Canada’s New Food Guide Tips – Meal Planning
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Canada’s New Food Guide Tips – Healthy Snacking
Canada’s New Food Guide Tips – Healthy Snacking
What do you grab as a snack? Probably something quick and less healthy than it should be. Here are some tips to snack better.
Why healthy snacks are good for you
You can enjoy snacks as part of your day if you make it a healthy choice.
Snacks can:
- keep you energized
- help support good health
- provide important nutrients
- be an important part of daily eating habits
- help satisfy your hunger between mealtimes
Young children can benefit from snacks as they:
- have small stomachs
- may have trouble eating all of the foods they need at meal time
3 ways to practice healthy snacking
Keep these in mind to practice healthy snacking.
- Choose healthy snack foods
- Follow the healthy eating recommendation to make it a habit to choose a variety of healthy foods for your snacks.
- Follow the healthy eating recommendation to limit highly processed snacks.
- Eat your snacks mindfully
- Eat your snacks slowly and without distractions, such as watching TV.
- Choose small portions. Serve a small amount for your snack and try not to eat directly from large containers.
Eat snacks when you feel hungry, and not just out of routine or when you feel:
- tired
- bored
- emotional
Too much snacking can lead you to eat more than you need.
Canada’s New Food Guide Tips – Healthy Eating on a Budget
Canada’s New Food Guide Tips – Healthy Eating on a Budget
We have all heard that’s it too expansive to eat healthy. Well if you are feeding more people than yourself you will know this is true when a head of cauliflower can run you $6.99 some days. Well Health Canada as posted some great tips on how to eat the new Food Guide on a budget.
Stick to your list
Buying only what is on your grocery list will help you cut down on impulse buys.
Shop for sales
Check out flyers, coupons, mobile apps and websites for deals on foods that are on your list. Most stores have apps now for their weekly flyer deals.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Protein 25%
Canada’s New Food Guide – Protein 25%
Protein foods are to be 25% of the total new plate visual for healthy eating. This can include plant-based protein foods which are an important part of healthy eating. Include foods such as beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, lean meats and poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, lower fat milk and lower fat dairy products.
Protein foods are good for you.
Protein foods have important nutrients such as:
- protein
- vitamins
- minerals
The new Food Guide recommends Choosing protein foods that come from plants more often. Plant-based protein foods can provide more fibre and less saturated fat than other types of protein foods. This can be beneficial for your heart health.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Enjoy Your Food
Canada’s New Food Guide – Enjoy Your Food
A big part of eating healthy is actually enjoying your food.
The benefits of enjoying your food include:
- tasting the flavours
- being open to trying new foods
- developing a healthy attitude about food
Making healthy food choices can increase your enjoyment of the food you eat.
Enjoying your food includes:
- socializing at mealtime
- enjoying shopping for food
- preparing and cooking food
- growing or harvesting your own food
- getting to know the people that grow or produce your food
- involving others in meal planning, preparation and clean up
How to enjoy your food
There are many ways to enjoy your food and make healthy choices.
Enjoy your food by making choices that compliment:
- taste
- enjoying your food should be about choosing a variety of healthy foods and flavours that you like
- culture
- culture and food traditions can be a great way to add to the enjoyment of your food
- budget
- there are many ways to enjoy your food while eating on a budget
- lifestyle
There is no one right way to enjoy your food. You can enjoy your food no matter what your lifestyle. Just chose healthier options.
Try new foods
Try a variety of healthier foods to help you find new flavours to enjoy.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Eating with Others
Canada’s New Food Guide – Eating with Others
Everyone loves company! Share a meal with family and friends.
Benefits of eating with others
Enjoying healthy foods with family, friends, neighbours or co-workers is a great way to connect and add enjoyment to your life. It can provide many benefits and contribute to a healthy lifestyle. It can also introduce you to some new foods.
By eating with others, you can:
- enjoy quality time together
- share food traditions, across generations and cultures
- explore new healthy foods that you might not normally try
Food is often a main part of celebrations and special events. However, eating with others doesn’t have to be saved for special events. Throw a small dinner party on some random Tuesday.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Cook More Often
Canada’s New Food Guide – Cook More Often
Cooking more often at home rather than going out to eat is defiantly better for your overall health.
Cooking and preparing food can support healthy eating habits.
Cooking allows you to:
- learn new skills
- rely less on highly processed foods
- control the amount of sauces and seasonings
- make foods that you and your family like and will eat
- save money by avoiding extra money spent on meals eaten out
Choose healthy ingredients like:
- fruits
- vegetables
- whole grain foods
- protein foods
- choose protein foods that come from plants more often
How to cook more often
Use these ideas to help make cooking part of your daily routine.
- Cook once and eat twice
- Cook enough for another meal. This doesn’t mean that you need to eat the same meal twice.
Get creative with leftovers to make a whole new meal:
- Cook double the rice for your stir-fry and use the extras for rice pilaf.
- Cook twice the chicken or ground turkey you need and keep extras to make chicken salad, enchiladas, chili or spaghetti sauce.
- Keep flavours simple so foods can be used for many meals. Chilli one night turns into tacos the next and a topping for spaghetti another night.
- When preparing meals, chop or cook extra vegetables and fruits so you have some for snacks and meals the next day.
Become a big batch cook
Batch cooking simply means making meals and snacks in bigger batches and freezing them in meal-size portions for convenient week-day meals. This can save you time and money. You can now buy portioned containers for your freezer.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Be Mindful
Canada’s New Food Guide – Be Mindful
Canada’s Food Guide also comes with some recommendations to make healthy eating easier.
Be Mindful of Your Eating Habits
Being mindful of your eating habits means being aware of:
- how you eat
- why you eat
- what you eat
- when you eat
- where you eat
- how much you eat
Being mindful can help you:
- make healthier choices more often
- make positive changes to routine eating behaviours
- be more conscious of the food you eat and your eating habits
- create a sense of awareness around your every day eating decisions
- reconnect to the eating experience by creating an awareness of your:
- feelings
- thoughts
- emotions
- behaviours
How to be mindful of your eating habits
Work these ideas into your life to help you be mindful of your eating habits.
- Create a healthy eating environment
- Your eating environment changes depending on where you live, learn, work and play. Focus your attention on eating and your eating environment.
- Regardless of where you are, try to make changes to your surroundings so that the healthy choice is the easy choice.
- Use your senses
Being mindful of the foods you are eating can encourage you to pay attention to the smells, textures, flavours and the taste of your food. Know your likes and dislikes using those senses. This can help connect you to your eating experience and be more conscious of the food you are eating.
Canada’s New Food Guide – Water
Canada’s New Food Guide – Water
The new Food Guide has some changes. Let’s take a closer look at these changes and break them down.
Make Water Your Drink of Choice
There are a lot of drink choices available but most of the choices have a lot of:
- calories
- sodium
- sugars
- saturated fat
Make water your drink of choice instead.
Drinking water is:
- important for your health
- a great way to quench your thirst
- a way to stay hydrated without calories
Our bodies lose water by:
- sweating
- breathing
- getting rid of waste
You need to replace what is lost.
How to make water your drink of choice
Some tips to help make water your drink of choice:
- drink it hot or cold
- drink water with your meals
- ask for water with your food when eating out
- carry a reusable water bottle when you are out
- try a fruit and herb infused water or carbonated water
- drink water during and after physical activity or playing sports
- keep a pitcher of water in the fridge or on the table for easy access
Various ways to add flavour to your water
You can add fruits, vegetables and herbs to your hot or cold water for added flavour.
Canada’s New Food Guide Part 1
Canada’s New Food Guide Part 1
Canada woke up on Tuesday January 22 2019 with a new food guide to help ease and make better food choices.
“It reflects the Canada of 2019 while keeping an eye to the Canada of the future.”
Health Canada says reconciliation with Indigenous peoples was top of their minds during the design of a revamped food guide that includes traditional foods for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced Tuesday morning that the new food guide is “more than just a colourful page,” calling it a “powerful” online tool that will continually be updated with the latest dietary knowledge.
