meals

By Amy Riolo

With Father’s Day just around the corner, most of us are busy planning the perfect present for Dad. The usual gifts of cards, neckties, and watches are nice ideas, but the greatest gift you could give your father is helping him achieve lasting health.

The best way to show love to your dad on Father’s Day is by making a meaningful contribution to his life. Let your dad know that you love him, and that’s why you want him to live a long, healthy, and happy life. Introducing him to the healthful and delicious dishes from the Mediterranean region is a great way to do just that.

You’ve likely heard of the Mediterranean diet, which was recently named best overall diet of 2019 and has been shown to help extend your lifespan by roughly a decade. This eating pattern has also been linked to preventing heart attacks, strokes, certain cancers, and diabetes, and reducing inflammation. It may even help lower your risk of dementia by a third.

The Mediterranean eating pattern centers around seasonal produce, fish and seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy, and small amounts of meat and sweets. Part of what makes this diet so successful is that people in the Mediterranean region consider food to be a friend and ally—a source of pleasure, nutrition, history, medicine, and tradition. When combined with lifestyle choices like communal eating and physical activity, the Mediterranean diet is believed to contribute to remarkable longevity in the region. For example, residents in Sardinia are ten times more likely to live past 100 than people in the United States.

Father’s Day is the perfect time to help your dad make the lifestyle changes that can give him a longer and more joyful life. Read on for two ways you can celebrate your love for your dad and help him start living a healthier life.

Prepare a delicious Mediterranean-style Father’s Day lunch. Show Dad how much you love him by preparing him a special Father’s Day meal. Continue reading “The Best Father’s Day Gift-A Long, Healthy Life with the Mediterranean Diet” →

Ms. Ruby Sahota, Member of Parliament for Brampton North recognizes that the Food Guide that many of us grew up with focused on food choices. But we now know that our eating habits are just as important to our health as the foods we choose. Busy Canadians want simple guidance that they can trust to help them make healthy food choices for themselves and their families.

In launching the new Canada’s Food Guide, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of
Health, emphasized that healthy eating is about more than the foods Canadians eat. The new
Food Guide is an online suite of resources that better meets the needs of different users, including the general public, policy makers and health professionals. This includes mobilefriendly web content to encourage Canadians to eat healthy whenever and wherever they go.

Canada’s new dietary guidance includes concrete advice for Canadians on healthy food choices
and healthy eating habits. This advice includes:

• eating plenty of vegetables and fruits,
• eating protein foods,
• choosing whole grain foods, and
• making water your drink of choice.

Healthy eating is more than the foods you eat. The Food Guide encourages Canadians to:

• cook more often,
• enjoy food,
• be mindful of eating habits, and
• eat meals with others.

Canada’s Food Guide is intended for all Canadians. Health Canada is working to ensure that the revised Food Guide is inclusive of Indigenous Peoples, reflecting social, cultural and historical context. Continue reading “Healthy eating is more than the foods you eat” →