The 5 Australian Guide to Healthy Eating

Before discussing healthy eating¹, we must know what is the Australian guide to healthy eating, right? What exactly does this mean? In simple words, the Australian dietary guidelines refer to a food selection guide to healthy eating where the five food groups are recommended to tell you what you have to consume every day.

The recommended food selection guide, which is good for our health and well-being, is provided in Australian dietary guidelines, which are based on developed good quality research.

If you follow the dietary pattern recommended in the Australian guide to healthy eating, you will get to know about the nutrients which are essential for good health and also help you to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity², heart problems³, diabetes⁴, or cancer.

How Do Our Food Choices Affect Us?

If we talk about Australia, this is a great nation that has the accessibility of nutritious foods in a wide variety and is also very affordable. If you choose your food and drinks as per the recommendations in the Australian dietary guidelines, you will be healthier and more fit.

But the Australians who are living in the rural areas somehow face difficulties accessing healthy food, especially perishable things like fruits and vegetables.

People prefer to choose cheap food instead of choosing healthy food. But if you want to be healthier you must follow this Australian guide to healthy eating.

Things that most Australians should eat.

1. If we talk about any healthy eating habits or food, the name of vegetables and fruits comes first. Especially green vegetables such as broccoli, beans, spinach or carrot, capsicum, and sweet potato.
2. Wholegrain cereals should take second place. The food contains high fiber, such as oats, rice, or whole-meal bread.
3. Having more and more water should be considered as a priority If you are spoiling your health through energy drinks, soft drinks, or alcohol. This Australian guide to healthy eating has so much importance to those who want to make their mind and body fit and healthy.
4. Most Australians are advised to eat fish, eggs, poultry, and nuts instead of it, they spoil their health by eating red meat.
5. And in all milk products, that substance has reduced fat like milk, cheese, or yogurt.

Things that most Australians should not eat.

The list is too long to share as in short, you can take its meaning from junk food. I am going to point out some of these:

1. Fried non-veg food especially processed meat such as meat-pie, salami, bacon, ham, sausage rolls, fried fish, or heavy-fats burgers.
2. Savory snacks like chips, biscuits, cookies, or highly spicy nuts.
3. Desserts such as ice cream, chocolate, muffins, cakes, or muesli bars.
4. Jam, honey, cream, or butter.
5. Drinks like wine, beer, or highly sugar-loaded soft drinks.

You must be attentive while following this Australian guide to healthy eating.

Australian Dietary Guidelines

In this guide to healthy eating, we are going to discuss and simplify the summary in brief as given below:

The first guideline for healthy eating

If you want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and to meet your physical needs, it is very essential to choose nutritious foods and drinks to be physically active.

• Sufficient nutritious foods are important to grow and develop naturally for children and adults.
• For older people, it is important to have only nutritious food to maintain strong muscle and to prevent weight gain.
• You must eat slowly and enjoy a healthy breakfast.
• If you are stepping out to have different types of foods, it is better to choose steamed or grilled food. That would be the better option.
• Being physically active is also necessary to have a healthy and fit body as per the Australian guide to healthy eating.

The second guideline for healthy eating

You should have a wide variety of different foods from these five food groups that you should have every day in this healthy eating Australian guide.

• You should have plenty of vegetables which can be of different types of colors.
• All types of fruits.
• Whole grains with high fiber varieties such as oats, quinoa, barley, bread, etc.
• Lean meats, fish, poultry, tofu are beneficial to have.
• Dairy products; milk, cheese, yogurt mostly reduced fat.
• as per the Australian dietary guidelines, it is important to eat at home to have a healthy start.

The third guideline for healthy eating

You must limit yourself to food that contains added sugars, saturated fats, added salt, or alcohol according to the Australian guide to healthy eating.

• Food that contains high saturated fat is not made for good health. You must avoid biscuits, cakes, pies, cookies, and saturated meat. And commercial junk food such as pizza, burgers, potato chips, fried food, and all kind of savory snacks.

• According to the Australian guide to healthy eating, it would be beneficial to replace high saturated fat like palm oil, coconut oil, cream, butter with food that contains predominately polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as avocado, peanut butter. You must include it in your diet to be healthier and disease-free.
• Low-fat food is not suitable for children especially those who are under 2 years as per the Australian guide to healthy eating.
• You must read labels before consuming food that has lower sodium or no added salt or added sugars, and you must double-check the packaging If you are a fan of traditional Australian food.
• If drinking alcohol is in your daily needs, you must limit intake. And if you are pregnant or planning to expect, make sure to choose your priorities.

The fourth guideline for healthy eating

Breastfeeding: Encourage, Support, Promote

• Infant feeding guidelines say to encourage breastfeeding. It is equally important to promote it and to support it.
• Breast milk has all the nutrients such as vitamins, minerals which is the best thing for the body and the brain of the children.

• The infant feeding guidelines say to feed the breast milk for around the first six months of life.
• You will be surprised to know that breastfeeding is important and healthy for the mother as well as the child.
• As per the Australian dietary guidelines, it is the most important factor.
• The Australian guide to healthy eating emphasizes breastfeeding for babies.

The fifth guideline for healthy eating

Care for your food; it is important to prepare and store the food safely.

• The food must be prepared hygienically, and it is equally important to save the nutrients of the food as it must be stored as per the advice. The Australian guide to healthy eating advises having more nutritious food.
• Before buying any packaged food, you must check the “best before” or “use-by” dates. For healthy eating as per the guidelines.
• You must keep your refrigerator and freezer clean and must be attentive to the left-over or shriveled vegetables.
• You must not allow raw meat or seafood, which can be proven dangerous to health.

Final thought

This Australian guide to healthy eating emphasizes producing health benefits, it becomes essential to combine food according to the Australian dietary guidelines. It is a matter of concern that a few people eat the same way they must, for the rest of the people, it is a necessity to follow the Australian guide to healthy eating.

1. Willett, Walter C., and Meir J. Stampfer. “Current evidence on healthy eating.” Annual review of public health 34 (2013): 77-95. ↩︎
2. Brewer, Christopher J., and Adam H. Balen. “Focus on obesity.” Reproduction 140.3 (2010): 347-64. ↩︎
3. Eriksson, H. “Heart failure: a growing public health problem.” Journal of internal medicine 237.2 (1995): 135-141. ↩︎
4. National Diabetes Data Group (US), et al. Diabetes in America. No. 95. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 1995. ↩︎