Real Life Nutrition with Jon

🐟 Sardines are everywhere online — just not on the fisherman’s line.

TikTok has discovered sardines.

They’re cheap, convenient, packed with protein and omega-3s — and suddenly they seem to be everywhere.

Except there’s another side to the story.

🎣 Australian sardine fishermen are reporting catches well below what they’d normally expect.

So I went looking at what’s happening — from the fishing boats, to the supermarket shelf, to the nutrition claims filling our feeds.

And yes, somehow Leo got involved.

▶️ Watch the full episode of Real Life Nutrition with Jon on YouTube:
Watch the sardines episode⁠

https://youtu.be/t31qjU7-_Nk

💬 Sardines: yes or absolutely not?

Sardines are everywhere online — just not on the fisherman’s line 🐟 Sardines are everywhere online — just not on the fisherman’s line...

Coles and Woolworths both put steak on the front cover for Father’s Day. 🥩

Neither is the steak I’d buy.

This week I went through 121 catalogue pages across Coles, Woolworths and ALDI, comparing the prices, cuts and nutrition behind the Father’s Day promotions.

Some of the better-value choices were sitting about 10 pages behind the front cover.

Then there was the T-bone: three supermarkets, virtually the same price — but not quite the same product.

If steak is going on your barbecue this Father’s Day, watch this before you shop.

I break down what’s being promoted, what represents better value, and what I’d actually buy.

🎥 New Real Life Nutrition with Jon — watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/lfIRhoYpqsA

Buy with intention, not impulse.

🐔 Why did the chicken cross the road?

Apparently, to start a supermarket price war.

Last week Coles put chicken breast on its front cover at $9/kg.

This week Woolworths answered with $8/kg from the deli — the lowest chicken breast price I’ve recorded since I started tracking the weekly catalogues.

But that wasn’t the only thing that changed.

For the first time in this series, both Coles and Woolworths led with fresh protein — while ALDI quietly cut six everyday meat and fish prices.

So this week on Navigating the Noise, I’m looking beyond the big SAVE signs:

🍗 Why $8/kg chicken matters — and whether it can hold
📊 What happened to the Real Food Index this week
🥩 The $11.89/kg mince that wasn’t even advertised
🐔 How the same bird ends up costing 3.8× more once convenience and format are added
🐟 Why ALDI won the salmon round 2–0
💪 Protein you eat vs protein you scoop
🌿 The $2.99 flavour fix
🍓 Strawberries, pesticides and what the research actually says
🛒 Plus three buys to walk past — and three I’d put in the trolley

Supermarket value isn’t just about finding the biggest discount.

It’s knowing what you’re paying for, what you’re actually getting, and where the marketing noise begins.

🎥 Woolworths Just Started a Chicken Price War

Watch the new episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/cttsCjdU7fk

And I’m curious — does $8/kg chicken hold, does Coles go lower, or are we back above $9 next week?

I asked ALDI a simple question back in April.

Not because I was trying to catch anyone out.

As a Clinical Nutritionist, I compare supermarket products every week, and one thing bothered me.

Some of ALDI’s beef mince products promoted leanness, but I couldn’t find the nutrition information needed to compare protein, fat and calories before buying.

So I emailed ALDI.

The response? My feedback had been documented for internal review.

Fast forward four months…

While preparing this week’s supermarket review, I noticed something had changed.

Nutrition information is now available online for parts of the beef mince range, making it easier for Australians to compare products and make informed nutrition decisions.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting my email caused these changes. I’m simply pleased to see greater transparency. Better information helps all of us make better choices at the supermarket.

This week’s video also compares the latest Coles, Woolworths and ALDI catalogues, uncovers where the real value is hiding, and explains why some supermarket “specials” aren’t as special as they first appear.

📺 Watch the full episode here:
https://youtu.be/o84snviRB6c

📄 Download this week’s Shopping Guide:
https://www.fastforwardnutrition.com.au/weekly

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have you ever contacted a supermarket or food company about a product? Did they respond—or even make a change?

🚗 When time wins, what do you default to?

This was me today. Running late, sitting in a McDonald’s drive-thru and thinking about something I talk about a lot — decision fatigue.

🧠 We can know plenty about nutrition. But when we’re rushed, tired, hungry or under pressure, we tend to default to whatever is easiest and most familiar.

That’s Real Life Nutrition.

🔊 Navigating the Noise isn’t just about supermarket shelves. It’s about what happens when life gets busy and you still have to make a decision about what to eat.

So I’m curious…

🍔 When you’re running late, what’s your default takeaway?

And what would you like me to cover next — another drive-thru, a café, servo, food court, airport, pub… or somewhere else?

💬 Tell me in the comments. Your answers genuinely help shape what I cover next.

⚒️ Free Nutrition Tools & Resources

I’ve added a growing suite of free nutrition tools and resources to the Fast Forward Nutrition website — including protein and energy calculators.

🌐 Fast Forward Nutrition
https://www.fastforwardnutrition.com.au

Who can you trust this week?

After watching ABC Four Corners’ Duped – Food Exposed Part 2, I walked into Coles, ALDI and Woolworths with one question:

What should I actually do differently next time I shop?

I expected to compare chocolate.

Instead, I ended up comparing certification systems.

Fairtrade.
Rainforest Alliance.
Cocoa Life.
Cocoa Plan.
Cocoa Horizons.
Tony’s Open Chain.

Then one phrase kept appearing…

Mass Balance.

It made me realise something.

Consumers don’t just need more information.

They need someone to help interpret it.

Every purchase decision is influenced by layers:

🏷️ The promotion.
📦 The packaging.
⭐ The badge or certification.
🥣 The ingredients.
📊 The nutrition panel.
💰 The price.

My job isn’t to tell you what to buy.

It’s to ask whether all of those signals are actually aligned.

Is this really an apple that’s being advertised as an apple?

Or is it an orange trying to convince you it’s a mandarin?

That’s why every week I produce two resources.

🎥 A YouTube episode where I investigate what’s happening on supermarket shelves.

📧 A free Weekly Supermarket Pricing Guide that doesn’t just list specials—it helps interpret the week’s supermarket landscape through the lens of nutrition.

Because the cheapest special isn’t always the best buy.

The loudest claim isn’t always the most meaningful.

And the healthiest-looking packet isn’t always the healthiest choice.

If you’d like this week’s guide delivered to your inbox:

📧 FREE Weekly Supermarket Pricing Guide
https://fastforwardnutrition.kit.com/pricingguide13may26

🎥 This week’s YouTube investigation
https://youtu.be/qiMrgaOHw2w

If you watched the Four Corners program, what changed the way you think about shopping?

Or did it simply leave you with more questions?

I’d genuinely be interested to hear your perspective.

Four Corners raised some serious questions about chocolate — but I was left wondering what any of it actually means when you’re standing in the supermarket.

So I went into Coles, ALDI and Woolworths to look at what was actually on the shelves.

Fairtrade. Rainforest Alliance. Cocoa Life. Cocoa Plan. Cocoa Horizons. Tony’s Open Chain.

Then one phrase kept appearing:

Mass balance.

What does it actually mean? Can certified chocolate still contain cocoa from other supply chains? And do any of these labels genuinely help us make a better choice?

I unpack what I found in the new video:

🎥 Watch the full video:
https://youtu.be/Z_Xx50QsBxU

🌐 Nutrition tools, guides and resources:
https://www.fastforwardnutrition.com.au

📞 Book a free Discovery Call:
https://www.fastforwardnutrition.com.au/appointments

📧 Contact Jon:
[email protected]

After watching, I’d like to know:

Which chocolate certification or label do you trust most — if any?

Four Corners asked some important questions this week… but it left one big question unanswered.

What do you actually do when you walk into the supermarket?

So today I went shopping.

Not to criticise the program, but to find practical answers you can actually use.

In this video I cover:

🛒 A real supermarket walkthrough

🥩 How much protein most people actually need

⭐ Why Health Star Ratings don’t tell the whole story

🍳 Why, for most people, the best protein bar is probably… an egg.

Then I took it one step further.

I’ve created two FREE resources to help you put this into practice:

🥩 The FORWARD Method™ Protein Guide
https://fastforwardnutrition.kit.com/forwardmethodproteinguide

🧮 FREE Protein Calculator (save it to your phone like an app!)
https://www.fastforwardnutrition.com.au/protein-calculator

🎥 Watch the full YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/RlzvWqmxK8s

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

What’s the most confusing protein claim you’ve seen on supermarket shelves lately?

Busy week… but hopefully a helpful one.

Stay strong. 💪