WATROUS, Sask. – First the bad news:
- Sixty percent of Canadians are overweight.
- More than half of Canadian women don’t drink enough milk or its alternatives, which is why one quarter of them get osteoporosis.
- You can’t hide from aging.
However, a dietitian for the Saskatoon Health Region says this bad news doesn’t have to be permanent.
In a recent speech at a meeting organized by the Rural Women’s Issues Committee, Heather Whittock urged women to become more active and learn to eat well.
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She said 30 to 60 minutes of activity each day works, even if they do it in 10 minute chunks.
They should test their heart rate while exercising. An appropriate rate is to still be able to carry on a conversation but not easy enough that they could sing while being active.
She noted inactivity is as risky to their health as smoking, and 30 minutes a day is only two percent of their time.
Eating well is not only what we choose to put on our plate, but how. A good meal at dinner will cover half the plate with vegetables, one-quarter with starch, such as potatoes, rice or pasta, and the final quarter with protein, such as meat, fish or beans.
Portion distortion is another issue. Whittock showed plastic models of various food, noting one serving of most usually fit in the palm of your hand.
One fruit serving of orange juice is in a small glass and one grain serving is half of a small bagel.
She said juice needs to be treated with caution because it contains as much sugar as a similar sized glass of Coke.
Whittock urged women to eat local food as much as possible and said that in winter, frozen or canned food is just as good nutritionally and better than imported fresh produce because imported produce lose nutrients over time and travel.
Reading nutrition labels while grocery shopping is a good way to check beliefs about how good a food is and to note the serving size.
A website at www.dietitians.ca/eat
well has an analyzer to check calories and other elements of homemade recipes. It also has tips on how to decrease salt and fat in meals.
“The less water that touches vegetables, the better,” said Whittock, who suggested steaming or pan frying rather than boiling.
Whittock said raw vegetables are best because nutrients are lost in the cooking water. However, she said the value would be retained if the boiled water was saved and put into a soup.
Laughter erupted when a woman at the meeting replied: “I thought you were going to say gravy.”
