Dr Libby and My Food Bag\u2019s Nadia Lim join forces to bring nutrition back to basics.<\/p>\n
\n One week it\u2019s protein loading, the next, fibre\u2011maxxing. Scroll again and suddenly creatine is the new way to optimise your health. Social media has turned nutrition into a litany of trends \u2013 and for
\n many, the result isn\u2019t motivation but confusion.\n <\/p>\n
A survey of more than 300 My Food Bag customers found over half (53%) feel so overwhelmed by conflicting health advice that they sometimes or often abandon healthy eating altogether. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s what prompted a collaboration between two of New Zealand\u2019s most trusted voices in nutrition: founder of food-based supplement range Bio Blends, Dr Libby Weaver, and chef and My Food Bag co\u2011founder Nadia Lim. Both share a passion for simple, everyday eating, and each have identified the same problem: we\u2019re losing sight of the basics.<\/p>\n
Together, they\u2019ve created a series of practical videos designed to empower viewers to reconnect with real, nourishing food.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to bring Nadia\u2019s practicality and my science chitchat together to help people simplify food again,\u201d says Dr Libby, who wrote her latest book Fix Iron First to raise awareness around New Zealand\u2019s biggest dietary deficiency. \u201cWhen you\u2019re eating nutritiously, you\u2019re taking such great care of yourself and your family that all this \u2018extra\u2019 is usually not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nature of social media means the messages that tend to go viral are bold, but not always helpful or accurate. As a result, a trending supplement or a \u2018quick-fix\u2019 can seem more compelling than the timeless advice to eat more vegetables or listen to your body.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much noise around nutrition,\u201d Dr Libby agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s tricky for people to decipher what\u2019s real, what\u2019s genuine, what\u2019s a fad, what\u2019s a trend, and what they can ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n
While some may offer benefits, many can be misleading or even counterproductive. Taking fibre to the extreme, for example, can block mineral absorption. Eating large amounts of protein without exercising may mean consuming more food than your body needs. Meanwhile, the basics are being missed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn New Zealand, the stats are terrible,\u201d says Dr Libby. \u201cLess than 10% of adults get their five or more serves of vegetables a day, and it\u2019s worse for children. No amount of creatine is going to replace what you\u2019re missing by not having all the things vegetables bring.\u201d <\/p>\n
Her concern isn\u2019t for people who genuinely feel they benefit from certain supplements; it\u2019s with those who feel pressured to spend money on them while overlooking foundational nutrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like trying to put petrol into a car that doesn\u2019t have an engine,\u201d Dr Libby adds.<\/p>\n
A home\u2011cooked meal made from real ingredients goes a long way toward supporting health, she says, although she\u2019s equally aware that for many people, the barrier isn\u2019t knowledge but time.<\/p>\n
She suggests starting small. With an average of 35 meals and snacks in a week, committing to one more real\u2011food meal per week can make a meaningful difference over time, she says.<\/p>\n
She acknowledges it\u2019s not always easy to find time to cook at home, a sentiment echoed by more than half of the My Food Bag survey respondents (55%), who said food \u2013 including planning, shopping and cooking \u2013 is one of the biggest contributors to their everyday mental load. <\/p>\n
But one way she likes to challenge the notion of not having time is to switch up our mindset to one of curiosity. <\/p>\n
\u201cOften when we say we don\u2019t have time for something, what we are really saying is \u2018that\u2019s just not a priority for me right now\u2019\u2026 I encourage people to check in with themselves and see if they\u2019re okay with that, because we know that there are immense health benefits from eating more home-cooked meals.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might mean delegating one dinner a week to a capable teenager, getting organised on Sundays or using tools that make the process easier. This is where My Food Bag\u2019s Fresh Start range shines, says Dr Libby. The meals cut down on planning and shopping time, while offering a variety of real\u2011food dishes without ultra\u2011processed ingredients. The meals are flexible enough to suit a variety of dietary requirements and goals \u2013 from allergies and weight management plans to Mediterranean\u2011style eating and gut health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Fresh Start, I love that people can tailor it to their own needs and what they\u2019re trying to achieve with their health,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Dr Libby adds that she\u2019s a big fan of Lim\u2019s \u2018nude food\u2019 philosophy: eat real food from the ground, the sea, and the sky; ignore fads; and trust your gut. <\/p>\n
For Lim, Fresh Start builds on the philosophy My Food Bag was originally created around \u2013 making healthy eating feel simpler and easier to sustain in everyday life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about taking away some of the guesswork,\u201d she says. \u201cFresh Start is built around balanced meals and simple, nourishing food that people can realistically stick to long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Libby and My Food Bag\u2019s Nadia Lim join forces to bring nutrition back to basics. One week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[25103,7657,1774,9098,5349,43881,82004,10323,205375,4014,1991,18772,102,25064,1776,136935,178334,49815,203964,6636,4995,205374,50145,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-601675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-about","tag-advice","tag-age","tag-an","tag-back","tag-bags","tag-basics","tag-bring","tag-conflicting","tag-eating","tag-food","tag-forces","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-in","tag-join","tag-lets","tag-libby","tag-nadia","tag-nutrition","tag-of","tag-simplifying","tag-talk","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}