Posted by Cathy Bouchard in nutrition on February 16, 2007 at 8:11 am

To be honest, I had no idea that there was a new Food Guide in the works. I don't use it, I don't plan on using it and I wasn't at all waiting for an updated version. There are still four food groups and Canadians are still stuck into narrow categories. Those things were kind of expected. What I didn't expect was that there was absolutely no mention of things like organic, sustainable or local. I looked at it again, thinking maybe I was missing it. Nope, it’s just not there. Neither is anything about choosing the least processed foods possible. Organic farming is on the rise and produce is more accessible now. Am I the only one who thinks that publications like the Food Guide are where organic and healthy living awareness needs to start? In a world of big business stakeholders, I guess I am.

The guide suggests that:

“vegetables fresh, frozen or canned – are nutritious options.”

Seriously? If the Food Guide is supposed to be targeting families and teachers with little nutrition knowledge, then why is it not giving them any education? Why isn’t it promoting fresh, local produce? Canned fruits and veggies are highly processed and not as nutritious as fresh, and they're far more expensive. Promoting regular old canned fruits and veggies to the average Canadian is negligent as far as I’m concerned.

But wait, it gets better. The Food Guide tries to give preparation suggestions.

“Steam or microwave vegetables in a small amount of water for a few minutes to retain more nutrients than boiling.”

Microwaving food kills many of the nutrients. I agree that boiling is not the best way to prepare your veggies but microwaving is just bad news for all kinds of reasons. I realize that most Canadian families have a microwave and are more likely to use it, and I can get the reasoning, but that doesn’t make it right. Maybe if people were educated on the difference between fresh, steamed organic asparagus and reheated canned asparagus, the world would be a better place. Then of course there's the Milk and Alternatives group. According to the guide, milk is essential for Vitamin D, as is chocolate milk and pudding. Congratulations Dairy Council.

The new Food Guide made a lot of claims in its press release, my favourite being that the new version contained more ethnic foods. I played the "spot the ethnic food" game and noticed bok choy and paneer. I say good effort but as far as I'm concerned, throwing in random foods from other countries and not including actual preparation suggestions, doesn’t count. The other big selling point is that the guide suggests you,

“make at least half your grain products whole grain each day.”

It's a good suggestion but I simply don’t think it's good enough. The average Canadian diet is made up of far too much refined flour and bread products. People need to be educated as to why whole grains are important. And what about preparation of these whole grains? Average Joe Canadian has probably never heard of quinoa, again just printing the word doesn’t count. What do they offer up as preparation suggestions? The online guide offers plenty of “quick and easy” menus. In my opinion, all these suggestions will do is make you a little tired and a lot gassy. Every meal is a poor food combination just asking for weight gain and indigestion and of course, they’re all served up with a glass of milk.

I could go on and on and on. We live in a time where people need to be aware that the food they eat matters and it’s not just about food groups anymore. The new guide is an improvement from 15 years ago but not much of one. Will it change? I guess not until organic farmers and people who really care about healthy food choices start to make as much money as Kellogg's.