Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating
When you choose to follow Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating, you'll find that you can enjoy the foods you love and eat well at the same time. That's because Canada's Food Guide helps you aim for variety and moderation. It encourages you to enjoy the tastes, textures and colours of foods from each of the four food groups, while choosing low-fat foods more often.
By following the Guide, you'll get the different nutrients that your body needs. Plus, you'll have more energy and will find it easier to maintain a healthy body weight.
Suggested servings in Canada's Food Guide
| GRAIN PRODUCTS |
VEGETABLES & FRUIT |
| 5-12 servings per day recommended Breads, cereals, pasta, rice. |
5-10 servings per day recommended Fresh, frozen, canned, or as juice. |
- 1 slice whole grain bread or 1/2 bagel or bun
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) cooked pasta or brown rice
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) oatmeal
|
Heart healthy examples of a single serving:
- 1 medium-sized fruit or vegetable or 1/2 cup (125 mL) raw or cooked
- 1 cup (250 mL) dark green leafy salad
Choose dark green and orange vegetables and orange fruit more often. |
| MILK PRODUCTS |
MEAT & ALTERNATIVES |
| 2-4 servings per day recommended Milk, cheese, yogurt. |
2-3 servings per day recommended Meats, fish, legumes, tofu, peanut butter. |
Heart healthy examples of a single serving:
- 1 cup (250 mL) of 1% or skim milk
- 50 g or 2 slices of lower-fat cheese
- 3/4 cup (175 g) of 1% or skim yogurt
Choose lower-fat milk products more often. |
Heart healthy examples of a single serving:
- 1-3/4 - 3-1/2 oz (50-100 g) of lean meat, poultry, fish, or tofu
- 1/2 - 1 cup (125-250 mL) of cooked beans
- 1-2 eggs (maximum 3-4 yolks per week)
Choose leaner meats, poultry and fish, as well as dried peas, beans and lentils more often. |
Other Foods
Use in moderation: Oil, margarine, jams, syrups, spices, condiments, beverages. These "other foods" should be used in moderation to enhance the taste of food.
Different People Need Different Amounts of Food
The amount of food you need every day from the four food groups and other foods depends on your age, body size, activity level, whether you are male or female and if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
That's why the Food Guide gives a lower and higher number of servings for each food group. For example, young children can choose the lower number of servings, while male teenagers can go to the higher number. Most other people can choose servings somewhere in between.
Important: For heart healthy eating in all food groups, choose foods that are lower in fat, especially saturated fat and trans fat, and higher in fibre.
How big is a "serving"?
One of the challenges to following the Food Guide is determining what makes up a serving. For example, if you eat a small plate of pasta (one cup), you might think that it is one serving of Grain Products. According to the Food Guide, however, it is two servings, since one serving of pasta equals half a cup.
As you become familiar with the Guide, you'll be able to estimate the number of servings in a meal without measuring. Here are some helpful guidelines:
A large plate of plain pasta counts as three or four servings of Grain Products.
A cup (250 mL) of cooked pasta, rice, beans, peas, or legumes is two servings.
A serving of Fruit or Vegetables is about the size of a tennis ball.
100 g (3 oz) of meat, fish, or poultry is one serving and resembles a deck of cards.
A single bagel, pita bread, or bun is two servings of Grain Products.
A juice box (250 mL) equals two servings of Vegetables & Fruit.
A 50 g piece of cheese is about the size of an adult's thumb and equals one serving of Milk Products.