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-...