Get Outside the Gym

Nutrition...What you should know about changes to Canada's food labels.

Health Canada's Healthy Eating Strategy…
Improving Healthy Eating Information
Guest Blog by:  Selena Chow Erskine, B.Sc. R.D.
Clinical Dietitian & Pulse Generator Member

Eating healthy is something we all strive to achieve as part of a healthy lifestyle.  Reading food labels to learn about the foods you put food into your grocery cart can help you stay in line with your healthy eating goals. If you are on a special diet to prevent or manage a specific condition such as diabetes or heart disease, reading food labels and knowing what you are purchasing is also very important.

There is a wealth of information to be found on a nutrition label.  Calories, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar are key pieces of information found on the nutrition facts table. Knowing the amounts of these in a particular food item can help you focus on nutrients you would like to or need to get more or less of.  Being diligent and checking the ingredients list will help you avoid foods that contain additives or other ingredients that you may be interested in avoiding.

The nutrition information found on food packaging has been historically inconsistent and unrealistic (who eats 1/3 cup of cereal??) making it difficult for you as consumer to make sound food choices without constantly having to do a lot of math while shopping. Health Canada is striving to improve the food environment in Canada, making it easier for individuals to make healthier choices.  As part of Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, new regulations on food labeling were established in 2016.  This will change the way the nutrition facts table and the list of ingredients appear on food packaging.  Some of these changes have already started to appear, but food manufacturers will have 5 years in which to complete these changes.  By 2021 the information you see on all food labels should be easier to find, read, decipher, compare similar products and understand.  Here are the differences that you will be seeing on your food labels in the near future.

Summary of Changes to the Nutrition Facts Table:

•    Removal of Vitamin A and C since most Canadians get enough of these nutrients in their diets

•    Serving sizes reflect a realistic serving size that Canadians typically eat in one sitting

•    Information on serving size and calories made easier to find and read

•    Milligram amounts included for potassium, calcium and iron to make it easier to quantify the amount consumers are getting

•    Updated % daily values based on current science

•    Addition of % daily value for total sugars along  with an explanation of % daily value to help consumers understand what is “a little” or what is “a lot” when it comes to sugars and other nutrients

•    Addition of potassium for its importance in maintaining healthy blood pressure and because most Canadians are not getting enough of this nutrient

Summary of Changes to the List of Ingredients:

•    Grouping sugar-based ingredients together to help consumers identify all sources of sugars added to a food. After the name “sugars”, sugars-based ingredients are listed in brackets in descending order by weight)

•    Listing food colors by their individual common names

•    Minimum type height requirements using both upper/lower case letters in black font on white or neutral background and separating ingredients using bullets/commas to improve readability

•    Any "contains" statement indicating the presence or potential presence of priority food allergens, gluten source and/or added sulphites are subject to the same formatting requirements.

** Nutrition Facts diagram and ingredient list adapted from Health Canada

An active lifestyle will keep you young!

Exercise: The Fountain of Youth

Heather Stickney

In a lighthearted way you could say I am pursuing the "Fountain of Youth". For centuries it's location was sought but never found. If youthfulness is considered symbolic of being healthy then I do believe exercise is medicine. I have always been very active and have been able to appreciate the health benefits
associated with the lifestyle.

Therefore, when I retired I asked the staff at the Pulse Generator if they would give me a workout routine that I could use well into the future to help maintain my bone density, muscular strength and flexibility. I was given four strength training routines with subsequent stretching exercises and told to add hill climbing to my long walks to "kick them up a notch". Since then I have also added some basic balance exercises to my stretching routine.

Collectively, this system seems to have kept me healthy

and in good physical condition. What I look forward to most in my daily activities is walking in our river valley.

It's an environment that is constantly changing. It's here that I plan

my days and invariably I find myself humming or singing.

Yes, exercise is good medicine.



Don't Procrastinate, Get To It!

Procrastination is a killer and is one of the leading causes of inactivity!

Procrastination, or “resistance” as author Steven Pressfield calls it in his book The War of Art, is one of the hardest things to defeat on the face of the planet.  But it can be defeated.

Below are some fitness productivity tips that have helped me slay my dragon of procrastination and resistance–and I know they can help you to destroy yours as well.

1. The first 10 minutes are the worst. Read that again, the first 10 minutes of exercise are the hardest to get done. In other words at the beginning of a workout there is a good chance you’ll feel like poo. According to Dr. Mike Stroud, in his book Survival of the Fittest, the poor feelings at the beginning of a workout are due to your body being in a slight oxygen deficit. Once the body balances your oxygen levels, you’ll feel much better and by the end of your workout you will be feeling great

2. Motivation doesn’t always come before action. I learned this one recently. Seriously. If you’ve ever said to yourself “hopefully I’ll be motivated to do that tomorrow”, then you are guilty of waiting on the motivation to take action as well. Often, motivation comes after we begin the task, so don’t wait on motivation to begin your workout.

3. Make working out like taking a shower. I often ask my clients how they would feel if they skipped a week of taking a shower. They always say “terrible” or “gross.” I reply, “Well, you’ve got to make exercise such a habit that you feel the same way when you skip a workout.” Some might argue that taking a shower is much more of a necessity than working out–I might argue that both are necessities.

4. Thinking is your worst enemy. Think too long and procrastination wins. End of story. Your mind will come up with so many excuses why you shouldn’t work out that you’ll have a hard time deciding which one to use. No clean clothes, too tired, and the gym’s too busy. Don’t give your mind a chance to talk you out of what you need to do, take action and get it done without over thinking.

 

Contributed by Matthew Thomas