Eating healthy is important every day of the year. However, National Nutrition Week (October 16-23) is a chance to celebrate vegetables and the important role they play in our health and wellbeing.
The focus of this year’s annual awareness campaign by Nutrition Australia is to Try for 5 to help you get more vegetables in your day.
It’s easy to do, according to Accredited Practising Dietician (APD) Shannon Lavery. “It could be adding an extra cup of vegetables in your meal or as simple as trying a new vegetable or recipe,” she says.
Nutrition & Wellbeing for Carers
Our Carer Gateway team offer monthly Nutrition, Health & Wellbeing sessions presented by Shannon (pictured below), who is also the founder of Better Choices Nutrition.
Shannon shares her knowledge and expertise, offering practical advice and skills to assist carers on their journey of living a healthy life.
“Carer Gateway approached me to help support the health of its amazing carers,” she says. “We know carers give so much to others, that often their own health and wellbeing can sometimes be their last priority.”
The free virtual one-hour sessions are open to anyone registered with the Carer Gateway and cover a wide variety of topics including:
- Diets: How to choose the right one.
- Healthy cooking for the family or just one.
- Keeping healthy on a budget.
- Barriers to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and ways to overcome them.
- Tools to maintain a healthy lifestyle/diet.
- Where/how to start: setting realistic goals.
“Each month, we cover a new topic,” she explains. “I provide an easy-to-understand live presentation that carers can participate in from the comfort of their own home. These sessions aim to be interactive, allowing plenty of time for participants to ask questions.”
As part of National Carers Week (October 16-22), Carer Gateway will host its Nutrition, Health & Wellbeing session in person on Saturday 22 October with a live cooking demonstration from Shannon at The Benevolent Society’s Glebe head office.
“Carers give so much to others and are therefore often very busy, with very little free time to focus on their own health and wellbeing,” Shannon says. “These nutrition sessions aim to equip the carers with some easy tips to improve their overall health.”
Healthy cooking tips
Shannon has some handy cooking hints to help not only carers but anyone wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle.
- Plan your meals ahead of time.
- Purchase fresh food and freeze in individual portions.
- Grill, bake, barbecue, steam and microwave food whenever possible.
- Choose foods low in fat, especially saturated fat.
- Choose foods low in sodium.
- Choose foods high in fibre.
- Choose portions to meet your individual needs.
- Swap full fat dairy product for low fat options.
- Cook with small amounts of healthy oils such as olive and sunflower oils.
- Keep things simple!
For more information about our Nutrition, Health & Wellbeing sessions, click here and to learn more about Carer Gateway visit here.