Guidelines for healthy eating and the 5 food groups
Following the dietary guidelines helps you get enough of the nutrients you need for good health and reduces your risk of disease at all ages and stages of life.
The benefits of healthy eating
Healthy eating can support good health and wellbeing throughout your life.
In the short term, healthy eating can help you have:
- better focus and concentration
- better sleep, mood and mental health
- better immune and digestive function
- more energy for work and play.
It can also help you build healthy habits.
Over the long term, healthy eating can help you:
- feel better, enjoy life more and live longer
- lower your risk of many diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes
- reach and stay at a healthy weight.
Learn more about getting started with healthy eating.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines
With a lot of information out there about what to eat, it can be hard to know what’s right. To help people make healthy eating choices, the Australian Government developed the Australian Dietary Guidelines. These guidelines provide advice about the amount and types of foods we should try to eat every day, and which foods we should try to eat less of. They are based on good evidence about eating and health.
Following the dietary guidelines helps you get enough of the nutrients you need for good health and reduces your risk of disease.
Nutrients are substances found in food that the body uses to stay healthy and work at its best. Examples include vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and fibre.
Here’s a summary of what the dietary guidelines recommend.
For good health and wellbeing, try to eat different types of food from the 5 food groups every day. The 5 food groups are:
- vegetables and legumes or beans
- fruit
- grain(cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and high-fibre varieties
- lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds and legumes or beans
- milk, yoghurt, cheese (and plant based alternatives with added calcium).
Tip: Each day try to eat a fruit or vegetable from the colours of the rainbow.
Visit Eat for Health to learn more about the 5 food groups.
Find ideas for fast, easy meals using foods from the 5 food groups in our healthy recipe library. They’re all delicious and based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
‘Sometimes’ foods and drinks (also known as ‘discretionary foods’ or ‘occasional foods’) aren’t part of the 5 food groups because our bodies don’t need them. They are mostly low in nutrients and high in added salt (sodium), added sugars and saturated fats.
‘Sometimes’ foods and drinks include:
- sweet and savoury pastries
- hot hips or crisps
- chocolates
- ice creams
- processed meats
- cakes, muffins and biscuits
- sugar-sweetened drinks like soft drinks, energy drinks or fruit drinks
- lollies, sweets or candy
- alcoholics drinks.
For good health, aim to have these foods and drinks only occasionally, and in small amounts. If you’d like to reduce how many of these foods you or your family eat, find ideas for healthy meal and snack alternatives.
To find out how healthy the food you’re buying is, you can:
- check the Health Star Rating of packaged foods – the more stars, the healthier the choice
- read food labels – these give you information about the nutrition and ingredients in packaged food and drink. Learn more about ‘sometimes’ foods and drinks at Eat for Health.
Your nutritional needs can change depending on your stage of life and what's happening in your body. To find out how much you should try and eat from each food group each day, enter your sex and age into the Eat for Health Food Calculator. This calculator has been developed with the Australian Dietary Guidelines to help you work out what’s right for you and your family.
If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you have slightly different needs. Infants, children, teens and older adults also have different needs.
Find out more about healthy eating:
- while you’re pregnant or breastfeeding
- for older adults
- for infants, children and teenagers.
Visit Eat for Health for more information about healthy eating through all of life.
Drinking enough water every day helps your body to work properly. For example, it helps you to:
- absorb nutrients
- fight infection
- move freely
- keep your temperature steady
- get rid of waste from your body.
Even in small amounts, alcohol can be harmful to your health. Learn more about how alcohol can affect your health or visit Your Room for more information.
Eating food that’s gone off can make you sick. To reduce this risk, it’s important to prepare and store your food safely.
Learn more about food safety and storage.