Health & Nutrition

People have choice over what they purchase and consume. Changing shopping patterns and eating choices is one of the easiest modifications each of us can make to ensure our food system improves our health and wellbeing.

• Health care costs in Ontario are $46 billion and are rising about 5% every year.  Chronic diseases account for 32% of hospital admissions.
• In Canada, we consume up to 30% more calories than required. More than six million Canadians between the ages of 20 and 64 are overweight and another 2.8 million are obese. In children ages 2 to 11 years old, 37% were overweight and 18% were obese. One of the solutions is to eat whole, plant-based foods.
• The food industry is supplying consumers with a daunting number of highly processed food products. Every year approximately 17,000 new, highly-processed, food-like items appear on grocery store shelves.
• It takes 8 kg of grain to produce 1 kg of beef and approximately one-third of global arable land is devoted to growing animal feed.
• A cultural shift is required to change our eating habits. Food preparation and eating must become popular and valued by everyone. To implement the change, both cultural and political action is required.

“Tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are.” ~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin