January 21, 2025 • 32 mins
It’s time to pack those school lunchboxes! In this week’s episode of The Nutrition Couch, Susie and Leanne are here to help you kick off the school year stress-free with their top picks for healthy, kid-approved snacks. They also dive into the world of seed oils—separating fact from fiction—and answer a listener question about resistance training and weighted vests for perimenopause.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
- Top Packaged Snacks: Easy, healthy snacks for school lunchboxes and busy parents.
- Seed Oil Science: Debunking the myths and understanding the facts behind seed oil debates.
- Perimenopause Fitness: Why resistance training and weighted vests are a game-changer for women’s health.
- Lunchbox-Friendly Find: A review of Macro Wholefoods Market Mighty Bites Cocoa Crunch Balls.
Bonus: Tips for reducing inflammation, and the realities of post-kids recovery.
Packed with relatable stories, expert advice, and actionable tips, this episode is your ultimate guide to starting the year right—whether you’re a busy parent, fitness enthusiast, or navigating new life stages.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, it is that time of year again when all
talk nutrition is about getting back to school snacks and
school lunch boxes. And this year, Leanne and I want
to make your journey back to school a whole lot easier.
So we have rated our top five snacks to make
packing school lunches a whole lot easier. Hi, I'm Susie
(00:23):
Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward, and together we bring you
The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that keeps you up
to date on everything we need to know in the
world of nutrition, as well as all things back to school.
You may have heard a lot of mutterings lately about
seed oil, so today we're going to take a closer
look at the science and discuss if they are really
that bad for you. We have found a healthy lunchbox
(00:45):
snack that we particularly like at this time of year,
and our listener question is all about resistance training in
hairy menopause. So launching into today's podcast, I've got a
very very sad Leanne Ward looking back at me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Very glum Leanne, what's happened to you this week?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
In the gym, I've done my back and one of
my clients is like, oh no, what did you do.
She's like, was it deadlift? I'm like, no, that's the
worst thing. I didn't even pick up a damn weight, Susie.
So I've like set up my ideas. I'm good to go.
It's the first exercise of my session. I've bent down,
I've grabbed the bar, i haven't lifted it yet. I've
like set myself about to pull the bar up, pulled
(01:22):
the waiter, and I've just like tweaked something in my
back and I looked at David. I was like, oh
my god, I've done my back. I can't get up.
He's like come over and like kind of pulled me up,
and I've like hobbled over to the wall. So annoyed,
I didn't even do anything. So I went to physio
and she just said it's like a tweak back. So
she just taped it and strapped it so I can't
if I like bend back, it really hurts. So she
(01:42):
just said you need to, you know, have a good
week or two off. She's like, don't pick up the
kids and not easier said then done, thanks very much,
but she said I'd be out of training for three
or four weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm devastated.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I was just starting to feel really good and strong,
and she said, it's just one of those freak things
where you know, people turn around the wrong way and
they'll tweak their back. It's just one of those free things.
You don't do anything wrong. But I'm like, oh, just well,
people who live in chronic pain, it's awful. I feel
for them. It's so debilitating. There's so many things you
don't even think about when you do day to day
when you've got back pain, and then you just realize
(02:13):
I just like bending down, pick up the kids, drink
bottle off the ground or something, just those little things
you don't even think about, and then you just think, oh,
my goodness, it's so much pain. So I really yeah,
those people who live with chronic chronic pain, it's awful.
It's heartbreaking. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think after you've had kids, I just noticed your
ligaments and joints they're just not what they were. And
that's certainly proven in the research about you know, female bodies,
like you literally had a baby not that long ago,
you know what I mean. So I think it is easier.
It's not uncommon with you ever, you know, ankle twists
and things. I know, our ligaments are just not what
they were. So hopefully you have a speedy recovery. Hopefully
(02:47):
you know a good dietician who might give you some
anti inflammatory fos land just to get back on track.
There can I say, she's very stoppish tonight, I'm going
to have to run this podcast. She's not in a
good mood.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So I am doing the best that I can. I'm
sure David'll be doing being your lucky. Are you recover
You're in a young.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I'm bounce back.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you're We're right.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We'll get you posted on Leanne's back recovery, and she
might just have some pomegranate juice or something to reduce
that information.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So look, I'll be back in a week. I'm a
high achiever, like phys like three four weeks I was
like not watch me.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, if you do like to train or move.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I did my hammi just before Christmas, Like I literally like,
like you just chipped over a rock, Like it was
nothing dramatic, houb, I'm feeling very sorry for myself, like
a complete loser, but it was the reality of just
that daily movement is difficult, you know, like getting into
a car and all those things. So yeah, we can't
take our physical health for granted. So everyone who's got
(03:44):
an injury and self inflicted injury right now, we feel you.
But it is back to school time and leanne if
your kids are at school, you'd be in a much
better mood because you'd be thinking, oh great, I'm going
to be free again. And back to the packing of
school lunches. Now in the past on the Nutrition Couch
because were getting out to our fourth year, I think
we've gone through how to pack a healthy lunch box,
and we're actually in the process of finishing off a
(04:05):
kids Eat Nutrition book with a lot of our best
tips and tricks and products and guides and recipes for
kids nutrition, so we're hoping that'll be ready in the
next week or two.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And then I thought, rather than go through the good old.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Lunch box formula, which we've done many times, so if
you do want that, just search the Nutrition Couch for
school lunch boxes and.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It will come up.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I thought, what it would be fun to talk about
would be snacks because in an ideal worldly and we
would you know, make some mini for a tarder muffins
and you know, do some little beautiful wraps cut into
shapes and pieces and friendly, kindy parents, you're probably doing that.
But if you've got kids like me who are in
you four, you just don't have time or energy to
be mucking around with those lunch boxes. And the truth
(04:45):
is the kids don't often eat that stuff, and they
do want some snacks in there. And the first thing
we'll say is that we're not saying package snacks are
better than a piece of food or a tub of
yogurt by any means, but the research shows Leanne that
on average, astrained kids have at least three package snacks
in their lunch box, so they definitely buying and eating them.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So I feel that to make.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It easier, what is the best picks ultimately what can
be processed food? And the good news is there is
actually a good number of snacks that are sort of
pretty healthy.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
You know, they're not.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Again as good as a plain yogurt or a piece
of fruit, but they're pretty strong nutritionally. So we thought
we would go through our top sort of five picks
from the supermarkets of things that we buy use recommend
when it comes to packing kids' lunches. So a couple
I'll kickoff in terms of snacks that I quite like.
The Messy Monkeys are quite strong nutritionally, they're about eighty
(05:36):
calories per bag. They've got different flavors, they've got a
little bit of dietary fiber in them. They're certainly pretty
healthy compared to flavored chips like Twisti's or c C's
or other products that you can get in that two
for seven dollars mini chip pack. And if your kids
like them, and I do have to be honest, I
find kids who are older don't like them as much,
whereas the young kids maybe age between four and seven
(05:57):
still don't mind the Messy Monkeys. And a little trick actually,
particularly when kids are smaller, when you find those new
lunch boxes with all the different compartments, you'll find younger
kids might eat a few different ones. So you can
sort of open a pack of Messy Monkeys or a
pack of pretzels and put a few and they're more
likely to eat that than necessarily even the whole packet.
It's like that variety works well, So certainly Messi Monkeys
(06:19):
are up there for me. The other one I really
like is the lentil bite, so they're in Woolies in
that health food section and they're on the bottom shelf,
and I think there's beetroot, sweet potato or pumpkin and carrot,
and they're like crunchy chips, and they're really quite delicious.
And in fact, when Leanna and I ran an s
seminar for the Nutrition Couch and we've got a sample
of those from Boyees were stolen we think from the
(06:42):
stuff at the venue. We think also took a liking
to our ental bites because they definitely got delivered, but.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They were never to be or seen for again.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So I think they reach out for about five dollars
and I think you get a pack of six. But again,
if I opened a packet of those and put a
few in my kids lunch box with the mix of
different things, they certainly eat them. I quite like them
actually as a healthier alternative to chips. They're a bit
higher in protein and fiber, and again come in at
far less than one hundred calories per pack. So there
are a couple that I like. Since I'm rabbiting on
(07:11):
way too much, and you had a good list as well.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What's on yours?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think most of the kids yogurt. I don't know
if you call that a package snack. You know, any
of the kids low sugar yogurts are always really good.
I like the cheese. You know, there's string of cheeses.
What are they called where you like peel off the
are they called stringers?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They're stringers?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Stringers? Yeah, those or the baby bell ones as well,
but they're more for old kids, older kids because my
kids can't get the wax off the baby balls themselves.
So they're really good for lunchboxes. And there's like normal
the red ones. There's like a light version and like
a higher protein version. Sometimes they give my clients a
couple of them and a boiled egg and you can
easily get to fifteen twenty grams of protein, but the
little kids just one or two and the lunch box
(07:47):
is great. My little Mea has really taken a liking
to those mini rice cakes with the dark chocolate on them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Have you seen them?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
And lately I've seen there's like a strawberry version of
them as well, and Woolworth the Macro does its own
version of it as well, so there's I can't remember
the brand that did that, that started it. There's also
like a Woolworst Macro version of that, which is a
little bit cheaper as well. They do the little individual
lunchbox sized packs. They're really good as well. What else,
Vitaweeds I find always a really really handy snack. And
(08:14):
with a little tup of Philly they do those like
snack packs of Philadelphia. You snap them off if there's
like a four paf of them. That with some veggie sticks,
a little pack of Philly or some vitawets is a
really good crunchy snack as well. And I'm a bit
fan of giving my kids sometimes just like cereal to
snack on, Like I've talked to it before about those
lower sugar cheerios which have got an extra bit of
fiber in them, or like a lower sugar type granola. Obviously,
(08:36):
have to be careful not to get anything with nuts
in it, because I think most of Strane schools are
up free, so just check the ingredient label. And a
lower sugar granola just something for the kids to like
munch on as well, like far better than putting you know,
lollies or candy in their lunch boxes as well, So
I think lower sugar granola it's sweet, it gives them
a bit of crunch and some of the better brands
have some good seeds like some pepitas and some some
flower seeds in there which you can give your body
(08:57):
some good extra nutrients as well.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, and a few other bars. Definitely the Carmen's Oaty Bar.
They've come in different flavors. There's an apple one, there's
a chop brownie one. Nutritionally they're pretty strong. I just
had to review them for an article. They're all less
than one hundred calories, they've got less than five grams
of sugars, and they've got close to three grams of
dietary fiber. Messy Monkeys also have a bar which has
quite a similar profile to that. May come as a
(09:22):
surprise that actually the plain Milo bars are pretty low. Now,
they don't offer anything amazing nutritionally, but they're not overly
high in sugar. They are again about eighty calories. They've
got about five grams of sugar in them, a couple
of grams of dietary fiber. So they're actually not too bad.
I'm not saying they're good, but I'm saying out at
all the bars, they're actually one of the better ones
and the same evenly. And it's interesting, as I said,
(09:43):
reviewed these recently, and the music bars were always traditionally
Uncle Toby's, and I have to be honest, they've reformulated
a lot and they're all pretty good. Like they've got
about three grams of firebar, they've got less than five
grams of sugar, and the kids like them, so they're
actually not too bad. But what I will say in
terms of one to avoid, there's certainly a whole range
of kids snacks. I would be steering well clear of
(10:04):
nutri grain bars and lcms or a couple of them.
They really don't offer anything positive nutritionally. So what we
see with some of the bars is that they've got
extra dietary fiber, they don't have a lot of added sugar.
They're portion controlled, whereas in the case of say nutri
grain lcms, those ones in the green box, the Odie
bar bites, the Mother Nature ones, they're either heavily refined
(10:25):
and don't offer any dietary fiber and relatively high amounts
of sugar, or in the case of those oat type
bars in the green boxes, they're really high in sugars.
They've got almost three teaspoons per bar, so they're three
that I would actually be steering well clear of and
definitely flavored chips. So if you're buying the two for
seven dollar packet for budget reasons and there's popcorn and
(10:46):
there's pretzels, I tend to if I'm getting those biplane,
say plain Red Rock Deli or plain even French fries
or pretzels, because as soon as you start with the CC's,
the cheese and bacon balls, they've all often got added
and really are ultra processed foods, So they're the ones
i'd stick clear of and sort of try and go
for something more like a pretzel or even a grain
(11:07):
wave that's going to be much better than those flavored
type chips.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Particularly for younger kids, definitely I forgot.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I quite often buy the kids the pretzels, the mini
snack bags where it's the two for seven a Coles
or willose up and do that. And for older kids
as well. Younger kids popcorns is a bit of a
choking hazard, but for older kids, popcorn is definitely a
good snack as well, and a lot of people are
quite surprised that it actually has a couple of grams
of fiberit in there, Like popcorn is basically a whole food.
Like if you literally put corn kernels into a sauce
bent and hated it, you would literally have your own
(11:36):
popping machine. Just a bit dangerous sometimes in some people's kitchen.
So a lot of us tend to just buy pre
popped and pre made. But popcorn is actually a really
good snack. Just for adults, particularly when their goal is
fat loss, we like to pair that with a little
bit of protein just to kind of, you know, give
that a tidy factor. But for little kids who just
run off that energy all day long, popcorn is a
great choice. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
And what I would say is that in the lunch box,
talking about the lunchbox formula, I always will do, you know,
a fruit of veggie, a rapple sandwich, and then I'll
do one sort of snack and then one protein snack.
So I myself, as a dietician, don't put any more
than one package snack in the lunch boxes and then
the other. I really try and make protein based because
(12:18):
we know that kids at school don't get a whole
lot of protein, particularly if they're having plain sort of sandwiches.
You know, my boys actually have meatballs or pieces of chicken,
so they do get a bit more, but I really
want to bump that up with, like you said, the
cheese and crackers. The cheese, even the flavored milks in
the small kid size containers or the Yogat chubes, and
there's quite a few good yogat chubes. There's the Dairy
(12:39):
Farmers one that's really high in calcium. There is the
Tama Valley, which is another really good choice. I find
the Shavani ones for kids are too high in protein.
We've spoken about this in the podcast before. We don't
want yoga for kids to having more than five grams
of protein, so the shavanne are a bit too high.
But certainly I try and put some sort of dairy
snack in and then just one other can snack. And
(13:01):
you know, if you if you really motivated at the
start of a new school year on want to make things,
go for it. You know, a piece of homemade banana
bread or a mini muffin is great, you know. But
I think it's also just having options, particularly for busy parents.
There's certainly no expectation to be making everything. There are
some reasonable options, and I think you know, any parent
would agree it's about variety. Inci's just like different things
(13:21):
so sometimes it's quite handy to have a few different
snacks to alternate or to mix a few together, because
you know, at the end of the day they tend
to get sick of anything after a while. So hopefully
that's given you a few ideas, and we're going to
review another one to add to the list in a
couple of minutes. But I wanted to talk today in
terms of a new strayliand about seed oils, because across
(13:42):
my desk this week, I've had so many media reports
come in talking about seed oils. Are seed oils bad
for you? Should they be banned? Are they causing colon cancer?
And I was like, what is going on about seed oils,
because as a dietician, I would never actually talk about
seed oils. What I would talk about is process and
vegeta oil if I'm looking about the health consequences. So
(14:03):
I thought it was a good opportunity for us just
to discuss the role of kind of oils in processing
and in general and why these media reports are out
there and is it really that bad. So basically, seed
oils is anything that comes from the base of a seed,
So it's things like your flax seed oil. People will
say it's even sunflower oil. So there's a seeded base
(14:24):
where that seed will be processed and that oil taken
out in its purest form. You know, seeds are very
very good for us. They contain a wide range of
different types of fats, and certainly in the diets of
my clients, I'm constantly trying to get them to not
only increase their not intake, but their intake of seeds.
So things like copeds, flax seeds, linseeds all extremely good
(14:44):
for us and have a really high proportion of a
Mega three fat. Now, the simplified issue with just talking
about types of fat in isolation is that's not quite
how it works in the diet. So basically, inflammation and
health of the cell in the body is to and
by the fat balance that we consume, and the fat
balance is heavily influenced by the profile of foods we consume.
(15:07):
So the heightened response about vegetable oil because we know
that in Western societies, our intake of what we call
the Amiga six oils, which does include the seed oils
but also vegetable oils, far out weighs our intake of
Amiga three fat. And when that relationship is disproportionate. The
(15:28):
amiga six oils drown out the benefits of the amiga threes,
and because amga threes are the natural anti inflammatory fats,
they keep the cell healthy. That's why we see an
increase in lifestyle related disease or one of the reasons
in modern life is that we have far less A
mega threes and we need and our food is much
more processed, and we're getting a lot of generally vegetable
oils coming through the food supply, and they also come
(15:51):
in ultra processed foods. So thinking takeaways, cakes, biscuits, you know,
you pick off a packet of sweet biscuits off the shelf,
the first in great radiance our wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar. Now,
the key thing to know is actual seed oils. Even
though they have a relatively high a Mega six content,
they actually don't increase inflammation in isolation in studies, so
(16:15):
there's actually nothing specifically wrong with seed oils. In fact,
they're one of the better oils if you had to choose.
The best oil, of course, is extravigin olive oil or
an avocado oil. Absolutely, they're the only oils I have
in my own home. But if you were then looking
at what is the next best oil, certainly a little
bit of sunflower oil, canola oil is not going to
cause damage. What causes damage is ultra processed foods and
(16:38):
vegetable based oils long term.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And that's not only the.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oil itself tends to be pro inflammatory because it's generally
palm oil, which is a heavily saturated fat, which is
pro inflammatory. But that is the key oil that's rife
in our food supply. You know, that's in the biscuits,
the cakes, the pastries, the fried food, the fast food.
Because they're going to use a relatively cheap oil because
it's going to be about profits. They're not going to
(17:02):
use avocado oil or extravergin olive oil in their cooking
because it would cost too much, and also at the
volumes and the temperatures they're cooking, it's not going to
be the best type of oil. So, first of all,
the heightened focus on seed oils is unfounded. It's being
made by people who don't understand the complexities of nutrition,
and in isolation, there's no real concern about those. They're
(17:24):
kind of neutral in the diet. The issue is processed
vegetable oil, and it's generally found in ultra processed food
and that intake high intake of which increases inflammation in
the body. But the takeo message for anyone listening to
the podcast is actually nothing about seed oils. The taco
message is you need to have more good fat in
your diet, and the good fat comes from a mega three's,
(17:46):
which in the richest natural sources in seafood, in particular
Atlantic salmon, even sardines, tin salmon, tinned tuna, even shell
fishings like prawns are really high. You know, you want
to be having that two three four time a week
to really increase your intake of the long chain omega three's,
which are the most powerful when it comes to reducing
inflammation naturally in the body. And when it comes to
(18:09):
what you've got control over at home, the key the
best thing you can do is cook with the best
quality oils. So the ones I have I have an
extra virgin olive oil and I also use now a
lot of the everyday avocado oil for day to day frying,
because when you look at the nutritional profile of that,
it is heavily mono unsaturated fat, which we know is
a heart healthy fat. So I don't myselfie, and I'll
(18:32):
ask you at a minute, I don't have any seed
oils in my house, Like I don't have canola, I
don't have some flot I don't have any of them.
I never use them. I only ever use extra virgin
olive oil. And then I've got avocado, the every day
one for frying because it doesn't have any real flavor,
and I'm still getting all the benefits of mono unsaturated fat.
I use the one from Grove and yeah, So that's
(18:53):
the take home message. Don't worry about these people arguing
about seed oils. It's actually irrelevant when it comes to
an individual. The key thing you can ask yourself as
am I getting enough oily fish? Am I eating nuts
and seeds most days to get the nutritional benefits? Am
I using the best quality oil I can afford at home?
And there's a couple of great options, whether it's Extraversion
(19:14):
Australia olive oil, or whether it's an avocado oil that's
been formulated for frying. That's the best thing you can
ask yourself. Don't even worry about this heightened idea of
seed oils because it's actually not relevant to an individual.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I guess we have social media to blame. It's so
great for so many wonderful reasons, but it's also not
so great for so many more because there are so
many what should we call them self appointed health influencers
out there.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Everyone wants to be a dietitian, don't they an not
even a diety, do know?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
They rag on dietitians. I don't want to be dieticians.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
They just want to be the wellness influencer who's going
to change the world. And it's unfortunately because these seed
oil type videos where people are just completely you know,
ranting on seed oils. They're so bad that the direct
cause of inflammation you should not. So you posted like
a dip choli on Facebook the other day roll past
and I was thinking, oh, they're good dips, and I
quickly clicked on the comments, and a couple of people
(20:04):
ripped you because they're like, oh, they've got seed oils,
and then you shouldn't promote that when you can't do
that one and people are just have an unhealthy obsession
with seed oils almost because as you said, they don't
really understand how the nutritional science works because inflammation at
its core or as a standalone thing, is not necessarily bad.
If you go and do a really hard workout, your
(20:24):
body has a level of inflammation in it. I myself
with a bad bag right now, I've pricked my bag.
Have a level of inflammation in my body. When you
get up the last night, man, when you did back
it or.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
No, I should be I should be shutting some extraversion.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Only you also a massive store of my Instagram, Like,
I haven't even seen those comments.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
This is your Facebook. No, I don't do Instagram much.
It's funny because I'm bigger on Instagram. But I was
on face stole stalker much scrolling marketplace anyway. I was
just I was curious about the comments because I was like, oh,
dips interesting and of course the negative seed oil stuff. Anyway,
where I was going with that before I was really interrupted. No,
but if you get even something simple like a paper cup, again,
(21:01):
your body has a level of inflammation. So inflammation at
its core is not as bad as what people you
know lead you to believe. It's when that inflammation is chronic,
it's long term, it's coming from a poor quality diet,
it's coming from smoking, inactivity. It's coming from basically lifestyle choices, which, yes,
nutrition can influence. That's when inflammation, when it's chronic, it's
(21:23):
long term, it's in the wrong places, that's where it
can become an issue. But seed oils as a standalone thing,
like you said, do not cause inflammation. There's been over
fifteen randomized control trials. This is like the gold standard
when it comes to nutrition. It's not a standalone trial,
and a lot of these quote unquote health influencers out there,
they don't know how to interpret the nutrition site, so
(21:44):
they take a single standalone study which is not that robust,
and now pull it apart to basically make it fit
their criteria that they want to make it. Say that, okay,
see it, oils are bad when you look at the
bulk of the research, like fifteen standalone random control trials
do not show that these oils, things like sappalier oil,
(22:05):
rape seed oil, these types of oils are not actually
they do not promote inflammation, and some of these studies
even show that those oils stand alone actually lower inflammation. So,
as you said, it's more the fact that we have
inactive lifestyles that we're doing poor lifestyle choices, like we're smoking,
we're not sleeping enough, we're doing far too much of
(22:26):
that high intensity exercise that's not giving our bodies a break,
or we're just not doing any exercise we're on the
far end of either side of the spectrum. Or our
nutritional quality isn't good enough. You know, we're skipping breakfast,
we're having coffee, we're having a pastry, We're having far
too much our coal in our diet, and we're eating
out far too much. These the things lifestyle and nutrition
that are going to drive inflammation, not the type of
(22:48):
oil that you cook your brocolian or that you you know,
you might fry your chicken in. So I get it
all the time from my clients and I say, look,
I'm like you. I have a couple of oils in
my kitchen. I have Extraversion olive oil. I have some
avocata oil. I have some sesme oil. You know Malaysian background,
I do, you know, cook some stuff fries always use
sesme oil. And then I also have a bit of
coconut oil in my pantry. If I'm doing a form
(23:09):
of baking that needs it, you know, to set or something,
then I might use it, or if I'm doing a
curry where I've got a little bit of coconut milk
in there, i might use a little bit of coconut
oil just for kind of that flavor profile. That's it.
I'm not doing it because I think that it's necessarily
better or more helpful. I'm just kind of doing it
for the flavor profile. So I'm like you, I don't
have any in my kitchen, but it's not to say
(23:29):
that I completely vilify any food that has it. So
I don't really think it's the oil that we're pulling
out of our cupboard that's the issue. I think it's
the level of ultra processed foods that people are consuming.
And like you said, I've seen lunchboxes where there are
three four five package snacks in there for children, there's
not one food or vegetable in there, and there's white
bread with some form of like honey or jam on it.
(23:51):
So I think it's what we're consuming on a regular basis.
I eat packet foods, ultra processed foods, take away alcohol.
That's our biggest issue here, not poor standalone seed oil.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, And I think it's just good to be addressing
something that's in the mainstream media at the moment. And yeah,
the best thing you can do when it comes to
oil balance is if you're buying packaged food, if you
see vegetable oil on the label, particularly at the top.
Like I'm not talking a little bit in processing, because
that's what will happen, Like I'm just thinking of where
you would see that, Like you might buy a pre
crumb sit so there'll be a bit of it in
(24:24):
there because they need some. I'm talking about where it's
the first or second ingredient on the list, you know,
I put it back like this is where it's not good.
And in comment with the dips, it's actually interesting because
a lot of dip that I would say is not
great has just a base of either cream, cheese, cream,
or oil, and that will always be again, just a
vegetable oil. But I'm interested in those comments on my
(24:44):
page now that you've drawn my attention to it, because
I would have picked dips that weren't as high in that.
So that also just shows that people are a bit
harsh because I purposely go through now and now I'm
going to double check my post, but I would have
picked the dips that had a much higher proportion of
you know, vegetable chiky on purpose for that exact reason,
(25:07):
or in some dips now they'll specify they're made with
olive oil. So again that can be a bit misinformed.
I'm going to have to go back now and refute
those comments on my Facebook. So you've just like distracted
me the whole nightly, and so just keep to your
own Facebook a right, don't go on to mind. I'm
going to have to block our people. She's a stalker
all right now, like she's smiling in her back pain.
So the product that we found and I found this
(25:31):
because I'm started to shoot some lunchboxes actually and I
thought of these are actually quite good little snack balls,
the ones I found with the Macro Mighty bytes cheeky
cocoa balls. So these are a Woolies product in the
health food section and often lean when we buy those
kind of snack bites and things. They're really really high
in carbohydrate because they're made with dates. But when I
(25:51):
had to look at these, I was pleasantly surprised at
one the nutritional ingredient list and then the nutritional So
they come in little packets. I think there's two or
three balls in the pack so like if you bought those,
you tap them for a week. They're not hiddously expensive either.
I can't remember exactly, but I think they were four
or five dollars, so they won't like ten dollars or anything.
And all that's in them lean is dates are coconut
(26:12):
four percent cocoa, some pea protein, crisps, linseed pea protein,
powdered chia, and natural flavors. So in a little packet
you get two hundred and sixty six kilo jewels, which
is just about sixty calories, not much, and then one
point six grams of protein. You're getting some fat where
is that coming from from the coconut, but not too bad.
(26:33):
Less than ten grams of sugars perserve, which may seem high,
but keep in mind that's not any added sugar. That's
just what's naturally occurring from the dates and a little
bit of dietary fiber. And I thought, if your kids
like them as a little chocolate snack ball, I thought
they were pretty good, and I'll give my boys a
goal on them, and see they don't love that kind
of snacky stuff. But I thought, if your kids like them,
they're actually pretty good. I quite like them. Have you
(26:54):
tried them with your girls?
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I've never seen them, man, Yeah, they knew I think, Yeah,
I think they are. Because my al they's not available.
This is out of stock, so I can't even see
the price on them. But you're right, there's two per thing.
They do look quite small, and the product description says
perfect for little hen so they're obviously marketed at children
because they don't think that touched the side of an adult.
I know that that would not fill me up, but yeah,
I think for kids, the ingredient list is great and
(27:18):
one point six grams of fiber for a smaller child
is a good amount of fiber for a snack. So yeah,
I quite like them. I haven't tried them. Oh, I
definitely keep a lookout in my woolies. They're pretty good
my wool West, so they must be sort of newer
to market. Hopefully they'll start filtering through the stores. Yeah,
I haven't seen them before.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And I sometimes, if I'm doing lunchbox pictures, will pop
a couple in and all these people write and say
what are those? And often for adults, even if you've
got an adult lunch box and they want something sweet
after lunch or with afternoon tea and have that with
some nuts. That would actually be quite a good little snack.
So yeah, I really thought they were quite good. So
if you do try them, let us snow and they're
(27:54):
another one you can add to your sort of lunch
box friendly snacks that are out there at the moment,
all right, And then moving.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
On to our very last question of the podcast, it's
our listener question, and I think since you found this
one off our Instagram, so I've been hearing a lot
about weighted vests. Is it worth getting one for walking?
I've actually seen them a lot on my Instagram lately,
I will say on my Facebook. I think they're getting
very very popular, and I quite like them. Do I
use them myself, No, But I do think they're a
(28:21):
great way to increase the intensity of your workout because
walking will work until it doesn't. If that's your only
form of exercise, walking's great, but your body gets to
a point where it adapts to it and you either
need to do more or you need to change the
intensity of it. So using something like a weighted vest
is great. I've got a lady who walks around my
neighborhood and I always see it with hers on and
(28:42):
she goes pretty hardcore, like sometimes she jogs. Sometimes she's
like jogging with a pram. I'm like, you go, girl,
So yeah, not my thing. But I think they're a
great addition, and I think they've got to be only
going to be beneficial for your beer bones and your
muscles as well. So I think a big thumbs up
for me if you can get hands on them. I
imagine you just get them what off like Amazon or something.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Right, So the reason they go crazy, you know why
they've gone crazy because that guy Onny from US, doctor
Mary Claire harvar Oh I love, who wrote the New Menopause.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
He's actually having to Australia. I saw she talks.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
About them all the time, and I had to laugh,
right because when you see her, she's only a tiny
frame thing herself, but whenever she's doing her walking, she
is in this because she's tiny, right, she's quite a
live little thing. She doesn't have it doesn't look like
she got a massive amount of muscle mass. And she's
always wearing this weighted vest and she talks about it
on her Insta And I just laughed because like Australian
(29:34):
personal trainers, celebrities have started talking about them all the time,
and I know exactly where it's coming from.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I think that for.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Women who know they haven't had a long history of
weight training and who know they probably need more muscle mass,
they're a great idea. So if you're an ex athlete,
if you played high level support at school, you maybe
were a swimmer, you've got you know, a good amount
of muscle mass on you. You probably don't also need it.
Same as if you train in the gym, you probably
(30:01):
don't need it. But if you're a female in your forties, fifties,
or sixties, you haven't done a lot of exercise in
your history, you're naturally a long frame, you might be
more ectomorphic lately, and you know, muscle mass is not
on your body huge amount like a longer, leaner line frame.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Absolutely, they would be worth it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
You definitely burn more calories if you're wearing one of those,
you're going to get more of a workout. So yeah, again,
I'm like you, I don't use one because I lift
at the gym more. I've got a good amount of
muscle mass already. Yeah, but I think for a certain
group they could be really efficient and I would say,
you just probably get them on Amazon, have a quick search.
But I just laugh because all of a sudden, all
these people are talking about it, and I know exactly why.
(30:38):
It's because she was always wearing them and talking about them.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Well. I remember listening to one of her stories a
few weeks ago and she was talking about how her
mum has olsteoporosis, and she's really annoyed because nobody ever
really like flagged that with her earlier, or mum didn't
really do anything to kind of prevent that because it
was never really talked about. So maybe that's sort of
where that's come from as well. And I think it's great.
I think empowering, you know, particularly that age group who
it was never really common, like you know, for our
(31:02):
parents to be in the gym training, whereas these twenty
year olds that's what they're growing up with.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Like these twenty year olds.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Know they need to be getting in the gym and
lifting some heavy stuff. We know that now we've got
tons of research to support that. But I've got a
lot of clients in there, you know, sixties and seventies
where it just wasn't the dune thing, and it's very
daunting and overwhelming to then get into the gym. And
you know some people have difficulties accessing the gym, So
I'm like you like a couple of small dumbbells at home.
I bought my mum two three and four kilo dumbells
(31:28):
and she uses them at home. But a weighted best
if you've got a good safe place to go walking,
I think is only going to be beneficial for your
bones and muscles.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
True, And I've just had a look on Amazon. They
range between fifty up to one hundred dollars. You can
get different weights. You can get three five seven kilos,
So yeah, I think that the walkers in particular who
are not naturally inclined to lift or go to the gym,
could be a great option just to give that extra
resistance training while you're working out. And yeah, I think
they're a great idea, all right, Lenne. Well, that brings
(31:57):
us to the end of the nutrition couch in the
midst of a understorm here in Sydney, so you might
have heard a few thunders and lightnings come through. We'll
try and tidy those up on the podcast. If you
haven't checked it out already, go to design by dietitians
for our full product range, which now includes our nourish
protein bland, our hot chocolates and our new functional creating drinks.
And we will see you same time, same place next
(32:18):
Wednesday for our regular episode drop. Have a great week,
catch you guys next week
Well, it is that time of year again when all
talk nutrition is about getting back to school snacks and
school lunch boxes. And this year, Leanne and I want
to make your journey back to school a whole lot easier.
So we have rated our top five snacks to make
packing school lunches a whole lot easier. Hi, I'm Susie
(00:23):
Burrow and I'm Leanne Ward, and together we bring you
The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that keeps you up
to date on everything we need to know in the
world of nutrition, as well as all things back to school.
You may have heard a lot of mutterings lately about
seed oil, so today we're going to take a closer
look at the science and discuss if they are really
that bad for you. We have found a healthy lunchbox
(00:45):
snack that we particularly like at this time of year,
and our listener question is all about resistance training in
hairy menopause. So launching into today's podcast, I've got a
very very sad Leanne Ward looking back at me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Very glum Leanne, what's happened to you this week?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
In the gym, I've done my back and one of
my clients is like, oh no, what did you do.
She's like, was it deadlift? I'm like, no, that's the
worst thing. I didn't even pick up a damn weight, Susie.
So I've like set up my ideas. I'm good to go.
It's the first exercise of my session. I've bent down,
I've grabbed the bar, i haven't lifted it yet. I've
like set myself about to pull the bar up, pulled
(01:22):
the waiter, and I've just like tweaked something in my
back and I looked at David. I was like, oh
my god, I've done my back. I can't get up.
He's like come over and like kind of pulled me up,
and I've like hobbled over to the wall. So annoyed,
I didn't even do anything. So I went to physio
and she just said it's like a tweak back. So
she just taped it and strapped it so I can't
if I like bend back, it really hurts. So she
(01:42):
just said you need to, you know, have a good
week or two off. She's like, don't pick up the
kids and not easier said then done, thanks very much,
but she said I'd be out of training for three
or four weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm devastated.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I was just starting to feel really good and strong,
and she said, it's just one of those freak things
where you know, people turn around the wrong way and
they'll tweak their back. It's just one of those free things.
You don't do anything wrong. But I'm like, oh, just well,
people who live in chronic pain, it's awful. I feel
for them. It's so debilitating. There's so many things you
don't even think about when you do day to day
when you've got back pain, and then you just realize
(02:13):
I just like bending down, pick up the kids, drink
bottle off the ground or something, just those little things
you don't even think about, and then you just think, oh,
my goodness, it's so much pain. So I really yeah,
those people who live with chronic chronic pain, it's awful.
It's heartbreaking. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think after you've had kids, I just noticed your
ligaments and joints they're just not what they were. And
that's certainly proven in the research about you know, female bodies,
like you literally had a baby not that long ago,
you know what I mean. So I think it is easier.
It's not uncommon with you ever, you know, ankle twists
and things. I know, our ligaments are just not what
they were. So hopefully you have a speedy recovery. Hopefully
(02:47):
you know a good dietician who might give you some
anti inflammatory fos land just to get back on track.
There can I say, she's very stoppish tonight, I'm going
to have to run this podcast. She's not in a
good mood.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So I am doing the best that I can. I'm
sure David'll be doing being your lucky. Are you recover
You're in a young.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I'm bounce back.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you're We're right.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We'll get you posted on Leanne's back recovery, and she
might just have some pomegranate juice or something to reduce
that information.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So look, I'll be back in a week. I'm a
high achiever, like phys like three four weeks I was
like not watch me.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, if you do like to train or move.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I did my hammi just before Christmas, Like I literally like,
like you just chipped over a rock, Like it was
nothing dramatic, houb, I'm feeling very sorry for myself, like
a complete loser, but it was the reality of just
that daily movement is difficult, you know, like getting into
a car and all those things. So yeah, we can't
take our physical health for granted. So everyone who's got
(03:44):
an injury and self inflicted injury right now, we feel you.
But it is back to school time and leanne if
your kids are at school, you'd be in a much
better mood because you'd be thinking, oh great, I'm going
to be free again. And back to the packing of
school lunches. Now in the past on the Nutrition Couch
because were getting out to our fourth year, I think
we've gone through how to pack a healthy lunch box,
and we're actually in the process of finishing off a
(04:05):
kids Eat Nutrition book with a lot of our best
tips and tricks and products and guides and recipes for
kids nutrition, so we're hoping that'll be ready in the
next week or two.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And then I thought, rather than go through the good old.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Lunch box formula, which we've done many times, so if
you do want that, just search the Nutrition Couch for
school lunch boxes and.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It will come up.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I thought, what it would be fun to talk about
would be snacks because in an ideal worldly and we
would you know, make some mini for a tarder muffins
and you know, do some little beautiful wraps cut into
shapes and pieces and friendly, kindy parents, you're probably doing that.
But if you've got kids like me who are in
you four, you just don't have time or energy to
be mucking around with those lunch boxes. And the truth
(04:45):
is the kids don't often eat that stuff, and they
do want some snacks in there. And the first thing
we'll say is that we're not saying package snacks are
better than a piece of food or a tub of
yogurt by any means, but the research shows Leanne that
on average, astrained kids have at least three package snacks
in their lunch box, so they definitely buying and eating them.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So I feel that to make.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It easier, what is the best picks ultimately what can
be processed food? And the good news is there is
actually a good number of snacks that are sort of
pretty healthy.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
You know, they're not.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Again as good as a plain yogurt or a piece
of fruit, but they're pretty strong nutritionally. So we thought
we would go through our top sort of five picks
from the supermarkets of things that we buy use recommend
when it comes to packing kids' lunches. So a couple
I'll kickoff in terms of snacks that I quite like.
The Messy Monkeys are quite strong nutritionally, they're about eighty
(05:36):
calories per bag. They've got different flavors, they've got a
little bit of dietary fiber in them. They're certainly pretty
healthy compared to flavored chips like Twisti's or c C's
or other products that you can get in that two
for seven dollars mini chip pack. And if your kids
like them, and I do have to be honest, I
find kids who are older don't like them as much,
whereas the young kids maybe age between four and seven
(05:57):
still don't mind the Messy Monkeys. And a little trick actually,
particularly when kids are smaller, when you find those new
lunch boxes with all the different compartments, you'll find younger
kids might eat a few different ones. So you can
sort of open a pack of Messy Monkeys or a
pack of pretzels and put a few and they're more
likely to eat that than necessarily even the whole packet.
It's like that variety works well, So certainly Messi Monkeys
(06:19):
are up there for me. The other one I really
like is the lentil bite, so they're in Woolies in
that health food section and they're on the bottom shelf,
and I think there's beetroot, sweet potato or pumpkin and carrot,
and they're like crunchy chips, and they're really quite delicious.
And in fact, when Leanna and I ran an s
seminar for the Nutrition Couch and we've got a sample
of those from Boyees were stolen we think from the
(06:42):
stuff at the venue. We think also took a liking
to our ental bites because they definitely got delivered, but.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They were never to be or seen for again.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So I think they reach out for about five dollars
and I think you get a pack of six. But again,
if I opened a packet of those and put a
few in my kids lunch box with the mix of
different things, they certainly eat them. I quite like them
actually as a healthier alternative to chips. They're a bit
higher in protein and fiber, and again come in at
far less than one hundred calories per pack. So there
are a couple that I like. Since I'm rabbiting on
(07:11):
way too much, and you had a good list as well.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What's on yours?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think most of the kids yogurt. I don't know
if you call that a package snack. You know, any
of the kids low sugar yogurts are always really good.
I like the cheese. You know, there's string of cheeses.
What are they called where you like peel off the
are they called stringers?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They're stringers?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Stringers? Yeah, those or the baby bell ones as well,
but they're more for old kids, older kids because my
kids can't get the wax off the baby balls themselves.
So they're really good for lunchboxes. And there's like normal
the red ones. There's like a light version and like
a higher protein version. Sometimes they give my clients a
couple of them and a boiled egg and you can
easily get to fifteen twenty grams of protein, but the
little kids just one or two and the lunch box
(07:47):
is great. My little Mea has really taken a liking
to those mini rice cakes with the dark chocolate on them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Have you seen them?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
And lately I've seen there's like a strawberry version of
them as well, and Woolworth the Macro does its own
version of it as well, so there's I can't remember
the brand that did that, that started it. There's also
like a Woolworst Macro version of that, which is a
little bit cheaper as well. They do the little individual
lunchbox sized packs. They're really good as well. What else,
Vitaweeds I find always a really really handy snack. And
(08:14):
with a little tup of Philly they do those like
snack packs of Philadelphia. You snap them off if there's
like a four paf of them. That with some veggie sticks,
a little pack of Philly or some vitawets is a
really good crunchy snack as well. And I'm a bit
fan of giving my kids sometimes just like cereal to
snack on, Like I've talked to it before about those
lower sugar cheerios which have got an extra bit of
fiber in them, or like a lower sugar type granola. Obviously,
(08:36):
have to be careful not to get anything with nuts
in it, because I think most of Strane schools are
up free, so just check the ingredient label. And a
lower sugar granola just something for the kids to like
munch on as well, like far better than putting you know,
lollies or candy in their lunch boxes as well, So
I think lower sugar granola it's sweet, it gives them
a bit of crunch and some of the better brands
have some good seeds like some pepitas and some some
flower seeds in there which you can give your body
(08:57):
some good extra nutrients as well.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, and a few other bars. Definitely the Carmen's Oaty Bar.
They've come in different flavors. There's an apple one, there's
a chop brownie one. Nutritionally they're pretty strong. I just
had to review them for an article. They're all less
than one hundred calories, they've got less than five grams
of sugars, and they've got close to three grams of
dietary fiber. Messy Monkeys also have a bar which has
quite a similar profile to that. May come as a
(09:22):
surprise that actually the plain Milo bars are pretty low. Now,
they don't offer anything amazing nutritionally, but they're not overly
high in sugar. They are again about eighty calories. They've
got about five grams of sugar in them, a couple
of grams of dietary fiber. So they're actually not too bad.
I'm not saying they're good, but I'm saying out at
all the bars, they're actually one of the better ones
and the same evenly. And it's interesting, as I said,
(09:43):
reviewed these recently, and the music bars were always traditionally
Uncle Toby's, and I have to be honest, they've reformulated
a lot and they're all pretty good. Like they've got
about three grams of firebar, they've got less than five
grams of sugar, and the kids like them, so they're
actually not too bad. But what I will say in
terms of one to avoid, there's certainly a whole range
of kids snacks. I would be steering well clear of
(10:04):
nutri grain bars and lcms or a couple of them.
They really don't offer anything positive nutritionally. So what we
see with some of the bars is that they've got
extra dietary fiber, they don't have a lot of added sugar.
They're portion controlled, whereas in the case of say nutri
grain lcms, those ones in the green box, the Odie
bar bites, the Mother Nature ones, they're either heavily refined
(10:25):
and don't offer any dietary fiber and relatively high amounts
of sugar, or in the case of those oat type
bars in the green boxes, they're really high in sugars.
They've got almost three teaspoons per bar, so they're three
that I would actually be steering well clear of and
definitely flavored chips. So if you're buying the two for
seven dollar packet for budget reasons and there's popcorn and
(10:46):
there's pretzels, I tend to if I'm getting those biplane,
say plain Red Rock Deli or plain even French fries
or pretzels, because as soon as you start with the CC's,
the cheese and bacon balls, they've all often got added
and really are ultra processed foods, So they're the ones
i'd stick clear of and sort of try and go
for something more like a pretzel or even a grain
(11:07):
wave that's going to be much better than those flavored
type chips.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Particularly for younger kids, definitely I forgot.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I quite often buy the kids the pretzels, the mini
snack bags where it's the two for seven a Coles
or willose up and do that. And for older kids
as well. Younger kids popcorns is a bit of a
choking hazard, but for older kids, popcorn is definitely a
good snack as well, and a lot of people are
quite surprised that it actually has a couple of grams
of fiberit in there, Like popcorn is basically a whole food.
Like if you literally put corn kernels into a sauce
bent and hated it, you would literally have your own
(11:36):
popping machine. Just a bit dangerous sometimes in some people's kitchen.
So a lot of us tend to just buy pre
popped and pre made. But popcorn is actually a really
good snack. Just for adults, particularly when their goal is
fat loss, we like to pair that with a little
bit of protein just to kind of, you know, give
that a tidy factor. But for little kids who just
run off that energy all day long, popcorn is a
great choice. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
And what I would say is that in the lunch box,
talking about the lunchbox formula, I always will do, you know,
a fruit of veggie, a rapple sandwich, and then I'll
do one sort of snack and then one protein snack.
So I myself, as a dietician, don't put any more
than one package snack in the lunch boxes and then
the other. I really try and make protein based because
(12:18):
we know that kids at school don't get a whole
lot of protein, particularly if they're having plain sort of sandwiches.
You know, my boys actually have meatballs or pieces of chicken,
so they do get a bit more, but I really
want to bump that up with, like you said, the
cheese and crackers. The cheese, even the flavored milks in
the small kid size containers or the Yogat chubes, and
there's quite a few good yogat chubes. There's the Dairy
(12:39):
Farmers one that's really high in calcium. There is the
Tama Valley, which is another really good choice. I find
the Shavani ones for kids are too high in protein.
We've spoken about this in the podcast before. We don't
want yoga for kids to having more than five grams
of protein, so the shavanne are a bit too high.
But certainly I try and put some sort of dairy
snack in and then just one other can snack. And
(13:01):
you know, if you if you really motivated at the
start of a new school year on want to make things,
go for it. You know, a piece of homemade banana
bread or a mini muffin is great, you know. But
I think it's also just having options, particularly for busy parents.
There's certainly no expectation to be making everything. There are
some reasonable options, and I think you know, any parent
would agree it's about variety. Inci's just like different things
(13:21):
so sometimes it's quite handy to have a few different
snacks to alternate or to mix a few together, because
you know, at the end of the day they tend
to get sick of anything after a while. So hopefully
that's given you a few ideas, and we're going to
review another one to add to the list in a
couple of minutes. But I wanted to talk today in
terms of a new strayliand about seed oils, because across
(13:42):
my desk this week, I've had so many media reports
come in talking about seed oils. Are seed oils bad
for you? Should they be banned? Are they causing colon cancer?
And I was like, what is going on about seed oils,
because as a dietician, I would never actually talk about
seed oils. What I would talk about is process and
vegeta oil if I'm looking about the health consequences. So
(14:03):
I thought it was a good opportunity for us just
to discuss the role of kind of oils in processing
and in general and why these media reports are out
there and is it really that bad. So basically, seed
oils is anything that comes from the base of a seed,
So it's things like your flax seed oil. People will
say it's even sunflower oil. So there's a seeded base
(14:24):
where that seed will be processed and that oil taken
out in its purest form. You know, seeds are very
very good for us. They contain a wide range of
different types of fats, and certainly in the diets of
my clients, I'm constantly trying to get them to not
only increase their not intake, but their intake of seeds.
So things like copeds, flax seeds, linseeds all extremely good
(14:44):
for us and have a really high proportion of a
Mega three fat. Now, the simplified issue with just talking
about types of fat in isolation is that's not quite
how it works in the diet. So basically, inflammation and
health of the cell in the body is to and
by the fat balance that we consume, and the fat
balance is heavily influenced by the profile of foods we consume.
(15:07):
So the heightened response about vegetable oil because we know
that in Western societies, our intake of what we call
the Amiga six oils, which does include the seed oils
but also vegetable oils, far out weighs our intake of
Amiga three fat. And when that relationship is disproportionate. The
(15:28):
amiga six oils drown out the benefits of the amiga threes,
and because amga threes are the natural anti inflammatory fats,
they keep the cell healthy. That's why we see an
increase in lifestyle related disease or one of the reasons
in modern life is that we have far less A
mega threes and we need and our food is much
more processed, and we're getting a lot of generally vegetable
oils coming through the food supply, and they also come
(15:51):
in ultra processed foods. So thinking takeaways, cakes, biscuits, you know,
you pick off a packet of sweet biscuits off the shelf,
the first in great radiance our wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar. Now,
the key thing to know is actual seed oils. Even
though they have a relatively high a Mega six content,
they actually don't increase inflammation in isolation in studies, so
(16:15):
there's actually nothing specifically wrong with seed oils. In fact,
they're one of the better oils if you had to choose.
The best oil, of course, is extravigin olive oil or
an avocado oil. Absolutely, they're the only oils I have
in my own home. But if you were then looking
at what is the next best oil, certainly a little
bit of sunflower oil, canola oil is not going to
cause damage. What causes damage is ultra processed foods and
(16:38):
vegetable based oils long term.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And that's not only the.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oil itself tends to be pro inflammatory because it's generally
palm oil, which is a heavily saturated fat, which is
pro inflammatory. But that is the key oil that's rife
in our food supply. You know, that's in the biscuits,
the cakes, the pastries, the fried food, the fast food.
Because they're going to use a relatively cheap oil because
it's going to be about profits. They're not going to
(17:02):
use avocado oil or extravergin olive oil in their cooking
because it would cost too much, and also at the
volumes and the temperatures they're cooking, it's not going to
be the best type of oil. So, first of all,
the heightened focus on seed oils is unfounded. It's being
made by people who don't understand the complexities of nutrition,
and in isolation, there's no real concern about those. They're
(17:24):
kind of neutral in the diet. The issue is processed
vegetable oil, and it's generally found in ultra processed food
and that intake high intake of which increases inflammation in
the body. But the takeo message for anyone listening to
the podcast is actually nothing about seed oils. The taco
message is you need to have more good fat in
your diet, and the good fat comes from a mega three's,
(17:46):
which in the richest natural sources in seafood, in particular
Atlantic salmon, even sardines, tin salmon, tinned tuna, even shell
fishings like prawns are really high. You know, you want
to be having that two three four time a week
to really increase your intake of the long chain omega three's,
which are the most powerful when it comes to reducing
inflammation naturally in the body. And when it comes to
(18:09):
what you've got control over at home, the key the
best thing you can do is cook with the best
quality oils. So the ones I have I have an
extra virgin olive oil and I also use now a
lot of the everyday avocado oil for day to day frying,
because when you look at the nutritional profile of that,
it is heavily mono unsaturated fat, which we know is
a heart healthy fat. So I don't myselfie, and I'll
(18:32):
ask you at a minute, I don't have any seed
oils in my house, Like I don't have canola, I
don't have some flot I don't have any of them.
I never use them. I only ever use extra virgin
olive oil. And then I've got avocado, the every day
one for frying because it doesn't have any real flavor,
and I'm still getting all the benefits of mono unsaturated fat.
I use the one from Grove and yeah, So that's
(18:53):
the take home message. Don't worry about these people arguing
about seed oils. It's actually irrelevant when it comes to
an individual. The key thing you can ask yourself as
am I getting enough oily fish? Am I eating nuts
and seeds most days to get the nutritional benefits? Am
I using the best quality oil I can afford at home?
And there's a couple of great options, whether it's Extraversion
(19:14):
Australia olive oil, or whether it's an avocado oil that's
been formulated for frying. That's the best thing you can
ask yourself. Don't even worry about this heightened idea of
seed oils because it's actually not relevant to an individual.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I guess we have social media to blame. It's so
great for so many wonderful reasons, but it's also not
so great for so many more because there are so
many what should we call them self appointed health influencers
out there.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Everyone wants to be a dietitian, don't they an not
even a diety, do know?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
They rag on dietitians. I don't want to be dieticians.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
They just want to be the wellness influencer who's going
to change the world. And it's unfortunately because these seed
oil type videos where people are just completely you know,
ranting on seed oils. They're so bad that the direct
cause of inflammation you should not. So you posted like
a dip choli on Facebook the other day roll past
and I was thinking, oh, they're good dips, and I
quickly clicked on the comments, and a couple of people
(20:04):
ripped you because they're like, oh, they've got seed oils,
and then you shouldn't promote that when you can't do
that one and people are just have an unhealthy obsession
with seed oils almost because as you said, they don't
really understand how the nutritional science works because inflammation at
its core or as a standalone thing, is not necessarily bad.
If you go and do a really hard workout, your
(20:24):
body has a level of inflammation in it. I myself
with a bad bag right now, I've pricked my bag.
Have a level of inflammation in my body. When you
get up the last night, man, when you did back
it or.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
No, I should be I should be shutting some extraversion.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Only you also a massive store of my Instagram, Like,
I haven't even seen those comments.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
This is your Facebook. No, I don't do Instagram much.
It's funny because I'm bigger on Instagram. But I was
on face stole stalker much scrolling marketplace anyway. I was
just I was curious about the comments because I was like, oh,
dips interesting and of course the negative seed oil stuff. Anyway,
where I was going with that before I was really interrupted. No,
but if you get even something simple like a paper cup, again,
(21:01):
your body has a level of inflammation. So inflammation at
its core is not as bad as what people you
know lead you to believe. It's when that inflammation is chronic,
it's long term, it's coming from a poor quality diet,
it's coming from smoking, inactivity. It's coming from basically lifestyle choices, which, yes,
nutrition can influence. That's when inflammation, when it's chronic, it's
(21:23):
long term, it's in the wrong places, that's where it
can become an issue. But seed oils as a standalone thing,
like you said, do not cause inflammation. There's been over
fifteen randomized control trials. This is like the gold standard
when it comes to nutrition. It's not a standalone trial,
and a lot of these quote unquote health influencers out there,
they don't know how to interpret the nutrition site, so
(21:44):
they take a single standalone study which is not that robust,
and now pull it apart to basically make it fit
their criteria that they want to make it. Say that, okay,
see it, oils are bad when you look at the
bulk of the research, like fifteen standalone random control trials
do not show that these oils, things like sappalier oil,
(22:05):
rape seed oil, these types of oils are not actually
they do not promote inflammation, and some of these studies
even show that those oils stand alone actually lower inflammation. So,
as you said, it's more the fact that we have
inactive lifestyles that we're doing poor lifestyle choices, like we're smoking,
we're not sleeping enough, we're doing far too much of
(22:26):
that high intensity exercise that's not giving our bodies a break,
or we're just not doing any exercise we're on the
far end of either side of the spectrum. Or our
nutritional quality isn't good enough. You know, we're skipping breakfast,
we're having coffee, we're having a pastry, We're having far
too much our coal in our diet, and we're eating
out far too much. These the things lifestyle and nutrition
that are going to drive inflammation, not the type of
(22:48):
oil that you cook your brocolian or that you you know,
you might fry your chicken in. So I get it
all the time from my clients and I say, look,
I'm like you. I have a couple of oils in
my kitchen. I have Extraversion olive oil. I have some
avocata oil. I have some sesme oil. You know Malaysian background,
I do, you know, cook some stuff fries always use
sesme oil. And then I also have a bit of
coconut oil in my pantry. If I'm doing a form
(23:09):
of baking that needs it, you know, to set or something,
then I might use it, or if I'm doing a
curry where I've got a little bit of coconut milk
in there, i might use a little bit of coconut
oil just for kind of that flavor profile. That's it.
I'm not doing it because I think that it's necessarily
better or more helpful. I'm just kind of doing it
for the flavor profile. So I'm like you, I don't
have any in my kitchen, but it's not to say
(23:29):
that I completely vilify any food that has it. So
I don't really think it's the oil that we're pulling
out of our cupboard that's the issue. I think it's
the level of ultra processed foods that people are consuming.
And like you said, I've seen lunchboxes where there are
three four five package snacks in there for children, there's
not one food or vegetable in there, and there's white
bread with some form of like honey or jam on it.
(23:51):
So I think it's what we're consuming on a regular basis.
I eat packet foods, ultra processed foods, take away alcohol.
That's our biggest issue here, not poor standalone seed oil.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, And I think it's just good to be addressing
something that's in the mainstream media at the moment. And yeah,
the best thing you can do when it comes to
oil balance is if you're buying packaged food, if you
see vegetable oil on the label, particularly at the top.
Like I'm not talking a little bit in processing, because
that's what will happen, Like I'm just thinking of where
you would see that, Like you might buy a pre
crumb sit so there'll be a bit of it in
(24:24):
there because they need some. I'm talking about where it's
the first or second ingredient on the list, you know,
I put it back like this is where it's not good.
And in comment with the dips, it's actually interesting because
a lot of dip that I would say is not
great has just a base of either cream, cheese, cream,
or oil, and that will always be again, just a
vegetable oil. But I'm interested in those comments on my
(24:44):
page now that you've drawn my attention to it, because
I would have picked dips that weren't as high in that.
So that also just shows that people are a bit
harsh because I purposely go through now and now I'm
going to double check my post, but I would have
picked the dips that had a much higher proportion of
you know, vegetable chiky on purpose for that exact reason,
(25:07):
or in some dips now they'll specify they're made with
olive oil. So again that can be a bit misinformed.
I'm going to have to go back now and refute
those comments on my Facebook. So you've just like distracted
me the whole nightly, and so just keep to your
own Facebook a right, don't go on to mind. I'm
going to have to block our people. She's a stalker
all right now, like she's smiling in her back pain.
So the product that we found and I found this
(25:31):
because I'm started to shoot some lunchboxes actually and I
thought of these are actually quite good little snack balls,
the ones I found with the Macro Mighty bytes cheeky
cocoa balls. So these are a Woolies product in the
health food section and often lean when we buy those
kind of snack bites and things. They're really really high
in carbohydrate because they're made with dates. But when I
(25:51):
had to look at these, I was pleasantly surprised at
one the nutritional ingredient list and then the nutritional So
they come in little packets. I think there's two or
three balls in the pack so like if you bought those,
you tap them for a week. They're not hiddously expensive either.
I can't remember exactly, but I think they were four
or five dollars, so they won't like ten dollars or anything.
And all that's in them lean is dates are coconut
(26:12):
four percent cocoa, some pea protein, crisps, linseed pea protein,
powdered chia, and natural flavors. So in a little packet
you get two hundred and sixty six kilo jewels, which
is just about sixty calories, not much, and then one
point six grams of protein. You're getting some fat where
is that coming from from the coconut, but not too bad.
(26:33):
Less than ten grams of sugars perserve, which may seem high,
but keep in mind that's not any added sugar. That's
just what's naturally occurring from the dates and a little
bit of dietary fiber. And I thought, if your kids
like them as a little chocolate snack ball, I thought
they were pretty good, and I'll give my boys a
goal on them, and see they don't love that kind
of snacky stuff. But I thought, if your kids like them,
they're actually pretty good. I quite like them. Have you
(26:54):
tried them with your girls?
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I've never seen them, man, Yeah, they knew I think, Yeah,
I think they are. Because my al they's not available.
This is out of stock, so I can't even see
the price on them. But you're right, there's two per thing.
They do look quite small, and the product description says
perfect for little hen so they're obviously marketed at children
because they don't think that touched the side of an adult.
I know that that would not fill me up, but yeah,
I think for kids, the ingredient list is great and
(27:18):
one point six grams of fiber for a smaller child
is a good amount of fiber for a snack. So yeah,
I quite like them. I haven't tried them. Oh, I
definitely keep a lookout in my woolies. They're pretty good
my wool West, so they must be sort of newer
to market. Hopefully they'll start filtering through the stores. Yeah,
I haven't seen them before.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And I sometimes, if I'm doing lunchbox pictures, will pop
a couple in and all these people write and say
what are those? And often for adults, even if you've
got an adult lunch box and they want something sweet
after lunch or with afternoon tea and have that with
some nuts. That would actually be quite a good little snack.
So yeah, I really thought they were quite good. So
if you do try them, let us snow and they're
(27:54):
another one you can add to your sort of lunch
box friendly snacks that are out there at the moment,
all right, And then moving.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
On to our very last question of the podcast, it's
our listener question, and I think since you found this
one off our Instagram, so I've been hearing a lot
about weighted vests. Is it worth getting one for walking?
I've actually seen them a lot on my Instagram lately,
I will say on my Facebook. I think they're getting
very very popular, and I quite like them. Do I
use them myself, No, But I do think they're a
(28:21):
great way to increase the intensity of your workout because
walking will work until it doesn't. If that's your only
form of exercise, walking's great, but your body gets to
a point where it adapts to it and you either
need to do more or you need to change the
intensity of it. So using something like a weighted vest
is great. I've got a lady who walks around my
neighborhood and I always see it with hers on and
(28:42):
she goes pretty hardcore, like sometimes she jogs. Sometimes she's
like jogging with a pram. I'm like, you go, girl,
So yeah, not my thing. But I think they're a
great addition, and I think they've got to be only
going to be beneficial for your beer bones and your
muscles as well. So I think a big thumbs up
for me if you can get hands on them. I
imagine you just get them what off like Amazon or something.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Right, So the reason they go crazy, you know why
they've gone crazy because that guy Onny from US, doctor
Mary Claire harvar Oh I love, who wrote the New Menopause.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
He's actually having to Australia. I saw she talks.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
About them all the time, and I had to laugh,
right because when you see her, she's only a tiny
frame thing herself, but whenever she's doing her walking, she
is in this because she's tiny, right, she's quite a
live little thing. She doesn't have it doesn't look like
she got a massive amount of muscle mass. And she's
always wearing this weighted vest and she talks about it
on her Insta And I just laughed because like Australian
(29:34):
personal trainers, celebrities have started talking about them all the time,
and I know exactly where it's coming from.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I think that for.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Women who know they haven't had a long history of
weight training and who know they probably need more muscle mass,
they're a great idea. So if you're an ex athlete,
if you played high level support at school, you maybe
were a swimmer, you've got you know, a good amount
of muscle mass on you. You probably don't also need it.
Same as if you train in the gym, you probably
(30:01):
don't need it. But if you're a female in your forties, fifties,
or sixties, you haven't done a lot of exercise in
your history, you're naturally a long frame, you might be
more ectomorphic lately, and you know, muscle mass is not
on your body huge amount like a longer, leaner line frame.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Absolutely, they would be worth it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
You definitely burn more calories if you're wearing one of those,
you're going to get more of a workout. So yeah, again,
I'm like you, I don't use one because I lift
at the gym more. I've got a good amount of
muscle mass already. Yeah, but I think for a certain
group they could be really efficient and I would say,
you just probably get them on Amazon, have a quick search.
But I just laugh because all of a sudden, all
these people are talking about it, and I know exactly why.
(30:38):
It's because she was always wearing them and talking about them.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Well. I remember listening to one of her stories a
few weeks ago and she was talking about how her
mum has olsteoporosis, and she's really annoyed because nobody ever
really like flagged that with her earlier, or mum didn't
really do anything to kind of prevent that because it
was never really talked about. So maybe that's sort of
where that's come from as well. And I think it's great.
I think empowering, you know, particularly that age group who
it was never really common, like you know, for our
(31:02):
parents to be in the gym training, whereas these twenty
year olds that's what they're growing up with.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Like these twenty year olds.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Know they need to be getting in the gym and
lifting some heavy stuff. We know that now we've got
tons of research to support that. But I've got a
lot of clients in there, you know, sixties and seventies
where it just wasn't the dune thing, and it's very
daunting and overwhelming to then get into the gym. And
you know some people have difficulties accessing the gym, So
I'm like you like a couple of small dumbbells at home.
I bought my mum two three and four kilo dumbells
(31:28):
and she uses them at home. But a weighted best
if you've got a good safe place to go walking,
I think is only going to be beneficial for your
bones and muscles.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
True, And I've just had a look on Amazon. They
range between fifty up to one hundred dollars. You can
get different weights. You can get three five seven kilos,
So yeah, I think that the walkers in particular who
are not naturally inclined to lift or go to the gym,
could be a great option just to give that extra
resistance training while you're working out. And yeah, I think
they're a great idea, all right, Lenne. Well, that brings
(31:57):
us to the end of the nutrition couch in the
midst of a understorm here in Sydney, so you might
have heard a few thunders and lightnings come through. We'll
try and tidy those up on the podcast. If you
haven't checked it out already, go to design by dietitians
for our full product range, which now includes our nourish
protein bland, our hot chocolates and our new functional creating drinks.
And we will see you same time, same place next
(32:18):
Wednesday for our regular episode drop. Have a great week,
catch you guys next week
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