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Read MoreImportant notice to customers — product packaging changesLearn More
NEW FOOD PACKAGING IN STORE NOW
From August 2018, customers will notice our rebranded food packaging start to appear on shelf in all major stockists.
We are excited to announce our new packaging will start to appear on shelf from August 2018. This transition to new packaging will occur over a number of months. During this time there will be a mix of current and new packaging on shelf.
There are no major changes to these products, in some instances there is a small name change or slight recipe improvement, see below for the full details.
Products purchased via the website will be delivered to customers in our old packaging until the end of October. From November, products ordered from the website will be delivered in the new packaging.
Please note, our Infant Formula packaging will not be rebranded until later in 2019.
For any questions, connect with our team of accredited practising Dietitians on +61 3 6332 9200
Product name changes
Monitoring exactly what your kids eat once they reach school age can be challenging, as children aged 4-8 years consume up to 40% of their calories away from you. Sure you might be the one to pack their lunch box, but there’s no real guarantee that your boy will eat everything that’s in there. Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that boys have a habit of choosing play over food.
As a guide, most boys aged 4-8 years need around 1300-1600 calories a day. This is based on a sedentary lifestyle, so if you have a particularly active boy, they may require a little more. A very physically active boy should be aiming for around 1800 calories per day.
Diet should be varied and balanced, and snack portions kept on the small side. Up until now, food has been about small meals at regular intervals, but from around five years old, three main meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus two small snacks should be the focus. If your child is complaining they are constantly hungry, consider that it might be an ‘emotional eating’ response. Emotional eating comes out of boredom or anxiety, so if you suspect your child isn’t really hungry, try to distract him with another activity. You may want to consider using a ‘hunger scale’ to rate levels of hunger from 0-10.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines use the best available scientific evidence to provide information on the types and amounts of foods, food groups and dietary patterns that aim to promote health and wellbeing. According to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, children need a wide variety of healthy foods from each of the five food groups:
Fruits: Fruit provides vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and many phytonutrients that help the body stay healthy. Aim for 1½ serves per day.
Fruit serves include:
125ml of 100% fruit juice (not from concentrate and with no added sugar) can be considered a fruit serve, but as whole fruit holds the most diverse and intact collection of nutrients, whole fruits should be your first choice of offering.
Vegetables, legumes and beans: Vegetables should make up a large part of your child’s diet and should be offered at every meal (including snack times). They too provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and phytonutrients that keep the body healthy. Aim for 4½ serves per day.
Vegetable serves include:
Grains: Grain or cereal foods should be kept in wholegrain form whenever possible and breads, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles should offer plenty of fibre. Be careful of refined grain foods, which can be high in sugar. Aim for 4 serves per day.
Grain serves include:
Leans meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds: Protein is essential to staying healthy, building, maintaining and repairing the tissues in your child’s body. Muscles and organs are made of protein, and protein makes specialised chemicals such as haemoglobin and adrenalin. Aim for 1½ serves per day.
Protein serves include:
Dairy: Dairy foods are an excellent source of calcium, needed for strong and healthy bones. While other foods provide small amounts of calcium, dairy foods are by far the greatest source of calcium. Aim for 2 serves per day.
Dairy serves include:
On top of this, your child should try to aim for 1.5 litres of water each day, as well as 7-10g unsaturated fats from spreads, oils, nuts or seeds.
Your role as a parent is to support your child’s healthy eating habits by offering nutritious food choices at meals and snack times. Quite often, children of this age happily eat the same foods time and time again, and while they may appear healthy enough, it’s important that you encourage the trying of new foods. Essentially, you decide the what, where, and when of eating, while your child chooses how much or even whether to eat.
Allowing children to eat as little or as much as they like can be hard for parents, but this approach helps to encourage your child to trust his internal hunger gauge. You can take further steps to encourage healthy eating by:
You can also work alongside your children to create healthy eating plans. Children will love being given the responsibility of of creating a varied and balanced diet and they’ll be far more likely to make good food choices when faced with both health foods and sweet treats. Having children involved with meal planning and shopping not only teaches good habits, but gives them part ownership of mealtimes.
Three easy ways to get kids involved include:
The sample meal plan outlined below provides the nutritional and energy requirements for a child aged 4-8 years based on average height, healthy weight and light activity.
Breakfast: 1 Weetbix, ½ cup reduced fat milk, 100g low-fat yoghurt.
Morning break: 1 medium banana, 2 crispbreads, 1 tbsp peanut butter.
Lunch: 2 slices wholemeal bread, 1 boiled egg, 1 slice reduced fat cheese, 1 cup mixed salad.
Afternoon break: 2 celery sticks with hummus, 3 cherry tomatoes, 5 whole wheat crackers, 250ml reduced fat milk.
Dinner: 65g lean meat, 1 small boiled potato, ½ cup cooked carrot, ½ cup cooked beans.
Evening snack: 1 cup mixed fruit, 100g low-fat yoghurt,1 water throughout the day
Remember, creating enjoyable mealtimes and snacks help young children learn healthy eating habits and develop positive attitudes towards food. Show enthusiasm for healthy foods and keep mealtimes fun and your boy is much more likely to accept the foods you wish them to eat.
This information has been provided as general advice only. If you are at all concerned about your child’s dietary intake, please speak with your paediatrician, GP, or registered medical health professional.
Sources: