Stairway to eating well, One day at a time.

Day 1: Balance your meal by following the Healthy Plate: fill 1/2 of your plate veggies, 1/4 protein and 1/4 grains.

Day 2: At snack time, try to have foods from at least 2 of the 4 food groups.

Day 3: Be sensible about how much you eat and how often!

Day 4: Try a new whole grain: whole wheat pasta, couscous, or brown rice to increase the intake of fiber in your diet.

Day 5: Avoid trans fats by reading the Nutrition Facts table and choosing foods with low or no trans fat.

Day 6: Make extra food batches and freeze it, in order to reduce cooking time, and decrease the reliability on fast foods during busy times.

Day 7: Include your family, especially children, in food preparation and clean-up; it’s an active lesson about cooperation and responsibility.

Day 8: Make ahead muffins and breakfast cookies or try a quick smoothie if you struggle to find time for breakfast.

Day 9: Judge the juice.  Only reach for fruit juices that are labeled 100% fruit juice to minimize the intake of sugar.

Day 10: Try to incorporate more fish in your diet.  Tool: Canada’s Food Guide recommends 2-3 servings of fish a week!

Day 11: Practice mindful eating.  Eat slowly to savor your food.  It takes 20 minutes for your brain to receive signals of satiety.

Day 12: Buy and support local producers by shopping at farmer’s markets.

Day 13: Take the HALT challenge when you think about eating: Hunger, Anger, Lonely, or Tired.  If Hunger is not the reason, food is not the solution.

Day 14: Take the Eat Together Challenge.  If you don’t routinely have meals with family, try to bring everyone together as often as possible.

Day 15: Add a special flavor to your recipes without adding fat or salt using dried herbs, spices, garlic, ginger and even lemon juice.

Day 16: Make a veggie pita pizza: whole wheat pita, variety of veggies, and mozzarella cheese.  You can even freeze it for later!

Day 17: Control your food portions by leaving the serving bowls in the kitchen during a meal: Out of sight, Out of mind!

Day 18: Reduce intake of saturated fats by choosing lean cuts of meat.  Search for the words: loin, skinless, round, extra-lean, and lean.

Day 19: Follow the 80/20 rule: eat healthy nutritiously 80% of the time, and indulge in your favorite snack 20% of the time.

Day 20: Take the variety challenge to explore different ingredients and maximize your nutrient intake.  Tool: Dietitians of Canada Simply Great Food cookbook.

Day 21: Get your family to help organize the kitchen, meals, recipes and even the grocery shopping list.

Day 22: Discover “Let’s Make a Meal” at www.dietitians.ca/eatwell

Day 23: Make it your own!  Adapt different recipes and make them your own.  A personal touch makes your meals more enviable.

Day 24: Reduce sugar in any recipe by 1/3 without affecting the end product.

Day 25: Stock up on season specials!  Watch out for discounts and sales on foods, and buy in big batches to cook and store.

Day 26: Scramble up some eggs + chopped veggies + cheese to serve on a whole grain bun and a glass of milk, on lazy or busy nights.

Day 27: Bake with healthier fats.  Instead of butter or margarine, use canola oil; and use 75% as much.

Day 28: Keep your food safe.  Use a thermometer to ensure food is prepared at optimal temperature.

Day 29: Reduce the sodium in your diet, but cutting down on processed foods, and preparing healthy, tasty meals at home.

Day 30: Grow your own veggies and fruits.  If no space, seek sharing backyards or join a community garden.

Day 31: Shop wisely!  Avoid grocery shopping on an empty stomach to make healthier choices.

Health Council of Canada applauds B.C. plans for primary health care reform

The Health Council of Canada applauds the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services and the B.C. Medical Association on their June 24, 2010 announcement of $137 million toward integrated primary and community care that will connect every resident with a family doctor by 2015, starting with the province’s most vulnerable citizens – high needs patients, frail seniors and patients with chronic diseases.  Reporting nationally, the Health Council has made the case based on research evidence and frontline experience, for many of the types of reform B.C. will put into action. In Beyond the Basics (2010), the Health Council shows that for Canadians with chronic conditions – one of the priority patient groups for B.C. – having a regular doctor does not guarantee the safest or most supportive medical care. Rather, doctors need also to provide the basic elements of good primary care, two of which are knowing their patient’s history and helping to co-ordinate other aspects of patients’ care.  “Co-ordination is key, and this is where collaborative health care teams also have a critical role to play,” said John G. Abbott, CEO of the Health Council of Canada. Like the proposed B.C. initiative, the Health Council’s report, Teams in Action (2009), finds clear advantages in the shift to team-based care, suggesting this should be the standard of care in particular for the growing number of Canadians with chronic conditions.   In Helping Patients Help Themselves (2010), some obvious gaps to be filled in order to better manage complex chronic care patients include asking patients about their goals for their own care and referring them to community services that might help them reach those goals. B.C. is ready to close such gaps through enhanced care planning. “The B.C. announcement talks about ‘an individualized and co-ordinated personal medical health-care plan linking together various health professionals to provide better quality care,” said John G. Abbott. “These are the types of approaches that our work supports,” he added.

The above article is taken from the CNW Group: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2010/05/c2152.html