Dining out used to be such a big deal. When I was a little girl growing up in St. Catharines, a rare family outing to our neighbourhood Chinese noodle house was as exciting as life could possibly get.
Today, Canadians spend over 30% of our food budget at restaurants (compared to 42% for our American friends!) According to StatsCan, we blow most of our restaurant budget on two favourites: french fries and coffee. The average household goes out for a meal, snack or beverage an average of 11 times every two weeks. Of all the money spent on food in Canada, 40% is spent in some of our 62,000+ food service outlets. But with the growing popularity of drive-thru, take-out and delivery services, 60% of restaurant-prepared items are now consumed elsewhere. And on any given day, 30% of kids living in North America visit a fast food restaurant.
That’s a whole lot of fast food, and a whole lot of salt.
Health Canada tells us that a diet high in sodium chloride (salt) is associated with high blood pressure, a major risk factor for stroke, heart disease and kidney disease. click to continue reading
the comments