The supermarket aisles are full of bright colours and confusing labels. High protein! Low-carb! Sugar-free!
You could spend hours comparing products, and deciding what’s for dinner. What do you buy? What’s a portion? Do you focus on salt or sugar? Carbs or fat?
It’s exhausting and to be honest, more complicated than what it needs to be.
So to make it easier, here are my favourite pictures and hacks (because who doesn’t love a good picture!).
#1 Healthy Eating Pyramid
This pyramid is beautiful and you get the messages of healthy eating from a simple glance. It was updated last year (definitely for the better), and I shared all my thoughts what I love about the new pyramid.
The focus is on the plant based foods, herbs and spice, water and healthy fats.
#2 Australian Dietary Guidelines
It’s based on thousands of nutrition studies and summarised here with a simple picture.
This is the back bone of healthy eating. As I’ve explained earlier, it takes us back to basics. If you’re keen to dive into the guidelines further, everything can be found over at Eat For Health.
#3 Healthy Plate Model
What makes a healthy lunch or dinner? This is a good guide.
Whether your dinner actually looks like this, it doesn’t really matter. Working towards this framework of 1/2 veggies, 1/4 lean protein, 1/4 good carbs is best – even if that just means adding a few extra carrots in your meal. More veggies are better.
The Healthy Food Guide’s explains it further here.
For kids, it’s a little different (1/3 for each section).
#4 Portions with Hands
I love a good hack – and using your hands is a great way of estimate portion sizes (and estimate how many serves of veggies you’re eating).
Using hands to estimate portion sizes of food is easy, accurate and reliable. It goes through all food groups and even common treat foods (hello chocolate!). Thanks to the Healthy Food Guide, you can download it the full poster here.
And generally speaking, 1 closed hand = 1/2 cup, 2 closed hand= 1 cup.
This is great to measure veggies as 1 serve = 1/2 cup cooked or 1 serve = 1 cup salad.
#5 Reading Labels
This is the guide to read nutrition labels.
This colour-coded wallet card is helpful if you want to know if that breakfast cereal or yoghurt is an everyday food. If it’s orange or green option, it’s an everyday food.
#6 Bristol Stool Chart
While the stool chart isn’t about healthy eating directly, stools tell us quite a bit about our diet.
We’re aiming for type 3-4. You don’t need to go daily (that’s a myth), but it should be soft and easy to pass. If you’re hanging around type 1-2, you may need to check that you’re getting enough water, fibre and exercise (the essentials for good bowel habits!).
If you’ve had changes in bowel habits, or are concerned for any reason – always check with your GP or dietitian.
#7 Urine Colour Chart
If you’re wondering if you’re drinking enough, check your pee. Your body doesn’t lie!
Here’s a simple guide from NSW Health:
Here is a detailed one (from Clevland Clinic), and I love it. It sums up everything urine could tell us and it’s simple (and yes, watch out for that beetroot!).
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Some of these are on my fridge, in my wallet, or stored in my head. No matter where I am, these all make healthy eating easier.
I’ve missed any awesome pictures/infographics that you love, please let share it with us – the more the better!
If you found this helpful, please share it with your friends.
Lana Hirth Dietitian 
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