When it comes to healthy eating, we know that choice and variety is incredibly important. Catherine Bell, our in house dietitian explained “There is no one size fits all approach to health, which can definitely fuel nutrition confusion.” “With nutrition research there is still so much we don’t know, but what’s becoming increasingly clear is that every body reacts quite differently to different foods, different meals and different dietary patterns which I actually find really exciting. It encourages a more personalised approach”. But it also means it might take you a little longer to figure out what works best, for you.
Our new Fresh Start Active range aims to provide more choice to fuel different lifestyles and different goals, with the intention of making healthy eating suit YOU. Our dietitian Catherine Bell explains more below.
Fresh Start Active offers fast, delicious and protein packed meals. How important is protein?
“Protein is a vitally important macronutrient when it comes to muscle repair and building, but what I think people understand less, is that it also plays a role in an enormous number of other bodily processes, from our immunity to our digestion. Research has also shown us that protein helps to keep us feeling fuller for longer, and it seems to play an important part of weight management” says Catherine.
“From fish, poultry, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy and meat, protein comes in many different shapes and sizes, with each offering a different nutrition profile which is why variety is key. Plant proteins are higher in fibre (which most of us unfortunately don’t get enough of in a western diet), whereas animal based proteins tend to be higher in minerals such as zinc and iron.”
Fresh Start Active offers more than 35g of protein per plate, but just how much do we need?
Many of us wonder how much protein we need to fuel our different lifestyles. “Unsurprisingly, like many elements of nutrition our protein needs differ from each other – mostly dependent on age, activity levels and lifestyle” Catherine told us. “Our current guidelines recommend a daily intake of about 0.8g/kg of protein – so, for a 80kg person that’s around 64g of protein as a baseline daily requirement, although this requirement increases as we age. It’s certainly a hot topic though, recently many nutrition professionals have been advocating for an increase in the protein recommendations, whilst others debate that”. Our Fresh Start Active range is designed to contain more protein and calories in comparison to our standard range, to cater to and fuel a more active lifestyle.
With at least 2 servings of vegetables per plate, Fresh Start Active heroes fresh produce!
Something almost all nutrition professionals agree on is the importance of fruits and vegetables. But what a lot of people will also agree on, is that it can be really challenging to be eating enough. “We know that less than half of Kiwi’s eat their five plus a day – I’m quite proud that Fresh Start offers half of that or more in a single serving but there is still a way to go to be meeting our daily fruit and vegetable needs” Catherine reported. And not only that, but Fresh Start, and all My Food Bag recipes, hero seasonality – so you can be rest assured we’re always bringing you the freshest seasonal produce available – with 98% of it coming from across Aotearoa.
And topped off with our bespoke spice, seed and nut mixes, Fresh Start Active makes variety easier than ever!
“One of the most important factors of diet quality is dietary variety. Dietary variety is all about getting a range of different foods each day, and each week. I often see people’s diets getting more and more narrow as they try to eat healthier, and I always encourage the opposite!” Catherine explained.
With our always expanding range of spices, seeds and nut mixes, this not only introduces you to delicious new flavours and exciting additions to your meal, but they really serve a purpose when it comes to dietary variety. “Not only is dietary variety one way to make sure we’re ticking off all our vitamin and mineral needs, eating a diverse range of plant foods also means we’re treating our gut microbiome to its favourite thing, a variety of different polyphenols and fibres.”
We’d love to hear what you think of our new Fresh Start Active range! Get in touch with Catherine and our expert team of in house nutritionists at [email protected] with any feedback or questions.
