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FREE DOWNLOAD: CALCIUM GUIDE

Struggling to understand and maintain your calcium intake? You’ve probably been told to have more dairy (& for good reason!). In this episode, we discuss delicious, nutrient-packed meal ideas that’ll help you hit your daily calcium targets - with and without dairy! Tune in for mouthwatering inspiration and smart tips to boost your bone and heart health effortlessly through calcium absorption and consumption!

We Cover:

• 0:55: What calcium helps with in your Body and why we need to consume enough
• 1:20: Calcium needs throughout the lifespan
• 2:00: Why our calcium needs fluctuate through life
• 3:00: How to enhance calcium intake through food
• 3:15: High calcium breakfast 
• 3:45: How to get calcium in your diet without consuming dairy
• 4:20: Higher-calcium, plant-based, dinner options
• 5:30: Discussing dairy vs plant-based milk and calcium fortification to ensure you meet your targets
• 6:10: What is bioavailability?
• 7:00: How calcium bioavailability can vary in each food product based on individual factors
• 8:00: Spinach and dark green leafy veggies as a source of calcium
• 9:40 The percentage of Australians that aren’t meeting their daily calcium requirements

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“There are so many ways to sneak in extra calcium without compromising flavour. Whether it’s adding leafy greens, beans, or fortified foods”

“Spinach, which is often seen as a calcium-rich food, has very low bioavailability, especially when it’s consumed by an individual with low vitamin D intake and status”

“Almost three-quarters of women and about 50% of men in Australia are not meeting their daily calcium requirements.”

FREE DOWNLOAD: CALCIUM GUIDE

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Not a fan of cooking each night? Well you have probably noticed the growing chilled ready-to-eat meal category. After a *busy* day, opting for a microwave meal might bring a smile to your dial. What ones are worth it? 

*Check out our RTE Meals Guide*

We cover:

• 2:30 Australia and New Zealand ready-to-eat meal brands 
• 4:15 Explanation of “real foods”
• 6:00 Saturated fat content in ready-to-eat meals
• 8:00 Dietary fibre content in meals
• 9:40 Upgrading nutrients/ vegetable content 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

"By real foods, I mean quality, whole foods which fall under one of the five food groups as outlined in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating."

"An easy way to incorporate quick nutrients is by adding spinach or grated carrot straight into the meal."

"Less than 10% of our energy should come from saturated fat, on average about 12% of energy comes from saturated fat in our diets."

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Named one of New Zealand’s Top Women in Food & Drink, Ashley Wilson provides her take on the 2025 International Congress of Nutrition (ICN) in Paris. 

We cover: 

• 6:40 The power of connecting 
• 9.00 Ultra-Processed Food Heated Debate
• 12:15 Restructure Trial - Meal Texture/Eating Rate
• 13:30 AI Digital Marketing 
• 17:10 Sweet Tooth Trial - our taste for sweetness 
• 20:00 What the media shows us vs the scientific evidence
• 22:30 Jo Wicks “killer bar” PR vs Eat Lancet
• 25:30 UN High Level Meeting & non-communicable diseases 
• 27:20 GLP-1 & Wegovy released in NZ
• 28:35 Heston Blumenthal, celebrity chef - Scaling down tasting menu 
• 30:10 Wrap up 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

"We have just had the release of EAT- Lancet 2 which is this global report on planetary health and recommendations on how we should be eating. They have a huge communication campaign in place, however at their launch only half of the badges for the media have been picked up. We are seeing hardly any global media - just a handful of articles on the launch. In comparison, Jo Wicks is getting all of the media. It is really important we are looking to not just the media but other sources of information such as research or our dietitians - our leads in the profession, for this information, not just this the media. Because it can be really one-sided and can be related to click-bait - what’s going to get the readership.”

Ashley's Top LinkedIn Follows:

Ellie Hadjilucas - Founder of Nutricomms, Carrie Ruxton - PhD, Marcia Terra - IUFoST. 

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Omega-3 fatty acids are often praised as essential for brain health, heart function, and overall well-being—but how much do we really know about them? In this episode, we explore their benefits, best food sources, and supplementation. Are you getting enough? What’s the difference between EPA, DHA, and ALA? And do plant-based sources measure up? Tune in as we break it all down, separating fact from fiction to help you make informed choices for your health.

We cover: 

• 2:45 Deep science dive into omega-3 fatty acids and why they are important
• 9.00 Does the omega-3 and omega-6 ratio matter?
• 13:25 Is canola oil good for you?
• 15:00 Food sources of omega-3 
• 15:15 Best fish sources of EPA and DHA 
• 18:10 Purslane weed containing omega-3
• 20:00 Conversion rate of ALA into EPA/DHA
• 22:00 Is frozen crumbed or battered fish goof for you?
• 26:00 Would you recommend those who don’t eat fish of a certain age to supplement with EPA & DHA? 
• 28:00 Should we be concerned about mercury levels in omega-3 supplements and fish?
• 29:00 Pregnancy, fish and mercury
• 31:30 What is the intake of omega-3 in Australia and globally? What is the optimal omega-3 intake? 
• 34:00 Optimal omega-3 for heart disease, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/safe-levels-of-chemicals-in-food/mercury-levels-fish/

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

"18+ years are consuming between 1.2-1.6g/day of ALA & 200-500mg of EPA/DHA/DPA. The nutrient reference values (targets) for ALA for men is 1.3g/day and for women is 0.8g/day. For EPA/DHA/DPA, 160mg/day men and 90mg/day women. Based on this we are meeting them but we need more information for how much we actually need for good health; which is a little bit different to how much people need if they have a health condition like arthritis."

“People talk about the ratio of omega -6 to omega -3 being about 10-12:1 in America. And in Australia they say it's sort of somewhere between And 7-5:1. So that is quite a contrasting difference. The types of oils that used in Australia are lower in omega -6 than what we find in America. And that's because in America they rely a lot more on soybean oil as one of their domestic oils.”

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Are you unknowingly missing key nutrients in your diet? Dr Carlene Starck joins us to break down her Priority Nutrients research, revealing the vitamins and minerals Australians and New Zealanders are lacking. From energy to immune health, these hidden micronutrient inadequacies could be holding you back. Tune in to find out what your diet might be missing—and how to fix it!

We cover: 

• 3:00 Why this research was undertaken 
• 6.00 Common nutrient inadequacies in Aus/NZ 
• 8.00 Protein intake target - should it be higher? 
• 9:45 Are the Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) outdated? 
• 11:45 Nutrients that have Suggested Dietary Targets (SDTs) 
• 13:15 Methodological approach of the research 
• 29:10 Key findings from the research
• 31:30 Vitamin D deficiency in Aus/NZ
• 32:30 Calcium targets, absorption and what do we know to be true about calcium and bone health and calcium and fractures. 
• 39:20 Calcium bioavailability - how is this researched? 
• 41:00 How to get vitamin D from food?
• 45:00 How and when to get your vitamin D status assessed 
• 47:30 Omega-3 intake 
• 50:00 Interesting omega-3 findings 
• 51:30 Adult men - the forgotten group? 
• 53:10 Teenagers - 15 inadequate nutrients! 
• 54:00 Findings in females 19-45 years 
• 56:20 How to know if you are not getting enough of certain vitamins and minerals?
• 60:00 How does exercise impact vitamin and mineral needs?
• 62:45 How can someone maintain healthy eating habits while still enjoying what they eat? 
• 65:45 How can your research findings be used in the real world? 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“We know that calcium intake is low, what we didn’t know was just how low and how severe that inadequacy was.” 

“It looks like higher intakes of vitamin C are really beneficial of 150-200mg/day. It doesn’t sound very much when you can go and buy vitamin C tablets which are 1000mg/day but the key with that is our body can’t absorb all of that at one time.”

“People are only over-consuming in nutrients of concern.”

“How we live, where we live, our lifestyles, our overall diet composition, how much exercise we are doing; all of these things really effect magnesium intake.” 

“Your body is not going to run out of calcium in terms of your blood levels. But what happens is when you don’t have enough calcium in your blood it will start to leach out of your bones.” 

“Vitamin D intake will help to decrease fracture risk. We need sufficient vitamin D to make sure we can adequately absorb calcium.” 

“Iron, vitamin D, calcium and the omega-3s, if you are exercising and very active. If you are concerned about priority nutrients those are the four. The other one that is also highlighted is selenium, that’s because it has antioxidant function. Selenium and vitamin E also work together, so getting both of these in.”

Reference
Starck CS, Cassettari T, Beckett E, Marshall S, Fayet-Moore F. Priority nutrients to address malnutrition and diet-related diseases in Australia and New Zealand. Front Nutr. 2024 Mar 13;11:1370550. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1370550. PMID: 38544756; PMCID: PMC10966131.

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A deep dive into the science of the menstrual cycle, nutrition, and exercise. Evidence-based chats on hormones, training, and fuelling your body right!

We cover: 

• 3:00 Underrepresentation of females in the scientific literature 
• 6:00 Why a narrative review on dietary energy intake across the menstrual cycle was completed
• 7:15 Description of the evidence-base on the effect of the menstrual cycle phase on energy intake
• 9:10 Phases of the menstrual cycle
• 11:05 The effect of the menstrual cycle phase on energy intake
• 14:00 The effect of certain foods and macronutrients across the menstrual cycle 
• 17:00 Any other interesting pieces of research since the 2023 narrative review 
• 18:35 What else could be driving the increase/decrease of energy across the menstrual cycle?
• 19:10 Effect of the menstrual cycle phase on exercise performance and physiology
• 22:00 Katherine’s key message for women
• 24:00 Katherine’s thoughts on some of Dr Stacy Sims messages 
• 29:15 Does timing of post-workout snack/meal matter? 
• 32:00 Training across the menstrual cycle 
• 35:00 How will this field of research progress over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years! 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

"That second half I guess you could say, of the menstrual cycle after ovulation, energy intake is higher and there seems to be a little bit more of a consistent pattern, that energy intakes higher in that luteal phase than in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.”

“Try and have the unprocessed foods - fruits and vegetables, so basically increasing your micronutrient intake (your minerals and vitamins) could help alleviate some of those symptoms that might get around menstruation.”

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Amy Williams from the Good Food Institute Europe joins us to explore the alternative proteins landscape across Europe. 

We cover: 

• How alternative proteins are viewed across Europe now and previously
• What alternative proteins are people buying? 
• What is happening in alternative protein research and how is it evolving? 
• Alternative protein research and effects on health 
• Alternative protein and nutritional adequacy 
• What about plant-based milks? 
• "Next Gen" alternative proteins 

References 

Story in Europe

• Sales reports
• European retailer initiatives on price parity and report on advantages for helping retailers meet emissions targets. 
• Scitech reports on European research funding and publishing landscape
• UK research centres
• Danish PB action plan

Fermentation

• Precision fermentation page
• State of the industry fermentation report (global)

PB meat literature

• CVD systematic review and meta analysis
• Overall systematic review looking at health impacts as well as environmental impacts
• Eat-Lancet commentary on adequacy and role of APs
• RCTs exploring muscle synthesis rates in protein matched whole food and protein matched pb containing pb meat in elderly cohorts compared to conventional meat control. 

Milk

• Germany dietary guidelines & advice on PB milk
• UK’s Food Foundation summary of PB milk considerations
• Iodine pape

UPF

• UPF page
• UK and French govt findings on evidence quality on UPF
• ‘Plant-sourced’ study &

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It's Pulses Week and this year I’ve teamed up with The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council and we are keeping it easy! 

We cover: 

• 10 easiest ways to include legumes (beans/peas) in your diet 
• FREE e-RECIPE BOOK

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“Legumes support a healthy gut, help improve overall health, are full of key nutrients like protein and fibre and reduce risk of chronic disease.”

“1 cup of cooked peas provides 8g of protein and because it is a plant protein, also provides fibre, about 8g. In terms of micronutrients, just to name a few - peas contain iron, zinc, vitamin C and vitamin K. “

“Now it doesn’t get much easier than canned legumes. Crack the can, drain the liquid and you have your beans. One of the easiest ones for forming a dish is the four bean mix can. I mean, who doesn’t love a 2 for 1 let alone a 4 for 1.”

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Sushi is a quick, easy, better-for-you takeaway option that is popular by many. It’s time to dig into the nutrition alongside Jiwi chef and 4th place getter on NZ Masterchef, Hana Kirk.

We cover: 

• Behind the scenes Masterchef 
• What is sushi? 
• Differences between sushi in NZ/Aus vs Japan 
• Changing landscape of sushi and diet in Japan 
• What is actually in sushi 
• Sugar in sushi rice 
• Black/brown rice vs white rice 
• How to make sushi 
• Homemade sushi and how long it lasts 
• How much soy sauce to have with sushi 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“Teriyaki chicken sushi is not a thing in Japan.”

“Do a temaki sushi (cone-shaped sushi) at parties. It’s so much fun and it’s way quicker and you get to choose your filling for each bite you have which makes it really fun and interactive.”

“Traditionally, when you have the traditional sashimi, you only use a little bit of the soy sauce. And you don’t put the soy sauce on the sushi, you are meant to dip your sushi in the soy sauce on a little plate. Even pouring it on in Japan is a bit like…what are you doing…”

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Fern Ho, CEO and Co-Founder of The Leaf Protein Co. joins us to talk about a protein source you may have not heard about yet!

We cover: 

• What is leaf protein? 
• The extraction process 
• Global competitor landscape 
• Other plants and their protein extraction 
• Commercialising leaf protein
• What stage is Leaf Protein Co. currently at? 
• How is your product performing once applied to different formats and food matrices? 
• What the future holds for Leaf Protein Co 
• The future of the protein industry 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“Rubisco protein enzyme can be found in pretty much any leaf of any pant on earth and this is how it comes to be this most abundant protein on earth.”

“To date is hasn’t been commercially made available. That’s potentially the nut we are trying to crack is to bring to market this amazing plant protein.” 

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