The New Canadian Food Guide

Canada, eh? There’s a lot of good to say about Canada’s new food guide - drink  water, avoid processed foods, go easy on the sugar, eat together as a family or with friends, care about what you eat. But I might be a bit more inclined to adopt the food suggestions if I lived along our southern border, in a city rather than 60km from the nearest small town, or in the States or Mexico, parts of South America - anywhere warmer than the Canadian prairies. Where are we supposed to get tofu and nuts, that wide variety of fruits and vegetables recommended, the protein choices which seem to ignore much of what we can grow or produce in our climate? For many the guide lacks practicality. It depends on the availability of (often costly) foods that are produced elsewhere. Vast areas of Canada’s prairie provinces are devoted to agriculture, but most of our farms and ranches are not growing fruits, nuts or soy beans. 

The new Canada food guide supports a lifestyle (and a carbon footprint) we have adopted through a worldwide economy. The food we eat, and the food we produce, travels thousands of miles. Our buying habits and thirst for variety requires a complex system of food production and distribution. Changing this paradigm would put many farmers, storage facilities, trucking and shipping companies, numerous people out of business. Most people show no real desire to shift from this way of thinking.

I live near the centre of Alberta. I have flown over this province many times and am always in awe when looking down on the picturesque quilt of farmland that stretches from horizon to horizon. The prairies are absolutely immense. When others think of Alberta they think of oil, of forest, of hockey. But agriculture is huge here. Our capacity to feed the world, and ourselves, is phenomenal. 

What crops do we grow? Canola, barley, rye, millet, oats, corn for silage, forage crops for hay and pasture, field peas and lentils, corn, wheat and sugar beets. Root vegetables are also grown, some strawberries and raspberries, and honey production joins crop production hand in hand. But our short growing season and cooler summer temperatures always effect our options north of the 50th parallel. Animal production maximizes our crop choices.

Vast areas of the Canadian prairies are utilized in the production of animal proteins - beef, lamb, pork, rabbit, chicken, eggs, milk and milk products like butter, cream, yogurt and cheese. If you look at the protein quarter of the food guide pictured here you can easily see that these high protein foods (including fish) have been reduced almost to the point of non-existence. This, in my opinion, is the main weakness of the new guide (and an assault on our palettes). The development of humankind, our physical size and health, our life span, our highly developed brain, has been attributed to our intake of high protein foods - animal proteins being the main source. Yes, you can get protein from other sources, but other sources are not as efficient at delivering the nutrition our bodies require. 

The New Canada Food Guide looks a little like a fad diet, promoting what food experts and nutritionists say today but may not say tomorrow. A food guide for Canada that downplays the role of animal proteins in a healthy balanced diet does a huge disservice to our Canadian livestock, dairy and egg producers and is impractical for a great number of Canadians.

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A good read on the food guide can be found at:

New Canada Food Guide nixes portion sizes, promotes plant-based proteins | CTV News ...https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca › no-portion-...

Deep in Winter

You may have noticed I’ve been absent for awhile. Why? I’ve been gone, off to the States to provide some love and assistance to my sister who has medical problems to deal with. My sister, through good fortune, good planning or both, is well taken care of, has the insurance needed and the wherewithal to provide a comfortable retirement home in which to spend her remaining years. But should you happen to be less fortunate... well, I suspect you would be in serious trouble. No pay, no service. All those folks up here that are clamoring to privatize portions of our health care system should first go somewhere and experience what privatization is all about - profits, big profits. Enough said. I’m glad I am a Canadian. It’s odd though, you can’t talk to an American about one payer government sponsored health care. They are convinced they would suffer under such a system. Their minds are made up and there’s no changing them. Mind you, I’ve never had the opportunity to chat with an American who couldn’t afford insurance.

While gone the weather up here was lovely, hovering around the freezing point, even melting some of our snow pack. With the exception of one surprise 6” snow dump which was melted off the roads by afternoon, weather down south of the border was much the same but folks there thought it was terribly cold. I got home just in time for a “severe weather warning”, another heavy layer of snow, -30C temperatures and a husband with a deep cough wracking his body far too frequently. That same man is now out plowing snow. It’s warmed up to -28C! 
And here I am, sitting next to our warm wood stove, rising bread in a basket above my head, warm and toasty, feeling just a bit guilty. I do have one important job though - keeping the fire stoked, a frequent chore in this weather.  I don’t have the science behind it but I do have nearly 50 years of experience which has convinced me - wood burns faster when it’s cold out, even when all the dampers are closed. If it’s around freezing I can stoke it up before bed and still have coals in the morning. If it’s cold like it is now I need to stoke it a couple of times in the night. There’s something to be said for that old person problem of having to get up to pee, it provides a fire stoking opportunity and ensures a warm kitchen in the morning.

In weather like this I’m glad I’m one of those people who makes sure to have another one of everything in my pantry, cellar or freezer. We don’t have to go anywhere. I can read, watch Netflix, blog, make cinnamon buns (yum), stoke the fire. There’s a few outdoor chores that must be done. The hay feeders must be full, the birds and guardian dogs must be fed, kindling chopped, wood to the house, snow shoveled and plowed - most of which my husband does, but we don’t have to get a vehicle going and head down the road to go to work. So we feel privileged. 

The sun is coming out and despite the cold it’s positively beautiful outside!

Maybe I will do those exercises, I always put off. I highly recommend a DVD by Scott Cole called Discover TaiChi for Balance and Mobility (available on Amazon). Being a farm wife I thought I’d not need to do anything over and above my normal fairly busy routine of life, but I was wrong. Especially in Winter our recliner is far too alluring. It’s an eye opener to realize just how much a person’s body can seize-up when you let daily work be its only form of movement.