http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-gu...t/index_e.html

Have you had a look? What do you think?

At first glance (the site keeps dying) I like the written recommendations.

The graphic they chose, however, either didn't undergo proper scrutiny or it fell under the pressure of the meat and dairy lobbies. Notice how a 35-year-old woman should have:

• 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables
• 6-7 servings of grain products
• 2 servings of dairy or alternatives
• 2 servings of meat or alternatives

The stripes of the rainbow are in pretty much correct proportion, though they are more in the male proportions rather than the female proportions.

The image below is another story. It covers about 240 pixels horizontally. A full 83 pixels of that is meat and meat alternatives, implying that meat should be 1/3 of your daily food serving intake, rather than the 10-15% the worded recommendation says.

Same for milk and alternatives. The dairy portion is about 48 pixels, implying that 20% of your intake should be dairy, rather than the around 10% the recommendations seem to say. Note that dairy and grains are alloted roughly the same space in the picture—and that's being generous; to me the grains *seem* much less prominent—while we are being recommended to eat 3 to 4 times the servings of grains v. dairy.

At least the vegetables and fruits get their due somewhat.

Also notice that the fruits, vegetables, and grains crowd one another and are a bit on top of one another, while the meat and dairy portions get to be out front and prominent.

A cursory glance at the image implies that nearly 50% of our intake should be meat and dairy, heh.

The "food rainbow" picture makes it seem like you can eat everything in the same amount (when really one should eat more plant-based foods and less animal & animal-derived products) ~ the overall written recommendations are sound but the language is heavily diluted and tone down (much like USDA's food guide) - I guess the dairy & meat lobby has a heavy hand up north as well.

To be honest, I didn't even see that picture until the next time I went back.

I like it. I do think it will help people to make better choices. A surprising number of folks don't know what you mean if you talk about whole, natural foods. And many have no idea how big a serving is.

I thought I had a good handle on all the LOL's and BTW's but I don't know what HEH stands for ... anyone?

Hi there,

I just completed the "My Food Guide" link. It's pretty cool because you can choose the foods you like to put in each bar. I just printed mine out to stick on the fridge. I"m thinking that because I'm trying to reduce that I'd cut out maybe 2 grain products? It's too bad that it doesn't give any advice on what to cut if you're trying to lose weight...D

Oh, sorry! It's not a net colloquialism, just me going, "heh" to myself. Kind of like when you chuckle.

Oh I see! Thanks.

LastDitchEffort .... I think they just want you to eat slightly smaller portions and eat less of those things that don't even belong to groups Did anybody see that written or am I wishful thinkin'?

I've oftentimes wondered why they make these servings so small. I mean, wouldn't it be easier to think "okay, I should aim to eat 3-4 servings of grains" rather than "6-7 servings of small grains"? Like.. I know culturally our serving sizes are too big so that's probably where it comes from, but I feel like the serving sizes could use some modification. Still, the emphasis on fruits and vegetables is awesome.