Podcast: How do you stay healthy?
In this podcast Patricia Chuey will outline six healthy eating truths that you can adopt in your own life. They include overall health, veggies and fruits in your diet, purchasing quality products, ensuring you or someone in your household is cooking, avoiding fad diets and remembering that healthy aging is possible!
Patricia discusses:
- The wheel of health which includes all aspects of your well-being.
- Eat a mostly plant-based diet.
- Quality of what you eat matters.
- We must all eat home cooked meals, either by you or someone in your household.
- Diets don’t work, consistency is key for healthy eating.
- Healthy eating is possible especially when taking a commonsense approach.
“The wheel of health and its many spokes—this is interesting to me. Many people think of their body health as just the food that goes in but there’s numerous different components to this that we need to think about.”
Clinton Monchuk
“Within eating or with exercise or any of the spokes, we’re not necessarily aiming for a hundred percent perfection. If you can honestly say you eat well 80% of the time, you are doing a fantastic job. And from the past three decades, the people that I see doing these things consistently, 80% of the time or more, are the ones who are aging healthfully and feeling good.”
Patrica Chuey

Guest: Patricia Chuey, MSc, FDC
Food and Nutrition Communications Expert
Patricia has spent the last 3 decades immersed in consumer food and nutrition issues through various roles including nutrition counselor, sports nutritionist, manager of nutrition affairs for a major grocery retailer, media spokesperson, recipe developer and food product inventor. An author of 6 books, she is an engaging keynote speaker and mentor who provides context on what matters most in eating well and living a healthy life. An Alumni of Influence from the University of Saskatchewan, she has also received the Ryley-Jeffs Memorial Award, the highest honour given to a Canadian dietitian.
Follow her on Instagram @PatriciaChuey or visit her website at: www.patriciachuey.com

Host: Clinton Monchuk
Grain & Egg Farmer
Clinton Monchuk grew up on a mixed dairy, beef and grain family farm outside of Lanigan, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture majoring in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan and Masters of Business Administration in Agriculture from the University of Guelph. Clinton has enjoyed numerous roles across Canada, the United States and Mexico as a researcher, educator, manager, economist and director of trade policy.
In 2016, Clinton accepted the role of Executive Director with Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan to promote farming and ranching to consumers. Clinton understands the value of increasing public trust in agriculture and actively promotes engagement between the agriculture industry and consumers.
Clinton, Laura and their children Jackson and Katelyn, are active partners on their family grain and layer farm in Saskatchewan and cattle ranch in Oklahoma.
Podcast Transcript
Clinton Monchuk: (00:07)
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask a Farmer I’m your host Clinton Monchuk a Saskatchewan farmer. In this podcast, we talk to food experts to answer your questions about your food. Well, welcome everybody to today’s podcast. We are very privileged to have Patricia Chuey with us. Patricia, how are you doing today?
Patricia Chuey: (00:35)
I’m doing great, Clinton, thanks so much for having me.
Clinton Monchuk: (00:38)
Well, before we get into the six healthy eating truths that we’re going to be talking about today, I want all our listeners to understand a little bit more about Patricia.
Patricia Chuey: (00:49)
Sure thing. Well, it’s 37 years ago since I started as a Home Ec student at the U of S in Saskatoon, and I became a registered dietitian and pretty much my whole career can be summed up as consumer media communications. And then I returned to university, did a Master’s degree focusing on food for athletes sports nutrition. And then I went out to British Columbia and was there for 26 years. And through it all, I spent nine years in the grocery industry and the head office of a major Canadian retailer. I’ve written a lot of books and recipes and am definitely a friend of the agriculture industry because it all starts with what we grow and what ends up on our plate.
Clinton Monchuk: (01:36)
The reason why we really want to chat with you today is to understand a little bit more about these six healthy eating truths. And you have such a vast experience working with different groups and your knowledge base around health and just healthy eating for us as everyday Canadians. I was wondering if you could just kind of touch on each of these and then let’s go a little bit more in depth on each of these and really get to understand a little bit more what you mean by each one of them.
Patricia Chuey: (02:08)
Sure thing. Well, I’ve kind of reached that stage in my career where you look back on the last three decades and try to make sense of it all and go, okay, what really matters and what are the healthiest people out there in fact doing? And so I have some thought up in what I call six healthy eating truths, starting with the point that the wheel of health has many spokes. So it’s not like you can just fine tune every morsel that you eat to the enth degree and all your life’s problems will be solved. You have to look at other multiple spokes in that wheel, and the wheel’s always turning and juggling. So that’s a biggie off the bat. It isn’t just about eating. And within that, the 80 20 rule matters, and we can explain that more in a bit.
Patricia Chuey: (02:55)
So that area of the wheel of health I consider as the first healthy eating truth. And then the second, certainly eat a mostly plant-based diet. I mean, that’s nothing new. We need to eat our fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t mean we have to exclude everything that isn’t a fruit or vegetable, but we do need half our plate to be pretty brightly colored with vegetables and fruits most of the time. There’s some massive benefits of eating a plant-based diet. And so the third healthy eating truth is what I like to call quality matters. So the quantity of what we eat and portion control is still super important, but the quality matters. So that’s where we address things like fiber and organic and other issues that we’ll get into talking further about here today. The fourth healthy eating truth, whether people want to hear it or not, is that cooking is absolutely non-negotiable.
Patricia Chuey: (03:57)
So whether you cook, I don’t know if you’re a big cook Clinton or if someone in your household is a cook, having access to home cooked meals. When I look back over 30, 35 years, the healthiest people cook at home or someone is cooking good quality food for them somewhere. Number five healthy eating truth is that diets do not work. And there’s an endless number of them out there. There always has been; there always will be. if I could sum up everything it takes to be healthy in one word, that word would be consistency. And unfortunately, diets are not something people consistently do over the course of their lifetime. And the last of the six healthy eating truths is that, and this is great news, healthy aging is very possible. So we don’t have to resign ourselves to the fact that, oh, we’re getting older. It’s all downhill from here. No, no, no. You can age very healthfully with a few basic, what I would say are common sensical type of consistent strategies in your life, including getting outside as often as possible in the fresh air.
Clinton Monchuk: (05:13)
It seems kind of logical, all these six healthy eating truths. And let’s start getting into each of them a little bit more in depth so our listeners can get a better sense of what each one of them actually means. So let’s get into the first one. So the wheel of health and the many spokes, because this is always, it’s kind of interesting to me, right? Because some people think of their body health as just, you know, the food that gets in and, and as you’ve mentioned, there’s numerous different components to this that we need to think about.
Patricia Chuey: (05:47)
Absolutely. And you know, all those years I spent counseling individuals about who wanted to lower their cholesterol, manage their blood pressure, their diabetes, stay in a healthy weight range, they would come in thinking, okay, we’re going to micromanage every morsel they’re eating, like you say. But I would remind them almost as a disclaimer that you can’t look at one spoke in the wheel without looking at all of the others. And I think that exercise or active living is equally important to eating well. And so is self-worth, which is your sense of, of worthiness because the stresses in your life and other things that are impacting how you feel will positively or negatively influence your interest in going and buying vegetables and cooking a great meal or, staying active. But other spokes in the wheel a big one. It’s always been important.
Patricia Chuey: (06:40)
All of these have, but this is, if we want to talk about trendiness, sleep, it’s all like foods that help you sleep and, and better sleep habits and getting off your device and blue light and making sure you can sleep because we’re starting to talk more and understand more in the research, the importance of rest and recovery and sleep in how our body functions overall. So sleep’s a big spoke in the wheel and so is not abusing drugs and alcohol. And recently of course, we’ve been hearing about big changes in alcohol recommendations. No more than two drinks a week is advised. That’s a big change. So then you can only imagine food trends, food and drink trends that stem from that. So we’re going to see lots of fun and flavorful, fizzy, non-alcoholic beverages. There’s already lots in the marketplace.
Patricia Chuey: (07:34)
We’re going to see more not smoking, enjoying your job, being in a healthy relationship, being happy, genetics, certain things we can’t influence. All of these things are spokes in that wheel. So we have to look at it all. And related to that, Clinton, I talk about the 80 / 20 rule. So within eating or with exercise or any of the spokes, we’re not necessarily aiming for a hundred percent perfection. Like if you can honestly say you eat well 80% of the time, you are doing a fantastic job. And from the past three decades, the people that I see doing these things consistently, 80% of the time or more, are the ones who are on no or few medications, and they’re aging healthfully and feeling good.
Clinton Monchuk: (08:21)
You don’t always realize it, but your comment about being in a good relationship, for example, when you don’t have that stress of another partner or family issues going on, whatever happens to be, you just genuinely feel better. Right? And your comment about putting that 80/20 rule into effect, and I’m all about that. I’m all about that on numerous different scales of my life.
Patricia Chuey: (08:48)
Good to hear, good to hear.
Clinton Monchuk: (08:49)
But it’s one of those things where I’ll have something periodically maybe at a dessert or something, especially if I’m at my parents’ house and my mom likes to make lots of baking. But trying to make sure like if the bulk of what you’re doing is moving towards that healthy side, it’s going to have lots of benefits for your own, wellbeing, right?
Patricia Chuey: (09:12)
Yeah, absolutely. And I don’t really like to encourage people to do what I call diet math and having to carry a calculator around and micromanage everything they’re eating. I mean that too with the 80/20 rule. So over the years people have said, okay, so if I eat really well Monday to Friday, can I just like eat and drink? Like there’s no limit every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And not really, I’m kind of talking like in general, and you mentioned relationships, or we could mention happiness in our job or other areas with exercise or, or other, um, drugs, alcohol, you name it. But with the 80/20 rule, yeah, if you can in a very general sense, say, you know what, 80% of the time I think I make really good choices. If you’re honest with yourself, if you go, you know what, actually it’s more like 20/80, that’s not good. Or even if it’s 50 /50, if it’s like, you know, 50% of the time I eat really well, but the other half is just a disaster. And that applies with everything. Like those relationships, if you’re unhappy 50% of the time, but I mean, if you’re unhappy 20% of the time, well welcome to the real world. I think that’s most people, if they can honestly say, you know, me and my partner we’re pretty happy at least 80% of the time or more. Well, good for you.
Clinton Monchuk: (10:35)
I’ll make sure I tell my wife that that’s all I strive for is just trying to be in that top 80.
Patricia Chuey: (10:41)
Is she expecting a hundred percent perfection? I’m sure you’re a hundred percent perfect all the time in your interactions with her! But, there’s a bit of breathing room with 80/20.
Clinton Monchuk: (10:50)
Well, I’ll say right now for me, on the 20% where I miss is beer and wings night. So that’s my 20% that I like to, chalk that one up to going out with my buddies.
Patricia Chuey: (11:04)
Oh, is it weekly? Or Monday, Wednesday, Friday?
Clinton Monchuk: (11:08)
It’d be once every two or three weeks. My buddies want to go out more than that, but it’s probably once every two or three weeks. So not very often.
Patricia Chuey: (11:16)
Well then see, you know what’s so funny? We tend to focus on like that one night we go out with the buddies and have a little bit too much fun, or we were at a reunion or a wedding, like the consistent things we’re doing with the four to six eating opportunities we have within every single day. Those are what matters. So, if you say, oh, you don’t want to hear what I had when I was out with the guys on Thursday night, you know what? You’re right. What I want to hear Clinton, is what do you do for breakfast every day? What do you do for lunch every day? What do you do for your dinner or supper meal? And what are you snacking on the majority of the time, like if once a month you go out and you go crazy, that’s not going to make or break your health and wellbeing. It’s the consistent stuff. But I want to know what you’re doing in those four to six opportunities you have each day because that’s what adds up over the course of a lifetime to impact positive wellbeing.
Clinton Monchuk: (12:19)
You know, uh, health Canada has their Food Guide that they’ve come out with and it definitely stresses more of your plate should be on fruits and vegetables. And this kind of gets into the plant-based eating. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that and maybe how we should be maybe trying to add a few more vegetables or fruits in our diet every day?
Patricia Chuey: (12:38)
Absolutely. And I will take the opportunity here to say that what I call single-use super foods aren’t going to cure everything that ails you. So if you go out and you buy an acai berry trendy Ubi Zubi flavored super drink and it’s $8 and you have it that day as your snack, that’s great. But that is a one-off thing that isn’t going to do anything in the total span of your lifetime. So with plant-based eating, we’re looking at trying to make at least half our plate colorful vegetables and fruits in every meal, but we still want to include with that some whole grains for the fiber and the cholesterol lowering and weight management benefits of that. And then the fiber also gives us some staying power, and we want to include protein. So can that protein be animal-based? Yes, it can, but we want to be moderate with portions.
Patricia Chuey: (13:45)
So I think sometimes people reject this whole notion of plant-based eating entirely because they’re like, forget it, I am a meat and potatoes person. I grew up with chicken, fish, beef, pork as part of my regular routine. I balk at this plant-based eating. That’s for vegans. No, there’s many points on the healthy eating continuum. So it’s not about being vegan or being pure carnivore, it’s about strategies to incorporate more plants into your diet. So plan your meals around them. Instead of opening the freezer, going, okay, what meat is going to be the basis of dinner tonight, you might open the fridge and say, okay, what vegetables are going to be the star of the meal? So maybe we’re going to have a big stir fry or a salad and we’re going to add in some beef or some chicken or the protein, plant-based protein even whether it’s chickpeas or, or lentils or other pulses on plant-based eating, we can get into some more nitty gritties, like supporting local as much as possible because there’s a lot of amazing plants that we grow in this province. Local, and by the way, local trumps organic. I mean, if you can get organic, great, but from a nutritional standpoint, organic or conventional, the studies still show that they’re the same. Grow a garden if you can. That’s a great way to think about plant-based eating. What are some things that you guys do in your home Clinton?
Clinton Monchuk: (15:19)
Growing up on a farm, predominantly we were beef and potatoes, but we’ve moved to more of the plant-based veggies, right? So when I go back to the farm now and my mom’s cooking, there’s usually a salad and there’s always fresh veggies. Now that actually is something that we’ve now made a part of our daily meals here, with my family that will always have a fresh veggie tray. And it’s kind of nice to have that because you don’t realize how many more fruits and veggies you eat when they’re already prepared for you in the fridge. Right?
Patricia Chuey: (15:59)
That veggie tray will just disappear. People pick away at it. Yeah. Before you know it you’ve had four different colors of vegetables and then you have your main meal. Even when you say you grew up eating meat and potatoes, so did I, I grew up in Saskatchewan. My parents were prairie farm people, but it wasn’t meat and potatoes and nothing else on the plate. I mean, there always, like you said, a salad or a couple of vegetables, even if it was frozen peas. And I will take this opportunity to say, with the cost of food, and that is certainly, especially vegetables and fruits, I know I’m saying on the one hand, make half your plate vegetables and fruits and meals, and people might be thinking, have you seen the price of a head of cauliflower is $8.99 right now? It’s insane. It doesn’t have to be an out of season fruit or vegetable. And frozen works great too as a cost effective way during these times we’re, we’re currently going through of very inflated prices on fresh produce.
Clinton Monchuk: (17:05)
You know, that feeds into the idea of quality because I think you’re right. I think a lot of people, and I do the grocery shopping about half the time in our family, and I do see that with a fresh produce, it’s expensive now. Right? And you know, the inflationary pressures, I’m not too sure as an economist, I actually feel that price of food is probably going to stick where it’s at, possibly even go a little bit higher just with all the other costs and all the other factors.
Patricia Chuey: (17:34)
For sure. And I was reading a few 2023 food trend reports and some were suggesting, we’ll probably see another five to 6% increase throughout 2023, which is about a thousand dollars extra per year for a family of four. At the same time, the price of natural gas and electricity is also increasing, you know, the means that we use to prepare these foods. So we do have to be aware. But you mentioned being in the, getting into the grocery store yourself and knowing the regular price. Prices of goods, period. When you shop regularly, it’s just so incredibly valuable. And get your kids in there. I mean, feed them first because if everyone goes in there hungry, it’s not great, but as soon as your kids are interested in coming with you, the more everybody knows the approximate regular price of food, the better you are to avoid being duped.
Patricia Chuey: (18:31)
If there’s a super sale on whatever, you’ll be able to tell if it is a legit sale. But on this note of quality, I mean, so with vegetables we do know ideally fresh, it would be our first choice, then frozen, then canned. And if we are going with canned, then try to get those that aren’t, don’t have a lot of added sugar or salt, or with the frozen, just get plain vegetables, not those with sauces and things like that, added. When it comes to our grain foods, like, whether it’s rice or even pasta, getting more whole grains is a sign of quality eating with the seasons as much as possible. And so as we get into the late spring and summer, then when we can get locally grown fruits and vegetables, things that are fresh. But as I’ve mentioned before, washing the fruits and vegetables is a very good strategy. Remembering again that for quality, the things you’re doing consistently matter more than that one time that you have a single use super food, so to speak.
Clinton Monchuk: (19:50)
And this actually gets to the fun farm fact for this podcast. Did you know that one in eight jobs here in this country are actually related to food or farming?
Patricia Chuey: (20:02)
Yeah, one in eight. I guess if you think about it, you don’t think, okay, well every eighth person I know is a farmer. No. But I guess what that, that means that they are either on the farm or they’re involved in a processing aspect or a grocery store or, restaurant or, yeah. That’s cool.
Clinton Monchuk: (20:24)
Awesome, awesome. So, the next one is getting into cooking. You’re indicating that the healthiest people, you know, actually have this type of a lifestyle where they cook for themselves, right?
Patricia Chuey: (20:39)
Absolutely. I spent many years in my career doing or providing individual counseling to people who wanted to know how to manage their blood pressure or their diabetes or enhance their recovery from cancer or deal with allergies and other issues. The people who had even basic cooking skills were always at a sort of better health status. And I always remember this one lady who came to see me, she was 97 and she booked an appointment for a nutrition consultation in Vancouver. I was, you know, I said, well, why are you here? As I’d ask all my clients, what can I help you with? Well, I just want to make sure that I’m eating healthy. 97 not on any medications! And so I knew this was going to be me learning way more from her than I’m going to ever teach her.
Patricia Chuey: (21:34)
And she just, it was just a beautiful reminder of everything I believed to be true and everything I saw to be true. She was a person who always made homemade soups from her homegrown vegetables. And, you know, years ago people always used to ask me, which is better, butter or margarine? And she was a butter user and just those homegrown natural products from the farm. There’s so many benefits of cooking. And so if people are listening and thinking, forget it, I hate cooking. I’m not cooking. It doesn’t have to be you as long as there’s someone in your household who can cook, because there’s so many benefits. We know that home-cooked meals typically have less salt, sugar and bad fat than those ones we order in. I’m not saying there aren’t good quality restaurants and delivery options available, but another benefit of cooking at home, we have better portion control.
Patricia Chuey: (22:33)
We don’t overdo it quite as much. We also usually will have leftovers, and that saves time. That also saves money because we don’t have to make another trip to the store or order anything to boost up the quantity. Generally when we cook at home, there’s less food waste because we find creative ways to use, oh, I’ll give you an example. Whenever I buy celery, I’ve been doing this for 40 years since I was a Home Ec student in the college in Nutrition at the U of S. So when I get celery, I’ll wash it, cut it up, and all those ends that I don’t really want for fresh eating, I just chop immediately and put in a little bag in the freezer and next time I’m making a soup or a sauce, it’s just there, it’s ready to go. I’m a staunch advocate of reducing food waste, massive strategy for world food sustainability, as well as getting our food costs down when we cook at home more. There’s also less packaging waste generated, and that’s a big one when people want to be eating sustainably. You know, the odd time, I don’t know how often your family orders delivery or from one of these services, but is it that often, Clinton?
Clinton Monchuk: (23:47)
It’s very few and far between. Unless we’re traveling to another place, then we’ll have takeout food or eat in restaurants. But otherwise we’re predominantly eating at home.
Patricia Chuey: (23:57)
Yeah. Well, good for you. That’s why you have that healthy glow . Anyway, the packaging is, like the odd time we, sometimes we really crave like those just amazing Vietnamese flavors or various Asian, and we haven’t been able to quite perfect that. I mean, we can make a mean perogy and cabbage roll around here, but the Vietnamese, so we, we have takeout places, but they come and the amount of like, just for two of us currently in our house, if we order that, I’m stunned. And I always think about when families, five, six people are ordering this all the time, the amount of waste. But anyway, believe it or not, another benefit of cooking for many people, it actually brings happiness and joy. The sense of accomplishment of taking these raw materials and then turning it into this beautiful meal that nourishes you and your family and feeds you for, you know, maybe two meals or more if you’re creative with the leftovers. So I can’t stress enough open minds to cooking even a little bit. I mean, even if you just start by cooking one meal a day for yourself,
Clinton Monchuk: (25:10)
I think you’re right about that. The happiness that comes from cooking. So I like to barbecue as well. That may increase I guess my beer and take on a weekly basis the more I barbecue outside. However, I love it. I could barbecue every meal of the day, but it really is something that gives you satisfaction, right? So one of the other points that you talk about, and this is the fifth point, is diets don’t work. And yet I think everybody knows that, yet we’re all driven to go to some easy fix. So how do you manage that?
Patricia Chuey: (25:47)
Yeah, well, since I was a nutrition student now 40 years ago, we learned about the diets of the time, whether it was fit for life or some of these fads and trends. And the thing is, our brains like novelty. So we are interested in what’s new and cutting edge. And so, you know, where maybe we’re not feeling so great and a new book comes out saying, well eat right for your blood type. Our brain that’s attracted to novelty says, Hey, yeah, I haven’t been feeling great. I should try this. But sometimes if we clean out our fridge and buy more fresh ingredients and look at our unhappiness level in various aspects of our life and get more active, those things work just as well, if not better than the latest diet book. And I’m not saying that no diets out there will ever work for you, but I am the consistency person and I have practiced my whole career and subscribed to and strongly believe in this notion that it’s the things we do consistently that add up over the course of our lifetime to keep us healthy and energetic.
Patricia Chuey: (27:01)
So my biggest problem with any diet is that I rarely see people consistently being able to follow it permanently because we do know that to stay 30 pounds overweight, for example, is less dangerous than losing that 30 pounds, regaining it, losing it again, regaining it –that yo-yo is actually more dangerous in the long term than carrying the extra weight in the first place. But I do encourage people if they are carrying extra weight and it is negatively impacting cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, that’s where we need to do something about it. But some people, they might look like they’re, they could lose 20 pounds. We are very judgey and not always accurate in those judgements, right? Oh, that person looks like they could lose 20 pounds, but if they’re happy, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, normal, then they don’t need to sort of chip away at it permanently, as a life focal point. There might be other more meaningful things they can work on. But as for, okay, if you’re not a fan of diets, Patricia, then what do you, how do we lose weight? Well, this is not a breakthrough. We’ve kind of known this. Your great-grandparents could have told you this. Envision your grand great grandparents right now, Clinton, what would they have told you about what it takes to be healthy? Like get fresh air, be active, eat home cooked real foods you can pronounce, you know, these things we’re talking about.
Clinton Monchuk: (28:40)
This gets into the last point of the fact that we are actually living longer and healthy aging is something that, you know, through your experience you see that it’s 100% possible to age and still be healthy. What are some of the points around this that you want to make sure everybody can hear and how we can be well into our nineties like that lady and still being healthy.
Patricia Chuey: (29:08)
Yeah. Well I’m chuckling there because you’re saying I, through my lived experience, we can still age well, I’m feeling like I’m a hundred years old over here.
Clinton Monchuk: (29:19)
About your professional experience!
Patricia Chuey: (29:21)
I’m talking about the literally hundreds and thousands of clients I’ve assisted over the years, and one place to start here is to think of the healthiest people you’ve ever known regardless of their age. Like that guy or gal, they’re just happy all round, good person, not complaining of health challenges all the time. What are they doing every time you see them? Do they say, oh, hey man, I’m on this new diet, I’m doing this or that, or No, they are just, you know, living life, but they’re consistently outside, they’re eating well, they’re active, they’re not abusing drugs and alcohol. They’re generally happy in their relationship, they’re generally happy in their job, they’re involved in their community, they’re getting enough sleep. So they’re doing all of those things. But we also know in the studies of healthy aging, that living with an attitude of hope and gratitude and optimism actually impacts whether will age healthfully or not. A part of that is staying connected to our community and not getting isolated. Think of the healthiest seniors or elders or the wise people out there. They are living testament to the fact that a boring, consistent approach works. Like being boring actually keeps you healthy. Boring’s going to become the new trend, the new buzzwords!
Clinton Monchuk: (30:44)
A new trend.
Patricia Chuey: (30:46)
A lot of these healthy agers are also applying the 80/20 rule in their food choices. And in all those other spokes of the wheel, they’re cooking meals at home, they’re staying hydrated, they’re getting fresh air every single day. They might be growing a garden and you know what else they’re doing. They are regularly seeing their doctor. That is an important thing. Try to get in there at least once a year to get a baseline. So you know, your cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure as a gauge to be able to compare year to year. Are you staying in a healthy range with those things? Eat enough fiber, take your vitamin D and limit, excess salt and sugar. So these are all things that the healthy older Canadians I’ve had the privilege of working with our are doing and we can learn and be inspired from them.
Patricia Chuey: (31:39)
On the one hand, some people might think boring, like, why are you just talking about fresh air and being active and being part of your community? The boring stuff works. It’s not these short term sensational, but I I’m sharing a perspective over 35, 40 years here, and I’ve seen it over and over again. And the points I’ve spoken about today are all supported in the research and the science. And anyway, you’re out there on the farm, you’re growing healthy food, you’re breathing in clean air, you’re, you know, how are you managing all these messages and ideas that come at you? Because certainly people talk about, you know, like the quality of what’s being grown.
Clinton Monchuk: (32:25)
Yeah, so it is difficult. Myself and the other hundred and some thousand farmers here in this country. We’re being tasked with making sure that we can produce not only high quality and nutritious food, but enough food not only for our own citizens here, but the citizens across this world. Sometimes it’s daunting because there’s a lot of of different demands that are out there, but we play those different demands with what we can grow on our farm and what we can’t and try to make the best decisions for our own family. And I think this gets back into, you know, making the right decisions for your body, right? And the wheel of health all the way down to making sure you age well all come into mind. I do think there’s a lot of ties to healthy eating and healthy soils and making sure that my farm can keep on going into the future if my son or daughter or my nieces decide to farm in the future. And that all comes with that sustainability discussion, right? And making sure that we’re all sustainable.
Patricia Chuey: (33:34)
Absolutely. Well, what is it, is it 4% of Canadians are actually involved in growing?
Clinton Monchuk: (33:40)
It’s for sure less than 3%. And the more I look at the updated numbers, it looks like it’s more like close to 2% of Canadians are actually actively in some way or manner connected to a farm. But when you look at the actual, the bulk of where the production comes from, it’s less than a percent of the population that’s actually growing the food.
Patricia Chuey: (34:05)
Is that right? We can’t bite the hand that feeds us literally. Right? We need to ask these questions about sustainability. And I’ve never met a farmer who isn’t committed to sustainability, who isn’t open to welcoming people into their farm to learn. So we as Canadians, we need to learn and be aware, but support the hand that is feeding us, not bite it. Especially as we navigate our way through rising food prices and challenges, the more we can grow in our own nation and and feed Canada and the countries around the world that we support, the better. Right? And so learning and not saying things that aren’t factual and you know, spreading negative rumors around how food is grown is so incredibly damaging to world food sustainability and to the sustainability here in our own country.
Clinton Monchuk: (35:00)
I would like to thank you for the opportunity for your information to be shared here on the podcast. We really enjoyed having you and thank you very much. Patricia,
I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to our Ask A Farmer podcast. We at Canadian Food Focus value the input from our listeners and ask that you share this podcast with your friends and family. Remember, this is a two-way street, so we seek your input for future segments that are of interest to you about food and farming.
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This segment was produced and edited by Angela Larson, research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton. Music by Andy Elson. I’m your host Clinton Monchuk. And from all of us here at Canadian Food Focus, we wish you good health and great eats.
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