Food and Nutrition

United States’ VS Canada’s Food Guide

United States Canada

Comparisons

The MyPlate food guide features five food groups in total, yet Canada’s food guide only has four due to the fact that it groups Vegetables and Fruits in one category. Different colours are used to represent different categories on MyPlate, they are Vegetables, Grains, Fruits, Protein, plus a side section of Dairy, which is similar as the Canada’s food guide rainbows. Additional Oil and Fats is also recommended by both of the food guides. Instead of Meat and Alternatives, Protein is being used as an individual food group on the plate. Protein is actually a nutrient found in various food, not an actual food group. Furthermore, vegetable such as asparagus and grain product such as corns are also high in protein. It is found in many other food groups that already listed on the plate, and that this might confuse consumers. It is also significant that Vegetables takes up a bigger part than Fruits on MyPlate food guide while both of these two categories are combined in one food group and suggested to be taken in equally on Canada’s food guide. Both guidelines have offered suggestions to pregnant women and children. The Myplate food guide’s advices tend to be more informative on general health information and dietary tips, for instance the importance of always stay hygiene and sanitation before cooking and eating, and also suggested foods to increase and reduce. On Canada’s food guide, it is specifically listed advices for different age groups: Children, Women of childbearing age, and Men and Women over 50. It teaches publics how to apply this food guide onto various stages of people. One thing that needed to be mentioned is that the US food guide thoughtfully offers suggestions for vegetarians, and makes its diets meet all the recommendations for nutrients as other food guides yet still can enjoy all kinds of dishes made by vegetarian products.
Advices on Canada’s and United States’ food guides have both provided tips for balancing between eating healthy and at the same time being active. Emphasizing the importance of physical activities assorted with healthy dietaries. Useful resources such as sample menus and meal plans are available for references in both guidelines. In addition, the MyPlate food guide also provided a hyperlink to a BMI Calculator in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the US government’s website for public who interested in identifying their own weight problems, thereby appropriate diets can be created easily for variety of needs. Water is seeing as an essential for both food guides.

Examples of Menu items

Menu items | Why these fit with the food guide? | 1. Turkey and cucumber sandwich (whole wheat bread) | * Low in fat * High in grains and fiber | 2. Chicken apple salad with toasted walnuts sprinkles | * Low in fat * High in fiber and protein | 3. Smoked salmon with maple-mustard sauce | * High in protein * High in calcium * Rich in Omega 3 |

Cultural Influences

Since fast-food culture has occupied American countries for decades, especially in the US, most food are deep fried, greasy, high in trans-fat – in a word – unhealthy. This phenomenon has deeply affected nationals’ health badly years by years. For this reason, the US government has released a series of food guides for nationals in all age groups. The ambition is to promote the importance of healthy diet, and at the same time in keeping with the taste of Americans. Therefore, meal suggestions in the MyPlate food guide have used the traditional dishes as a base, and flip it into healthy dishes by changing the ingredients. For example: instead of eating greasy cheese burger as dinner, the US food guide recommends salmon patties; lemon chicken pasta in replace of meatballs spaghetti. Moreover, fish such as salmon is rich in many nutrients (omega3, protein, calcium) that we all need; thus Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean around United States have provided abundant supplies each year, salmon, as well as other seafood are highly recommended by the US government.

Analysis of the information

Instead of listing suggested servings for each food group. MyPlate uses the simplest way to present the size of each portion: Vegetables, and Fruit take up half of the circle of the plate, and where Grains, and Protein take up the other half. In this case, people can arrange the portion of their meals more easily and stick to a healthy plan.

Sample menu

| Day 1 | Day 2 | Breakfast | Strawberries Oatmeal + Caesar Salad with Roasted Chicken | Breakfast Cereal + Kiwi slices + Smoked Salmon toast | | Lunch | Chicken Noodle Soup with Dumplings (Pork+ Bok Choy) + Steam Tofu with Soy Sauce garnish with Spring Onions | Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower and Ham + Clementine | | Snacks | Roasted Almonds | Granola & Yogurt Mix, with Frozen Raspberries | | Dinner | Clam Chowder + Garlic and Herbs Baguette Toasts + White Wine | Roast Perch Fillets with White Sauce aside with Asparagus + Steam Brown Rice | | Dessert | Apple Crumble | Red Wine Poached Pear |

References

“Comparisons” http://www.nutrition.gov/smart-nutrition-101/myplate-food-pyramid-resources http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393691/Goodbye-My-Pyramid-hello-My-Plate-Michelle-Obama-unveils-USDAs-food-pyramid-replacement.html http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/ http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/myplate.html# http://www.buzzle.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-protein.html http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html “ Analysis of the information” http://www.buzzle.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-protein.html http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=425