Michelle Lukan Dietitian

17/09/2025

When it comes to food labels, don’t stop at calories and macros, flip it over and check the ingredients list. That’s where the real story is.

The fewer ultra-processed additives and the closer to whole foods, the better. Your body doesn’t just count numbers — it thrives on quality.

08/05/2024

13/03/2024

Myth Buster: Low Calorie ≠ Healthy 🚨
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Here's the truth behind those low-calorie, artificially sweetened products. 🍬🔍
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🔎 Just because it’s low in calories doesn't mean it’s packed with the nutrients your body needs. Nutrient density is key! 🥦🍇
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🔎 The growing popularity of artificially sweetened products like protein bars, drinks, and desserts has us consuming more artificial sweeteners than ever before.
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🔎 Studies show that nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) might not be the weight management miracle they’re marketed as. Instead of helping, they may be disrupting our body’s natural signals to let us know we are satisfied, messing with our metabolism, and can even lead to gut health issues. 🧬*
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🔎 Long-term use of artificial sweeteners may also be linked to negative impacts on the body’s ability to regulate hunger and fullness, potentially leading to overeating and weight gain in the long run. 🍽️⚖️*
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🔎 Changes in gut microbiota towards a more inflammatory state have been observed in both short and long-term users of NNS, regardless of their weight or health status. 🦠*
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🔎 Our bodies process these sweeteners differently based on a few different factors, including gender and pre-existing health conditions. Studies that took these into account often showed worsened outcomes. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑*
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The takeaway?
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While artificially sweetened products can help with reducing calorie intake, it’s important to consider the whole nutritional picture, not just the calorie content. Choose foods that nourish, satisfy, and support your health. 🍎
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Are you a fan of low-calorie and artificially sweetened products? Let’s chat in the comments! 💬
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*Source: PubMed - Artificial Sweeteners and Obesity-Not the Solution and Potentially a Problem by Elena A Christofides

13/03/2024

Meet your team of dedicated dietitians. 🍎🥦🫐
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Barbara Knoetze, Claire McHugh, Kerryn Wuth and Michelle Tolmay.
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Together we make up Nutrition Innovated an associate dietetic practice that provides a unique approach to the nutritional management of our clients and patients.
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From Sports Nutrition and DNA Nutrition to Diabetes, Child Nutrition and Lifestyle Nutrition, our team covers a wide range of services tailored to your individual needs.
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Learn more about what we do -
DM .innovated 📩

13/03/2024

Did you know that changing your diet based on personal traits could be the key to better health? 🤔
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Here's what you need to know about personalised nutrition:
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It's unique to you: Personalised nutrition uses your individual characteristics (like genes and lifestyle) to create nutritional advice just for you. 🧬🥗
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No generic advice: Moving away from one-size-fits-all diets, it aims to make dietary changes more effective and sustainable. 🚀
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Science-backed: This approach is grounded in research showing that people respond differently to foods based on their biological makeup. 📊
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Tech-enabled: Advances in technology now allow us to monitor health markers in real time, helping to tailor dietary advice more accurately. ⌚
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More than just diet: It also considers your behaviour, preferences, and goals to motivate meaningful eating pattern changes. 💡
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Personalised nutrition is revolutionising how we think about food and health, making dietary advice more specific and effective. 🌟
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What to know how this could work for you?
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Get in touch, send us a DM or email us at admin@nutritioninnovated.co.za 📩

16/10/2023

How many of you start a diet by cutting out carbs? 🙋🏼‍♀️

We don’t need to stop eating carbs to lose weight. Here are a few reasons why you don’t need to completely eliminate them.

Remember, successful weight loss is losing the weight and keeping it off. For long term weight loss we need to consider health and sustainability.

10/10/2023

I am a dietitian who is passionate about creating a healthy relationship with food.

Swipe right to see some of my top tips to be able to lose body fat while still maintaining a good relationship with foods you enjoy.

21/02/2023

***Online Client Results ***

This mom was struggling to loose weight after having her second child. She started following a meal plan in the beginning of January and after one month she was 4kg down and a very happy mom 😀

*NO eliminating food groups
*NO crash dieting
*Following a calorie deficit diet
*Still allowing occasional indulgences
*Keeping active
* Losing 1kg a week (fast but not too fast 😀)

24/08/2022

Do you want to reduce your body fat percentage without loosing muscle?

Here are a few tips to help you out:

1 &2. Calculating how much energy you need to maintain your current weight and then deduct your calorie deficit. You mite think that a bigger deficit will create a faster result, but remember that a very big deficit can be hard to sustain. Remember to never go below your energy deficit. Under eating will likely result in muscle mass loss.

3. Distribute your macros’s. Carbohydrates and fat are fuel sources but carbs is your body’s preferred fuel source. Work both of these into your daily calories and remember to ensure that you are properly fuelling your workouts.

4. Be consistent with your training and include strength exercise. When we stop stimulating the muscles we lose muscle mass so it is important to continue to exercise. Strength training promotes muscle building and will help to prevent muscle mass loss.

5. Monitor your progress. Keeping track of change is motivating and helps you to understand your body. You may not see changes every week but without tracking you will never know how that week/ month effected you (whether it was an easy week/month or not). Just remember to be kind to your self and realistic about what changes you expect to see.

For more information or a personalised meal plan please contact me. .innovated

18/11/2020

If you have been wanting to do a DNA test this is a great opportunity to do it! 35% off the original price!

If you are interested you can contact us at Nutrition Innovated xx