The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is a simple guide to help you plan the types of foods you should eat and in what proportions. It’s pretty simple really – just keep it balanced from the graph and try to eat a bit of everything but little of the things that sit outside circle. Here are the top 3 guidelines from Eat for Health:
Guideline 1
To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs
Guideline 2
- Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from these five groups every day:
- Plenty of vegetables, including different types and colours, and legumes/beans
- Fruit
- Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties, such as breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, polenta, couscous, oats, quinoa and barley
- Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans
- Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat (reduced fat milks are not suitable for children under the age of 2 years)
- And drink plenty of water.
Guideline 3
- Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol
a. Limit intake of foods high in saturated fat such as many biscuits, cakes, pastries,
pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips,
crisps and other savoury snacks. - Replace high fat foods which contain predominantly saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods which contain predominantly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/pastes and avocado.
- Low fat diets are not suitable for children under the age of 2 years.
b. Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added salt. - Read labels to choose lower sodium options among similar foods.
- Do not add salt to foods in cooking or at the table.
c. Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added sugars such as confectionary, sugar-sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and
sports drinks.
d. If you choose to drink alcohol, limit intake. For women who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.
You can check out more here: http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/
Easy recipes
Like anything, with cooking you get better the more you practice. In no time you’ll be inventing your own delicious and nutritious meals.
A great way to start is by completing the Healthy Eating Quiz on No Money No Time. You’ll be provided with an easy to understand diet score and the website will highlight how you can improve your eating habits with suggestions on recipe ideas based on money, your time and what you like.
More inspiration:
- www.taste.com.au
- https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/healthyliving/Recipes
- https://kitchen.nine.com.au/
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