A new Food Guide was released in Canada this week, but how easy is it for all Canadians to follow? It encourages Canadians to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, choose proteins that come from plants more often and limit highly processed foods. Deb McIntosh is president with the Community Harvest Foodbank in Castlegar and says it can be a struggle for low income citizens to change their diets who have less money and time for cooking.
“A lot of our single people don’t have proper cooking facilities or fridges to hold food. Some live in trailers, some only have little coolers.”
She says they will ask their clientele whether changes would be welcome for the hampers and lunched, but ultimately, they won’t serve food that their clients don’t want to eat.”
“We can make more fruits and vegetables available to them but again, they’re looking for long term filling of the belly versus a quick fix like and apple or an orange.”
Overall, McIntosh feels that when these programs are rolled out they often preclude the very lowest income people.
To learn more about Canada’s Food Guide, click here.
