It’s time to focus on healthy menu options!

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is a food selection guide which visually represents the proportion of the five food groups recommended for consumption each day. Source: Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

The Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing has reported that in 2017–18, an estimated 2 in 3 (67%) of Australians aged 18 and over were overweight or obese. (36% were overweight but not obese, and 31% were obese). That’s around 12.5 million adults with potential health problems impacting them in the future due to obesity!

Obesity is more common in older age groups—16% of adults aged 18–24 were obese, compared with 41% of adults aged 65–74.

The above mentioned statistics are a major concern to health professionals who are worried that our health care system will be heavily impacted in the future by patients presenting with conditions with a causal link to obesity.

Clubs can lead the way and introduce healthy meal options that both look and taste great!
When planning menu items Chefs can make use of the Australian Dietary Guidelines which are very helpful in analysing recommended daily dietary intake of food groups and building into menu items healthy sources of nutrition.

As a suggestion your club can look at adding nutrition information on menus and promoting healthy options for both children and adults.

Listed below are some great links to eat for health and Dietitians Australia who have some excellent resources for catering managers and chefs to read through.

Overweight and obesity: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/overweight-and-obesity

What are the Australian Dietary Guidelines: https://dietitiansaustralia.org.au/health-advice/what-are-australian-dietary-guidelines

Source: Eat for Health: Australian Dietary Guidelines 1-5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Overweight and Obesity. Dietitians Australia: What are the Australian Dietary Guidelines?.