The Australian Dietary Guidelines Unpacked
Most of us have heard of the Australian Dietary Guidelines (or the ADG’s as we nutrition students like to call them), but if you haven’t here’s a quick rundown of what they are and why we need them.¹
The ADG’s are a set of recommendations based on what foods, and more specifically what food groups, we should all be eating from day to day. They are based on scientific evidence and aim to help us all achieve good health and wellbeing (from a nutrition perspective, of course). They have also been created to help guide our way of eating so that we can provide our bodies with all the nutrients they need to function optimally. Doesn’t that sound so lovely! By following the advice, we can help to reduce our risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
So here they are, the 5 dietary guidelines:
- 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 five food groups every day:
– Plenty of vegetables of different types and colours, and legumes/beans
– Fruit
– Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/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
– And drink plenty of water - Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol
- Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding
- Care for your food; prepare and store it safely
Now let’s unpack these guidelines, starting with Guideline 1.
This one (no pun intended) is about weight maintenance. Basically, we need to move these glorious bodies of ours in a way that makes us feel good every day and also make sure that we are adequately fuelling ourselves too.
So, how do you adequately fuel yourself, you ask? Let’s look at Guidelines 2 and 3.
Every single piece of food has something to give to us – nutrients! They also give us energy and enjoyment and can influence our health and wellbeing. When we eat, we want to include a diverse range of different foods across the five food groups to help keep our bodies happy.
For adults aged 19 – 50, here’s how many serves you should be eating each day:
Table 1. Recommended Number of Serves Per Day from the Five Food Groups for Adults 19 – 50
| Men | Women | |
| Vegetables (including legumes and beans) | 6 | 5 |
| Fruit | 2 | 2 |
| Grains | 6 | 6 |
| Lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts & seeds, beans and legumes | 3 | 2 ½ |
| Dairy and alternatives | 2 ½ | 2 ½ |
A single serving from each group varies depending on the specific type of food it is. For example, one serve of vegetables is equivalent to ½ a medium potato or 1 cup of leafy greens. If you are curious about what makes a serving, we recommend looking through the AGD Summary linked at the bottom of this post.
It is worth noting that these recommendations have been based on men and women of average height with low to moderate activity levels. This means that for those who are taller and more active, additional serves from these five groups will be required to meet your energy needs. These additional serves may also come from discretionary choices when considered carefully.
So, guideline 2 tells us what we should be eating regularly, while guideline 3 tells us what we shouldn’t. This is mostly referring to discretionary foods, which are characteristically higher in kilojoules, saturated fat, salt and sugar, and are low in nutrients. Some examples include sausages, ice cream, processed meat, butter, salty chips and crackers, soft drink and alcoholic beverages. So, while they are delicious, they don’t serve much purpose other than simply being yummy. This is totally fine, but it is recommended to only consume these in small amounts, sometimes.
Lastly, drink lots of water!
Moving on to Guideline 4 – the promotion of breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding infants provides them with nutritionally adequate food/fluid in their first 6 months of life. Beyond six months, breastfeeding is definitely still encouraged as other foods are introduced into the baby’s diet.
Why is it so good? Breastfeeding has been shown to increase health outcomes of infants across the lifespan from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. Not only that, but it also has benefits for the mother as well, such as helping recovery after giving birth.
And finally, Guideline 5 – care for your food; prepare and store it safely. Luckily for you, our dear readers, we have prepared another blog post on this point, which you can find here.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the Australian Dietary Guidelines. You can access the full Guidelines Summary¹ if you wish to explore them further. Just remember, food is meant to be joyful, delicious and nutritious, so we hope you go and try out some of our recipes that we have selected to show you just how great food can be!
* If you have any pre-existing medical conditions that require you to follow specific dietary interventions, please follow the advice of your health care professional.
References
- National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Dietary Guidelines Summary[Internet]. 2013 [cited 2021 Aug 16]. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council.