Foodwatch | Australian Guide to Healthy Eating

Australian Guide to Healthy Eating

The Australian Guide for Healthy Eating provides healthy eating information for Australians four years and over, including the types and amounts of foods that need to be eaten each day to obtain the nutrients essential for good health and well-being. It's used as the basis for all sorts of dietary recommendations so it's well worth reading.

Background

Until the early 1990s, the Five Food Groups were Australia's food selection guide and dated back to the 1940's. They were reviewed as a result of increasing concern over the diseases of poor food consumption (heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, osteoporosis and tooth decay).

Documents used as the basis for the development of the AGHE were:

• Dietary guidelines for Australians
• Dietary guidelines for children and adolescents
• Recommended dietary intakes for use in Australia
• The role of polyunsaturated fats in the Australian diet.

Development of the Core Food Groups was the first step in the development of the Guide, followed by the Review of Food Selection Guides in Australia.

 

There are 6 main food groups in the AGHE:

 

1. Bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles

Foods in this group come from grains like wheat, oats, rice, rye, barley, millet and corn. These grains can be eaten whole, made into breakfast cereals or ground into flour to make grain foods like bread, pasta and noodles.

This food group is rich in the B vitamins folate , thiamin, riboflavin and Niacin . It also provides carbohydrate and fibre - wholemeal varieties are richer in fibre than refined.

Each day, you need 3 to 12 serves.

One serve means:
2 slices of bread
1 medium bread roll
1 cup cooked rice, pasta or noodles
1 cup porridge,1 1/3 cup breakfast cereal flakes or ½ cup muesli

2. Vegetables, legumes

Vegetables come from many different parts of the plant including the leaves, root, tubers, flowers, stems, seeds and shoots. Legumes are the seeds of plants from the Legumiosae family. They may be eaten in the immature form as green peas and beans or in the mature form as dried peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas.

Foods in this group are good sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and carbohydrate.

Each day, you need 2 to 9 serves.

One serve means:
75 grams or ½ cup cooked vegetables
75 grams or ½ cup cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
1 cup salad vegetables
1 potato

3. Fruit

Formed from the flower of the plant, fruit contains the seeds. The sweetness of fruit is due to the presence of its fruit sugars. Foods in this group are a good source of vitamins especially vitamin C and the B vitamin folate.

Each day, you need 1 to 5 serves.

One serve means:
1 medium piece eg apple, banana, orange, pear
2 small pieces eg apricots, kiwi fruit, plums
1 cup diced pieces or canned fruit

4. Milk, yoghurt, cheese

The important foods from this group are milk, yoghurt and cheese. Choices within this food group can be made on a variety of factors, including fat content.This food group is an excellent source of calcium .

The amount need from this group each day ranges from 2 to 5 serves.

One serve is:
250 ml (1 cup) fresh, long-life or reconstituted milk
½ cup evaporated milk
40g cheese (2 slices)
200g (1 small carton) yoghurt
250 ml (1 cup) custard

5. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes

This group is made up of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and nut pastes, legumes and seeds such as sunflower and sesame. This food group is a good source of protein, niacin and vitamin B12 and a particularly good source of the minerals iron and zinc .

Each day, you need from ½ to 2 serves.

One serve means:
65-100 g cooked meat or chicken eg ½ cup lean mince, 2 small chops or 2 slices roast meat.
½ cup cooked beans, lentils, chickpeas, split peas or canned beans
80-100g cooked fish fillet
1/3 cup peanuts or almonds
¼ cup sunflower seeds or sesame seeds

6. Extra foods

Foods that don't fit into the above five food groups are not essential to the body's needs. These ‘extra' foods add to the enjoyment of a healthy diet but can also contribute large amounts of kilojoules (Calories). For this reason not everybody needs extra foods every day.

Extra foods include:
Doughnuts
Sweet biscuits
Cake
Chocolate
Meat pies or pasties
Hot chips
Ice cream
Fats such as mayonnaise, butter, margarine, oil
Alcohol

To eat a healthy diet

1. Eat enough food from each of the food groups every day
2. Choose different varieties of foods from within each of the groups from day to day, week to week and at different times of the year.
3. Eat plenty of plant foods and moderate amounts of animal foods (milk, yoghurt, cheese, meat, fish, poultry and eggs) in the proportions shown by the guide; and small amounts of the extra foods, and margarines and oils.
4. Drink plenty of water.

Need more information?

Try the following site:

Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-food-guide-index.htm

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/n33.pdf

This site has material for consumers and health professionals including many downloadable pdfs.

 

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