Healthy Eating for a Healthy Lifestyle

Now is the perfect time to consider a New Year’s resolution, and we’d like to encourage everyone to start their New Year with a commitment to eating better. Food experts all agree that the key to healthy eating is one’s ability to achieve balance, moderation and variety. In simple terms, this means we should eat a wide variety of foods while limiting the number of calories or consuming too much of any one nutrient into our diet.

With today’s fast paced lifestyles, the daily routine of juggling workplace and personal demands often means we seek simple and quick meal alternatives – namely pre-packaged foods high in sodium and fat or take out fast food. We also tend to confuse healthy eating with having to follow strict nutritional regimens, striving to be unrealistically thin and depriving ourselves of the foods we enjoy eating.

In reality, we should focus our attention on the desire to feel better, have more energy and keep as healthy as possible. Everyone can achieve this by becoming familiar with some nutritional basics and incorporating them into their lives in a way that works best for them and their families.

Strategies for a Healthy Diet...

There are many different strategies available and none are ‘fool proof’ plans for everyone. We have summarized a few tips below and encourage everyone to incorporate some into their daily choices:

• Eat a variety of foods
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Eat moderate portions and eat regular meals
• Increase the intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains
• Limit the intake of alcohol, saturated and trans fats, as well as sugary and salty foods
• Balance food choices over time and learn to manage diet pitfalls
• Get active to improve energy and reduce the risk of heart disease

Download your copy of Health Canada’s Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (Print Version) OR Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (Screen Version - Large File) which is an excellent source of information on topics such as recommended food servings and healthy eating advice for individuals of all ages. We encourage you to share this information with your employees and members, as establishing and maintaining healthy eating habits can not only improve overall health and well-being, but also contribute to favourable trends in overall health care costs.

Or to order a free supply of the guide (available in both English and French), please visit Health Canada’s website.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your Group benefits needs further, please contact your Account Representative at (416) 443-9223 or toll free at 1-877-766-7823.
 

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