The guidelines count food in standard serves, and a standard serve rarely matches a packet. A cereal box might list 45g as a serving, which is 1.5 standard serves. Once you know the standard sizes, you can check a day in your head.
Both guides in this post are also images. Save them to your phone so you have the serve sizes with you when you shop, cook or plan the week.
What counts as 1 serve
The image shows every serve below with a measuring cup beside it. Metric cups are 250mL, so if you have a set at home, they are the quickest way to measure a serve. The same list is written out here.
Vegetables and legumes: ½ cup cooked vegetables, 1 cup salad leaves or raw vegetables, ½ cup cooked or canned legumes, ½ cup sweet corn, ½ a medium potato, or 1 medium tomato.
Fruit: 1 medium apple, banana, orange or pear, 2 small apricots, kiwifruit or plums, or 1 cup diced or canned fruit with no added sugar.
Grain foods: 1 slice of bread, ½ a medium roll or wrap, ½ cup cooked rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa or barley, ½ cup cooked porridge, ⅔ cup cereal flakes, ¼ cup muesli, or 3 crispbreads.
Lean meat and alternatives: 65g cooked lean red meat, 80g cooked chicken, 100g cooked fish or a small can of fish, 2 large eggs, 1 cup cooked or canned legumes, 170g tofu, or 30g nuts, seeds or nut butter.
Dairy and alternatives: 1 cup milk, ¾ cup (200g) yoghurt, 2 slices (40g) hard cheese, ½ cup ricotta, 1 cup plant milk with at least 100mg of added calcium per 100ml, 100g firm calcium-set tofu, or ½ cup canned pink salmon with the bones.
Legumes count as either a vegetable serve or a meat-alternative serve. Count them once.
A day that adds up
This day covers the serves for women aged 19 to 50. Save it alongside the serves guide, then use the two together to check your own day.
|
Meal |
What you eat |
Serves |
|---|---|---|
|
Breakfast |
1 cup cooked porridge made with 1 cup milk or calcium-fortified plant milk, topped with a sliced banana |
2 grain, 1 dairy, 1 fruit |
|
Morning |
¾ cup yoghurt |
1 dairy |
|
Lunch |
Sandwich on 2 slices of wholegrain bread with 2 eggs, a slice of cheese (20g), 1 cup salad leaves and a tomato |
2 grain, 1 meat, ½ dairy, 2 veg |
|
Afternoon |
An apple and a small handful (15g) of nuts |
1 fruit, ½ meat |
|
Dinner |
100g cooked fish, 1 cup cooked rice and 1½ cups cooked vegetables |
1 meat, 2 grain, 3 veg |
|
Total |
|
5 veg, 2 fruit, 6 grain, 2.5 meat, 2.5 dairy |
For a vegetarian dinner, swap the fish for 170g tofu or 1 cup of cooked lentils.
Adjusting it for your stage
- Pregnant: add about 2.5 grain serves and 1 more serve from the meat group, for example an extra slice of toast, a larger serve of rice and a cup of legumes.
- Breastfeeding: add 2.5 vegetable serves and 3 grain serves.
- After menopause: have 1 slice of bread at lunch and half the rice at dinner, add a glass of milk or calcium-fortified plant milk, make the cheese a full 40g, and leave out the nuts. That brings the day to the 51 to 70 numbers: 4 grain, 2 meat and 4 dairy.
Small changes that close the gaps
- Vegetables: add a cup of salad leaves or frozen vegetables to both lunch and dinner. That is 2 serves.
- Calcium: check plant milk labels for at least 100mg of calcium per 100ml, and tofu for calcium sulphate (516) or calcium chloride (509).
- Iron: red meat and fish give you the most easily absorbed iron. With legumes, tofu and greens, eat vitamin C alongside, such as capsicum, citrus or tomato, and have tea and coffee between meals. If you are tired and your periods are heavy, ask your GP for a ferritin test.
- Grains: swap to wholegrain bread, oats and brown rice where you can. The guideline asks for mostly wholegrain.
A day like this one is the goal, but most of us won’t hit it every day, and many Australian women fall short on calcium and iron. That’s where Greenher Daily comes in. It doesn’t replace any food group. It sits alongside them, covering nutrients that are hard to get from food every day. See the full formula here.
The takeaway: learn the standard serve sizes once, then check your day against the table for your stage. Most women find the gaps in vegetables, dairy or alternatives, and iron.
The science behind this post:
- What counts as a standard serve in each food group, Nutrition Australia. Read it here
- Recommended daily serves for women by age and life stage, Eat for Health. Read it here