Many of you
may recall that last year, Health Canada was holding Phase 1 of its public
consultation on revising Canada's Food Guide. Canadians were invited to
submit their opinions and experiences with the Food Guide using an online form
on www.foodguideconsultation.ca. (You can read the blog post that I wrote last
year on the subject here.) In total, 19,873 submissions were received (although
participants were able to make submissions more than once). Of those, 14,297
were from the general public, 5,096 were from professionals, and 461 were from
organizations. Now, several documents have been
released, including one reviewing the input that has been heard from the
Canadian public; an “Evidence review for dietary guidance”; and a proposed
description of “Guiding Principles, Recommendations, and Considerations” for
healthy eating.
These
documents are very encouraging for those of us who are working to spread the
vegan message! I am saving the best news for later on in
this blog post (under the subheading “Guiding Principles”), but I recommend
that you read the whole post to get a more complete picture of how the proposed
dietary recommendations relate to plant-based eating.
Public Input from Phase 1 of the Consultation
First, let’s
look at the document, “Canada’s Food Guide Consultation – Phase 1 What We Heard Report”.
Happily,
veganism, vegetarianism, and plant-based diets are mentioned in the document a
few times!
The document
can be found in full on the Government of Canada website. Below, I have included
7 excerpts from the document that mention veganism, vegetarianism, and related
issues.
1) When asked
how useful the current Four Food Groups were, participants expressed the
following: “Current food groupings (such as Vegetables and Fruit, Grain Products,
Milk and Alternatives, and Meat and Alternatives) were considered useful, to at
least "some extent", due to their simplicity, however less useful to
some because of their departure from the nutritional components, lack of
applicability to all circumstances and needs such as for a vegan or vegetarian
lifestyle or dietary restrictions.” (found
in Section 4.0)
2) “Other personal
interests in healthy eating recommendations that were mentioned by participants
include:
- improving the
health of all Canadians in general;
- having a
focus on dietary choices such as vegetarianism and veganism;
- managing food
intolerances/allergies;
- disease
management/managing health conditions, such as diabetes;
- concerns
about the environment or animal welfare;
- support for
educational study; or
- to aid their
own involvement in a social or community group related to personal
wellbeing, such as:
- a healthy
lifestyle
- fitness
- weight loss”
(found in Section 5.1)
3) “Participants were very positive about the prospect of revisions to
Canada's Food Guide. For some, the current format offers a simple way to
structure thinking about healthy eating and encourages Canadians to think about
healthy eating principles. Others felt that the current recommendations are
misleading and that revisions would be helpful to ensure the recommendations
are useful to a broader audience.” (found in Section 5.2)
4) “Generally, participants from the public, professionals and
organizations felt that dietary guidance should cover a broad range of needs.
Feedback received from contributors on potential content of the guidance
included:
·
more focus on audience specific recommendations,
particularly for those with lower incomes, elderly Canadians and children;
·
inclusion of guidance addressing a range of lifestyle choices/dietary
restrictions; and,
·
more details related to the nutrient requirements for
positive health outcomes, such as a focus on macronutrients and micronutrients
essential for health.
A few participants also commented on a need for broader changes to the food
industry beyond guidance materials to more specific policy changes to improve
the health of Canadians by limiting options that negatively affect human
health.” (found in Section 5.2)
5) “Many general public participants indicated that the current food
groupings were useful to them, to at least "some extent". They often
cited the simplicity of the groupings as a good foundation for building
awareness of healthy eating habits. Others felt the groupings were not useful
due to their:
- departure
from the nutritional components (micro and macro nutrients) in foods
essential for positive health outcomes; and
- lack of
ability to apply the groupings to all circumstances and needs, such as
for:
- vegan or
vegetarian lifestyles
- other
dietary restrictions” (found in
Section 5.4)
6) “A greater emphasis on (or de-emphasis of) certain foods
was recommended by participating professionals as a way to improve the
usefulness of the food groupings. For example, some contributors suggested this
could include:
·
a greater emphasis on vegetables, rather than
fruits; or
·
a de-emphasis of meat or milk” (found in Section 5.4)
7) “While there are mixed perspectives, both positive and
negative, on the value of Canada's Food Guide in its current format (including
the content and recommendations specifically), many general public and
professional/organizational participants agree that Canada's Food Guide may no
longer be reflective of the increasingly varied diets of Canadians today.
There are different, more varied food types on the tables of
Canadians than ever before, due to the rise of trends, such as:
·
community gardening;
·
gluten-free products;
·
an emphasis on whole foods and plant-based
diets; and
·
the greater variety of traditional cuisines of
Canada's multicultural population.
There is a call for healthy eating recommendations to be
expanded to:
·
reflect this greater variety;
·
provide a basis of scientific evidence;
·
provide more details to Canadians about the
foods they are consuming; and
·
create guidance to inform healthy eating
behaviours.” (Section 6.0)
It seems that the government is starting to hear the logic
of our movement. That’s not all the good news, however. There’s more!
"Evidence Review for Dietary Guidance"
The document “Evidence review for dietary guidance” does not
mention plant-based eating, vegetarian diets, or vegan diets. However, they did
make some comments about how some people are concerned about industry influence
on Canada's Food Guide:
“Another reported challenge was that there remains a
perception among some groups of consumers and organizations that food industry
representatives exerted influence on the development of the recommendations in
the Food Guide. This adversely affects the credibility of the guidance from a
scientific standpoint in the eyes of these stakeholders.” (Page 5 of the PDF)
I wouldn’t be surprised if concerns raised by vegans about
the influence of the meat, dairy, and egg industries on the Food Guide are part
of the reason why Health Canada makes this statement. I myself expressed this
concern in my Op-Ed on the Epoch Times’ website last year.
Guiding Principles
Health Canada has also released a document outlining the
proposed Guiding Principles, Recommendations, and Considerations for healthy
eating.
Here is a summarized description of the principles:
(Source: Government of Canada)
A detailed description of the Guiding Principles is also
available on the Government of Canada website. The word “plant-based” is used 6
times in the Guiding Principles document, and in 5 of those times it is used
positively! Here are 4 excerpts from the document that mention plant-based food:
1) “Health Canada recommends:
·
Regular intake of vegetables, fruit, whole
grains, and protein-rich foods* – especially plant-based sources of protein
·
Inclusion of foods that contain mostly
unsaturated fat, instead of foods that contain mostly of saturated fat
·
Regular intake of water
*Protein-rich foods include: legumes (such as beans), nuts
and seeds, soy products (including fortified soy beverage), eggs, fish and
other seafood, poultry, lean red meats (including game meats such as moose,
deer and caribou), lower fat milk and yogurt, cheeses lower in sodium and fat.
Nutritious foods that contain fat such as homogenized (3.25% M.F.) milk should
not be restricted for young children.”
Note that plant-based sources of protein are mentioned first on the list of protein-rich food
sources! It looks like the plant-based/vegan message is doing better
than many of us may have thought!
2) “What is needed is a shift towards a high proportion of
plant-based foods, without necessarily excluding animal foods altogether.”
While the second part of this sentence may initially seem a
bit disappointing, they do seem to be making progress in the right direction.
Also, consider the fact that Health Canada actually mentions the idea of
excluding animal products altogether; the way they phrase the sentence (“without
necessarily excluding” (italics added
by me)) makes me think that they don’t think that excluding animal products is
at all far-fetched.
3) “A shift towards more plant-based foods can help
Canadians:
·
eat more fibre-rich foods;
·
eat less red meat (beef, pork, lamb and goat);
and
·
replace foods that contain mostly saturated fat
(e.g., cream, high fat cheeses and butter) with foods that contain mostly
unsaturated fat (e.g., nuts, seeds, and avocado).
To help meet these recommendations, Canadians can choose
nutritious foods and beverages, including:
·
foods and beverages that require little or no
preparation such as fresh, frozen and canned vegetables and fruit, canned
legumes or fish, tofu, plain milk or fortified plant-based beverages;
·
foods and beverages that are pre-packaged for
convenience (such as pre-washed salad greens, pre-cut fruit) or to increase
shelf-life (such as powdered milk);
·
foods like nuts, seeds, fatty fish, avocado, and
vegetable oils instead of foods like high fat cheeses and cream; and
·
foods obtained through gardening, hunting,
trapping, fishing and harvesting.”
Apart from the last bullet point and the recommendations of fish
and milk, and, I am encouraged by with the progressive thinking in terms of
plant-based eating that is demonstrated here.
4) “In general, diets higher in plant-based foods and lower
in animal-based foods are associated with a lesser environmental impact, when
compared to current diets high in sodium, sugars and saturated fat.”
Overall, I am quite impressed with the receptiveness to
vegan and plant-based eating that the government has shown in this
first phase of the consultation. However, there is still definite room for
improvement.
Next Steps
Our job is not over yet!
Phase 2 of the public consultation is being held from June
10 untilJuly 25, 2017. In this new phase, Canadians are being asked to submit
their input on the proposed Guiding Principles for healthy eating.
I have already submitted my input. Although I did suggest
that plant-based eating be further emphasized (and that meat, dairy and other
animal products be further de-emphasized), I chose to focus my comments on the
positive aspects of the proposed new recommendations, as they appear to be a
major improvement from the current Food Guide. I want to encourage the
government to keep the progress they have made, at the very least. It is likely
that many groups will be submitting their comments to the government on the
proposed recommendations, so it is important for vegans to
speak up and let the government know that we care about this issue.
You can submit your comments at www.foodguideconsultation.ca. Thank you for caring!
Links:
Guiding Principles
