A Wimmera dietitian is debunking a common misconception that healthier diets are more expensive. 

Rural Northwest Health is finding foods in the ‘core food group’ are ‘significantly’ cheaper than their unhealthy counterparts, yet there is a common view that healthier food is more expensive. 

Dietitian Ilana Jorgensen encourages Wimmera residents to fill their shopping trolley with healthier options, such as vegetables, fruits, wholegrain cereal and grain foods, milk, cheese, yoghurt, legumes and meat, to increase the nutrients in their diet.

Ms Jorgensen said the perception that healthy foods were more expensive could contribute to the health outcomes of rural Victorians.  

“A study in Yarriambiack Shire in 2017 showed our diets are less healthy and are significantly more expensive than the overall recommended healthy shopping basket,” she said. 

“It found a healthy shopping basket costs about 81 percent of the amount of our current diets and is equivalent to 32 percent of the income of a low income household. The study also found about 60 percent of our food budget is spent on foods that are not in the core food groups.”

Ms Jorgensen said remote areas of Victoria were more likely to have limited access to these healthier foods. 

“While basic nourishing foods are available, they might no longer be very fresh and there might not be a wide variety of nourishing foods to choose from,” she said. 

“Many people in rural and remote areas tend to want to support businesses in their local towns, which can limit their diet if those businesses are limited in the foods from the core food groups that they offer.”

Ms Jorgensen said small steps were key to making more conscious health decisions.  

“Try one thing at a time. Build from what you already like and what you already include in your diet,” she said. 

“Look at the meals you’re already having and aim to include vegies, or more of them. Be aware of foods promoted as ‘superfoods’, or similar, as they tend to have a high price tag, however, there’s always other foods that provide the same nutrients for a much lower cost. Foods from the core food groups are GST-free.”

Health promotion officer Nick Wakeling added the way in which food was marketed also contributed to how people shopped. 

He said supermarkets tend to place discounts on ‘discretionary foods’ – foods which do not contribute any essential nutrients to our diets. 

“Discretionary foods are often on special making them seem good value. Core and fresh foods don’t often have price promotions,” he said. 

The entire June 24, 2020 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire June 24, 2020 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!