Nutrition 101

At Longevity Exercise Physiology Drummoyne,Edgecliff,Marrickville,Bella Vista, Randwick, Lindfield and Balmain we get asked a lot of questions about nutrition to improve body composition and exercise performance. The Australian Dietary Guidelines is the gold standard when trying to change your nutrition to be healthier and more sustainable over the long term.

The 5 Main Guidelines are: (Australian Dietary Guidelines, 2020)

1. “To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs

• Children and adolescents should eat sufficient nutritious foods to grow and develop normally. They should be physically active every day and their growth should be checked regularly.
• Older people should eat nutritious foods and keep physically active to help maintain muscle strength and a healthy weight.

2. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from these five food groups
   every day:
   • Plenty of vegetables of 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

And drink plenty of water.

3. Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars
   and alcohol
   • 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 predominately saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods which contain predominately polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/pastes and avocado.
     1. Low fat diets are not suitable for children under the age of 2 years.
   • Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added salt
     1. Read labels to choose lower sodium options among similar foods.
     2. Do not add salt to foods in cooking or at the table.
   • 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.
   • 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.

4. Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding
5. Care for your food; prepare and store it safely”

As Exercise Physiologists we can only give general advice about nutrition, such as what is mentioned above, therefore seeking the help of an Accredited Dietitian for a more detailed and individualised solution is always the best option.

Longevity Exercise Physiology are partnered with many Accredited Dietitians within the local area so speak to us on 1300 964 002 and we can help find a Dietitian that will suit your needs.

References:

Australian Dietary Guidelines 1-5. (2020). Retrieved 26 November 2020, from https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-dietary-guidelines-1-5

Written By Daniel