On Scientific Evidence and Research

nutritious food and drinks noodles, polenta, WHAT ARE THE to meet your energy couscous, oats, quinoa DIETARY GUIDELINES? needs. and barley • Children and • Lean meats and The Australian adolescents should eat poultry, fish, eggs, Dietary Guidelines sufficient nutritious tofu, nuts and seeds, provide up-to-date foods to grow and and legumes/beans advice about the develop normally. They • Milk, yoghurt, cheese amount and kinds of should be physically and/or their alternatives, foods that we need to active every day and mostly reduced fat (reduced fat milks are not eat for health and their growth should be checked regularly. suitable for children under wellbeing. They are the age of 2 years) based And drink plenty of water. on scientific evidence GUIDELINE 2: and research. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from these The Australian five food groups every day: Dietary Guidelines of • Plenty of vegetables of most relevance to different types and children are included colours, and below: legumes/beans • Fruit GUIDELINE 1: • Grain (cereal) foods, mostly To achieve and maintain a wholegrain and/or high healthy weight, be cereal fibre varieties, such as physically active and breads, cereals, rice, pasta, choose amounts of sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy FOODS TO LIMIT: GUIDELINE 3: and sports drinks. Limit intake of foods DISCRETIONARY containing GUIDELINE 4: CHOICES saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol. Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding. a. Limit intake of foods ‘Discretionary choices’ high in saturated fat are called that because such as many GUIDELINE 5: they are not an essential biscuits, cakes, Care for your food; prepare or necessary part pastries, pies, and store it safely. of our dietary processed meats, patterns. commercial burgers, Discretionary foods pizza, fried foods, are high in kilojoules, potato chips, crisps saturated fat, added and other savoury sugars, added salt, snacks. or alcohol. If chosen, • Replace high fat they should be eaten foods which only sometimes and contain in small amounts. predominately saturated fats Examples of such as butter, discretionary choices cream, cooking include: margarine, • Sweet biscuits, cakes coconut and palm and desserts oil with foods • Processed meats and which contain sausages predominately • Ice-cream, confectionery polyunsaturated and and chocolate monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, • Meat pies and other pastries nut butters/pastes and avocado. • Commercial • Low fat diets are not burgers, hot suitable for children chips, and under the age of 2 fried foods years. • Crisps and other fatty b. Limit intake of foods and and/or salty snacks drinks containing added • Cream and butter salt. • Sugar- • Read labels to sweetened choose lower cordials, soft sodium options drinks and among similar sports drinks. foods. • Do not add salt to It is also important to foods in cooking or at remember that young the table. children (less than 3 c. Limit intake of foods years of age) can choke and drinks containing on hard foods. To added sugars such as prevent this from confectionary, sugar- happening: • Sit with them when vegeta f they eat and don’t bles to i give them hard foods soften s such as popcorn, them. h nuts, hard • Re confectionary or mo o crisps. ve r • Cook all m or bo e grate ne a hard s t fruit fro . and m

Want more information about healthy eating? SERVE SIZES

Serves per day

2–3 4–8 9–11 12–13 14–18 years years years years years

Boys 2½ 4½ 5 5½ 5½

Girls 2½ 4½ 5 5 1 medium tomato Vegetables and legumes/beans *preferably with no added salt 5

Serves per day

2–3 4–8 9–11 12–13 14–18 years years years years years

Fruit Boys 1 1½ 2 2 2 30g dried fruit (for example, 4 dried apricot halves, 1½ tablespoons of sultanas) Girls 1 1½ 2 2 2

Serves per day

odles, barley, buckwheat, semolina, oa

1 small (35g) English muffin or scone

A standard serve (500-600kJ) is: 65g cooked lean meats such as beef, lamb, veal, pork, goat or kangaroo (about 90–100g raw)* Serves per day 80g cooked lean poultry such as chicken or turkey (100g raw) 2–3 4–8 9–11 12–13 14–18 100g cooked fish fillet (about 115g raw weight) or one small can of fish years years years years years 2 large (120g) eggs 1 cup (150g) cooked or canned legumes/beans such as lentils, chick peas or Boys 1 1½ 2½ 2½ 2½ split peas (preferably with no added salt) Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts 170g tofu Girls 1 1½ 2½ 2½ 2½ 30g nuts, seeds, peanut or almond butter or tahini or other nut or and seeds, and legumes/beans seed paste (no added salt) *weekly limit of 455g

tuted powdered milk or buttermilk

Serves per day hard cheese, such as cheddar

k with at least 100mg of added

To meet additional energy needs, extra serves An allowance for unsaturated spreads and oils for cooking, or For meal ideas and advice on how to from the Five Food Groups or unsaturated nuts and seeds can be included in the following quantities: 4–5g apply the serve sizes go to: spreads and oils, or discretionary choices may be per day for children 2–3 years of age, 7–10g per day for children needed by children who are not overweight but 3–12 years of age, 11–15g per day for children 12–13 years of age ww w .eatforhealth.g o v .au are taller, more active or older in their age band. and 14–20g per day for adolescents 14–18 years of age.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION GO TO ww w .eatforhealth.go v .au Which foods should I eat and How much? A The Australian Dietary Guidelines provide up-to-date yea advice about the amount and kinds of foods and drinks ol that we need regularly, for health and well-being. gir By providing your child with the recommended amounts need from the Five Food Groups and limiting the foods that 4 are high in saturated fat, added sugars and added salt, serve they will get enough of the nutrients essential for good s health, growth and development. They may have a grai reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, (ce type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers. Your child al) may also feel better, look better, enjoy life more and foods live longer! a da The amount of food your child will need from the an Five Food Groups depends on their age, gender, 14- height, weight and physical activity levels. For example, yea a 3-year-old boy requires 1 serve of fruit a day, but old an 11-year-old boy needs 2 serves of fruit a day. gir need 7 serves a day. Children who are taller, more physically active or HOW MUCH IS A SERVE? in the higher end of their age band (and not overweight or obese) may be able to have additional serves of the It’s helpful to get to know the recommended serving sizes and Five Food Groups or unsaturated spreads and oils or serves per day so that your child eats and drinks the right amount discretionary choices. of the nutritious foods they need for health – as shown in the tables above. We’ve given you the serve size in grams too, so For further information go to ww w .eatforhealth.go v .au. you can weigh foods to get an idea of what a serve looks like.

The ‘serve size’ is a set amount that doesn’t change. It is used along with the ‘serves per day’, to work out the total amount of food required from each of the Five Food Groups. ‘Portion size’ is the amount your child actually eats and this will depend on what their energy needs are. Some children’s portion sizes are smaller than the ‘serve size’ and some are larger. Children may eat smaller amounts more often if they choose.

HOW MANY SERVES A DAY?

Children rarely eat exactly the same way each day and it is common to have a little more on some days than others. However, on average, the total of their portion sizes should end up being similar to the number of serves they need each day.

If your child eats portions that are smaller than the ‘serve size’ they will need to eat from the Food Groups more often. If your child’s portion size is larger than the ‘serve size’, then they will need to eat from the Food Groups less often.