#13 Is 'Healthy' Food Actually Healthy??

#13 Unlucky for some! In this episode I highlighted how the assumption that certain foods are healthy are not necessarily healthy in reality. I spoke about how the Ivy app (not a paid promo) removes a lot of the guesswork and tells you in Layman's terms which foods are unhealthy and why. Are different packets of cooked chicken breast from the same supermarket as healthy as each other...??

I also mention a couple of races I've signed up for and a bear has just shit in the woods!

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Transcript

0:03

Hi, welcome to episode 13 of the MSK Runner podcast. Um we'll go straight into it. I thought I'd talk a bit about uh food today and a bit of nutrition and kind of what to look for when uh buying food from the shops and what have you. So I think like there's kind of like an automatic assumption that certain foods are healthy for you and certain like brands are healthy and good for you as well. And it's not necessarily the case. Um there are ways to kind of like look at things. So if you look at like the back of labels on foods, for example, um in terms of like uh nutritional values, but also kind of like your percentage of your recommended daily intake for things like fats and salts, protein, carbs, etc. You know, there tends to be like a traffic light system, so it's like red, amber, green, and it's like um it's a very easy way to kind of like um to kind of see like whether a certain food item contains too little or too much of something, uh, for example. But I think it's um important to kind of look carefully into this because there are lots of foods that are definitely not as healthy as you might think or assume they are. Um yesterday my dad spoke to me on the phone and he told me about an app called Ivy, which I'd never heard of personally, but I did download it and check it out yesterday. Um so I'll come on to that in a second. But basically, like apps that people have used, um, such as like MyFitnessPal or Nutracheck, um they're basically kind of like calorie counting apps, so you can like scan barcodes or you can manually look them up and it'll tell you kind of like how many calories um they contain and you know a breakdown of all the macronutrients, and then you can like um set daily goals um and kind of like it's a very good way of sort of like working out whether you've had too much or too little calories. Uh depends on what your goal is. Um they can be quite useful, um, but definitely like not 100% accurate, and also like not in terms of just calorie uh intake that you're consuming, but it you also kind of like need to know how many calories you're burning as well, um, you know, especially like if you if your goal is fat loss or on the opposite end of the scale, if you're looking uh to build muscle uh where you need more calories. But I think um, you know, you can use things uh like fitness watches. So you've got like um a Garmin, for example, or a lot of people have like Apple watches and Fitbits and things like that. So you can use them uh and it'll tell you kind of like how many calories you've burned um during the day or during like certain activities that you do. Um, but again, like they're never going to be a hundred percent accurate. So when you do kind of like look at your calories in versus your calories out, it is important to factor in that you know nothing's ever going to be a hundred percent accurate and it should be used as just like a rough guide only, um, in my opinion. Um, but coming back to the Ivy app, so again with that, you scan barcode so you can look foods up, but it doesn't just tell you like the nutritional values of the food, it actually tells you kind of in layman's terms, if you like, like whether that whether it's like good or bad for you. Um, so you know what it does, it gives it like each thing that you scan, it gives it like a score out of a hundred, and again it uses like a red, amber, green uh traffic light system, so you can just like look at a glance as to see like whether it's like healthy or unhealthy for you in a nutshell. Now, I'll give you like a couple examples because you can have like uh the same type of food, but there's like major differences between different brands. On the other hand, you can have uh the same type of food by the same brand, um, but one can be a lot healthier than the other, whereas you might assume that they would be similar levels. Um, so I think it's like a good tool to use, um, particularly if you're wanting to try and like uh improve your diet or just like eat healthier in general. Um first example I'll use is like a bog standard like tin of sardines in tomato sauce. Um, so you know you've got like John West, and then you've also got like supermarket brands like Tesco's, for example. So I had a look on the Ivy app. Um, so sardines in tomato sauce by John West it scored 91 out of 100 and it was green, which like says it's like really healthy, really good for you. But the Tesco version only scored 65 out of 100, and it kind of tells you why as well. So the Tesco version of your sardines and tomato sauce, um, basically they contain refined oils and refined sugars, whereas the John West version doesn't. Now, when it comes to foods and nutrition, refined basically means that like it's had stuff added to it, whereas if you hear the term unrefined, it means it's pretty much like natural and hasn't had anything added to it. So unrefined is like definitely healthier than refined, but yeah, that's just an example. Um, I know obviously, like um, you know, a lot of people uh might have tight budgets, for example. So, you know, if you look at like um a Tesco or or any supermarket brand version of something versus like a household brand such as John West, you might go for the supermarket brand uh because it's cheaper. Um, and you probably think, oh, it's exactly the same. Um, but in reality, in this example that I've just used, you know, the the John West is actually a lot healthier than the Tesco version. So you're kind of like weighing up. Uh, do you go for the healthier version or do you go for the sort of cheaper version, but the uh kind of more harmful version, if you like? So it's a bit of like weighing up to do, but I do think like um you know, health outweighs wealth. So I think you've got to like definitely always prioritize like the healthier version if that's like the goal that you're looking to achieve. Um, but then also like so obviously I'll use sardines, so any kind of like a fish products, for example, um, a lot of them uh will contain microplastics and any especially like big fish as well, like will contain like heavy metals as well, and that's due to like the marine environment that obviously fish live in in the oceans. I mean, you know, we've got like um you know, Yorkshire water and Thames Water, and you know, for example, who pump like loads of crap and loads of waste like into oceans, you know, and um lots of pollution, you know, not just by like water companies, but by like, you know, us as well, like humans, you know, just like not looking after uh the planet properly and not looking after the environment and you know, marine life and marine biology like does suffer um as a result of this. So when you do like buy seafood in general, you know, it is common for them to like to contain like microplastics and heavy metals, as I've just touched on. So, again, another thing to consider. Um, the second example I'll use is kind of like the same type of food by the same brand, um, but there can actually be a big difference as to whether they're healthy or not. So I'm gonna use um cooked chicken breast, for example, because like it's stuff that a lot of people, um, particularly people who go to gyms, for example, you know, will buy from supermarkets um, you know, to try and up their protein intake, for example. So I've used um Aldi as the brand, for example. So you've got like cooked chicken breast slices and cooked chicken breast minifillets that are buff by Aldi, so both the same brand, both in the same section of the supermarket. So the cooked chicken breast slices by Aldi on the uh Ivy app score 73 out of 100. But in stark contrast, the uh cooked chicken breast minifillets by Aldi only score 30 out of 100, which is like in the red zone and classes, like really unhealthy. So the reason why the chicken breast mini fillets only scored 30 out of 100 is basically like they're ultra processed, and it does say that on the app as well. So obviously, like highly processed foods um are less healthy than your own processed foods. Now, you might think um or you'd assume that like buying some chicken for a supermarket is naturally going to be healthy, but the reality is like in you know, this example it's really unhealthy. Um, you know, so the cooked chicken breast minifillets by Aldi that I've just used, like um ultra-processed, and they contain like loads of additives and refined oils and sugars, whereas the chicken breast slices from Aldi don't contain any of those things, hence it's got like a much uh higher score. Um so the um the chicken breast minifillets that I've just used, an example, they contain uh what's called triphosphates. Now, generally speaking, um like food companies and factories will add triphosphates into food in order to like improve the texture and also to like um retain moisture, which kind of does make sense because nobody wants to eat chicken, for example, that's like really burn dry. Um, but um, you know, that does mean that like the food does become like heavily processed and it does like come, you know, it does come with like its risk factors. So like heavily processed foods and the triphosphates, you know, that there is like a correlation between that and an increased risk of things like kidney disease and heart disease as well. So I do think like it's important to consider it certainly like opened uh my eyes when I looked at that app. Uh so I think to kind of like conclude this is that like um certain types of foods that you will assume is healthy um isn't necessarily healthy. And I think um, you know, you might be sat here thinking, I can't really be bothered to kind of like look at the back of um packets of food on supermarket shelves off ridges and like look at nutritional values and etc. Plus I want to save money. Um, but actually just um using that Ivy app, for example, it does all the work for you and removes a lot of the guesswork. Um it's not time consuming and it does make it a lot easier for you to make like healthier food choices, um, especially like if you wanted to like uh change your habits and you know just improve your diet overall and your physical uh health as well, you know. And you know, different brands, or sorry, the same brand, it can be like a lot healthier and unhealthier, even though it's the same brand. But equally speaking, like your household brands and your supermarket brands for the same type of product can vary as to whether it's healthy or unhealthy. So I think um it's definitely something like worth considering when you kind of like do your food shopping um in general. Um, so in kind in terms of kind of um running events going forward, um, so I did mention that last Sunday was the Leeds marathon and Leeds half marathon, and that I was going to enter it. So yeah, I have indeed entered um next year's Rob Borough Leeds full marathon. Um regardless of whether I get into London or not, I will do that. So I'm really looking forward to that. And like that's in um I want to say it's in May next year, I'm assuming it is. Um yeah, on the 9th of May 2027 is the Leeds Marathon. So, and then if I get into London, that will be two weeks uh beforehand. So, yeah, looking forward to doing the Leeds Marathon because I've never done it before and it's like fairly local, and apparently it's like a really good um event too. Um and actually like last night I entered um another race that's like uh later on in the year. Um so at the uh Silverstone F1 circuit um they there's an event called Run Fest, which is 5 November um this year. Uh so with that like you can pick like whatever distance you want to do. Uh but I you know the longest one you can do there is like the half marathon. So that's what I'm gonna do there. I'm gonna do a half marathon round the Silverstone um F1 circuit. And yeah, again, really looking forward to it. Um it should be um quite a good event because um Silverstone is on like it is built on like an XRAF airfield, which means it's gonna be like really flat, and obviously it's on tarmac as well, so yeah, it'll be like, you know, with it being in November as well, I'm gonna assume that it's gonna be a cold day and probably a bit of rain. So um, yeah, but in terms of like running conditions, it's probably gonna be uh almost as close to perfect as you can get, really. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Um, you know, I'm a I'm a big fan of like um motorsport in general as well, like bikes and cars. So um yeah, it'll be good to like run around there. I actually I've been to Silverstone once when I was like 14 years old, so a long time ago, uh, to watch my dad race motorbikes, and it was it was like a monsoon, it just like absolutely pissed it down like there was no tomorrow, and basically they had like one practice session and the meeting got cancelled. Um, so yeah, it'll be good to go back to Silverstone and um enter a race, even though it'll be my lungs and my legs powering me rather than an engine and two wheels, and uh yeah, just really looking forward to it. Um and yeah, that's um kind of it really. Um I was gonna say something else as well, but my mind has uh kind of gone blank. Um what was I gonna say? Oh yeah, so um yeah, to kind of finish this off, so um the next episode, um so obviously I publish my podcast every Sunday, but the but next week's episode is gonna be delayed by uh 24 hours, so it's gonna come that's my dog barking, just ignore him. So yeah, the next episode is gonna come out on the bank holiday Monday at six o'clock. It's not coming out on the Sunday um because I am flying home from a stagdo in Lisbon uh that afternoon, and it is also the final day of the Premier League season as well. So yeah, um, I'm gonna be like hideously hungover and stressed out as well. Um, so yeah, um that's why I won't be recording a podcast for Sunday, but I will do one on the bank holiday Monday. So if you want to know when that gets published, if you haven't done so already, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, spread the word. And if there's anything you want me to talk about on a future episode, then just get in touch with me on Instagram or just comment below. Right, cheers guys, take care. I will see you later. Ta ra