14 ms·

Canada's New Food Guide

245 points by thtthings 8y ago

sattoshi 8y ago
Canada.ca is a recipe website now and it's what HN always wanted: a recipe with no weird preface personal stories about grandmother's or something drinking tea.
- elandrum 8y ago
  scroll scroll scroll ah, finally the ingredients.
- piceas 8y ago
  I'm a fan. Other examples: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes With a light sprinkling of meat propaganda: https://www.trueaussiebeefandlamb.com/recipes/ https://www.trueaussiebeefandlamb.com/recipes/
- zxcvbn4038 8y ago
  The stories are there because you have to be Don Draper to convince people to eat some of the recipes people put on the internet. I’ve seen macaroni and cheese recipes that should have been called mayonnaise w/ pasta. One recipe for Spanish rice, wish I’d saved the url just to prove it existed, called for ketchup and soy sauce. I’m not sure if that was a prison recipe or if someone actually thought it was good and served it to their family. IMO there is a huge need for curation and review on the recipe sites, not just the mindless screen scraping that’s been the norm for so long. And you might not know it from watching the food network but there are other genres of food besides Italian and “tacos”.
- clydethefrog 8y ago
  Some say it has to do with SEO purposes. There is a browser extension that directly shows the recipe itself called Recipe Filter.
- hawkesnest 8y ago
  The reason for the stories, I think, comes to a matter of US copyright law. For the most part, recipes themselves (ingredients and basic steps) are not protected under copyright. Any extraneous fluff added to the article is, though. That, and the longer you sit on a site, and the more you have to scroll, the more likely you are to click on an advertisement and earn them some revenue.
satuenpoo 8y ago
Let's get this straight.... For DECADES Canada.ca has been promoting the "Food Pyramid scam" which is in part responsible for woefully misleading children and adults into poor health, based on EXACTLY what the opposite of the science told us. And now we are to believe they "finally got it right?" BULLSHIT. Maybe the government should focus on stealing less of our money and invading less countries instead of feeding us food propaganda? I do not see a written apology on their website for the DECADES of what is effectively nutrition and scientific fraud. Disgusting and shameful
benzor 8y ago
This is great. A no-nonsense, modern take on healthy nutrition. It's simple (no more food groups, portions, etc.), and actually healthy (e.g. not catering to the dairy industry with a daily glass of milk recommendation, pizza is not a vegetable, etc.). Compare it to this: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/archived_projects/FGPPamphlet.pdf https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/archived_proje...
- village-idiot 8y ago
  Oh, it’s still catering to some industries, they’re just far less blatant about it than in America.
  - ramy_d 8y ago
    Do you have anything to back that statement up? https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-guide/resources/evidence.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-...
    - village-idiot 8y ago
      Food science in general is as corrupt as it gets, with the vast majority of research funded by and favorable to agriculture businesses. Even stuff that we take for granted as healthy, such as fruit and vegetables, often have their benefits massively overstated by the companies that stand to benefit by such proclamations of health. The area has been an absolute miserable failure in its obstensible goals, making us healthy. The western world has been pretty diligent about following the recommendations of the food scientists, especially around eliminating saturated fat, and the results have been a complete and utter disaster. Yet we continue to listen to the exact same people hashing the exact same advice as the population continues to get fatter, sicker, and die sooner.
      - hnnh44 8y ago
        If the food industry doesn't fund research, are we better off with none at all? Yes, individual vegetables and products matter relatively little compared to balanced eating. But saying this guide isn't useful is factually incorrect. Its an improvement over the previous guide. That makes it useful. It tells people to eat more veggies. That makes it useful. Unfortunately we live in a world with imperfect information and while it's not the perfect guide for everyone, no gude ever will be. The biggest issue with your rant is simply that you're complaining needlessly without offering a useful alternative. You've made some obviously incorrect statements. The fact is that people are living longer, and dying of "sicknesses" they wouldn't live long enough to reach in the past. America hasnt one so well on those metrics, but the world as a whole has significantly improved. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=World+wide+life+expectancy+trend http://lmgtfy.com/?q=World+wide+life+expectancy+trend
PalantirSlayer 8y ago
If governements tells you what to eat please be skeptical. They have got it wrong in past and they might be wrong today. The best diet advice always comes from grandma.
- eumenides1 8y ago
  Just because they tried and got it wrong doesn't mean we should be skeptical. We should be comparing what is known about food science to what is presented. Honestly, this food guide has been closest to what people currently consider healthy than any other previous guide. The whole advice from grandma is nonsense. You probably have a wealthy background, but my grandma was poor, uneducated, and cooked meals based on what was affordable. That isn't advice, that's an economic condition.
- igrekel 8y ago
  For some perspective, the original guide was produced to help the Canadian population to stay healthy during war induced restrictions. The later, and current version of the guide influence institutional kitchens that do not have dedicated nutritionists such as daycares, some schools, clinics, etc. If I followed by grandma's preferences we'd be eating canned food, salted meat, mincemeat pie, a lot of mayonnaise and cookies (exaggerating of course).
benj111 8y ago
I hope that plate at the top of the front page isn't a suggested meal size! Has anyone got some background on this, is it part of a larger policy? Is it going to be added to, or is this it now?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- ginko 8y ago
  Why? Too much? Too little?
  - benj111 8y ago
    The egg seems to be the most reliable scale indicator? Assuming that's a normal size egg, that is a very large plate of food. I know the intent is to indicate relative proportions of food, but you question suggests more work needs to be done on portion control also.
    - chki 8y ago
      I think if you divide the food on the plate over the course of a day that might be a reasonable amount, maybe a bit too much. Generally the site tends to focus too much on the problems of overeating while some people (myself included) might rather have problems to eat enough (healthy) food sometimes.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
moltar 8y ago
Jesus, who invented that??? Mac and cheese with a veggie twist * 375 mL (1 ½ cups) whole grain macaroni or fusilli * 10 mL (2 tsp) soft non-hydrogenated margarine
- humanrebar 8y ago
  Yeah. That recipe looks pretty rough. I hate it when people try to transform unhealthy dishes into healthy "treats". Just serve pasta with olive oil, some sort of acid (lemon juice, rotating cast of vinegars, tomatoes), and maybe a little grated sharp cheese if you really need that. Honestly, I'd rather just eat barley, farro, or bulgur in a bowl than try to force whole grains into crumbly pasta. But I guess that's a matter of taste. The big problem with this dish is the relative lack of umami. Sauteed mushrooms (shitake, portabella) really help here if you don't want to use meat. Or nutritional yeast really does the trick here. Depending on your palette, various fish sauces also help, though most Canadians probably aren't adding fermented fish products on everything.
  - cknoxrun 8y ago
    I would imagine several of the recipes are directed at families with young children?
    - humanrebar 8y ago
      Most kids love simple noodle and rice dishes.
  - Marsymars 8y ago
    > Depending on your palette, various fish sauces also help, though most Canadians probably aren't adding fermented fish products on everything. Hah, am (a very white) Canadian, and fish sauces are the only non-Vegetarian thing I'm still stocking in my house.
  - moltar 8y ago
    I was even more concerned about the margarine. I think it’s pretty established by now that cholesterol and saturated fat is a myth. Might as well eat butter then.
ricardobeat 8y ago
I reckon this is influenced by the pioneering Brazilian food guide [1] released in 2014, which was created in partnership with the Universiy of Montreal[2]. [1] https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8076961/brazil-food-guide https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8076961/brazil-food-guide [2] https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/brazils-revolutionary-new-food-guide-focuses-on-how-food-is-made https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/brazils-revolutio...
ponderatul 8y ago
It's not the same anti-evolutionary guude promoted by the EAT foundation is it?
- sridca 8y ago
  Looks like it, and for which there is a good rebuttal: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201901/eat-lancets-plant-based-planet-10-things-you-need-know https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/20190...
Vinnl 8y ago
It's interesting how we can all check out Canada's food guide, but we cannot do the same with e.g. the Dutch food guide, or the Italian one, or the Russian one, unless you speak those languages. In any case, this one appears pretty similar to the Dutch one, so I guess that that's a good sign. The Dutch one recommends specific portions (250g of vegetables for an adult, for example), but I think in similar ratios as shown on that example plate, and similar products.
- kogepathic 8y ago
  > It's interesting how we can all check out Canada's food guide, but we cannot do the same with e.g. the Dutch food guide, or the Italian one, or the Russian one, unless you speak those languages. It's the same case for Canada's food guide? They're not making it available in other languages except English and French.
  - Vinnl 8y ago
    Of course; it wasn't a criticism, but an observation. Just because many of us here speak English, even though we're not from Canada, we can know what is recommended in Canada, and how that compares with our own. I wouldn't expect them to make it available in other languages :)
- tom_mellior 8y ago
  Literally typing "dutch food guide" into DuckDuckGo got me to this summary in English: http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-guidelines/regions/countries/netherlands/en/ http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-gu... Then following some broken links to https://www.voedingscentrum.nl https://www.voedingscentrum.nl, here is The Netherlands Nutrition Centre's English home page: https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english.aspx https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english.aspx where following some more broken links you get to their "Wheel of Five", "the practical information tool used by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre to give examples of healthy dietary patterns": https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/Assets/Uploads/voedingscentrum/Documents/Professionals/Pers/Factsheets/English/Fact%20sheet%20The%20Wheel%20of%20Five.pdf https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/Assets/Uploads/voedingscentru... (I don't speak Dutch, and I feel silly pointing out that national dietary guidelines make most sense in national languages, and that English happens to be a national language of Canada.)
vkaku 8y ago
Great Job, Canada. They've shot down many of the lobbying companies when publishing this. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.
- sridca 8y ago
  > Great Job, Canada. They've shot down many of the lobbying companies when publishing this. They only shot down diary, meat and juice industry[1], while conveniently ignoring mentioning of lobbying from others (plant-based foods). Canada actually produces over 50% of the world's supply of lentils and they also grow a large amounts of various grains, legumes that they may be looking to push and make a profit for[2]. The whole food guide is extremely biased and hardly anyone here in HN seems to get it, lol. -- [1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-new-food-guide-shifts-toward-plant-based-foods/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-new-food-guid... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3uewoEocYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3uewoEocYY
hema_n 8y ago
This is simply perfect.. Everyone can follow this by making small changes in their eating habits towards a healthy lifestyle.
novaRom 8y ago
My food guide is to learn from examples: How average people of my age and older look like in different parts of the world? Are they healthy? What do they eat? What their habits? etc.
- ddeokbokki 8y ago
  A people's traditional diet does not necessarily correlate to their longevity, there are many other factors one needs to take into account (way of life, access to healthcare, access to food, etc)
kentosi 8y ago
From what I read, and someone please correct me on this, they put a bunch of scientists in a room to do their work without any influences from industry and lobby groups. I love this. Great job Canada!
kszxgz 8y ago
For comparison: Harvard Healthy Eating Plate https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-... At least among the Harvard faculty, there appears to be a consensus that healthy fats are important, which the Canadian guide doesn't seem to stress that much. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you... === Comments on the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/interviews/willett.html https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/intervie...): INTERVIEWER: Some nutritionists have criticized your pyramid as "floating on a lake of olive oil." WILLETT: The formal studies that had compared a more moderate fat intake as we've suggested, with low-fat diets, have actually consistently shown that people did as well or better controlling their weight on a moderate-fat diet compared to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. INTERVIEWER: Even good fats are more fattening than good carbs. So they think you're contributing to the obesity epidemic, or there's a risk of that. A tablespoon of olive oil is 14 grams of fat. WILLETT: There are all kinds of beliefs about the amount of fat in a diet, tremendously strong opinions. What we really need is sound data, and the studies that have been done show that people actually end up controlling their weight at least as well, and usually better, on moderate-fat diets compared to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. INTERVIEWER: Is it okay to get more than 30 percent of your calories from fat? WILLETT: The evidence is quite clear that it's perfectly fine to get more than 30 percent of your calories from fat, and probably, in fact, it's even better to be getting more than 30 percent of calories from fat, if it's the healthy form of fat. ... === EDIT: formatting
- EForEndeavour 8y ago
  I prefer the visualization on the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate website: it conveys more information in a smaller space than the plate graphic you first see on Canada's Food Guide. That said, the Canada Food Guide page certainly has fat covered. It doesn't mention it straight from the landing page, but if you explore the guide, you find it pretty quick. The first link in the sidebar of the Canada Food Guide, "Food Choices," takes you to https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/ which states in the second line of text "Choose foods with healthy fats instead of saturated fat." That text is (non-obviously) a link to https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/choosing-foods-with-healthy-fats/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendatio... which provides about the same amount of detail about healthy versus saturated fats. It also mentions that "the type of fat you eat over time is more important for health than the total amount of fat you eat." Finally, the "Further Reading" section links to https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fats.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fa... which goes into much more detail, and even provides links intended for industry and health professionals for anyone looking for yet more information. While the Canadian guide's layout is different from the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, I'd say the Canadian guide has fat covered pretty well!
nickelcitymario 8y ago
New guide, same as the old guide, minus dairy as its own category, and carbs are de-emphasized. This seems pretty non-controversial. The old food pyramid suggested having as many carbs as you could handle, and made it seem like milk and meat were absolutely vital. The new take just lumps those into protein and suggests proteins as a whole should be about 25% of your diet. While no guide could possibly please everyone (there's a diet trend for every possible food combo out there), this seems like a reasonable baseline to me. As for the recipes they list... omg no.
14 8y ago
I haven't looked over this food guide and probably will not put too much thought into it as a Canadian. Everyone knows that last food guide was completely out of touch with reality and was actually influenced by some of the big food companies. So now they want to try again and they didn't have it right for the last few decades why should I listen now? If they want to get me to listen now they need to highlight the old food guide and the changes they made and why. I notice they now recommend water as the drink of choice when the last one companies like Minute Maid fought to have a glass of juice placed on it. So my generation was sold out on the food guide. My trust now is strained. I will take this one with caution as well and continue to question if there is some alternative motive for the foods recommended.
sixothree 8y ago
What are the little balls to the left of the egg?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Vinnl 8y ago
  I think pine nuts, perhaps some other type of nuts or maybe even lentils?
lavignegagnon 8y ago
I can't believe they still promote horrible industrial oils high in omega-6 as healthy fats: Unsaturated fats that are good for your health: peanut, soybean, safflower, sunflower. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/commonly-used-terms/#oils-with-healthy-fats https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/comm...
robbrit 8y ago
It's great that they highlight the effects of targeted advertising on eating behaviour: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/marketing-can-influence-your-food-choices/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendatio... Definitely good to see a government organization being aware of how the modern world works.

245 points by thtthings 8y ago

Canada.ca is a recipe website now and it's what HN always wanted: a recipe with no weird preface personal stories about grandmother's or something drinking tea.

elandrum 8y ago
scroll scroll scroll ah, finally the ingredients.
piceas 8y ago
I'm a fan. Other examples: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes With a light sprinkling of meat propaganda: https://www.trueaussiebeefandlamb.com/recipes/ https://www.trueaussiebeefandlamb.com/recipes/
zxcvbn4038 8y ago
The stories are there because you have to be Don Draper to convince people to eat some of the recipes people put on the internet. I’ve seen macaroni and cheese recipes that should have been called mayonnaise w/ pasta. One recipe for Spanish rice, wish I’d saved the url just to prove it existed, called for ketchup and soy sauce. I’m not sure if that was a prison recipe or if someone actually thought it was good and served it to their family. IMO there is a huge need for curation and review on the recipe sites, not just the mindless screen scraping that’s been the norm for so long. And you might not know it from watching the food network but there are other genres of food besides Italian and “tacos”.
clydethefrog 8y ago
Some say it has to do with SEO purposes. There is a browser extension that directly shows the recipe itself called Recipe Filter.
hawkesnest 8y ago
The reason for the stories, I think, comes to a matter of US copyright law. For the most part, recipes themselves (ingredients and basic steps) are not protected under copyright. Any extraneous fluff added to the article is, though. That, and the longer you sit on a site, and the more you have to scroll, the more likely you are to click on an advertisement and earn them some revenue.

satuenpoo 8y ago

Let's get this straight.... For DECADES Canada.ca has been promoting the "Food Pyramid scam" which is in part responsible for woefully misleading children and adults into poor health, based on EXACTLY what the opposite of the science told us. And now we are to believe they "finally got it right?" BULLSHIT. Maybe the government should focus on stealing less of our money and invading less countries instead of feeding us food propaganda? I do not see a written apology on their website for the DECADES of what is effectively nutrition and scientific fraud. Disgusting and shameful

benzor 8y ago

This is great. A no-nonsense, modern take on healthy nutrition. It's simple (no more food groups, portions, etc.), and actually healthy (e.g. not catering to the dairy industry with a daily glass of milk recommendation, pizza is not a vegetable, etc.). Compare it to this: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/archived_projects/FGPPamphlet.pdf https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/archived_proje...

village-idiot 8y ago
Oh, it’s still catering to some industries, they’re just far less blatant about it than in America.
- ramy_d 8y ago
  Do you have anything to back that statement up? https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-guide/resources/evidence.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-...
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    Food science in general is as corrupt as it gets, with the vast majority of research funded by and favorable to agriculture businesses. Even stuff that we take for granted as healthy, such as fruit and vegetables, often have their benefits massively overstated by the companies that stand to benefit by such proclamations of health. The area has been an absolute miserable failure in its obstensible goals, making us healthy. The western world has been pretty diligent about following the recommendations of the food scientists, especially around eliminating saturated fat, and the results have been a complete and utter disaster. Yet we continue to listen to the exact same people hashing the exact same advice as the population continues to get fatter, sicker, and die sooner.
    - hnnh44 8y ago
      If the food industry doesn't fund research, are we better off with none at all? Yes, individual vegetables and products matter relatively little compared to balanced eating. But saying this guide isn't useful is factually incorrect. Its an improvement over the previous guide. That makes it useful. It tells people to eat more veggies. That makes it useful. Unfortunately we live in a world with imperfect information and while it's not the perfect guide for everyone, no gude ever will be. The biggest issue with your rant is simply that you're complaining needlessly without offering a useful alternative. You've made some obviously incorrect statements. The fact is that people are living longer, and dying of "sicknesses" they wouldn't live long enough to reach in the past. America hasnt one so well on those metrics, but the world as a whole has significantly improved. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=World+wide+life+expectancy+trend http://lmgtfy.com/?q=World+wide+life+expectancy+trend

PalantirSlayer 8y ago

If governements tells you what to eat please be skeptical. They have got it wrong in past and they might be wrong today. The best diet advice always comes from grandma.

eumenides1 8y ago
Just because they tried and got it wrong doesn't mean we should be skeptical. We should be comparing what is known about food science to what is presented. Honestly, this food guide has been closest to what people currently consider healthy than any other previous guide. The whole advice from grandma is nonsense. You probably have a wealthy background, but my grandma was poor, uneducated, and cooked meals based on what was affordable. That isn't advice, that's an economic condition.
igrekel 8y ago
For some perspective, the original guide was produced to help the Canadian population to stay healthy during war induced restrictions. The later, and current version of the guide influence institutional kitchens that do not have dedicated nutritionists such as daycares, some schools, clinics, etc. If I followed by grandma's preferences we'd be eating canned food, salted meat, mincemeat pie, a lot of mayonnaise and cookies (exaggerating of course).

benj111 8y ago

I hope that plate at the top of the front page isn't a suggested meal size! Has anyone got some background on this, is it part of a larger policy? Is it going to be added to, or is this it now?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ginko 8y ago
Why? Too much? Too little?
- benj111 8y ago
  The egg seems to be the most reliable scale indicator? Assuming that's a normal size egg, that is a very large plate of food. I know the intent is to indicate relative proportions of food, but you question suggests more work needs to be done on portion control also.
  - chki 8y ago
    I think if you divide the food on the plate over the course of a day that might be a reasonable amount, maybe a bit too much. Generally the site tends to focus too much on the problems of overeating while some people (myself included) might rather have problems to eat enough (healthy) food sometimes.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

moltar 8y ago

Jesus, who invented that??? Mac and cheese with a veggie twist * 375 mL (1 ½ cups) whole grain macaroni or fusilli * 10 mL (2 tsp) soft non-hydrogenated margarine

humanrebar 8y ago
Yeah. That recipe looks pretty rough. I hate it when people try to transform unhealthy dishes into healthy "treats". Just serve pasta with olive oil, some sort of acid (lemon juice, rotating cast of vinegars, tomatoes), and maybe a little grated sharp cheese if you really need that. Honestly, I'd rather just eat barley, farro, or bulgur in a bowl than try to force whole grains into crumbly pasta. But I guess that's a matter of taste. The big problem with this dish is the relative lack of umami. Sauteed mushrooms (shitake, portabella) really help here if you don't want to use meat. Or nutritional yeast really does the trick here. Depending on your palette, various fish sauces also help, though most Canadians probably aren't adding fermented fish products on everything.
- cknoxrun 8y ago
  I would imagine several of the recipes are directed at families with young children?
  - humanrebar 8y ago
    Most kids love simple noodle and rice dishes.
- Marsymars 8y ago
  > Depending on your palette, various fish sauces also help, though most Canadians probably aren't adding fermented fish products on everything. Hah, am (a very white) Canadian, and fish sauces are the only non-Vegetarian thing I'm still stocking in my house.
- moltar 8y ago
  I was even more concerned about the margarine. I think it’s pretty established by now that cholesterol and saturated fat is a myth. Might as well eat butter then.

ricardobeat 8y ago

I reckon this is influenced by the pioneering Brazilian food guide [1] released in 2014, which was created in partnership with the Universiy of Montreal[2]. [1] https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8076961/brazil-food-guide https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8076961/brazil-food-guide [2] https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/brazils-revolutionary-new-food-guide-focuses-on-how-food-is-made https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/brazils-revolutio...

ponderatul 8y ago

It's not the same anti-evolutionary guude promoted by the EAT foundation is it?

sridca 8y ago
Looks like it, and for which there is a good rebuttal: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201901/eat-lancets-plant-based-planet-10-things-you-need-know https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/20190...

Vinnl 8y ago

It's interesting how we can all check out Canada's food guide, but we cannot do the same with e.g. the Dutch food guide, or the Italian one, or the Russian one, unless you speak those languages. In any case, this one appears pretty similar to the Dutch one, so I guess that that's a good sign. The Dutch one recommends specific portions (250g of vegetables for an adult, for example), but I think in similar ratios as shown on that example plate, and similar products.

kogepathic 8y ago
> It's interesting how we can all check out Canada's food guide, but we cannot do the same with e.g. the Dutch food guide, or the Italian one, or the Russian one, unless you speak those languages. It's the same case for Canada's food guide? They're not making it available in other languages except English and French.
- Vinnl 8y ago
  Of course; it wasn't a criticism, but an observation. Just because many of us here speak English, even though we're not from Canada, we can know what is recommended in Canada, and how that compares with our own. I wouldn't expect them to make it available in other languages :)
tom_mellior 8y ago
Literally typing "dutch food guide" into DuckDuckGo got me to this summary in English: http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-guidelines/regions/countries/netherlands/en/ http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-gu... Then following some broken links to https://www.voedingscentrum.nl https://www.voedingscentrum.nl, here is The Netherlands Nutrition Centre's English home page: https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english.aspx https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/english.aspx where following some more broken links you get to their "Wheel of Five", "the practical information tool used by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre to give examples of healthy dietary patterns": https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/Assets/Uploads/voedingscentrum/Documents/Professionals/Pers/Factsheets/English/Fact%20sheet%20The%20Wheel%20of%20Five.pdf https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/Assets/Uploads/voedingscentru... (I don't speak Dutch, and I feel silly pointing out that national dietary guidelines make most sense in national languages, and that English happens to be a national language of Canada.)

vkaku 8y ago

Great Job, Canada. They've shot down many of the lobbying companies when publishing this. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.

sridca 8y ago
> Great Job, Canada. They've shot down many of the lobbying companies when publishing this. They only shot down diary, meat and juice industry[1], while conveniently ignoring mentioning of lobbying from others (plant-based foods). Canada actually produces over 50% of the world's supply of lentils and they also grow a large amounts of various grains, legumes that they may be looking to push and make a profit for[2]. The whole food guide is extremely biased and hardly anyone here in HN seems to get it, lol. -- [1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-new-food-guide-shifts-toward-plant-based-foods/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-new-food-guid... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3uewoEocYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3uewoEocYY

hema_n 8y ago

This is simply perfect.. Everyone can follow this by making small changes in their eating habits towards a healthy lifestyle.

novaRom 8y ago

My food guide is to learn from examples: How average people of my age and older look like in different parts of the world? Are they healthy? What do they eat? What their habits? etc.

ddeokbokki 8y ago
A people's traditional diet does not necessarily correlate to their longevity, there are many other factors one needs to take into account (way of life, access to healthcare, access to food, etc)

kentosi 8y ago

From what I read, and someone please correct me on this, they put a bunch of scientists in a room to do their work without any influences from industry and lobby groups. I love this. Great job Canada!

kszxgz 8y ago

For comparison: Harvard Healthy Eating Plate https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-... At least among the Harvard faculty, there appears to be a consensus that healthy fats are important, which the Canadian guide doesn't seem to stress that much. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you... === Comments on the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/interviews/willett.html https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/intervie...): INTERVIEWER: Some nutritionists have criticized your pyramid as "floating on a lake of olive oil." WILLETT: The formal studies that had compared a more moderate fat intake as we've suggested, with low-fat diets, have actually consistently shown that people did as well or better controlling their weight on a moderate-fat diet compared to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. INTERVIEWER: Even good fats are more fattening than good carbs. So they think you're contributing to the obesity epidemic, or there's a risk of that. A tablespoon of olive oil is 14 grams of fat. WILLETT: There are all kinds of beliefs about the amount of fat in a diet, tremendously strong opinions. What we really need is sound data, and the studies that have been done show that people actually end up controlling their weight at least as well, and usually better, on moderate-fat diets compared to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. INTERVIEWER: Is it okay to get more than 30 percent of your calories from fat? WILLETT: The evidence is quite clear that it's perfectly fine to get more than 30 percent of your calories from fat, and probably, in fact, it's even better to be getting more than 30 percent of calories from fat, if it's the healthy form of fat. ... === EDIT: formatting

EForEndeavour 8y ago
I prefer the visualization on the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate website: it conveys more information in a smaller space than the plate graphic you first see on Canada's Food Guide. That said, the Canada Food Guide page certainly has fat covered. It doesn't mention it straight from the landing page, but if you explore the guide, you find it pretty quick. The first link in the sidebar of the Canada Food Guide, "Food Choices," takes you to https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/ which states in the second line of text "Choose foods with healthy fats instead of saturated fat." That text is (non-obviously) a link to https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/choosing-foods-with-healthy-fats/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendatio... which provides about the same amount of detail about healthy versus saturated fats. It also mentions that "the type of fat you eat over time is more important for health than the total amount of fat you eat." Finally, the "Further Reading" section links to https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fats.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fa... which goes into much more detail, and even provides links intended for industry and health professionals for anyone looking for yet more information. While the Canadian guide's layout is different from the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, I'd say the Canadian guide has fat covered pretty well!

nickelcitymario 8y ago

New guide, same as the old guide, minus dairy as its own category, and carbs are de-emphasized. This seems pretty non-controversial. The old food pyramid suggested having as many carbs as you could handle, and made it seem like milk and meat were absolutely vital. The new take just lumps those into protein and suggests proteins as a whole should be about 25% of your diet. While no guide could possibly please everyone (there's a diet trend for every possible food combo out there), this seems like a reasonable baseline to me. As for the recipes they list... omg no.

14 8y ago

I haven't looked over this food guide and probably will not put too much thought into it as a Canadian. Everyone knows that last food guide was completely out of touch with reality and was actually influenced by some of the big food companies. So now they want to try again and they didn't have it right for the last few decades why should I listen now? If they want to get me to listen now they need to highlight the old food guide and the changes they made and why. I notice they now recommend water as the drink of choice when the last one companies like Minute Maid fought to have a glass of juice placed on it. So my generation was sold out on the food guide. My trust now is strained. I will take this one with caution as well and continue to question if there is some alternative motive for the foods recommended.

sixothree 8y ago

What are the little balls to the left of the egg?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Vinnl 8y ago
I think pine nuts, perhaps some other type of nuts or maybe even lentils?

lavignegagnon 8y ago

I can't believe they still promote horrible industrial oils high in omega-6 as healthy fats: Unsaturated fats that are good for your health: peanut, soybean, safflower, sunflower. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/commonly-used-terms/#oils-with-healthy-fats https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/comm...

robbrit 8y ago

It's great that they highlight the effects of targeted advertising on eating behaviour: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/marketing-can-influence-your-food-choices/ https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendatio... Definitely good to see a government organization being aware of how the modern world works.