Healthy eating australia

Question 1

The Australian dietary guidelines

Answer 1

The Australian dietary guidelines were divided by the national health and medical research council and funded by the federal government. The most recent addition of the guidelines were developed in 2013

o Includes portion sizes for different genders and age groups
o Discretionary foods: Food and drinks that are not necessary to provide nutrients that the body needs, but may add variety in a diet. Intake of these foods should be limited as they are energy dense

Question 2

Aim of The Australian dietary guidelines

Answer 2

The aim of the Australian dietary guidelines is to ensure that Australians can make healthy food choices. In order to achieve that, individuals need to be able to access up to date, scientifically based dietary advice.

Question 3

Guideline 1

Answer 3

To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active, and choose amounts of nutritious foods and drinks to meet your energy needs
• Focused on finding the correct balance of energy intake from nutritious food and drink, in order to achieve and maintain a healthy weight

Question 4

Guideline 2

Answer 4

Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the 5 food groups every day
• Vegetables and legumes/beans
• Fruit
• Grain foods (whole grain and/or high fibre cereals/varieties)
• Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds, and legumes
• Milk, yoghurt cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat.

Question 5

Guideline 3

Answer 5

Limit intake of foods containing saturated fats, added salt, added sugar, and alcohol
• Encourages Australians to limit intake of foods that are often the cause of many of our lifestyle diseases today. These foods are energy dense foods

Question 6

Guideline 4

Answer 6

Encourage, support, and promote breastfeeding
• Healthiest start for infants
• Recommended for first six months
• For infants, breast milk provides a unique mix of nutrients and other important substances that can reduce the risk of infections and build immunity
• May reduce the risk of asthma, eczema, and other allergies and sudden infant death syndrome
• May reduce risk of high blood pressure in childhood, and may reduce risk of becoming obese in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
• Also reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke in later life
• For mothers, breastfeeding can help recovery from birth and return them to pre-pregnancy weight and reduce risk of some cancers

Question 7

Guideline 5

Answer 7

Care for your food, prepare, and store it safely
o All foods (esp fresh foods) need to be transported, stored and prepared properly to avoid contamination
o Food poising occurs when we eat contaminated food or drinks
o Contamination can occur when:
 Foods aren’t kept at the right temperature
 Raw foods aren’t separated from cooked and ready to eat foods
 Food prep tools aren’t cleaned properly, or people preparing foods are unwell and don’t follow good personal hygiene practices
o Get best from foods through retaining freshness and nutritional value by preparing and storing it safely

Question 8

The Australian guide to healthy eating

Answer 8

This is a free selection tool which visually represents the promotion of the five food groups recommended in the daily diet.

o Visual model/tool that reflects the dietary advice in the ADG (specifically 1 and 2)
o Model depicts a circle split into 5 main food groups where the size of each wedge indicates the proportion to which they should be consumed in a person’s diet daily
o Publication of recipes and fact sheets
o ADDITIONAL MESSAGES
 Consume plenty of water
 “Choose these sometimes or in small amounts” – essential fats and oils
 Only sometimes and in small amounts – discretionary foods

Question 9

Aim of The Australian guide to healthy eating

Answer 9

The Australian guide to healthy eating is able to be used by consumers to assist with planning and consuming the correct proportions of each of the five food groups. It is a visual representation of Australian dietary guidelines 2 and 3.

Question 10

5 food groups

Answer 10

• Vegetables and legumes/beans.
• Fruit.
• Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties.
• Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans.
• Milk, yoghurt cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat.

Question 11

Nutrition Australia and its role in promoting healthy eating (pyramid)

Answer 11

Provides scientifically based nutrition information to encourage all Australians to achieve optimal health through food variety and physical activity. It is a simple visual guide to the types of proportion of foods that we should eat every day for good health. Nutrition Australia is a non-government organisation, which means that it is non-profit organisation that operates independently of any government.
It has 3 different sections:

Foundation layers: include three plant based foods, vegetables, legumes, fruits and grains

The middle layer: includes the milk, yoghurt, cheese and alternatives and a lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, legumes food groups.

The top layer: refers to healthy fats. The healthy fats are Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and come from plant sources such as avocado and peanuts

Other information included: Enjoy herbs and spices, choose water, limit salt and added sugar

Question 12

Objectives of Nutrition Australia

Answer 12

o Act as a source of scientific research and information on nutrition issues
o Produce and provide nutritional information to food industry, consumers, policy makers and the media
o Act as consultants to government departments and the food industry
o Encourage innovation in the dissemination of nutritional knowledge.
o Nutrition Australia provides a range of resources aimed to help groups and individuals to implement healthy eating.

Question 13

Ways nutrition Australia promotes healthy eating

Answer 13

Publication of Recipes and fact sheets
Nutrition Australia has a wide range of fact sheets and recipes on its website.

Nutritional seminars and workshops
• Workplace health and well being services: workshops/ seminars at workplaces

Webinars for health professionals

Develop educational resources:
• publications and resources: nutrition books, posters, leaflets and fact sheets to encourage healthy eating, including resources for schools and childcare centres
• Food industry consultancy: assistance to manufacturers to make foods more nutritious.

Question 14

National nutrition week

Answer 14

the National Nutrition Week campaign runs each year in the week of world food day ( 16th October) during this week a number of activates and challenges are hosted in early childhood services, schools and workplaces

Question 15

Workplace health and wellbeing program

Answer 15

offers a range of services to improve workers performance through healthy eating. They provide information, education and consultation services to promote healthy eating in business.

Question 16

Challenges to bring about change in dietary intake

Answer 16

• PERSONAL PREFERENCE
o Most people prefer certain foods to others  i.e foods high in salt, satfat, sugar  tastebuds stimulated  brain reward system stimulated  dopamine released  create cravings for these foods
• ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS
o Did not try variety of food  healthier options seem bland  less likely to change diet
o People may consume based on philosophical belief (veganism, only organic)  overall intake may not be considered healthy  restricting certain food items may not allow for balanced diet
o People follow diets (paleo)  restrict eating certain foods  difficult to follow nutritional advice due to restricted food groups
• WILLPOWER
o The ability to resist short term temptation to achieve long term goals
 Dietary change requires commitment  unhealthy foods offered at social gatherings/work  choosing healthy foods challenging  exposure to such foods makes dietary change hard
• FOOD SECURITY
o When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life
 Higher income = more choice  As unhealthy foods cost less, LOW SES may experience food insecurity  reduce ability to follow nutritional advice  dietary change difficult
• TIME CONSTRAINS AND CONVENIENCE
o Full time work  more time working  less time to purchase and prepare fresh ingredients from scratch  may rely on purchasing processed foods or fast food  lack of time = hard to change diet
• EDUCATION, COOKING KNOWLEDGE, AND COOKING SKILLS
o Lack of education/cooking knowledge  Lack resources to change diet  consume processed/packaged/familiar unhealthy foods
• FAMILY, CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND RELIGION
o May choose foods that family/culture eats more  reduce ability to choose healthier foods regardless of knowledge/less willing
• FOOD MARKETING/MEDIA
o High fat, high sugar foods may be advertised frequently  lead to confusion  cant distinguish advertising vs factual information  harder to make informed decisions about dietary change
• HEALTH AND WELLBEING FACTORS
o Experience poor mental health and wellbeing (Stress)  More likely to consume foods high in fat salt, and/or sugar for dopamine release  Behaviour may lead to a cycle that will make dietary change difficult
• TIME CONSTRAINTS
o Family commitments such as full-time work, childcare arrangements, and children sporting can movements can often lead a family or individual to have a little time available which

Question 17

Strengths and weaknesses of Dietary guidelines

Answer 17

Strengths
- Suitable for large proportion of the population and caters for all stages of lifespan and gender
- Promote physical activity as an important part of a healthy lifestyle
- Provide a basis for the development of other food models
- Identifies major features of the Ausralian diet that need attention such as fat, sugar, fibre, and alcohol intake
Includes information about safe food handling and breastfeeding
- Includes serving sizes to help people make changes and analyse their food intake more accurately
Simple guidelines that are very achievable

Weaknesses

• Designed for healthy people (incl obesity), may not be suitable for people with medical conditions requiring a special diet or frail elderly people who are at risk of malnutrition
• Not very visual
• Difficult for illiterate people or those from Non-English speaking backgrounds to understand

Question 18

Strengths and weaknesses of Australian guide to healthy eating

Answer 18

Strengths

• Very visual and colourful
• Educates people with the knowledge and skills in a simple to understand format
• Caters for people from non-english speaking backgrounds or illiterate
• Takes into account different cultures by food represented in the plate
• Can be adapted to different target groups or people with different cirumstances

Weaknesses

• Not a lot of detail compared to the ADG
• Does not indicate which foods are better choices from each group (e.g wholegrain bread vs cereal)