Lifestyle

Path to Better Nutrition

What we eat and drink is critical to how our body functions and how much energy we have in our day. It also impacts on our ability to concentrate and even how we make decisions. Getting a good base of nutrition through an everyday healthy eating plan is the key. The trick to success is making healthy eating the easiest option.

Benefits

More About

Strategies

Resources

Benefits of Better Nutrition

Eating a nutrient-rich diet appropriate for your daily needs can have benefits today and for our future health:

From vitamins to minerals to healthy fats and fibre, all nutrients play a role in brain health and function. Following a healthy pattern of eating is linked with better stress management, improved sleep quality, increased concentration and better mental wellbeing in general.
This can mean a daily benefit of improved energy levels, better mindset, resilience and ability to handle demands.
Diet-related chronic conditions are among the leading causes of death in Australia.
A healthy diet helps to prevent and manage health risk factors such as overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, as well as associated chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.

More About Better Nutrition

What are the Australian Dietary Guidelines?

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating offers an approach that outlines the types of foods, food groups and dietary patterns that are foundational for good health.

To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs
Drink plenty of water and enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the five food groups (vegetables, fruit, grains/cereals, meats/alternative and dairy/alternatives) every day
Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol
Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding
Care for your food; prepare and store it safely

Setting up for Success

Balance: Covering the core food groups is essential in planning out your day and even your meals. Start with a good base of vegetables, salad or fruit. Add some wholegrain carbohydrate foods for energy, then a good protein source (meat, chicken, fish, eggs or legumes). Add some high calcium dairy or alternatives, and finally good fats to get a great foundation for healthy eating.
Variety: Choosing a good variety of foods each day gives you a better chance to cover all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fibre needed. Mix up the colours, textures and cooking styles of the food you eat for more nutrients. Try new foods each week and eat more fresh, less processed foods.
Eat Regularly: Eating regularly throughout the day will give your body the sustained glucose levels that essential for good brain and body function. Choose low Glycaemic Index (GI) or slow-release carbohydrate foods for sustained energy.
Preparation: Make decisions about what you are going to eat before you get hungry. Have a shopping list that is based on meals you can easily prepare during the week. Do some meal preparation before your working week starts to get ahead of the game. Plan for some good snacks rather than just grabbing anything when the energy levels are fading.

Impacts on:

Medical
Sleep
Lifestyle
Work
Resilience

Strategies for Better Nutrition

1. Understand your eating habits.

Keep a food diary in a journal or an app of what you eat and drink for a week. Record what you eat, how much and the time you eat.

Use the Daily energy requirements calculator and Recommended number of serves calculator to work out your requirements. Then review your diary against this to see areas you are doing well or can improve.

2. Take the healthy eating quiz.

This 10 minute quiz provided free by the University of Newcastle helps you discover how healthy your diet and eating habits are. On completion, you will receive instant feedback and comparison to others of your age.

Your results will be stored in your dashboard, allowing you to track changes over time.

Take the Healthy Eating Quiz.

3. Learn how to cook or try a new recipe.

To improve your eating habits you just need 10 new healthy recipes. Try the healthy recipe sites below to find your 10 new healthy favourites.

Healthy Recipes from the Healthy Food Guide

Smart Eating Recipes from Dietitians Australia

4. Talk to a Dietitian.

Food plays a key role in our physical and mental health and wellbeing. We all have different health challenges so there is no â€˜one size fits all’ approach when it comes to food and nutrition. Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) provide personalised nutrition advice and support.

Dietitians understand how nutrition impacts the body and use this knowledge to treat a range of medical conditions. Trained in medical nutrition therapy, dietitians translate scientific nutrition information into dietary advice. They use specialised coaching strategies to improve wellbeing through lifestyle and diet changes.

5. Learn to read food labels.

While fresh and unprocessed is best, sometimes choosing packaged ingredients or pre-prepared meals may be needed for convenience. Learn how to read food labels here. Become wiser on what is really in packaged food and how to choose the better option from many choices on the supermarket shelves.