Australia's new national dietary guidelines

Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council this week released new national dietary guidelines. In fact, very little of the guidelines have changed since the last ones were released a decade ago. According to the council, in Australia 60 percent of adults and 25 percent of children are overweight or obese, clearly the guidelines are not working. The problem with guidelines is they are just that, a guide, they are open to interpretation and difficult for people to put into practice if they do not have basic cooking skills.

When I think about all of this too much I succumb momentarily to feeling overwhelmed about the amount of change that is needed for many people in the world who exist on fake food to make the very obvious link between real food and real health.

As I see it, we all need to get back to basics:

- value and teach cooking skills as life skills, opening packets and reheating food is not cooking
- cook real food at home more often than eating out or grabbing take away
- sit at the table to eat with family or friends rather than eating on the run or skipping meals
- grow at least some of our own food at home to reconnect with the cycle of nature and where food comes from, even if it is just growing herbs

I think if more people did this they would be healthier for it.

What would you add to this list? Are you hopeful for the future that we can have a healthier population?