Wave: March / April 2010 - Winnipeg in motion

Dynamic
&
delicious
Meet 10 of the hardest
working foods on the planet
38 WAVE
By Judy Owen
Mother probably always
told you to eat your vegetables
and fruits because
they’re good for you.
She was right, of course, but
it takes a variety of items from
Canada’s Food Guide to fuel
our bodies.
With that in mind, we asked a
panel of experts to help us cook
up a list of 10 of the hardest working
foods on the planet.
The panel, all registered dietitians
with the Winnipeg Health Region,
was asked to make choices
based on nutritional content, taste,
versatility, affordability and accessibility.
Panelist Shannon Carpentier, who
works at Nor’West Co-op Community
Health Centre, points out that we
need more than 50 different vitamins
and minerals each day.
Eating Well with Canada’s Food
Guide lists four food groups that
should be the foundation of our
daily diet: vegetables and fruit, grain
products, milk and alternatives and
meat and alternatives. “When you
look at these (10 hardest-working)
foods, what it all comes down to is
that these foods fit into one of the
four food groups,” Carpentier says.
“And many of these foods are found
around the perimeter of the grocery
store, so they have less processing
and food additives.”
Panelist Sheryl Bates Dancho,
Regional Clinical Nutrition Manager
- Community, notes the 10 foods are
also low in sodium (salt). “From a
vegetable-and-fruit perspective, we
have chosen a variety of colours.
Each of the different colours of vegetables
and fruits contain different
types of nutrients,” she says.
While some people think healthy
foods are more expensive, Bates
Dancho says that’s not the case if
you put some thought into your meal
planning. “If you buy them at appropriate
times of the year, you can
find vegetables and fruits that are
affordable,” she says.
“If you purchase them in season
and store them in the freezer, you
can have access to them yearround,”
adds Bates Dancho.
The list of foods that follows is not
meant to be the final word on the
subject. But it does offer a good
starting point for anyone looking to
make healthy selections the next
time they go grocery shopping.
You can learn more about healthy
eating choices by consulting Eating
Well with Canada’s Food Guide at
Health Canada’s wesbite,
www.hc-sc.gc.ca.