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Sophie's Nutrition, Dublin (2026)

12/02/2026

This is a huge step from Aldi! They’re 100% listening to us and acting on it!! 💪

For years, most processed meats have relied on nitrates and nitrites as preservatives, but recently more and more brands are now removing them from their products! Finnebrogue’s Naked bacon was the first nitrite free bacon in mainstream supermarkets and I know many many people have made this swap over the last year.. ALDI know this and so have now developed their own!

I don’t really like that they’ve blatantly copied the name of this small Irish brand - Finnebrogue’s naked bacon -
but looking at the bigger picture this is really encouraging progress! It proves again that Supermarkets respond to demand 🙌 Better quality products are becoming more and more accessible, and that benefits all of us.

We often underestimate the influence we have as shoppers, but every time we choose better quality products, we send a very clear message to retailers. I’m feeling very optimistic seeing changes like this.

And If bacon is something you regularly buy, choosing one without added nitrites is a clever swap!

What do you think?!

12/02/2026

Yesterday raised the issue of misleading food labelling in our supermarkets in the joint committee with Bord Bia, The Food Safety Authority, and the Department of Agriculture.

Through my content I’ve shown countless examples of how big food companies mislead consumers with their labelling, and that clearly any regulation of food labelling is not being enforced! And now this issue is being brought seriously to government bodies who are responsible for enforcing food labelling regulation 💪

And while the senior officials could not explain why this misleading labelling is happening or what checks are in place (I’m not surprised!) the fact that this is even being raised in the joint committee is progress to getting things changed!!

The only way change will happen is by continuing to raise awareness on what’s really going on with food labels and putting this kind of pressure on government bodies.

Thank you to

What do you think of this?

11/02/2026

Skip Cadbury’s this Valentine’s Day! It’s loaded with palm oil and not good quality chocolate. I’d also skip the Lindt because I don’t think the high price they charge is worth it for the quality of the chocolate - €4.85 for a 100g bar vs €2.79 for these 125g Moser Roth bars in Aldi which are also good quality dark chocolate. The same goes for the JD Gross range in Lidl!

Another more mainstream chocolate I love which you can get in other supermarkets is Tony’s Chocolate as they don’t use palm oil and their mission is to source their chocolate ethically 🫶

And if you’d like to buy the best chocolate this Valentines, buy some beautiful handmade chocolate from a local chocolatier! That really is going to be the best quality chocolate and something special to spoil yourself or a loved one:

Some gorgeous chocolatiers in Ireland include:

🍫 Zaeire Artisan Chocolates
🍫 Grá Chocolates
🍫 Bean and Goose
🍫 Bon Chocolatiers
🍫 Áine’s Handmade Chocolate
🍫 Truffle Fairy
🍫 Wilde Irish Chocolates
🍫 Chez Emily
🍫 Skelligs Chocolate
🍫 Clo Chocolates
🍫 Chocolate Garden of Ireland

Support small makers + enjoy real chocolate this year ❤️

10/02/2026

A great little sweet snack find in Lidl!!

Have you tried these yet? Let me know in the comments what they’re like as I haven’t tasted yet! ❤️

09/02/2026

I completely understand the appeal of convenience porridge pots if you’re on the road or need to eat breakfast in the office. But this is a classic example of why we shouldn’t let front-of-pack claims do the thinking for us. Some of the “high protein” options sound great in theory, but when you look a little closer, you’ll often find they come with a surprisingly high sugar content. Having a high protein breakfast is brillaint - it helps keep you fuller for longer and supports steady energy, but not when it’s paired with multiple teaspoons of added sugar in such a small pot.

A clever swap is to start with a plain oat pot and build it up yourself. You still get the convenience, but can make it more nutritious and more filling so you won’t be hungry soon after! Stirring through a spoonful or two of high-protein yoghurt is an easy way to boost protein while also supporting gut health, and adding something like nut butter can make it even more satisfying while adding further protein and other micronutrients.

Obviously it’ll save you a lot of money to just buy a bag of oats but if you need the convenience and don’t mind paying extra for it then this is a smart way to do it 👌

What do you think? Do you ever buy these porridge pots?

08/02/2026

5 great finds on deal in Dunnes at the moment including some small Irish brands I love - fused and Fiid!

One thing I always tell people is to try look above and below eye level when shopping. The bigger brands pay for that prime positioning because “eye level is buy level”, but some of the better quality products are often tucked away on the top or bottom shelves. It takes an extra few seconds to scan the aisle, but you’d be surprised at what you’ll find in obscure places!

Do you buy any of these products?

PS that simply better chocolate is so yum - the dark choc also fab!

07/02/2026

I want to be clear - I’m strongly in favour of govt school meal programme, I think it’s a fantastic initiative.

This is not a case of we can either have the current status quo or nothing at all - there are models that prove it can be done better.

It’s also not about pushing 100% additive free meals. What I’m advocating for is improving the standard of the food that’s currently being served to our children - these photos is the reality of what’s happening on the ground! This is very different to the “balanced meals” that large providers are promising/marketing

In particular - the children who will only have this one hot meal in the day deserve a better standard than the standard of food in these photos 😔 Why should we accept such a low bar for our kids?

This is only a few of the hundreds of images I received in one day from parents/teachers. The food waste generated from this scheme is astronomical - I hear from principals and teachers weekly who are incredibly frustrated with the waste and say 80 - 90% ends up in the bin as it’s so unappealing - the environmental impact of this waste is huge too

I do want to emphasise that there are some smaller local meal providers doing this really well which is amazing! But unfortunately the large providers are the ones getting most of the contracts due to the unfair tender process, and it’s these large providers that are doing anything they can to make the meals as cheaply as possible in order to maximise profits. They are getting €3.20 for each of the meals in these photos!

It is clear from discussions with schools and parents over the last year that the current way isn’t working and many children are not being fed because the food is ending up in the bin 😔

I’m advocating for taxpayers money not be channelled into large profit driven businesses who are incentivised to make food as cheaply as possible, but instead to go into local businesses that care about feeding our kids well, which would also support the local economy. It is doable.

Thank you for all the support 🫶 I’ll keep working in the background and advocating for us as a country to raise the bar of food being served to our children

Sophie x

06/02/2026

This is such a good reminder of how we never really know the quality of a food product by looking at the front of the pack - the only way to know is by turning the pack around and looking at the ingredients!

The two packs look very similar and yet the quality is quite different between the two! The first one contains quite a few unnecessary additives, things you simply wouldn’t expect in something as straightforward as mixed nuts! The second pack though is made up of just nuts, seeds and soybeans with no added sugar and none of the additives! This is exactly what we should be looking for when it comes to snacks — minimally processed, satisfying, and naturally high in fibre and protein. This pack has a good bit more protein and fibre per serving than the first pack so it’s more nutrient dense and will be more satiating.

AND it really is a clever swap because it’s actually cheaper when you compare the price per kilo! A perfect example of how better choices don’t always mean spending more — sometimes it just comes down to knowing what to look for 👌

It might seem like a small swap, but small swaps over time make an impact!

What do you think? 👇❤️

05/02/2026

The 100% chicken claim was not the only misleading claim I found on the lunch bag’s meal information on their website. There are a number of health halos which purely serve to distract parents/schools from the reality of what’s in the meals they are providing with publicly funded taxpayers money. Last slide is another example!

And to re-iterate this was not an old file - I downloaded their meal leaflet from their website last Thursday when I was doing an interview for the Sunday Independent on school meals (interview was in last Sundays paper) and I wanted to do some up to date research on the major school meal providers ahead of the interview.

At this stage this company needs to stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes and provide true transparency- not all the marketing spin - just the facts. Schools and parents have the right to this.

👉Ingredients lists on their own with no health halos.
👉Country of origin of all meat
👉Information on where the pre-made sauces are coming from
👉 Information on where the pre-cooked vegetables are coming from
👉 Transparency of the fact that meals are NOT cooked from scratch by the lunch bag, and that pre-cooked ultra processed ingredients are used to assemble meals.

Lastly - thank you for the hundreds of messages I’ve received, I haven’t managed to reply to them all but it is clear from the volume of them that as a country we are extremely unhappy with the quality of our children’s school meals and want to see change.

05/02/2026

Irish Onions are available in Lidl right now 🥳💚

To be honest we shouldn’t really be celebrating this fact, it should be a given that Irish onions are stocked in supermarkets when they are in season! But sadly this is not the case as I pointed out on Monday when there were no Irish onions in Dunnes!! And their loose onions are being shipped in from New Zealand of all places!! It could not be further away!! At least import the onions from the UK or Europe if you’re not going to stock Irish onions 🤦‍♀️

It’s completely wrong so let’s make a statement together and always check country of origin when buying your onions (and all veg!) and if they’re from New Zealand, leave them on the shelf!! Let’s show the supermarkets we don’t want veg that’s in season here to be coming from the other side of the world.

We have so much power as consumers, let’s use it here and get New Zealand onions off our shelves 💪

04/02/2026

This is a publicly funded government programme.
Yet the food is being supplied by profit-driven companies, using misleading or even outright deceptive marketing.

This should not be a free market private business model. This is the School Meals Programme, funded by taxpayers and trusted by parents to nourish children.

Over €300 million of public money every year is to be spent on this programme.

And yet - Misleading marketing material goes unchecked, ultra-processed foods are marketed as “not processed”, and parents are reassured with language that doesn’t match the reality of the quality of this food.

Taxpayers’ money could be used far better. Other countries like Japan have proven this! School meals are cooked fresh from whole food ingredients. Children learn where their food comes from, meals are part of education, and food is treated as essential to health — not a cost to be minimised.

Imagine if our public funding was used similarly -

Local community kitchens could cook meals for schools in the area, jobs would be created locally, farmers would be supported, and children could build a real connection to the food they eat every day.

This is not unrealistic, it’s completely achievable with the funding and our children deserve this standard of food!

Instead, we’re outsourcing our children’s food to large contractors like The Lunch Bag who are selling to us that their meals are something that they just aren’t.

Public money should serve public health - not corporate profit.

Parents deserve transparency.
Children deserve real food.
And the government must start taking responsibility for how our money is spent.

What do you think of this? 👇

03/02/2026

I spotted this new “berry” version of Cheerios and it’s such a good example of how front-of-pack marketing can completely shape our perception. Bright pictures of lovely looking fruit, big emphasis on berries, lots of health-style messaging… you’d naturally assume this is a healthier choice to regular Cheerios. But when you flip the pack around and actually read the ingredients, you see the reality.

The amount of “berry” in here is tiny and once fruit is industrially processed into puree form at such small percentages, you’re not getting the fibre or the benefits people associate with eating actual berries. It’s more about flavouring and image than meaningful nutrition.

What’s more is that this “healthier looking” version doesn’t actually come out better nutritionally than the original Cheerios. The berry one contains 6g sugar per small 30g serving, and 2.7g protein and 2.8g fibre. Whereas original Cheerios contains 5.3g sugar per serving, and 3g protein and 2.9g fibre. These are quite small differences but the point I’m making is that the front of pack is very much selling to us that this is a healthier upgrade to original Cheerios and it’s just not the case!

This is exactly why I always say - the front of the pack is where companies sell to us, and the back of the pack is where the truth lies.

This is not about never buying cereal, it’s about being aware of these tactics and not assuming a product is healthier just because the packaging suggests it. Turning the pack around and reading the back really does change your perception.

What do you think of this?

Sophie's Nutrition

12/02/2026

12/02/2026

11/02/2026

10/02/2026

09/02/2026

08/02/2026

07/02/2026

06/02/2026

05/02/2026

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