Healthy eating is important for preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide provides details on how you can meet your needs for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Canada's Food Guide provides recommendations for eating a variety of foods every day from each of the four food groups listed below:
- Vegetables and fruit
- Grain products
- Milk and alternatives
- Meat and alternatives
Eat Well Plate is a tool that helps you follow Canada's Food Guide when planning. The tool shows different food group proportions and encourages you to create a balanced meal of the different food groups.
Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide - First Nations, Inuit and Métis
Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide - Translated Versions
Unlock Food is a website for reliable nutrition information, healthy recipes, and more.
| Nutrition referral |
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The following resources offer information regarding nutrition services and programs that are available in our community:
Talk to a Registered Dietitian for free by calling Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 (TTY: 1-866-797-0007).
Grand River, St. Mary's and Cambridge Memorial hospitals provide medical Nutrition Therapy on an out-patient basis to clients who have a referral from a health care provider (e.g. family physician, nurse practitioner).
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| Healthy eating resources |
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| Nutrition standards for schools |
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A Healthy School Nutrition Environment exists when a school promotes healthy eating through words and actions. Following the below guidelines encourages a healthy environment for your school:
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| Nutrition questions |
| Ask a Dietitian |
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Telehealth Ontario connects Ontarians directly to Registered Dietitians. Talk to a Registered Dietitian about nutrition and healthy eating for free, by calling 1-866-797-0000 (TTY: 1-866-797-0007).
The focus of the service is health promotion and disease prevention. It is not intended to provide a counselling service or address clinical nutrition needs of individual situations. The contact centre will provide service in English and French, as well as accommodate many other languages.
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| How to access the services of a Registered Dietitian |
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Although Public Health employs Registered Dietitians, dietetic services to individual clients are not provided by Public Health. Clients seeking dietetic services may do so in one of two ways:
- Medical Nutrition Therapy is provided by Grand River, St. Mary's and Cambridge Memorial Hospitals on an out-patient basis to clients who have a referral from a health care provider (e.g. family physician, nurse practitioner)*. Most of the services provided by hospital Dietitians are covered by OHIP.
- Fee-for-Service dietetic services are provided by consulting Dietitians in the community. Check the Find a Dietitian database.
*For more information on dietetic services provided by local hospitals, download a copy of the Directory of Nutrition Services for Waterloo Region. A hard copy can be requested from the Public Health Resource Library at 519-575-4400 ext. 2256, or by email phrl@regionofwaterloo.ca
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| How to request a nutrition presentation |
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The Region of Waterloo Dietitians do not routinely conduct nutrition presentations. Group leaders wanting a nutrition presentation may consider the following two options:
- Contact a consulting Dietitian in the community. There is a fee for these dietetic services. Check the Find a Dietitian database.
- Borrow a variety of nutrition teaching kits from the Public Health Resource Library, 519-575-4400 ext. 2256, or by email phrl@regionofwaterloo.ca, at no charge.
- Consider using the lesson plans and presentations from The Healthy Eating Manual, which has been developed for leaders who would like to teach healthy eating information in community programs.
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