Change needed to food guide

By: Tania Tetrault Vrga, Posted: 04/5/2016 10:04 AM, http://www.winnipegfreepress.c...guide-374614481.html

A recent senate report on obesity in Canada has suggested the current Canada Food Guide needs an overhaul.

I have never used the Canada Food Guide as a tool to help my clients lose weight or get healthy.

I simply haven’t found it to be effective. Even if they were able to understand it and follow it to a tee, I think it would be extremely difficult for them to get the results they want and to get the nutrients they need.

I would like to continue with the caveat that I am not a registered dietitian. I am a trainer, a fitness instructor and wellness coach who has worked with hundreds, if not thousands of people on their health and fitness goals.

Though I am not a registered dietitian I have invested a lot of time and resources acquiring other credentials related to fitness, body composition, wellness and holistic nutrition. My experience and my education tell me that eating six servings of grains every day, including refined carbohydrates, will only hinder health goals.

Science and experience tell me that processed foods such as juice and margarine are not helpful to those seeking improved health and fat loss. Yet these foods are recommended by the food guide.

I think nutrition should be simple. I think nutritional recommendations should be scientifically based, realistic, effective, and socially responsible. I don’t think that economics, or the food industry, should have any say in what our government recommends for our health. This is where I have found the Canada Food Guide to be wanting.  

Finally, just last month, a senate report on obesity in Canada acknowledged that the food guide is outdated. It states that "Several witnesses suggested that Canada’s food guide has been at best ineffective, and at worst enabling, with respect to the rising levels of unhealthy weights and diet-related chronic diseases in Canada."

The recent senate report calls for an immediate overhaul of the food guide by Health Canada. It refers to numerous reports and expert witnesses indicating that it is not dietary fat that contributes to obesity, but rather processed foods, sugars and refined carbohydrates.

The report recommends a simplified food guide that focuses on steering Canadians away from processed foods toward whole, nutrient-dense foods.

I don’t know if Health Canada will take action on the senate report’s recommendation, but it is reassuring to see that I’m not alone in my frustration with the status quo, that there are others who wish to see meaningful changes to how we approach nutrition in this country.