Sarah Di Lorenzo on the power of protein, and tackling nutritional misinformation
She’s a one-woman publishing phenomenon whose cook books have sold more than 230,000 copies. How did Sarah Di Lorenzo become the country’s most trusted voice on nutrition. PLUS THREE RECIPES
Your new book is called The Power of Protein, but are you a bit late to the party? We’re hearing cottage cheese is out, and fibre is the new buzz word in nutrition … Yes, there’s a big movement that’s into fibre right now, and hey, I think that’s great, because it would be fair to say there’s barely any fibre in the Western diet, particularly in the refined products that dominate much of what we eat. But as with lots of fads, you get to the problem of misinformation. I had someone recently come into my clinic who had been in hospital from eating too many chia seeds, thinking that was the best way to get their fibre in.
Sounds like we may need a fibre book … There’s people pouring psyllium husk on their food. They’re not knowing the differences in where fibre comes from, the sources of fibre, what’s soluble, what’s insoluble. So I might write a little book on fibre, like I’ve done on protein. My guiding light is always to present the evidence – because it’s a minefield out there, and everyone thinks they’re an expert. The protein obsession was out of control so I took a deep dive into the latest studies.
MAKE SARAH DI LORENZO’S RECIPES
This Meditteranean octopus salad is full of flavour
Sarah Di Lorenzo’s protein-packed muffins and delicious salmon bowl
As a nutritionist with your own clinic and a single mum-of-three with TV spots on Channel 7’s Sunrise, plus best-selling cookbook author, podcaster and purveyor of your own line of protein bars, you’re the picture of enthusiasm. What motivates you? I get a lot out of helping people. I was brought up in a family where we believed helping people mattered. My mum’s a nurse, my dad’s a psychiatrist, my brother’s a chiro, my sister’s a psychologist, and I feel very confident in the work I do.
Is there anything you haven’t managed to fit in to your very full life? Maybe, you know, I wouldn’t mind someone to go out for dinner with, I wouldn’t mind a bit of romance. It’s been a long time, but the thing is, I made a choice – a conscious choice – to not have a partner because all of my spare time I wanted spent with my kids. I have put so much effort into raising them. I wanted to be a lighthouse for them, and they’ve grown into the most brilliant girls.
You’ve now sold more than 230,000 books. When you’re choosing the subject matter, is it hard to avoid fads and crazes? The thing is, some of the fads are really good, and in those cases the role my books play is about correcting misinformation. But then there are things like my Liver Repair Plan, which came about because absolutely nobody was talking about the liver, and a third of Australian adults have fatty liver disease. I was seeing it present in my own clients and nobody could understand why it was happening. In that case, I was the one who got to raise awareness about it.
Knowing what you do about the human body, what’s the best diet a person can follow? Just about the only thing in health and nutrition that hasn’t been a fad is the Mediterranean diet. I’m Greek and last year I wrote a book, My Mediterranean Life – initially that was supposed to be titled My Four-Week Mediterranean Plan, but when I started writing it I was like, “Nuh-uh, this is not a ‘plan’!” The publishers at Simon & Schuster said to me, “What’s the problem here?”
You can understand their point – you’ve published the 10:10 Plan, the Liver Repair Plan, the Gut Repair Plan … Sure. But I was like, “Look, this isn’t a plan, it’s a way of life!” I mean, you can’t just hire a Papou to cook for you! And so I ended up writing that book from a much more personal place.
Was there ever a time in your life when you weren’t living such a healthy lifestyle? It’s interesting for me because when I was a teenager, about 15 or 16, I noticed that if I ate white bread, all of a sudden my gut became bloated. It would just expand, like, boom! And I remember I told my Dad, and he said, “Yeah, yeah, we’re all bloated,” but I thought to myself at the time, you know, “I’m not really happy with that. It makes me feel awful.” And I’m obsessed with science, the human body, medicine, anatomy. So, I started down the path of figuring it out for myself. I kept diaries of what I was eating, how I felt afterwards. I remember being in Florence, Italy, and being all hunched over trying to get around the Duomo, and it was because of all the pasta and the gluten. So, for me, health and nutrition, I sort of started doing as a hobby, fixing myself.
Around the same time, you dabbled in the modelling world. How did you manage your diet while pursuing a modelling career? I was looking around at these girls, and a lot of them had eating disorders, and I found it really difficult because I love food. I didn’t want to have an eating disorder! So, how do I be skinny and eat?
Well, it was the ’90s – you could have just smoked cigarettes all day … I know! Everyone smoked in fashion back then – even me! I could have just lived on vodka and smokes, and coffee, like everyone else. But, in typical form for me, I started to research things like circadian rhythms, and how eating at different times of day could have an effect, and the effects of eating protein. This was 30 years ago, and I had to do this research for myself, but I wanted to know the secret. I worked out quickly that if I had a big breakfast, a big lunch, and a tiny dinner, I didn’t gain weight.
How have you balanced your own health-focused lifestyle with parenting three teenage girls in a world where eating disorders and body image issues can be so pervasive? I could write a book on this one day. Look, I was so fearful of raising eating-disordered children, fearful of treading that line between promoting health or having them swing another more harmful way. I have always used the word “healthy”. I never said “skinny” or “fat” – those words are both as bad as each other. So, I’ve curated my language. And what is a healthy body weight? A healthy body weight is proportionate to your height. I really wanted my children to have – without ever telling them, of course – stable blood glucose, healthy insulin production, healthy digestion, and my message was always consistently that our goal is to be our healthiest, best self.
Yes, but did you still have to trick them to eat vegetables? I’ve done things in a very, very subtle way. When they were little, I’d just say things like, “Why don’t you want to eat that broccoli? It’s got magic in it, the magic is called vitamin C, and it’s going to stop you getting sick!” I explained things to them, and that’s powerful. The only thing I’ve ever given a blanket ban to in my house is artificial sweeteners and soft drinks.
OK, once and for all: does a protein diet help you lose weight? If you or I took the advice of, say, a personal trainer, and went and ate steak all day or chicken breast all day, we’d just get fat. Because if you eat too much protein, it starts a process called gluconeogenesis. Your body converts protein to glucose, and glucose gets stored as fat if you don’t go out and use it up. Your body is only ever going to use what it needs. So, it’s about eating smarter.
I’m curious to know, what would be your death row meal? OK, it’s going to feature seafood. It would have scallops and prawns and lobster and a beautiful fillet of fish, probably with lemongrass and herbs. I love roasted pumpkin that’s really caramelised with balsamic vinegar, and pepitas all over the top, and then to finish it off I would have a Belgian chocolate mousse. And then I’d quite happily be gone!
Sarah Di Lorenzo’s The Power of Protein is out now through Simon & Schuster.
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