not

(16:38):
only fat fat mass, but it's also muscle mass as well,
and that is not ideal in any world because your
muscle mass is metabolic, it's metabolic tissue, it's like gold. Basically,
it's going to help improve your metabolism over time. So
if you're losing your muscle mass in a calorie deficit,
that's not ideal. But that's a whole other conversation. I
think we've had that before. But when protein becomes too much,

(16:59):
I think I think a lot of the research says
anything above that kind of two point two to two
point five grams percular gram of body weight. So if
someone weighed, you know, seventy kilos, anything upwards of about
one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty grams of
protein a day, it's too much. It doesn't actually give
you any extra benefit. And what happens is when you're
eating a ton of protein. I've certainly had clients on

(17:20):
board with me who have had, you know, meal plans
from PTS that are having one hundred and eighty grams
of protein a day. I say to them, like, it's
too much, because what's happening is, even if you may
be in the calorie deficit and make your calories and
macros fit, you're displacing other nutrients by having such a
high load of protein. You're not getting in enough carbs
for energy to fuel your workout. You're not getting in

(17:41):
enough fiber, you're not getting in enough healthy fats that
are really important for cellular health, brain health, hormone health
as well, and all of our antioxidants. If you're eating
that much protein, there is no way you're having your
five to seven serves and vegetables that we want you
to have from a health perspective every single day. So
in a lot of these extreme cases, some of these
having these huge intakes are the body builders and the likes,

(18:03):
and it doesn't really I think it's a bit of
a myth that too much protein harms your kidneys, that,
like creatine, has been dispelled long ago. High protein diets
and kidney and creatine don't harm healthy kidneys. If you
do have a pre existing kidney condition, you absolutely need
to monitor your intake and be working with a health professional.
But for healthy adults, protein is safe and it's very

(18:24):
very beneficial. But what we tend to see is that
most women don't get enough at breakfast, don't really get
enough at lunch, and are getting far too much at dinner.
Like I had a client the other day who went
out to dinner and she sent me a photo of
the menu, and the steak's on the menu, The smallest
steak on the menu was three hundred grands and there
was one at five hundred and fifty grams, and she's like,
what do I do? I feel like steak, And we

(18:45):
made the decision that she could have something else because
she didn't have anyone to share it with, and there
was no way we're going to give it three hundred
grams of steak. And especially when you're paying like forty
five fifty dollars for steak, you don't want to cut
it in half and leave half on the plate. It's
such a waste. So I think, you know, some of
these restaurants and cafes have a lot to answer for
as well, because they're serving is massive, ridiculous sizes of
protein as well. And for a lot of us, we

(19:06):
just don't need that much at dinner, but we certainly
need a lot more. Women need more protein at breakfast,
particularly if you're in those perimetapause or metapause all years.
You should be having at a minimum of sort of
that twenty five thirty grams of protein minimum for the
day to set you up for just a really great
day from like a blood sugar and a hormone perspective.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
And I think the key thing it's not a one
size fits or model because recommendations are based on gram
per kilo generally, and we would both agree that the
general recommendations of point seventy five to one gram is
on the low side, and we believe will be altered
in futures, particularly for different age groups. But if I've
got a female who's you know, four foot age or
one hundred and fifty centimeters versus someone who's one hundred

(19:46):
and seventy eight centimeters, you are not going to have
the same protein requirements. So following a gram amount where
a personal trainer or you might have an applied you know,
someone telling you to do one hundred and sixty grams
is not right because it's not taking into account different
people's height and weight and age. So just be mindful
of that you're not following a set dramage prescription that
will be different for each person, just based on our baseline,

(20:09):
body size, training load, stage of life. So that's sort
of another thing I've been seeing is a one size
fits or model. People trying to reach targets, but that
target may not be relevant to you based on your size.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
And I will also say that too much protein isn't
a good thing from like a calorie perspective, because it
can blow out the top line calories. But the second
thing I see quite often and a lot of my
clients report this in their partners, like in their male partners,
and they're like, they have the worst gas. Oh, too
much protein will probably cause you digestive discomfort. If you've
ever heard of that, what do they call them? Protein farts?

(20:42):
If your partner or you were eating far too much protein,
you have really offensive likegg're smelling gas, it is probably
because you're way overdoing the protein. If you back off
the protein, add a bit more plants and fiber into
your diet, the issue will probably resolve itself. So that's
one thing. When your top line protein is too high,
it often causes life of bloating, digestive issues, and a
lot of gas. The second thing is that when you're

(21:04):
getting like it is really difficult to eat, for example,
one hundred and eighty grams of protein from whole food sources,
it is so difficult, it is so filling, and it
is so expensive. So how most people get that in
is protein bars, protein powders, protein shakes, protein chips, protein ice,
protein everything and all of that stuff is ultra processed,
and that is why so many people doing all of

(21:25):
these like low car protein bars, low car protein wraps,
low car protein bread, protein ice cream, they're having a
lot of digestive discomfort because these products are so ultra processed.
So we want you as dietitians to get your protein
from whole foods as much as possible. If you do
want to use a protein powder, your best bet is
a very clean way protein isolate with nothing but basically

(21:48):
a little bit of vanilla, a little bit of steavy
or maybe some cocoa. If it's like a chocolate flavor,
it really doesn't it shouldn't have like more than one
line in the ingredient list, or there's just all this
stuff in there that probably doesn't need to be in there.
And if you pick up any protein bar or protein
drink on the market, the majority of them have just
lines and lines and lines and their ingredients because they've
got so many different types of additives in there to

(22:09):
make it into this little compact chocolate brownie protein bar
that yes, may have twenty grams of protein, but you
could also get that from a couple of eggs, a
cup of greek yogurt. There's multiple other ways that you
can get in that twenty grams of protein. I get.
It might not be as convenient, it might not be
chocolate flavored, but you're far better off the majority of
time to get your protein intake in from whole foods
as much as possible.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
True.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
I just did an article, actually I'm just looking it
up now on the most cost effective protein amounts per serve.
So I'm going to give you a tesla and let's
see how much nutrition lean knows.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
What do you Tuna's got to be in there?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
What are you reckon cost per serve? What are your
top three cost perserve a recon let's see.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Cranky, a Greek yogurt, tuna. Yeah, protein person. I was
gonna say beans because they're really cost effective, but they
wouldn't have as much protein. Person with other things, And
I want.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
To say chicken, okay, wrong, wrong, wrong? Now you got
the first one, right.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Didn't you? You're waiting?

Speaker 3 (23:08):
I was like, I just see, no, you're right.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Actually the first one was the high protein yogurt, so
that's seventy eighty cents per hundred grams. Then you know
what I found was next was the protein breads because
they're only eighty to a dollar per serve and you
get to over twenty grams. Now, obviously it's not as
high quality. It's not full amino acid.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
And then the third one was tofu.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
So Tofu comes in only a dollar your favorite tofu Leah,
that's why I was talking about it, because it's only
a dollar per one fifty grams and that's again over
twenty grams. And then eggs are third for sorry for
wow ex Yeah, so there you go.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
Hey, so I was a bit surprised.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
To tuna would be up there.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Tun on Tuna's on the list, it is, but you
know what the issue with tuna is, it's that there's
not in those cans. As we've seen recently, there's not
twenty grams. Yeah, they've cut the amounts down. It's a
lot lower. So it's on my top ten, it's just down.
And eggs were fourth. But yeah, tofu your favorite. Tofu
and the protein breads can be quite a cost effective.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
One if you like them. But as we said, they're
in a quiet taste.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
They're not for me. But I've got clie who do
like them. Yeah, yeah, they're a bit funny. So well,
they're not really bred, are they. They're more sort of
stimulated food. They're ultra process as well. Okay, on all
things joyously. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
I've never seen you have the cheeky G and T?
Are you a G and T?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
I love a G have my favorite one?

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Okay, and we've got it.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
We've got the petry upstairs is the Bloody Shirrats. Okay,
brand four pillars, four pillars, Bloody Shirrats.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
So I am not an actually a gin drinker. If
I am having spirits, I like a vog climb and
soda I do like because I don't love that Quinoni
taste on it.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
I love that if we go if I go out.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
And there's like a cucumber cocktail or, I don't mind
the growing range of udls which are flavored, you know
how you get like the pink gin, and they're quite
low calorie actually, and they're quite a smart idea coming
into party season when you want to keep your calories controlled,
because a lot of those little cans are only sixty
eighty calories per served, so it's actually quite good. But

(25:08):
I had a client talking about gin and tonic, and
I thought that's actually interesting because I looked up tonic
water and she said to me, how much is tonic
water bad? And I was like, oh, I think it's okay.
And then I looked and I thought, oh, no, it's not.
It's like twenty thirty grams of sugar. So then I
was just in Woolies looking at the buying the shwep's
locale drinks and I found this and I can put

(25:29):
it on the screen. Today I have found fever Tree,
which I know is a more boutique tonic water. It
is more expensive, but they've got a Mediterranean light version
which is actually significantly lower in sugar. And I thought
for all the G and T listeners or lovers out there,
and they've actually got on Woolies at the moment one
hundred and fifty MILLLI times eight, so the mix is

(25:50):
only for twelve fifty so I thought that's quite cost effective.
So I reached the nutrition was on it. I did
find it at Woolies. I don't know if it's at
colds as well. So per one hundred and fifty mil,
it's just over one hundred killo jewels, which is very low.
That's twenty to thirty calories and it's only got six
point three grams of sugar, so that is four percent sugar,

(26:12):
and that is about a third to a quarter of
the sugar that is in regular tonic water. Specifically, the
swepes one I noticed did have even more like it
was like the less you paid, the more sugar. The
fever Tree did have less, but it was a lot
more expensive. But this light one is definitely a thumbs
up from me in terms of people who do enjoy

(26:32):
a G and T and enjoyed mixing their own. I
think this one I bought was only three dollars fifty
so quite cost effective and yeah, a big thumbs up
because I think it is coming into that time of
year where people do enjoy a drink and if you
do enjoy a spirit and a gin, yeah, there's certainly
lower calorie options than the traditional tonic water, which is
pretty high in sugar.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, I'm a longtime gin lover. I don't think I've
ever had one with you before because we normally cracker
ob and a bottle of bubblies are a nice French
shows are. But if I just want one drink and
I'm sort of trying to really portion myself rather than
opening a whole bottle of wine. David and I will
have a gin together. Will you buy another brand? I'll
grab it in a second. It's literally in my bar
fridge in my office. I have a bar fridge in
my office, but only because it's right next to the pool,
so I don't drink on them in my office. But

(27:15):
I will grab it in a second. But there are
a lot of ranges of tonic water on the markets
that are low sugar as well. Like there's a home
brand version, there's a swepts version. They do do a
lot of low sugartonic waters. But let me grab the
one that we buy because I love it as well.
It's quite low sugar.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
So yeah, it's certainly gin and tonic season. But yeah,
the other question that comes up all the time at
this time of year is our spirits better? And if
you do a low and Land's just come back, the
spirits are slightly lower. I was just saying in calories overall,
but you do have to be specific with the mixes.
So so what when have you got holded up?

Speaker 1 (27:46):
So this is the one for visual restaurant as relatives,
It's the coupee, so it's low sugartonic. It's got the
kin quinine, it's one hundred kilodeels and it is six
grams of sugar as well.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah great, okay, so that's a reckon. That one tastes better.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Yeah, I just get it off Amazon in a box
of like twelve is more cost effective.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
Their water brand is yeah, and yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
They do sparkling waters and stuff, and we just get
it ordered. We get sparkling water and the tonic and
put it in the pool fridge and then sometimes if
we're out in the pool, just put a bit of
cucumber or some raspberries in it and just drink the
tonic by itself, because it's a really nice refreshing drink. Like, yes,
sparkling water's nice, but I have a lot of clients
who don't like it because it's just not sweet. I think,
like it's bubbly, it's a tiny bit salty, like you
can kind of. I don't know. Sparkling water is like

(28:27):
a preferred preference, right, some people don't like it, but
I do have a lot of clients that prefer the
local gartnic. And it's certainly with or without gin in
it is certainly a better option than a lot of
other alcoholic drinks or cocktails on the market.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I think, you know, with gin without Most days I'm
feeling like Gin's required.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
But each to their own, no judgment.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
I'm just saying tonic by itself. I did a couple
of ice cubes, a bit of cucumber, a bit of
mental something in there can be a nice refreshing drink
for summer, particularly if you're someone who's trying to cut
back on their alcohol.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
True true, true, true, So yeah, find it at well
these and colors, and yeah, we're all ready for the
summer party season.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Exactly, alrighty. And then our last list of the question is
all about reflex. This is an interesting question the list
of questions I have reflux. Are there any tips on
what to eat at night? And this is a great
question because reflux is really really common, particularly for females
as we get a bit older, and particularly if you're pregnant.
During both of my pregnancies, I had the most awful reflex.

(29:22):
It was so bad, and I did all of the
things that I'm about to talk to you today and
it still didn't really have much effect. And I actually
had to go on medication during both my pregnancies and
then basically the minute I gave birth it kind of
went away. So reflexes are really debilitating condition for a
lot of people. So there are some simple, I guess,
nutrition and lifestyle tweaks that you can do, and they
can make a big difference. But then again for some

(29:43):
people it won't really help, so you do potentially need
some medication long term. So the first one, if you've
got reflex you really want to keep dinner as light
as possible, so large meals, particularly close to bedtime, are
going to make reflux worse. And then if you have
large meals that are also high and fat rich, they're
really creamy, or they're heavily fried food, or even things

(30:04):
that are a bit more acidic, so tomato based sauces,
citrus based things, chocolate, peppermint, alcohol, and caffeine. All of
these things, unfortunately, even though they're delicious, can tend to
worsen reflux as well. It basically relaxes the muscle at
the top of the stomach and it allows the acid
reflux to basically come up from the stomach up and
teriosophagus where it shouldn't be, and that's why people experience

(30:25):
that kind of burning feeling or that feeling that like
there's something stuck in there esophagus. Basically, so really as
much as possible, focus on blander meals, lower fat, lower
acid type options. So if you just think things like,
you know, grilled chicken or fish, a bit of rice,
a bit of veggies onmelet, slice of toast, a bit
of salad, those kind of things, you can't go too wrongs.

(30:45):
When food is very heavy, very rich, very flavorsome, that
that tends to set off reflux a lot more. And
like I said, smaller portion size you you don't need
to starve yourself, but the difference, even twenty percent difference
in your meal can actually make a big difference when
it comes to reflux. And the last thing is after
you finished eating, you need to stay upright. The amount
of people who suffer from reflux, I used to do

(31:06):
the gastrow clinic when I worked at the hospital, and
we had a ton of people come through from reflux.
They eat dinner and then immediately go lie down on
the couch and go watch Netflix or go watch TV.
The number one thing you need to do if you
suffer from reflux is stay upright. Basically, for at least
an hour after your meal. So if you must lie down,
if you have to lie down, you've got to keep
your head elevated, use a couple of extra pillows, and

(31:27):
keep your head above your stomach. Basically, don't lie flat,
keep yourself elevated. Ideally sit upright, but if you can't,
if you need to lie down for whatever reason, keep
your head elevated because it basically doesn't allow the acid
to come back up as much. So they're probably the
number one hacks. And smoking is another big one. If
you smoke and you suffer from terrible reflux, it's got
to go. Smoking is a huge thing for a reflux,

(31:48):
as is alcohol. And then if you do all of
these lifestyle tips and tricks and you're still suffering from reflux,
it is well worth seeing your GP or your gastroentrologists
because there are a lot of different medications that you
can take, different types of PPIs, proton pump inhibitors, things
like nexim that can really be quite beneficial for people
with reflux because it is quite bad and potentially dangerous

(32:10):
to ignore reflux long term and to constantly have this
acid in your throat to in your esophagus where it
shouldn't be because long term it can lead to things
like Barrett's esophagus as well, which is not good. But
there are other conditions such as you know, hiatus hernia
that could potentially be an issue for the reflux as well.
So there's always well worth going to see your GP,
raising these things, saying what you've done, and potentially getting

(32:32):
another referral such as a gasho enterologist if it's still
persists there, it's not getting any better after you tried
all of these little lifestyle tips and tricks.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
True, and I think it's a good time of you
to go for a walk after dinner. You know, we
really want to incorporate as much movement as we can.
If you're in Europe, you live in New York, you
live in London, it's quite common to be out after dinner,
do we swear? As here we're very much just sitting
on the couch and Netflix society. So I think the
more you can even go it doesn't have to be
an hour. I think one of the bigger inhibitors as

(33:01):
people think they've got to go out for an hour.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
It can be twenty minutes. If you've got a dog.
It'll be good for the dog as well, just.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Twenty minutes around the streets. It's one of the best
ways to reconnect with your partner. It's best for digestion
because I think the other thing is the snacking of
course late at night. And I had a client land
who only moved her meal an hour earlier and had
pronounced differences on her experience of reflux. So it's worth
just fiddling. It doesn't have to be again dinner at four.
There might be dinner at five thirty six rather than seven.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Can make all the.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Difference one hundred percent. And ideally the guideline show is
at least two to three hours before you go to bed,
So if you're someone that's going to bed at nine o'clock,
ideally you want to be eating at six six thirty
no later, So keep that in mind as well. The
timing and the portion size of the meal plus the
meal composition itself or make a difference when it comes
to reflux. True true, true, All righty, But that brings

(33:48):
us to the end of another podcast of The Nutrition Couch.
So if you know your diet needs a little bit
more protein, and don't forget there is that upper ceiling,
but a lot of women still don't get enough protein,
particularly in the morning at around lunchtime. You can check
out Susie and I's scientifically formulated range of protein powders.
We've also got cretine, magnesium, collagen and our brand new
hydration train got AT, designed by dieticians dot com.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Have a great week.