Leah:
Hello and welcome to the Ideal Nutrition Podcast. I’m your host Leah Higl and I’m here with my co-host Aiden Muir. And today we have what may be a slightly chaotic episode, we’ll see how goes. But it’s rapid fire nutrition tips. So both Aiden and I have a little list of tips we want to share that we think more people should know about or that are just generally good tips.
I found in preparing for this that my struggle was, my work is very specific in what I do as a dietitian. So, I found it hard to choose some generalised nutrition tips. So, maybe give me some feedback on how well I did, but we’ll get Aiden to kick it off.
Aidan:
So the first one is that, and this isn’t a huge tip, but like I typically wouldn’t recommend branched chain amino acids. Not so much a tip because I think tips should normally help you. The only thing that says is like maybe save you some money. But the reason why I don’t is because branched chain amino acids are three amino acids. If you have a high protein intake, you’re getting an abundance of those three amino acids.
So even theoretically, like you kind of covered a bit there. But then secondly, if you look at outcomes in terms of things like muscle growth performance, etc. branched amino acids typically do not lead to further benefits if you have a high enough total protein intake.
Leah:
My first tip is going to be in regards to looking at managing your hunger during a caloric deficit. Obviously, there’s a lot we can do here, and we’ve had full episodes on this, but one of my favourite tips or ones that I like to talk about is potentially thinking about delaying the first meal of the day.
Now, caveat here, this is if you don’t train in the morning, that does absolutely make things a little bit more complicated. But, if we delay our first meal of the day, so it may be instead of having breakfast at 7 a.m., we’re having it more at 10 or 11 a.m., we are overall kind of reducing our eating window and taking that inevitable hunger that we feel in a deficit and condensing it to typically a period of the day where we’re almost too busy to worry about it.
Whereas if that hunger shows up towards the end of the day where we’re kind of relaxing, chilling on the couch, we’re probably more likely to partake in some extra snacks or maybe erase the deficit for that day as opposed to being really busy at work in the morning, not really having a chance to eat anyway and having to wait until the next structured eating occasion. Doesn’t work for everyone. For some people, they’re going to find this a terrible tip, but I think for overall, I think it’s good thing to try if you haven’t and you don’t train in the morning
Aidan:
Another appetite management type thing I want to talk about is what I put in the classification of like hacks for appetite management for fat loss specifically. So there’s quite a few hacks in there like having a large-ish amount of water before meals, volume eating, chewing gum, high-ish amounts of caffeine, diet soft drink. There’s a bunch of things that kind of fall into this category. I think that these can have benefits under certain circumstances.
I think if somebody is in a deficit and they’re in a harder phase of the deficit where they’re, it’s hard to remain in the deficit as easily, but they still want to be in it. They can be used for short-ish periods of time. I 100 % would not recommend using them long-term, year-round, those types of things. But I think there’s a time and a place for them. So my tip is if you actually use any form of hack like that, I would just have it be something that’s like maybe four weeks, maximum 12 weeks, in that kind of timeframe.
Leah:
Shifting gears, my next tip is around convenience foods. So, I always like to say that convenience foods are not inherently worse because they are, quote unquote, processed and more convenient and making everything from scratch is not morally superior. We assign a lot of moral value to how we eat, especially on social media and we add moral value to food which, as dieticians, we don’t like to do, we think that is overall unhelpful.
And I think if more people were just able to utilise convenience foods without shame, their nutrition would actually be better than setting this standard for themselves, which may be impossible to reach with a really busy life and schedule, or maybe you’re neurodivergent, or maybe you have other things impacting your capacity to do everything from scratch, and you would probably benefit from using some level of convenience options.
Aidan:
Pre-workout nutrition stuff I’ll talk about now, specifically in relation to trial and error with timing and amounts. So, I often put out a lot of general information with things like maybe a small carb-rich snack, like an hour before training or whatever. There is so much room for individual variation here. And I think if you’re somebody who feels like if they eat too much too close to training, that makes them want to throw up, maybe you could do smaller amounts or further away.
Vice versa, if you’re somebody who feels super hungry and it’s like interrupting your training or whatever, you can do the opposite. I’m really big on trying to optimise how you feel going into training sessions so that you can train hard more easily and playing around with this timing is something that’s well worth doing.
Leah:
Next tip, if you are reducing animal products in your diet, so whether this is fully vegan, somewhat plant-based, vegetarian, whatever the case may be, I do think it’s a good idea to take a B12 supplement just in case. So, B12 is predominantly found in animal-based foods. So when we are significantly limiting the amount of animal foods that we are consuming, there is likely to be a degradation in our B12 stores over time. Not always, but it is a lot more likely.
And given that when you leave B12 deficiency there for an extended period of time, there can be nerve damage, brain damage, things that are quite severe and irreversible. So I think I would rather people play on like the side of caution, then end up in a position where they’ve done this irreversible damage. So, if you’re reducing animal products, just take a B12 supplement.
Aidan:
A hack for sleep deprivation stuff and cognitive function is high-dose creatine. So we have a fair bit of research using dosages like 20 to 25 grams that have been found to have positive outcomes of things like memory and processing speeds when people are sleep deprived. I call this even more of a hack because the research that showed seems to help a little bit, and it can be relatively acute, like within three hours of taking the supplements, helping. But beyond that, you also get a bit placebo in there as well. Just being like, you know, you’ve done something that should help with that could make you feel a little bit better as well.
Leah:
Now, if you struggle with IBS or chronic gut issues, I work so extensively in this space, and I have for several years now. And my biggest tip is that if you have not tried techniques for nervous system regulation prior to randomly cutting out foods then you’re probably doing yourself a little bit of a disservice in that. I think because of how linked the gut brain axis is, if you are someone who is chronically stressed or struggles with their mental health, if you’re neurodivergent, I think there is so much there in regards to if we were to regulate our nervous system more effectively through things like diaphragmatic breathing, for example, is a really common one.
I think then we set more of a good foundation for our gut to actually function how it should, and a lot of the time cutting out foods is a bit more of a band-aid solution to a deeper root cause issue, which could potentially be this nervous system regulation. And even if you have more than one kind of root cause leading to your issues, the nervous system stuff is probably a part of it, regardless. So, it’s something that I wouldn’t negate thinking about when you have IBS. It’s something I would focus on.
Aidan:
This is not very rapid fire tips of me, but follow up question on that. You mentioned, you mentioned one technique in there, but say somebody hears that and they’re like, I want to actually like look into that more. Where do you reckon people should start if looking into that?
Leah:
That’s such a good question because it really depends on the person and what they’ve tried. We could probably do a whole episode on this. Cause nervous system regulation, when we’re thinking about things like your breathing, somatic exercises, tapping, you could do things that stimulate vagal tones or even things like an ice pack on the neck, gargling. There is actually so much that you can try, but if you are someone who has your lifestyle set up to be really high stress, if you don’t have access to food, shelter, basic human needs, and that is the foundation of nervous system regulation.
And if we’re thinking of priorities, I’m talking about the tippy top stuff on the top of the pyramid, which is the breathing, the somatic therapy, all that kind of stuff. So, it really depends on the person and their situation, because if you’re someone who has nowhere to live and I’m telling you to do some deep breathing, that’s not going to help. So it really depends on your situation. That’s why it’s hard to answer that question.
Aidan:
Cool. So, another one from me is every second day iron supplementation as an option for people looking to address iron deficiency. I don’t know if you’ve got strong thoughts on this layer, but I have some mixed thoughts on the every second day thing where there is an area of research that makes it look like it’s equally as effective as taking it every day. And there’s other areas that have also found kind of the opposite being like it’s more effective than you’d expect, but taking more still helps even more.
So I don’t have a strong opinion here, but with my lack of a strong opinion here, I still think of it as an option. For example, if you forget to take your iron supplement one day, no need to stress about it, just take it again tomorrow. It’s an easy way to be a bit less pressed about this while still trying to be consistent.
Leah:
Yeah, I work with predominantly neurodivergent people, especially ADHD. If I tell someone to take a supplement every second day, like A, that’s as in terms of a routine, really hard. And they’re probably just going to forget more than they remember. So it’s like, I feel like you end up just not taking it every day, regardless, like even if you aim for it every day, for a lot of people.
Aidan:
I think so. I think neurodivergent and not neurodivergent. I think a lot of people struggle to take something every second day. But I still like it there as like being like, if you forget one day, not a big deal. If you’re going away on an overnight trip, probably not a big deal. It’s not going to ruin your supplement regime in a way.
Leah:
Yeah, but I’m big on keeping it daily and then, just if you forget here and there, it doesn’t matter as much. The next one I’m going to talk about is what I call my fun drink method. And this is particularly in relation to dopamine seeking or sensory seeking around food, but it can also be used when you are in a caloric deficit and there is hunger and cravings there that you want to take care of without adding extra calories.
What essentially it is, it’s pretty simple, is that instead of going for calorically dense food when we are dopamine or sensory seeking, or if we’re looking for like a sweet treat or something like that, why don’t we use things like your diet soft drink, kombucha, teas. Like just low-calorie or no-sugar options that can satisfy that particular craving without adding additional calories. So it depends on the context and how you would actually end up using this, but I love a fun drink for a lot of my clients.
Aidan:
Yeah, my personal curiosity here. Do have any clients who like kind of like spam that? Is it like a once-a-day-ish kind of thing? Or do you reckon, like, what does that kind of look?
Leah:
Oh, I have some clients that absolutely will be having three or four diet soft drinks a day to curb their dopamine seeking that may be more maladaptive. So I think I would much prefer a client to do that for their ADHD dopamine seeking. There are a lot of people that struggle with just chronic weight gain over their life and end up having way more body weight and body fat than they’d like. But there are also way more maladaptive ways that we can dopamine seek, particularly as neurodivergent people. Substance abuse is a huge one.
So I’m going to say I prefer my clients having a few things of Pepsi Max a day over substance abuse. So I know that sounds like a really crazy comparison to make, but I do see it. And I’m like, I’m going to recommend they do the fun drink method instead of that, obviously. And I think there are so many more maladaptive ways to dopamine seek. This is just such a neutral one.
Aidan:
Yeah. Awesome. Simple one here is tests, vitamin D, etc. I think, in many cases, most people, unless they’re getting heaps of sun, should probably test vitamin D at some stage or semi-regularly, like once a year or something like that. In Australia, it’s very easy for us to this because it’s free in many cases if you have a bulk billing GP. But in countries where it’s not free or it’s noticeably more expensive, maybe you don’t need to test. Like maybe you should just pay a bit of attention to being like, am I getting much sun?
If I’m not getting much at all, maybe you could just go straight to supplementing. But in areas where it’s easy to test, I encourage it because, one, we know there are a lot of benefits if you do address a deficiency with vitamin D. And then two, if you were to address a deficiency, it’s still kind of worth trial and erroring and figuring out what dosage of supplement you should take long-term if you need to supplement long-term, and testing can kind of inform that.
Leah:
My next tip is, it’s a pretty simple one, this is more giving you permission, you can actually eat the same things, the same foods, the same meals on repeat and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think having a certain level of structure and repetition to our nutrition can heavily reduce the mental load that goes into it.
And if you’re someone who goes, I need to diversify or I can’t just keep having the same things over and over again. And you feel like there is this somewhat external pressure to diversify, even though that would drastically increase the mental load around your nutrition. I don’t think it’s worth it a lot of the time.
I think like there is a certain level of diversity that we should aim for, but we also don’t need to take it to such extremes. And I’m a big fan of using like same meals, slightly different. So we can still sub out, and just do slightly different vegetables in the same meal or a slightly different protein in the same meal. But we don’t need to have this overhaul all the time in our nutrition.
Aidan:
I’m going to go opposite end of the spectrum, but also tie it back into that. So, a tip that is pretty well shared by a lot of people is aiming for greater than 30 different plant-based foods per week. And it’s shared for a few reasons. The main one that’s often proposed for is aiming to help with overall gut health so that bacteria have different foods to feed on. The second one, it’s not spoken about as much, but it makes a lot of sense to me, is that diversity will ensure that you don’t have any random micronutrients that are missed.
For me, I remember when I first moved out of home, just thinking about having heaps of diversity, like food, like when other people were cooking for me. When I was cooking for myself straight out of home, like I’m somebody who can’t just do the same stuff over and over and over again. And it’s easier, it’s cheaper in some cases as well. And I was kind of being like, what if there’s like a random thing I’m missing here? And the example that often comes to my mind, won’t hit with many people, but like vitamin A, we largely get vitamin A from orange vegetables, unless you’re having liver or something like that. It’s largely from orange vegetables.
So if you happen to have the same thing over and over and over and over again, and you also didn’t happen to include orange vegetables as part of that, you could have an inadequate intake of vitamin A. And there’s a lot of examples like that. So a bit of diversity helps solve that. I think that while those two pieces of advice are on the opposite end of the spectrum, they don’t have to be as far as you think. An example that I often use is like, say somebody’s afternoon tea snack is a handful of nuts.
One person could make it be the same type like almonds or something like that. Another person could use mixed nuts. Same thing with vegetables. One person could have just a single vegetable. Another version could have like five different vegetables as part of their routine or whatever. There’s so many ways you could do it. And even as you said before, Leah, like you could have similar meals, tweaks and stuff.
And then the final point that I’ve kind of got on this as well is like, damn, this is like, you’re really seeking to optimise if you’re doing the greater than 30 different plant-based foods. That’s like the top end, you’re ticking all of the boxes and this is another thing that you do. I really, I think you’re doing okay if you’re hitting 15. And you have a good micronutrient intake. I don’t know, I think like both of these things coexist to a degree as well.
Leah:
Which actually leads really well into my next point. Your food, for the most part, should be in that Goldilocks zone of we are trying to somewhat optimise it for health and wellbeing, longevity and things like that, but also feel relatively low pressure and something that does not cause you a ton of stress each day or take a huge amount of mental load. I always find it a bit of a red flag when a client comes to me and they’re spending so much of their day, so much of their capacity thinking about food, because there’s so many other things in life to think about, why are we spending so much mental load here?
So I’m a really big advocate for not splitting hairs over the small stuff. And particularly in regards to like, if we add an extra 20 % of effort and mental load to our nutrition for an additional one to 2 % benefit to our wellbeing, is that a good trade off? I don’t think it is. So I think whilst the Goldilocks zone is going to look different for every person, it’s an important thing to consider that we’re not aiming for perfection. We’re aiming for good enough within the context of our capacity.
Aidan:
Yeah, not a tip here, but something I came to terms with a very long time ago is that nutrition and exercise, to a certain degree, is very much a diminishing return space. It’s like the closer you get to absolutely optimising everything. One, the more effort it takes dramatically, the closer you get to a hundred percent. And then two, massive reduction in the benefits that you’re getting going from say 95 to 100 % as an example.
The actual tip I’m going to go with though, is I don’t think you should be in a calorie deficit indefinitely year-round, so on and so forth. If you’re doing so, either you’re succeeding or you’re not succeeding. Both are problematic in different ways. If you’re succeeding, you just waste away to nothing. Or you suffer symptoms like low energy availability, and so on and so forth.
If you are not succeeding, that causes a bunch of other issues too. Like one, you have the mental burden of striving to be in a deficit, whether you’re succeeding or not. Two, it probably changes your food quality a little, for example, maybe you’re trying to reduce your intake of nutrient rich carb sources as part of your bid to reduce carb and calorie intake. And then when you’re coming out of maintenance calories, it’s other foods that are kind of pushing it up which might not be as nutrient dense and stuff like that.
And then this third one is more my own personal opinion. So you can kind of look past this if you want, it’s up to you, right? But I think whether I’m right or wrong, that succeeding in stuff can give us a bit more of a feedback loop that helps us succeed with stuff in the future. And if say somebody consistently was attempting to be in a calorie deficit and then not succeeding to a degree, I think it makes it more okay to be okay with not succeeding in that deficit.
Whereas if somebody is like, knowing that they’re not being in a deficit year round, and they’ve just got a window, it’s like an eight week window or whatever, they’re more likely to be like, no, I actually I do need to get some progress in this phase, and improves the odds of getting progress. That last bit is my own two cents. As I said, you can ignore that you can do whatever you want with that. But that is something that I personally do believe.
Leah:
I agree. The next one is for menstruating people. I always like to recommend that you get your iron checked like once or twice a year because of how high the prevalence is of iron deficiency in the menstruating population. Particularly if you do have heavier bleeds or longer menses, then it’s worth having it checked because our requirements jump significantly for iron as soon as we start menstruating and then go back down once we stop menstruating when we hit menopause, perimenopause, things like that.
So I think it’s something that’s worth being mindful of, going to your GP, getting a blood test done, seeing where you’re at, keeping an eye on it, because it’s something that I, it’s probably also because I worked very much in the plant-based spectra, like plant-based community where our requirements are even higher again. But I’ll often get menstruating people to go get their iron checked and more often than not, they are deficient or at least suboptimal. And there could be some improvement in how they feel through doing some kind of higher dose supplementation for a period of time or rectifying it in some way.
Aidan:
I’m going to go real rapid fire here and I’m going to do my last three back to back. So first one is that if you expect to be super sore and you want to do something to help with that, tart cherry juice is something that I would recommend and an example, I’m doing a marathon in three weeks. I know I’m going to send it and be destroyed the next few days. If I really cared about this, then the move would be to have Tartar juice for like five days leading into it and a couple of days after the event. And it’s because it’s so high in antioxidants, which is part of why it’d help with this.
Tip two is don’t try to completely avoid added sugar to a degree, success leaves clues. If you look around the world, how many people do you see who completely avoid added sugar, who do it long-term and have a good relationship with food and are happy? There’s very few people there. So I probably wouldn’t try to have that to be the goal.
And then the third thing is the artificial sweetener, aspartame. It breaks down into de-aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine. These are components that are very commonly found in common foods. I’m a video on this later today actually on this about how like apples and eggs have more of these components This is a compound that has been studied to death and a lot of people are trying to find links between it and all of these things and it’s like if these links were really existing we would be finding more of these links from some of these foods, which were not.
No one is being like an apple is destroying my gut. How is that? It’s like people are concerned about this. I think it’s actually worth knowing I’m not super big on mechanisms, but I do think it’s worth knowing that mechanism because to a degree I think it would stop people being as concerned about some of the links when the DP look at them or like it doesn’t even necessarily make mechanical sense.
Leah:
And I’ll rapid fire my last two, which are pretty simple ones. The first is I think a lot of people underutilise processed fortified foods. So I’m a big fan of micronutrient fortified like grains and cereals and from a plant based perspective, mock meats.
I think when it comes to more at risk nutrients and vitamins and minerals, it makes a lot of sense to utilise these products. Even down to things like NutriGrain and Weet-Bix, have a really good amount of iron in them. NutriGrain is particularly good for zinc, for example. We’ve got bread options that are also fortified with that. We’ve got plant-based milks that are fortified. And I think if you’re completely avoiding processed foods, you’re missing out on these potentially really awesome fortified foods, especially when you are either plant-based or you have some level of dietary restriction, which means that you’re more open to deficiencies becoming prevalent.
The second one is very niche because I work a lot in sucrose intolerance, where people do have to cut out sugars from a digestive point of view. And something that I’ve noticed is that commercially available stevia and monk fruit sweeteners, so like bags of the sweeteners, can actually be predominantly erythritol, like 95 plus percent erythritol with a small amount of stevia and monk fruit, but their branding can be a bit misleading and they are like, this is stevia or this is a monk fruit sweetener, but there’s only like one to 2 % in there a lot of the time.
And with Aretha Rital, it is a sugar alcohol that can cause digestive upset. So I think it’s just something that can be misleading and I wanted people to know about and I didn’t have anywhere else to put it.
Aidan:
Love that. Well, we are over the 25 minute mark. So, if you think we weren’t rapid fire enough, remember, hate comments or constructive feedback in private to the DMs. Positive feedback, 5 star review please on Apple and Spotify as well. But apart from that, thank you so much and I hope you all have enjoyed listening.