![How nuts can help prevent and manage diabetes [re-release] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/37408715?height=50&width=50)
How nuts can help prevent and manage diabetes [re-release]
The Healthy Handful
Did you know that nearly 1.9 million Australians are living with diabetes, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 85-90% of all cases? As rates continue to rise, the right dietary approach is more important than ever. On the back of (13-19 July), we revisit a popular episode (originally released in November 2023, as “What’s the best diet for diabetes prevention and management”), with guest Tim McMaster, an Accredited Practising Dietitian with Diabetes Victoria, who shares his expertise on the diabetes dietary recommendations. In this episode, we explore how plant-based dietary...
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Improving the HSR for nuts. Episode 54
The Healthy Handful
Front-of-pack nutrition labelling tools are designed to help consumers make healthier food choices and support a balanced diet. One such tool is Australia’s Health Star Rating (HSR) system, which assigns foods a rating from 0.5 to 5 stars. These ratings are based on the presence of “risk” nutrients (such as saturated fat, sugar, and sodium) and "positive" components (like fibre and protein, and fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes). But how accurately does the HSR reflect the healthfulness of products? And how well does it align with dietary guidelines? In this episode, we speak with...
info_outline![Lifestyle tips for preventing CVD [re-release] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/36653280?height=50&width=50)
Lifestyle tips for preventing CVD [re-release]
The Healthy Handful
Linking in with Australia’s heart week, held in May each year, we’re re-releasing a popular episode on how to improve heart health, through diet and lifestyle. Heart Week, which was held from 5-11 May, was a reminder for us all to take stock of our heart health and to prioritise looking after our hearts. We spoke with Associate Professor David Colquhoun about practical ways to help reduce the risk of heart disease – one of the leading causes of death in Australia. Whether you're looking to make changes yourself or to recommend changes as a health professional to your clients or patients,...
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Managing food waste in healthcare settings. Episode 53
The Healthy Handful
Each year, Australians waste approximately 7.6 million tonnes of food across the entire supply chain - enough to fill a football stadium 10 times - at an annual cost of $36.6 billion to the economy. While much of this waste happens at home, it also occurs in healthcare institutions, like hospitals. In this episode, we speak with Dr Nathan Cook, a dietitian dedicated to creating sustainable food services. Nathan dives into the causes of food waste in healthcare, the ‘categories’ of foods wasted, and most-importantly, some solutions to this critical issue. He unpacks the complexities of...
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Re-evaluating nut kilojoule labelling. Episode 52
The Healthy Handful
Research indicates that the actual kilojoules absorbed by the body from eating nuts is significantly less than the kilojoules stated on food labels. In fact, the 100-year-old system used to calculate kilojoules for food labels, here in Australia and across the globe, may overestimate the kilojoule content of nuts by up to 26%. This raises some questions. Should labels be updated to reflect these findings? And what do Australians think about this idea? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Cassandra Nikodijevic. She shares insights on the digestible kilojoules in nuts – and specifically,...
info_outline![Nuts and gut health [re-release] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/34875690?height=50&width=50)
Nuts and gut health [re-release]
The Healthy Handful
Nicole Dynan, dietitian and gut health expert, joined us for a conversation in 2022. The topic was gut health, and it turned out to be a VERY popular episode! Today, the importance of good nutrition for a healthy gut remains as relevant as ever, so we’re revisiting our ‘Nuts and gut health’ episode, during Gut Health Month, which runs across February. In this fascinating deep dive, Nicole shares how food and dietary patterns influence the gut microbiota, and what the best diet for gut health actually looks like. And she busts some common gut-health myths along the way. Of course, we...
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What’s in a typical Australian shopping trolley? Episode 51
The Healthy Handful
What are Australians actually buying at the supermarket? And how does this stack up against our nation's dietary guidelines? In this episode, we’re joined by Healthylife's Chief Health Officer Simone Austin to unpack the 2024 Living Healthy Report. We learn (a lot!) about Australia's dietary habits - with Simone sharing some surprising insights along the way. Simone breaks down where Australians are hitting the mark, and where we’re falling short. She shares practical tips and 'can do' suggestions to inspire us all toward healthier eating habits. The perfect way to start the New...
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Best of 2024. Episode 50
The Healthy Handful
Our 50th episode is a celebration of this milestone, and a wrap of the best of 2024! We reflect on the most interesting (and at times, surprising!) things we learnt in 2024, on a topic close to our hearts: nuts and health. The Healthy Handful podcast host, Belinda Neville, speaks with colleague and Accredited Practising Dietitian Maree Hall, to unpack the key nut research papers published this year, and uncover the most downloaded podcast episodes, most popular webpages, and most loved recipes (plus much more) of 2024! Access episode webpage: About today’s guest Maree Hall is the...
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Nuts and healthy ageing. Episode 49
The Healthy Handful
The population worldwide is ageing, and this is true for Australia’s population as well. One hundred years ago, five in every 100 people made it past the age of 65 years. Today, one in seven people make it past that age. But it’s not all about living longer. We all want to live healthier too. Nutrition expert Dr Tim Crowe takes us through what happens to our bodies as we age – from the inevitable changes that come with ageing, to what we can do to ensure we age in the healthiest way possible. Learn about the key nutrients and lifestyle choices that make all the difference....
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A culinary celebration of foods and ingredients. Episode 48
The Healthy Handful
Renowned culinary expert Tawnya Bahr shares her remarkable journey from working as an IT Sales and Marketing Manager in California, to importing condiments into Australia, and eventually becoming one of the most respected authorities in bridging the gap between food producers and the food industry. We discuss how she works closely with local suppliers, fostering a deep connection to the food, and its origins, and to chefs, where she inspires the use of these ingredients (including nuts) to elevate dishes. Plus, Tawnya shares a few of her favourite mouth-watering ways to incorporate nuts into...
info_outlineResearch indicates that the actual kilojoules absorbed by the body from eating nuts is significantly less than the kilojoules stated on food labels.
In fact, the 100-year-old system used to calculate kilojoules for food labels, here in Australia and across the globe, may overestimate the kilojoule content of nuts by up to 26%. This raises some questions. Should labels be updated to reflect these findings? And what do Australians think about this idea?
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Cassandra Nikodijevic. She shares insights on the digestible kilojoules in nuts – and specifically, nut energy labelling, from the final stage of her PhD research.
Cassandra discusses the barriers to nut consumption, the preferred changes in labelling, and whether labelling changes, if they were to go ahead, would help Australians to eat more nuts.
Key take-outs:
· Nuts are not linked to weight gain
· Nuts are under-consumed, and concerns about weight gain with nuts is one reason why people avoid eating them.
· Proposed labelling changes may be useful, but won’t necessarily address all the concerns about nuts. Instead, they may increase the confusion that already exists around understanding nutrition information panels on food labels.
Access episode webpage: https://www.nutsforlife.com.au/resource/episode-52-re-evaluating-nut-kilojoule-labelling/
About today’s guest
Dr Cassandra Nikodijevic is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Associate Lecturer at the University of Wollongong. Her PhD research explored the energy-regulating mechanisms of nuts and the implications for nutrition labelling.
Cassandra also works in private practice as a clinical dietitian.
Supporting resources
The effects of tree nut and peanut consumption on energy compensation and energy expenditure: A systematic review and meta-analysis
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831322013072
The metabolizable energy and lipid bioaccessibility of tree nuts and peanuts: A systematic review with narrative synthesis of human and in vitro studies
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831323002752?via%3Dihub
Metabolisable energy from nuts and patterns of nut consumption in the Australian population: A secondary analysis of the 2011-12 NNPAS
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jhn.13278
Knowledge, practices and perceptions of energy labelling of nut products among Australian consumers and stakeholders: An online survey
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11589397/
Episode 15: Nuts and metabolisable energy
https://www.nutsforlife.com.au/resource/episode-15-nuts-and-metabolisable-energy/
Episode 27: Nuts and energy compensation
https://www.nutsforlife.com.au/resource/episode-27-nuts-and-energy-compensation/
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Credits
Host: Belinda Neville
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