Eating healthy means following a healthy eating pattern that includes a variety of nutritious foods and drinks. It also means getting the number of calories that’s right for you (not eating too much or too little).
A well-balanced diet provides all the:
- the energy you need to keep active throughout the day
- nutrients you need for growth and repair, helping you to stay strong and healthy and help to prevent diet-related illnesses, such as some cancers.
Benefits of Healthy Eating for Adults
Picture of body, identifying benefits of healthy eating for adults.
- It May help you live longer
- Keeps skin, teeth, and eyes healthy
- Support muscles
- Boosts immunity
- Strengthen bones
- Lowers risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers
- Supports healthy pregnancies and breastfeeding
- Helps the digestive system function
- Helps achieve and maintain a healthy weight
Benefits of Healthy Eating for Children
Picture of body identifying benefits of healthy eating for children.
- Keeps skin, teeth, and eyes healthy
- Support muscles
- Helps achieve and maintain a healthy weight
- Strengthen bones
- Supports brain development
- Supports healthy growth
- Boosts immunity
- Helps the digestive system function
A healthy diet is essential for good health and nutrition.
It protects you against many chronic non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Eating a variety of foods and consuming less salt, sugars, and saturated and industrially-produced trans-fats, are essential for a healthy diet.
- Eating a wide variety of healthy foods helps to keep you in good health and to protect against chronic disease.
- Eating a well-balanced diet means eating a variety of foods from each of the 5 food groups daily, in the recommended amounts.
- It is also important to choose a variety of foods from within each food group.
- Takeaway foods, cakes, biscuits, and soft drinks are examples of foods usually high in saturated fat, added salt, or added sugars. They should be considered as extras to your usual diet and only eaten occasionally and in small amounts.
- Daily food served is different for children, teenagers, women, and men.
No matter where you're starting, it's easy to make little changes to bring your eating closer in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Just focus on eating foods from the 5 major food groups and reducing your intake of occasional foods.
A healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy can help to reduce your risk of heart disease by maintaining blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Packaged foods are rated between half a star and 5 stars based on how healthy they are. These ratings are found on the front of packaged items. However, it is important to note that this system is very generalized and the nutritional value of some products may not be accurately expressed through the rating they receive.
Remember also that the Health Star Rating system is designed only for packaged products sold in shops, so it won’t include some healthy foods — including fresh unpackaged food such as fruit and vegetables.
Eating a variety of foods from the 5 major food groups provides a range of different nutrients to the body, promotes good health, and can help reduce the risk of disease - as well as keep your diet interesting with different flavors and textures.
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