A Real Conversation About Food, Habits and Feeling Better | FG PODCAST #27

Kate shares a real and honest turning point in her health journey, after working with a nutritionist and realising that stress, food choices, and daily habits were all playing a bigger role than expected.

In this episode of the Forking Good Podcast, Kate and Simon unpack:

Why weight loss is not just about eating less
The impact of stress on your body and metabolism
Simple nutrition shifts that actually make a difference
Protein, carbs, and what to focus on daily
How small habits can feel overwhelming (and how to simplify them)

Plus, Simon brings his chef perspective with practical, real-world food ideas that make healthy eating more enjoyable and sustainable.

This is not about perfection. It is about understanding your body, making smarter choices, and finding a way that works long term.

👇 Let us know in the comments:
What is one habit you are trying to change right now?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Taking away for another episode of the Fork and Good Podcast. With Kate Fenwick and Simon Gold. Here we are. For the first time in a while, we're actually sitting next to each other, which is quite nice, isn't it? You can gaze into your eyes, Simon. Quite cozy, isn't it? Yes. So we're here, we've got our fork and good coffee mugs as well. We do. We do. Yes, see? No cream. I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

When was the last time you had cream in your coffee? This morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

You know, it's just I mean, I know it's yummy, but when you put cream in the coffee, what it does is it your body goes, Oh, I want to store that for later. And you know where that goes, Cake?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Straight on my butt. Yeah, but well, I have to admit though, I have been really good. I've been really good, and Dad can, dad will agree, with my food. I've been talking to Kylie. I got a message from her the other day.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

And I said to her, I'm I'm really focused because she gave me all these things, and I I'm so busy, I all of a sudden felt like, oh God, there's a lot to think about in in the day, you know, like every hour she's like, do some exercises, do this. And I was like, I'm so busy, I forget to do that. And then I at the same time I'm thinking about what I'm eating, when I'm eating, not snacking, and trying to drink more water and all these things. And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So run us through some of the things that Kylie told you. And for those listening, Kylie is a nutritionist, she's a naturopath, she's a guru, she can test your DNA.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

You did a scan. I did. I did a full body scan, which was slightly freaky. Was that a little revealing? I didn't really look at the numbers, Simon. That for Kylie didn't look at itself.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

I remember I had mine done when I did the documentary Why I'm I'm Fat. And you know, it shows up in different colours, right? So that stuff called F-A-T is a different colour. And it's like, oh my goodness, there's quite a lot, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Well, she didn't explain that to me, so I'm like, I'm pleased I don't know that. But I did. I mean, it was it was really fascinating when I sat down with her and we talked about where I'm at, why, like, because I we sort of identified, and I had an epiphany at the time. Epiphany, a little bit epiphany. And I realized that I I'm just like way too stressed, and everything going on is just compounds. And I'm not actually I don't think I'm overeating in my mind, but I think that I was overeating from uh eating carbs instead of more protein, which is one of the things she's like, I really want you to focus on making sure you've got decent protein at every meal. So that's what I've been thinking about this week. I've been working on my water intake.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

So carbs, like what what are carbs, right? That's I mean, strawberries have got carbs in it. Yeah, well, I'm not lettuce has got carbs in it. I know. But you're allowed lettuce, and if you're gonna have fruit, then you wanna be, you know, berries. I'm allowed berries. Berries all the way, right? They're just fantastic. Your life expectancy increases if you increase berries in your diet because of the fibre and all the goodness in there. So berries are genius for you.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

And yeah, keeping the potatoes as a treat. Well, no, I'm not allowed to eat anything that grows under the ground.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

That's a good tip for everybody. So if you're trying to lose weight, don't eat anything that grows under the under the ground.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

So no carrots, no potatoes, no kurmada, no you know, anything that grows under the ground. So that actually made it really easy for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Because I was just like, oh no, that's all right. I'll I'll cook steamed veggies and I'll have broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, but no carrots.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

How about some Brussels sprouts? Do you like Brussels sprouts? I can hear a lot of people doing that.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

A big sigh comes down from I actually do, depending on how that cooked. But how do you like them cooked? Well, it was it was interesting. My my mother-in-law used to cook Brussels sprouts, and she used to put a teaspoon of sugar in the water when she boiled them.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

And that sort of took away the bitterness, which was okay. But then I think you've cooked Brussels sprouts. You cooked me Brussels sprouts once. Yeah, and I think it had like bits of bacon and stuff. I put some bacon and Moroccan seasoning of all things, didn't they? They were good.

unknown 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

They were good. So that's when I was like, same as anchovies, Simon. You know, you're trying to change my flavor palette at the moment. I got you on the anchovies. Didn't get me on the anchovies multiple times. Yes. I don't even know if I told if we told people about when you brought he brought some olives round to my point. And he's like, oh, you've got to try these olives. Didn't show me the can, but he's like, these are just amazing, these olives. Pops the can open, just like literally almost just strewing olive in my mouth. And I I was like, oh, they're really nice. And it's like, it's got anchovies in it.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

I love catching people. You know, the classic is Putneska pasta, right? Which we're talking about before, actually, which has got anchovies, olives, capers. And I know so many people that go, oh, I don't like anchovies, but I like olives and I don't like capers. And then you you don't say anything and you make this pasta dish, traditionally done with spaghetti. Tomato, garlic, olive oil, quite a lot of olive oil. And you put the anchovies into the olive oil with the garlic and a little bit of chili when it's sizzling away, and the anchovy just melts in there. So you can't see it or but the flavour gives it that umami. Anyway, you now like anchovies, so just admit it to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

I do. I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I'm getting a flavour for anchovies. I don't think I could pull one out of a can and eat one yet.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

When you get a good one, they're delicious. You know, one of my party tricks is. But the turning up to somebody's house with some really good chiabada bread, and you know, they're having a barbecue, and you go there with one garlic clove, one anchovy, or a couple of anchovies, depending on how many you're cooking for. And you slice the bread, and then you drizzle some olive oil on it, and then you put it on the barbecue both sides, so it's crispy on the outside. So you've got the lines but soft in the middle. And then you take it off, and then you cut the garlic clove in half, and you just rub it over a bit like you're using sandpaper on it. Oh. Just impart a slight garlic flavour to it. Just a little bit, right? Yeah. You just rub it over the top, then you get one anchovy, and you squash the anchovy in there, chop a little of the parsley up, throw it on the top, and you eat that. So good. Yeah. Really, really good.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

But back to the Brussels sprouts. Well, I can't eat breed either, so I'm not going to experience that for a while. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

We'll flavor up. I won't forget. I won't forget. Brussels sprouts. And you're talking about putting sugar in the water. I remember when I started my apprenticeship at Antoine's in Auckland, New Zealand, where I was learning how to cook, and they did asparagus, then you get a pot of water on, and remember anything grows below the ground in the cold water, anything grows above the ground into boiling water. So you get the water boiling.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Oh no, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

There you go. And you know, your potatoes and things will cook way more evenly and better if you started in cold water, right? Makes sense. You throw them into boiling water, the outside cooks. Cooks cook up. Right. So you get a better potato. But anyway, and you'd put salt into the water until it tasted a little bit salty because asparagus, you don't want to cook them until they're mushy. Yeah. You want to still have a little el dente crunch, right? So you season the water with salt, and then they used to put, and it was just a normal size pot that you'd have at home if you were cooking sort of asparagus with six people. So I guess, you know, one and a half litres of water. Eight tablespoons of sugar. And every well, every I know, right? Eight tablespoons. Oh, I know, you can't do that anymore, because now we know about sugar. But back then, and everybody, and then you, you know, you cut the asparagus, take them out, a little bit into a little pan with some butter in there, a little bit of lemon zest cracked pepper, and everybody was like, oh my god, they're the sweetest asparagus in the whole wide world. Oh, badly. But that's what they're doing with your Brussels sprouts by putting a bit of salt in there, uh sugar in there. But yeah, you definitely need salt. But what what one of the ways I love to cook them is cut them up into wedges and then into a pan. And I use coca o which is a mix between coconut and avocado oil. And you can get flavoured ones too as well, actually, with somewhat turmeric and all sorts of different flavours and lime and things. It doesn't taste like coconut, but it is a really delicate, beautiful flavour from the avocado and the coconut oil. And then you just fry them in there until they almost chart and go soft. And then I just throw my Moroccan seasoning in, a little bit of salt, a bit of cracked pepper if you want, and serve them. And I have turned so many people around on the Brussels sprouts by cooking them that way. Oh god. You know, you're really bringing flavour to the table. Yeah. And so many people have, you know, boiled Brussels sprouts within an inch of their life. And, you know, they're soaked and sagged. And they're they're just they're disgusting, right? But cabbage is another one, right? Cabbage is so good for us, honey and fibre. You know, I love just shredding cabbage up and give it a rinse under the water so you don't get all any dirt or anything off. And then you put that into a pop with some caraway seeds that you just sort of put on the bench or into a mortem pestle, just crush them a little bit, throw those in there, a little bit of crap pepper, no salt at that stage, put a lid on and steam it until it just goes soft. And then at the last minute, it's when you put a touch of butter and a touch of salt. So there's no real water in there. Let's say the cabbage was dry, you might put one or two tablespoons of water and it stings, because it's a lot of moisture in cabbage, and you serve that, and that's so delicious. The other thing I did, that was I'm getting hungry. This is quite a cool thing to do with cabbage, is you turn it upside down, you take the core out, but you take a bit more than the core out, so there's this cavity inside the cabbage, and then you get some sausages and you squeeze them out of the skin, and you mash it all round the side in there, and then you put a block of mozzarella teas or feta teas in there, and then you just wrap it up in, well, I call it some smoked paprika mixed with olive oil over it, so it sort of makes it go red on the outside, gives it that smoky flavour. Wrap it in tin foil, and then you pop it in the oven and you cook it in a hot oven to like, you know, 190, 200 degrees Celsius, and you just cook it in there for ages. And then you take it out and you let it sit on the bench for a few minutes, just to rest. And then you take it out and you slice it into big wedges. So cheesy sausagey cabbage is so delicious.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Now I could eat that. I'm allowed to eat that, so I that's a good one. You give that a go. Well, you'll have to write the recipe down so people can get it too. But um, I actually cooked cabbage the other day. Because I'd got a I'd got a a Misfit Garden box.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Oh, m just while we're on Misfit Gardens, they sent me an email yesterday, and they're gonna do a promotion where you get free Brussels sprouts. It's coming up. Oh, yeah. So if you're listening out, go to Misfit Gardens.co.nz I guess, or Google search Miss Fit Gardens, and they send the boxes out with all the veggies and fruit, and you get different size boxes and for four people. You can have add-ons and things. And it's genius, and they're doing this special where you get free Brussels sprouts. So if you like Brussels sprouts out there, now's your chance to get a freebie. We all love it.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

And if you don't, if you don't like Brussels sprouts, or you can do Simon's recipe. There you go, pretty simple. But I going back to my cabbage. I got a cabbage, and I I I mean, I love making coleslaw. Coleslaw's great. A little bit of coleslaw. But I was like, no, and I remember years ago, and I can't remember who it was, but they used to just chop chop up the cabbage, put it in a little bit of butter and saute it, and then put cumin seeds in it. Cumin seeds are great, not like maroual cumin. But I didn't have any cumin seeds. So I was like, but I had cumin powder, so I just put a bit of cumin powder in there, and then I was like, oh, this tastes really good. Then I add a little bit of your seasoning, you know. Good cool. Got it there. I've actually got to get some more. But I put a little bit of your, I think it was the Moroccan seasoning I put in there. And oh my god, it was amazing. Yeah. You know, because now that I'm not eating potatoes, I want something that's sort of got the texture that I can, you know, like when you have we had sausages the other the other night, and and the boys are having big piles of mashed spud with sausages and gravy, you know, and I'm like, okay, I'll have my cauliflower, my broccoli, the sausages. And then I was like, I want something that's like potato, but not potato. Yeah. So I just did the cabbage and it was really yum and tasty.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I reckon everybody out there is going to be thinking cabbage is nothing like potato, but I do exactly the same thing. I love cabbage, and I include it in a lot of meals, and my daughter, she hates cabbage, and that's why I did the one with the sausage meat and with the cheese, and so I got it. I got but sausage, sorry, cabbage is making a comeback around the world. In fact, I did an interview with the Sunday Star Times in New Zealand recently about cabbage, because it's just taking this massive resurgence because A, they're cheap, B, they're full of fibre. I think they've got vitamin K in there definitely, and another one might be A, not sure, but they're full of it, and they're so good for you, and they're as cheap as chips, right? And you can feed a lot of people on one cabbage. Oh yeah. I've got one more cabbage story before we know. So the ver when I used to live in Italy, I learnt from this amazing chef, and he taught me how to make this dish, and I put it into the very first cookbook I did. Yeah. And I guarantee you that nobody has ever made it. Yeah. Because it was cabbage risotto. And honestly, that is doesn't sound appealing, right? Yeah. It does not. But cabbage in thrill risotto was absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with it when he made it. And hence why I put it into my first cookbook. But, you know, cabbage. So, you know, you make your risotto. Shall we do a quick one-on-one on risotto?

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Yeah, go on.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Even though I'm not allowed to eat risotto, but that's okay. Other people can eat risotto, so I'll let you tell them.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Shall I not tease you? No, tell him. You know, I teased you with the potato gnocchi video.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Oh no. I've just made this amazing video. Come and see you thinking he's he's making all his own potato gnocchi and then all these different sauces in that. And I'm just sitting there like, thanks, Simon, that's really great. Haven't had lunch. But how good is that video? It looks good. Oh, it looks amazing, but I'm like, well, it'll be a while till I get to try it.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Shall I tease everybody out there? So I made potato gnocchi from scratch, and the whole idea of the video is that it tips for people to get the perfect gnocchi. And if you Google up recipes that says ruiset potatoes, which are pretty much very difficult to find in New Zealand. I never find them at the food market. So, you know, first of all, what potato do you use to make potato gnocchi? So in New Zealand it's agrier. And then, you know, do you boil them or you bake them? Well, they're way better if you bake them in the oven. It's 190 degrees for at least an hour. So a knife goes in and out easily when you take it, take them out of the oven. But like when you go into a cake. Because it's making me hungry again, it's okay. And then you cut them in half, and while they're still hot, and then you just leave them on the bench for two or three minutes, maybe even five minutes, doesn't matter, and the steam is coming off. So you're losing moisture. So if you boil the potato, there's totally. So then you've got to put more flour in, and the less flour you put in, milky is the best thing. So, and then you mash them or put them through a potato ricer, and then you leave them to pull again on the bench for like two or three minutes. So you've got all this mashed potato on your chopping board, or rice, a potato rice is the best way. In fact, you can buy them on Amazon or wherever cheaply, and they'll change your mashed potato game if you use the. And if you bake the potato, honestly, change your mashed potato game. Anyway, that then goes on to the chopping board, and then you need to measure the exact weight of the cooked rice for mashed potato. And you put that into a bowl, and then the flour goes in. Now, flour is important for making potato gnocchi. So the finer the better, right? So it kind of melts into the potato. So New Zealand's standard flour or strong flour. No. Not a go. So there's a brand in New Zealand called Caputo, and they make a gnocchi flour. So it is Doppio Zero flour, and it is super, super fine. It is milled so finely that it just melts in. So then you put the flour in, and the less flour the better. So I've got I've got the exact amount, so it's a fail-safe way. One egg yolk, if you're making my recipe, and the salt in there, and then you knit you mix it together, but you don't you're not making bread. When you make bread, you want to knead it, which gets the gluten starting to come out of the flour, and you know, gets that sort of stretchiness to the to the dough. You want to just mix the flour and the egg yolk and the salt in there until you've got a log and then you let it sit on the bench, cut it into four, and then you roll it out into long ropes, sausage tight ropes, cut it up, and then you can use the back of the fork with your thumb or a little gnocchi board, which again you can buy cheaply on if you get into gnocchi, you've got to have a gnocchi board down. I can see that. You are not cool doing it with a fork. Yeah. You've got to do it with that. And then it's into boiling salted water. And if you your water has to be really quite salty because they go in, they all sink to the bottom. You want it simmering, and then they slowly float up to the top. They all hit the top. 30 seconds and out they come. And it, you know, just into some olive oil, some crack pepper, and some pumps and cheese, and you don't. I feel like it's a cooking show today.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

I hope I hope people are subscribing. Do you know what though? It feels like a cooking show where you're not cooking, but you're making me hungry. Sorry about that. So you're showing me videos of food I can't eat. We're talking about other food I can't eat. The only thing I've got so far, Simon, is a cabbage with some sausage and cheese and relaxed.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I'm taking you out to a vegetarian, Indian vegetarian restaurant for lunch. Right. Today, after this, it's all vegetarian, and we'll film it and do a road hooking video that we can put on Instagram. You are gonna love this food. Okay. I discovered this restaurant. I don't recognise anything on the menu because it's all an Indian. I have no clue what anything is, but everything I've had come to the table is just delicious. Oh. So, so so good. But coming back to the subscribing thing, everybody, we love subscribers and we love, love, love comments, and we're getting a lot more comments now, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So, how about in the next podcast we actually go through all the comments and have a chat about them?

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Sounds a sounds like a good idea. Very good idea, actually. And I'm I'm also quite excited because you know, I've got I've got like I'd just to give you an update on where I'm at, because I've heard all of Yeah, sorry, I'll shut up later. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

I'll have that whoever it was telling me. Was it Sis telling me? Do you stop interrupting her?

SPEAKER_02 22:09

The floor is yours, Kate. Well, I've had something really exciting happen in the last couple of weeks. And I've now got because you know how you and I we're just so busy doing what we do, you know, and then we try and doing all of this at the same time and catching up. And I've just had, because when you were talking about Indian restaurants, I've just got now five educators who've just started working for me all over the country in different languages. So the first time ever I've got all these people out there educating in their language to their in their cultural way. Like all we we had a great meeting a couple of weeks ago. And so they're heading off, and we now have food waste workshops in Hindi, Mandarin, Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

How do I book one?

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Oh, you know, I've yeah, I've got the details. I'll send it to you. But I mean these guys are going out. People out there might want to know. Well, they're going out to community groups at the moment, like like churches and community groups. But it's sort of for me, for the first time ever, I was sitting at home, and actually it was Brody and I were we're working late and sitting there and we're like, oh my goodness. Erin A, she's our Samoan educator. She'd gone to Christchurch and she was doing a workshop in Samoan in Christchurch, and we were sitting there going, This feels really weird. Yeah. Because we're not we're it's not us, but uh oh, so cool. And I'm really excited about that. So I don't know why I just needed to drop that in because you were talking about cooking.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

That that is cool though, right? Because now you're reaching a whole bunch of people that you couldn't reach before. Yeah, yeah. In their language with somebody that can laugh and joke with them like you do in English. Yeah, yeah. Because this waste thing is quite a big deal, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Well, and that was what was interesting, and this is what I'd like to do some more talking about this at some point in one of our podcasts. Because one of the things I learnt from them when we were I was teaching them all the facts and figures, and you know, and then we had this amazing cultural discussion, and this is relevant because for you, because it's all about food. Now, in your restaurants over the years, you had all like you're serving all sorts of different people from different nationalities and you know, and you're delivering what what you do, and then we've got, you know, they always talk about different like sorry, French and Italian cooking and all these different ways that we cook. But then within all of these different cultures as well, there's different ways that we eat. And I learnt from this whole group of people, like especially around the Pacific Islands, a lot of their anything they do is based around food. You know, they there's always food. And there's always a lot of food. And and that's how they they bring people together. We were I also learnt in like some of the other cultures it's more individuals, like it's more around like what you do, how you like you generally eat mostly at home or how you cook. But I even had one of them who said, Oh no, we don't we don't waste any food. And then as we went through and we talked about what is food waste, oh, actually we do waste a lot of food. There you go. Because I think that's where, like, you know, in New Zealand it's an amazing place where we're so multicultural. And when this opportunity came up, well we pitched it and got the funding to do it. I was so excited because I can go into any group and talk about facts and figures, but I don't understand it from a cultural level, whereas you've been all over the world. So you would understand a little bit more, like when you're in Italy, the culture, or we've talked about it different times when they sit down and they have a wine at lunchtime because that's the culture.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yeah, you're talking my language.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

I know. Do they serve wine at this restaurant? Just wondering. This Indian restaurant. So vegetarian Indian restaurant where you use your hands to eat. Oh, you didn't tell me that, but so you definitely want to wash your hands. You can get a spoonful fork there, but uh, yeah, we don't want to wash our hands.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Hopefully, you guys are listening or watching us on our Fork and Good Instagram account, and you'll see Kate getting in with her hands in this vegetarian Indian food and see it's good. It's good. Are you ready? Should we go?

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Well, you've been talking it up for the last half an hour, so I think we definitely need to hit the road and go and try this Indian food.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Well, happy days, everybody. Thanks for watching, and don't forget to give us a like, give us a subscribe, it really helps us and we appreciate it. And we love your comments. It's that's really cool for us when we get to read those. And we read them all. Yes. And we attempt to well, I think we do reply to all of them. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Pretty much. Unless unless we go, oh, that's a great topic. We're gonna do a because I did have one that came up this week, but I'm not gonna tell you because I'm not gonna promise, and it'll be a surprise. Yeah, it will be a good surprise. Yeah. So, yes, thank you guys. Um, once again, another week gone. And oh, we're nearly in May, Simon.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

We are. Take care, everybody. Okay. That's us from the Fork and Good Podcast, Kate Fenwick and Simon Gold Take.