Nutrition

A balanced diet provides essential energy and nutrients, and can help protect against disease. Unhealthy diets, on the other hand, increase risk of weight gain, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and certain cancers.

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Unhealthy diets are one of the leading contributors to chronic disease burden, accounting for:

• 62% of coronary heart disease burden

• 41% of type 2 diabetes burden 

• 34% of stroke burden

• 22% of bowel cancer burden

• 9% of chronic kidney disease burden.

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More than one third of the total energy consumed by Australians each day comes from unhealthy foods, like sugary drinks, chips, sweets and fried foods. The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommends limiting foods high in saturated fat, added salt, added sugars, and alcohol.

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Tips to eat well

• Plan meals ahead and stick to the shopping list. This also helps keep to a budget and prevent food wastage.

• Don't go shopping when hungry, as food on the shelves will seem more tempting! 

• Read the labels. Look at the Health Star Rating for at-a-glance information and to compare products.

• For more detail, look at the ingredients list and Nutrition Information Panel (NIP) to see how much salt, sugar and saturated/trans fats are in products.

• Prepare healthy snacks. Chop up fruit or vegetables to keep in the fridge for a quick and easy snack. Try to eat 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit per day.

• Include fruit, vegetables and whole foods in meals, like adding legumes and grated vegetables into meat dishes.

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ACDPA's work

We work to improve our food environments through advocacy on food labelling, marketing restrictions and education.

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ACDPA is involved in advocacy to strengthen the Australian Health Star Rating food labelling system with a focus on penalising foods high in sugar and salt and increasing the label across products.

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Link to ACDPA position statements and submissions.

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