Kalgoorlie-Boulder nutritionist hopes for more protein and less processed foods on new government diet guide

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating will be updated this year for the first time since 2013, and nutritionists and dietitians across the country are eagerly anticipating its release. Among them is Kalgoorlie-Boulder nutritionist Christine Slater, who said the Government’s current diet guidelines were sensible in some ways, but misleading in others. “They’ve always said five and two — five veggies, two fruits,” she said. “That was decided on because they thought that that was the level of fruit and veg intake that people could logically aspire to. “The actual recommendation is more like 11-12 serves of vegetables, and two to four serves of fruit . . . the research supports 600g of vegetables a day, which is very different.” Ms Slater said she was hoping to see an increase in the recommended intake of protein. “At the moment, the recommendation on protein is to keep you alive, as opposed to help you thrive,” she said. “It’s at 0.8g per kilogram (of body weight) of protein for intake across the day, and we’re really looking at an increase of to well over a gram per kilogram. “In America, they’ve just changed it to between 1.2 and 1.6, so I’m hoping we follow that because . . . that supports keeping blood sugar stable, keeping hunger at bay. It means that you can retain muscle mass. “There’s a lot of sources of protein — all of your meats, fish is an excellent source of protein, eggs are actually considered the perfect protein because they’ve got equal amounts of all essential amino acids.” Ms Slater said she would be hesitant to suggest there were many additional challenges to diet in a regional area. “The freshness of our vegetables and fruit sometimes is substandard, but we need to work with that — instead of buying enough bags of lettuce to last two weeks, buy a bag of lettuce that’s going to last you two or three days, consume it, and then buy it again fresh,” she said. “Nutrients decrease over time, especially ones like vitamin C.” She said she heard a lot of concerns about a lack of organic vegetables available in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. “We know that chemical-free is preferable, but a lot of the research that is positive is done on standard veg — so we know that the standard veg that we can eat and access here is going to fulfil those nutritional needs,” she said. “Organic then is just another layer on top of that, which means it is even better.” The dietary guideline update is expected to pinpoint ultra-processed foods, another food group which now makes up nearly half of the average Australian’s diet. UPFs, as they are known, include chocolate, confectionery, cakes, biscuits, processed meats, and high-fat takeaway foods, and were described by medical journal the Lancet last year as a “major new challenge to global health”. Ms Slater said there was an abundance of research that linked UPFs to increased adverse health events. “Things like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, are linked through the research to increased consumption of ultra-processed food,” she said. “Any processed food out there — the more you eat, the greater the risk of adverse health outcomes.” Ms Slater said she was hoping for recommendations that limited UPF consumption to zero, but the decision was likely to be influenced by food manufacturers that wanted to keep them in the food chain. As well as a nutritionist, Ms Slater has been a naturopath and a herbalist for about 10 years. She practices from her Hannan Street health food shop, Wild Earth Health. Ms Slater’s general dietary recommendations follow a 30-30-30 rule. “Thirty grams of protein per meal, and breakfast is a big one — a lot of people skip breakfast, or they have a carbohydrate-based breakfast,” she said. “Thirty grams of fibre a day really helps us keep our digestive system working well and helps us feel full, and that comes from things like nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains, and then our fruit and veggies.” “Thirty different plants a week, because different compounds in different plants feed different bugs in your gut . . . and we are knowing now, again, through research, that feeding the most bacteria you can to your gut gives you the best health outcomes.” Ms Slater said diversifying food intake was easier to achieve than people might think. “Swapping, say, your peanuts for a nut mix where you might get five different nuts in — that’s five different plant foods,” she said. “Swapping a bag of spinach for a mixed bag, swap your red cherry tomatoes for a box of all the different colours, mixed beans instead of just chickpeas.”