Australian Guide to Healthy Eating: Five Food Groups & kJ Calculator

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating explained: the five food groups, the Australian Dietary Guidelines (NHMRC, 2013), energy in kilojoules with the 8,700 kJ reference, and a free calculator. Independent tool, not the NHMRC.

What is the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating?

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is the NHMRC's guide to choosing food, published with the Australian Dietary Guidelines in 2013. It shows five food groups as shares of one plate.

What goes on the plate

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

Vegetables and grain foods take the two largest shares. Drink plenty of water, and use small amounts of unsaturated spreads and oils.

Discretionary foods such as biscuits, chips, sugary drinks and alcohol are not a food group. Eat them only sometimes and in small amounts. The food groups page shows what goes in each group.

The five Australian 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 the five food groups every day, 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.

Together they cover a whole pattern of eating, from food choices to food safety.

Energy in kilojoules: the 8,700 kJ figure

Australia and New Zealand measure food energy in kilojoules (kJ). Food labels show kJ rather than Calories. The percentage Daily Intake on a label is based on a reference adult intake of 8,700 kJ, about 2,080 Calories.

That figure is an average for labels, not a personal target. Our free calculator estimates your own energy from your age, sex, size and activity, in kilojoules or Calories.

Our calculator and the NHMRC's

The NHMRC's Eat For Health website has three calculators. They are 'Calculate your daily energy needs', 'Calculate your daily nutrient requirements' and the 'Average recommended number of serves calculator'. Our free calculator shows your daily energy and your recommended serves together, in kilojoules or Calories.