Focus on Food Guides

Answer the questions below in full sentences.

1. a) Which food groups from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide are the best sources of fibre?
   b) Which key nutrients do grain products contain that vegetables and fruit do not?

2. For each food group in Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide, give two examples of foods and their service sizes.

3. For teens, Canada’s food guide recommends two to three servings of meat and meat alternatives per day. If you had an egg for breakfast and a sandwich with 30mL of peanut butter for lunch, how many servings of meat and alternatives have you eaten? List two options for additional foods from the same food group that you might eat for dinner to meet the recommended total intake.

4.Emilio’s family is from Spain and follows a Mediterranean style of diet, using extra-virgin olive oil in salads and cooking. His family’s meals include ample amounts of fruit, salads, fish, chicken, beans, tomatoes, and nuts. Should Emilio worry about eating too many fats? Why or why not? What health benefits or risks are associated with this type of diet?

5. a) When you eat in a cafeteria, fast-food location, or restaurant, name four steps you can take to ensure that your meal contains as many nutrients as possible while limiting the amount of salt, sugar, and fat.
6. b) Search online for nutritional information for foods served at a restaurant or fast-food location in your area. Choose one meal from the menu--include a main course and any additional items you might order in one meal, as well as a beverage. How does the nutritional value compare with the recommendations made in Eating well with Canada’s Food Guide?

6. The following are the ingredients in a popular breakfast cereal. What are the implications of eating this cereal for a person who is diabetic?

7. Search online for a food guide from another country. Choose one that was not illustrated in this chapter. Compare it with Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide. What similarities and differences do you notice between the guides? Suggest possible reasons for the differences and compare your list with a classmate’s list.

8. a) What strengths or limitations do you see in the existing edition of Canada’s food guide?
9. b) What recommendations do you have for what a future edition of Canada’s food guide should look like and include?

9. Jasminder is a seventeen-year-old girl. For lunch she ate one serving of palak paneer containing:

- 125mL (1/2 cup) spinach, raw - 50g (1 1/2oz) paneer

- 125mL (1/2 cup) onion - 15mL (1tbsp) margarine

1. a) How many servings of each food group did she eat?
2. b) During the rest of the day, she ate the following food guide servings:

- 7 ½ servings of vegetables and fruit - 1 serving of meat and alternatives

- 4 servings of grain products - 35mL of vegetable oil

- 2 servings of milk and alternatives

How does Jasminder’s total intake of food guide servings for the day compare with the recommendations made in Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide? Recommend changes Jasminder could make to her diet to meet the serving recommendations.

 

10. a) Choose a recipe from a book or the internet. Break it down into food groups.
11. b) Divide the quantities of each ingredient by the number of servings the recipe makes (for example, if your recipe is for lasagna and serves six people, divide the quantity of noodles by six). How do the portion sizes compare with the serving sizes recommended by Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide?
12. c) Using Health Canada’s checklist for making healthier food choices (figure2.14), suggest two changes you can make to the recipe to make it healthier.