Getting Canadians to eat more fruit and vegetables

Most Canadians do not eat enough fruit and vegetables to meet nutritional standards set by the government, so a new initiative aims to make it easier for them to do so. It’s called Half Your Plate and refers to the suggestion that the dinner plate should be half full of fruits and vegetables and the other half, protein and carbohydrate.

‘What is a serving?’

Most Canadians have access to a wide variety of fruit and vegetables but don’t eat as much as the government says they should to stay healthy. For example adult men should eat seven to ten servings a day, and women seven or eight servings. A recent study indicates men eat fewer than four and women fewer than five.

Listen“Many Canadians tell us, ‘we don’t understand the serving, we don’t even know what a serving is.’ But understanding the concept of ‘as long as my plate is half fruit and veg, then I can do that,’” explains Ron Lemaire, president of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association.

Good for health, good for the economy

There have been many initiatives to try to boost consumption of fruit and vegetables. This latest one is an initiative of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association and it aims to get Canadians to eat one more serving every day. “We know that through eating one more serving we’ll not only impact and reduce hospital visits, chronic disease…one more serving will also contribute approximately three billion dollars to the Canadian economy,” says association president Ron Lemaire.

Recipes and excitement

“Pick a fruit or vegetable when snacking,” is another of the messages that were designed with the help of health organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the government’s Public Health Agency as well as regional produce marketing association.

The website offers recipes, shopping advice, as well as tips or tricks to include more fruit and vegetables with every meal. Lemaire acknowledges Canadians are busier than they were in the past so the campaign is designed to be simple and easy to use. On the plus side, he says the influx of many immigrants has introduced Canadians to new produce and has made it exciting for them to experiment.