The Eatwell Guide

Top tips for how to eat a healthy, balanced diet using the food groups in the Eatwell Guide!

Fruit and vegetables Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, and

other starchy carbohydrates

Beans, pulses, fish, eggs,

meat and other proteins Oil and spreads

Dairy and
alternatives

In the UK, our healthy eating model is called the Eatwell Guide. It shows the different types of foods and drinks to consume, and in what
proportions to have a healthy, balanced diet that is also more sustainable than the current average UK diet.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Fruit and vegetables
We should try to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day.

• Fruit and vegetables should make up just over a third of what we eat.
• They provide a wide range of vitamins and minerals, and fibre.
• Eating fruit and vegetables can help with weight management - you can eat plenty to help you feel fuller!
• Choose a variety of coloured fruit and vegetables as they contain different combinations of important nutrients
our bodies need to stay healthy.

Think Variety! Melon, papaya,

What count s? Portion sizes
spinach, guava, okra, Pak choi,
peppers, squash, ackee, apricots,
Fresh, frozen or canned fruit and vegetables 80g turnips, dates, cabbage, pumpkin,
kumquat, pears, apples.
Dried fruit 30g

Unsweetened 100% fruit or vegetable juice or smoothie 150ml

Note: 150ml unsweetened 100% fruit Meal Ideas for Fruit and Vegetables
Why eat these foods? or vegetable juices and smoothies
only counts as one of your 5 A DAY. Breakfast
Fruit and vegetables give us: TOP TIPS Add fruit or vegetables to your porridge, toast
✓ Fibre – helps to maintain a healthy gut. Canned and frozen fruit and vegetables with no or poha.
✓ Folate – important for normal and healthy blood added sugar or salt – can last longer and be cheaper!
formation. Lunch
Try looking for fruit and vegetables at your local Try adding lettuce, watercress, cucumber, tomato,
✓ Vitamin C – helps the immune system to work as
market or in the world foods section of your
it should. radish and/or sweetcorn to your sandwich.
supermarket. You may find a greater variety!
✓ Vitamin A – important for maintenance of normal Choose soup with more vegetables.
vision and skin. Choose fresh fruit and vegetables to support your
✓ Potassium – helps to maintain a healthy blood local farmers, where possible. Dinner
pressure. Add extra vegetables to your meals, such as: Pak
Try grating carrots or courgettes into your meals to
choi to a stir fry, frozen peas to a fish pie, spinach to
add flavour and texture.
a curry or stew, and peppers to a chilli.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates
• Base your meals around starchy foods such as wholewheat pasta, brown rice, wholewheat noodles, wholemeal
breads and potatoes with the skins on.
• Choose wholegrain varieties as these contain more fibre, as well as vitamins and minerals.

What count s?

Wholewheat varieties of pasta, noodles and couscous

Grains such as brown rice, bulgur wheat, barley, rye, quinoa, corn, oats and freekeh

Wholegrain bread and bread products such as wholemeal varieties of bread rolls, Note: Choose starchy foods with
sourdough, pitta, chapatis, bagels and roti less added fat, salt, and sugar.

Potatoes with the skins on: baked, boiled or roasted

Yams, cassava, breadfruit, plantain and associated products such as fufu

Note: Other root vegetables such as
sweet potatoes, taro root, parsnips and
turnips are part of vegetable group.
Why eat these foods?
Wholegrain starchy foods give us: TOP TIPS Meal Ideas for Starchy Foods
Experiment with potatoes – try oven baked potato
✓ Fibre – helps to maintain normal bowel function. Breakfast
wedges with spices, potatoes with herbs, or stuffed
✓ B Vitamins – for example thiamine which helps Wholegrain breakfast cereal, porridge using oats or
potato skins. cornmeal, wholemeal toast, poha or idli.
the body use the energy from the carbohydrates
we eat. Look at the ingredients list to identify wholegrain
products – look for wholewheat and wholemeal. Lunch
✓ Folate – needed for the formation of healthy red Sandwiches with wholemeal bread, vegetable stew
blood cells and for the nervous system. Wholegrain foods can also include wild rice, bulgur with wholemeal pitta, baked potato with the skin on or
✓ Magnesium – contributes to reduction of wheat, quinoa, oats, rye and barley. add grains to your salad.
tiredness and fatigue.
✓ Copper – helps the immune system to function Limit adding ingredients high in saturated fat to Dinner
starchy foods like ghee in chapattis, butter on Spaghetti Bolognese with wholewheat pasta, stir fry
as it should. with wholewheat noodles, curry with yams or cassava
potatoes or cream in pasta sauces.
and injera with stews.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins
• These protein-rich foods are also good sources of vitamins and minerals.
• We are encouraged to eat more plant sources of protein, such as pulses, as these are low in fat and considered more sustainable.

What count s?

Pulses such as beans, lentils and peas

Other plant-based sources such as tofu, soya mince and mycoprotein

Fish: white fish (like tilapia, coley and hake), oily fish (like salmon and sardines) and
shellfish (like prawns and mussels) Note: Check the food labels on
plant-based meat alternatives,
Meat, poultry, and game such as beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, pork and goat such as vegetarian sausages or
burgers, to choose those lower
Eggs in saturated fat, salt and sugar.

Unsalted nuts and seeds including nut butter and seed pastes
Food for Thought? Reduce saturated
fat and increase fibre intake by replacing
Why eat these foods? TOP TIPS half the red meat in your meals with your
Protein foods give us: choice of pulses.
Pulses are low in fat as well as being high in
protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Pulses
✓ Protein – for growth and maintenance of normal Meal Ideas for Protein
include chickpeas, black eyed beans, mung beans
muscles and maintenance of healthy bones. and many more! Breakfast
✓ Iron – found in red meat. Contributes to the normal
Add unsalted nuts to your wholegrain breakfast
formation of red blood cells and transport of oxygen Choose nut butters without palm oil or added salt
cereal or 100% nut butter on your wholemeal toast.
around the body. and sugar – look for 100% nuts!
✓ Zinc – found in meat. For maintenance of normal Choose leaner cuts of meat and lean mince, remove Lunch
skin, hair, nails, vision and the immune system. the skin from poultry, and trim off visible white fat Tuna salad sandwich on wholemeal bread.
✓ Vitamin B12 – found in meat and fish. For healthy Add pulses to your salad – try mixed bean salad!
on meat.
red blood cells and nerve function.
Limit meat and fish in batter or pastry. Dinner
✓ Vitamin D – found in oily fish. For healthy teeth,
Lean beef mince and kidney beans in your chilli.
bones and muscles. Grill, bake or steam meat and fish instead of frying. Swap half chicken for chickpeas in a curry.
✓ Omega-3 fatty acids – found in oily fish. Helps to Tofu in a ramen or stir fry.
maintain normal and healthy heart function. Try a boiled or poached egg instead of a fried egg.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Dairy and alternatives
• Milk and dairy products are good sources of protein, and a wide range of vitamins and minerals.
• If choosing dairy alternatives, go for those fortified with calcium and other vitamins and minerals where possible.
• We should choose lower fat and sugar options where possible – use food labels to help you!
• Butter, cream and ice cream are not included in this group as they are high in saturated fat.

What count s? Did you know?

Lactose intolerance is a digestive problem
Milk such as skimmed, semi-skimmed, whole where the body cannot digest lactose, a sugar
found in milk and dairy products. If you are
Cheese such as cheddar, parmesan, paneer lactose intolerant, go for lactose-free milk and
dairy products. Lactose-free milk contains the
Yogurt and fromage frais same nutrients as regular milk without the
lactose.
Drinks such as some smoothies, kefir and lassi

Cream cheese and quark

Dairy alternatives made from soya, nut, oat, rice, quinoa, coconut and pea such Note: Read the food labels to choose those that
as soya drinks and yogurts are unsweetened and fortified with vitamins and
minerals such as calcium, B-vitamins and iodine.

TOP TIPS
Why eat these foods?
Try a glass of low-fat milk after exercising – you will benefit Meal Ideas for Dairy and Alternatives
Dairy foods give us:
from rehydration and the protein found in milk.
Breakfast
✓ Protein – for growth and repair function. Add fruit to low-fat plain yogurt, kefir, lassi or ayran as a Semi-skimmed milk or fortified dairy alternative
✓ Calcium – for development and maintenance dessert or snack. on your wholegrain breakfast cereal or porridge.
of strong, healthy bones.
Grate hard cheeses, such as cheddar, to avoid using more than Lunch
✓ Iodine – important for healthy nerve and brain
you need! Low-fat cream cheese mixed with herbs in your
function, and healthy skin. sandwich using wholemeal bread.
✓ Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – to help release Swap whole milk for skimmed or semi-skimmed milk (only
energy from carbohydrate and protein. adults and children over the age of 2 years). Dinner
✓ Vitamin B12 – for healthy red blood cells and Low-fat plain yogurt to thicken sauces,
For older adults with a poor appetite, try fortifying a pint of whole marinade meat, or as part of a dip such as
nerve function.
milk with 2-4 heaped tablespoons of dried skimmed milk powder. tzatziki. Try paneer in your curry.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Oils and spreads
• Dietary fat provides us with essential fatty acids (those the body cannot make itself) and helps us to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
• Most of us need to cut down on saturated fat, as it can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• All fats are high in calories, even unsaturated fats, so it’s important to use them in small amounts to avoid consuming more calories than you need.

Examples of Oils and Spreads

High in Unsaturated Fats High in Saturated Fats

Vegetable oil Goose fat

Olive oil Coconut oil

Did you know? Swapping
Sunflower oil Palm oil saturated fats for unsaturated
fats has been shown to reduce
blood cholesterol and the risk
Rapeseed oil Ghee
of heart disease and stroke.
Spreads made from these oils Butter or lard

TOP TIPS
Note: Store oils in the cupboard as
Experiment with spray oils containing unsaturated fats as you will
they are sensitive to heat, light, and Meal Ideas for Oils and Spreads
oxygen! use much less.

Choose a small amount of spread made from unsaturated oils Breakfast

Use a small amount of unsaturated spread on
Unsaturated oils give us vitamin E – instead of butter, lard or ghee.
your wholemeal toast instead of butter.
contributes to the protection of cells from
oxidative stress. Sunflower, olive and Avoid adding extra fat when cooking - try using a non-stick pan.
Lunch
rapeseed oil are all high in vitamin E. Higher smoke point oils, such as sunflower and rapeseed oils, are Drizzle olive oil and add herbs to your salad.
good for roasting.
Dinner
Oils and spreads higher in saturated fats Lower smoke point oils, such as olive and walnut oils, are good in Roast your vegetables using sunflower oil
such as coconut oil, butter and ghee can salad dressings and for drizzling! instead of oils high in saturated fat.
be used for flavour. If you like these, try Make chapattis using unsaturated oils, such as
to use in smaller amounts and less often. Most supermarket vegetable oils are rapeseed oil. olive oil, instead of ghee.

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

Foods high in fat, salt and sugar
• Most people in the UK eat too much saturated fat, salt and sugar, and need to reduce the amount they consume.
• If these foods are included in your diet, try to eat them less often and in small amounts.
• These foods are NOT needed as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

Examples of Foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar

Chocolate Savoury snacks such as crisps and patties

Confectionary such as sweets and mithai Cream and ice cream Recommendations for Adults
Oily fish
SATURATED FAT
Cakes and biscuits such as shortbread and
Fried foods such as chips and samosas Note: Reduce and replace No more than 20g per day (female)
moon cakes
saturated fats in your diet No more than 30g per day (male)
Puddings and pastries such as rice pudding Sugar-sweetened beverages with unsaturated fats.
SALT
No more than 6g per day
Jams, honey, and syrups Rich sauces and gravies Soya beans
Nuts and
Seeds FREE SUGAR *
Condiments such as mayonnaise and soy No more than 30g per day
Butter, lard, and ghee
sauce

Too much saturated fat can… … raise blood cholesterol levels and increase
risk of heart disease and stroke. Example of how to make healthier choices – try swapping:

Syrup for mashed banana and cinnamon in porridge

Too much salt can… …raise blood pressure and increase risk of
developing heart disease or having a stroke.
Puddings, cakes, and pastries for fruit loaf, scones or fruit
Too much sugar can… … increase the risk of weight gain and increase
Coconut oil, butter, and ghee for rapeseed or olive oil
the risk of tooth decay.
TOP TIPS Fatty/salty savoury snacks for oatcakes or rye crackers with houmous
Use low-fat plain yogurt instead of cream, condensed milk or coconut milk when cooking.
Salt for black pepper, herbs and spices when cooking to add flavour!
Choose canned fruit in natural juice or water with no added sugar rather than in syrup.

Try wholegrain breakfast cereals not coated in sugar or honey. Note: Look for greens and ambers on
food labels to help you choose foods
Go for reduced or lower salt versions of stock cubes, sauces and condiments. lower in fat, salt, and sugar!

© British Nutrition Foundation 2022 | nutrition.org.uk

* any sugars added to food or drink, and those found naturally in honey, syrups, and unsweetened fruit juice
Note: free sugars are not included in nutrition information on food labels - look at the ingredients list!