6.4 promoting healthy eating in Australia

Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADGs):

• Developed by the NHMRC, they offer evidence-based advice to promote health and reduce the risk of diet-related diseases. There are five guidelines focusing on energy balance, consuming the five food groups, limiting saturated fats/salt/sugar/alcohol, promoting breastfeeding, and food safety.

Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE):

• A visual food selection tool that represents Guidelines 2 and 3 of the ADGs. It shows the five food groups in a plate format, the proportions they should be eaten in, and highlights foods to eat in small amounts or only sometimes. Water intake is also promoted.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating:

• Adapted from the AGHE, this guide includes traditional foods such as bush fruits and native meats, promoting cultural relevance. It presents the five food groups in proper proportions, encourages water, and limits discretionary foods.

How does australian dietary guidelines work?

• Provide detailed written recommendations for food intake based on age, sex, life stage, and health status. They help people plan healthy diets, reduce chronic disease risk, and maintain healthy weight.

How does Australian Guide to Healthy Eating work

• Acts as a practical visual guide for consumers to make daily food choices aligned with the ADGs. Easy to understand, but doesn’t show serving sizes or composite foods (e.g. pizza).

How does Aborignal and torres strait islander guide work

• Works similarly to AGHE but is more culturally inclusive, increasing relevance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by reflecting traditional food choices.

The dietary guidelines have been developed to provide advice relating to the types and amounts of foods, food groups and dietary patterns that will help Australians to:

• develop healthy dietary patterns that will promote health and wellbeing in the community

• reduce the risk of developing a range of diet-related conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and impaired glucose regulation

• reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

Guide 1

To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs.

• Children and adolescents should eat sufficient nutritious foods to grow and develop normally. They should be physically active every day and their growth should be checked regularly.

• Older people should eat nutritious foods and keep physically active to help maintain muscle strength and a healthy weight.

Guideline 2

Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the following five groups every day and drink plenty of water.

• plenty of vegetables, including different types and colours, and legumes/beans

• fruit

• grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties, such as breads, 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 (reduced fat milks are not suitable for children under the age of two)

Guideline 3

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 that contain predominantly saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods that contain predominantly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/pastes and avocado.

  • Low-fat diets are not suitable for children under the age of two .

• 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 confectionery, 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.

Guideline 4

Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding.

Guideline 5

Care for your food; prepare and store it safely.

Strengths of the australian dietary guildelines

The guidelines are available for free download from the Eat Well website, meaning that cost doesn’t act as a barrier to accessing this resource.

Limations

The guidelines are only available in English, making them difficult for those from non-English-speaking backgrounds to follow.

Australian guide to healthy eating grain foods

Grain foods such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta should account for around 30–35 per cent of total daily food intake. These foods are high in carbohydrates, which provide fuel for energy production, and high in fibre, which assists with weight management and maintenance of digestive health.

Strengths of food selection models

The guides provide a visual presentation of Australian Guidelines 2 and 3. This can make it easier for people to understand and therefore follow.

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limitations

The guides show the proportions in which the five food groups should be consumed but do not provide information on serving sizes or numbers, which may mean that people consume too much or not enough food overall.