Australian Dietary Guidelines: What They Say About Energy Intake

The Australian Dietary Guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for healthy eating across all age groups. Understanding these guidelines helps Australians make informed food choices that support long-term health while managing energy intake appropriately.

The Foundation of Australian Nutrition Policy

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) develops Australia's official dietary guidelines, most recently updated in 2013. These guidelines synthesise decades of nutritional research to provide recommendations that reduce chronic disease risk while ensuring nutritional adequacy.

The guidelines emphasise dietary patterns rather than individual nutrients, recognising that people eat foods in combination rather than isolated components. This approach acknowledges that the overall quality and variety of your diet matters more than obsessing over specific vitamins or minerals.

Five core guidelines form the framework. These cover achieving and maintaining healthy weight, enjoying a variety of nutritious foods, limiting discretionary foods, encouraging breastfeeding, and promoting safe food handling. Energy balance threads through all of these recommendations.

Recommended Energy Intakes by Life Stage

The guidelines provide estimated energy requirements (EERs) for different population groups based on age, sex, and activity level. These figures represent averages, and individual needs vary based on metabolism, body composition, and specific health circumstances.

For adult women aged nineteen to fifty with sedentary activity, the EER sits around 7,400 to 7,800 kilojoules daily. Moderately active women require approximately 8,000 to 8,400 kilojoules, while highly active women may need 9,000 to 10,000 kilojoules or more.

Adult men in the same age bracket have higher requirements. Sedentary men need approximately 9,000 to 9,400 kilojoules daily, moderately active men require 10,000 to 10,800 kilojoules, and highly active men may need upward of 12,000 kilojoules depending on the intensity and duration of their activity.

The Five Food Groups

Australian guidelines organise nutritious foods into five core groups, each providing distinct nutritional contributions. Vegetables and legumes form the foundation, with recommendations for five to six serves daily for adults. This group provides fibre, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals with relatively low energy density.

Fruit recommendations sit at two serves daily, providing natural sugars alongside fibre, vitamins, and antioxidants. Grain foods, preferably wholegrain, contribute four to six serves daily, serving as primary energy sources while providing B vitamins and fibre when unrefined.

Lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes provide protein along with iron, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids. Two to three serves daily meet most adults' needs. Dairy foods or alternatives contribute calcium and protein, with two and a half to four serves recommended depending on age and sex.

Discretionary Foods and Energy Balance

The guidelines distinguish between core foods and discretionary foods—items high in saturated fat, added sugars, salt, or alcohol that provide energy without essential nutrients. These include confectionery, soft drinks, alcohol, processed meats, commercial baked goods, and many takeaway foods.

Discretionary foods should comprise no more than a small portion of total energy intake, yet research shows many Australians derive thirty-five percent or more of their kilojoules from these sources. This overconsumption of nutrient-poor foods contributes significantly to the obesity epidemic.

The guidelines do not demand complete elimination of discretionary foods but emphasise limiting their frequency and portion size. Occasional inclusion within an otherwise balanced diet poses minimal health risk, while regular consumption displaces nutritious foods and promotes energy surplus.

Achieving and Maintaining Healthy Weight

The first guideline directly addresses weight management, acknowledging that overweight and obesity affect over sixty percent of Australian adults. Maintaining healthy weight requires balancing energy intake with expenditure over time—a simple principle made difficult by modern food environments and sedentary lifestyles.

The guidelines recommend using body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference to assess weight status. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 indicates healthy weight for most adults, while waist circumference below 94 centimetres for men and 80 centimetres for women suggests lower chronic disease risk.

For those needing to lose weight, the guidelines advocate modest energy reduction combined with increased physical activity. Extreme diets receive no endorsement; instead, sustainable changes to eating patterns and gradual weight loss of around half a kilogram weekly are recommended.

Physical Activity Recommendations

While primarily focused on nutrition, the dietary guidelines acknowledge physical activity's essential role in energy balance and overall health. They reference the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines, which recommend adults accumulate 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity weekly.

Muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days weekly complement aerobic exercise recommendations. Building and maintaining muscle mass supports metabolic health and helps manage energy balance more effectively than cardiovascular exercise alone.

Reducing sedentary time receives specific attention. Even meeting exercise guidelines may not fully offset the health impacts of prolonged sitting. Breaking up sedentary periods with light movement throughout the day provides additional benefits beyond structured exercise.

Applying Guidelines to Real Life

Translating guidelines into practical eating requires understanding serve sizes, which often differ from what people actually consume. A serve of vegetables equals about half a cup of cooked vegetables or one cup of salad. A serve of grains means one slice of bread or half a cup of cooked rice or pasta.

Building meals around the guidelines involves filling half your plate with vegetables, one quarter with lean protein, and one quarter with wholegrains. Adding a serve of fruit and dairy throughout the day completes the nutritional picture while naturally moderating energy intake.

Meal planning aligned with guidelines often naturally produces energy-appropriate intakes. The emphasis on vegetables, lean proteins, and wholegrains creates meals with lower energy density than typical Australian eating patterns, allowing adequate food volume without excessive kilojoules.

Special Considerations for Different Groups

Pregnant and breastfeeding women have modified recommendations reflecting increased nutrient and energy needs. Additional kilojoules support foetal development and milk production, though the emphasis remains on nutrient-rich foods rather than simply eating more of everything.

Older adults face unique challenges as energy needs decrease while nutrient requirements remain stable or increase. This means choosing particularly nutrient-dense foods becomes more important with age, as there is less room for discretionary items within lower energy budgets.

Children and adolescents have age-specific recommendations supporting growth and development. Their energy needs relative to body size exceed adults', and restricting energy intake in young people requires medical supervision to avoid compromising growth and nutritional status.

Resources for Further Guidance

The Eat For Health website provides detailed information on the Australian Dietary Guidelines, including interactive tools for calculating individual nutrient needs. This government resource offers reliable, evidence-based guidance without commercial bias.

Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) provide personalised advice applying guidelines to individual circumstances. Finding an APD through the Dietitians Australia website ensures you receive advice from qualified professionals regulated by national standards.

The guidelines undergo periodic review as nutritional science evolves. Staying informed about updates ensures your eating patterns reflect current best evidence, though core principles of variety, balance, and moderation remain constant across guideline revisions.