Indigenous - Food for thought... Diabetes Australia

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04 March 2010

A message from the CEO of Diabetes Australia-NSW on Australian Government Health Reforms

The Australian Government yesterday announced major reforms to Australia’s health and hospital system.

26 February 2010

Diabetes increases dementia risk in older people

British researchers have found that older people with mild cognitive impairment are three times more likely to develop dementia if they have diabetes.

09 March 2010

Combined diet and exercise the key to improving insulin resistance

Combining diet and exercise rather than diet and exercise alone leads to significantly greater improvements in body fat distribution and insulin resistance, according to the findings of a new study.

04 March 2010

Salt intake linked with stroke, heart disease risk

A new Italian study suggests that by lowering our salt intake we could substantially reduce the amount of deaths from heart disease and stroke worldwide.

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Home > About Diabetes > For Indigenous Australians...

Food for thought

Eat less fat
• Use less butter, try a scrape of margarine instead
• Avoid fried and takeaway foods
• Trim the fat off meat and take the skin off chicken
• Eat less fatty snacks like chips & biscuits
• Use low fat milk, cheese and ice cream

Eat more fruit & vegetables
• Try to eat fruit or vegetables at each meal
• Snack on fruit during the day – try to eat at least 2 pieces every day

Eat grainy breads & cereals
• Try to eat multigrain or wholemeal bread, instead of white
• Eat high fibre cereals like weetbix™, porridge or
bran cereals
• Eat some bread or cereal or pasta or noodles or damper or rice with each meal

Eat less sugar
• Use diet cordial or diet soft drink – avoid regular
sweet drinks
• Don’t eat chocolate, lollies, biscuits and cakes every day

Drink plenty of water

Eat regular meals
• Try to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday
• If you are on diabetes tablets or insulin you may need snacks between your meals – ask your doctor

An Example Meal Plan

Breakfast: Choose from:
• High fibre breakfast cereal with low fat milk & fruit or Bread or toast (multigrain is better) & eggs (scrambled, boiled or poached) or baked beans or Bread or toast (multigrain is better) with scrape of jam, honey, vegemite or margarine & fruit

Lunch:
• Bread or roll (multigrain is better) with salad and a small serve of lean meat or low fat cheese
• Fruit or low fat yoghurt

Dinner:
• Small amount of lean meat, chicken or fish
• Rice or pasta or bread (multigrain is better) or potato
• Lots of salad or vegetables
• Tinned fruit (in natural juice) & low fat custard

Snacks:
Try – fruit or plain popcorn or low fat yoghurt or low fat crackers with healthy topping (e.g. tomato) or slice of multigrain bread/toast or fruit bread/toast

Healthy Shopping List

Instead of:	Try these:
Sweet drink: Soft drink, cordials, fruit juices in large amounts	Water, diet or low-joule cordials One glass of fruit juice a day is OK
Lollies and chocolates Sweet lollies, mints, chewing gum, chocolates, health bars	Fresh fruit. Small amounts of: No added sugar gum Sugar free lollies
Cakes: cakes, pastries, doughnuts	Scones, bread, low fat crackers, fruit bread
Butter	'Poly' or monounsaturated' margarine like canola & sunflower
Full cream milk	Low fat milk eg. Lite White, Lite Start, Shape, Trim Powdered skim milk
Sausages, bacon, devon, fatty meats	Lean meat like leg ham, chicken breast, tinned salmon or tuna 'Light' or reduced fat mince Trim fat off meat before cooking
Full fat cheese	Low fat cheese slices Small amounts of 'light' cheese
Pastries, pies, and high fat takeaways.	Don't eat everyday Try a toasted sandwich or a kebab
Chips, corn chips and crisps	Plain popcorn, raw vegetables, low fat crackers, rice crackers
Fried foods	Grill, bake, steam, microwave or use a non-stick pan Small amounts of canola, sunflower or olive oil are OK Try spray oil
Sweet biscuits Cream biscuits, chocolate biscuits	Plain unsalted crackers Fruit bread or toast Fruit biscuits
Desserts Fruit pies, puddings, ice cream, cakes	Fresh fruit Low fat yoghurt Low fat ice cream Tinned fruit in natural juice

Reading Food Labels

What to look for?
Look at the 100gram column on the nutrition panel to compare foods.
Fat: Pick the foods that are lower in fat, especially saturated fat.
Sugar: If sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, honey) is first on the ingredient list, then the product may not be the best choice.
Fibre: Pick the foods that have the most fibre.
Sodium (Salt): Pick products that say 'Salt-Reduced' or 'No Added Salt'.
An example of a nutrition label: Compare labels and pick the foods with the lowest fat & saturated fat.

NUTRITION INFORMATION
SERVINGS PER PACKAGE: 3 SERVING SIZE: 150 g
	Per Serve	100 g
Energy	608 kJ	405 kJ
Protein	4.2 g	2.8 g
Fat, total -saturated	7.4 g 1.5 g	4.9 g 1.0 g
Carbohydrate -total -sugars	18.6 g 18.6 g	12.4 g 12.4 g
Sodium	90 mg	60 mg
Ingredients: milk, strawberries, sugar, skim milk powder, thickener.