Canada Food Guide is revised

Nutrition Month occurs every March and is designed to raise public awareness on the valuable contribution that healthy eating makes to the overall health of Canadians. This year, as part of Nutrition Month, Halton Health Department has chosen to highlight the changes and improvements to Health Canada's newly revised Food Guide. Although the basic messages in the guide are the same as the previous version: eat more vegetables and fruit, choose high fibre grain products, choose low fat animal based foods, limit foods with added fat, salt and sugar and eat a variety of foods from all food groups, many new features have been added: · clear guidance on portion sizes and the number of recommended servings during different stages of life, including children, adults, older adults and pregnancy; · greater emphasis has been placed on vegetables and fruits; · guidance on the kinds and amounts of oils and fats that will reduce intake of saturated and transfats; · a more central focus on physical activity given the strong relationship between eating well and being active on feeling good, promoting healthy weights and building strong bones; · specific attention to key nutrients that may be deficient in daily food choices of some Canadians such as vitamin D; · an interactive tool has been created which allows people to personalize the food guide based on their age, sex, food and physical activity preferences. To access this tool visit www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fnan/food-guide-aliment/index_e.html. For more information on the revised version of Canada's Food Guide or to order up to 50 copies, call Halton Region at 1-866-442-5866 or visit www.halton.ca.