September 23, 2023 • 29 mins
From Leanne and Susie on The Nutrition Couch this episode:
- We discuss lunch box mistakes and the easy changes you can make to get the balance right to create a nutritious and filling lunch;
- We talk strategies to motivate you this Spring;
- Our listener question is about MCT oil and whether it can aide fat loss.
So sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s episode!
Tune in on Wednesday for your mid-week motivation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you regularly pack a lunchbox for a family member
or maybe even yourself. On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch,
we chat the number one mistake we make when packing
a lunchbox and the easy changes to make to get
the balance right to create a nutritious and filling lunchbox. Hi,
I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susie Burrow, and every week
we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the biweekly podcast that
(00:21):
keeps you up to date on everything that you need
to know in the world of nutrition as well as lunchboxes.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Today we chat all things.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Motivation and how to find yours if it's run away
this spring, and our listener question is all about a
special type of fat for fat loss and if it
actually works. So Susie, starting off today, I sent you
a really interesting article that I actually saw online, but
it was originally posted on news dot com. I think
I saw it on Facebook and the comments section was
blowing up, and I just you know when you see
(00:48):
those articles on Facebook and they have like five hundred
comments and you're clicking it for kicks, and I was like, what.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I didn't even look at the headline.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I didn't even see what it was about But it
was essentially an article of this lady who'd packed her
kid's lunchbox. The kid was eight years old, and she
showcased what she packed for the kid, and there was
quite a lot of food in that lunch box, and
she was like, oh my goodness, my eight year old
devoursed this then comes home and raids the pantry and
it's like a bottomless pit. Does any other parent feel
the same? And the comment section was blowing up because
(01:14):
essentially the lunchbox was it had like a sugar yogurt,
a popper, It had some fruit, It had a bit
of cucumber or a cherry tomato. There was like a sandwich,
but you couldn't tell of it had like a spread
on it, Like I didn't know what was on the sandwich.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It had some.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Crackers, some pringles, like it was a lunchbox with a
lot of processed foods. But that's not the point I'm
trying to make. Like the comment section, of course, was
filled with parents being like, oh my goodness, the amount
of sugars and artificial colors, and of course your kids
hungry because you're feeding them nothing but preservatives and all
of this stuff. And people like talking about ADHD and
like it was. It was awful, like this poor mom,
(01:46):
like they were going at it, like she was just
trying to feed her kid. But I didn't obviously want
to talk about attacking this lady. I wanted to talk
about what happens when we pack a lunchbox, that the
macronutrient distribution is wrong, and that's why our kids are
feeling really hungry. So irrespective of the fact that lunchbox
had a lot of packaged food in there, you do
the best you can do as a parent, right, We're
(02:06):
not here to judge you. But what I want Paris
to think about is adding in some protein and some
healthy fat into that lunchbox. Essentially, that lunchbox was bulk calves, right,
And there's nothing wrong with calves, particularly for kids, they're growing,
they're active, they need it. But the problem with carbohydrates
is particularly the type of carbohydrates she was putting in
that lunchbox. They weren't whole grain, they weren't high fiber,
(02:27):
They didn't give you that lasting energy. She had really
those quick types of refined calves, which we say for
most adults, particularly those trying to lose weight. We don't
want to have too much of because they really just
don't keep us full. So although there was a decent
amount of food in this lunchbox, this kid, I don't
know if it was a girl or a boy, was
coming home absolutely ravenous and raising the pantry because it
(02:48):
had no sustenance to it. And we know that there
are two nutrients that really helped provide us with that
bulk and that satiety to leave us feeling full of
for longer. The first one is protein and the second
one is fat, and then fiber also gets a gold
star from things like salads and vegetables and whole grains
and fruit. So there was a little bit of fruit
in the lunch box and there was a couple of
veggie sticks, so it wasn't like it was all bad,
(03:10):
but the big thing that it was lacking was protein
and enough fiber as well. Like the bread wasn't a
dense whole grain one. There wasn't as far as I
could tell, protein on the bread.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
There was it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
There was a yogurt, but it wasn't, you know, like
it was quite a high sugar fruit type of yogurt.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So really that poor.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Child didn't have anything that slowed down the digestion of
those carbohydrates in a tummy to keep it full of
the longer.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I know a lot of schools have a no nut policy,
and I'm all for that because Mia has quite bad
nut allergies.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But there are other types.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Of healthy fats so you can add into lunchboxes too,
And cheese is a great one that you can put
onto a sandwich. Even you know, a little bit of
chicken breast, put an ice brick into the lunchbox if
you want. You just need to add a little bit
more protein and a little bit of some healthy fats
into that lunch box, and that's what's going to provide
the sustenance to tie our kids over. And same with
adults as well. If you're packing a lunchbox and it's
(03:57):
a sandwich with a bit of spread, like a bit
of veggimid and butter, then you've got some rice crackers
that he got a bit of dip, and he got
some veggie sticks, and he've got I don't know, like
a homemade biscuit or something like that. Although it's not
inherently bad food. Again, it's mostly just carbohydrates, and they're
giving us that quick energy and it's not tying us
over for a few hours like a meal really should.
So that was the biggest thing that I wanted to
(04:19):
talk about in that lunchbox, Susie. But the poor lady,
she was really coppying it on social media. There was
a lot of I guess package type food in that
lunch box. And it's totally okay. And you and I
have had conversations before where we're not purius at all.
We're happy to give our kids. You know, Mia has
little packets of biscuits all that sort of thing. Sometimes,
so she has little packets of crackers and that sort
of thing. But it's not the only thing we want
to put in our kid's lunchbox. It has to be
(04:41):
quite well rounded. And just off the top of my head,
boiled eggs are a really good protein source, or something
like some roasted chickpeas, or just sometimes I use tin
black beans or tinned lentils as well. I put them
into a lot of me as lunch plates as well,
because again they're providing that box, that protein and that
fiber that helped to fill the tummy up for a
little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What do you think, Oh, it's the most an issue,
and it really is tricky. When I worked as a
pediatric dietician at the children's hospital, I used to follow
the lunch box formula of one vegetable, one fruit, one
package snack that contained less than one hundred calories, and
then a protein food because we would routinely see kids
who were starving having sandwiches with sort of a plane
(05:21):
spread on them, jam vegimite, and then fruit, always fruit,
but very rarely vegetables, a box of juice in many cases,
and then multiple snacks. You know, there was research done
from a Melbourne school going back several I want to say,
at least ten years now that found on average, kids
at a primary school were consuming three package snacks per day.
(05:41):
So I think when we get this uproar on social media,
it's not necessarily representative of what the average person is doing.
I think they're often a more privileged group who perhaps
have the capacity and time to make homemade lunch box fillers.
And I think, you know, let's be honest, a lot
of people are buying those packaged foods and they're all
carbohydrate based, even they're healthier ones, whether it's a fruit
stick or rice snack, they're all heavy refined process carbohydrate.
(06:05):
So if you look at that, it can add up
to eighty one hundred grams of refined carbohydrate with very
very little protein. So some of the foods that I
routinely use in my boys lunchbox now and becoming more
aware of how difficult it is for busy parents. And
you're right, we'll come to adults to get in a minute.
So I sometimes use the little flavored milk drinks. Yes
they contain added sugar, but I still think they're better
(06:26):
than juice. In many cases. I do like the cheese
sticks and the cheese and cracker snack packs. The roasted legumes.
They come in at about five grams of protein lamb,
but it's actually not that great. So if you can
get chicken, tuna, leftover meat on a wrap or sandwich, now,
admittedly coming into a stray in summer, you have to
be careful, but I do use a freezer pack and
put some cold things, iced blocks in there. But I
(06:48):
myself with my boys use leftover lean sausages, the chipoladas
from peppercorn, a couple of those they love, or if
I've got crumb chicken peace, I'll put that in or
even a piece of leftover salmon because they love the meat,
my boys. But you're right if you've got a child
who's not a fan of that, A small tin of
baked beans, a hard boiled egg, the little yogurt tubes,
now again they come in about five grams up to eight.
(07:09):
There's very few no added sugar protein tubes for kids.
I think there's the Tama Valley one a couple. So
you want a protein rich snack in my experience, whether
it's dairy roasted chickpeas, boiled egg as well as ideally
a protein topping on the bread, just to try and
balance out that macro nutrient load and try and reduce
the carbohydrate load. And this is a sensitive issue and
(07:31):
some people it's not to cause a fence rather than
to raise a real issue when you're dealing with either
children who are overweight, and an overweight child will simply
look a lot older than they are. They might be
six and they look ten. They're wearing size ten clothing,
so they seem to be bigger. They're growing quickly, or
in the case of girls, going through their puberty phase,
so whether it's from ten to twelve, and they sort
(07:51):
of get a bit of puppy fat. Now, it is
certainly suggested that they reduce their carbohydrate load. Now we're
not suggesting it stream diets for children by any means.
We're saying is girls that those ages tend to be
a lot less active. They gain weight very quickly. It
can be a very sensitive topic for them and for
those around them, leaving them prone to bullying behavior. And
a powerful thing you can do with that lunchbox is
(08:12):
have a quick look and see how you can increase
the protein content and reduce the carbohydrates. So, can you
add some more vegetables in there? Can you swap a
packet of biscuits or rice snacks for something protein based
like chipeas, hardboard egg cheese and crackers. And can you
choose a better quality bread or wrap that's smaller and
then add some lean protein. Not only will your girls
(08:32):
be a whole lot fuller nutritionally, it will be much
better for them and you will avoid that three four
o'clock binge that happens and can certainly increase weight gain
for that very sensitive age group. So I say that
clinically from a position of trying to keep the girls
as healthy and less sensitive and less vulnerable to issues
with their weight as they're going through those years ten,
(08:53):
twelve and up to sort of sixteen, and yes, certainly
a lot of them are a lot less active than
they once were as children, reducing sports and studying a
lot more, and certainly aiming for more protein rich foods
in the lunchbox and reducing the carbohydrate load.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Is that is a good way of doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Now, we're certainly talking about teens as they get older.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know, we're not saying reduce the carbohydrate load in
your six year olds, you know, lunchbox or anything like that.
So we're not saying no carbs. We're certainly not saying
low carb We're just saying, what are one or two
swaps that you can make that as your child gets older,
entering those teen year you know, gets the period that
sort of thing, if they're not as active, if they
started to gain weight rather than Obviously we don't want
to promote diets or anything like that, but just take
(09:31):
a look at lunchbox and look at one or two
small swaps. Now, when they're children, we've said protein, protein, protein,
kids don't really need that much protein, But the reality
is that most of what we're providing as parents and
lunchboxes is like eighty to ninety percent carbs. So we're
not saying start putting protein powders and protein bars and
protein yogats into your, you know, small child's lunchbox. Absolutely not.
(09:52):
But you can find small amounts of protein in more
whole food based foods. And that's what Susie and I
are suggesting. Not a high protein diet for our young kids.
Absolutely not. Just where can we replace one type of carbohydrate? Say,
say they've got some cookies and a piece of homemade
banana bread and two pieces of fruit in that in
that lunchbox. Can one of the fruits sub for a yogurt?
Can one of the cookies sub out for some roasted
(10:15):
chickpeas or two of those little baby bell cheeses or
something like that. So it's not to say we have
to take all of the carbohydrate out of the lunchbox.
Kids actually do really well with carbohydrodes. It's a great
energy source. But a lot of the time, the majority
of the lunch box is all carb and that's why
our children are getting hungry and it's not sustaining them
for very long. And you feel like you're just feeding
this bottomless pit, which is costing you the earth because
(10:38):
they're just not feeling full. So protein and fib but
the two important nutrients, and healthy fats as well. Fats
actually provide a lot of satardi with our meals as well,
So where you can. Avocado is one of my favorite fats.
I give me a lot of avocado for afternoon tea
on crackers or a piece of toast. It's harder to
put in a lunch box. It kind of goes a
bit brown. You have to put a little squeeze of
lemon juice over it prevents the oxidization, isn't it with
(10:59):
the with the air, and that's why it goes brown.
So a little good squeeze of lemon juice, if not,
save it as an afternoon tea snack when they get home,
a little bit of you know, cheese and avocado and
a bit of toast or something like that. Of course,
whole grain or multi grain toast is a great afternoon
tea snack option rather than just putting it spread on
like ntallural jam, because again you're just putting carb on
carb and there's no sustenance there. We're not saying you
(11:19):
can't have it, but there's no real sustenance there to
tie them over until dinner, so they're likely to need
two or three after doo tea snacks after school to
get them to dinner if you're just feeding them bulk
carbs in the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And a little trick I think we've mentioned this before
is that if I've got a bit of a driver,
we're going to enoughter skellectivity, I'll pack some cut up
carrots or green beans baby tomatoes in the car when
they're actually sat there hungry and nothing else to do,
and they're offer munch on that, So you're getting that
also veggie bulk in before you get home, and they
only want the carb. So that's another little trick on
ways to increase vegguice without it being a massive focal point.
(11:54):
All right, Lean motivation, It's that time of year when
our requests for client coms salts are going crazy because
everyone's realizing that as the weather improves, we all need
to get into our swimming causes pretty soon. And a
common piece of feedback from clients or people in general
when they're going through lifestyle change is you know, i've
(12:14):
lost my motivation. You know, they might start a program
or guns blazing, and then a week or two in
challenges present as they tend to busy life, and all
of a sudden, people will describe losing their motivation or
I need to need help with motivation, or I need
to be motivated, or I'm trying to find my motivation.
So I thought it lent itself to a good discussion
at this time about actually what is motivation? If we're
(12:34):
taking a deeper dive into how to find yours or
how to support your own, what actually are we referring to,
and some things to consider if you are struggling a
little bit at this time. So put broadly, motivation is
described as an internal process that drives goal directed behavior.
So it's not a set thing that we can find
or it's more the process that individuals will go through
(12:55):
to maintain a certain behavior that is generally linked to
an outcome or a goal. So, for example, the motivation
to eat healthy, maybe that you have a higher order
goal that health is very important to you, or as
you get older, you don't want to be gaining weight,
or in the case of preparing for an event or
something that you want to lose weight and you've got
(13:15):
to that point where you're like, right, it's time to
get those ten kilos off. It might be that I'm
preparing for a big birthday. I'm turning forty next year,
so my goal is actually the weight loss and the
drive is to achieve that. So when we're sort of
starting to look at what predicts success, certainly those who
have the intrinsic drive to do things are more likely
(13:38):
to achieve success. But it is interesting when it comes
to weight loss because it's not always an intrinsic drive
for a range of reasons. So, for example, that may
be an extrinsic drive to be told that you have
to lose weight if you've been to your doctor and
you actually have to do it now. In the case,
it's not exactly extrinsic, because I guess an extrinsic weight
(13:59):
loss goal would be if you're going to join the
police force or the army and you have to be
a certain weight to do that. You've actually got the
requirement that there are consequences if you don't do it.
That's purely an extrinsic driven weight loss goal. Compared to
intrinsic whereas I always do what I need to do
to maintain my late because I would do it no
matter what it's important to me. And then there's a
couple of other little examples. There's an introjected goal, which
(14:23):
is that I should do it or there are consequences.
So that is certainly when someone will present with blood
test results like goofles issues or high cholesterol and they say,
my doctor told me I should lose weight, or I
might get diabetes, or I might have heart disease. So
that's a good example of it interjected when the doctor
refers someone. Or there's an identified goal, which is probably
(14:45):
where a lot of a sit we've identified that there
are benefits to doing so and it's good for me.
So I would say that most of my clients would
probably fit in an identified goal because I don't see
anyone who has to lose weight, and that would be
the caseuly for weight loss surgery cases, or once you're
working with a dietitian and they have to go and
opt too fast before they have weight loss surgery, that's
(15:07):
certainly extrinsic.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
They're doing it because they're told they have to.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
We probably don't see a lot of leand people with
an intrinsic goal because they keep their weight under control
by various means, because it's just who they are and
it's in them naturally.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
We might see a few introjected.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I don't myself, but I know a lot of general
dieticians working in GP's practices would have a lot of
clients who come and be told that they should lose
weight because there's health consequences.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
But I see a lot.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Of identified goals where my clients will say, I know
this is the right thing to do, I'm not naturally
doing it, or I need help, but it's an identified goal.
But what I specifically wanted to talk about today was
for those who are struggling in terms of making progress.
So they might have kick started a program, committed, brought
a new diet book, seeing a dietitian, listening to the
(15:53):
nutrition accounts, and implementing changes, but you're finding that you
just never get to that next level sort of a
bit of progress, but you don't ever continue. You never
get to the endpoint. And this is the psychological work
we will do with clients over time, and it's certainly
about halfway through a program that it tends to rear
its ugly head where sort of the barriers are outweighing
(16:15):
the moving forward and positive options is that you've got
to start to really think about why this is important
to you, Not because you think that you should, or
because you have been told that, or you're getting ready
for a wedding and you don't want to look bad
in the photos, but more what the act and the
(16:35):
commitment of losing weight will ultimately mean to you in
your life. So will it mean that you can live
a longer life. Will it mean that you can be
more active and live a more active middle and senior
years where you can travel a lot?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
More?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Is it that you know that your best self was
at a weight that was significantly leaner than you are now,
and it's holding you back from doing the things that
you want. You've really got to spend time thinking what
the benefits are to you because that becomes your internal drive.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And until we.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Really have that, you will sit at exactly the weight
you are because it's comfortable for you. So in order
to take it to the next level, it's really about
looking at that higher order role that that weight will
play in your life. So it's actually not about the weight,
it's the role that plays and the benefits that will
come from taking it under control, and in many cases
(17:31):
leanne things like disease risk are too abstract because we
don't know what's going to happen. It might happen, it
may not. A client example sprunk to mind a client
of mine who's done incredibly well and lost a significant
amount of weight and.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Is at a pretty good point.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You know, she's at a size twelve, she's wearing her
clothes that she had before, but she is struggling because
on paper she wants to I would say she needs to,
but she wants to lose some more weight.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
But the shift to get there from.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Where she is is great, and it's not who she's
identifying with. So what we're spending time working on is
trying to break that barrier between what will be the
difference from her life saying she's seventy five kilos or
eighty kilos after losing twenty thirty getting down to seventy,
what are the benefits and what meaning does that have
(18:21):
and what will that represent and why will that become important?
And until we break the back of that, I hasten
to say, we'll probably stay where she is because at
the moment, the benefits don't outweigh the negatives, and even
though in her head she knows she should, can you
see it's not there for her in terms of having
internal meanings. So it's a broader life sense about where health, fitness,
agility all fits and linking into that personally that will
(18:46):
break that and take you to that next goal. If
you're stuck sort of at a reasonable weight, but know
you would be better if you're a little bit lower.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I had that exact client example obviously different client where
she lost I think roughly about fifteen kilos and she
still wanted to lose another ten and just for months
she was stuck and she kept up sabotaging herself and
she couldn't get off, you know, the last ten off.
And I said to her, like, what is it Like
it has to be more about just looking good in
your clothes. It has to be more than just wanting
to be this exact round number I wanting to lose
(19:17):
another ten. And we had this discussion over and over
and over again, and it was like we just kept
coming back to the same thing where I'd say to her,
you're eating well, You're actually now within like she was
the top of the healthy weight range, but it was
still very healthy. She was eating really well. All of
her blood tests were coming back fine. We'd be like
reverse the diabetes risk. We'd hit all of these different
health markers. Cholesterol had come down, she was doing more
(19:38):
exercise than she ever had. She was getting on average
eight thousand steps a day. She was doing two or
three weight sessions a week like she was ticking all
the boxes from a health perspective. And I said, you
no longer need to lose weight from a health perspective.
This is purely from an esthetic perspective. And I said,
that's absolutely okay. It is okay to want to look good.
I do you do like we all do, most of
us do, right, That is completely fine, But it's not
(20:00):
enough of motivation to get you to your goal. So
gone with a whole. I need to do this for
my health. I need to do this for my family.
I need to do this for my kids so I
can be around a lot longer. So we'd achieved the
fifteen kilo weight loss because that was her. That were
the goals to start with, But the last ten kilos
was purely about I want to look good.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Do you know what I mean? And so she really struggles.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So I can definitely relate to what you're saying between
the int extrinsic, the interjected, and the identified goals where
it has to have a bit of a deeper meaning.
It can't just be I want to lose another five
or ten, because we hear it time and time and
time again, and clients never follow through it. They start
a day or two and by Wednesday Thursday, the diets done.
They're back to the old patterns. It's hard, it's really
(20:42):
hard to change behaviors. And unless you have that internal
drive within you because the goal is so big or
it's so important to you that you will do anything
to make it a priority, you're never going to change.
So you have to ask yourself, is it Simon Senek
who did that presentation? It was like, ask yourself, why
seven times have you had that?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Sus I haven't heard that specific one, but I certainly
think the question of why and I trying to identify
meaning is stuff that takes time to consider, but it
really gets to that bottom of who are you? What
kind of life do you want to lead? And where
does weight sit with that for you?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And when you ask yourself why this is important to
you ask yourself why again? So you might say, why
is this important? Because I want to look good at
my clothes? Why do you want to look good in
your clothes because it gives me my confidence? Why do
you want to have more confidence because it, I don't know,
like helps me get out there and meet new people.
Why do I want to get out there and meet
new people? So they say, I can't remember who did
this presentation, but it was something about asking yourself why
(21:39):
six or seven times, and you'll get down to the
root cause or the deeper meaning of the motivation behind
wanting to achieve some goals. So it really helps to
kind of unlock some of those different levels and helps
people get closer to their goals. But I'll say one
last thing about motivation, Susian. For me, whenever I struggle
with something, it's about accountability. And this is where working
one on one with a diet, working with a coach,
(22:01):
working with a trainer, somebody to keep you accountable. Whether
that accountability is coming from a loved one, whether it's
coming from a friend, or whether it's coming from a
health professional such as Susie or eye. A lot of
us need that regular accountability in order to stay on
track and in order to meet our goals. So if
you're someone who's been you know, you've had this goal
of losing weight for at least six or twelve months,
(22:22):
and you're just going round and round in circles and
you're not doing yourself, it's probably time to think, is
it the right time for me now to invest in
my health, whether that's with a doctor, a dietitian, a trainer,
and actually get that regular accountability and sit down and
set some goals with myself around motivation so I can
actually move forward and achieve the goals I've actually wanted
to achieve for the last six or twelve months.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
One hundred percent and something to really be considering. You know,
in terms of a lot of our ladies listening are
in those ages forties, fifties, the kids have grown up,
they're sort of starting to spend more time looking after
self again. And keeping in mind that these cohorts of
women and I speak, we're talking primarily to women will
hopefully live long, healthy lives. That means you may live
(23:04):
to seventy eighty ninety. You want a functional body that
can move, So starting to think about those lines in
terms of how you would feel in your body, or
what would be different in terms of what you could do,
or even just halting gain are all very powerful bigger
picture questions, and these daily food decisions add up and
give us that body and that life. So there are
(23:25):
things to sort of start to think about if you're
on a little bit of a ledge and have been
there for a while and getting frustrated that you don't
seem to be able to commit fully to take you
to your best self in terms of where you think
your weight would sit at that point.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
One hundred percent Springer is a wonderful time to do
a hard result in our health.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Now, so is it moving on to our.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Last question, which is our listener question our last segment,
I should say, which is our listener question of the week,
and the question is around mct oils.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is MCT oil healthy or help with fat loss? Is
it healthy oil or does it help with fat loss?
So mct oils are a funny one.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I remember it must have been when kido hit the
headlines five or ten years ago. Now it's been big
for a while, and it was tilted as this like
miracle oil. I remember at the time that I was
working at the hospital and one of the things that
I was covering was the intensive care unit, and one
of the consultants in the intensive care unit came to
me and he's like, Oh, we want to use MCT
oil for some of our clients there, and I was like,
(24:19):
how interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So I was looking at some of the.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Research and I know it's done the rounds a lot
on social media, but it's really been touted as this
thing that's really helpful, almost like this miracle cure for
weight loss. So I think it helps to understand what
is an MCT oil, why is it different, and what
is the actual research and science behind it. So MCT
essentially stands for medium chain triglycerides. So it's a type
of fat that is made up of these medium chain triglycerides. So,
(24:43):
like most fatty acids, it's a triple botted carbon. So
MCT oils have three fatty acids attached to a glyceryl backbone.
That's a structural component of how they make it up.
Now when they call them medium chain triglycerides, mcts have
about six to twelve carbons per fatty acid. If it
was a short chain fatty acid, it would have less
than six and if it was a longer chain fatty acid,
(25:04):
it would have more than twelve carbons per bond. So
the longer chain fatty acids there are really healthy ones.
There are nutsaz seeds know extraversion, olive ols, and fatty.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Types of fish.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
There are really good healthy ones. Now, medium chain fatty acids,
as I said, sit within that kind of six carbon
So because they have fewer carbon bonds than the longer chains,
what is hypothesized on what they do scientifically is they're
actually able to be absorbed a little bit quicker than
the longer chain fatty acids because they have less carbon bonds.
And having said that, mct oils in the body don't
(25:36):
need or require as much bile or the pancreatic enzymes
to break down, so they're broken down a lot faster
and easier by the body, and they put a lot
less stress on the body. Hence why one of the
doctors wanted to use them in the intensive care unit
where people are very very unwell. They're able to absorb
and utilize these fats a lot easier than some of
these longer chain fatty acids. So that's the kind of
(25:56):
the chemical structure of how they're made up. A lot
of the research is very conflicting when you look at
SUSI there was at least one study that I found
that said that mct oils could be absorbed in the
same way as long chain fatty acids. So even some
of that, you know, the science behind it is a
little bit debunked. In one of these studies where we're
saying mct oils are quote unquote better because they're absorbed
(26:18):
quicker and easier, there was actually a study that showed
that the body actually absorbed it the same way. But
I guess the easiest way to explain how it's absorbed
in the body is it kind of bypasses the liver,
whereas most longer chain fatty acids need to utilize the
liver to break them down and utilize the biolens and
with pancreatic acids to break them down in terms of
digestion and absorption. But mct oils seem to bypass the
(26:38):
liver and they're broken down a lot faster. So because
of that, there's a lot of you know, research that
says that for specific medical conditions and that sort of thing,
they would benefit from using things like mct oils, but
when it comes to weight loss. But I actually just
make a point coconut oil because a lot of people
are saying that coconut oil isn't MCTA oil, So technically,
(27:00):
yes it is, But what coconut oil is is generally
made up of only about fifty to sixty percent mct oils,
and the rest of it's are the type of oil
with the rest of their mct oils, it's predominantly medium
chain chocolates rites. So it's actually I wouldn't be using
coconut oil as an MCTA oil. If you wanted to
introduce something like MCTA oil, I would use the pure
(27:20):
form of mc to oil, not substitute for coconut oil.
But there is a little bit of a small amount
of research that shows that it may boost metabolism and
it may also be helpful for weight loss, but a
lot of it is kind of conflicting and a little
bit confusing, So it's not something that I would be
adding into any of my client's diets, Suzi, But if
you wanted to try it, I would definitely go with
the pure mct oil, not coconut oil to start with,
(27:42):
and of course you'd want to do that in line
with a healthy diet, in line with exercise, and also
in line with achieving a calorie deficit as well. So
there's a little bit of research for it. But I
wouldn't just be sticking with exactly what I'm doing if
my goal was to lose twenty kilos and just adding
in a whole heap of MCT oil on top of that,
because you're not really going to get much weight benefits.
That's kind of the bottom line there. As like everything,
(28:03):
you want to do it in line with the healthy
data and exercise, but there is a little bit of
kind of emerging research and studies that show that it
may be helpful for weight loss.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
There you go, we've learned something today.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
We used to use it in the children's hospital for
people with special diets. It was certainly that prescription. But
I'm extraversion olive oil all the whalien. No MCT here,
hands down EVO for me all the way. All right, Well,
that brings us to the end of the nutrition gatch
for another Sunday. We are absolutely thrilled to an ounce
and we have hit three point five a million downloads,
which is for Susie and I are two little small
(28:32):
Aussie dieticians.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
We're just so stoked. So we can't thank you enough for.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Sport, for you know, just always tuning in and listening
to us every Wednesday on Sunday. We just wanted to
say a big thank you from us here and stay
tuned because we have plenty more episodes coming to your
ears very soon.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Thanks for listening.
Do you regularly pack a lunchbox for a family member
or maybe even yourself. On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch,
we chat the number one mistake we make when packing
a lunchbox and the easy changes to make to get
the balance right to create a nutritious and filling lunchbox. Hi,
I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susie Burrow, and every week
we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the biweekly podcast that
(00:21):
keeps you up to date on everything that you need
to know in the world of nutrition as well as lunchboxes.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Today we chat all things.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Motivation and how to find yours if it's run away
this spring, and our listener question is all about a
special type of fat for fat loss and if it
actually works. So Susie, starting off today, I sent you
a really interesting article that I actually saw online, but
it was originally posted on news dot com. I think
I saw it on Facebook and the comments section was
blowing up, and I just you know when you see
(00:48):
those articles on Facebook and they have like five hundred
comments and you're clicking it for kicks, and I was like, what.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I didn't even look at the headline.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I didn't even see what it was about But it
was essentially an article of this lady who'd packed her
kid's lunchbox. The kid was eight years old, and she
showcased what she packed for the kid, and there was
quite a lot of food in that lunch box, and
she was like, oh my goodness, my eight year old
devoursed this then comes home and raids the pantry and
it's like a bottomless pit. Does any other parent feel
the same? And the comment section was blowing up because
(01:14):
essentially the lunchbox was it had like a sugar yogurt,
a popper, It had some fruit, It had a bit
of cucumber or a cherry tomato. There was like a sandwich,
but you couldn't tell of it had like a spread
on it, Like I didn't know what was on the sandwich.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It had some.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Crackers, some pringles, like it was a lunchbox with a
lot of processed foods. But that's not the point I'm
trying to make. Like the comment section, of course, was
filled with parents being like, oh my goodness, the amount
of sugars and artificial colors, and of course your kids
hungry because you're feeding them nothing but preservatives and all
of this stuff. And people like talking about ADHD and
like it was. It was awful, like this poor mom,
(01:46):
like they were going at it, like she was just
trying to feed her kid. But I didn't obviously want
to talk about attacking this lady. I wanted to talk
about what happens when we pack a lunchbox, that the
macronutrient distribution is wrong, and that's why our kids are
feeling really hungry. So irrespective of the fact that lunchbox
had a lot of packaged food in there, you do
the best you can do as a parent, right, We're
(02:06):
not here to judge you. But what I want Paris
to think about is adding in some protein and some
healthy fat into that lunchbox. Essentially, that lunchbox was bulk calves, right,
And there's nothing wrong with calves, particularly for kids, they're growing,
they're active, they need it. But the problem with carbohydrates
is particularly the type of carbohydrates she was putting in
that lunchbox. They weren't whole grain, they weren't high fiber,
(02:27):
They didn't give you that lasting energy. She had really
those quick types of refined calves, which we say for
most adults, particularly those trying to lose weight. We don't
want to have too much of because they really just
don't keep us full. So although there was a decent
amount of food in this lunchbox, this kid, I don't
know if it was a girl or a boy, was
coming home absolutely ravenous and raising the pantry because it
(02:48):
had no sustenance to it. And we know that there
are two nutrients that really helped provide us with that
bulk and that satiety to leave us feeling full of
for longer. The first one is protein and the second
one is fat, and then fiber also gets a gold
star from things like salads and vegetables and whole grains
and fruit. So there was a little bit of fruit
in the lunch box and there was a couple of
veggie sticks, so it wasn't like it was all bad,
(03:10):
but the big thing that it was lacking was protein
and enough fiber as well. Like the bread wasn't a
dense whole grain one. There wasn't as far as I
could tell, protein on the bread.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
There was it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
There was a yogurt, but it wasn't, you know, like
it was quite a high sugar fruit type of yogurt.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So really that poor.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Child didn't have anything that slowed down the digestion of
those carbohydrates in a tummy to keep it full of
the longer.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I know a lot of schools have a no nut policy,
and I'm all for that because Mia has quite bad
nut allergies.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But there are other types.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Of healthy fats so you can add into lunchboxes too,
And cheese is a great one that you can put
onto a sandwich. Even you know, a little bit of
chicken breast, put an ice brick into the lunchbox if
you want. You just need to add a little bit
more protein and a little bit of some healthy fats
into that lunch box, and that's what's going to provide
the sustenance to tie our kids over. And same with
adults as well. If you're packing a lunchbox and it's
(03:57):
a sandwich with a bit of spread, like a bit
of veggimid and butter, then you've got some rice crackers
that he got a bit of dip, and he got
some veggie sticks, and he've got I don't know, like
a homemade biscuit or something like that. Although it's not
inherently bad food. Again, it's mostly just carbohydrates, and they're
giving us that quick energy and it's not tying us
over for a few hours like a meal really should.
So that was the biggest thing that I wanted to
(04:19):
talk about in that lunchbox, Susie. But the poor lady,
she was really coppying it on social media. There was
a lot of I guess package type food in that
lunch box. And it's totally okay. And you and I
have had conversations before where we're not purius at all.
We're happy to give our kids. You know, Mia has
little packets of biscuits all that sort of thing. Sometimes,
so she has little packets of crackers and that sort
of thing. But it's not the only thing we want
to put in our kid's lunchbox. It has to be
(04:41):
quite well rounded. And just off the top of my head,
boiled eggs are a really good protein source, or something
like some roasted chickpeas, or just sometimes I use tin
black beans or tinned lentils as well. I put them
into a lot of me as lunch plates as well,
because again they're providing that box, that protein and that
fiber that helped to fill the tummy up for a
little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What do you think, Oh, it's the most an issue,
and it really is tricky. When I worked as a
pediatric dietician at the children's hospital, I used to follow
the lunch box formula of one vegetable, one fruit, one
package snack that contained less than one hundred calories, and
then a protein food because we would routinely see kids
who were starving having sandwiches with sort of a plane
(05:21):
spread on them, jam vegimite, and then fruit, always fruit,
but very rarely vegetables, a box of juice in many cases,
and then multiple snacks. You know, there was research done
from a Melbourne school going back several I want to say,
at least ten years now that found on average, kids
at a primary school were consuming three package snacks per day.
(05:41):
So I think when we get this uproar on social media,
it's not necessarily representative of what the average person is doing.
I think they're often a more privileged group who perhaps
have the capacity and time to make homemade lunch box fillers.
And I think, you know, let's be honest, a lot
of people are buying those packaged foods and they're all
carbohydrate based, even they're healthier ones, whether it's a fruit
stick or rice snack, they're all heavy refined process carbohydrate.
(06:05):
So if you look at that, it can add up
to eighty one hundred grams of refined carbohydrate with very
very little protein. So some of the foods that I
routinely use in my boys lunchbox now and becoming more
aware of how difficult it is for busy parents. And
you're right, we'll come to adults to get in a minute.
So I sometimes use the little flavored milk drinks. Yes
they contain added sugar, but I still think they're better
(06:26):
than juice. In many cases. I do like the cheese
sticks and the cheese and cracker snack packs. The roasted legumes.
They come in at about five grams of protein lamb,
but it's actually not that great. So if you can
get chicken, tuna, leftover meat on a wrap or sandwich, now,
admittedly coming into a stray in summer, you have to
be careful, but I do use a freezer pack and
put some cold things, iced blocks in there. But I
(06:48):
myself with my boys use leftover lean sausages, the chipoladas
from peppercorn, a couple of those they love, or if
I've got crumb chicken peace, I'll put that in or
even a piece of leftover salmon because they love the meat,
my boys. But you're right if you've got a child
who's not a fan of that, A small tin of
baked beans, a hard boiled egg, the little yogurt tubes,
now again they come in about five grams up to eight.
(07:09):
There's very few no added sugar protein tubes for kids.
I think there's the Tama Valley one a couple. So
you want a protein rich snack in my experience, whether
it's dairy roasted chickpeas, boiled egg as well as ideally
a protein topping on the bread, just to try and
balance out that macro nutrient load and try and reduce
the carbohydrate load. And this is a sensitive issue and
(07:31):
some people it's not to cause a fence rather than
to raise a real issue when you're dealing with either
children who are overweight, and an overweight child will simply
look a lot older than they are. They might be
six and they look ten. They're wearing size ten clothing,
so they seem to be bigger. They're growing quickly, or
in the case of girls, going through their puberty phase,
so whether it's from ten to twelve, and they sort
(07:51):
of get a bit of puppy fat. Now, it is
certainly suggested that they reduce their carbohydrate load. Now we're
not suggesting it stream diets for children by any means.
We're saying is girls that those ages tend to be
a lot less active. They gain weight very quickly. It
can be a very sensitive topic for them and for
those around them, leaving them prone to bullying behavior. And
a powerful thing you can do with that lunchbox is
(08:12):
have a quick look and see how you can increase
the protein content and reduce the carbohydrates. So, can you
add some more vegetables in there? Can you swap a
packet of biscuits or rice snacks for something protein based
like chipeas, hardboard egg cheese and crackers. And can you
choose a better quality bread or wrap that's smaller and
then add some lean protein. Not only will your girls
(08:32):
be a whole lot fuller nutritionally, it will be much
better for them and you will avoid that three four
o'clock binge that happens and can certainly increase weight gain
for that very sensitive age group. So I say that
clinically from a position of trying to keep the girls
as healthy and less sensitive and less vulnerable to issues
with their weight as they're going through those years ten,
(08:53):
twelve and up to sort of sixteen, and yes, certainly
a lot of them are a lot less active than
they once were as children, reducing sports and studying a
lot more, and certainly aiming for more protein rich foods
in the lunchbox and reducing the carbohydrate load.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Is that is a good way of doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Now, we're certainly talking about teens as they get older.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know, we're not saying reduce the carbohydrate load in
your six year olds, you know, lunchbox or anything like that.
So we're not saying no carbs. We're certainly not saying
low carb We're just saying, what are one or two
swaps that you can make that as your child gets older,
entering those teen year you know, gets the period that
sort of thing, if they're not as active, if they
started to gain weight rather than Obviously we don't want
to promote diets or anything like that, but just take
(09:31):
a look at lunchbox and look at one or two
small swaps. Now, when they're children, we've said protein, protein, protein,
kids don't really need that much protein, But the reality
is that most of what we're providing as parents and
lunchboxes is like eighty to ninety percent carbs. So we're
not saying start putting protein powders and protein bars and
protein yogats into your, you know, small child's lunchbox. Absolutely not.
(09:52):
But you can find small amounts of protein in more
whole food based foods. And that's what Susie and I
are suggesting. Not a high protein diet for our young kids.
Absolutely not. Just where can we replace one type of carbohydrate? Say,
say they've got some cookies and a piece of homemade
banana bread and two pieces of fruit in that in
that lunchbox. Can one of the fruits sub for a yogurt?
Can one of the cookies sub out for some roasted
(10:15):
chickpeas or two of those little baby bell cheeses or
something like that. So it's not to say we have
to take all of the carbohydrate out of the lunchbox.
Kids actually do really well with carbohydrodes. It's a great
energy source. But a lot of the time, the majority
of the lunch box is all carb and that's why
our children are getting hungry and it's not sustaining them
for very long. And you feel like you're just feeding
this bottomless pit, which is costing you the earth because
(10:38):
they're just not feeling full. So protein and fib but
the two important nutrients, and healthy fats as well. Fats
actually provide a lot of satardi with our meals as well,
So where you can. Avocado is one of my favorite fats.
I give me a lot of avocado for afternoon tea
on crackers or a piece of toast. It's harder to
put in a lunch box. It kind of goes a
bit brown. You have to put a little squeeze of
lemon juice over it prevents the oxidization, isn't it with
(10:59):
the with the air, and that's why it goes brown.
So a little good squeeze of lemon juice, if not,
save it as an afternoon tea snack when they get home,
a little bit of you know, cheese and avocado and
a bit of toast or something like that. Of course,
whole grain or multi grain toast is a great afternoon
tea snack option rather than just putting it spread on
like ntallural jam, because again you're just putting carb on
carb and there's no sustenance there. We're not saying you
(11:19):
can't have it, but there's no real sustenance there to
tie them over until dinner, so they're likely to need
two or three after doo tea snacks after school to
get them to dinner if you're just feeding them bulk
carbs in the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And a little trick I think we've mentioned this before
is that if I've got a bit of a driver,
we're going to enoughter skellectivity, I'll pack some cut up
carrots or green beans baby tomatoes in the car when
they're actually sat there hungry and nothing else to do,
and they're offer munch on that, So you're getting that
also veggie bulk in before you get home, and they
only want the carb. So that's another little trick on
ways to increase vegguice without it being a massive focal point.
(11:54):
All right, Lean motivation, It's that time of year when
our requests for client coms salts are going crazy because
everyone's realizing that as the weather improves, we all need
to get into our swimming causes pretty soon. And a
common piece of feedback from clients or people in general
when they're going through lifestyle change is you know, i've
(12:14):
lost my motivation. You know, they might start a program
or guns blazing, and then a week or two in
challenges present as they tend to busy life, and all
of a sudden, people will describe losing their motivation or
I need to need help with motivation, or I need
to be motivated, or I'm trying to find my motivation.
So I thought it lent itself to a good discussion
at this time about actually what is motivation? If we're
(12:34):
taking a deeper dive into how to find yours or
how to support your own, what actually are we referring to,
and some things to consider if you are struggling a
little bit at this time. So put broadly, motivation is
described as an internal process that drives goal directed behavior.
So it's not a set thing that we can find
or it's more the process that individuals will go through
(12:55):
to maintain a certain behavior that is generally linked to
an outcome or a goal. So, for example, the motivation
to eat healthy, maybe that you have a higher order
goal that health is very important to you, or as
you get older, you don't want to be gaining weight,
or in the case of preparing for an event or
something that you want to lose weight and you've got
(13:15):
to that point where you're like, right, it's time to
get those ten kilos off. It might be that I'm
preparing for a big birthday. I'm turning forty next year,
so my goal is actually the weight loss and the
drive is to achieve that. So when we're sort of
starting to look at what predicts success, certainly those who
have the intrinsic drive to do things are more likely
(13:38):
to achieve success. But it is interesting when it comes
to weight loss because it's not always an intrinsic drive
for a range of reasons. So, for example, that may
be an extrinsic drive to be told that you have
to lose weight if you've been to your doctor and
you actually have to do it now. In the case,
it's not exactly extrinsic, because I guess an extrinsic weight
(13:59):
loss goal would be if you're going to join the
police force or the army and you have to be
a certain weight to do that. You've actually got the
requirement that there are consequences if you don't do it.
That's purely an extrinsic driven weight loss goal. Compared to
intrinsic whereas I always do what I need to do
to maintain my late because I would do it no
matter what it's important to me. And then there's a
couple of other little examples. There's an introjected goal, which
(14:23):
is that I should do it or there are consequences.
So that is certainly when someone will present with blood
test results like goofles issues or high cholesterol and they say,
my doctor told me I should lose weight, or I
might get diabetes, or I might have heart disease. So
that's a good example of it interjected when the doctor
refers someone. Or there's an identified goal, which is probably
(14:45):
where a lot of a sit we've identified that there
are benefits to doing so and it's good for me.
So I would say that most of my clients would
probably fit in an identified goal because I don't see
anyone who has to lose weight, and that would be
the caseuly for weight loss surgery cases, or once you're
working with a dietitian and they have to go and
opt too fast before they have weight loss surgery, that's
(15:07):
certainly extrinsic.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
They're doing it because they're told they have to.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
We probably don't see a lot of leand people with
an intrinsic goal because they keep their weight under control
by various means, because it's just who they are and
it's in them naturally.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
We might see a few introjected.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I don't myself, but I know a lot of general
dieticians working in GP's practices would have a lot of
clients who come and be told that they should lose
weight because there's health consequences.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
But I see a lot.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Of identified goals where my clients will say, I know
this is the right thing to do, I'm not naturally
doing it, or I need help, but it's an identified goal.
But what I specifically wanted to talk about today was
for those who are struggling in terms of making progress.
So they might have kick started a program, committed, brought
a new diet book, seeing a dietitian, listening to the
(15:53):
nutrition accounts, and implementing changes, but you're finding that you
just never get to that next level sort of a
bit of progress, but you don't ever continue. You never
get to the endpoint. And this is the psychological work
we will do with clients over time, and it's certainly
about halfway through a program that it tends to rear
its ugly head where sort of the barriers are outweighing
(16:15):
the moving forward and positive options is that you've got
to start to really think about why this is important
to you, Not because you think that you should, or
because you have been told that, or you're getting ready
for a wedding and you don't want to look bad
in the photos, but more what the act and the
(16:35):
commitment of losing weight will ultimately mean to you in
your life. So will it mean that you can live
a longer life. Will it mean that you can be
more active and live a more active middle and senior
years where you can travel a lot?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
More?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Is it that you know that your best self was
at a weight that was significantly leaner than you are now,
and it's holding you back from doing the things that
you want. You've really got to spend time thinking what
the benefits are to you because that becomes your internal drive.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And until we.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Really have that, you will sit at exactly the weight
you are because it's comfortable for you. So in order
to take it to the next level, it's really about
looking at that higher order role that that weight will
play in your life. So it's actually not about the weight,
it's the role that plays and the benefits that will
come from taking it under control, and in many cases
(17:31):
leanne things like disease risk are too abstract because we
don't know what's going to happen. It might happen, it
may not. A client example sprunk to mind a client
of mine who's done incredibly well and lost a significant
amount of weight and.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Is at a pretty good point.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You know, she's at a size twelve, she's wearing her
clothes that she had before, but she is struggling because
on paper she wants to I would say she needs to,
but she wants to lose some more weight.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
But the shift to get there from.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Where she is is great, and it's not who she's
identifying with. So what we're spending time working on is
trying to break that barrier between what will be the
difference from her life saying she's seventy five kilos or
eighty kilos after losing twenty thirty getting down to seventy,
what are the benefits and what meaning does that have
(18:21):
and what will that represent and why will that become important?
And until we break the back of that, I hasten
to say, we'll probably stay where she is because at
the moment, the benefits don't outweigh the negatives, and even
though in her head she knows she should, can you
see it's not there for her in terms of having
internal meanings. So it's a broader life sense about where health, fitness,
agility all fits and linking into that personally that will
(18:46):
break that and take you to that next goal. If
you're stuck sort of at a reasonable weight, but know
you would be better if you're a little bit lower.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I had that exact client example obviously different client where
she lost I think roughly about fifteen kilos and she
still wanted to lose another ten and just for months
she was stuck and she kept up sabotaging herself and
she couldn't get off, you know, the last ten off.
And I said to her, like, what is it Like
it has to be more about just looking good in
your clothes. It has to be more than just wanting
to be this exact round number I wanting to lose
(19:17):
another ten. And we had this discussion over and over
and over again, and it was like we just kept
coming back to the same thing where I'd say to her,
you're eating well, You're actually now within like she was
the top of the healthy weight range, but it was
still very healthy. She was eating really well. All of
her blood tests were coming back fine. We'd be like
reverse the diabetes risk. We'd hit all of these different
health markers. Cholesterol had come down, she was doing more
(19:38):
exercise than she ever had. She was getting on average
eight thousand steps a day. She was doing two or
three weight sessions a week like she was ticking all
the boxes from a health perspective. And I said, you
no longer need to lose weight from a health perspective.
This is purely from an esthetic perspective. And I said,
that's absolutely okay. It is okay to want to look good.
I do you do like we all do, most of
us do, right, That is completely fine, But it's not
(20:00):
enough of motivation to get you to your goal. So
gone with a whole. I need to do this for
my health. I need to do this for my family.
I need to do this for my kids so I
can be around a lot longer. So we'd achieved the
fifteen kilo weight loss because that was her. That were
the goals to start with, But the last ten kilos
was purely about I want to look good.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Do you know what I mean? And so she really struggles.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So I can definitely relate to what you're saying between
the int extrinsic, the interjected, and the identified goals where
it has to have a bit of a deeper meaning.
It can't just be I want to lose another five
or ten, because we hear it time and time and
time again, and clients never follow through it. They start
a day or two and by Wednesday Thursday, the diets done.
They're back to the old patterns. It's hard, it's really
(20:42):
hard to change behaviors. And unless you have that internal
drive within you because the goal is so big or
it's so important to you that you will do anything
to make it a priority, you're never going to change.
So you have to ask yourself, is it Simon Senek
who did that presentation? It was like, ask yourself, why
seven times have you had that?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Sus I haven't heard that specific one, but I certainly
think the question of why and I trying to identify
meaning is stuff that takes time to consider, but it
really gets to that bottom of who are you? What
kind of life do you want to lead? And where
does weight sit with that for you?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And when you ask yourself why this is important to
you ask yourself why again? So you might say, why
is this important? Because I want to look good at
my clothes? Why do you want to look good in
your clothes because it gives me my confidence? Why do
you want to have more confidence because it, I don't know,
like helps me get out there and meet new people.
Why do I want to get out there and meet
new people? So they say, I can't remember who did
this presentation, but it was something about asking yourself why
(21:39):
six or seven times, and you'll get down to the
root cause or the deeper meaning of the motivation behind
wanting to achieve some goals. So it really helps to
kind of unlock some of those different levels and helps
people get closer to their goals. But I'll say one
last thing about motivation, Susian. For me, whenever I struggle
with something, it's about accountability. And this is where working
one on one with a diet, working with a coach,
(22:01):
working with a trainer, somebody to keep you accountable. Whether
that accountability is coming from a loved one, whether it's
coming from a friend, or whether it's coming from a
health professional such as Susie or eye. A lot of
us need that regular accountability in order to stay on
track and in order to meet our goals. So if
you're someone who's been you know, you've had this goal
of losing weight for at least six or twelve months,
(22:22):
and you're just going round and round in circles and
you're not doing yourself, it's probably time to think, is
it the right time for me now to invest in
my health, whether that's with a doctor, a dietitian, a trainer,
and actually get that regular accountability and sit down and
set some goals with myself around motivation so I can
actually move forward and achieve the goals I've actually wanted
to achieve for the last six or twelve months.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
One hundred percent and something to really be considering. You know,
in terms of a lot of our ladies listening are
in those ages forties, fifties, the kids have grown up,
they're sort of starting to spend more time looking after
self again. And keeping in mind that these cohorts of
women and I speak, we're talking primarily to women will
hopefully live long, healthy lives. That means you may live
(23:04):
to seventy eighty ninety. You want a functional body that
can move, So starting to think about those lines in
terms of how you would feel in your body, or
what would be different in terms of what you could do,
or even just halting gain are all very powerful bigger
picture questions, and these daily food decisions add up and
give us that body and that life. So there are
(23:25):
things to sort of start to think about if you're
on a little bit of a ledge and have been
there for a while and getting frustrated that you don't
seem to be able to commit fully to take you
to your best self in terms of where you think
your weight would sit at that point.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
One hundred percent Springer is a wonderful time to do
a hard result in our health.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Now, so is it moving on to our.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Last question, which is our listener question our last segment,
I should say, which is our listener question of the week,
and the question is around mct oils.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is MCT oil healthy or help with fat loss? Is
it healthy oil or does it help with fat loss?
So mct oils are a funny one.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I remember it must have been when kido hit the
headlines five or ten years ago. Now it's been big
for a while, and it was tilted as this like
miracle oil. I remember at the time that I was
working at the hospital and one of the things that
I was covering was the intensive care unit, and one
of the consultants in the intensive care unit came to
me and he's like, Oh, we want to use MCT
oil for some of our clients there, and I was like,
(24:19):
how interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So I was looking at some of the.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Research and I know it's done the rounds a lot
on social media, but it's really been touted as this
thing that's really helpful, almost like this miracle cure for
weight loss. So I think it helps to understand what
is an MCT oil, why is it different, and what
is the actual research and science behind it. So MCT
essentially stands for medium chain triglycerides. So it's a type
of fat that is made up of these medium chain triglycerides. So,
(24:43):
like most fatty acids, it's a triple botted carbon. So
MCT oils have three fatty acids attached to a glyceryl backbone.
That's a structural component of how they make it up.
Now when they call them medium chain triglycerides, mcts have
about six to twelve carbons per fatty acid. If it
was a short chain fatty acid, it would have less
than six and if it was a longer chain fatty acid,
(25:04):
it would have more than twelve carbons per bond. So
the longer chain fatty acids there are really healthy ones.
There are nutsaz seeds know extraversion, olive ols, and fatty.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Types of fish.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
There are really good healthy ones. Now, medium chain fatty acids,
as I said, sit within that kind of six carbon
So because they have fewer carbon bonds than the longer chains,
what is hypothesized on what they do scientifically is they're
actually able to be absorbed a little bit quicker than
the longer chain fatty acids because they have less carbon bonds.
And having said that, mct oils in the body don't
(25:36):
need or require as much bile or the pancreatic enzymes
to break down, so they're broken down a lot faster
and easier by the body, and they put a lot
less stress on the body. Hence why one of the
doctors wanted to use them in the intensive care unit
where people are very very unwell. They're able to absorb
and utilize these fats a lot easier than some of
these longer chain fatty acids. So that's the kind of
(25:56):
the chemical structure of how they're made up. A lot
of the research is very conflicting when you look at
SUSI there was at least one study that I found
that said that mct oils could be absorbed in the
same way as long chain fatty acids. So even some
of that, you know, the science behind it is a
little bit debunked. In one of these studies where we're
saying mct oils are quote unquote better because they're absorbed
(26:18):
quicker and easier, there was actually a study that showed
that the body actually absorbed it the same way. But
I guess the easiest way to explain how it's absorbed
in the body is it kind of bypasses the liver,
whereas most longer chain fatty acids need to utilize the
liver to break them down and utilize the biolens and
with pancreatic acids to break them down in terms of
digestion and absorption. But mct oils seem to bypass the
(26:38):
liver and they're broken down a lot faster. So because
of that, there's a lot of you know, research that
says that for specific medical conditions and that sort of thing,
they would benefit from using things like mct oils, but
when it comes to weight loss. But I actually just
make a point coconut oil because a lot of people
are saying that coconut oil isn't MCTA oil, So technically,
(27:00):
yes it is, But what coconut oil is is generally
made up of only about fifty to sixty percent mct oils,
and the rest of it's are the type of oil
with the rest of their mct oils, it's predominantly medium
chain chocolates rites. So it's actually I wouldn't be using
coconut oil as an MCTA oil. If you wanted to
introduce something like MCTA oil, I would use the pure
(27:20):
form of mc to oil, not substitute for coconut oil.
But there is a little bit of a small amount
of research that shows that it may boost metabolism and
it may also be helpful for weight loss, but a
lot of it is kind of conflicting and a little
bit confusing, So it's not something that I would be
adding into any of my client's diets, Suzi, But if
you wanted to try it, I would definitely go with
the pure mct oil, not coconut oil to start with,
(27:42):
and of course you'd want to do that in line
with a healthy diet, in line with exercise, and also
in line with achieving a calorie deficit as well. So
there's a little bit of research for it. But I
wouldn't just be sticking with exactly what I'm doing if
my goal was to lose twenty kilos and just adding
in a whole heap of MCT oil on top of that,
because you're not really going to get much weight benefits.
That's kind of the bottom line there. As like everything,
(28:03):
you want to do it in line with the healthy
data and exercise, but there is a little bit of
kind of emerging research and studies that show that it
may be helpful for weight loss.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
There you go, we've learned something today.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
We used to use it in the children's hospital for
people with special diets. It was certainly that prescription. But
I'm extraversion olive oil all the whalien. No MCT here,
hands down EVO for me all the way. All right, Well,
that brings us to the end of the nutrition gatch
for another Sunday. We are absolutely thrilled to an ounce
and we have hit three point five a million downloads,
which is for Susie and I are two little small
(28:32):
Aussie dieticians.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
We're just so stoked. So we can't thank you enough for.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Sport, for you know, just always tuning in and listening
to us every Wednesday on Sunday. We just wanted to
say a big thank you from us here and stay
tuned because we have plenty more episodes coming to your
ears very soon.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Thanks for listening.
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