Canadians are being encouraged to consume a balance of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins to ensure a healthy diet.
Health Canada has released Canada’s updated Food Guide.
Canadian Pork Council Nutrition Manager Mary Ann Binney observes, while the Food Guide still promotes eating a combination of vegetables and fruits, whole grains and protein foods, what is different is the introduction of the protein foods category and mention of eating more plant based proteins but it’s important to note that proteins are not all created equal.
If you’ve seen the visual of the Food Guide, they show an array of high quality protein choices including meat and eggs and fish and yogurt and then there are the plant based proteins, which contain protein but they’re incomplete proteins. They have to be in combination with other foods so that, when you eat them, your body can metabolize the amino acids so that they can be used by the body to grow and repair. With the plant based proteins you get lesser amounts and not all of the essential amino acids and those foods tend to higher in fibre. That’s why it’s important to have this combination.
The red meats like pork does contribute high quality iron and zinc that is more readily absorbed by the body than these nutrients that are found in their plant counterparts. Every food is unique. It has it has its own unique bundle of nutrients. What you find in, let’s say a pork chop, that you are going to be getting a high quality protein in that it has all the amino acids you can only get from your diet and for relatively few calories.
~ Mary Ann Binney, Canadian Pork Council
Binney says the Food Guide has solidified what the science has been telling us for decades in that healthy eating is the combination of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins.
