From Susie and Leanne on The Nutrition Couch this episode:
- We talk about how burnout affects women and the steps you can take to reclaim your energy.
- We review Chokolata lower sugar chocolate.
- Susie shares her recipe for Zucchini Walnut Loaf.
So sit back, relax and enjoy this week’s episode!
Tune in on Sunday for our next episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's your energy like at the moment? Do you wake
up each day feeling refreshed and excited or is it
more a feeling of dread about how you are possibly
going to make it through another jam pack day, so
jam packed that you literally have no time to even
get to the bathroom, let alone think about any other
(00:20):
than your basic needs. On today's midweek motivational episode of
The Nutrition Couch, Leanna and I discussed the very real
issue of burnout for women, the science that it's impacting you,
and the steps to take to reclaim yourself and your energy.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi, I'm Sussie Burrow and Emily and Wood and each.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Week we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the bi weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
As well as burnout.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Leanne, the new Mum, has found a brand new chocolate
is lower in sugar we got to take a closer
look at and we have a fabulous walnut and zucchini
loaf for all of our keen bakers out there. So, Leanne,
we had had a little break, of course, because you
had taken a few weeks to have with your new
baby Tilly, and so while we were off, I sort
(01:09):
of kept writing down little anecdotes or things that came
across my desk in terms of possible topics for our
potty and something that has resonated with me with a
couple of clients. And I'm not going to go into
too many details about those clients specifically because I feel
it's quite personal stuff and quite confronting. And then I
also listened to a great podcast from Gabby Bernstein on
(01:31):
this exact issue, which is basically burnout, and I thought,
you know, so frequently talking to my clients when I
first meet them, they are so exhausted and so spent
in terms of every single scrap of their energy goes
to their job, their partner, their children, and that is
(01:53):
often showing physiologically because they haven't got time to really
care for themselves or exercise. And and sure, it's easy
to say, well, just take control, like just value yourself,
but I wanted to talk today about the difference between that.
In theory, it's very easy to tell people what to do,
(02:14):
but the reality is many women and even myself, at times,
you feel so just exhausted with life that it's really
hard just to muster the energy to get through the day,
let alone thinking about taking on a brand new program
and regime. So I just in a context of one
of my clients in particular, you get a vibe for
(02:35):
people very early in the relationship. And when I have
a client who I get on the phone with and
they're carrying weight, They're tired, their mood is suffered, they
may be on antidepressants, you know, they're really pushed, they're
already working full time, they might be a single parent,
they don't have a lot of support around them. Land
the last thing I am going to do with that
client is then give them a further to do list
(02:58):
of all the other stuff cofecting them to do, like, oh,
we'll go and do your meal planning, get to the supermarket.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Just do it hours exercise a day. You'll feel better.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Because I think we need to acknowledge that there's many
women out there who are basically doing two jobs all
the time, and that's considered the norm. And that's fine
because you may be psychologically strong, or have a lot
of support around you, or have a great relationship, or
have a great balance, or have the financial means to
support yourself through that great but there's certainly a lot
(03:27):
of people who don't, or even just times in life
where it all just becomes a little bit too much.
And I think it's worth discussing those signs and symptoms
because really, when it comes to resetting lifestyle, there's a
time and a place, and sometimes we just don't have
energy available to add yet another thing to our schedule
when we're feeling burnt out and tired. So some of
(03:47):
those signs that I would be saying to clients if
they were presenting with these, you know what, the first
thing we need to do is get you feeling better
before we put more on that to do list. I
think one of the first is that you are really
high strung and irritable. Now I myself notice this that
you get up in the morning and literally the instant
that you get in the car and have to deal
(04:08):
with other people, everyone is annoying you. So you're angry
and frustrated in the traffic, You've got a really short
fuse with the children, and deep down.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's not who you are.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But you've become that way, not because you're a bad person,
but basically because you're overwhelmed, and I would say in
many cases burnt out, you've got nothing left in the tank,
and so those day to day stresses that we normally
roll through just bug you and irritate you even more.
The next is that you've literally got no energy. So
it doesn't matter how much you eat or how much
(04:40):
coffee or diet soft drink that you get, doesn't matter
how much sleep you get, you still feel just blah.
And certainly that can be a sign of low mood.
It can also be a sign of low vitamin D,
which are both things that may be relevant. You may
have some clinical depression, you may have low vitamin D
that's impacting your mood. But if nothing you do makes
(05:01):
you feel better to me, that is another sign that
maybe you've just got nothing left in the tank. You
don't have motivation to do anything. You know, you might
find yourself home on the weekend and you've got a
list a mile long of things to do or people
you could catch up with, and you just don't want to.
Things that usually brought you much pleasure and enjoyment are
no longer giving you any of that. You're struggling to
(05:23):
find that joy or even identify what would bring you
that joy. Uncontrolled craving. So if you are constantly feeding
or rewarding yourself with sugar, caffeine, and certainly this was
another example that Gaby Bernsy specifically named in her podcast.
If you are suddenly eating a lot of real rubbish
or needing that hit of fast food to get you through,
(05:43):
you're basically pulling that energy from external sources. And to me,
that's another sign that you're just at the end of
your tether and artificially being propped up. And also a
bit of negativity. If you sort of notice that you've
become a bit more difficult to be around, that everything
is negative, it's hard to find that joy. Now you know,
these are emotional things. If you feel like this, you're
(06:04):
probably upset because you're probably feeling like you are cranky
for the kids all the time, you don't want to
see anyone. You're really not yourself. And the first thing
I would say is that if this sounds familiar, the
first thing you've got to do is just give yourself
some permission. It's okay to acknowledge that you feel like this,
because if you think about the load that you're carrying
(06:25):
and how quick you are to add more to that load,
like then expect yourself to get to the gym as well,
or do more meal planning or lose weight. You're one
person and literally doing two sometimes three jobs, plus the
stress of modern life, budgets, interest rates, separation, divorced stress,
you know, the load that many women are carrying is
just ridiculous. So it's of no surprise to me that
(06:47):
this is really really common. So the first thing I
would say is just give yourself some space and time.
And sometimes I'll say to women, you know, we can
sure work on improving your diet and making you feel
better with good news attrition and taking that time for
some self care. But the last thing we want this
intervention to be is more pressure on someone who's exhausted.
(07:08):
Because you've only got so much energy at any one time,
and if you're already feeling burnt out, the last thing
I need to be doing is adding more to that
schedule that makes you feel bad.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So let's just start.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Bye, You've got to eat, so let's just start by
improving your day to day feeling by eating.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
A lot better.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
We do know from research that you know, ticking the
box on key nutrients and whole grains will you know
often result in improved mood.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Fairly quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's certainly about pulling some time out for yourself. And
this is something I do noticely, and my women are
very reluctant to do because you're just always trying to
look after everyone from an empty cart. But whether it's
just having an hour a week that you get a massage,
whether it's just a night off from the children, or
cooking dinner each week. Maybe it is, you know, investing
(07:55):
and going and having a night at a hotel, maybe
it is going away. Everyone's going to be different in
what resources they available to them, but what I will
say is that it ultimately won't change unless you take
some proactive steps. So the first is to identify that
you are burnt out and call it and say, actually,
I'm not going to do anything for a month or
two months.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I need a break. I'm just I'm done.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But then it's like, what can I actually do that
doesn't add more stress?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's going to make me feel better? So you've got
to eat.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
As you've said, yes, a moderate exercise that doesn't add
too much extra stress will help, But how can you
fill the cup a little bit? But you have to
proactively do it. You have to book the babysitter. You
have to ask the partner, the friend, the husband for help,
because no one's going to come and fix it for you.
And that is something over time that if you practice
putting energy back in, you will get to a position.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Where you're feeling better.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And of course when we feel better, we slowly build
that resilience to deal with these stresses. Of course, long
term it's about trying to develop structures and routine that
take the pressure off. But these are three six twelve
months plan, so small steps to get you through initially.
And then I think the third is to acknowledge that
when it comes to lifestyle change, in particular weight loss,
(09:07):
there's a time and a place for that, and so
rather than expecting yourself to do it when you're already
burnt out, you may be better to invest a few months,
a few weeks with a therapist, a counselor just give
yourself some space to rebuild your mental, healthy resilience and
be in a better place, because in many cases it
ends up just being more of a burden on someone
who's just got nothing left. And as I said, that's
(09:28):
certainly not helpful. And I think you know lately I
and you as well. We spend a lot of time
coaching women. You know, my backgrounds in psychology, I feel
very comfortable in taking women through that process.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I'm qualified to do so.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But if you see a dietician who doesn't have a
psychological qualification, or even a GP who's very bang bang
this is what you need to do, you're probably not
going to get that emotional support, which is actually what
you need. You know, if you come out of consults
and appointments with practitioners and actually feel like crying, that's
that it's probably pushing you a bit too far and
(10:03):
really where that energy needs to go until you relieve
some of the burnout is more to self care, nurturing, counseling, support, psychology, massage,
rather than expecting a dietitian or a GP to make
you feel better because they're going to be very prescriptive.
They're going to say, exercise more, eat better, and that's
probably not the nurturing that you actually need. Because deep
downland I think we all know if we need to
(10:24):
eat better and exercise more, but it's a lot more
complicated than that, and certainly coming from a place of
burnout is not a place to be putting more and
more pressure on yourself, particularly in a space of weight loss.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Absolutely and burnout is what are those things where you
need to do less in order to do more long term?
And I can speak from experience because I myself, on
multiple occasions have been burnt out. And I'm sure you
have too, Susie as to you know, practitioners to have
you know, I think we're allowed to say to austraight
as top dietitians, we take on a lot and you
(10:56):
know where, we own our own businesses, we run multiple businesses,
we take it on lot. We're busy mums and like
a lot of our listeners, we also experience burnout. We're
only human. And I've gotten to the point where David
can actually identify it in me and he's like, you
need to step back, you need to stop, You need
to just actually go to bed, because I can see
you're heading for burnout again. So for me, some of
(11:17):
the big signs I go to bed and I'm wired,
but I've exhausted. So I go to bed and my
brain's like but my body is like, oh my god,
I'm exhausting, but my mind won't switch off. For me,
that's one of my big like burnout signs. It's also
that ability to just go, go, go, go go, and
(11:38):
physically not be able to stop, Like I almost feel
guilty for taking a break, or I just bounce from
one thing to another to another to another and never
actually slow down. And I'm sort of a million miles
an hour person as it is. I talk fast, I
do things fast. I'm efficient and quick, like everything happens,
you know, with the click of a finger. So for
(11:58):
me to actually slow down is a big thing that
I've learned in the past few years. If not that burnout, Yeah,
it comes back way too fast, so you and I
are nodded me into it. A lot of our clients
do suffer from it as well. Nobody is, you know,
more susceptible than busy women, I feel, but it's about
recognizing it and then saying, all right, how can I
(12:21):
do less in order to do more or be more productive?
And I feel like the biggest strategy for me is
asking for help. You know, I'm a type a perfectionist
like most dieticians are, and I don't like asking for help.
I don't like saying, you know, calling my mom up
and saying, hey, mom, can you come and help me
with the kids. Because my mom had three kids and
(12:42):
she looked after all three of them. There was no childcare,
she had no family available. She did everything. David's mom
had four children, same deal, no child hair, looks, you know,
after all of them. And I often feel guilty for
asking for help from my mom in Laura, from my
mom or even from a friend. You know, when we
had Tilly, so many of my friends said, hey, we'll
just take me for an hour or two so you
(13:03):
guys can get a bit of sleep. And I was like, no, no,
we're all good, We're all good. But that's just that
perfectionism in me where we feel like as women and
we have to do everything ourselves, but we don't. So
if people are offering, absolutely take them up on that,
even if it's just for an hour to have a
hot shower uninterrupted, or have your coffee and drink it
while it's still hot that has not cold. And if
(13:25):
you don't have people offering to help, reach out and
ask for help, and it might be that you don't
have family members close by, but can you ask a friend,
Can you, as Zusie said, book a babysitter just for
an hour to do something for yourself. It doesn't have
to be something that you feel guilty for that you're
paying a babysitter so you can go and see a
movie by yourself, or you can just get the shopping
(13:46):
done without two kids having help you. We don't need
to feel guilty for these things, or for putting ourselves first,
because you can't pour for an empty cup. And often
we try to take care of everybody else around us first,
and it's not till we're lying in a keep on
the floor that we go, oh, right, maybe I should
have asked for help. And I'm as guilty as anybody
from saying that. And I know that I say to
(14:08):
my clients, now is not the time to be doing this,
and this now is the time to be doing this.
Like you said, we have to provide that nurturing support,
whether we do recognize that our clients are actually burnt
out or heading towards that, because I think the signs
are very clear that you're heading towards it, and by
the time you hit full on burnout, as she says Suzie,
it can take months to come back from there. So
(14:30):
I'm very sort of tuned into when I'm heading down
that road and I'll pull myself back quicker because you
can get out of it quicker until wading to the
fact that you hit full burnout and that it can
take a really long time to kind of come back
from this. So I think it's a really interesting discussion
today because a lot of our clients do suffer from it.
I'm sure a lot of our listeners do. And it's
(14:50):
around recognizing what that is, that irritability, the cravings are
being super wide, but also exhausted at night, feeling guilty
for just sitting on the cash in five minutes and
you know, I'm looking through Facebook or whatever it might be.
So it's time that we put ourselves first, because we
can only take better care of everybody else when we're
taking care of ourselves.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Probably, Yeah, and I'll just add to that. You know,
sum did up really well. I absolutely this year, you know,
after some significant personal stuff going on, plus you know,
just trying to work harder. Have really felt that and
noticed it. And I think for Type A personalities and women,
often we're just used to doing more. So our reaction
(15:32):
when things are hard or stressful is to push harder,
and that can be the hardest thing to learn, is
to actually stop and just do nothing. And I would
say the same with people burnt out and exercise. It's
not the time to be pushing and trying to be
harder on yourself. But just one thing before we go
onto our segment on chocolate, which will make everyone feel better.
I think being off social media I find really important
(15:53):
during those times as well, because I think if you're
wired naturally and like you described, feeling exhausted cranky, and
then I find I can't sleep, I cannot get into
deep sleep, and then that just makes me more irritated.
But I find a real break from social media where
it's that comparison. It just constantly gets you thinking about
more things and seeing people doing things you want to
be doing or I'm not happy with. I think that
(16:15):
is a really toxic part of it. So again, if
that if you're feeling a little bit like you're on
those paths or no you're burnt out, having a firm
rule and keeping off online, particularly at nighttime, I find
is a really easy way you can proactively manage it
and will almost instantly impact your sleep for the better.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Totally, all right, Susie, onto chocolates, and you know, I
may have been guilty of pruising the chocolate aisle for
quite a few blocks. But I did find this brand
at Coles and I said it to you immediately. So
it's called Chocolat Chocolate Lata. I think about it in tolls.
It was half priced, and I thought, you know what,
let's give it a while and see what happens. It's
(16:55):
marketed as fifty percent less sugar than say, traditional chocolate,
and I thought very interesting. And when I turned the
pack over, we didn't have any artificial sweetness in it.
And you know me, Seezie, I've got a bit of
a sensitive gut. I don't do very well with a
lot of these like low sugar products that are jack
full of artificial sweetners. They just don't agree with me.
So to see a brand that didn't use artificial sweeteners,
(17:17):
I thought was wonderful. Now I grab the cookie and
cream flavor. There's also a chunky almond crispy brownie, a
white birthday cake, and a white chocolate with raspberry in
it as well. So I can't comment on the other ones,
but I did try the cookies and cream. I do
like how there's no sugar alcoholes in there. It's palm
oil free and they used ethically sourced cocoa as well,
(17:39):
so I think a few really good points in there.
Ingredient wise, it's got cocoa solids. Polydex shows is what
they're using to lower the overall sugar amount in there,
and it's quite well tolerated from people with sensitive tummies
and also uses milk powder followed by sugar, then biscuits
obviously that's part of the cooking cream flavor. And then
(18:01):
it split someone mulcifiers. Well that's it, so very I
guess clean ingredient lists for chocolate. What else energy wire
So it's twenty five grams of serve, which is about
four small squares four hundred and seventy kilo jules for
a serving of twenty five grams, one point two grams
of protein, nearly eight grams of fat, six point four
grams of carbohydrate, with six point two of that being sugar,
(18:23):
so a lot, you know, a lot less sugar as
a market half compared to traditional chocolate, and five point
four grams of fiber and that's something from that polydextrous
as well, and very minimal amounts of sodium in there,
so nutrition wise it is better than traditional chocolate, but
the kicker here cusious. It just wasn't good. And I
(18:43):
hate saying that. I want to I want to support
brands that are really trying hard to make better products.
But honestly, I had a square and I was slight
to David. No, it's not worth my calories. I'm not
eating this, and I'm a big band of that mindful eating.
And if I don't love it, I'm not going to
eat it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Then you can't showcase the chocolate. It doesn't taste good.
Here we are awaiting, like what are people supposed to
do with that? People are listening with burnout and now
they're just feeling worse, like what are they supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, It's just I wanted it to
be so good, but I think I just had so
much expectation in my mind and it just didn't make it.
I will say, maybe the other varieties are better. I
would be keen to try the chunky alm and nook.
I think that would be good, but this one just
didn't cut it for me. Susie like, I just if
I'm got to eat some chocolate, it's got to taste good,
(19:34):
and this to me just it wasn't quite there. I
gave it to David without saying anything, and I was like, hey, baby,
do you want some chocolate? And just gave him some
and he's like, what is this? It doesn't It tastes
like chocolate, but it's not that sweet. So he like
picked it in one. He was like, yeah, it doesn't
have anyone near as you know, much sugar as what
normal chocolate does.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh my lord, Okay, I apologize everyone. Can I say
that Cabri had rum and raisin half priced last week
and that's dark chocolate. A few squares are that take
care of your cravings and you can enjoy yourself, Thankfullyanne
for nothing, We're.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
A little bit of Ben and Jerry's as well, goes
a long way.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Come on, who can Those tubs are ridiculously small and
who's going to just have a few spoons like you're
gonna eat the whole lot.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I also saw them on sale for ten dollars and
I was like, oh, even on Zalta ten dollars, still
HiT's the piss the pocket?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I think you had a good one actually, and this
is I think this is in our new Snack Guide.
Those little coals Va Netta minis which are five bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
How much? How good are they?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
They are delicious.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, they're like eighty or ninety calories. They're like a
slice of van Netta ice cream on a stick.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
The mid one is amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, there's mint and their boxes only five dollars, which
is so cheap for ice cream these days, and everyone
loves them and they're great portion control. So we will
get back in favor with a product that's actually good.
And you'll like my recipe for this week because this
suits our bakers and you can even make them portion control.
This is a recipe I've done for years and will
(20:58):
of course put it up on Ourstagram page. A zucchini
walnut loaf. And I actually bought Leanna a little tin
of mini loaves, which is so good because you can
actually make individuals and then freeze them and then just
grab one out for a morning or afternoon tea. So
it's just a couple of cups are holding yourself raising flour,
bit of bi carb. And I'll tell you a funny thing.
What happened once when I was giving this recipe to
a magazine. It was such a mistake. Instead of a
(21:21):
tea spoons for some reason. It's set a cup of
bi carve. It's just like an era that I didn't
pick up and then it got printed and all these
new plane anyway, So just to teaspoon a bike car
But who.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Would actually put that in? If I saw that on
a recipe. Likely that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
People just like to say that they did it so
you feel bad, but they could couldn't have done it.
You can do some brown sugar or a sugar replacements
and vanilla cinnamon, loads of zucchinis and grate older zucchini,
including the skin to get lots of fiber. Half a
couple of walnuts, couple of eggs, cup of loaf fat milk,
or you could do regular milk. It's fine, a little
bit of olive oil so there's no butter in it.
It's delicious. I've made it for years because of the zucchinis.
(21:59):
That comes up so incredible dense and a great flavor.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
With the walnuts.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
You can make it as sweet as you like. You
can put extra sugar in or less if you like
it more savory. If you heat it with a little
bit of butter on a loaf it's a delicious way
to get a bit of veggies in and everyone loves
this recipe, so we'll pop that up on our Nuchition
Couch page. And if you're wanting you enjoy a bit
of baking. And the reason baking tends to be better
is we use better oils in it and better based
(22:23):
ingredients other than refined white flour and palm oil. You'll
love that recipe and remember one teaspoon of bicarb, not
a cup, all right ly, and what that brings us
to the end of our midweek motivational episode on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Thank you for listening, and.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Don't forget to subscribe and tell all your friends about
it so you can continue to grow. And if you
love the products, we've got our brand new snacking guide
on sale on our website, the Nutritioniancouch dot com. And
we will see you on Sunday for our regular weekly episode.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Thanks for listening.
What's your energy like at the moment? Do you wake
up each day feeling refreshed and excited or is it
more a feeling of dread about how you are possibly
going to make it through another jam pack day, so
jam packed that you literally have no time to even
get to the bathroom, let alone think about any other
(00:20):
than your basic needs. On today's midweek motivational episode of
The Nutrition Couch, Leanna and I discussed the very real
issue of burnout for women, the science that it's impacting you,
and the steps to take to reclaim yourself and your energy.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi, I'm Sussie Burrow and Emily and Wood and each.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Week we bring you The Nutrition Couch, the bi weekly
podcast that keeps you up to date on everything you
need to know in the world of nutrition.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
As well as burnout.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Leanne, the new Mum, has found a brand new chocolate
is lower in sugar we got to take a closer
look at and we have a fabulous walnut and zucchini
loaf for all of our keen bakers out there. So, Leanne,
we had had a little break, of course, because you
had taken a few weeks to have with your new
baby Tilly, and so while we were off, I sort
(01:09):
of kept writing down little anecdotes or things that came
across my desk in terms of possible topics for our
potty and something that has resonated with me with a
couple of clients. And I'm not going to go into
too many details about those clients specifically because I feel
it's quite personal stuff and quite confronting. And then I
also listened to a great podcast from Gabby Bernstein on
(01:31):
this exact issue, which is basically burnout, and I thought,
you know, so frequently talking to my clients when I
first meet them, they are so exhausted and so spent
in terms of every single scrap of their energy goes
to their job, their partner, their children, and that is
(01:53):
often showing physiologically because they haven't got time to really
care for themselves or exercise. And and sure, it's easy
to say, well, just take control, like just value yourself,
but I wanted to talk today about the difference between that.
In theory, it's very easy to tell people what to do,
(02:14):
but the reality is many women and even myself, at times,
you feel so just exhausted with life that it's really
hard just to muster the energy to get through the day,
let alone thinking about taking on a brand new program
and regime. So I just in a context of one
of my clients in particular, you get a vibe for
(02:35):
people very early in the relationship. And when I have
a client who I get on the phone with and
they're carrying weight, They're tired, their mood is suffered, they
may be on antidepressants, you know, they're really pushed, they're
already working full time, they might be a single parent,
they don't have a lot of support around them. Land
the last thing I am going to do with that
client is then give them a further to do list
(02:58):
of all the other stuff cofecting them to do, like, oh,
we'll go and do your meal planning, get to the supermarket.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Just do it hours exercise a day. You'll feel better.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Because I think we need to acknowledge that there's many
women out there who are basically doing two jobs all
the time, and that's considered the norm. And that's fine
because you may be psychologically strong, or have a lot
of support around you, or have a great relationship, or
have a great balance, or have the financial means to
support yourself through that great but there's certainly a lot
(03:27):
of people who don't, or even just times in life
where it all just becomes a little bit too much.
And I think it's worth discussing those signs and symptoms
because really, when it comes to resetting lifestyle, there's a
time and a place, and sometimes we just don't have
energy available to add yet another thing to our schedule
when we're feeling burnt out and tired. So some of
(03:47):
those signs that I would be saying to clients if
they were presenting with these, you know what, the first
thing we need to do is get you feeling better
before we put more on that to do list. I
think one of the first is that you are really
high strung and irritable. Now I myself notice this that
you get up in the morning and literally the instant
that you get in the car and have to deal
(04:08):
with other people, everyone is annoying you. So you're angry
and frustrated in the traffic, You've got a really short
fuse with the children, and deep down.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's not who you are.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But you've become that way, not because you're a bad person,
but basically because you're overwhelmed, and I would say in
many cases burnt out, you've got nothing left in the tank,
and so those day to day stresses that we normally
roll through just bug you and irritate you even more.
The next is that you've literally got no energy. So
it doesn't matter how much you eat or how much
(04:40):
coffee or diet soft drink that you get, doesn't matter
how much sleep you get, you still feel just blah.
And certainly that can be a sign of low mood.
It can also be a sign of low vitamin D,
which are both things that may be relevant. You may
have some clinical depression, you may have low vitamin D
that's impacting your mood. But if nothing you do makes
(05:01):
you feel better to me, that is another sign that
maybe you've just got nothing left in the tank. You
don't have motivation to do anything. You know, you might
find yourself home on the weekend and you've got a
list a mile long of things to do or people
you could catch up with, and you just don't want to.
Things that usually brought you much pleasure and enjoyment are
no longer giving you any of that. You're struggling to
(05:23):
find that joy or even identify what would bring you
that joy. Uncontrolled craving. So if you are constantly feeding
or rewarding yourself with sugar, caffeine, and certainly this was
another example that Gaby Bernsy specifically named in her podcast.
If you are suddenly eating a lot of real rubbish
or needing that hit of fast food to get you through,
(05:43):
you're basically pulling that energy from external sources. And to me,
that's another sign that you're just at the end of
your tether and artificially being propped up. And also a
bit of negativity. If you sort of notice that you've
become a bit more difficult to be around, that everything
is negative, it's hard to find that joy. Now you know,
these are emotional things. If you feel like this, you're
(06:04):
probably upset because you're probably feeling like you are cranky
for the kids all the time, you don't want to
see anyone. You're really not yourself. And the first thing
I would say is that if this sounds familiar, the
first thing you've got to do is just give yourself
some permission. It's okay to acknowledge that you feel like this,
because if you think about the load that you're carrying
(06:25):
and how quick you are to add more to that load,
like then expect yourself to get to the gym as well,
or do more meal planning or lose weight. You're one
person and literally doing two sometimes three jobs, plus the
stress of modern life, budgets, interest rates, separation, divorced stress,
you know, the load that many women are carrying is
just ridiculous. So it's of no surprise to me that
(06:47):
this is really really common. So the first thing I
would say is just give yourself some space and time.
And sometimes I'll say to women, you know, we can
sure work on improving your diet and making you feel
better with good news attrition and taking that time for
some self care. But the last thing we want this
intervention to be is more pressure on someone who's exhausted.
(07:08):
Because you've only got so much energy at any one time,
and if you're already feeling burnt out, the last thing
I need to be doing is adding more to that
schedule that makes you feel bad.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So let's just start.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Bye, You've got to eat, so let's just start by
improving your day to day feeling by eating.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
A lot better.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
We do know from research that you know, ticking the
box on key nutrients and whole grains will you know
often result in improved mood.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Fairly quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's certainly about pulling some time out for yourself. And
this is something I do noticely, and my women are
very reluctant to do because you're just always trying to
look after everyone from an empty cart. But whether it's
just having an hour a week that you get a massage,
whether it's just a night off from the children, or
cooking dinner each week. Maybe it is, you know, investing
(07:55):
and going and having a night at a hotel, maybe
it is going away. Everyone's going to be different in
what resources they available to them, but what I will
say is that it ultimately won't change unless you take
some proactive steps. So the first is to identify that
you are burnt out and call it and say, actually,
I'm not going to do anything for a month or
two months.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I need a break. I'm just I'm done.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But then it's like, what can I actually do that
doesn't add more stress?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's going to make me feel better? So you've got
to eat.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
As you've said, yes, a moderate exercise that doesn't add
too much extra stress will help, But how can you
fill the cup a little bit? But you have to
proactively do it. You have to book the babysitter. You
have to ask the partner, the friend, the husband for help,
because no one's going to come and fix it for you.
And that is something over time that if you practice
putting energy back in, you will get to a position.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Where you're feeling better.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And of course when we feel better, we slowly build
that resilience to deal with these stresses. Of course, long
term it's about trying to develop structures and routine that
take the pressure off. But these are three six twelve
months plan, so small steps to get you through initially.
And then I think the third is to acknowledge that
when it comes to lifestyle change, in particular weight loss,
(09:07):
there's a time and a place for that, and so
rather than expecting yourself to do it when you're already
burnt out, you may be better to invest a few months,
a few weeks with a therapist, a counselor just give
yourself some space to rebuild your mental, healthy resilience and
be in a better place, because in many cases it
ends up just being more of a burden on someone
who's just got nothing left. And as I said, that's
(09:28):
certainly not helpful. And I think you know lately I
and you as well. We spend a lot of time
coaching women. You know, my backgrounds in psychology, I feel
very comfortable in taking women through that process.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I'm qualified to do so.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But if you see a dietician who doesn't have a
psychological qualification, or even a GP who's very bang bang
this is what you need to do, you're probably not
going to get that emotional support, which is actually what
you need. You know, if you come out of consults
and appointments with practitioners and actually feel like crying, that's
that it's probably pushing you a bit too far and
(10:03):
really where that energy needs to go until you relieve
some of the burnout is more to self care, nurturing, counseling, support, psychology, massage,
rather than expecting a dietitian or a GP to make
you feel better because they're going to be very prescriptive.
They're going to say, exercise more, eat better, and that's
probably not the nurturing that you actually need. Because deep
downland I think we all know if we need to
(10:24):
eat better and exercise more, but it's a lot more
complicated than that, and certainly coming from a place of
burnout is not a place to be putting more and
more pressure on yourself, particularly in a space of weight loss.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Absolutely and burnout is what are those things where you
need to do less in order to do more long term?
And I can speak from experience because I myself, on
multiple occasions have been burnt out. And I'm sure you
have too, Susie as to you know, practitioners to have
you know, I think we're allowed to say to austraight
as top dietitians, we take on a lot and you
(10:56):
know where, we own our own businesses, we run multiple businesses,
we take it on lot. We're busy mums and like
a lot of our listeners, we also experience burnout. We're
only human. And I've gotten to the point where David
can actually identify it in me and he's like, you
need to step back, you need to stop, You need
to just actually go to bed, because I can see
you're heading for burnout again. So for me, some of
(11:17):
the big signs I go to bed and I'm wired,
but I've exhausted. So I go to bed and my
brain's like but my body is like, oh my god,
I'm exhausting, but my mind won't switch off. For me,
that's one of my big like burnout signs. It's also
that ability to just go, go, go, go go, and
(11:38):
physically not be able to stop, Like I almost feel
guilty for taking a break, or I just bounce from
one thing to another to another to another and never
actually slow down. And I'm sort of a million miles
an hour person as it is. I talk fast, I
do things fast. I'm efficient and quick, like everything happens,
you know, with the click of a finger. So for
(11:58):
me to actually slow down is a big thing that
I've learned in the past few years. If not that burnout, Yeah,
it comes back way too fast, so you and I
are nodded me into it. A lot of our clients
do suffer from it as well. Nobody is, you know,
more susceptible than busy women, I feel, but it's about
recognizing it and then saying, all right, how can I
(12:21):
do less in order to do more or be more productive?
And I feel like the biggest strategy for me is
asking for help. You know, I'm a type a perfectionist
like most dieticians are, and I don't like asking for help.
I don't like saying, you know, calling my mom up
and saying, hey, mom, can you come and help me
with the kids. Because my mom had three kids and
(12:42):
she looked after all three of them. There was no childcare,
she had no family available. She did everything. David's mom
had four children, same deal, no child hair, looks, you know,
after all of them. And I often feel guilty for
asking for help from my mom in Laura, from my
mom or even from a friend. You know, when we
had Tilly, so many of my friends said, hey, we'll
just take me for an hour or two so you
(13:03):
guys can get a bit of sleep. And I was like, no, no,
we're all good, We're all good. But that's just that
perfectionism in me where we feel like as women and
we have to do everything ourselves, but we don't. So
if people are offering, absolutely take them up on that,
even if it's just for an hour to have a
hot shower uninterrupted, or have your coffee and drink it
while it's still hot that has not cold. And if
(13:25):
you don't have people offering to help, reach out and
ask for help, and it might be that you don't
have family members close by, but can you ask a friend,
Can you, as Zusie said, book a babysitter just for
an hour to do something for yourself. It doesn't have
to be something that you feel guilty for that you're
paying a babysitter so you can go and see a
movie by yourself, or you can just get the shopping
(13:46):
done without two kids having help you. We don't need
to feel guilty for these things, or for putting ourselves first,
because you can't pour for an empty cup. And often
we try to take care of everybody else around us first,
and it's not till we're lying in a keep on
the floor that we go, oh, right, maybe I should
have asked for help. And I'm as guilty as anybody
from saying that. And I know that I say to
(14:08):
my clients, now is not the time to be doing this,
and this now is the time to be doing this.
Like you said, we have to provide that nurturing support,
whether we do recognize that our clients are actually burnt
out or heading towards that, because I think the signs
are very clear that you're heading towards it, and by
the time you hit full on burnout, as she says Suzie,
it can take months to come back from there. So
(14:30):
I'm very sort of tuned into when I'm heading down
that road and I'll pull myself back quicker because you
can get out of it quicker until wading to the
fact that you hit full burnout and that it can
take a really long time to kind of come back
from this. So I think it's a really interesting discussion
today because a lot of our clients do suffer from it.
I'm sure a lot of our listeners do. And it's
(14:50):
around recognizing what that is, that irritability, the cravings are
being super wide, but also exhausted at night, feeling guilty
for just sitting on the cash in five minutes and
you know, I'm looking through Facebook or whatever it might be.
So it's time that we put ourselves first, because we
can only take better care of everybody else when we're
taking care of ourselves.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Probably, Yeah, and I'll just add to that. You know,
sum did up really well. I absolutely this year, you know,
after some significant personal stuff going on, plus you know,
just trying to work harder. Have really felt that and
noticed it. And I think for Type A personalities and women,
often we're just used to doing more. So our reaction
(15:32):
when things are hard or stressful is to push harder,
and that can be the hardest thing to learn, is
to actually stop and just do nothing. And I would
say the same with people burnt out and exercise. It's
not the time to be pushing and trying to be
harder on yourself. But just one thing before we go
onto our segment on chocolate, which will make everyone feel better.
I think being off social media I find really important
(15:53):
during those times as well, because I think if you're
wired naturally and like you described, feeling exhausted cranky, and
then I find I can't sleep, I cannot get into
deep sleep, and then that just makes me more irritated.
But I find a real break from social media where
it's that comparison. It just constantly gets you thinking about
more things and seeing people doing things you want to
be doing or I'm not happy with. I think that
(16:15):
is a really toxic part of it. So again, if
that if you're feeling a little bit like you're on
those paths or no you're burnt out, having a firm
rule and keeping off online, particularly at nighttime, I find
is a really easy way you can proactively manage it
and will almost instantly impact your sleep for the better.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Totally, all right, Susie, onto chocolates, and you know, I
may have been guilty of pruising the chocolate aisle for
quite a few blocks. But I did find this brand
at Coles and I said it to you immediately. So
it's called Chocolat Chocolate Lata. I think about it in tolls.
It was half priced, and I thought, you know what,
let's give it a while and see what happens. It's
(16:55):
marketed as fifty percent less sugar than say, traditional chocolate,
and I thought very interesting. And when I turned the
pack over, we didn't have any artificial sweetness in it.
And you know me, Seezie, I've got a bit of
a sensitive gut. I don't do very well with a
lot of these like low sugar products that are jack
full of artificial sweetners. They just don't agree with me.
So to see a brand that didn't use artificial sweeteners,
(17:17):
I thought was wonderful. Now I grab the cookie and
cream flavor. There's also a chunky almond crispy brownie, a
white birthday cake, and a white chocolate with raspberry in
it as well. So I can't comment on the other ones,
but I did try the cookies and cream. I do
like how there's no sugar alcoholes in there. It's palm
oil free and they used ethically sourced cocoa as well,
(17:39):
so I think a few really good points in there.
Ingredient wise, it's got cocoa solids. Polydex shows is what
they're using to lower the overall sugar amount in there,
and it's quite well tolerated from people with sensitive tummies
and also uses milk powder followed by sugar, then biscuits
obviously that's part of the cooking cream flavor. And then
(18:01):
it split someone mulcifiers. Well that's it, so very I
guess clean ingredient lists for chocolate. What else energy wire
So it's twenty five grams of serve, which is about
four small squares four hundred and seventy kilo jules for
a serving of twenty five grams, one point two grams
of protein, nearly eight grams of fat, six point four
grams of carbohydrate, with six point two of that being sugar,
(18:23):
so a lot, you know, a lot less sugar as
a market half compared to traditional chocolate, and five point
four grams of fiber and that's something from that polydextrous
as well, and very minimal amounts of sodium in there,
so nutrition wise it is better than traditional chocolate, but
the kicker here cusious. It just wasn't good. And I
(18:43):
hate saying that. I want to I want to support
brands that are really trying hard to make better products.
But honestly, I had a square and I was slight
to David. No, it's not worth my calories. I'm not
eating this, and I'm a big band of that mindful eating.
And if I don't love it, I'm not going to
eat it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Then you can't showcase the chocolate. It doesn't taste good.
Here we are awaiting, like what are people supposed to
do with that? People are listening with burnout and now
they're just feeling worse, like what are they supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, It's just I wanted it to
be so good, but I think I just had so
much expectation in my mind and it just didn't make it.
I will say, maybe the other varieties are better. I
would be keen to try the chunky alm and nook.
I think that would be good, but this one just
didn't cut it for me. Susie like, I just if
I'm got to eat some chocolate, it's got to taste good,
(19:34):
and this to me just it wasn't quite there. I
gave it to David without saying anything, and I was like, hey, baby,
do you want some chocolate? And just gave him some
and he's like, what is this? It doesn't It tastes
like chocolate, but it's not that sweet. So he like
picked it in one. He was like, yeah, it doesn't
have anyone near as you know, much sugar as what
normal chocolate does.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh my lord, Okay, I apologize everyone. Can I say
that Cabri had rum and raisin half priced last week
and that's dark chocolate. A few squares are that take
care of your cravings and you can enjoy yourself, Thankfullyanne
for nothing, We're.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
A little bit of Ben and Jerry's as well, goes
a long way.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Come on, who can Those tubs are ridiculously small and
who's going to just have a few spoons like you're
gonna eat the whole lot.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I also saw them on sale for ten dollars and
I was like, oh, even on Zalta ten dollars, still
HiT's the piss the pocket?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I think you had a good one actually, and this
is I think this is in our new Snack Guide.
Those little coals Va Netta minis which are five bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
How much? How good are they?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
They are delicious.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, they're like eighty or ninety calories. They're like a
slice of van Netta ice cream on a stick.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
The mid one is amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, there's mint and their boxes only five dollars, which
is so cheap for ice cream these days, and everyone
loves them and they're great portion control. So we will
get back in favor with a product that's actually good.
And you'll like my recipe for this week because this
suits our bakers and you can even make them portion control.
This is a recipe I've done for years and will
(20:58):
of course put it up on Ourstagram page. A zucchini
walnut loaf. And I actually bought Leanna a little tin
of mini loaves, which is so good because you can
actually make individuals and then freeze them and then just
grab one out for a morning or afternoon tea. So
it's just a couple of cups are holding yourself raising flour,
bit of bi carb. And I'll tell you a funny thing.
What happened once when I was giving this recipe to
a magazine. It was such a mistake. Instead of a
(21:21):
tea spoons for some reason. It's set a cup of
bi carve. It's just like an era that I didn't
pick up and then it got printed and all these
new plane anyway, So just to teaspoon a bike car
But who.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Would actually put that in? If I saw that on
a recipe. Likely that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
People just like to say that they did it so
you feel bad, but they could couldn't have done it.
You can do some brown sugar or a sugar replacements
and vanilla cinnamon, loads of zucchinis and grate older zucchini,
including the skin to get lots of fiber. Half a
couple of walnuts, couple of eggs, cup of loaf fat milk,
or you could do regular milk. It's fine, a little
bit of olive oil so there's no butter in it.
It's delicious. I've made it for years because of the zucchinis.
(21:59):
That comes up so incredible dense and a great flavor.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
With the walnuts.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
You can make it as sweet as you like. You
can put extra sugar in or less if you like
it more savory. If you heat it with a little
bit of butter on a loaf it's a delicious way
to get a bit of veggies in and everyone loves
this recipe, so we'll pop that up on our Nuchition
Couch page. And if you're wanting you enjoy a bit
of baking. And the reason baking tends to be better
is we use better oils in it and better based
(22:23):
ingredients other than refined white flour and palm oil. You'll
love that recipe and remember one teaspoon of bicarb, not
a cup, all right ly, and what that brings us
to the end of our midweek motivational episode on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Thank you for listening, and.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Don't forget to subscribe and tell all your friends about
it so you can continue to grow. And if you
love the products, we've got our brand new snacking guide
on sale on our website, the Nutritioniancouch dot com. And
we will see you on Sunday for our regular weekly episode.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Thanks for listening.
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