University of Newcastle’s free access to dietary advice for unhealthy young Aussies
Young Australian adults now have free access to personalised dietary advice available at their fingertips, with the launch of a new website aimed at improving the eating habits of the country’s unhealthiest age group.
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Chocolate, muesli bars, chips, packet noodles, soft drink … these are just some of the foods that become a staple diet for a university student with no time and no money.
Samuel Marr, who is studying primary teaching at the University of Newcastle, admits ‘it’s pretty hard’ trying to eat healthy every day.
The 19 year old is very active through the week, with soccer training twice, a few games on the weekend, attending uni classes most days and working as well.
He was finding his rigorous schedule and not eating properly, snacking constantly on junk foods, was affecting his energy levels and leaving him exhausted by the afternoon.
That was until he was told about a website called ‘No Money No Time’. It completely changed his outlook on why eating healthy should be a high priority.
“It has 100 per cent changed my energy levels,” said Samuel.
“I work at after school care so I have to be on the ball with the kids.
“I was always drained after uni before but now eating better, a lot more vegetables, I’m ready for the kids in the afternoon.
“Being a uni student you don’t have much money and barely any time at all so it’s definitely worth it.”
A team at the University of Newcastle have launched a new website aimed at improving the eating habits of young Australians.
‘No Money No Time’ aims to remove the barriers of time and financial constraints to help improve the overall health of young Australians and reduce the risk of preventable chronic diseases later in life.
It provides cheap and easy meal ideas and quality online resources, to help set long-term healthy eating behaviours.
Nutrition researcher at the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), Dr. Lee Ashton, who co-led research with Professor Clare Collins, said they analysed the dietary intakes of all age groups around the globe and it revealed 18-24 year old’s were by far the unhealthiest age group.
“18 to 24 year old’s have the highest intake of unhealthy foods; sugary drinks, processed meat, and also the lowest intake of healthy foods including fruit and vegetables and wholegrains,” said Dr. Ashton.
“It’s because they are going through so many lifestyle transitions.
“At this age, they’re moving out of the family home, changes in relationships, changes in the friendship circle and because of all these changes, they prioritise other things instead of healthy eating.
“We’ve seen that health behaviours at this age are quite negative and it’s likely they’ll continue it for the rest of the rest of adulthood.”
As part of the research, the University of Newcastle team went out to student homes to get a better understanding of what they were faced with.
“We examined their kitchens and saw what equipment they had and that encouraged us to make ‘No Money No Time’ which makes healthy eating easier for this group,” he said.
“We’ve got some really good features which accounts for the barriers, we have a really nice recipe section which allows them to filter it based on the equipment they have.
“All the recipes cater for the shortest amount of time possible, with few ingredients and the lowest amount of time for preparation and cooking.
“There’s so much miscommunication out there so we’ve got a section which contains credible and evidence based information trying to answer the questions they have on diets.
“We’ve kept all those questions and turned them into a blog articles.”
There’s also a healthy eating quiz, which once completed, provides an easy-to-understand diet score and personalised goals to help improve specific areas of their diet.
“Based on their scores, the user will receive simple but nutritious recipes that they can filter according to kitchen equipment, for example microwave or pan, motivators such as to lose weight or improve sports performance, and dietary requirements,” explained Dr. Ashton.
“Scores will also be stored in a personalised dashboard so participants can track their progress and receive continued support over time.”
To keep it fresh, the website is also updated regularly with hundreds of different recipes and content.
In 2018, nib foundation provided close to $900 thousand in philanthropic funding to support the project’s development over three years.
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