By Annette Campbell
It’s National Nutrition Week this month so, to coincide, Aloysa Hourigan — an accredited practicing dietician and senior nutritionist at Nutrition Australia — offers some expert advice for boosting our nutrition.
“A person’s weight is not the only thing that provides a picture of how your body’s working,” explains Aloysa. “Someone who’s underweight can be malnourished and someone’s who’s overweight can be malnourished as well, because they’re not feeding their body properly.
“Vegetables and fruit are rich sources of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. So try to make sure that these healthy foods are top of your list when you’re hungry.”
Aloysa’s top tips for better nutrition.
We should be eating more of the plant foods including vegetables, fruit, wholegrain breads and cereals. These should form the basis of your diet.
We also need enough of the foods that supply us with protein, like meat, fish, poultry, eggs, shellfish, legumes, nuts and dairy foods.
Adults should drink mostly water, but also milk. Tea and coffee are okay in moderation (2-3 drinks a day), but cut down on soft drinks. For younger children, their main drinks should be water, milk and diluted juices (once a day).
Too much alcohol can increase the need for more nutrients, particularly the B vitamins and magnesium. So drink in moderation.
Eat breakfast. It gets your metabolism going — and for the rest of the day try not to go for long periods without eating.
Healthy snacks to fill you up.
Raw nuts
Fruit
Dairy foods
Fruit bread/raisin toast (go easy on the butter)
If you’re on-the-go, grab a small flavoured milk.
National Nutrition Week is October 16-22, and this year’s theme is ‘Get the edge with fruit and veg’.
“We know from national nutrition surveys about what Australians eat, that we’re not eating enough fruit and vegetables,” explains Aloysa.
“The problem is, too, that when we’re not eating vegetables, we’re eating too much of other things. So the vegetables are being displaced by more meat or fast foods.
“If we could replace a serve of convenience foods (such as biscuits, crisps) with a piece of fruit, it’d be a big win.”
For more information, visit Nutrition Australia’s website: www.nutritionaustralia.org
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