Nutrition

Food provides us with essential nutrients that support our bodies’ growth, maintenance, and protection from disease. Food is also central to our emotional and social well-being—what and how we eat is a part of our identities and a way to connect with others.

A young black girl helps her parent prepare a meal.
At a family meal, a person hands a bowl of sauteed vegetables to another person.

Diet quality

A nutritious diet provides adequate and well-balanced carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Diet patterns that lead to nutrient deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances can increase risk for disease and impair mental and physical development. [1] 

Frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption is an indicator of overall diet quality—people who consume vegetables and fruit more often tend to have more nutritious diets overall. [2] [3]

Only 1 in 3 people in our community eat vegetables and fruit 5 or more times each day
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Only 1 in 3 people in our community eat vegetables and fruit 5 or more times each day

Eating vegetables and fruit five or more times per day does not mean eating five or more meals and snacks that contain vegetables and fruit. Frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption is based on the number of times in a day you eat a category of vegetables and fruit, such as leafy greens or potatoes. If you ate a single meal with roasted potatoes and a green salad, that would count as eating vegetables and fruit two times. [2] 

An icon array shows the percentage of people age 12 years and older in Guelph, Wellington County, and Dufferin County who ate vegetables and fruit five or more times each day in 2020. For a full description of the graph, refer to the “Read graph as text” section.
In 2020, only 1 in 3 people age 12 years and older in Guelph, Wellington County, and Dufferin County ate vegetables and fruit 5 or more times each day. An icon array shows the percentage of people age 12 years and older in Guelph, Wellington County, and Dufferin County who ate vegetables and fruit five or more times each day in 2020. Three salad bowls are shown; one bowl is coloured bright red and contains five vegetables (representing the percentage of people who ate vegetables and fruit five or more times each day) and two are coloured pale grey and contain only three vegetables. Source: Public Health Ontario
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References

  1. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Nutrition. . 
  2. Garriguet, D. (2009). Diet quality in Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE. Health Reports, 20(3). 
  3. Wallace, T. C., Bailey, R. L., Blumberg, J. B., Burton-Freeman, B., Chen, C-Y. O., Crow-White, K. M., Drewnowski, A., Hooshman, S., Johnson, E., Lewis, R., Murray, R., Shapses, S. A., & Wang, D. D. (2020). Fruits, vegetables, and health: A comprehensive narrative, umbrella review of the science and recommendations for enhanced public policy to improve intake. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 60(13), 2174–2211. 
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Data sources

Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). (2023). Nutrition and healthy weights snapshot [Data file] Retrieved December 6, 2024.

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