Can powders stand in for wholefoods? A dietitian weighs in
Sally Obermeder is an entrepreneur and media personality. The 51-year-old shares her day on a plate.
Credit: Art by Eliza Iredale
5.45am I exercise most mornings. Today it’s the gym, so I have half a banana with some almond butter and water mixed with our Swiish Supergreens and Gut Powder.
7.45am I have two boiled eggs mixed with 200 grams of cottage cheese and a quarter of an avocado. I mash it together and add olive oil and the Mingle bagel seasoning. I have it wrapped in two small flour tortillas. I also take my supplements, then have a black coffee with collagen.
12.30pm I bring my homemade lunch to the office. Today it’s a large harissa-spiced chicken salad with lots of greens and quinoa. It’s topped with some feta, a handful of almonds, and an olive oil and lemon zest dressing. My second coffee is an almond piccolo with collagen.
3.30pm A power smoothie: frozen berries mixed with milk and meal-replacement protein powder. This keeps me powering until dinner.
7.30pm Homemade honey soy salmon bites cooked in the air fryer with a side of rice and steamed bok choy and broccoli.
9.30pm Peppermint tea and two dates stuffed with almond butter and walnuts.
Dr Joanna McMillan says
Top marks for… The wholefoods in your meals and snacks. You have plenty of good fats from the olive oil (make sure it is extra virgin for the health benefits of the polyphenols), avocado, nuts and salmon. You spread your protein nicely across the day, helping with appetite control and muscle metabolism. And you are one of the few meeting their daily five vegies and two fruits.
If you keep eating like this you’ll… Support yourself nicely with good nutrition through midlife. However, be careful not to use too many powders. While some have their place for very specific, researched outcomes (e.g. collagen), others can never replace wholefoods. Fibre and protein, for example, are not the same when extracted and ultra-processed into a powder compared to when consumed in wholefood form.
Why don’t you try… Adding Greek yoghurt instead of protein powder to your smoothie. You’ll get the protein along with calcium, riboflavin, vitamin B12, phosphorus, zinc and probiotics. Make sure your tortillas and rice are wholegrain versions for fibre and associated nutrients.
Sally Obermeder is the co-founder of Swiish.
Get the best of Sunday Life magazine delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Sign up here for our free newsletter.