How guidelines can help you lose weight

2 mins to read

You may have heard of the national dietary guidelines, but do you know exactly what they are, and how they can help you lose weight? Online personal trainer Andrew Cate investigates.

Weight management

Dietary guidelines are designed to give us an up-to-date nutritional ideal based on the latest scientific knowledge.

They are a set of "eating rules" that we can use as a reference when planning meals to improve our daily diet. Following the national dietary guidelines is thought to improve health and help minimise your chances of developing dietary related illnesses that can impact upon your heart health, waistline – and even your teeth.

Knowing that the rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge can be a form of psychological comfort to those following the rules.

They can also help to guide food manufacturers when developing products, and they can help determine if foods could be improved or reformulated to better suit the ideal.

What are the dietary guidelines?

The Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults were last updated in 2003 and include 13 tips in no order of preference. They are:

Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods
Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits
Eat plenty of cereals (including breads, rice, pasta and noodles), preferably wholegrain
Include lean meat, fish, poultry and/or alternatives
Include milks, yoghurts, cheeses and/or alternative (reduced-fat varieties should be chosen, where possible)
Drink plenty of water
Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat intake
Choose foods low in salt
Limit your alcohol intake if you choose to drink
Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing added sugars
Prevent weight gain: be physically active and eat according to your energy needs
Care for your food: prepare and store it safely
Encourage and support breastfeeding

Using the guidelines for weight loss

While number 11 from the list above is specifically focused on weight management, most of the guidelines can play a part in helping you lose weight. The follow tips offer some help in adopting the nutritional dietary guidelines into your lifestyle to help you manage your weight.

On your marks – The dietary guidelines are a great starting point when you are making initial changes to your lifestyle. Use them as a guide when making decisions about what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Apply the guidelines to the specific foods you eat – Some of the dietary guidelines are very general, such as to choose foods low in salt, sugar, and saturated fat. To help make the dietary guidelines more relevant to you, take a closer look at your diet and the specific foods you eat that are high in salt, sugar and fat. Identify what specific foods you could eat more of, and what foods you could eat less of.
Eat according to your energy needs – This is an important point outlined in the dietary guidelines. If your goal is to manage your weight, it’s vital that you monitor your portion sizes. Eating too much of any food, even if it’s healthy, can exceed your energy needs and make it very difficult to lose weight, let alone maintain it.
Be physically active – Don’t just rely on dietary changes alone. Physical activity burns kilojoules and can make it much easier to manage your weight. It also contributes to your overall wellness in a number of ways, including bone density, cardiovascular health and stress management.
The future - The Dietary Guidelines for Americans have recently been updated with a greater focus on weight management. It’s expected that Australia’s Dietary Guidelines (last updated in 2003) will follow a similar emphasis when a revised edition is planned for release in October 2011 and they will be available here.

National Health and Medical Research Council. Dietary Guidelines for all Australian, 2003 - http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/dietsyn.htm