What do parents think about the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide?
What do parents think about the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide?
This study explored parents’ perceptions of the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide and found that while parents appreciated its visual appeal, focus on healthy eating behaviours, and reduced industry influence, they also identified challenges related to plant-based proteins, dairy recommendations, cultural representation, and applying the recommendations in everyday life.
What We Did and Why We Did It
We conducted eight focus groups with 40 parents of children aged 2–12 years from Southwestern Ontario to understand their thoughts and experiences with the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide. Parents discussed their awareness of the Food Guide, their opinions about the changes compared with previous versions, and the challenges they faced when trying to follow its recommendations. Researchers analyzed the discussions to identify common themes related to parents’ perceptions, concerns, and experiences.
The Canada’s Food Guide provides nutrition guidance for Canadians and influences how families think about healthy eating. The 2019 Food Guide introduced major changes, including a focus on overall eating behaviours, enjoying meals with others, and choosing plant-based protein foods more often. Since parents play an important role in shaping children’s eating habits and the home food environment, understanding their perspectives can help identify ways to make nutrition recommendations more useful, accessible, and realistic for families.
What We Found
What We Can Learn From This
Most parents were aware of the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide and had several positive perceptions. Parents liked that the guide was visually appealing, used real food images, focused on positive eating behaviours, and appeared less influenced by the food industry compared with previous versions. However, parents also identified challenges and concerns, including not having enough information about plant-based proteins, confusion about the role of dairy products, and a lack of representation of different cultural foods. Parents also reported barriers to following the recommendations, including limited time, unfamiliarity with preparing plant-based meals, and difficulty changing existing family food traditions and routines.
Nutrition guidance is more likely to support families when it provides practical, culturally inclusive, and easy-to-follow information. Families may benefit from additional resources on how to identify and prepare plant-based proteins, how traditional foods can fit within healthy eating patterns, and how to incorporate recommendations into busy family routines. Making nutrition messages more representative of diverse Canadian communities may help more families feel supported in following healthy eating recommendations.
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