Join Sue Mah and Jo-Ann McArthur President at Nourish Food Marketing, as they reveal the top 6 food and nutrition trends that are driving consumers’ food decisions.
* Discover how the last year has changed consumers’ relationship to health, food and beverage
* Take away tips / tools that are relevant to you, your clients and your business
Are you ready to get your jab? You don’t need a special diet before getting your COVID-19 vaccine. But there are a few extra food considerations at this time. Here’s what you can do to get ready and manage potential side effects.
Keep well everyone!
*To celebrate National Nutrition Month, we have a 5-week series of guest posts written by Deepanshi Salwan, MPH candidate and a dietetic graduate student at the University of Toronto.**
Welcome back to the Nutrition Month 2021 blog series!
This year Nutrition Month centres on the idea that healthy eating looks different for everyone. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and your healthy eating will look different from someone else’s healthy eating based on culture, food traditions, personal circumstances, and nutritional needs.
To honour Nutrition Month, I have teamed up with Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Graduate Students from diverse cultural backgrounds to put together a Nutrition Month 2021 blog series! Each week for the month of March, different dietitians and dietetic students will share their food traditions, cultural recipes, and the importance of culture in healthy eating.
In Week 1, we talked about how cultural foods should be a part of your healthy meals. Read the post here. In Week 2, we talked about the importance of forming social connections through cultural food. You can find the post here. In week 3, we talked about the importance of instilling cultural food heritage in your children. You can find the post here.
Today we transition a bit from focusing on our culture to exploring food options from other cultures. I believe we grow a little more when we step out of our comfort zone and appreciate something from a different culture. Similarly, rejecting foods from a different culture before tasting them would be a missed opportunity to grow. In Canada, we do not just tolerate other cultures, we celebrate them, and it should be no different when it comes to food.
How do you build a community that appreciates everyone’s food cultures? Let’s hear from my colleagues Atour Odisho and Aleeya Zack-Coneybeare!
Atour Odisho, Dietetic Graduate Studen
Atour Odisho, Dietetic Graduate Student
Instagram: @atour.in.nutrition
I am Middle Eastern
In my culture, food is medicine, and in my upbringing food is emphasized in the role of nutrition and healing. It is also a way to celebrate with family and friends. There is never too much food!
My favourite cultural food is dolma, which is wrapped grape leaves. I love this because every Middle Eastern has a different twist to it. Here is my recipe.
Dolma [Image: Canva]
Instructions: Mix everything together, except the grape leaves. Once everything is mixed, stuff each grape leaf with the mixture. Make sure all sides are closed, so the rice doesn’t escape when cooking. Next, assort the wrapped grapes leaves in a big pot. Add water and some more lemon juice to cover all grape leaves. Add in an appetizer plate and press down to secure the grape leaves together. Set on high-medium heat until water boils, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. ENJOY!
4. What would you like to say to Canadians during National Nutrition Month?
I hope that Canadians continue to explore other cuisines and dishes to diversify their palates. Cook traditional dishes from other cultures, dine-in restaurants from various cultures, explore International food aisles, or just be curious and ask questions!
Aleeya Zack-Coneybeare
Dietetic Graduate Student
I am Ojibway which is an Indigenous group here in Canada.
Food is ingrained within every aspect of our culture; it represents our way of life. Food connects our people to our traditions, our spirit, and our ancestors. Food plays an important role in our traditional ceremonies, as most usually end in a feast. We also use food to honour our spirits, ancestors, and mother earth by offering a spirit plate before beginning a feast. A spirit plate is filled with samples of all the food items at the feast, we set it outside and offer a prayer.
My favourite cultural ingredient is wild rice, due to its rich nutrients and the variety of recipes and meals it could be added to.
My family makes Turkey and Wild Rice soup very often! Here is the recipe.
Turkey & Wild Rice Soup [Image: Canva]
Turkey Stock -Turkey carcass (from a roasted bird), 1 carton chicken broth, 1 carton chicken broth, 1 onion, 2 celery sticks, 2 carrots, basil leaf, 1tsp thyme, water to cover
Soup – chicken or vegetable stock, ¾ wild rice, 2 carrots, bite-size, 2 celery sticks, bite-size, 1 tsp chicken bouillon, half yam, chopped, ½ cup corn, 2 cups shredded/chopped turkey meat
Instructions:
Turkey Stock – In a large pot add carcass, chicken broth, onion, celery and carrots. Add enough water. Add salt, pepper, thyme and basil leaf. Bring to boil and simmer on low for 12 hours. Strain and put the stock back into the pot.
Soup – Add a carton of chicken/vegetable broth to the stock (Taste and add chicken bouillon if needed). Bring to a boil and add wild rice (cook for 30 minutes on a low boil). Add freshly chopped celery and carrots (cook for 10-15 minutes). Add chopped yam (cook for 10-15 minutes). Add corn (cook for 5-10 minutes). Add shredded/chopped turkey meat (cook for 10 minutes). Turn off heat and ready to serve!
4. What would you like to say to Canadians during National Nutrition Month?
I would like to say to Canadians, the Indigenous cuisine is beautiful and that I highly recommend exploring our foods and culture and all the other diverse cuisines Canada has to offer!
Being accepting and wholeheartedly celebrating other traditional cuisines will allow Canadians of colour to enjoy their cultural foods with pride. There will be no guilt around carrying their cultural foods with them to school, work, or anywhere else they go. As we have discussed through this series, enjoying cultural foods is an important aspect of healthy eating. So, help your fellow Canadians to find their healthy by appreciating their cultural foods and practices!
Come back next week to learn more about traditional cuisines and healthy eating in our final post of the Nutrition Month 2021 blog series. Click here to learn more about the Nutrition Month 2021 campaign.
Have you ever tried a dish from a different culture and instantly fell in love with it? Let us know in the comments below!
Deepanshi Salwan
Written by: Deepanshi Salwan, MPH candidate – Deepanshi is a dietetic graduate student at the University of Toronto. Her nutrition philosophy embraces moderation without deprivation. She believes that healthy eating does not have to be complicated and hopes to inspire her audience to live more happy and healthy lives! You can find her on Instagram @deeconstructing_nutrition.
8 out of 10 Canadians rate their eating habits as good to excellent (43% good, 28% very good, 8% excellent). This represents very little change from the last TNT survey in 2015.
6 out of 10 Canadians use food and diet to manage health conditions. The top five health conditions of concern include: obesity/overweight, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes/diabetes, high blood cholesterol, and food allergies.
58% of Canadians say they have made changes to their eating habits in the past year. The key changes are eating MORE fruits and vegetables, fibre and protein, as well as eating LESS sugar, salt / sodium and fatty foods.
2 out of 3 Canadians prepared their last 10 meals from scratch most of the time. Millennials are most likely to purchase foods that are ready to eat or ready to re-heat.
Almost 25% of Canadians say they eat alone most of the time. This trend was seen across all age groups.
Are you interested in learning more survey results and how they can impact your business? Join me at my our 13th annual Nutrition for NON-Nutritionists course on April 28 at the University of Toronto. Course details and registration are available now.
I had a serendipitous meeting with the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Canada’s Minister of Health! She was entering the TV studio green room just as I was about to leave. We were both being interviewed (separately) about the new Canada’s Food Guide.
Here’s a note from our conversation.
Canada’s Food Guide is about the food experience – cooking and eating together, and enjoying food. “When I think about food, I think about family,” said the Minister. As the youngest of 9 kids, she remembers waking up to the smell of fresh bread baked by her mom.
I shared my own experiences. As a daughter of a chef, I grew up eating together with my family. We used our prized Chinese bowls and celebratory red chopsticks every day. We ate everything from apples and bok choy to ice cream and lobster. Food was delicious, wholesome and enjoyed without guilt.
Food unites us! The new Canada’s Food Guide reminds us to enjoy food, eat mindfully and eat with others. I like that message!
Written by: Sue Mah, MHSc, RD, PHEc
Take a deep breath, it’s December! The countdown is on for the holiday parties, cheery celebrations and food fest overload. So what can you do to enjoy the joyous season yet not overindulge? Here are my top eight tips.
1. Give yourself permission to enjoy. First of all, let go of the guilt. Follow the 80-20 rule: 80% of the time, choose the healthy fare; 20% of the time, enjoy your favourite indulgences – in moderation.
2. Be a picky eater. Do a once over of all the choices. In your head, rate each dish as either “I must try this!” or as “I can pass on this today.” Then, take a small portion of your top five “must try” foods, including at least one veggie dish. Go back for seconds only if the food was WOW!
3. Tell a story. You’ve heard that saying, “No talking with your mouth full”? Put it into practice now. Set your fork down, chat with others and tell a story. This slows down your eating and allows time for your brain to register that you’re getting full.
4. Chew your food. Research shows that chewing food up to 40 times before swallowing may actually help you feel fuller and eat less. Alright, this may not apply to that tiny shrimp appetizer, but the point here is to pace yourself and savour every bite rather than wolf down your food.
5. Power on with protein. Eat protein at each meal. You’ll feel full for longer and have sustained energy to keep up with the holiday hustle and bustle. Remember that milk and milk products provide high-quality protein too and can be easily included at brekkie, lunch, dinner, snacks and yes, even desserts! If you’re looking for festive-coloured, protein-packed recipes, try a hearty Lentil Kale and Feta Salad, or this refreshing Lemon Yogurt Cheesecake with Raspberries – both from www.dairygoodness.ca.
6. Eat until you’re 80% full. This is a practice in mindful eating. At 80% full, you don’t feel stuffed and in fact, you could probably eat a few more bites. But you’re no longer hungry and you don’t have to loosen your belt. Over time, you’ll get accustomed to eating to the 80% mark which can be a bonus if you’re watching your waistline.
7. Hold your drink / cocktail in your dominant hand. This makes it trickier (and messier) to eat with your non-dominant hand while you’re socializing. Stick to Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines: no more than 3 drinks for women and 4 drinks for men on any single occasion. For each alcoholic drink, have a non-alcoholic one.
8. Use smaller plates and glasses. The bigger the plate, the more food we’ll pile on it. Research also shows that we drink more from short, wide glasses rather than tall ones. So use the short glasses for water and save the tall glasses for cocktails and sweetened beverages.
All the best for a happy and healthy holiday season!
(This story, written by Sue Mah, originally appeared in the Toronto Sun, Dec 8, 2017.)
Does your workplace offer free food at meetings,events or in the common area? Turns out that all of this free food can be adding about 1,300 empty calories to your week!
A one of a kind study in the USA analyzed the food and beverage choices of over 5,000 employees who either purchased food from on-site vending machines or the cafeteria, or obtained food for free in common areas, at meetings or at workplace social events. The preliminary results, presented at last month’s meeting of the American Society of Nutrition, found that nearly 25% of the employees obtained food from work at least once a week which added up to almost 1,300 calories by the end of the week. The bad news is that the food and beverages tended to be high in empty calories which contain little to no nutrition. Even worse news is that over 70% of the calories consumed came from free food that was offered in the workplace such as pizza, soda, cookies, brownies, cake and candy.
Bottom line:
About 87% of Canadian employees have personal goals to eat healthier foods. Workplaces can play a huge role in helping employees eat better and improve their food habits. Start by creating a workplace healthy eating policy to ensure access and availability of healthy options in foodservice, vending machines and at workplace meetings / events. We can assess your current offerings and help you build and implement a winning workplace healthy eating policy that will boost productivity and performance! Contact me for more details and / or to book an inspiring workplace wellness presentation for your team.
I was happy to attend the annual Dietitians of Canada conference in beautiful Vancouver last week and listened to a presentation by Ann Ellis – Manager of Dietary Guidance Manager at Health Canada – who shared the latest update on the revisions to Canada’s Food Guide.
Originally, the new Food Guide was supposed to be out by now, but Health Canada is waiting for additional data about Canadian’s eating habits, so the timelines have shifted.
Later this fall, Health Canada plans to launch a “Suite of Resources:
• Canada’s Dietary Guidelines for Health Professionals and Policy Makers – A report providing Health Canada’s policy on healthy eating. This report will form the foundation for Canada’s Food Guide tools and resources.
• Canada’s Food Guide Healthy Eating Principles – Communicating Canada’s Dietary Guidelines in plain language.
• Canada’s Food Guide Graphic – Expressing the Healthy Eating Principles through visuals and words.
• Canada’s Food Guide Interactive Tool – An interactive online tool providing custom information for different life stages, in different settings.
• Canada’s Food Guide Web Resources – Mobile-responsive healthy eating information (factsheets, videos, recipes) to help Canadians apply Canada’s Dietary Guidelines.
In Spring 2019, Health Canada plans to release:
• Canada’s Healthy Eating Pattern for Health Professionals and Policy Makers – A report providing guidance on amounts and types of foods as well as life stage guidance.
• Enhancements to Canada’s Food Guide – Interactive Tool and Canada’s Food Guide – Web Resources – Enhancements and additional content to Canada’s web application on an ongoing basis.
Some other insights that I learned:
– Health Canada is hoping to get back to an overall pattern of eating and highlight nutrients of public health concern. The new Canada’s Food Guide will also have a heavy focus on food skills and determinants to health.
– There is no intent to advise consumers to avoid meat in the new Food Guide.
– The new Food Guide will focus more on the proportionality and frequency of meals, rather than numbers of servings to consume. In other word, information about number of servings may be more “behind the scenes” info for health professionals rather than front-facing info for consumers
Sign for my free nutrition e-newsletter if you haven’t done so already. And stay tuned – once the new Canada’s Food Guide it out, I’ll let you know all about it!
It’s never too early or too late to start taking care of your brain health. In fact, diet is an important predictor of how well our brain ages.
The MIND diet stands for “Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay” and its goal is to prevent dementia and loss of brain function as we age. The MIND diet is a blend of the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet.
The Mediterranean Diet is based on the traditional foods enjoyed by those living in Mediterranean countries including Italy and Greece. Researchers found that these people actually had a lower risk of diseases such as heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and premature death. This diet focuses on eating vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fish, seafood and extra virgin olive oil.
The DASH Diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Research shows that this diet is helpful in lowering high blood pressure. This diet also emphasizes vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes as well as low fat dairy products and lean protein.
When followed rigorously, the MIND Diet results in a 53% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. When the MIND Diet is followed modestly (i.e. not perfectly), it still results in a 35% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.
According to the MIND Diet, here are the 10 foods to eat for brain health:
– green leafy vegetables – at least 1 dark green salad every day
– other vegetables – at least 1 other vegetable every day
– whole grains – at least 3 servings every day
– nuts – at least 1 ounce (30 g) every day
– beans or legumes – at least every other day
– berries – at least twice a week
– fish – at least once a week
– poultry – at least twice a week
– olive oil – this is the oil of choice
– wine. If you don’t drink alcohol, purple grape juice provides many of the same benefits.
And here are the 5 foods to avoid/limit:
– red meat
– butter/margarine
– cheese
– pastries/sweets and
– fried fast food.
As dietitians, we are passionate about the potential of food and its connection to health! For March – Nutrition Month, and all year long, celebrate these benefits of delicious, wholesome, nourishing food.
Food can FUEL your body and mind. According to the Dietitians of Canada, almost half of Canadians say that eating a balanced diet is challenging for them because they are so busy, and nearly 30% turn to snacks to stay fuelled. The right food choices will not only energize you but also maximize your creativity and productivity! For a healthy snack, we love combining produce with protein – try egg and avocado toast, peanut butter on apple slices, or tuna with veggie sticks. Work with me to create wellness foodservice menus or to build a positive nutrition workplace environment.
Food can help kids DISCOVER healthy eating. Did you know that 38% of parents rarely or never let their child prepare a meal or snack? Let’s get kids in the kitchen! Kids are more likely to eat what they’ve made, so take the opportunity to help kids discover and be adventurous with food. Find a recipe that you can make together. Try new foods and flavours. Shop for groceries together too.
Food can PREVENT health problems. Healthy eating, being active and living smoke-free together can prevent about 80% of premature stroke and heart disease. There are many different “diets” or “eating patterns” such as the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH diet and the MIND diet. Find out more about these diets at my upcoming 11th annual Nutrition for NON-Nutritionists course on April 18th. We’ll look beyond the fad diets and gimmicks to deliver reliable, life-changing advice.
Food can HEAL. Dietitians believe in and understand the potential of food to help you heal and feel your best. Work with a dietitian to heal during illness and enhance your health. As the trusted food and nutrition experts, dietitians can help you: manage your blood sugar levels, lower your blood pressure, lower your blood cholesterol, manage the side effects of cancer care treatments, navigate a gluten-free diet, reach / maintain a healthy weight, and stay nourished when eating/swallowing is a challenge.
Food can BRING US TOGETHER. Eating together has benefits for everyone! Children who eat with their families tend to eat more veggies and fruit, consume fewer less sugar-sweetened drinks, have better academic performance, are at a lower risk for being overweight and have a lower chance of developing eating disorders. Teens who eat with their families get better grades and are less likely to smoke, use drugs or alcohol, or engage in serious fights. Adults who eat with friends and family eat more vegetables and fruit, drink less pop and have a healthier weight. Older adults who eat as part of a group setting have better overall nutrient intakes and lower rates of malnutrition. Whether it’s breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snack or yes, even dessert – take time to sit down and enjoy food in the company of others!
