Unconfuse!
On one side you have the Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) recommending specific daily serves of all food groups – in short, they are (1) vegetables, (2) fruit, (3) grains, (4) meats/alternatives, and (5) dairy/alternatives – for people at specific stages of life. For example, children aged between 2 and 3 years, are recommended to eat 4 serves of grain foods (rice, pasta, bread, oats etc), and 1.5 serves of dairy foods (milk, yoghurt, cheese or their plant based alternatives) every day. On the other side you have celebrity chef/health coach Pete Evans publishing books and presenting documentaries urging parents to NOT feed grains nor dairy to their children.
In the middle of it all there is the evolution of nutrition science itself which is moving faster than ever. Recently, The Heart Foundation released a statement that today’s science provides convincing evidence that skim-milk is not necessarily healthier than full-cream milk, except for people with existing high cholesterol and coronary heart disease. We have been told for a long time that anyone older than two years, should consume mostly reduced-fat dairy.
So, what is a parent supposed to do to make sure they are able to provide an adequate diet for their children?
A study commissioned by Nestlé in 2016 to learn the level of understanding Australian parents have about nutrition and dietary guidelines found that, even though 60% of parents would like to have more information about nutrition to provide a healthy diet to their children, 37% admitted to not have the energy nor time to seek it.
And it might very well be because of the enormity of information, and misinformation, they are confronted with when they attempt to doing so.
In my effort to give you some direction, I would recommend to:
Cook your own meals as often as possible. It works better with the help of all in the household (one does the shopping, one does the prep, one cooks, one does the dishes… not the same one all-the-way-through!);
Buy unpacked foods as much as possible. The most wholesome foods come without a packet (think apples you buy at the fruit shop, and bread from behind the counter in a bakery);
Follow the Australian Dietary Guidelines as much as possible. It can be tricky to understand what a serve of this or that means. My suggestion is to think of it in half-cup and full-cup volume of food to figure what a serve of that food should look like. For example, a serve of vegetables is equivalent to a half-cup; a serve of milk is equivalent to one cup. If you’re not overwhelmed yet, you can check all details on Eat for Health. If you are overwhelmed, my friend, look at recommendation number 4;
In doubt, look for qualified help: from your trusted GP, from a dietitian or a nutritionist, especially those with accreditation by the Dietitians Association of Australia or by the Nutrition Society of Australia (some provide Medicare and others, private health funds rebate). If you search for information online, make sure it is from a .gov (government agencies) or .edu (universities and colleges) type of organisation or, .com website that mention the sources of the information provided (list of references) like all of our content on this website. All these sources will provide evidence based information, which is what you want!
It can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be!
References
1. National Health and Medical Research Council (2013). Eat for Health – Australian Dietary Guidelines.
2. The Paleo Way (2016). Kids food.
3. Heart Foundation (2019). Dietary Position Statement on Dairy and Heart Healthy Eating.
4. Nestlé (2016). Australian parents not nutrition savvy when it comes to teaching their kids about healthy eating.
