In celebration of Australia’s Healthy Weight Week, welcome to the very first edition of your Nourish Nutrition & Dietetics weekly health and nutrition update.
Did you know that Australia’s Healthy Weight Week is an event held in the last week of January each year? You may have seen television advertisements promoting the week featuring legendary Australian ironman Guy Leech. Check out the website at www.healthyweightweek.com.au. This week is an important one on the Dietitian’s Association of Australia calendar and aims to raise community awareness of the importance of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Currently almost two thirds of Australian adults and one quarter of our children are overweight or obese. That’s greater than 6 out of every 10 adults you know and 1 in 4 kids, quite staggering really. Most worrying is that if current trends continue, an estimated 80% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2020!
So why all the fuss? Surely a few extra inches on the waistline is not really that big a deal right? The fact is excess weight increases your likelihood of acquiring chronic diseases or so-called lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Maintaining a healthy weight helps to keep your mind and body in good shape and minimises your risk of such diseases. As for our children, a little puppy fat does them no harm? Actually overweight children are more likely to be overweight as teenagers and even more overweight once they hit adulthood. Helping your children keep active with Ginger Sport soccer is one of the greatest investments you can make for their future health. Together with a balanced diet full of fresh whole foods, regular physical activity provides protection against becoming overweight and creates life-long healthy lifestyle habits.
Nourish Nutrition & Dietetics will bring you a series of nutrition topics over the forthcoming weeks including general information as well as focusing on nutrients that are known to be deficient in Aussie kids. If you have a particular topic of interest, please contact Andrea at dietitian@nourished.net.au or www.nourished.net.au comments most welcome!
Andrea Cruickshank APD AN
