Stephanie Buckle
Special to The Western Star
Following Canada’s Food Guide is a fantastic way to get the nutrients you need from a variety of healthy foods.
But healthy eating is about more than just the foods you eat.
To spread the word, Dietitians of Canada is encouraging everyone to think about how they eat with this year’s Nutrition Month theme “More Than Food.”
To go beyond food, try being mindful of your eating habits. Mindful eating means taking your time when eating so you can pay attention to what, why and how much you are eating.
Paying attention to what you are eating can help you stay in tune with your hunger and fullness cues, which helps you eat the amount of food your body needs. This includes eating when you feel hungry, stopping when you feel full, and enjoying each bite!
Practice Mindful Eating
- Limit distractions, sit down and eat meals with people you care about.
- Engage your five senses. Think about how different foods look, sound, smell, feel and, of course, taste.
- Check in with yourself. Stop and think about why you are eating. Are you hungry? Bored? Stressed?
- Notice how your body feels and how your hunger changes throughout the meal. Eat until your body feels satisfied.
- Take your time to eat. It can take your body some time to tell your brain that you’re full.
Get children and family members involved too. Celebrate this year’s theme by including them in meal preparation and planning, eating together, talking about how food tastes and smells and asking them about how their bodies are feeling before, during and after eating.
Check out Canada.ca/FoodGuide to get this information at your fingertips. You can also find a printer-friendly Food Guide Snapshot on the website.
Dietitians are passionate about the potential of food to enhance lives and improve health. They look beyond fads and gimmicks to deliver reliable, life-changing advice. It’s easier than ever to speak with a registered dietitian in Newfoundland and Labrador through Dial-a-Dietitian by calling 811.
(Stephanie Buckle, R.D., is a registered dietitian and regional nutritionist with Western Health)
