Your nutrition needs
What food should I eat to stay healthy?
Many factors influence our choice of food and having a nutritious, diverse diet is one of the most important for health. But what advice should I follow?
National dietary advice is a good place to start
In the European Union, national authorities provide food-based dietary guidelines to consumers for healthy eating. These are science-based recommendations for the general population and for groups such as pregnant women and children. They provide practical information like portion sizes for different foods and recommended daily or weekly intakes.
Guidelines vary from country to country but generally encourage eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, fat-reduced milk and dairy products, fish and water. They tend to discourage eating food high in saturated fats, sugars and salt owing to food processing.
Here are some grouped examples – but be sure to check the specific guidelines in your country!
- Dairy products (unsweetened) – 2-3 servings per day
- Vegetables (excluding potatoes) – about 300 grams per day spread in servings throughout the day
- Meat – from 300 to 500 grams per week, preference for lean red meats or poultry
- Water – drink 1.5-2 liters, or 6-8 glasses (200ml) per day and any other beverages (from juices and unsweetened tea to sugar-sweetened sodas and alcoholic drinks) in moderation
- Eggs – these vary widely from 1-3 to 4-7 per week depending on the country
- Nuts – from 15 to 50g daily across some countries, others suggest 2-3 or 4-5 times per week
- Salt – no more than 5-6 grams per day
Legumes and pulses are encouraged as partial replacements to meat, particularly red and processed meat. Replacing fats high in saturates such as palm and coconut oils, butter and other animal fats, with vegetable oils rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive, high-oleic sunflower, rapeseed oil, is better for you too.
Silvia Valtueña Martinez, a nutrition expert at EFSA.
How can I get more personalised advice?
Nutrition and health professionals also advise individual consumers about healthy dietary choices and help them work out the nutritional content of food, for example, by explaining information found on food labels.
Their advice and the national dietary guidelines are supported by a set of Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for carbohydrates and dietary fibre, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals established by European scientists.
For example - how much salt is too much?
Some countries recommend up to 5 grams daily, others up to 6 grams.
Salt enhances the flavour of food, and our bodies need some salt to work properly. But salt consumed in excess can cause high blood pressure. By referring to the DRVs for salt (sodium), a nutritionist or health professional can support a person to reduce their salt intake through alternative food choices.
