• Guideline 2 : Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods daily from these five food groups ( Vegetables and legumes / beans ; Fruit ; Grain ( cereal ) foods ; Lean meats and poultry , fish , eggs , tofu , nuts and seeds and legumes / beans ; Milk , yoghurt cheese and / or alternatives , mostly reduced fat )
• Guideline 3 : Limit intake of foods containing saturated fats , added salt , added sugar , and alcohol
• Guideline 4 : Encourage , support and promote breastfeeding
• Guideline 5 : Care for your food ; prepare and store it safely .
by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing , the guidelines were revised and updated by the National Health & Medical Research Council ( NHMRC ) with advice from a group of experts in nutrition , medicine and public health , who formed the Dietary Guidelines Working Committee . This Committee spent three years reviewing more than 55,000 scientific journal articles published since the previous edition of the guidelines , to ensure that the Dietary Guidelines are based on the most current ( at the time of review ) scientific evidence regarding nutrition , health and disease .
What do the ADGs recommend ?
There are five dietary guidelines :
• Guideline 1 : To achieve and maintain a healthy weight , be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs
The 30-second article
• They may not be as ‘ sexy ’ as paleo , keto or the 80-20 diets , but fitness professionals need to know about the Australian Dietary Guidelines
• The ADGs provide information about types and amounts of foods , food groups and dietary patterns necessary for good health
• Most Australians don ’ t eat enough food from the Five Food Groups – and too much discretionary ( aka junk ) food
• Fitness professionals are generally not nutritionists or dietitians , and therefore should not work beyond their scope of practice in the area of nutrition
• The ADGs help fitness professionals discuss nutrition with clients while remaining within scope of practice .
Accompanying the guidelines is a food selection guide , The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating . This resource provides a visual representation of the proportion of the five food groups which are recommended to be eaten each day , as outlined in Dietary Guideline 2 .
Most Australians are not eating the recommended minimum daily serves for any of the Five Food Groups
Why do Australian fitness professionals need to be familiar with the ADGs ?
If you are an Australian registered exercise professional ( AusREP ) it is important that you are familiar with the ADGs as the Fitness Australia Position Paper : Scope of Practice for Registered Exercise Professionals stipulates that you are limited to providing nutrition advice which is consistent with these nationally endorsed nutrition guidelines .
Being familiar with the guidelines will ensure you are able to answer any nutrition-related questions from your clients without working outside of your scope of practice , and will know when to refer on to an appropriately qualified nutrition professional such as an Accredited Practising Dietitian ( APD ) or Accredited Sports Dietitian ( AccSD ).
Nutrition is a huge part of health and wellbeing , so it ’ s only natural that your clients and participants will want to talk about it with you . By equipping yourself with the know-how to answer their questions , you can be confident in helping them , without overstepping the mark and verging beyond your area of expertise .
Want to know more ?
Network has launched a new CEC course for fitness professionals , which covers everything you need to know about the Australian Dietary Guidelines , from how and why they were developed to what they recommend , and how you can use them in your work to provide evidence-based nutrition recommendations and ensure you are working within your scope of practice . You can find out more about the course HERE .
Dr Kate Marsh is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian ( Adv APD ), Credentialled Diabetes Educator ( CDE ) and health and medical writer . She divides her time between working in her private clinical practice in Sydney and writing health and medical content . Kate has presented at FILEX and developed a number of CEC courses for Australian Fitness Network on the topics of nutrition , diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome ( PCOS ).
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