Welcome to the February food guide newsletter!

This month we feature: heart-healthy eating

In this issue

Did you know?
Recipe of the month
Heart-healthy eating patterns
Season food using less sodium
Healthy eating recommendation of the month
Translated food guide snapshot of the month
Next month

Did you know?

February is Heart Month! Heart-healthy eating is about more than just the foods you eat—it’s also about developing healthy habits that support healthy food choices, such as planning your meals and snacks, using food labels, and cooking more often.

Recipe of the month

Canada’s food guide recommends limiting highly processed foods. These foods contribute excess sodium, sugars, or saturated fat to a diet. This can increase the risk of chronic diseases, like heart disease. The food guide kitchen offers healthy eating tips and recipes that are nutritious, convenient and use ingredients you know and love. Swap out highly-processed foods for heart-healthy recipes from the food guide kitchen.

Try:

Crunchy turkey fingers with oven fries. This tasty recipe is a fun finger food. Using high-fibre breakfast cereal adds the right amount of crunch to the turkey fingers.

Homemade flatbread pizza. It uses whole grain tortillas, lean roast turkey, lower fat mozzarella, and fresh veggies.

Heart-healthy eating patterns

The foods you eat on a regular basis play an important role in supporting your heart health. Following Canada’s food guide supports cardiovascular health.

Taking steps to improve heart health also means being mindful of your eating habits, and eating fewer highly processed foods.

Learn more about healthy food choices to support heart health.

Season foods using less sodium (salt)

Flavouring your food with herbs and spices instead of salt can help you eat less sodium. Premade mixes in the spice aisle can be convenient, but these often contain a lot of added sodium. Try making your own heart-healthy seasoning blends with simple ingredients. Here are 7 different seasoning blends you can try:

Grill seasoning: use it to flavour fish, tofu, meat, or grilled vegetables
Mediterranean-style seasoning: try seasoning ratatouille, pasta, meat, or fish
Pumpkin spice mix: add it to muffins, oatmeal, granola bars, or banana bread
Middle Eastern-style seasoning: add it to fish, rice, meats, couscous, or pulses
Mexican-style seasoning: use it to add flavour to chili, soup, fajitas, salads, or bean dip
Italian-style seasoning: use it to season pasta, frittatas, eggs, or flatbread pizzas
Chinese-style spice mix: season fish, roasted meats, vegetable stir-fry, or soups

Explore 7 homemade seasoning mixes

Healthy eating recommendation of the month

Learn more about this healthy eating recommendation.

Limit highly processed foods

Translated food guide snapshot of the month

Canada’s food guide is a suite of online resources made to meet different needs. It includes the food guide snapshot, available online in many languages.

This month, discover the snapshot in Punjabi/ਪੰਜਾਬੀ