Two-thirds of Australian adults and a quarter of kids are overweight. Diet and obesity are the heaviest burdens on the health system. On top of that, average sugar intake is at least twice the recommended amount.
But believe it or not, the Australian diet was actually a picture of health… until processed food came along.
Yep, it’s pretty amazing how much things can change in just 200 years. Is it time we changed them back?!
50,000 years ago: The traditional Australian diet was virtually perfect.
Indigenous Australians had a diet that today’s experts would applaud. Historians believe that, before Australia’s invasion, Aboriginal people ate around 80 per cent vegetables, treasured fatty meat cuts and ate very little sugar.
1780–1860s: The British introduced wheat, meat and sugar.
The penal colony arrived with its own produce, importing things like tea, sugar and rabbits to maintain a British lifestyle. In 1862, they established the first sugar cane plantation in Brisbane to profit off increasing demands for the sweet stuff.
1920s: Australia gets a sweet tooth.
The 1920s gave birth to Cherry Ripe, Minties and Violet Crumble, as well as recipes for fairy bread, lamingtons, ANZAC biscuits and pavlova (though New Zealand may claim the latter!).
1960–1980: Convenience reigns supreme.
The establishment of Coles and Woolworths in 1960 kicked off a new era of convenience and consumerism for food. Fast food companies were quick to capitalise and sprung up everywhere from the 1970s. Hungry Jack’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Red Rooster had all launched in the space of a decade.
1980s: Advertisers demonise fats.
Fear of fat began trickling down from the U.S. market. Enter skim milk, low-fat dairy and lots of margarine! In fact, the anti-fat messaging was so strong that margarine outsold butter three to one by 1994. (Thankfully, today we know that fats aren’t necessarily bad for us!)
1995: Childhood obesity more than doubles.
Between 1985 and 1995, the number of overweight and obese Australian children had more than doubled. While experts are debating what is causing the continued rise in obesity, they know that junk food is a huge factor.
2000s: Soft drink bubbles up.
In 2002, sobering statistics showed that Australians drank an average of 113 litres of soft drink per person, per year. This put us at sixth in the world!
2016: We eat up to 38 teaspoons of sugar a day.
The average Aussie consumes at least 14 teaspoons of sugar a day (which is still too much). Yet some demographics like teenage boys have around 38 teaspoons a day. And experts believe this is why obesity, chronic illness and tooth decay are epidemic in Australia.
Processed food has wrought havoc on the Indigenous community, too. Indigenous Australians are three times more likely to get diabetes than the rest of the population, while more than a quarter of Indigenous Australians are considered obese.
But while all this seems kind of depressing, there is hope in sight. If we can return to unprocessed foods, healthy fats and lots of vegetables (JERF!), we could stop the downfall of Australia’s diet in its tracks.
After all, Australians thrived on real food for more than 50,000 years!
Are you shocked by how much the Australian diet has changed?
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