The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is a pictorial food guide showing the proportion and types of foods that are needed to make up a nutritional, well balanced diet. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, funded by the Australian Government, Department of Health and Aging, prepared by Children's Health Development Foundation, SA and Deakin University, Victoria, 1998, as a guide that aims to help people to understand and enjoy healthy eating.  The guide shows that people do not have to give up the foods they enjoy and that all foods can be part of a nutritional, well balanced diet. It is achieving the right balance and variety of foods that is important for health.

The guide is divided into five food groups:

• Bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles
• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Milk, yoghurt and cheese 
• Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and legumes 
• Fats   

Foods from the largest group i.e. bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles, should be eaten most often, and foods from the smaller groups should be eaten in smaller quantities. The smallest group 'fats' should be only eaten occasionally and in small amounts.  The guide is shaped like a dinner plate, that has been designed to make nutritional eating easier to understand and interpret.

Why Is Balance Important?

No single food contains all the essential nutrients the body needs to be healthy and function efficiently. The nutritional value of a person's diet depends on the overall mixture, or balance of foods that is eaten over a period of time, as well as on the needs of the individual. That is why a balanced diet is one that is likely to include a large number, or variety of foods, so adequate intakes of all the nutrients are achieved.

We need energy to live, but the balance between carbohydrate, fat and protein must be right for us to remain healthy. Too little protein can interfere with growth and other body functions, too much fat can lead to obesity and heart disease. Adequate intakes of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre are important for health, and there is growing evidence that a number of bioactive plant substances (also termed phytochemicals) found in fruit and vegetables are also important in promoting good health.