So food itself provides essential nutrients for good health while the actual process of planning, cooking, and eating food can provide a lot of enjoyment at this time and a connection to culture.

[How can I boost my family's immune system?]

Try to eat a variety of food from the five core food groups every day.

These foods will provide the body with essential nutrients to help kids grow, develop and maintain a strong immune system.

[Do I need to give my kids vitamins or supplements?]

Most Australian children do not need to take a nutritional supplement.

If your child is on a restricted diet or they have a specific medical condition, supplements may be needed.

Otherwise, all the nutrients we need is in the food that we eat, and the body best absorbs the nutrients from food itself rather than from supplements.

[What about portion size?]

During the pandemic people might not be as active as they usually are.

Rather than focusing on reducing portion sizes, I encourage people to focus on what foods they should be eating more of.

So filling your plate with fresh vegetables at higher nutrients and low in energy or kilojoules will leave less room for foods your body needs less of such as meat pies or creamy pastas.

[What are some healthy snack suggestions to help fight boredom?]

My advice around snacks would be try to minimise the amount of highly processed snacks you have in the house such as crisps, biscuits, muesli bars things that are really easy to grab and eat, and have some healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, nuts, seeds or some pre-boiled eggs.

If you're at home and you're bored and need a break, my advice would be, start to brainstorm things that you can do that aren't related to food and also try and have structured meal time so you're not feeling hungry between meals.

[How can I get my family engaged in nutrition?]

Your child may not like specific foods and that's okay.

Continuing to have those foods in the house and seeing you or their siblings eat them will increase their exposure so they become more familiar and comfortable around the look and the smell of those foods.

Your job as a parent or a carer is to decide what foods you are offering your kids at what time.

Your child's role is to decide how much they eat and on some days, they might not eat as much.