About a week ago, I wrote about the new Planetary Diet, which is seriously low on animal protein - especially for certain cultures such as those in South Africa where meat is considered nearly sacrosanct. The old joke goes something like this: "What's a South African farmer's favourite vegetable? ....Chicken." Badumtsssssss....
Canada won't be left out in the cold, so to speak
Not far behind the creators of the Planetary Diet, the Canadian government released the updated Canada's Food Guide, providing arguably revolutionary if not top of the moment guidance on how Canadians should eat. And since food habits can cross borders, there might be some interesting principles in there for people in other countries to adopt. I haven't absorbed all the critiques yet - in fact, most of what I've read to date has been uncritical and more in the shape of information than anything else.
So here goes - the big change to Canada's Food Guide is it's now on a plate, not a triangle!
More seriously, some of the highlights of the recommendations are:
- meat is de-emphasised, in favour of vegetable proteins
- there's a strong push towards cooking your own food from fresh ingredients at home, and avoiding processed foods (that one's a no-brainer)
- make water your drink of choice, they say (works for me - it already is - I struggle with things bubbly...but then, I'm one of around 7 billion humans on this blue dot 🙄 )
- cow's milk is also de-emphasised.
On that latter point, as you can imagine, there's been an angry backlash from the dairy industry. I'm not sure yet whether the "cow processing" industry as a whole has organised itself to refute some of the advice, but some of you dear readers are no doubt old enough to remember what happened to Canadian singer k.d. lang when she teamed up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to announce she was a vegetarian - she who was from Alberta beef country! The reaction was staggering, along with the impact on her career.
Luckily for the Canadian government, they don't rely on concerts, album sales or Spotify streams for their revenues, but the food industry is nevertheless a powerful lobby.
Let's see how well the "what to eat" part of this updated Canada's Food Guide survives.
Not just what to eat, but how
Some of the advice is not on what to eat, but rather on how to eat:
- be mindful of your eating habits
- cook more often
- enjoy your food
- eat meals with others
- use food labels
- limit foods high in sodium, sugars or saturated fat
- be aware of food marketing.
Well, that's me done now, so I'm off for a carrot and a glass of water with friends this stormy Friday evening.
