Some accuse the Canada Food Guide of being out of date and far behind advancements in nutritional knowledge.
But registered dietitian Ingrid Gangestad said she saw proof of its huge impact as soon as Health Canada released the guide’s newest revision last week.
“The day after it was released my son had a copy of the new food guide,” said Gangestad. “They had talked about it in school.”
This immediate impact on young minds is good news for the pulse and canola industries, because the new food guide promotes the consumption of both pulse crops and unsaturated fats.
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Perhaps the biggest winner is canola, because the guide, which was four years in the making, not only differentiates saturated from unsaturated oils, but states that fats are important to consume.
“Include a small amount – 30 to 45 millilitres (two to three tablespoons) – of unsaturated fat each day,” it says.
“This includes oil used for cooking, salad dressings, margarine and mayonnaise. Use vegetable oils such as canola, olive and soybean.”
In the 1980s fat became public health enemy No. 1 in many consumers’ eyes because it was connected to heart disease. People began cutting the amount of fat they consumed.
This guide gives consumers the confidence that all fats aren’t bad and some might actually be good.
“I think what we thought 20 years ago was that fat equals heart disease,” said Gangestad.
“Now we see that certain types of fats lead to more likelihood of heart disease – saturated and trans fats – but the healthy fats, the unsaturated fats, actually have a protective effect against heart disease when eaten in a balanced diet.”
Julianne Kawa, manager of market innovation at Pulse Canada, said the guide’s promotion of pulses as a meat substitute vindicates what the industry has been saying about its healthfulness and helps consumers embrace unusual foods.
“A lot of Canadian consumers I don’t think even know what lentils are,” said Kawa.
“They don’t know if it’s a grain or where it fits in.”
The guide helps alleviate that confusion because, in material designed for food educators, it offers suggestions on ways to incorporate pulses into a daily diet, such as putting chickpeas on salads or making hummus.
“That wasn’t there in the old version,” said Kawa.
“I think many consumers know beans are healthy, lentils are healthy, ‘I should eat more,’ but they have a hard time knowing how to do that.
“To minimize the amount of saturated fat in the diet, Canada’s Food Guide suggests that people regularly choose beans and other meat alternatives such as lentils and tofu. Legumes (beans, peas and lentils) are also sources of folate and fibre.”
The guide still suggests consumers eat grain products, but is suggesting a much higher emphasis on whole grains than it did before.
“Make at least half of your grain products whole grain each day,” the guide says.
