‘Chips cooked in avocado oil’: A dietitian rates this evening snack

Natassia Halabi is an actor. The 36-year-old shares her day on a plate.

Credit: Art by Eliza Iredale

7am Wake up and fill up my water bottle, adding a calcium/magnesium supplement which makes my water tastier. French press coffee with prebiotic powder and collagen peptides, and organic whole milk.

8am Three eggs cooked in ghee, with spinach, goat feta and mushrooms. Plus, my daughter’s leftover fresh OJ.

10.30am Chopped mixed fruit with Greek yoghurt, ground linseed and manuka honey on top.

1pm Organic chicken breast with rosemary and thyme, steamed pumpkin and zucchini with butter.

2.30pm Black tea with whole milk and a homemade dark-chocolate-covered date. I pick my daughter up from daycare and steal little bits of her car snacks – macadamia nuts, blueberries and a rice cake with tahini and honey.

6pm We barbecue grass-fed eye fillets with roast sweet potatoes and mixed leaf salad. More dark chocolate (my kryptonite).

8pm: My fiancé opens a packet of chips cooked in avocado oil, so I have to have a few.

Dr Joanna McMillan says

Top marks for… Your focus on wholefoods and their variety. Each meal contains a protein-rich ingredient, helping with appetite and muscle metabolism, while colourful vegetables, fruit and fermented foods such as Greek yoghurt are great for gut health. That egg and veg breakfast is a strong start to the day.

If you keep eating like this you’ll… Be giving your body a solid nutritional foundation to support energy, your immune system and hormone balance. But watch the snacks and nibbles through the afternoon and evening as they can make it harder to tune into hunger cues, especially with energy-dense foods like chocolate and chips.

Why don’t you try… Swapping ghee and butter for extra virgin olive oil; the heart-healthy fats and polyphenols offer benefits beyond flavour. And while prebiotic powders can be useful, wholegrains and legumes provide prebiotics in a complete food matrix, with nutrients and beneficial phytochemicals powders simply can’t match. Adding quinoa, barley or chickpeas would help.

Natassia Halabi has joined the cast of Neighbours.

Get the best of Sunday Life magazine delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Sign up here for our free newsletter.