‘Leftover steak for breakfast’: How does this protein-heavy diet rate with a dietitian?

Renee Spencer is a grazier. The 26-year-old shares her day on a plate.

Credit: Art by Eliza Iredale

4.30am Coffee with milk and no sugar. Plus a glass of rainwater, two multivitamin gummies and two apple cider vinegar and fibre gummies. Breakfast is an egg from our backyard chickens on a piece of toast with grass-fed butter, some small pieces of leftover organic steak and Dijon mustard.

5.50am I walk the dogs and choose today’s furry four-legged workers.

7am After a drink of water, I check a paddock fence for breakages, find four more head of cattle and walk them to the next paddock. Then I drive back to the house for smoko: a drink of water, a coffee, some baby cucumber pickles, some packet ham and Greek yoghurt.

9.30am Time to muster the main mob of 900 to their new paddock, as well as collect 30 of ours from neighbours. I drink some water while I locate them and start walking them back.

2pm More water. Lunch is a quarter of a packet of Jatz crackers, a packet of organic seaweed, two beef sausages and a glass of milk before a 20-minute kip.

6.30pm A beer and more Jatz biscuits with a packet of oysters in oil before “training” a new kelpie puppy. Dinner is a glass of milk, a packet of chicken soup with rice noodles and some cut-up steak. I then watch TV, drink some water and head to bed at 8.45pm.

Dr Joanna McMillan says:

Top marks for… Including some top-notch nutritious snacks such as the seaweed, a fabulous source of unique antioxidants and iodine, and oysters, the best food source of zinc. Also for having water as your main drink to stay hydrated.

If you keep eating like this you’ll… Miss out on the many nutrients, including vitamin C, phytochemicals and fibre, found in fruit and vegetables. These are almost completely absent on this day and are key for a healthy gut, skin, immunity and more. Gummies cannot replace the diversity of fibres or balance of nutrients found in whole foods.

Why don’t you try… Whipping up a smoothie with fruit and greens blended with your milk and yoghurt, then add nuts and seeds for extra nutrition. Add fresh or frozen vegies to your packet soup and have a salad with your lunch.

Muster Dogs season three starts February 2 on ABC TV and ABC iview.

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