print versionFood Variety
Studies show that people who eat a wide variety of food are healthier, live longer and have reduced risk of developing lifestyle illness. Food choices influence our risk of developing these lifestyle illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Foods, in particular vegetables and fruit, contain a large number of naturally occurring substances known as phytochemicals. Currently, scientists have identified over 12,000 of these phytochemicals many of which are thought to interfere with the processes that cause cancer and heart disease.
What is Food Variety?
Food variety means eating a mixture of foods across the whole range of food types, such as vegetables, fruit, cereals, meat, fish and dairy products. Variety also means the range of foods within each of these types, e.g. cereals can be wheat, oat, rye, rice, or barley. We encourage a variety of foods to be eaten because the nutritional benefits can be very different both between each food type and between food types.
How Much Variety is Enough?
Nutrition Australia encourages Australians to eat around 30 different foods each day. It is important to note that "30" is based on individual foods, not food categories as detailed in the Food Variety Checklist (overleaf). Ideally, 20 - 30 different types of foods should be eaten every day. A good way to start increasing your food variety is to follow the two basic steps Nutrition Australia recommends:
- Use the Food Variety Checklist and calculate your score to see what you're eating for the week. Even if you score 'Fair', aim for the 'Good' level next week, and so on until you score 'Very Good'. Nutrition Australia encourages long term improvements to your diet, not short term ones.
- Once you have achieved 'Very Good' for the week, then you're on the way to aim for eating around 30 different foods each day. While some days might not be as good as others, we encourage you to just try to eat a variety each day.
Tips for Food Variety
- Choose a variety of foods from the Healthy Eating Pyramid.
- Eat a range of different breakfast cereals and breads.
- Jazz up dishes with herbs and spices— they can transform a meal for little cost and no fat or salt.
- Experiment with the different vegetables, fruits, cereals and meats available. Ask for tips on how to prepare and eat exotic produce.
- Just because you haven’t tried it, doesn’t mean you won’t like it. Give yourself time to get used to a new food.
- Experts say that it can take humans up to nine times to adjust to a new food or flavour.
| Typical Diet | Suggestions for increased variety |
|---|---|
| Wheatcereals, milk and orange juice | Muesli with added sunflower and pumpkin seeds, served with yoghurt and a mixture of fresh or dried fruits |
| White bread, toasted cheese and tomato sandwich using margarine for spread | Sandwich made on multigrain bread with cheese, chutney, tomato, lettuce and avocado |
| Meat and two vegetables | Cous Cous with chopped lamb fillet cooked with salt reduces soy and ginger, served with stir-fry vegetables |
| Total of 11 foods | Total of 34 foods |
Test your food variety for a week.
Score one point for each food category you have eaten throughout one week.
Only score each food category once.
| Food Variety Checklist | Your Score |
|---|---|
| Score one point for each food category you have eaten throughout one week. Count each food category only once. | |
| Fruit | |
| Stone Fruit (e.g. apricot, avocado, cherries, nectarine, olive, peach, plum, prune) | |
| Citrus (e.g. orange, lemon) | |
| Apples | |
| Bananas | |
| Berries (e.g. raspberry, strawberry) | |
| Grapes (including raisins, sultanas) | |
| Melons (e.g.honeydew, rockmelon, watermelon) | |
| Pears, nashi | |
| Tropical fruit (e.g. guava, jackfruit, lychee, mango, papaya, pineapple, starfruit) | |
| Dates, kiwifruit, passionfruit | |
| Vegetables | |
| Root (e.g. carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, bamboo shoots, beetroot, ginger, parsnip, radish, water chestnut) | |
| Leafy Greens (e.g. spinach, cabbage, burssell sprouts, silverbeet) | |
| Marrow-like (e.g. cucumber, eggplant, marrow, pumpkin, squash, swede, turnip, zucchini) | |
| Flowers (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, edive, chicory, lettuce) | |
| Stalks (e.g. celery) | |
| Onions (e.g. spring onion, garlic, leek) | |
| Peppers (e.g. capsicum) | |
| Tomatoes, okra | |
| Legumes/Pulses | |
| Beans (e.g. green beans, snow peas, snap beans, dried peas) | |
| Adzuki, baked beans, haricot, black beans, black eyed beasn, borlotti beans, cannelini beans, chickpeas kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, lupins, mung beans (sprouts), pinto beans, soya beans (sprouts), soya milk, bean curd | |
| Grains and Cereals | |
| Wheat (including ready-to-eat cereals such as Weebix, brans flakes and wholemeal/white bread) | |
| Rye (includes ready-to-eat products) | |
| Barley (includes ready-to-eat products) | |
| Oats (includes ready-to-eat products) | |
| Rice (includes ready-to-eat products) | |
| Corn (includes ready-to-eat products) | |
| All other grains and cereals (e.g. buckwheat, millet, quinoa, sago, semolina, tapioca, triticale) | |
| Meat | |
| Pork (including ham and bacon) | |
| Lamb, beef, veal | |
| Poultry (e.g. chicken, turkey, duck) | |
| Game (e.g.quail, wild duck, pigeon) | |
| Game (e.g. kangaroo, rabit, venison) | |
| Liver, brain, all other organ meats | |
| Seafood | |
| Shellfish and molluscs (e.g. mussels, squid, oysters, scallops) | |
| Crustaceans (e.g. prawns, lobster, crabs, shrimps) | |
| Fatty Fish (e.g. anchovies, tuna, salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, kipper, pilchards) | |
| Fish (saltwater) | |
| Fish (freshwater) | |
| Roe (caviar) | |
| Dairy | |
| Milk, yoghurt (without live culture), ice cream, cheese | |
| Live Cultures (yoghurt with live culture e.g. acidophilus, bifidobacteria) | |
| Eggs | |
| All varieties | |
| Fats | |
| Oil | |
| Hard/soft spreads | |
| Herbs and Spices | |
| Uses Regularly | |
| Nuts and Seeds | |
| Almond, brazil, chashew, chestnut, coconut, hazelnut, peanuts, peanut butter, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, pumpkin seed, sesame seed, tahini, hommus, sunflower seed, walnut | |
| Fermented Foods | |
| Miso, tempeh, soya sauce | |
| Sauerkraut | |
| All other varieties | |
| Beverages | |
| Non-alcoholic (e.g. tea, coffee, cocoa) | |
| Alcoholic | |
| Other | |
| Sugar, syrup, honey, confectionary, jam, marmalade, chocolate, soft drinks | |
| Yeast (e.g. vegemite, marmite, brewers yeast) | |
| Water including mineral and spring water | |
| TOTAL AMOUNT OF DIFFERENT FOODS | |
Reference: Savige, G.S., Hau-Hage, B. and Wahlqvist, M.L. Food Variety as Nutritional Therapy. Current Therapeutics, March 1997, p. 62.
Walker, J. and Fisher, G. (1997) Food Secrets: Brisbane: The Australian Nutrition Foundation (Qld Div) Inc.
How Did You Go?
Check you score on food variety and dietary adequacy using this chart.
| Total Food Variety Score | Dietary Adequacy |
|---|---|
| >30/week | Very Good |
| 25-29/week | Good |
| 20-24/week | Fair |
| <20/week | Poor |
| <10/week | Very Poor |
Nutrition Australia
Unit 6/100 Campbell St
Bowen Hills Qld 4006
Phone: (07) 3257 4393
Fax: (07) 3257 4616
Email: qld@nutritionaustralia.org
ABN: 33 986 781 351
© The Australian Nutrition Foundation (Qld Div) Inc. 2001
