The healthier choice your children will love!

Healtheries® and The Wiggles have teamed up to provide parents with a range of products specially developed for children 1 to 5 years.

The Healtheries The Wiggles range not only tastes great but is:

Nutritious - based on criteria developed by experts
Portion Controlled - come in sensible serve sizes
Educational - provide information about balanced eating and healthy food choices

Products are manufactured following Australian and New Zealand Standards and in consideration of the environment.

The Healtheries and The Wiggles are keen to promote healthy eating habits for children, by developing a broad range of healthier packaged food products that children will still love to eat.

The Healtheries The Wiggles range:

is portion controlled
uses wholegrain where possible
is lower salt, sugar and fat
uses natural colours and flavours
avoids preservatives
is nut free where possible

The Wiggles and Nutrition

The Wiggles nutrition philosophy is to promote healthy eating behaviours in young children, while recognising that food can be tasty and fun. Establishing good eating habits early in life can provide the basis for food selection and dietary intake in older children, adolescents and adults. Young children have unique nutritional needs that must meet the demands of growth and development as well as daily activity. Learning to eat different food is also an important part of discovering the world around.

The Wiggles have shown an ongoing commitment to ensuring that positive messages about food and exercise are provided to both young children and their parents and carers. Over the years, The Wiggles have promoted healthy lifestyle messages through their songs (‘Fruit Salad’, ‘Vegetable Soup’, ‘Lettuce Sing’, ‘Getting Strong’), videos, books, sponsorship partners (Australian Apples, Dairy), promotional arrangements (Boost Juice), consumable food products and cafés at their play centres and Wiggles Worlds (theme parks). In 2002, The Wiggles began working collaboratively with Accredited Practising Dietitian, Dr Fiona Pelly, to ensure that their nutrition messages were appropriate for their young audiences. As early childhood educators and entertainers, The Wiggles recognise the importance of keeping fit and healthy. The Wiggles have supported research investigating suitable nutrition labelling and better food choice in young children and their parents. Furthermore, all the menus at the Wiggly Play Centres have been developed to provide a balance between healthy eating and treat food for parties.

As some of the most trusted people in Australia¹The Wiggles have a positive influence on parents and young children and can influence the food choices they make. This has lead to the development of a process of assessing menu options, by Dr. Fiona Pelly, at the Wiggly Play Centres and Wiggles World (theme parks) cafes to ensure that the menus provide balanced meal options. The menu at the Yummy Yummy Café at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast has been specifically designed to provide healthy alternatives to both parents and young children. Furthermore, all food products that carry The Wiggles brand name undergo a rigorous process that assess the suitability for the 1-5 year old age group. Every food item must meet nutrient criteria that have been based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents² and the Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand³. Foods are categorised as those can be consumed regularly, foods that can be consumed daily in the context of a healthy balanced diet (healthier snack food alternatives) and those that should only be consumed occasionally (‘treat’ foods).

The Wiggles understanding of their young audience combined with their commitment to providing suitable messages about nutrition and exercise means that they can contribute to the well being of our future generations.

Recently, The Wiggles have formalised the communication on packaging for food products featuring The Wiggles brand. This includes communication about how a product fits into healthy balanced eating. This is clearly marked on the pack by indicating whether a product is an ‘everyday’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘occasional’ food by shading the relevant section. Read The Wiggles: Thumbs Up To Balanced Eating for more information.

everyday – fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, dairy, legumes, lean meats, fish and eggs

sometimes – snacks to be enjoyed as part of healthy balanced eating

occasional – to be enjoyed as a treat on special occasions

Parents can trust The Wiggles food products because:

They go through a very strict approvals process consisting of guidelines developed and reviewed by nutrition experts with one to five year old children in mind. These guidelines and criteria consider:

Serve and portion size appropriate for young tummies
Giving information on where this food fits into healthy balanced eating
The manufacturing process, the source of products and country of manufacture
The possibility of nut allergies and try to be nut free where possible

The Wiggles: Balanced Eating

By Dr. Fiona Pelly of the University of Sunshine Coast

‘EVERYDAY’ FOODS
Foods that are nutrient dense and can be eaten every day

Whole foods e.g. fruit and vegetables, breads, cereals, reduced fat milk, cheese, yoghurt, eggs, legumes, lean meats and fish
Excellent source of nutrients
Low in saturated fat and/or sugar and/or sodium (salt)
Do not contribute excess kilojoules

EAT EVERYDAY
EAT A VARIETY
MAKES UP THE BULK OF EVERY MEAL

‘SOMETIMES’ FOODS
Foods that can be eaten in the context of a healthy balanced diet

Processed foods with some nutritional value (e.g. sweet or savoury biscuits, snack food bars, savoury snack foods, ice cream, fruit juice, processed breakfast cereals)
May contain moderate amounts of added fat, sugar and/ or sodium.
May contain food additives
Can contribute excess kilojoules if consumed in large quantities
Convenient (they are often snack foods)

EAT SOMETIMES: NOT TO BE EATEN AT EVERY MEAL OR SNACK
AVOID LARGE SERVES
READ THE NUTRITION LABELLING CAREFULLY – CHECK FOR SMALL BUT REALISTIC SERVES, LESS INGREDIENTS AND MINIMAL SATURATED FAT, SUGAR AND SODIUM PER SERVE.

‘OCCASIONAL’ FOODS
Foods that are only eaten occasionally as treat items as they contribute little nutritional value beyond providing kilojoules.

Processed foods which lack nutritional value (e.g. soft drinks, confectionary, deep fried food, some savoury snacks and meals, some cakes, pastries and biscuits)
High in saturated fat, sugar and/ or salt
Often contain food additives
Contribute excess kilojoules
May contribute to tooth decay

TREAT FOODS : EAT OCCASIONALLY, NOT EVERY DAY
AVOID LARGE SERVES
AVOID REWARDING WITH THESE FOODS

References

Reader’s Digest. Australia’s Most Trusted List, 2009.
Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing, National Medical Research Council. Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia,
2003.
Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing, National Medical Research Council. Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand. Commonwealth of Australia, 2005