Download 1) Nutrition - refer to the food guide and nutrients

Food Guide Notes
Characteristics of Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is the sum total of all food
choices made over time. It is the overall
pattern of foods eaten and not any one food,
meal, or even a day’s meals that determines if
an eating pattern is healthy. This means that
foods and meals should not be labelled “good” or
“bad”. The nutrition or lack of nutrition of any
one food or meal can be balanced by choices
made at other meals and on other days to
create an overall pattern of healthy eating.
A sound pattern of healthy eating includes:
1) Following a food guide
2) Eating a balance of nutrients from the six
major nutrient groups
3) Being physically active
Food Guide Notes
Canada’s Food Guide To Health Eating
Canada’s first Food Guide was introduced
during World War II (1942) when food was
being rationed and was called “Canada’s Official
Food Rules”. The Food Guide was updated in
1977 and then again in 1992 and is officially
titled “Canada’s Food Guide To Healthy Eating”.
(Canada’s FGTHE)
Canada’s FGTHE is developed by
nutritionists whom through research of our
societies eating, health and food availability,
develop a food guide, which is a simple guideline
to help people make healthy food choices.
Canada’s FGTHE is a nutrition education tool
designed for Canadians over the age of four
years. It outlines the kinds, amounts, and
variety of foods, which together provide a
nutritionally sensible pattern that contributes
to a healthy lifestyle.
Food Guide Notes
The Food guide is based upon three central
principles: 1) Variety
2) Energy
3) Moderation and balance
It also recommends moderation in the
consumption of fats, sugar, salt and alcohol,
while increasing the consumption of grains,
fruits, and vegetables. Canada’s FGTHE
contains some details unique to Canada, but the
healthy eating principles are similar to the US
“Food Pyramid” and food guides of other
international organizations.
What can reading the food guide offer us?
1) Nutrition information
2) Nutrition requirements
3) Make healthy food choices
4) Effects of unhealthy food choices
5) Balancing nutrition with energy
6) Maintain a healthy weight
7) Meal management
Food Guide Notes
Canada Food Guide (handout)
According to the Canada’s FGTHE, foods are
placed into four groups:
1) Grain Products
2) Vegetables and Fruits
3) Milk Products
4) Meat and Alternatives
Anatomy of Canada’s Food Guide
The Food Guide consists of two parts:
1) the rainbow side
2) the bar side
The rainbow side of Canada’s FGTHE provides
advice on how to choose food. The rainbow
shows that all four food groups are important,
but we need different amounts from each
group. The rainbow’s longer outside arcs
encourage consumption of more grain products,
vegetables and fruit, while the shorter inside
arcs represent the recommendation to eat
smaller amounts of milk and meat products.
Food Guide Notes
The bar side of Canada’s FGTHE shows the
serving sizes for different foods and explains
how many servings of food are recommended in
each of the four food groups.
Grain Products
Vegetables and Fruit
Milk Products
Meat and Alternatives
5
5
2
2
to 12 servings/day
to 10 servings/day
to 4 servings/day
to 3 servings/day
The number of servings you should choose
depends on your particular needs. The higher
end of these ranges is meant for people with
greater energy needs such as male teens and
very active young people.
A side bar in the Food Guide is a category
called Other Foods. These foods add taste to
and enhance the enjoyment of eating. It is
important, however, that they be used in
moderation.
Effects of Unhealthy Food Choices (handout)
Food Guide Notes
Energy and Calories
The body needs nutrients to supply itself
with energy and nutrients need to be consumed
in combinations because they work as teams.
Each nutrient has certain jobs to do in the body
and one nutrient cannot work by itself.
The energy that is produced from nutrients
is measured in units called kilocalories or
calories.
A calorie (kC) represents the amount of heat
required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram
of water 1o Celsius. In other words it is a
measure of the energy value of food. Calories is
the fuel that keeps your body running. Your
body uses energy in two major ways:
1) to fuel its basal metabolism
2) to fuel its voluntary activities
Food Guide Notes
Nutrient Content
Besides taste, foods contain nutrients that
perform one or more of the following functions:
Provide energy
Help with proper growth and maintenance of
body tissue
Help regulate body temperature
Eating a balance of nutrients from the six major
nutrient groups
1)Carbohydrates
4)Proteins
2)Fats
5)Vitamins
3)Minerals
6)Water
1. Carbohydrates: are starches and sugars,
which come from mostly plant foods and provide
energy and maintain normal elimination of waste.
There are two types of carbohydrates: simple
and complex. Simple carbs are sugars found
naturally in foods and digest easily. Examples
Food Guide Notes
are fruits, vegetables and milk. Complex carbs
are known as starches and take longer to digest.
Examples are grain products like (bread,
noodles, rice) dry beans, peas, lentils, and
vegetables (potatoes, corn)
2. Fats: delay hunger, provide insulation, energy
and carry certain vitamins in the body. Fat also
assists with healthy skin, and healthy cells. Fat
helps to transport vitamins in the body so our
bodies need fat to work correctly.
3. Proteins: aid in growth and repair of all body
tissue. Sources of protein include meat,
poultry, eggs, dairy foods, dry beans and peas
and nuts.
4. Vitamins: the name comes from the Latin
word meaning ‘life’. Vitamins do not provide
energy, but they help carbohydrates, proteins,
fat and minerals to work properly.
Food Guide Notes
Vitamin A – for strong bones, teeth, good
vision and healthy skin and hair
Vitamin D – help builds strong bones and
teeth
Vitamin E and K – help many body processes
Vitamin C – build and maintain a healthy
body, fight infection and heal wounds
B Vitamins – help the body get energy from
carbohydrates and heal keep nerves and
muscles healthy. (B1=thiamine, B9=folic,
B3=niacin, B2=riboflavin, B12)
5. Minerals: are found in a variety of foods.
Minerals are used for many processes and also
become part of the human body.
Calcium and phosphorous – work with vitamin
D and A to help build strong bones and teeth
Iron - works with protein to help your blood
cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body.
Potassium and sodium - are needed for
keeping the water balance in your body.
Food Guide Notes
6. Water: is essential for life. Water
constitutes roughly 60% of a person’s body
weight. Water can be found in milk, soups or
common foods such as fruits and vegetables. All
people need to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a
day.
Although not a nutrient but is important is
fibre. Fibre does not completely breakdown
through digestion and helps to assist with
proper digestion.
Foods that are high in nutrients relative to
their energy content are said to be foods with
high nutrient density. Eggs, fruit and
vegetables have a high nutrient density.
Sweets, such as cakes and candy have a low
nutrient density and are often called empty
calorie foods. They provide calories but lack
other nutrients.
Food Guide Notes
Balancing Nutrition With Energy
A healthy weight comes from making healthy
eating decisions and considering calorie intake in
balance with food intake.
A healthy weight for you is a weight where
you are healthy and not experiencing any health
problems related to weight and able to
participate in everyday activities. Ways to help
and guide you in determining a healthy weight
for you are:
1) Weight tables simply compare your height and
weight with a height and recommended weight.
Several weight tables exist and the weights do
vary and this makes these table limited in their
usefulness because individuals vary greatly in
ways such as bone build.
Food Guide Notes
2) Body Mass Index (BMI) uses you height and
weight to estimate how much fat is on your
body. To calculate a person’s BMI, use the
following formula:
BMI = weight (kilograms)
Height2 (metres)
3) Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) research today shows
that where excess body fat is stored is
important in assessing whether your weight is
appropriate. It is also a key link to the risk of
future health concerns. Body fat can be stored
in different locations on different people. In
general, two basic body shapes develop: appleshaped people (fat is stored in abdomen and
chest, surrounding internal organs, such as the
heart) and pear-shaped people (fat is stored on
the hips and thighs, just below the surface of
the skin). To determine if you are an apple or a
pear, figure our your WHR as follows:
Food Guide Notes
WHR= Waist measurement (cm)
Hip measurement (cm)
Apple shaped – waist measurement is greater
than hip.
Pear shaped – hip measurement is greater than
waist.
Apple shaped people have a higher risk of health
concerns.
Calculating Your Caloric Needs (handout)
In general the number of calories used by
the body each day balances the number of
calories provided by food, your body weight will
stay about the same. Achieving and maintaining
a healthy weight involves managing your weight
so a balance exists over time. Excess weight
can be a health risk. It is also a common
concern due to the increased public focus on
health and appearance.
Food Guide Notes
Some of the weight loss methods on the
market are based on reliable and sound nutrition
principles, however, not all of them are sound
and reliable. Fad diets are current, popular
weight-loss methods that ignore good nutrition
and healthy eating and these types of weightloss methods is unsafe and consumers should be
cautious. Many people on weight-loss diets get
caught in a cycle of yo-yo dieting.
Diet Checklist (handout)
If you are ever considering going on a weight
loss diet the best method is to consult a
physician and a nutritionist, whom will help you
set up a safe and achievable plan to lose weight.
Food Guide Notes
Nutrition Labelling
To help consumers make healthy food choices,
food manufacturers in Canada are required to
put certain information about their products on
the label. This nutrition labelling is an outline of
the food’s nutrition. It is meant to help
consumers compare similar products and make
informed choices about the food they eat.
Of the healthy eating messages promoted by
Canada’s FGTHE the information of food labels
is most helpful in following three of these
healthy eating messages:
1) choose whole grain and enriched grain
products more often.
2) Choose lower fat dairy products, leaner
meats and food prepared with little or no
fat.
3) Choose foods containing less salt.
Food Guide Notes
Three key things consumers can find on labels
include the following:
1) Ingredient List: all ingredients in the food
product must be listed by the
manufacturer. Product ingredients are
listed according to descending order of
weight. The ingredient present in the
largest quantity is listed first.
2) Nutrition Facts: provide detailed
information about the food’s nutrition. It
always represents the product as sold. It
does not include the nutrient content of
ingredients that you may add to a product,
such as milk to a pudding mix.
3) Nutrition Claims: food manufacturers can
make claims about their products. These
claims highlight a specific nutrient in the
food. Common nutrient claims include “fat-
Food Guide Notes
free”, “high fibre”, or “low sodium”. Even
though manufacturers must meet
requirements before these claims can be
made, consumers must read the
information carefully and understand what
the claim really means.
4) Diet-Related Health Claims: these types of
claims are optional. They highlight how
diet/food affects health and reduces the
chance of developing diet-related
problems.
Meal Management
Another aspect of healthy eating is meal
management. Meal management involves using
skills and resources to plan and prepare meals
that meet our goals. Most people have the goal
to eat nutritiously, save time, and/or save
money.
Food Guide Notes
When planning a meal there are a few
factors that need to be considered:
1) Nutrition - refer to the food guide and
nutrients
2) Resources - are human and material sources
of support or supplies for use in reaching goals.
Other resources include money, time, energy,
equipment, preparation skills and food
availability.
3) Budget - looking at your income and deciding
how much money to set aside for different
uses, such as housing, food, clothing, health care
etc.
4) People Being Served - individual diets and
nutrition needs, along with likes and dislikes
along with how many.
5) Customs and Traditions - some people have
distinct dietary patterns based on their cultural
backgrounds.
6) Meal Appeal - as you choose foods, also
consider characteristics that make meals
Food Guide Notes
appetizing and enjoyable. It is important to
note the following: colour, shape and size,
texture, flavour, temperature.
7) Variety - eating many different kinds of
foods, prepared in different ways, in what
variety is all about. Variety promotes the
following dietary advantages:
 An adequate intake of nutrients
 The positive and pleasurable aspects of
eating by exploring a wide range of foods
varying in colour, flavour and texture.
 The use of foods and cuisines enjoyed by
different ethnic and cultural groups.
 Moderation in the consumption of fat, salt,
caffeine and alcohol
Food Shopping Tips (handout)