As Canada’s food guide tagline states: eat well, live well. Vegans have known this all along. If not for the animals and the planet, then for your health.

As a child, I remember flipping through the colourful few pages of Canada’s food guide. It was accessible at school and at different offices, probably including the doctor’s office. As I flipped the pages, I noticed the daily requirements of each food group, thinking of how I could possibly eat more fruits and vegetables.

As an adult, before becoming vegan, I still felt discouraged by the high serving sizes of fruits and vegetables. Why?  Well, even my younger self intuitively knew that these foods were best for me. With vitamins, minerals, and life-saving properties, unlike the brown and white recommended protein, grains and dairy products.

In January 2019, Canada finally released an updated food guide (the last was in 1992) that is much more well-rounded. As well, it is a great teaching tool for the population to take our health in our own hands by consuming more of the foods that we intuitively know is better for our bodies.

What the food guide highlights:

No serving sizes

This is fantastic for people who like me, felt discouraged by the daily recommendations… Is a bowl of grapes two servings or one? Are grapes too sweet to compare to a serving of berries? You see, the serving sizes can complicate things, and take the attention away from the main thing, which is to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Have plenty of fruits and vegetables (1/2 of your plate)

Increase intake of plant-based foods

The new Canadian food guide simply illustrated that most foods consumed should be plants. There is no emphasis on animal products, which we should consume minimally if at all. This is a great achievement for vegans! It is known that animal foods can increase the risk of chronic diseases like heart attacks and cancer. Plant-based foods, on the other hand, are known to reverse chronic disease.

Canada’s Food Guide states…

Eat protein foods (a 1/4 of your plate)

There are many alternative plant-based sources of protein as pictured above. These include but not limited to lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, nuts, and seeds.

The heart and stroke foundation promotes the consumption of protein as per the Canada food guide animal foods as a normal part of nutrition, without mentioning the link between the illness they seek to cure. On a positive note, the foundation encourages choosing plant-based protein more often.

”Canada’s Food Guide recommends that protein foods should make up a quarter of your plate and be consumed regularly. Eat more plant-based protein. When choosing your protein foods, opt for plant-based more often. Plant-based protein foods can provide more fibre and less saturated fat than other type of protein foods.”

A  long-term study published in October 2016 finds a link between the cardiovascular cause of death, animal protein intake. And at least one risk factor such as limited exercise, smoking, alcohol intake, obesity, etc. The study followed two large populations of nurses and other health professionals from the 1980s to 2012.

”Moreover, we observed that substitution of plant protein for animal protein from a variety of food sources, particularly processed red meat, was associated with a lower risk for mortality, suggesting that the protein source is important for long-term health.”

Canada’s Food Guide recommends…

Eat whole grains (a 1/4 of your plate)

The emphasis is on “whole”. Simple carbohydrates are unhealthy because they spike blood sugar levels quickly. And the false energy spike that we get short-lived, leaving us tired and hungry. Whole grains are closer to what nature intended. They keep us fuller longer and don’t digest as quickly, so they don’t affect our blood sugar at the same rate.

Choose brown rice, red rice or wild rice over white rice when possible.

Opt for millet, amaranth, and quinoa over simple carbs 

Whenever possible, eat spelt, Ezekiel or sprouted grain bread over white or “whole wheat” bread.

Better yet, choose gluten-free bread. Whatever you do, see how you feel after eating food.

Notice that wheat hasn’t been mentioned. This is because the wheat crop of today is not like the past.

‘Today’s wheat is greatly genetically modified to grow faster and provide a higher yield of wheat per acre. More food to the starving poor was a blessing, but could there be disadvantages with the modern super wheat?” Source

Many people have discovered that eating wheat/gluten causes a “foggy brain”, a sluggishness and bloating. Even worse, many people’s health is threatened due to celiac disease, while others, as mentioned above, are simply sensitive to wheat gluten.

Also, when food is overproduced, appears in most processed foods, we should probably be careful of it, ie. wheat and soy.

Canada’s Food Guide suggests…

Make water your drink of choice

The above suggestion is self-explanatory, but why must we drink enough water?

Nutritionists agree that to say that our body needs water is a gross understatement, after all, water is key in the body’s function:

• all organs of the body use water
• for digestion
• nutrient absorption
• produces and cleanse our blood
• cleanses the body of waste
• regulates body temperature and much more.

Dr. Robertai Lee explains American’s chronic dehydration at Medicine Daily, stating that “60 percent of our body is composed of water, 75 percent in our muscles, 85 percent in our brains, it’s like oil to a machine”.

Have you seen documentaries like 127 hours where a man trapped on a mountain survives for days after drinking water? His likelihood of survival increased because dehydration can kill us faster than starvation, so get a metal or glass water bottle and drink water! 

Still, there is the fear of drinking too much water, but in truth, most of us don’t drink enough pure water. The water contained in processed drinks doesn’t count!

Many people aim for 8 cups of water, but most of us don’t drink nearly this much, yet as Diabetes Strong explains, for Diabetics, “Even a mild level of dehydration – something you may not even feel – could easily leave your blood sugar levels 50 to 100 mg/dL higher than if you were drinking enough water”.

Canada’s food guide simplifies nutrition for us, but it is key that we take a personal interest in what we consume, how active we are, and how many ‘bad habits’ we have because these factors affect the quality of our life today and in the future.

What do you think of the Canada food guide?

References:

1. Nutrition Studies.org
2. Song M, Fung T, Hu FB, et al. Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Intern Med 2016.
3. The Daily Meal
4. Diet Doctor.com