When you’re hungry, but don’t feel like cooking, grabbing a snack from the vending machine or cafeteria seems like the cheapest and most convenient option. However, processed and packaged food has added sugar and salt.
“Helping Canadians get back on track really is that return to whole foods. says Graeme Thomas, a fitness and health promotion professor at Fanshawe College.
“It’s not that sugar is inherently good or bad, but we want more natural sugar and not the added sugar. Same thing with salt. It’s not that salt is going to kill anyone, but we want to reduce the amount of added salt we see in a lot of our processed foods.”
He says that preparing meals ahead of time is the best way to get back on track. For instant, preparing four chicken breasts to eat throughout the week instead of one to eat for the night. Thomas adds that cutting up vegetables, storing them in a plastic bag or container, then putting them at eye level in the fridge will also help remind people that they have healthy options available.
Every Friday of March, Fanshawe will share a nutrition tip on their Facebook, Twitter and other social media profiles for Nutrition Month.