Nutrition
Healthy eating
The Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating provide advice about the amounts and kinds of foods that you need to eat for health and wellbeing.
Australian Dietary Guidelines
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To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs.
- Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from these 5 food groups every day:
- Plenty of vegetables, including different types and colours, and legumes (e.g. beans)
- Fruit
- Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain or high-cereal-fibre varieties, such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, polenta, couscous, oats, quinoa and barley
- Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans
- Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat.
- Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol:
- Limit intake of foods high in saturated fat such as many biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips, crisps and other savoury snacks.
- Replace high fat foods which contain predominately saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods which contain predominately polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/pastes and avocado.
- Low fat diets are not suitable for children younger than 2 years.
- Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added salt.
- Read labels to choose lower sodium options among similar foods.
- Do not add salt to foods in cooking or at the table.
- Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added sugars such as confectionary, sugar-sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks.
- If you choose to drink alcohol, limit intake. For women who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.
- Limit intake of foods high in saturated fat such as many biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips, crisps and other savoury snacks.
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Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding. Breast milk is the ideal food for infant growth and development. Breastfeeding provides many benefits for mothers as well as infants, both now and into the future. We can all play a part to help everyone see that breastfeeding is the natural, normal and healthy way to feed our babies. But all mothers and families need support, no matter what feeding choices they make for their babies.
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Care for your food; prepare and store it safely. We have a reliable, safe and nutritious food supply in Australia. But food poisoning happens too frequently. All foods, and particularly fresh foods, need to be transported, stored and prepared properly to avoid contamination. This is particularly important when you are preparing food to eat later.
What is a serve?
| Food group | What is a serve? |
|---|---|
| Vegetables and legumes/beans |
A standard serve of vegetables is about 75g (100–350kJ) or:
When choosing canned varieties of vegetables, legumes and beans choose varieties with no added salt. |
| Fruit |
A standard serve of fruit is about 150g (350kJ) or:
Or only occasionally:
|
| Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain or high cereal fibre varieties |
A standard serve (500kJ) is:
|
| Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, legumes/ beans |
A standard serve (500–600kJ) is:
|
| Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat |
A standard serve (500–600kJ) is:
|
How many serves should I eat?
The number of serves you should eat from each food group varies depending on your age, lifestyle, gender and other life stages like pregnancy or breastfeeding.
| Age (years) | Vegetables and legumes/beans | Fruit | Grain (cereal) foods | Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans | Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | 2–3 | 2.5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1.5 |
| 4–8 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 2 | |
| 9–11 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |
| 12–13 | 5.5 | 2 | 6 | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| 14–18 | 5.5 | 2 | 7 | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| 19–50 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2.5 | |
| 51–70 | 5.5 | 2 | 6 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |
| 70+ | 5 | 2 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| Females | 2–3 | 2.5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1.5 |
| 4–8 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| 9–11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2.5 | 3 | |
| 12–13 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| 14–18 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| Pregnant (up to 18 years) | 5 | 2 | 8 | 3.5 | 3.5 | |
| Breastfeeding (up to 18 years) | 5.5 | 2 | 9 | 2.5 | 4 | |
| 19–50 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |
| 51–70 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | |
| 70+ | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | |
| Pregnant (19–50 years) | 5 | 2 | 8.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | |
| Breastfeeding (19–50 years) | 7.5 | 2 | 9 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
An allowance for unsaturated spreads and oils for cooking, or nuts and seeds can be included in the following quantities:
- 4–5g per day for children 2–3 years of age
- 7–10g per day for children 3–12 years of age
- 11–15g per day for children 12–13 years of age
- 14–20g per day for adolescents 14–18 years of age
- 28–40g per day for men less than 70 years of age
- 14–20g per day for women and older men
These recommended intakes will provide all nutrients required for the average person. Taller or more active adults (who are not overweight) and children who are not overweight but are taller, more active or older in their age band may need extra food from the 5 food groups, unsaturated spreads and oils, or discretionary choices.
To find out what is right for you, you can consult a dietitian.
Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
The Australian Dietary Guidelines help you choose wisely from the wide range of foods and drinks now available in Australia. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating summarises this information using images.
