The rise of a snack nation

Fuelling a global movement of good

Daniel is an Innovative Pharmacist with a PHD in Health Leadership from Sydney University. He is the Research Director at Do Good Labs, a mindful snack company that has launched one of Australia’s largest mental wellbeing initiatives, and now wants to help ‘change the world’.

Why is snacking trending?

The ‘three meals a day’ model is changing globally and so is light snacking between meals. Busy lifestyles mean that 1 in 3 people have started replacing meals with snacks on the go. Millennials currently snack about four times a day( and supermarkets have

1) developed better-for-you snacking strategies to prevent calorie blowouts. The CSIRO

Healthy Diet Score report showed that Australian’s have about 20 discretionary foods each week e.g. cakes, meat pies, sausage rolls, wines, beers, soft drinks, chocolates and chips, which accounts for about one-third of our energy intake( 2).

What did you learn from working in community pharmacies?

We’re struggling to find time to disconnect and think about our wellbeing, which seems to be contributing to an unprecedented level of burnout. Working in community pharmacies, I saw firsthand the increase of mental health scripts. Sadly, mental illness silently affects 1 in 2 people during their lives( 3).

How is Do Good Labs changing Health?

We started Do Good Labs to advocate mindful eating. Each time we snack is an opportunity to take a moment from our busy lives and focus on improving our wellbeing. This covers everything from living an active lifestyle, eating in moderation – such as caloriecontrolled snacks – or looking after the people in our inner circle through acts of kindness( 4). Airlines help us motivate millions of guests through the important wellbeing messages on the back of each packet to check-in with a friend and have a profound moment of connection.

Tell us about the Do Good Movement?

Proceeds from every snack go to projects that improve mental health in the community. With the help of Ozharvest, here in Australia, we were able to donate 20,000 snacks to families who, for a whole lot of reasons, have fallen through the cracks. To energise our brave firefighters, we donated 10,000 snacks as a token of our sincere appreciation. We also created delicious bespoke bars to raise awareness around mental health and donated $20,000 to R U OK? and Black Dog Institute. Together we have raised mental health awareness to millions of people, and this is just the beginning. Thank you!

TRAVEL HEALTH RANGE LAUNCHING MARCH 2020

Learn more at Dogoodlabs.com.au