Nutrition and Breastfeeding Articles

Eggs: how many is too many?
Eggs are a great source of nutrition, including protein, iron, choline, Vitamin D, B12, and selenium. Eggs contain heart healthy monounsaturated fats and also some saturated fat (which can increase cholesterol in excess). Include up to seven eggs a week, this won’t increase risk of heart disease. Those at increased risk of heart disease can eat up to six eggs per week.
 
How often should I eat fish?
Research supports including 2-3 portions of fish per week.  Try to choose sustainably sourced fish and limit high mercury options, such as shark, swordfish, barramundi, orange roughy and ling. Low mercury fish include salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines and shellfish.
Fish are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids (unsaturated fats – known as good fats!) which contributes to brain health and development and reduces risk of heart disease.
Protein, selenium, zinc, iodine, and vitamins A and D are other important nutrients in fish.
 
Vegetables: what’s 5 a day?
We may have all heard that adults need five serves of vegetables a day. To help figure this out, a serve of vegetables is ½ cup of cooked vegetables, canned or cooked legumes, or 1 cup of green leafy vegetables or chopped salad. To achieve this, aim to include half a plate of vegetables at lunch and dinner.
 
Did you know that toddlers need 2-3 serves per day, increasing to 5 serves by aged 9? A great way to increase vegetable intake, is to offer them 2-3 times per day, for important nutrients, including potassium, fibre, Vitamins C & A. Eat from the rainbow by choosing lots of different coloured vegetables. If 5 a day feels a bit tricky, start small and try to add some chopped carrot or cucumber to your morning snack. Frozen, canned and fresh are all great options.

By Emma McShane, Dietitian, edited by Nicole Bando (APD & IBCLC), October 2022
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A balanced, nutritious lunchbox is important to support the growth and development of children. Food is fuel, that children need to learn, concentrate, thrive, play, and grow. A balanced lunchbox can help promote performance (academic, physical, emotional), as well as body image, mood and environmental sustainability. It also helps your child to learn to manage their hunger & fullness cues, a wonderful habit to take through life.
 
When providing food to children, it is up to the parent to provide:

1. The right types of food
2. Regular meals and snacks.

 
However, it is up to the child to decide:

1. What to eat
2. How much to eat

It can take up to 1-15 times for a child to accept new food, which may seem like a lot, however the lunchbox provides the perfect opportunity to introduce new foods. Role modelling and positive food environments play a key role in children trying and accepting new foods, so the school environment can have a positive effect on your child’s eating. To save time, pack lunches the night before, you can even use dinner leftovers packed into a thermos.
 
Choose an option from boxes 1-4 to create a balanced lunch box.

See below for 3 days of lunchboxes:
Also see our great resources on simple snack swaps and soy/dairy-free alternatives.

By Emma McShane, Dietitian & Nicole Bando, Dietitian, May 2022

As part of planning for a glowing pregnancy, have you considered your diet? It's true that supplementation with key nutrients is important, but a nutritionally complete diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding helps to lay the vital foundations for a healthy mother, foetus and eventually, a thriving family. This is important to reduce the risks of chronic disease later in life, in both the mother and child.

New research is emerging that nutrition plays an important role in the pre- conception period and can also affect fertility. Despite having more information at our fingertips than ever before, as a population our diet has never been worse. We are constantly bombarded with myriad information about nutrition and it is little wonder that we are confused about what to eat.

The latest data from the Australian Health Survey shows that less than 7% of Australians are eating enough vegetables and that a significant portion of our daily calories (35%) comes from discretionary items. These are foods that are not essential to a healthy diet and are high in refined sugar, fat and alcohol. Yet, we have heard the argument that the Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG’s) don’t work, and this is simply because we are not following them. The ADG’s aren’t designed to be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. They are evidence-based and provide us with a brilliant framework for living a healthy lifestyle without the merry-go-round of fad diets, or the latest buzz in superfoods. Perhaps they just need to sound a little more glamorous.

All foods are fabulous in their own right and there are many ways that the guidelines can be tailored by a dietitian to fit in with a range of lifestyles, cultures, taste preferences and life stages to suit the individual; sounds a little bespoke, doesn’t it?
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Boosting vegetable intake by 1-2 serves (half to one cup) per day has many health benefits and can be done relatively easily. For example: 

• Add canned legumes to salads, soups and slow-cooked meals during winter. Legumes are super food powerhouses, replete with fibre, iron and protein. They are low in fat, have a low glycaemic index and on top of these great benefits, are cheap.
• Try one new recipe a week and add in an extra vegetable that isn’t on the list of ingredients. 
• Snack on cut-up vegetables and dips such as hummus or tzatziki (food safety is an important consideration in pregnancy, avoid dips containing raw egg). 
• Try avocado with tomato on wholegrain toast for breakfast, for a brilliant source of mono- unsaturated fatty acids, lycopene, vitamin C, fibre and beta-carotene. Boost iron and folate with a scattering of basil leaves. 
• Add a handful of spinach or rocket to any meal for a boost of folate, iron, vitamin C and fibre 
• Avoid pre-cut vegetables and ensure all fresh produce is washed to avoid listeriosis

To plan for a healthy pregnancy and make sense of the nutrition information, come and visit me at NEST Elsternwick for personalised advice on how to make the best start for you and your family.