Healthy eating

The food and drinks you consume each day can affect your health today, tomorrow and in the future. Good nutrition is essential for healthy growth and development in childhood, and good health and wellbeing throughout life. 

Many adults and children don’t eat enough vegetables or wholegrains and consume too many foods and drinks high in fat, sugar and/or salt resulting in health impacts.

Health impacts of unhealthy eating

Short term effects Low energy levels Difficulty concentrating Tiredness Poor sleep Feeling down or low Stress Tooth decay.

Long term effects Type 2 diabetes Some cancers Cardiovascular disease Osteoporosis Overweight and obesity.

How to eat well

The Australian Dietary Guidelines (external site) recommend eating a variety of food from the five food groups (external site) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to healthy eating (external site) for good health and to reduce the risk of developing diseases.

The five food groups

• Vegetables and legumes/beans (external site)
• Fruit (external site)
• Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties (external site)
• Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans (external site)
• Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat (external site)

These guidelines also provide information on the number of serves of the five food groups adults and children should eat every day.

Eat for Health (external site) provides information, tools and resources on healthy eating for people of all ages and life stages, including these quick links: 

• Serve sizes (external site)
• Sample meal plans (external site)
• Healthy eating when pregnant or breastfeeding (external site)
• Healthy eating for older adults (external site)
• Healthy eating for infants, children and teenagers (external site)
• Discretionary food and drink choices (external site)
• Fat, salt, sugars and alcohol (external site).