This week we’re tackling the big one for party season: alcohol. Leanne and Susie break down how much is too much, why “just one glass” is rarely one glass, and the simple rules that prevent Christmas weight gain.
Inside the episode:
- The truth about alcohol, hormones and cancer risk
- Why you might be drinking more than you think
- Party-season rules to protect sleep, energy and metabolism
- The canapé traps that lead to hidden weight gain
- Susie’s new favourite Woolies protein find
- Listener question: Is swimming actually good exercise for fat loss?
Perfect if you want to enjoy December without the blowout.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
How often do you drink alcohol? Maybe once or twice
a week, maybe most days, or maybe at this time
of year you are finding there are plenty of drinks
around on most days. On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch,
which at all things alcohol, Which type is best? How
much is too much? And the signs that you may
be drinking way too much. Hi, I'm Susy Burrow and
(00:27):
Emily and Ward, and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch,
the weekly podcast that keeps you up to date with
everything you need to know in the world of nutrition
as well as all things alcohol. We have a chat
about party foods, the ones that we would suggest you
avoid and the ones to focus on. I found a
new chicken option, but I think is pretty stick. And
this week our listener question is all about swimming. All right, Leanne,
(00:49):
It's that time of year when a cheeky rose is
on the menu, and I think the issue is that
it just seeps in on more days than not. It
doesn't matter if you're an work Christmas drinks or you're
dropping the kids off and one of the other mom says,
you want to have a wine, and well, what can
you say to that? Of course I want to have
a wine who doesn't, and before you know, you're drinking
on more days than not. And I you know, the
(01:11):
thing with alcohol consumption that we have to say first
and foremost as health professionals is there's no safe amount
of alcohol that is okay to drink. It is a
toxin to the body. It's linked to an increased risk
of a number of diseases, including a number of types
of cancer. The less you have of it, the better,
So no one is saying that it's a safe amount. Really,
the recommendation is the less the better. I preferred the
(01:34):
old recommendations, which were for two alcohol free days per week.
I find the new recommendations are a lot more wishy washy,
so I'm not even going to go through them as
a public health initiative. But what I say to my
own clients all the time is I want you to
have at least three alcohol free days a week, ideally four.
I think it's better to drink to not drink on
(01:57):
more days than you don't. So if you've got to
sit situation where someone's enjoying a small glass of red
wine every day, and I say I mean small, I
mean you know, proper like not this like that is
a big poor that is two serves, like I'm talking
the hundred meal once. You know, most days I don't
have a problem with it. But that's not how we
drink is at Land, people bings drink, they drink large amounts.
(02:20):
That is a standard poor. That is you know what
people are drinking as a glass and having two of those,
which is actually four standard drinks. And I think the
thing with alcohol consumption is before you know it, it
becomes a habit and then before you know it, you're
polishing off a bottle. And it does impact things like
our sleep, it's our calorie intake, it's our ability to
focus and get things done. You know, you wake up
(02:41):
the next day hungover, you don't sort of do the
things you want to do, you don't feel well enough
to exercise. So it has a real role on effect
to how you feel. And I know that you've got
a garment for example. I know that a lot of
people now can track their actual physiological variables that are
impacted with alcohol consumption. But I don't want to be
boring this Nelly. You know, I enjoy a glass of
wine or twenty five champagnes as I had with my
(03:03):
friends at the races last week. But it's more what
are you doing in moderation? What does your moderation mean?
And are you actually has it become a habit where
you're having it on more nights than not? And I
think at this time of year, the key message is
you've got to have a plan before you go. Because
we've got twenty days or however many of party season,
(03:25):
you'll probably find your drinking four or five six days
a week, versus saying, right, I am going to still
have Monday to Wednesday without or Wednesday's our Christmas party,
so I am going to have a few drinks and
it will be a bit de wautrous, but I am
going to have an alcohol free day on Thursday and
being comfortable with that and mapping it out so that
you give yourself, you know, the rest that you need,
and also not wasting calories on poor quality alcohol, because
(03:47):
one of my biggest things is that people will always
just grab a free wine anywhere and it's often not great.
You might not even like Chardonnay or save blanc, and
you just drink it. You know, It's like chocolate or
soul foods as you describe them. You know, have the
alcohol that you enjoy. Don't just waste it because it's
free or whatsot offer. You know you have good quality
and savor it. If you're someone who drinks anything anytime, anywhere,
(04:11):
you're probably doing it more out of habit than enjoying
the alcohol. And that leads to sort of, you know,
low level addiction where people are actually having way too
much too often and not even realizing it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, one hundred percent, I think we're drinking. And with food,
i'd argue, like, you've got to be a food snob.
Like I'm a food snob, but I'm proud about that.
Where if someone says, do you want to drink or
do you want a rose, because that's one of my
favorite things to drink, I'll say, is it French? And
that's my first question because if it's not French rose,
I'm not drinking it. And I'm a drink snob. I'm
a race Snob's a racist.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Italian Italian rose Italians all right too, you can get I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Not talking about like the best quality in the world.
I'm talking what is my personal preference. It's my concept
of soul foods that I say to my clients you
have to be a food snob. If you're just eating
and drinking every single thing that comes your way, you'll
never actually go into each your goals and you're probably
not going to be that healthy because, like you said,
the guidelines are there from actually a risk reduction perspective.
(05:08):
They're not saying this is what's safe and what's not safe.
There is zero amount of our coal that is safe.
We're not the food police. Do we both enjoy a
drink or many on a special occasion. Absolutely. If there's
French rose at the bar, I will probably be first
in line. I will admit that I love a couple
of glasses of a good quality French rose, but that
is one of my favorite things to drink. If it's
(05:28):
just the random standard house wine or that sort of thing,
more times than not, majority of the time, I will
probably just say no because to me, it doesn't give
me one hundred percent joy and satisfaction. So I think
it's okay to be really picky and choosy with what
we wanted this time a year, particularly if it's just
the work drinks and it's a free bar tab and
it's house wine and beer. Is that really what you're
(05:49):
going to kind of spend that budget for the week,
knowing that you've got two or three other occasions social
wise along this kind of busy Christmas season as well,
we have to be a little bit snobbish with our
and drinking choices at this time of year. If not,
you'll be like most Austrains who will probably put on
that average of what is about two kilos over that
Christmas period. It's the average that most people tend to
(06:09):
put on.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
And they don't lose it. That's the persact. People gain
one to two but they never get they never lose
it because they never then have that period of deficit
that they need. So it's just you're right, it's the
mindless eating and drinking and not keeping your goals front
of mine when someone does offer you a glass on
a Monday. So I'll often give feedback to clients Monday night,
(06:31):
did you need three glasses of wine?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I feel like unless it's extenuating circumstances, like you know,
really you probably need to have some clear days that
are lighter, and that is tricky and party season, but
I would really isolate out what are those special occasions
versus not and do you really need to have the
full strength wine every night? Can you swap it for
an alcohol free variety? Which makes me laugh because on
our retreat we.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Child Susie's not plock on and they're not okay, and
I can't do it and I'm not going there.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
But why do you me I'm non alcoholic? Why non
alcoholic wine? It wasn't even maybe she touched whether non alcoholics.
I think you were.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You were promoting them at one stage, though I think.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's years ago. Though years ago she remembered, I'm just like, well,
just have a soda water, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,
so I was like, Leanne promoted the non alcoholic why
not I.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Think if they taste okay? She did not, though, But
I think it's different strokes for different folks. You've got
to drink the thing that really that you know, that
you like. And I think that the most important thing
to remember is what is the standard drink, because, like
you said, most people will easily pour two to fifteen
meals of wine that is not a standard drink. Like
when we say a standard drink, try to stick to
no more than you know, two two three a day,
(07:49):
and that's on a special drinking occasion. A standard drink
is one hundred meals of wine. It's about a full
strength beer. It's a thirteen meal shop. If you're getting
a cocktail, you've probably got one, two three shots even
of standard drinks in there. So that cocktail itself is
potentially two to three stand drinks a big glass of wine.
You know, sometimes at like an RSL or a surf
Life Saving club, they'll say do you want the small
(08:10):
one or the big one? The big one's like a bucket, like,
that's easily I reckon what two three standard drinks like,
it's a lot. I would not be driving home if
I had that big one. So you know, we're not
here to judge. We're not here to be the food police.
We're not here to take all the fun out of
party season. But it is really important that we have
this discussion as health professionals that there is no safe
limit when it comes to alcohol. The guidelines in Australia
(08:33):
are there to reduce the risk of harm from alcohol
related injury or alcohol related diseases because the reality is
that alcohol is actually linked to over two hundred health conditions,
including things like liver disease, different types of cancers like
Susie mentioned, particularly breastsbell and mouth cancer, a sophag gea cancel,
and then it also has impacts in terms of sleep disturbances,
(08:55):
energy levels, cravings, hunger. It has this big flow on
effect through the rest of the week, so there is
actually no completely safe level. So if you don't love alcohol,
don't feel peer pressured at this time of year to
drink just because everybody else is drinking. If you don't
absolutely love it, go against the grain and actually say
no because it's actually not good for you. But if
you truly do love it, you have to be a
(09:16):
food snob. You have to be an alcohol snob at
this time of year. If not, it is so easy
to overdo the budget. And this is where Susan know,
I have clients coming to us saying, you know, I
put on five I've put on ten kilos of the
last couple of years. I don't even know how it happened.
And it happens over these big social seasons where you
put on one or two and you never actually get
it back off again. So one or two kilos you
probably won't notice it, but that builds up year after
(09:37):
year after year, and suddenly you've gone from sixty to
seventy or from seventy to eighty kilos, and now you're
sitting around the mid eighties and you don't even know
how it happened. It's generally because of these big party seasons,
we're just accepting everything that comes our way and not
being a bit snobbish about what we're actually going to drink,
what we're actually going to eat in order. And I
think that's one of the most important messages I say
(09:58):
to my clients at this time of year, as I
want you to be a not say no, pick the
one you want and just have one. Don't have three
glasses of the you know, mildly free, cheaper one, because
it's more important that you have the best quality one
that you're going to thoroughly enjoy, and that one or
two of that be enough, not multiple multiple glasses multiple
times a week.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And I think that wine is tricky. It's a slippery
slope with wine one because you never got control over
the poor like if people you're at a function, some
glasses are small, some are big. They're topping you up.
You don't actually know how much you've had, and often
it's not great quality and we just eat. It's just
that autocu and often it's sweet, so you just keep drinking.
So I think a few tricks. I think if you're
(10:37):
in control of your alcohol intake at home, I think
sometimes those portion controlled udls are really handy because some
of them are very low calorie now and they are
quite concentrated. But I actually think they're harder to over
drink the way wine is. It's really easy to polysh
off a bottle before you even realize it, whereas if
you know you've had one or two of those, or
you are having one or two to me, it's much
(10:58):
easier to control the portion.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I think.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The other thing is with women, and we all you
know with women women listening. You know, women tend to
peer pressure when it comes to drinking. If someone's not drinking,
there's some real questions raised. You know, why you're not
drinking tonight, and it sort of draws attention. So in
my experience, sometimes you better to just accept it and
sort of push it to the side and sit with
a soda water, So have a sip or two. If
you don't like it, I'll just leave it there. I
(11:21):
won't really drink much of it, and people then don't
pay attention, but I think it often draws more attention
if you soda was so proactive and saying no, and
then people are funny about it. So I think that
can work quite well as well. But yeah, at a minimum,
I would want at this time of the year three
alcohol free days if you can, and just be mindful
of you know, if you can avoid eating the fatty
food with it, because that's where the weight issue comes,
(11:41):
which we're about to talk about, because from it, people
will often say lean that I've gained weight or I
can't lose weight because of the alcohol consumption, and then
what happens is they drop the alcohol and they don't
lose weight, and they're really frustrated. But the reason for
that is that alcohol doesn't specifically cause weight gain. It
doesn't work like that. Alcohol is nutrient a fourth nutrient
is regarded as a toxin and process very very quickly
(12:04):
out of the liver. But what happens, and that's also
why alcoholics are often thin because they often don't eat,
They only drink, so they go sort of constantly and
are not eating anything. They're processing all the alcohol and
they get vitamin bee deficient and need injections, whereas what
happens for the rest of us who love to eat
and drink. You know, when we're drinking, all the food
calories that we're consuming, which is often you know, fried food,
(12:27):
pub food, are stored, so you're just less likely to
get to it. So if you've had a bender and
you've had a bottle or two of wine and that's
two thousand calories, well, any food you eat that day
won't be burnt off. So it's the combination of the
food and the alcohol. Now we're certainly not suggesting that
if you're drinking you just don't eat, because that's worse,
you know, in terms of hangover and metabolism and behavior.
(12:49):
But we're saying that's the link, and so it's the combo.
That's why I think going into this season, or being
in the middle of party season, you're better to have
FRM rules on how often you'll drink rather than trying
to limit how much, because I find in general, once
you start, very few people can stick to one small glass,
especially in a social situation. When it's you know, particularly
(13:09):
it's good alcohol, good food. You better to go cold
turkey and have some clear rules with it rather than
expecting yourself to have one or two and actually learnly
and that it's okay not to drink because I think
we're almost scared of it. It's like food restriction. Oh,
like I always have a glass of wine. You know,
if you sit out a day or two and don't
have it, you might notice that you're actually having far
more than you realize. And there's benefits to being a
(13:30):
little bit stricter and say I'm a bit too reliant
on it. If you can't go a day or two
without a glass of wine, there's a problem. That is
a sign for me you're having too much, and a
period without it is probably needed just to reset your
position because basically, like all of those triggers in the brain,
the more of it you have, the more you want,
and if you're predisposed to being more dependent on it,
you will feel that you literally can't have a night
(13:51):
without it. And again that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No, one hundred percent, because the guidelines really talk about
about ten sort of standard drinks a week, and a
typical bottle of wine. I'm talking like a seven to
fifty mil or a proper bottle of wine has about
seven to eight standard drinks, so if you've got to
pull ashop a bottle of wine on a Friday night,
you're kind of done for the week. Like, it doesn't
really leave you any other wiggle room to have any
other drinks on any other nights. We're certainly not saying
(14:13):
drink a whole bottle of wine at a night, but
that is a reality for a lot of Australians and
that is what they're drinking. It might not be you know,
in one sitting. It might be you know, you start
drinking it three four o'clock is you know, you're having
a backyard barbecue and then you kind of drink into
the night. It's very easy to have six seven standard drinks.
You don't think it is, but when you consider that
a sanded drink is only one hundred meals of wine,
it is very easy to get there over the course
(14:35):
of like a long kind of afternoon in drinking into
the night. So we're just saying just be aware of it.
Measure out your drinks, like hey like actually measure out
what one hundred meals of liquid looks like, so you're aware.
So if you're at a pub and they're just you're
at a wedding or something, and they're free pouring your alcohol.
You've got work drinks and it's you know, free bar
tab and they're just topping you up constantly. That's I
think that one of the most dangerous things is like
(14:57):
when you're at a wedding and they're just topping you up.
Because I will often be designate a driver at a
wedding because I only like to have kind of one
or two if it's not like a huge, you know,
celebration or something, and I always put my hand over
the glass because I'm like, the most dangerous thing is
when they just keep topping you up and you feel
like you're sitting there and you've had one glass, but
the reality is you're probably on like your third or
fourth drinks. You're just constantly being topped up. So I
(15:17):
think it's really important to be aware of how many
drinks you do have. So if it is a big
celebration where the alcohol's free, they're going around and they're
topping everybody off, just put your hand over your glass.
Make sure you finish your entire glass so you can
mentally just keep a track up. All Right, I've had
a one drink, I've had two drinks. I'm safe to
drive home. I'm not. It's I think it's a general
safety guideline, particularly for women, Like we shouldn't have to
(15:38):
say women shouldn't, you know, walk home themselves at night time.
But the reality is we have to be a little
bit careful and having four or five, six, seven, eight
drinks at a pub and then walking home by ourselves
probably isn't good because we don't really have enough wits
about us. So I think it is really important to
keep an eye on how many drinks you're having. And
there's no way you can do that if you're at
an event where you're constantly being topped up. So put
(15:59):
your hand every drink if they're coming around, and only
go and refill your glass or get another drink when
you've completely finished the first glass, just so that you're
aware of how many you've actually had.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And I think timing it is good because I've said
before on the podcast that big drinkers are quick drinkers,
and while it might take a glass for me, I'm
quite a slow drinker and it will take a good hour,
I'll find that they'll be finished in ten twenty minutes.
So having the rule of just one per hour goes
a long way at slowing drinking, as does putting. You
(16:29):
might only do half and then put it down because
it kind of goes warm and stuff anyway in Australia
at this time of year. So if you had a
function where it's not great quality, have a little bit,
put it down and then wait that period of time
for another and then you sort of have one glass
in totally even that looks like you've had two, and
drinking the soda water in between can really slow it down.
But it's really interesting. I always say to clients that
(16:49):
the first time you say no is the hardest. You know,
if you're with a feeder, and the first time you
say no, you'll sort of and the next time it won't.
It'll become a lot easier. So if you're prone to
drinking too much and no you need to cut back,
the first time you say no or put it down
quickly will be more difficult and it will only get easier.
So I just encourage you to be really clear about
when you are going to drink this festive season and
(17:11):
when you're not, and when it's not good quality alcohol
you know, and have some strategies for keeping your volume controlled.
Benefit your health, but also just your overall calorie intake
at this time of year, which leads me on to
our next segment land, which is cannapays. Because cannapais are very,
very tricky. Finger food is the standard catering option, you know,
(17:36):
whether you go to a fortieth birthday, whether you're arranging
food for a function, whether it's instead of having a
sit down meal, you're having what they call small meals.
But the cost of food is high, which means that
for people to do meat or chicken, skewers, sashimi, oysters, prawns,
fresh rice, paper rolls, it's expensive to do that. You know,
(17:57):
a plate of catering sushi could cost you hundred dollars.
So what do they do instead? We do the fried
food because it's cheap. So we do spring rolls, We
do aaranchini balls, we do curry puffs, we do many keiches. Now,
the issue is that these offer very little nutrient value overall.
In some cases, if there's pastry, they're probably a source
(18:18):
of transfats. They are high in calories. They're incredibly easy
to overeat, Like three maybe five canipas is literally the
same number of calories as a meal, and yet it
barely touches the side. It is so easy to overeat.
So again, not wanting to be the Christmas Grinch and
say don't eat anything at the party, I would say,
don't waste your calories at the party on poor quality food.
(18:40):
And if you're going to the standard work Christmas party
where budgets are tight and they're offering that kind of food,
or it's an RSL, I shouldn't have RSSEL because you'd
love an RSL, but you're at a club and it's
sort of that standard catering option before an event, and
it's really not great quality. I would kind of eat
before you go and not waste it. Now, if if
you get there and there's amazing skewers and sort of
(19:03):
you know, little stir fried pots and really great food,
enjoy it, go for it. But I think just really
try not to waste calories on that stuff, because even
if we like it, we all know it makes us
feel terrible the next day. You haven't had any nutrition,
and really, as I said, you're just getting this massive
calorie meal, often with poor quality wine, and no wonder
we feel gluggy and bloated and gain weight over the
(19:24):
Christmas period if that's happening multiple times a week, yeah,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And the more wine you tend to trick, the more
canapase you tend to eat. So it's sort of this
difficult cycle to get out of. But it brings me
back to my initial point. Be a food stop, Like
you have to be a food stop. Like if you
love spring rolls, like I would argue that the spring
rolls offered at like the work function are not going
to be great quality, right, But if you go to
your favorite tie shop and the prawn spring rolls are
(19:48):
the favorite thing that you love and you look forward
to it for weeks on and like go and enjoyed that.
We're really trying to teach you to be a food
snob and only really eat great quality food. And if
you don't know what's on offer, you should be eat
before you go, Like there's really no excuses, like I'm
busy ya da yah, Like go to the party thirty minutes,
Like it's really not a big deal. You have to
eat before you go. If not, you will overeat just
(20:09):
that stuff that's just fried and you know that that
terrible type oil, Like it's just no good there's often
like a big platter of wedges, and the more you drink,
the more you eat. And often these things go quite
late as well. So I think having the mindset where, oh,
I'll eat when I get home, Like so many clients
of mine, they're they're you know, try to do the
right thing. They're like, I'll eat when I get home.
I'm like, no, no, no, you won't. You'll eat before
(20:30):
you go, because I know what the reality is. We
think we'll say an hour, but then you know, as women,
we feel guilty, we don't want to leave, or we're
actually having a good time, so we stick around and
before we know it, we plan to leave at seven
seven thirty. It's now nine o'clock and we're like starving,
We're going to have to eat something. So I always
think that, don't ever plan to eat when you get home,
just eat before you go. And sometimes clients say to me, oh,
(20:51):
but you know it starts at five thirty, Like cool,
eat it poor thirty. I don't have a problem with
people eating early at ninety nine percent of the time,
if I know, it's kind of face on. I want
my clients to eat before they go, and it's not
like oh my gosh, you can't ever eat a spring roll.
Like I don't care if they eat a spring roll there,
but I don't want them to eat five spring rolls
and three sausage rolls and you know, two handfuls of
(21:12):
the wedges because they're starving because they didn't eat any
kind of protein or fiber before they actually went. And
sometimes it's as easy as like a tup of protein
yogurt and an apple, or you know, it's a little
mini turkey and salad rap and that's just enough that
you're not walking into that event absolutely starving and hunting
down the pork guy with the cannopept platter because you
know you're about to eat your arm off because you're
(21:33):
so hungry. So really, ninety percent of people should be
eating before they go, unless they know they're just you know,
dipping in, popping in, saying hello and they're straight back
out of there again, and you know that you can
actually make it home for dinner, or you know that
you're that personality type that is strong enough to just
be like no, no, no, okay, goodbye, and you know
actually leave at the time you'll say you will. But
most of us, myself included, feel bad and feel guilty
(21:55):
and don't want to leave once we're there. So I
think the reality is that most of us should be
eating proper balanced meal, even if it's a late lunch,
even if it's a decent sized snack before we go,
something with a bit of protein, a bit of fresh food,
some veggie or some fiber bulk in there, even just
to fill our tummies up that twenty thirty forty percent
so we're not walking and starving because the reality is
you're not going to get beautiful prawn cocktails. You're not
(22:18):
going to get you know, the chicken skewers, You're not
going to get the beautiful rice paper rolls. You're just
not That's not the budgets that people have these days.
Unless you do know it's a very fancy friend or
a very very fancy party, as Zuzzi said, most of
it will just be fried food basically.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
And if you're catering, I think a really good option
is people love finger sandwiches. They love a finger sandwich,
and that can be really quite healthy. And I think
we've spoken about how to make platters up which are
really quite healthy as well, so you can easily do
the veggie dips, sorts of veggie sticks, some thin type cheeses.
You know, you can do the prawns wrapped in things,
the smoke seafood. So there's certainly options if you've got
(22:55):
time and energy, could make your own healthy rice paper
rolls with lean chicken breast and parent and cucumber sticks.
So there are lots of healthy cannopees online. I've got
a lot of smoke salmon ones on my Instagram, So
there are options, but I think it's more lean when
you're not in control of it. And generally the catering
is cheaper, cheap and nasty options. And yeah, unless it's
(23:16):
sort of and even then it's not a special occasion.
If it's just run of them milk catering, the key
is absolutely to eat beforehand. But I've got I mean
lovely Anne. I'm in love for the first time, maybe
second or third in my life. I have found some
amazing chicken breasts at Woolworths. Have you seen this product?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I have not. They're on sale.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
There's a new Rayes. They are on sale for eight
dollars fifty at time of recording, saving how much two
fifty dollars, So they're usually ten to fifty. So there's
this new range of barbecue chicken packs. They're all different flavors.
They're in the fresh section, the chicken section of Woolies.
In that new section, they've got whether there's kind of
a lot of ready to go options. There's like sausages,
(23:55):
and then there's like the pulled meats with marinade or
the chicken skewers, and then this is sort of at
the t hop. It in the chicken and they've got
three or four different flavors of these marinated chicken breast.
So the one I've chosen today is the barbecue chicken
breast Greek style. It's five hundred grams, so you get
four decent serves and it is such a good product.
So the ingredients are ninety five percent rspcaproof chicken breast
(24:17):
with a five percent marinate. And one of the feedback
points we sometimes get is that if we've recommended products
that do have added flavors, people are like, make your own,
But this is healthier, I reckon than what you could
even make at home, and probably taste better. So it's
just got for five percent only, so a light marinaate sugar, salt,
multed extra and maze, flour, vegetable powders, some garlic, food acid, spices,
(24:39):
natural color, flavor powder. Like even though there's a lot
of ingredients, it's very clean for five percent of ingredients
perse serving size one hundred and twenty five grams. And
I like them then because they've bashed the chicken breast
down so it's really thin, so it looks massive, but
it's not. It's just like really well done, so it
looks like a big portionum. It's only got one hundred
and fifty calories preserve a massive twenty seven grams of protein.
(25:04):
It's extremely lean, low fat, low saturated fat, as you'd
expect chicken breast to be. Tiny bit of sugar one
point five grams, insignificant four hundred and forty eight milligrams sodium, again,
fairly low for a sort of marinate on anything. And
I just think, what a fantastic product, because sometimes if
people are trying to keep their dinners light, you know,
you winge and think, oh, that's boring chicken breast and vegetables,
(25:26):
and here you've got this delicious, lean chicken breast with
a light marinade. So it's got beautiful flavor that you
can serve with salad or roast veggies, and you don't
feel like it's boring or diet food at a really
good price point, like that's like two dollars fifty per
serve leanne of twenty seven grams of protein. Can't fault it.
So I think the more of these products at supermarket,
(25:47):
the better. Specifically designed for barbecue. Now, we recently covered barbecues,
because everyone eats these fatty sausages. Well, just take a
packet of these. If you go to a family barbie
and you set you've got beautiful chicken. You can do
but for the week. If you cooked it on the barbie,
you could have it for your sandwiches for the kids' lunches.
I think there's a honey mustard one. There's a few
different mango maybe flavor. But yeah, big thumbs up from me.
(26:09):
I think well done, Willies. The more of these convenient,
tasty meal options that we have, the better for busy people.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, great, I like it. The other flavor is sweet
and tangy mustard. I will note for our Celiaci it
does contain gluten. It within the flavoring is a bit
of barley, But yeah, I think that they are a
great fine. They're pounded out, so they call them chicken
breast steaks, so they're nice and flat, which is good.
So they'd be really good for like you know, wraps
even or even just leftovers. Like I think it's a
really affordable price point too, on sale eight p fifty,
(26:37):
Like I pay more than that for standard like chicken
tender lines, I'm pretty sure. So I actually think that's
a really really good price point. And yeah, you can
make your own marinate at home, but when you're you know,
doing sometimes I don't get the Krystol fives thirty after
daycare run, like sometimes you know, dinner, you just need
something like to literally whack on the stove. You don't
even have fible ten minutes to make up a marinade
because kids are screaming at you and people need to eat,
(26:58):
and it's all the things. So where we can find
quick and easy products, we are all for it. On
the Intrusion cat. If you want to make your own marionnaid,
you go ahead and be my guest. But I think
this is a great product, And yeah, I think we
are going to be seeing more and more great products
available because we're demanding them as consumers where even more
and more time poor, we're wanting more healthy options and
where we can. It's also ninety five percent Australian ingredients
(27:22):
as well, which is excellent too. Does all Australiane chicken,
which we like.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, so check it out and let us know how
you find it all right ly, And for our final
segment of the day, a question or at swimming because
a few of our listeners have decided that the water
is warm enough now to have a dip, and you know,
is swimming a good form of exercise? What do you
usually end would say? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Absolutely. Swimming's a great form of exercise. It's like it's
full body, it's low impact, so it's really good for
anyone who has like injuries, they're going through a bit
of a rehab program, you've got chronic pain, back pain,
kneepan arthritis. I think it's a great option. I've got
a lot of clients who enjoy swimming. Maybe not so
much in winter, definitely in the warmer month, but I
think from like a general health perspective, it absolutely counts
as exercise. It's really good from a cardiovascular and a
(28:06):
metabolic health perspective. It's great for your heart and your
lung capacity. But like everything that you know, the intensity matters.
So are you just doing you know, the slowest labs possible,
which would be me because I'm not a strong swimmer,
or are you going in there and you're doing like
really like moderate Freestralia, you're doing pretty like moderate like
butterfly up and down the pool and how long? Of
course you know you're jumping in for ten minutes and
(28:26):
you're doing two three laps and jumping out, or are
you swimming you know, consistently the entire time for the
full hour. So I think that intensity matters, and I
think of how often you do it as well, But
I think it's I think it's wonderful. Any form of
exercise is great for your mental health, it's great for
your stress. It's probably not going to it's not the
same as resistance space training. So we know that women,
(28:46):
particularly once you're past the age of forty, need to
do something from like a bone and a muscle perspective,
so it's not going to give you that benefit. So
I would say swimming alongside two days of resistance training
is great, but swimming overall, like, I don't have a
problem with it at all. I think it's a wonderful
form of exercise, and I think if you enjoy it,
you know, go for it. But I wouldn't say if
somebody didn't enjoy swimming, it's not something i'd push them into.
(29:07):
I think that there are other great forms of exercise
as well. But I do think the most important thing
is to find something that you love because you can
actually do it regularly and you can do it consistently
long terms. If you're a swimmer and you love it,
absolutely it's a great form of exercise, but don't forget
you still need to do some of that resistance or
weight based training as well.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I don't know if I agree with you. I
think it's movement I would like in swimming to walking,
So it's great its intensity, though it is most people
can't swim at the intensity is required to burn the
calories unless you're rer Thorpe because they do a lap stop.
Do a lap stop. Now, I'm a good swimmer, like
good like, I can swim and do easier ka, but
(29:49):
it's not The heart rate is not like one fifty
one sixty like it's at that lower kind of level.
So what I often see is people who love to
swim and they'll say, oh, well, I'm going to the
pool three times a week, and I'll be like, yeah,
But it's not translating on the scales because it's not
the heart rate's not elevated for as long because we
you stop all the time. Because to be that fit
(30:10):
to keep going, you have to be super fit like
an athlete. So you know, unless you you know Susy
O'Neill who goes and turns out two k for a
quick workout in the morning, or Haley Lewis, probably it's
great for all the things you describe for people who
can't move very much, for joints, for flexibility, it really
stretches you out, for strength through the shoulder and upper body.
It's great for breathing, but it's not going to give
(30:33):
you the fat loss that higher intensity cardio like running,
fast walking, exercise classes, cross fit, the bike, it's not
the same. So I sort of said in my clients,
so if you want to do it once maybe twice
a week thirty minutes, great, but you still have to
do the other stuff. You can't suburdy and it's not
the same level. So it's a really interesting one because
(30:53):
it takes a lot out of people, so they feel
like it's really it's a bit like pilate's, like it
really takes it out of you. So you're feeling like
you've had a great workout, but it's just not hitting
that elevated heart rate for long enough because people can't
generally swim non stop for twenty minutes without stopping. Most
of us will do a couple of laps and stop
and then come back, you know. So it's an interesting one.
(31:14):
So I think great, huge benefits, but you will have
to do some other exercise with heart rate training and
resistance to get your complete balance, and specifically, if the
goal is fat loss, you probably will need to do
more whole body movement stuff that gets that heart rate
elevated consistently for a good twenty thirty minutes a few
times a week.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, yeah, I agreed.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Okay, all right, thanks for listening to the Nutition Couch.
We hope that your party season's going well and that
the information has given you some tricks and tips today.
If you haven't seen already, please check out our design
by Dietitians Range of evidence based supplements, including our brand
new hydrate, which is specifically formulated to aid the fluid
requirements of busy women. And we look forward to seeing
you next time for our regular weekly episode.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Have a great week, catch you guys next week. Most
How often do you drink alcohol? Maybe once or twice
a week, maybe most days, or maybe at this time
of year you are finding there are plenty of drinks
around on most days. On today's episode of The Nutrition Couch,
which at all things alcohol, Which type is best? How
much is too much? And the signs that you may
be drinking way too much. Hi, I'm Susy Burrow and
(00:27):
Emily and Ward, and together we bring you The Nutrition Couch,
the weekly podcast that keeps you up to date with
everything you need to know in the world of nutrition
as well as all things alcohol. We have a chat
about party foods, the ones that we would suggest you
avoid and the ones to focus on. I found a
new chicken option, but I think is pretty stick. And
this week our listener question is all about swimming. All right, Leanne,
(00:49):
It's that time of year when a cheeky rose is
on the menu, and I think the issue is that
it just seeps in on more days than not. It
doesn't matter if you're an work Christmas drinks or you're
dropping the kids off and one of the other mom says,
you want to have a wine, and well, what can
you say to that? Of course I want to have
a wine who doesn't, and before you know, you're drinking
on more days than not. And I you know, the
(01:11):
thing with alcohol consumption that we have to say first
and foremost as health professionals is there's no safe amount
of alcohol that is okay to drink. It is a
toxin to the body. It's linked to an increased risk
of a number of diseases, including a number of types
of cancer. The less you have of it, the better,
So no one is saying that it's a safe amount. Really,
the recommendation is the less the better. I preferred the
(01:34):
old recommendations, which were for two alcohol free days per week.
I find the new recommendations are a lot more wishy washy,
so I'm not even going to go through them as
a public health initiative. But what I say to my
own clients all the time is I want you to
have at least three alcohol free days a week, ideally four.
I think it's better to drink to not drink on
(01:57):
more days than you don't. So if you've got to
sit situation where someone's enjoying a small glass of red
wine every day, and I say I mean small, I
mean you know, proper like not this like that is
a big poor that is two serves, like I'm talking
the hundred meal once. You know, most days I don't
have a problem with it. But that's not how we
drink is at Land, people bings drink, they drink large amounts.
(02:20):
That is a standard poor. That is you know what
people are drinking as a glass and having two of those,
which is actually four standard drinks. And I think the
thing with alcohol consumption is before you know it, it
becomes a habit and then before you know it, you're
polishing off a bottle. And it does impact things like
our sleep, it's our calorie intake, it's our ability to
focus and get things done. You know, you wake up
(02:41):
the next day hungover, you don't sort of do the
things you want to do, you don't feel well enough
to exercise. So it has a real role on effect
to how you feel. And I know that you've got
a garment for example. I know that a lot of
people now can track their actual physiological variables that are
impacted with alcohol consumption. But I don't want to be
boring this Nelly. You know, I enjoy a glass of
wine or twenty five champagnes as I had with my
(03:03):
friends at the races last week. But it's more what
are you doing in moderation? What does your moderation mean?
And are you actually has it become a habit where
you're having it on more nights than not? And I
think at this time of year, the key message is
you've got to have a plan before you go. Because
we've got twenty days or however many of party season,
(03:25):
you'll probably find your drinking four or five six days
a week, versus saying, right, I am going to still
have Monday to Wednesday without or Wednesday's our Christmas party,
so I am going to have a few drinks and
it will be a bit de wautrous, but I am
going to have an alcohol free day on Thursday and
being comfortable with that and mapping it out so that
you give yourself, you know, the rest that you need,
and also not wasting calories on poor quality alcohol, because
(03:47):
one of my biggest things is that people will always
just grab a free wine anywhere and it's often not great.
You might not even like Chardonnay or save blanc, and
you just drink it. You know, It's like chocolate or
soul foods as you describe them. You know, have the
alcohol that you enjoy. Don't just waste it because it's
free or whatsot offer. You know you have good quality
and savor it. If you're someone who drinks anything anytime, anywhere,
(04:11):
you're probably doing it more out of habit than enjoying
the alcohol. And that leads to sort of, you know,
low level addiction where people are actually having way too
much too often and not even realizing it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, one hundred percent, I think we're drinking. And with food,
i'd argue, like, you've got to be a food snob.
Like I'm a food snob, but I'm proud about that.
Where if someone says, do you want to drink or
do you want a rose, because that's one of my
favorite things to drink, I'll say, is it French? And
that's my first question because if it's not French rose,
I'm not drinking it. And I'm a drink snob. I'm
a race Snob's a racist.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Italian Italian rose Italians all right too, you can get I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Not talking about like the best quality in the world.
I'm talking what is my personal preference. It's my concept
of soul foods that I say to my clients you
have to be a food snob. If you're just eating
and drinking every single thing that comes your way, you'll
never actually go into each your goals and you're probably
not going to be that healthy because, like you said,
the guidelines are there from actually a risk reduction perspective.
(05:08):
They're not saying this is what's safe and what's not safe.
There is zero amount of our coal that is safe.
We're not the food police. Do we both enjoy a
drink or many on a special occasion. Absolutely. If there's
French rose at the bar, I will probably be first
in line. I will admit that I love a couple
of glasses of a good quality French rose, but that
is one of my favorite things to drink. If it's
(05:28):
just the random standard house wine or that sort of thing,
more times than not, majority of the time, I will
probably just say no because to me, it doesn't give
me one hundred percent joy and satisfaction. So I think
it's okay to be really picky and choosy with what
we wanted this time a year, particularly if it's just
the work drinks and it's a free bar tab and
it's house wine and beer. Is that really what you're
(05:49):
going to kind of spend that budget for the week,
knowing that you've got two or three other occasions social
wise along this kind of busy Christmas season as well,
we have to be a little bit snobbish with our
and drinking choices at this time of year. If not,
you'll be like most Austrains who will probably put on
that average of what is about two kilos over that
Christmas period. It's the average that most people tend to
(06:09):
put on.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
And they don't lose it. That's the persact. People gain
one to two but they never get they never lose
it because they never then have that period of deficit
that they need. So it's just you're right, it's the
mindless eating and drinking and not keeping your goals front
of mine when someone does offer you a glass on
a Monday. So I'll often give feedback to clients Monday night,
(06:31):
did you need three glasses of wine?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I feel like unless it's extenuating circumstances, like you know,
really you probably need to have some clear days that
are lighter, and that is tricky and party season, but
I would really isolate out what are those special occasions
versus not and do you really need to have the
full strength wine every night? Can you swap it for
an alcohol free variety? Which makes me laugh because on
our retreat we.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Child Susie's not plock on and they're not okay, and
I can't do it and I'm not going there.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
But why do you me I'm non alcoholic? Why non
alcoholic wine? It wasn't even maybe she touched whether non alcoholics.
I think you were.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You were promoting them at one stage, though I think.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's years ago. Though years ago she remembered, I'm just like, well,
just have a soda water, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,
so I was like, Leanne promoted the non alcoholic why
not I.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Think if they taste okay? She did not, though, But
I think it's different strokes for different folks. You've got
to drink the thing that really that you know, that
you like. And I think that the most important thing
to remember is what is the standard drink, because, like
you said, most people will easily pour two to fifteen
meals of wine that is not a standard drink. Like
when we say a standard drink, try to stick to
no more than you know, two two three a day,
(07:49):
and that's on a special drinking occasion. A standard drink
is one hundred meals of wine. It's about a full
strength beer. It's a thirteen meal shop. If you're getting
a cocktail, you've probably got one, two three shots even
of standard drinks in there. So that cocktail itself is
potentially two to three stand drinks a big glass of wine.
You know, sometimes at like an RSL or a surf
Life Saving club, they'll say do you want the small
(08:10):
one or the big one? The big one's like a bucket, like,
that's easily I reckon what two three standard drinks like,
it's a lot. I would not be driving home if
I had that big one. So you know, we're not
here to judge. We're not here to be the food police.
We're not here to take all the fun out of
party season. But it is really important that we have
this discussion as health professionals that there is no safe
limit when it comes to alcohol. The guidelines in Australia
(08:33):
are there to reduce the risk of harm from alcohol
related injury or alcohol related diseases because the reality is
that alcohol is actually linked to over two hundred health conditions,
including things like liver disease, different types of cancers like
Susie mentioned, particularly breastsbell and mouth cancer, a sophag gea cancel,
and then it also has impacts in terms of sleep disturbances,
(08:55):
energy levels, cravings, hunger. It has this big flow on
effect through the rest of the week, so there is
actually no completely safe level. So if you don't love alcohol,
don't feel peer pressured at this time of year to
drink just because everybody else is drinking. If you don't
absolutely love it, go against the grain and actually say
no because it's actually not good for you. But if
you truly do love it, you have to be a
(09:16):
food snob. You have to be an alcohol snob at
this time of year. If not, it is so easy
to overdo the budget. And this is where Susan know,
I have clients coming to us saying, you know, I
put on five I've put on ten kilos of the
last couple of years. I don't even know how it happened.
And it happens over these big social seasons where you
put on one or two and you never actually get
it back off again. So one or two kilos you
probably won't notice it, but that builds up year after
(09:37):
year after year, and suddenly you've gone from sixty to
seventy or from seventy to eighty kilos, and now you're
sitting around the mid eighties and you don't even know
how it happened. It's generally because of these big party seasons,
we're just accepting everything that comes our way and not
being a bit snobbish about what we're actually going to drink,
what we're actually going to eat in order. And I
think that's one of the most important messages I say
(09:58):
to my clients at this time of year, as I
want you to be a not say no, pick the
one you want and just have one. Don't have three
glasses of the you know, mildly free, cheaper one, because
it's more important that you have the best quality one
that you're going to thoroughly enjoy, and that one or
two of that be enough, not multiple multiple glasses multiple
times a week.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And I think that wine is tricky. It's a slippery
slope with wine one because you never got control over
the poor like if people you're at a function, some
glasses are small, some are big. They're topping you up.
You don't actually know how much you've had, and often
it's not great quality and we just eat. It's just
that autocu and often it's sweet, so you just keep drinking.
So I think a few tricks. I think if you're
(10:37):
in control of your alcohol intake at home, I think
sometimes those portion controlled udls are really handy because some
of them are very low calorie now and they are
quite concentrated. But I actually think they're harder to over
drink the way wine is. It's really easy to polysh
off a bottle before you even realize it, whereas if
you know you've had one or two of those, or
you are having one or two to me, it's much
(10:58):
easier to control the portion.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I think.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The other thing is with women, and we all you
know with women women listening. You know, women tend to
peer pressure when it comes to drinking. If someone's not drinking,
there's some real questions raised. You know, why you're not
drinking tonight, and it sort of draws attention. So in
my experience, sometimes you better to just accept it and
sort of push it to the side and sit with
a soda water, So have a sip or two. If
you don't like it, I'll just leave it there. I
(11:21):
won't really drink much of it, and people then don't
pay attention, but I think it often draws more attention
if you soda was so proactive and saying no, and
then people are funny about it. So I think that
can work quite well as well. But yeah, at a minimum,
I would want at this time of the year three
alcohol free days if you can, and just be mindful
of you know, if you can avoid eating the fatty
food with it, because that's where the weight issue comes,
(11:41):
which we're about to talk about, because from it, people
will often say lean that I've gained weight or I
can't lose weight because of the alcohol consumption, and then
what happens is they drop the alcohol and they don't
lose weight, and they're really frustrated. But the reason for
that is that alcohol doesn't specifically cause weight gain. It
doesn't work like that. Alcohol is nutrient a fourth nutrient
is regarded as a toxin and process very very quickly
(12:04):
out of the liver. But what happens, and that's also
why alcoholics are often thin because they often don't eat,
They only drink, so they go sort of constantly and
are not eating anything. They're processing all the alcohol and
they get vitamin bee deficient and need injections, whereas what
happens for the rest of us who love to eat
and drink. You know, when we're drinking, all the food
calories that we're consuming, which is often you know, fried food,
(12:27):
pub food, are stored, so you're just less likely to
get to it. So if you've had a bender and
you've had a bottle or two of wine and that's
two thousand calories, well, any food you eat that day
won't be burnt off. So it's the combination of the
food and the alcohol. Now we're certainly not suggesting that
if you're drinking you just don't eat, because that's worse,
you know, in terms of hangover and metabolism and behavior.
(12:49):
But we're saying that's the link, and so it's the combo.
That's why I think going into this season, or being
in the middle of party season, you're better to have
FRM rules on how often you'll drink rather than trying
to limit how much, because I find in general, once
you start, very few people can stick to one small glass,
especially in a social situation. When it's you know, particularly
(13:09):
it's good alcohol, good food. You better to go cold
turkey and have some clear rules with it rather than
expecting yourself to have one or two and actually learnly
and that it's okay not to drink because I think
we're almost scared of it. It's like food restriction. Oh,
like I always have a glass of wine. You know,
if you sit out a day or two and don't
have it, you might notice that you're actually having far
more than you realize. And there's benefits to being a
(13:30):
little bit stricter and say I'm a bit too reliant
on it. If you can't go a day or two
without a glass of wine, there's a problem. That is
a sign for me you're having too much, and a
period without it is probably needed just to reset your
position because basically, like all of those triggers in the brain,
the more of it you have, the more you want,
and if you're predisposed to being more dependent on it,
you will feel that you literally can't have a night
(13:51):
without it. And again that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No, one hundred percent, because the guidelines really talk about
about ten sort of standard drinks a week, and a
typical bottle of wine. I'm talking like a seven to
fifty mil or a proper bottle of wine has about
seven to eight standard drinks, so if you've got to
pull ashop a bottle of wine on a Friday night,
you're kind of done for the week. Like, it doesn't
really leave you any other wiggle room to have any
other drinks on any other nights. We're certainly not saying
(14:13):
drink a whole bottle of wine at a night, but
that is a reality for a lot of Australians and
that is what they're drinking. It might not be you know,
in one sitting. It might be you know, you start
drinking it three four o'clock is you know, you're having
a backyard barbecue and then you kind of drink into
the night. It's very easy to have six seven standard drinks.
You don't think it is, but when you consider that
a sanded drink is only one hundred meals of wine,
it is very easy to get there over the course
(14:35):
of like a long kind of afternoon in drinking into
the night. So we're just saying just be aware of it.
Measure out your drinks, like hey like actually measure out
what one hundred meals of liquid looks like, so you're aware.
So if you're at a pub and they're just you're
at a wedding or something, and they're free pouring your alcohol.
You've got work drinks and it's you know, free bar
tab and they're just topping you up constantly. That's I
think that one of the most dangerous things is like
(14:57):
when you're at a wedding and they're just topping you up.
Because I will often be designate a driver at a
wedding because I only like to have kind of one
or two if it's not like a huge, you know,
celebration or something, and I always put my hand over
the glass because I'm like, the most dangerous thing is
when they just keep topping you up and you feel
like you're sitting there and you've had one glass, but
the reality is you're probably on like your third or
fourth drinks. You're just constantly being topped up. So I
(15:17):
think it's really important to be aware of how many
drinks you do have. So if it is a big
celebration where the alcohol's free, they're going around and they're
topping everybody off, just put your hand over your glass.
Make sure you finish your entire glass so you can
mentally just keep a track up. All Right, I've had
a one drink, I've had two drinks. I'm safe to
drive home. I'm not. It's I think it's a general
safety guideline, particularly for women, Like we shouldn't have to
(15:38):
say women shouldn't, you know, walk home themselves at night time.
But the reality is we have to be a little
bit careful and having four or five, six, seven, eight
drinks at a pub and then walking home by ourselves
probably isn't good because we don't really have enough wits
about us. So I think it is really important to
keep an eye on how many drinks you're having. And
there's no way you can do that if you're at
an event where you're constantly being topped up. So put
(15:59):
your hand every drink if they're coming around, and only
go and refill your glass or get another drink when
you've completely finished the first glass, just so that you're
aware of how many you've actually had.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And I think timing it is good because I've said
before on the podcast that big drinkers are quick drinkers,
and while it might take a glass for me, I'm
quite a slow drinker and it will take a good hour,
I'll find that they'll be finished in ten twenty minutes.
So having the rule of just one per hour goes
a long way at slowing drinking, as does putting. You
(16:29):
might only do half and then put it down because
it kind of goes warm and stuff anyway in Australia
at this time of year. So if you had a
function where it's not great quality, have a little bit,
put it down and then wait that period of time
for another and then you sort of have one glass
in totally even that looks like you've had two, and
drinking the soda water in between can really slow it down.
But it's really interesting. I always say to clients that
(16:49):
the first time you say no is the hardest. You know,
if you're with a feeder, and the first time you
say no, you'll sort of and the next time it won't.
It'll become a lot easier. So if you're prone to
drinking too much and no you need to cut back,
the first time you say no or put it down
quickly will be more difficult and it will only get easier.
So I just encourage you to be really clear about
when you are going to drink this festive season and
(17:11):
when you're not, and when it's not good quality alcohol
you know, and have some strategies for keeping your volume controlled.
Benefit your health, but also just your overall calorie intake
at this time of year, which leads me on to
our next segment land, which is cannapays. Because cannapais are very,
very tricky. Finger food is the standard catering option, you know,
(17:36):
whether you go to a fortieth birthday, whether you're arranging
food for a function, whether it's instead of having a
sit down meal, you're having what they call small meals.
But the cost of food is high, which means that
for people to do meat or chicken, skewers, sashimi, oysters, prawns,
fresh rice, paper rolls, it's expensive to do that. You know,
(17:57):
a plate of catering sushi could cost you hundred dollars.
So what do they do instead? We do the fried
food because it's cheap. So we do spring rolls, We
do aaranchini balls, we do curry puffs, we do many keiches. Now,
the issue is that these offer very little nutrient value overall.
In some cases, if there's pastry, they're probably a source
(18:18):
of transfats. They are high in calories. They're incredibly easy
to overeat, Like three maybe five canipas is literally the
same number of calories as a meal, and yet it
barely touches the side. It is so easy to overeat.
So again, not wanting to be the Christmas Grinch and
say don't eat anything at the party, I would say,
don't waste your calories at the party on poor quality food.
(18:40):
And if you're going to the standard work Christmas party
where budgets are tight and they're offering that kind of food,
or it's an RSL, I shouldn't have RSSEL because you'd
love an RSL, but you're at a club and it's
sort of that standard catering option before an event, and
it's really not great quality. I would kind of eat
before you go and not waste it. Now, if if
you get there and there's amazing skewers and sort of
(19:03):
you know, little stir fried pots and really great food,
enjoy it, go for it. But I think just really
try not to waste calories on that stuff, because even
if we like it, we all know it makes us
feel terrible the next day. You haven't had any nutrition,
and really, as I said, you're just getting this massive
calorie meal, often with poor quality wine, and no wonder
we feel gluggy and bloated and gain weight over the
(19:24):
Christmas period if that's happening multiple times a week, yeah,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
And the more wine you tend to trick, the more
canapase you tend to eat. So it's sort of this
difficult cycle to get out of. But it brings me
back to my initial point. Be a food stop, Like
you have to be a food stop. Like if you
love spring rolls, like I would argue that the spring
rolls offered at like the work function are not going
to be great quality, right, But if you go to
your favorite tie shop and the prawn spring rolls are
(19:48):
the favorite thing that you love and you look forward
to it for weeks on and like go and enjoyed that.
We're really trying to teach you to be a food
snob and only really eat great quality food. And if
you don't know what's on offer, you should be eat
before you go, Like there's really no excuses, like I'm
busy ya da yah, Like go to the party thirty minutes,
Like it's really not a big deal. You have to
eat before you go. If not, you will overeat just
(20:09):
that stuff that's just fried and you know that that
terrible type oil, Like it's just no good there's often
like a big platter of wedges, and the more you drink,
the more you eat. And often these things go quite
late as well. So I think having the mindset where, oh,
I'll eat when I get home, Like so many clients
of mine, they're they're you know, try to do the
right thing. They're like, I'll eat when I get home.
I'm like, no, no, no, you won't. You'll eat before
(20:30):
you go, because I know what the reality is. We
think we'll say an hour, but then you know, as women,
we feel guilty, we don't want to leave, or we're
actually having a good time, so we stick around and
before we know it, we plan to leave at seven
seven thirty. It's now nine o'clock and we're like starving,
We're going to have to eat something. So I always
think that, don't ever plan to eat when you get home,
just eat before you go. And sometimes clients say to me, oh,
(20:51):
but you know it starts at five thirty, Like cool,
eat it poor thirty. I don't have a problem with
people eating early at ninety nine percent of the time,
if I know, it's kind of face on. I want
my clients to eat before they go, and it's not
like oh my gosh, you can't ever eat a spring roll.
Like I don't care if they eat a spring roll there,
but I don't want them to eat five spring rolls
and three sausage rolls and you know, two handfuls of
(21:12):
the wedges because they're starving because they didn't eat any
kind of protein or fiber before they actually went. And
sometimes it's as easy as like a tup of protein
yogurt and an apple, or you know, it's a little
mini turkey and salad rap and that's just enough that
you're not walking into that event absolutely starving and hunting
down the pork guy with the cannopept platter because you
know you're about to eat your arm off because you're
(21:33):
so hungry. So really, ninety percent of people should be
eating before they go, unless they know they're just you know,
dipping in, popping in, saying hello and they're straight back
out of there again, and you know that you can
actually make it home for dinner, or you know that
you're that personality type that is strong enough to just
be like no, no, no, okay, goodbye, and you know
actually leave at the time you'll say you will. But
most of us, myself included, feel bad and feel guilty
(21:55):
and don't want to leave once we're there. So I
think the reality is that most of us should be
eating proper balanced meal, even if it's a late lunch,
even if it's a decent sized snack before we go,
something with a bit of protein, a bit of fresh food,
some veggie or some fiber bulk in there, even just
to fill our tummies up that twenty thirty forty percent
so we're not walking and starving because the reality is
you're not going to get beautiful prawn cocktails. You're not
(22:18):
going to get you know, the chicken skewers, You're not
going to get the beautiful rice paper rolls. You're just
not That's not the budgets that people have these days.
Unless you do know it's a very fancy friend or
a very very fancy party, as Zuzzi said, most of
it will just be fried food basically.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
And if you're catering, I think a really good option
is people love finger sandwiches. They love a finger sandwich,
and that can be really quite healthy. And I think
we've spoken about how to make platters up which are
really quite healthy as well, so you can easily do
the veggie dips, sorts of veggie sticks, some thin type cheeses.
You know, you can do the prawns wrapped in things,
the smoke seafood. So there's certainly options if you've got
(22:55):
time and energy, could make your own healthy rice paper
rolls with lean chicken breast and parent and cucumber sticks.
So there are lots of healthy cannopees online. I've got
a lot of smoke salmon ones on my Instagram, So
there are options, but I think it's more lean when
you're not in control of it. And generally the catering
is cheaper, cheap and nasty options. And yeah, unless it's
(23:16):
sort of and even then it's not a special occasion.
If it's just run of them milk catering, the key
is absolutely to eat beforehand. But I've got I mean
lovely Anne. I'm in love for the first time, maybe
second or third in my life. I have found some
amazing chicken breasts at Woolworths. Have you seen this product?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I have not. They're on sale.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
There's a new Rayes. They are on sale for eight
dollars fifty at time of recording, saving how much two
fifty dollars, So they're usually ten to fifty. So there's
this new range of barbecue chicken packs. They're all different flavors.
They're in the fresh section, the chicken section of Woolies.
In that new section, they've got whether there's kind of
a lot of ready to go options. There's like sausages,
(23:55):
and then there's like the pulled meats with marinade or
the chicken skewers, and then this is sort of at
the t hop. It in the chicken and they've got
three or four different flavors of these marinated chicken breast.
So the one I've chosen today is the barbecue chicken
breast Greek style. It's five hundred grams, so you get
four decent serves and it is such a good product.
So the ingredients are ninety five percent rspcaproof chicken breast
(24:17):
with a five percent marinate. And one of the feedback
points we sometimes get is that if we've recommended products
that do have added flavors, people are like, make your own,
But this is healthier, I reckon than what you could
even make at home, and probably taste better. So it's
just got for five percent only, so a light marinaate sugar, salt,
multed extra and maze, flour, vegetable powders, some garlic, food acid, spices,
(24:39):
natural color, flavor powder. Like even though there's a lot
of ingredients, it's very clean for five percent of ingredients
perse serving size one hundred and twenty five grams. And
I like them then because they've bashed the chicken breast
down so it's really thin, so it looks massive, but
it's not. It's just like really well done, so it
looks like a big portionum. It's only got one hundred
and fifty calories preserve a massive twenty seven grams of protein.
(25:04):
It's extremely lean, low fat, low saturated fat, as you'd
expect chicken breast to be. Tiny bit of sugar one
point five grams, insignificant four hundred and forty eight milligrams sodium, again,
fairly low for a sort of marinate on anything. And
I just think, what a fantastic product, because sometimes if
people are trying to keep their dinners light, you know,
you winge and think, oh, that's boring chicken breast and vegetables,
(25:26):
and here you've got this delicious, lean chicken breast with
a light marinade. So it's got beautiful flavor that you
can serve with salad or roast veggies, and you don't
feel like it's boring or diet food at a really
good price point, like that's like two dollars fifty per
serve leanne of twenty seven grams of protein. Can't fault it.
So I think the more of these products at supermarket,
(25:47):
the better. Specifically designed for barbecue. Now, we recently covered barbecues,
because everyone eats these fatty sausages. Well, just take a
packet of these. If you go to a family barbie
and you set you've got beautiful chicken. You can do
but for the week. If you cooked it on the barbie,
you could have it for your sandwiches for the kids' lunches.
I think there's a honey mustard one. There's a few
different mango maybe flavor. But yeah, big thumbs up from me.
(26:09):
I think well done, Willies. The more of these convenient,
tasty meal options that we have, the better for busy people.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, great, I like it. The other flavor is sweet
and tangy mustard. I will note for our Celiaci it
does contain gluten. It within the flavoring is a bit
of barley, But yeah, I think that they are a
great fine. They're pounded out, so they call them chicken
breast steaks, so they're nice and flat, which is good.
So they'd be really good for like you know, wraps
even or even just leftovers. Like I think it's a
really affordable price point too, on sale eight p fifty,
(26:37):
Like I pay more than that for standard like chicken
tender lines, I'm pretty sure. So I actually think that's
a really really good price point. And yeah, you can
make your own marinate at home, but when you're you know,
doing sometimes I don't get the Krystol fives thirty after
daycare run, like sometimes you know, dinner, you just need
something like to literally whack on the stove. You don't
even have fible ten minutes to make up a marinade
because kids are screaming at you and people need to eat,
(26:58):
and it's all the things. So where we can find
quick and easy products, we are all for it. On
the Intrusion cat. If you want to make your own marionnaid,
you go ahead and be my guest. But I think
this is a great product, And yeah, I think we
are going to be seeing more and more great products
available because we're demanding them as consumers where even more
and more time poor, we're wanting more healthy options and
where we can. It's also ninety five percent Australian ingredients
(27:22):
as well, which is excellent too. Does all Australiane chicken,
which we like.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, so check it out and let us know how
you find it all right ly, And for our final
segment of the day, a question or at swimming because
a few of our listeners have decided that the water
is warm enough now to have a dip, and you know,
is swimming a good form of exercise? What do you
usually end would say? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Absolutely. Swimming's a great form of exercise. It's like it's
full body, it's low impact, so it's really good for
anyone who has like injuries, they're going through a bit
of a rehab program, you've got chronic pain, back pain,
kneepan arthritis. I think it's a great option. I've got
a lot of clients who enjoy swimming. Maybe not so
much in winter, definitely in the warmer month, but I
think from like a general health perspective, it absolutely counts
as exercise. It's really good from a cardiovascular and a
(28:06):
metabolic health perspective. It's great for your heart and your
lung capacity. But like everything that you know, the intensity matters.
So are you just doing you know, the slowest labs possible,
which would be me because I'm not a strong swimmer,
or are you going in there and you're doing like
really like moderate Freestralia, you're doing pretty like moderate like
butterfly up and down the pool and how long? Of
course you know you're jumping in for ten minutes and
(28:26):
you're doing two three laps and jumping out, or are
you swimming you know, consistently the entire time for the
full hour. So I think that intensity matters, and I
think of how often you do it as well, But
I think it's I think it's wonderful. Any form of
exercise is great for your mental health, it's great for
your stress. It's probably not going to it's not the
same as resistance space training. So we know that women,
(28:46):
particularly once you're past the age of forty, need to
do something from like a bone and a muscle perspective,
so it's not going to give you that benefit. So
I would say swimming alongside two days of resistance training
is great, but swimming overall, like, I don't have a
problem with it at all. I think it's a wonderful
form of exercise, and I think if you enjoy it,
you know, go for it. But I wouldn't say if
somebody didn't enjoy swimming, it's not something i'd push them into.
(29:07):
I think that there are other great forms of exercise
as well. But I do think the most important thing
is to find something that you love because you can
actually do it regularly and you can do it consistently
long terms. If you're a swimmer and you love it,
absolutely it's a great form of exercise, but don't forget
you still need to do some of that resistance or
weight based training as well.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I don't know if I agree with you. I
think it's movement I would like in swimming to walking,
So it's great its intensity, though it is most people
can't swim at the intensity is required to burn the
calories unless you're rer Thorpe because they do a lap stop.
Do a lap stop. Now, I'm a good swimmer, like
good like, I can swim and do easier ka, but
(29:49):
it's not The heart rate is not like one fifty
one sixty like it's at that lower kind of level.
So what I often see is people who love to
swim and they'll say, oh, well, I'm going to the
pool three times a week, and I'll be like, yeah,
But it's not translating on the scales because it's not
the heart rate's not elevated for as long because we
you stop all the time. Because to be that fit
(30:10):
to keep going, you have to be super fit like
an athlete. So you know, unless you you know Susy
O'Neill who goes and turns out two k for a
quick workout in the morning, or Haley Lewis, probably it's
great for all the things you describe for people who
can't move very much, for joints, for flexibility, it really
stretches you out, for strength through the shoulder and upper body.
It's great for breathing, but it's not going to give
(30:33):
you the fat loss that higher intensity cardio like running,
fast walking, exercise classes, cross fit, the bike, it's not
the same. So I sort of said in my clients,
so if you want to do it once maybe twice
a week thirty minutes, great, but you still have to
do the other stuff. You can't suburdy and it's not
the same level. So it's a really interesting one because
(30:53):
it takes a lot out of people, so they feel
like it's really it's a bit like pilate's, like it
really takes it out of you. So you're feeling like
you've had a great workout, but it's just not hitting
that elevated heart rate for long enough because people can't
generally swim non stop for twenty minutes without stopping. Most
of us will do a couple of laps and stop
and then come back, you know. So it's an interesting one.
(31:14):
So I think great, huge benefits, but you will have
to do some other exercise with heart rate training and
resistance to get your complete balance, and specifically, if the
goal is fat loss, you probably will need to do
more whole body movement stuff that gets that heart rate
elevated consistently for a good twenty thirty minutes a few
times a week.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, yeah, I agreed.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Okay, all right, thanks for listening to the Nutition Couch.
We hope that your party season's going well and that
the information has given you some tricks and tips today.
If you haven't seen already, please check out our design
by Dietitians Range of evidence based supplements, including our brand
new hydrate, which is specifically formulated to aid the fluid
requirements of busy women. And we look forward to seeing
you next time for our regular weekly episode.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Have a great week, catch you guys next week. Most
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