According to Australian chef and media personality, Peter Howard, the food service industry and food media have a responsibility to show the home-cook that healthy food can taste fantastic and be good for you.

"Australia is facing a health crisis," Mr Howard said.

"One in four Australian adults suffer from diabetes, 54 per cent of Australian adults are overweight or obese, and cardiovascular disease accounted for 36pc of all deaths in Australia in 2004.

"Both chefs in state-of-the-art kitchens and parents at home have a duty of care to ensure that their meals are part of the solution and not the problem."

Mr Howard, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2004 following years of 'succeeding by excess', says maintaining a low GI diet is the key to sustaining overall good health.

A low GI diet involves eating foods that contain carbohydrates that breakdown slowly during digestion, such as wholemeal pasta and fresh pears.

Research suggests following a low GI diet reduces the risk of heart disease and blood cholesterol and improves diabetes control.

"Look at Nigella Lawson, she is a fantastic British chef, but even her own husband had to stop eating her food to lose weight," Mr Howard said.

Jennie Brand-Miller, professor of human nutrition at the University of Sydney and former president of the Nutrition Society of Australia, agrees with Mr Howard that a balanced low GI diet is the key to healthy wellbeing.

"Large studies into the impact of low GI have clearly demonstrated the positive affect that this lifestyle choice has on overall health," Ms Brand-Miller said.

"The worst way to manage health through diet is to start counting calories and reduce the amount of food being eaten," she said.

"It is best to be choosy about what you eat, rather than simply reduce the amount you are eating.