Aussies are eating an average of 28 serves per week of discretionary food, according to the CSIRO’s Healthy Diet Score. That’s a lot of cakes and biscuits, chocolate and confectionery, and takeaway foods.
Discretionary foods do not fit into the five recommended food groups and should be eaten occasionally, and in small amounts, says the AIHW.
Lots of supermarket snack foods can be counted as discretionary as they are highly processed, have lots of energy or kilojoules but not many beneficial nutrients.
“The good news is that a healthy diet can be achieved with some simple changes,” says Dr Gilly Hendrie, CSIRO research scientist and co-author of the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score report.
For a healthy eating plan, she advises us to “reduce, increase and add variety.”
“In other words, reduce the amount of discretionary foods being consumed, increase healthy foods including fruit and dairy, and aim for variety by eating three or more different types of vegetables with your main meal.
“Improving our collective healthy diet score is important to increasing our wellbeing, tackling Australia’s obesity crisis, and mitigating lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers.”
This three-prong approach can help you reduce your unhealthy snack cravings. You don't need to cut out all discretionary foods (it’s important to be kind to your cravings!), but try to be mindful and consider the following ways to reduce your intake.
Reduce discretionary foods
1. Slice and share: look at reducing your junk food portion sizes – go for half that slice of cake, or better yet, enjoy it with friends.
2. Out of pantry, out of mind: if you fall off the wagon at the sight of a chocolate bar, resist temptation by stocking up the kitchen with fewer indulgent options.
3. Exercise (or exorcise) the need for a sweet treat: consider a walk around the block before reaching for that glass of wine – an endorphin hit can do wonders for cravings.
4. Select healthier alternative treats when the cravings hit: select sweet and savoury fixes, such as nuts, veggie sticks with hummus, air-popped popcorn, dark chocolate and many other healthy sweet treats.
Find filling snack ideas here.
Increase your intake of healthy foods
To change your snacking habits, you may need to rethink your main meals. Are you eating enough? Are you having a balanced, healthy meal that fills you up? Are you getting enough protein? These tips will help you reduce your snack-time cravings.
5. Boost your meals with fresh fruit – in spring, think seasonal fruits like berries, kiwifruit, stone fruits and apples. Frozen fruits can also be a great way to add snap-frozen, quality fruit, in a more cost-effective way.
6. Reduce fatty oils, butter and rich sauces. This doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice on flavour. Opt instead for lemon and herbs or tomato-based sauce like Romesco, Napolitano, arrabiata or marinara. Garlic, ginger, capers and olives are also great flavour bombs to add to meals.
7. Don’t forget about dairy. That’s quality AND quantity. The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommends at least 2.5 serves a day of milk (preferably low fat), cheese, yoghurt and/or alternatives for most adults aged 19-50.
A serve from the dairy food group is a cup (250ml) of milk, three-quarters of a cup (200g) yoghurt, two slices (40g) of cheese, half a cup (120g) of ricotta cheese or appropriate alternatives.
Add a variety of vegetables
Vegetables are an especially good food choice since they’re high in water, low in kilojoules, full of fibre, fill you up, are packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and with a few exceptions you can eat as many as you’d like without affecting your waistline.
We need to eat more veg: most of us are not hitting the dietary recommendations for them. Whether you’re munching on veg at snack time or making it the star of your main meal, aim for a colourful variety throughout your day. The more veg you eat, the less room you’ll have for unhealthy snacks.
8. Eat at least three different vegetables at your main meal. Vegetables should contribute to about 50% of your plate.
9. Prep veggies ahead of time: pre-cut carrot, celery, cucumber and capsicum are great as an afternoon snack with hummus or salsa dip. Meanwhile, pre-cooked vegetables such as cauliflower, sweet potato and pumpkin make a great addition to salads.
10. Make veggies the hero of your meal. Get creative with spiralised carrots, zucchinis and sweet potato to make vegetable spaghetti, which cooks in a few minutes in boiling water along with pasta (or even as a pasta-alternative).
Other ways to make veggies the hero include
- Use a food processor to make cauliflower ‘rice’, then bake or lightly brown in a fry pan.
- Grate carrot, broccoli and dice celery, capsicums and mushrooms into Bolognese.
- Add crunchy fresh vegetables, seeds and nuts to your meal as they increase the mouth-feel to keep it interesting.
Find out your own healthy diet score at the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet.
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