Canada's food guide
Food guide friendly: Healthy food environments
Food environments influence the food and drink decisions people make. Offering healthier options – and favourably placing, pricing and promoting them – can make healthy eating easier. Make small changes over time to create a supportive environment for healthy eating.
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Food environments impact health
People are more likely to make healthy eating decisions when their food environment is supportive. They choose what to eat and drink based on a variety of factors, including what is:
- noticeable
- available
- promoted
- affordable
In many food environments, highly processed products are widely available and are often heavily promoted. This can make it hard to make healthy choices.
Improving the food environment in your setting can help your patrons make healthy food decisions. Canada's Dietary Guidelines recommends that publicly funded institutions and other settings offer nutritious foods promoted by Canada's food guide, and limit the availability of highly processed foods and beverages.
Favourably placing, pricing and promoting healthier options can also help patrons make sense of conflicting food messages from marketing and social media. This can make it easier for patrons to follow a healthy eating pattern to improve their overall health.
Defining healthy food environments
In a healthy food environment, people can follow Canada's food guide effortlessly. They have healthy options to choose from, including foods lower in saturated fat, sugars, or sodium, such as:
- vegetables and fruits
- whole grain foods
- protein foods, including plant-based options
- water
A healthy food environment allows patrons to choose options that they enjoy. It also considers the food traditions and cultures of the patrons being served. These settings prioritize healthy food and drinks by:
- placing them in prominent locations that catch people's attention
- pricing and promoting them in attractive ways that encourage patrons to choose them
- offering a variety of flavourful foods prepared using healthy cooking methods
Healthy food environments limit focus on highly processed foods by:
- pricing them to be less appealing
- placing them in less prominent areas
- eliminating their commercial advertising or promotions
Patrons don't have to search for healthy options or request substitutions to eat well. Foods are prepared with minimal sodium, sugars, and saturated fats by default.
Improve your food environment over time
Creating a supportive food environment for healthy eating takes time. Changes can happen gradually. Food guide friendly is a set of resources designed to help you get started. Start with small changes that fit your setting. Build on these changes to work towards a creating a supportive food environment.