What is healthy eating? Is it complicated?  Is it expensive?  Is it boring?  Does it mean having to eat broccoli?  Eating healthy may not be high on your list of priorities, but it should be.  What we eat plays a direct role in our health.  This should not be news to you – it’s everywhere, on the news, in magazines, on TV, radio and the talk at the local playground.  We all know we should pay attention to what we eat.  The harder part is knowing how to eat healthy.  The hardest part is doing it. 

Pizza, chips, hamburgers and fries – if you are an average Canadian, you probably eat these foods because they are tasty, convenient and cheap, even though you know they don’t make up a healthy diet.  Enjoyment plays a big role in how we decide what to eat.  So do cost and convenience. 

You may believe that eating healthy means eating bland food, spending hours cooking and a fortune on obscure foods, and giving up everything you love to eat.   In fact, healthy eating is not expensive, bland or a lot or work. And in the long run it costs a lot less to eat if you cut down on the junk food. Healthy eating does mean understanding your body’s need for food and how to eat to meet those needs.

Even when people know a lot about healthy eating, it can be hard to find stores with healthy, affordable food close to home.  The costs of fresh and healthy foods can be too high for people living on limited incomes.  For people with disabilities, additional factors can get in the way of healthy eating.  Medications may increase or lower the appetite, and depression and other mental health conditions can do the same. 

Some people do not have a lot of control over what they eat.  For example, people who make use of personal aides for cooking and people living in institutions may not have much say in what they eat.  And people who cannot use print because of a vision loss or learning disability may have difficulty finding information on healthy eating.  Don’t let these kinds of barriers get in your way – use the tips that follow to do whatever you can to make sure your body gets the nutrition it needs every day.

A basic healthy diet should include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and protein.  That may sound simple, but what is a whole grain, and doesn’t fruit have a lot of sugar?  Does protein just come from meat, or can you get it from other foods?  Information on healthy eating can be confusing, and there is a lot of debate about how to eat healthy (like, is red wine good or bad for your heart?).  There are many places where you can get answers to these kinds of questions along with easy to use information that will help you figure out what you need to eat.  Look in the Useful Resources section for suggestions.

Basic Tips To Help You Follow A Healthy Diet

• Use free or low cost healthy eating guides like the Canada Food Guide and the Canadian Diabetes Association’s Beyond the Basics to help you understand how to eat healthy (you’ll find contact information in the Useful Resources section).
• Use cookbooks that give you healthy, low cost recipes.  There are examples in the Useful Resources section, and libraries lend out cookbooks.
• Read the ‘Nutrition Facts’ on food cans and packages to understand what is in them.  If you can’t read the information on labels, ask someone to help you.  Use the information in the following chart below to help you when you shop for food.
• Make use of grocery stores that deliver if it’s hard to find healthy food close to your home.
• Buy grains and other foods in bulk to lower the cost.
• Join a food co-op to have affordable access to food.
• Use your local food bank.
• Join or form a community kitchen with other people if cooking is a challenge for you – especially if you don’t like to cook or cannot manage cooking.
• Include foods you really like in your diet so that you enjoy eating.
• Make mealtimes a pleasant time.
• When you eat out, choose healthy menu items (some restaurants label items as healthy in their menus).
• Talk to a dietitian if you have special dietary needs.

Serving Size – tells you the size of the standard serving for one person
Servings per Container – how many standard servings are in the container 
Calories – number of calories in a standard serving
Total Fat – amount of fat in one standard serving (fat has the most calories)
Saturated Fat - increases risk of heart disease. Saturated fats should make up no more than 7% of the total calories you eat each day, or 15.5 grams of saturated fat for the average person
Trans Fats – these are even more harmful to your health than saturated fats.  Only 1% of your daily calories should come from Trans Fats, or 2 grams in a 2000 calorie day
Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated Fat – good fats that help keep your heart healthy
 Dietary Fibre – found mostly in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans. Dietary fibre helps you digest food and keep your weight down.
Cholesterol - found in meats, dairy products, and in shrimp and egg yolks. Cholesterol plays a role in heart disease and people should have no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day
Sodium – amount of salt.  You should have no more than 2,400 milligrams of salt a day.
Total Carbohydrate – amount of carbohydrates in a standard serving
Sugars – amount of sugar.  Stay away from foods with a lot of sugar, and keep your daily sugar intake lower than your intake of both carbohydrates and fibre together
Protein – amount of protein
Vitamins and Minerals – usually the amount of vitamins A and C, calcium and iron

The community kitchen model started in Canada, and has spread around the world.  A community kitchen involves a group of people or families that finds a space for cooking together.  They buy food in bulk and share costs, shopping and cooking chores.
 
Community kitchens help people eat healthier food for less money, and connect people to others in their communities.  Community kitchens often find space in community centers or churches.  Community organizations can help you form a community kitchen.  There is information on how to start a community kitchen in the Useful Resources section.