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April 19, 2023 36 mins

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 your or someone in your household is cooking, avoid fad diets and remember that healthy aging is possible!

Host: Clinton Monchuk
Clinton Monchuk grew up on a mixed dairy, beef and grain family farm outside of Lanigan, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelors 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, continue to be active partners on their family grain and layer farm in Saskatchewan and cattle ranch in Oklahoma.

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

Resources:
Article: Six Healthy Eating Truths

Free cooking courses


Episode Credits: Research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton, Produced and edited by Angela Larson and Michael Jordan, Music by Andy Ellison-Track title: Gravel Road 

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Clinton Monchuk (00:07):
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask a Farmer
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk aSaskatchewan farmer.
In this podcast, we talk to foodexperts to answer your questions
about your food.

(00:27):
Well, welcome everybody totoday's podcast.
We are very privileged to havePatricia Chuey with us.
Patricia, how are you doingtoday?

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 betalking about today, I want all
our listeners to understand alittle bit more about Patricia.

Patricia Chuey (00:49):
Sure thing.
Well, it's 37 years ago since Istarted as a Home Ec student at
the U of S in Saskatoon, and Ibecame a registered dietitian
and pretty much my whole careercan be summed up as consumer
media communications.
And then I returned touniversity, did a Master's

(01:09):
degree focusing on food forathletes sports nutrition.
And then I went out to BritishColumbia and was there for 26
years.
And through it all, I spent nineyears in the grocery industry a
nd the head office of a majorCanadian retailer.
I've written a lot of books andrecipes and a m definitely a
friend of the agricultureindustry because it all starts

(01:32):
with what we grow and what endsup on our plate.

Clinton Monchuk (01:36):
The reason why we really want to chat with you
today is to understand a littlebit more about these six healthy
eating truths.
And you have such a vastexperience working with
different groups and yourknowledge base around health and
just healthy eating for us aseveryday Canadians.

(01:57):
I was wondering if you couldjust kind of touch on each of
these and then let's go a littlebit more in depth on each of
these and really get tounderstand a little bit more
what you mean by each one ofthem.

Patricia Chuey (02:08):
Sure thing.
Well, I've kind of reached thatstage in my career where you
look back on the last threedecades and try to make sense of
it all and go, okay, what reallymatters and what are the
healthiest people out there infact doing?
And so I have some thought up inwhat I call six healthy eating
truths, starting with the pointthat the wheel of health has

(02:29):
many spokes.
So it's not like you can justfine tune every morsel that you
eat to the enth degree and allyour life's problems will be
solved.
You have to look at othermultiple spokes in that wheel,
and the wheel's always turningand juggling.
So that's a biggie off the bat.
It isn't just about eating.
And within that, the 80 20 rulematters, and we can explain that

(02:55):
more in a bit.
So that area of the wheel ofhealth I consider as the first
healthy eating truth.
And then the second, certainlyeat a mostly plant-based diet.
I mean, that's nothing new.
We need to eat our fruits andvegetables.
It doesn't mean we have toexclude everything that isn't a
fruit or vegetable, but we doneed half our plate to be pretty

(03:19):
brightly colored with vegetablesand fruits most of the time.
There's some massive benefits ofeating a plant-based diet.
And so the third healthy eatingtruth is what I like to call
quality matters.
So the quantity of what we eatand portion control is still
super important, but the qualitymatters.

(03:39):
So that's where we addressthings like fiber and organic
and other issues that we'll getinto talking further about here
today.
The fourth healthy eating truth,whether people want to hear it
or not, is that cooking isabsolutely non-negotiable.
So whether you cook, I don'tknow if you're a big cook

(04:00):
Clinton or if someone in yourhousehold is a cook, having
access to home cooked meals.
When I look back over 30, 35years, the healthiest people
cook at home or someone iscooking good quality food for
them somewhere.
Number five healthy eating truthis that diets do not work.

(04:23):
And there's an endless number ofthem out there.
There always has been; therealways will be.
if I could sum up everything ittakes to be healthy in one word,
that word would be consistency.
And unfortunately, diets are notsomething people consistently do
over the course of theirlifetime.
And the last of the six healthyeating truths is that, and t his

(04:45):
is great news, healthy aging isvery possible.
So we don't have to resignourselves to the fact that, o h,
we're getting older.
It's all downhill from here.
No, no, no.
You can age very healthfullywith a few basic, what I would
say are common sensical type ofconsistent strategies in your

(05:07):
life, including getting outsideas often as possible i n the
fresh air.

Clinton Monchuk (05:13):
It seems kind of logical, all these six
healthy eating truths.
And let's start getting intoeach of them a little bit more
in depth so our listeners canget 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 themany spokes, because this is
always, it's kind of interestingto me, right?

(05:35):
Because some people think oftheir body health as just, you
know, the food that gets in and,and as you've mentioned, there's
numerous different components tothis that we need to think
about.

Patricia Chuey (05:47):
Absolutely.
And you know, all those years Ispent counseling individuals
about who wanted to lower theircholesterol, manage their blood
pressure, their diabetes, stayin a healthy weight range, they
would come in thinking, okay,we're going to micromanage every
morsel they're eating, like yousay.
But I would remind them almostas a disclaimer that you can't
look at one s poke in the wheelwithout looking at all of the

(06:09):
others.
And I think that exercise oractive living is equally
important to eating well.
And so is self-worth, which isyour sense of, of worthiness
because the stresses in yourlife and other things that are
impacting how you feel willpositively or negatively
influence your interest in goingand buying vegetables and

(06:32):
cooking a great meal or, stayingactive.
But other spokes in the wheel abig one.
It's always been important.
All of these have, but this is,if we want to talk about
trendiness, sleep, it's all likefoods that help you sleep and,
and better sleep habits andgetting off your device and blue
light and making sure you cansleep because we're starting to

(06:54):
talk more and understand more inthe research, the importance of
rest and recovery and sleep inhow our body functions overall.
So sleep's a big spoke in thewheel and so is not abusing
drugs and alcohol.
And recently of course, we'vebeen hearing about big changes
in alcohol recommendations.

(07:17):
No more than two drinks a weekis advised.
That's a big change.
So then you can only imaginefood trends, food and drink
trends that stem from that.
So we're going to see lots offun and flavorful, fizzy,
non-alcoholic beverages.
There's already lots in themarketplace.
We're going to see more notsmoking, enjoying your job,

(07:38):
being in a healthy relationship,being happy, genetics, certain
things we can't influence.
All of these things are spokesin that wheel.
So we have to look at it all.
And related to that, Clinton, Italk about the 80/ 20 rule.
So within eating or withexercise or any of the spokes,
we're not necessarily aiming fora hundred percent perfection.

(07:58):
Like if you can honestly say youeat 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 fewmedications, and they're aging

(08:19):
healthfully and feeling good.

Clinton Monchuk (08:21):
You don't always realize it, but your
comment about being in a goodrelationship, for example, when
you don't have that stress ofanother partner or family issues
going on, whatever happens tobe, you just genuinely feel
better.
Right?
And your comment about puttingthat 80/20 rule into effect, and

(08:42):
I'm all about that.
I'm all about that on numerousdifferent 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 ata 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 ifthe bulk of what you're doing is
moving towards that healthyside, it's going to have lots of

(09:09):
benefits for your own,wellbeing, right?

Patricia Chuey (09:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I don't really like toencourage people to do what I
call diet math and having tocarry a calculator around and
micromanage everything they'reeating.
I mean that too with the 80/20rule.
So over the years people havesaid, okay, so if I eat really
well Monday to Friday, can Ijust like eat and drink?
Like there's no limit everyFriday, Saturday, Sunday.

(09:35):
And not really, I'm kind oftalking like in general, and you
mentioned relationships, or wecould mention happiness in our
job or other areas with exerciseor, or other, um, d rugs,
alcohol, you name it.
But with the 80/20 rule, yeah,if you can in a very general

(09:56):
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'slike, you know, 50% of the time
I eat really well, but the otherhalf is ju st a d i saster.
And that applies witheverything.

(10:17):
Like those relationships, ifyou're unhappy 50% of the time,
but I mean, if you're unhappy20% of the time, well welcome to
the real world.
I think that's most people, ifthey can honestly say, you kn o
w, m e 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 bein that top 80.

Patricia Chuey (10:41):
Is she expecting a hundred percent perfection?
I'm sure you're a hundredpercent perfect all the time in
your interactions with her! But,there's a bit of breathing room
with 80/20.

Clinton Monchuk (10:51):
Well, I'll say right now for me, on the 20%
where I miss is beer and wingsnight.
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 morethan 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 thatone night we go out with the
buddies and have a little bittoo much fun, or we were at a
reunion or a wedding, like theconsistent things we're doing
with the four to six eatingopportunities we have within

(11:36):
every single day.
Those are what m atters.
So, i f you say, oh, you don'twant to hear what I had when I
was out with the guys onThursday night, you know what?
You're right.
What I want to hear Clinton, iswhat do you do for breakfast
every d ay?
What do you do for lunch every day?
What do you do for your dinneror supper meal?
And what are you snacking on themajority of the time, like if

(11:58):
once a month you go out and yougo crazy, that's not going to
make or break your health andwellbeing.
It's the consistent stuff.
But I want to know what you'redoing in those four to six
opportunities you have each daybecause that's what adds up over
the course of a lifetime toimpact positive wellbeing.

Clinton Monchuk (12:19):
You know, uh, health Canada has their Food
Guide that they've come out withand it definitely stresses more
of your plate should be onfruits and vegetables.
And this kind of gets into theplant-based eating.
Do you want to talk a little bitmore about that and maybe how we
should be maybe trying to add afew more vegetables or fruits in
our diet every day?

Patricia Chuey (12:38):
Absolutely.
And I will take the opportunityhere to say that what I call
single-use super foods aren'tgoing to cure everything that
ails you.
So if you go out and you buy anacai berry trendy Ubi Zubi
flavored super drink and it's$8and you have it that day as your

(13:04):
snack, that's great.
But that is a one-off thing thatisn'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 colorfulvegetables and fruits in every

(13:25):
meal, but we still want toinclude with that some whole
grains for the fiber and thecholesterol lowering and weight
management benefits of that.
And then the fiber also gives ussome staying power, and we want
to include protein.
So can that protein beanimal-based?
Yes, it can, but we want to bemoderate with portions.

(13:45):
So I think sometimes peoplereject this whole notion of
plant-based eating entirelybecause 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-basedeating.
That's for vegans.
No, there's many points on thehealthy eating continuum.

(14:08):
So it's not about being vegan orbeing pure carnivore, it's about
strategies to incorporate moreplants 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 dinnertonight, you might open the
fridge and say, okay, whatvegetables are going to be the

(14:30):
star of the meal?
So maybe we're going to have abig stir fry or a salad and
we're going to add in some beefor some chicken or the protein,
plant-based protein even whetherit's chickpeas or, or lentils or
other pulses on plant-basedeating, we can get into some
more nitty gritties, likesupporting local as much as

(14:52):
possible because there's a lotof amazing plants that we grow
in this province.
Local, and by the way, localtrumps organic.
I mean, if you can get organic,great, but from a nutritional
standpoint, organic orconventional, the studies still
show that they're the same.
Grow a garden if you can.
That's a great way to thinkabout plant-based eating.

(15:15):
What are some things that youguys do in your home Clinton?

Clinton Monchuk (15:19):
Growing up on a farm, predominantly we were beef
and potatoes, but we've moved tomore of the plant-based veggies,
right?
So when I go back to the farmnow and my mom's cooking,
there's usually a salad andthere's always fresh veggies.
Now that actually is somethingthat we've now made a part of

(15:43):
our daily meals here, with myfamily that will always have a
fresh veggie tray.
And it's kind of nice to havethat because you don't realize
how many more fruits and veggiesyou 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 hadfour different colors of
vegetables and then you haveyour main meal.
Even when you say you grew upeating meat and potatoes, so did
I, I grew up in Saskatchewan.
My parents were prairie farmpeople, but it wasn't meat and
potatoes and nothing else on theplate.

(16:22):
I mean, there always, like yousaid, a salad or a couple of
vegetables, even if it wasfrozen peas.
And I will take this opportunityto say, with the cost of food,
and that is certainly,especially vegetables and
fruits, I know I'm saying on theone hand, make half your plate
vegetables and fruits and meals,and people might be thinking,

(16:45):
have you seen the price of ahead of cauliflower is$8.99
right now?
It's insane.
It doesn't have to be an out ofseason fruit or vegetable.
And frozen works great too as acost effective way during these
times we're, we're currentlygoing 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 Ido the grocery shopping about
half the time in our family, andI do see that with a fresh
produce, it's expensive now.
Right?
And you know, the inflationarypressures, I'm not too sure as
an economist, I actually feelthat price of food is probably

(17:28):
going to stick where it's at,possibly even go a little bit
higher just with all the othercosts and all the other factors.

Patricia Chuey (17:34):
For sure.
And I was reading a few 2023food trend reports and some were
suggesting, we'll probably seeanother five to 6% increase
throughout 2023, which is abouta thousand dollars extra per
year for a family of four.
At the same time, the price ofnatural gas and electricity is

(17:56):
also increasing, you know, themeans 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 regularprice.
Prices of goods, period.
When you shop regularly, it'sjust so incredibly valuable.
And get your kids in there.
I mean, feed them first becauseif everyone goes in there

(18:18):
hungry, it's not great, but assoon as your kids are interested
in coming with you, the moreeverybody knows the approximate
regular price of food, thebetter you are to avoid being
duped.
If there's a super sale onwhatever, you'll be able to tell
if it is a legit sale.
But on this note of quality, Imean, so with vegetables we do

(18:42):
know ideally fresh, it would beour 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 ofadded sugar or salt, or with the
frozen, just get plainvegetables, not those with
sauces and things like that.
Added brown versus white, that'sa good indicator of quality when

(19:03):
it comes to our grain foods,like, whether it's rice or even
pasta, getting more whole grainsis a sign of quality eating with
the seasons as much as possible.
And so as we get into the latespring and summer, then when we
can get locally grown fruits andvegetables, things that are

(19:23):
fresh.
But as I've mentioned before,washing the fruits and
vegetables is a very goodstrategy.
Remembering again that forquality, the things you're doing
consistently matter more thanthat one time that you have a
single use super food, so tospeak.

Clinton Monchuk (19:50):
And this actually gets to the fun farm
fact for this podcast.
Did you know that one in eightjobs here in this country are
actually related to food orfarming?

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 afarmer.
No.
But I guess what that, thatmeans that they are either on
the farm or they're involved ina processing aspect or a grocery
store or, restaurant or, yeah.

(20:23):
That's cool.

Clinton Monchuk (20:24):
Awesome, awesome.
So, the next one is getting intocooking.
You're indicating that thehealthiest people, you know,
actually have this type of alifestyle where they cook for
themselves, right?

Patricia Chuey (20:39):
Absolutely.
I spent many years in my careerdoing or providing individual
counseling to people who wantedto know how to manage their
blood pressure or their diabetesor enhance their recovery from
cancer or deal with allergiesand other issues.
The people who had even basiccooking skills were always a t a

(21:03):
sort of better health status.
And I always remember this onelady who came to see me, she was
97 and she booked an appointmentfor a nutrition consultation in
Vancouver.
I was, you know, I said, well,why are you here?
As I'd as k a ll my clients,what can I help you with?
Well, I just want to make surethat I'm eating healthy.

(21:23):
97 n ot on anymedications! And so I knew this
was going to be me learning waymore from her than I'm going to
ever teach her.
And she just, it was just abeautiful reminder of everything
I believed to be true andeverything I saw to be true.
She was a person who always madehomemade soups from her

(21:44):
homegrown vegetables.
And, you know, years ago peoplealways used to ask me, which is
better, butter or margarine?
And she was a butter user andjust those homegrown natural
products from the farm.
There's so many benefits ofcooking.
And so if people are listeningand thinking, forget it, I hate

(22:05):
cooking.
I'm not cooking.
It doesn't have to be you aslong as there's someone in your
household who can cook, becausethere's so many benefits.
We know that home-cooked mealstypically have less salt, sugar
and bad fat than those ones weorder in.
I'm not saying there aren't goodquality restaurants and delivery

(22:27):
options available, but anotherbenefit of cooking at home, we
have better portion control.
We don't overdo it quite asmuch.
We also usually will haveleftovers, and that saves time.
That also saves money because wedon't have to make another trip
to the store or order anythingto boost up the quantity.

(22:48):
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 beendoing this for 40 years since I
was a Home Ec student in thecollege in Nutrition at the U of
S.
So when I get celery, I'll washit, cut it up, and all those

(23:09):
ends that I don't really wantfor fresh eating, I just chop
immediately and put in a littlebag 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 ofreducing food waste, massive
strategy for world foodsustainability, as well as
getting our food costs down whenwe cook at home more.

(23:30):
There's also less packagingwaste generated, and that's a
big one when people want to beeating sustainably.
You know, the odd time, I don'tknow how often your family
orders delivery or from one ofthese services, but is it that
often, Clinton?

Clinton Monchuk (23:47):
It's very few and far between.
Unless we're traveling toanother place, then we'll have
takeout food or eat inrestaurants.
But otherwise we'repredominantly eating at home.

Patricia Chuey (23:57):
Yeah.
Well, good for you.
That's why you have that healthyglow.
Anyway, the packaging is, likethe odd time we, sometimes we
really crave like those justamazing Vietnamese flavors or
various Asian, and we haven'tbeen able to quite perfect that.
I mean, we ca n m ake a meanperogy and ca bbage r oll around

(24:18):
here, but the Vietnamese, so we,we have takeout places, but they
co me a nd the amount of like,just for two of us currently in
our house, if we order that, I'mstunned.
And I always think about whenfamilies, five, six people are
ordering this all the time, theamount of waste.
But anyway, believe it or not,an other benefit of cooking for

(24:41):
many people, it ac tually bringshappiness and joy.
The sense of accomplishment oftaking these raw materials and
then turning it into thisbeautiful meal that nourishes
you and your family and feedsyou for, you know, maybe two
meals or more if you're creativewith the leftovers.
So I can't stress enough openminds to cooking even a little

(25:06):
bit.
I mean, even if you just startby cooking one meal a day for
yourself,

Clinton Monchuk (25:10):
I think you're right about that.
The happiness that comes fromcooking.
So I like to barbecue as well.
That may increase I guess mybeer and take on a weekly basis
the more I barbecue outside.
However, I love it.
I could barbecue every meal ofthe day, but it really is
something that gives yousatisfaction, right?

(25:31):
So one of the other points thatyou talk about, and this is the
fifth point, is diets don'twork.
And yet I think everybody knowsthat, 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 learnedabout the diets of the time,
whether it was fit for life orsome of these fads and trends.
And the thing is, our brainslike novelty.
So we are interested in what'snew and cutting edge.

(26:08):
And so, you know, where maybewe're not feeling so great and a
new book comes out saying, welleat right for your blood type.
Our brain that's attracted tonovelty says, Hey, yeah, I
haven't been feeling great.
I should try this.
But sometimes if we clean outour fridge and buy more fresh
ingredients and look at ourunhappiness level in various

(26:30):
aspects of our life and get moreactive, those things work just
as well, if not better than thelatest diet book.
And I'm not saying that no dietsout there will ever work for
you, but I am the consistencyperson and I have practiced my
whole career and subscribed toand strongly believe in this

(26:53):
notion that it's the things wedo consistently that add up over
the course of our lifetime tokeep us healthy and energetic.
So my biggest problem with anydiet is that I rarely see people
consistently being able tofollow it permanently because we
do know that to stay 30 poundsoverweight, for example, is less

(27:16):
dangerous than losing that 30pounds, regaining it, losing it
again, regaining it--that yo-yois actually more dangerous in
the long term than carrying theextra weight in the first place.
But I do encourage people ifthey are carrying extra weight
and it is negatively impactingcholesterol, blood sugar, blood

(27:37):
pressure, that's where we needto do something about it.
But some people, they might looklike they're, they could lose 20
pounds.
We are very judgey and notalways accurate in those
judgements, right?
Oh, that person looks like theycould lose 20 pounds, but if
they're happy, blood pressure,cholesterol, blood sugar,
normal, then they don't need tosort of chip away at it

(28:02):
permanently, as a life focalpoint.
There might be o ther moremeaningful things they can work
on.
But as for, okay, if you're nota fan of diets, Patricia, then
what do you, how do we loseweight?
Well, this is not abreakthrough.
We've kind of known this.
Your great-grandparents could have told you this.

(28:23):
Envision your g rand g reatgrandparents right now, Clinton,
what would they have told youabout what it takes to be
healthy?
Like get fresh air, be active,eat home cooked real foods you c
an pronounce, you know, thesethings we're talking about.

Clinton Monchuk (28:40):
This gets into the last point of the
fact that we are actually livinglonger and healthy aging is
something that, you know,through your experience you see
that it's 100% possible to ageand still be healthy.
What are some of the pointsaround this that you want to

(29:01):
make sure everybody can hear andhow we can be well into our
nineties like that lady andstill being healthy.

Patricia Chuey (29:08):
Yeah.
Well I'm chuckling there becauseyou're saying I, through my
lived experience, we can stillage 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'veassisted over the years, and one
place to start here is to thinkof the healthiest people you've
ever known regardless of theirage.
Like that guy or gal, they'rejust happy all r ound, good
person, not complaining ofhealth challenges all the time.

(29:42):
What are they doing every timeyou see them?
Do they say, oh, hey man, I'm onthis new diet, I'm doing this or
that, or No, they are just, youknow, l iving life, but they're
consistently outside, they'reeating well, they're active,
they're not abusing drugs andalcohol.
They're generally happy i ntheir relationship, they're
generally happy in their job,they're involved in their

(30:03):
community, they're gettingenough sleep.
So they're doing all of thosethings.
But we also know in the studiesof healthy aging, t hat living
with an attitude of hope andgratitude and optimism actually
impacts whether will agehealthfully or not.
A part of that is stayingconnected to our community and

(30:25):
not getting isolated.
Think of the healthiest s eniorsor elders or the wise people out
there.
They are living testament to thefact that a boring, consistent
approach works.
Like being boring actually keepsyou healthy.
Boring's going to become the newtrend, 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 foodchoices.
And in all those other spokes ofthe wheel, they're cooking meals
at home, they're stayinghydrated, they're getting fresh
air every single day.
They might be growing a gardenand you know what else they're
doing.
They are regularly seeing theirdoctor.

(31:06):
That is an important thing.
Try to get in there at leastonce a year to get a baseline.
So you know, your cholesterol,blood sugar and blood pressure
as a gauge to be able to compareyear to year.
Are you staying in a healthyrange with those things?
Eat enough fiber, take yourvitamin D and limit, e xcess

(31:28):
salt and sugar.
So these are all things that thehealthy older Canadians I've had
the privilege of working with our a re doing and we can learn
and be inspired from them.
On the one hand, some peoplemight think boring, like, why
are you just talking about freshair and being active and being
part of your community?
The boring stuff works.

(31:50):
It's not these short termsensational, but I I'm sharing a
perspective over 35, 40 yearshere, and I've seen it over and
over again.
And the points I've spoken abouttoday are all supported in the
research and the science.
And anyway, you're out there onthe farm, you're growing healthy

(32:12):
food, you're breathing in cleanair, you're, you know, how are
you managing all these messagesand ideas that come at you?
Because certainly people talkabout, you know, like the
quality of what's being grown.

Clinton Monchuk (32:25):
Yeah, so it is difficult.
Myself and the other hundred andsome thousand farmers here in
this country.
We're being tasked with makingsure that we can produce not
only high quality and nutritiousfood, but enough food not only
for our own citizens here, butthe citizens across this world.
Sometimes it's daunting becausethere's a lot of of different

(32:47):
demands that are out there, butwe play those different demands
with what we can grow on ourfarm and what we can't and try
to make the best decisions forour 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 theway down to making sure you age

(33:09):
well all come into mind.
I do think there's a lot of tiesto healthy eating and healthy
soils and making sure that myfarm can keep on going into the
future if my son or daughter ormy nieces decide to farm in the
future.
And that all comes with thatsustainability discussion,

(33:30):
right?
And making sure that we're allsustainable.

Patricia Chuey (33:34):
Absolutely.
Well, what is it, is it 4% ofCanadians are actually involved
in growing?

Clinton Monchuk (33:40):
It's for sure less than 3%.
And the more I look at theupdated numbers, it looks like
it's more like close to 2% ofCanadians are actually actively
in some way or manner connectedto a farm.
But when you look at the actual,the bulk of where the production

(34:00):
comes from, it's less than apercent of the population that's
actually growing the food.

Patricia Chuey (34:05):
Is that right?
We can't bite the hand thatfeeds us literally.
Right?
We need to ask these questionsabout sustainability.
And I've never met a farmer whoisn't committed to
sustainability, who isn't opento welcoming people into their
farm to learn.
So we as Canadians, we need tolearn and be aware, but support

(34:26):
the hand that is feeding us, notbite it.
Especially as we navigate ourway through rising food prices
and challenges, the more we cangrow in our own nation and and
feed Canada and the countriesaround the world that we
support, the better.
Right?
And so learning and not sayingthings that aren't factual and

(34:49):
you know, spreading negativerumors around how food is grown
is so incredibly damaging toworld food sustainability and to
the sustainability here in ourown country.

Clinton Monchuk (35:00):
I would like to thank you for the opportunity
for your information to beshared here on the podcast.
We really enjoyed having you andthank you very much.
Patricia, I want to thank youfor taking the time to listen to
our Ask A Farmer podcast.

(35:22):
We at Canadian Food Focus valuethe input from our listeners and
ask that you share this podcastwith your friends and family.
Remember, this is a two-waystreet, so we seek your input
for future segments that are ofinterest to you about food and
farming.
To do this, please click on the'Ask Us' icon at the top of our

(35:44):
website, canadianfoodfocus.org.
While you're there, feel free tofollow our numerous social media
links and sign up for ournewsletter.
This segment was produced andedited by Angela Larson,
research and writing by DorothyLong and Penny Eaton.
Music by Andy Elson.

(36:04):
I'm your host Clinton Monchuk.
And from all of us here atCanadian Food Focus, we wish you
good health and great eats.
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