Message from the Minister of Health - Nutrition Month (2019)

Healthy eating is more than the foods you eat!

March is Nutrition Month—a great time to discover how making healthy food choices contributes to overall health and well-being. This year’s theme is Unlock the Potential of Food. The campaign, led by Dietitians of Canada, highlights how food nourishes and fuels active lives, helps heal, prevents chronic diseases, and brings people together.

As part of its Healthy Eating Strategy, the Government recently launched a revised Canada’s Food Guide that embraces this theme. The new Food Guide emphasizes that healthy eating is more than the foods Canadians eat, putting the focus on what, when and how we eat.

The Food Guide’s science-based recommendations encourage Canadians to eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and protein foods, and to make water their drink of choice.

While food is nourishment, food is also culture, tradition, family and pleasure. With that in mind, the Food Guide also encourages Canadians to cook more often, to enjoy food, to be mindful of eating habits and to eat meals with others.

Canada’s Food Guide is intended for all Canadians. This includes budget friendly considerations such as dried, frozen or canned options which are inexpensive and nutritious ways to eat healthy. Health Canada is also working to ensure that the revised guide reflects the social, cultural and historical context of Indigenous peoples. Health Canada and Indigenous Services Canada are committed to working with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to support the development of distinctions-based healthy eating tools.

This month, I encourage all Canadians to learn more about healthy eating, to incorporate healthy foods and healthy eating habits into their daily lives, and to discover their Food Guide at Canada.ca/FoodGuide. Share a meal with family and friends! It is a great way to connect and add joy to your life!

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Health