Portion series: Packaged snack foods, snacking habits, what changes to make and how

Are packaged snack foods creeping into your diet more than you would like? Join us as we look at what we are snacking on, how we are snacking and what changes could be made that take into account the reasons you love to snack. 

We cover: 

• The Healthylife 2024 Living Healthy Report  
• An overview of recommended serve sizes from the dietary guidelines compared to those found on food packets
• Australian’s favourite packaged food snacks
• How snacking has changed across the last 4 years 
• How core food groups and their consumption have changed across the last 4 years
• How to improve portion control
• What Healthylife does to help the snacking habits of Australians 
• What snacks Simone recommends to children, teens and adults 
• The easiest way to select better-for-you packaged food snacks 
• Simone’s take on how the population is going to move towards a healthier dietary pattern 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“Definitely biscuits, these are our biggest discretionary “unhealthy” food that people are purchasing, followed by ice cream. ”

“Try and think about snacking as just a smaller meal, because that way you don’t think about it as biscuits and ice cream and chocolate as much.”

“How do we make sure that people are putting fresh produce into their basket? I think alot of that is probably around the misconception that healthy is more expensive. Yes we want convenience, but it is just as convenient to me to peel a banana than open a packet of bisicuits.”

“We seem to have this social status where we talk about discretionary “unhealthy” foods as treat foods. We need to improve our language and embrace that fresh produce taste delicious. But we talk about, you have been really good so let’s have a fast food burger, or chocolate, lollies, ice cream or at a party it is these sorts of foods. We sort of give a status that these foods are better, more rewarding and taste better than the others. 

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