Underweight

Being underweight can make it difficult to stay healthy and may indicate that nutritional needs are not being met. Eating a variety of healthy foods each day will meet the nutritional needs of most people.

Some people have special nutritional needs that make it important to choose foods more carefully to prevent weight loss and malnutrition. These include people with:

• poor appetite
• illness increasing nutritional needs such as AIDS or cancer
• eating disorders

An Accredited Practising Dietitian can assess anyone who is underweight or has lost weight and who may be at risk of malnutrition.

Eating a variety of foods will help to meet nutritional needs. However some dietary areas that may need special attention include:

• Energy
  Energy (kilojoules) will help to promote weight gain and health
• Protein
  Protein is needed to build and repair body cells
• Vitamins and minerals
  Vitamin and mineral needs must be met for body cells and organs to stay healthy and function properly

Ideas that can help to meet nutritional needs include:

• eating small frequent meals and snacks to fit in more food throughout the day
• having full-cream milk drinks between meals
• adding more mono or poly-unsaturated oil and margarine to food in cooking
• adding skim milk powder to soups, stews and drinks
• adding grated cheese to cooked foods
• snacking on cheese and crackers, nuts and dried fruit during the day

An Accredited Practising Dietitian can provide expert nutrition and dietary advice to help meet nutritional needs and achieve a healthy weight.