Benoit Morin is a healthcare leader who has devoted his career to the knowledge and management of health and nutrition. He has been a critical player in the development of the PHSA's Health Foundation, which offers guidance on better eating habits, leading more active lifestyles, and adopting physical fitness as part of a healthy way of living.
Morin is currently managing all food services at our four hospitals in Calgary and guiding PHSA's strategic growth plan on this front.
Why is it Important To Keep Track of What You Eat?
- You need to know what you eat to make better food choices. It's important because it can help maintain weight, treat some diseases and prevent others.
- Tracking our food intake allows us to make better choices: choose healthier foods and beverages, eat less high-fat or sugary foods and limit our consumption of foods that are only available in limited quantities, such as cheese, chips or French fries.
- To keep tabs on what you eat, it is essential to take notes. That can help you to see which foods are more and less preferred. It will also allow you to monitor the number of daily calories that you consume for your body to reach your weight goal. Benoit Morin advises everybody to keep track of what is good and bad when it comes to eating.
- Tracking our food intake allows us to think about the overall picture that should be taken into account when looking at our whole diet instead of focusing only on marginal calories, such as those from sugary drinks or fatty meats.
- Eating in portion-controlled ways is essential because it allows us to have a balanced diet by including different types of foods from across all food groups.
- Keeping track of what we eat helps us to find solutions for eating problems or lack of appetite based on what we find in our daily diets.
Why Do I Need To Track My Calories?
A healthy weight is appropriate for your age, gender and physical activity level. Contrary to what most people think, eating three meals a day and having snacks in between is not the best way to keep your weight within the normal range.
- Understanding how many calories we consume is essential for controlling our weight. Benoit Morin PHSA believes to lose weight, we need to take in fewer calories than we burn daily (calories out). The opposite is true when you are trying to gain weight – you need more food energy than you expend each day (calories in).
- It's straightforward. You will gain weight if you consume more calories than your body needs. Conversely, you will lose weight if you consume fewer calories than your body needs.
- Measuring food energy (calories) is a way to estimate the effect different foods have on our weight over time. It is done by counting how many calories are in each of the foods we eat every day and then estimating how many calories we burn doing our daily activities accumulated over a week or even a whole year. The difference is the number of calories we need to take in to avoid gaining weight.
- One week's worth of daily food diaries can be an excellent way to learn how many calories you consume daily. This way, you will know what changes you need to make in your diet if you want to lose weight.
- If you want to lose weight, paying attention to the number of calories part of your daily diet is essential.
Managing Nutrition is as Important as Working out
To keep you fit, you must work out regularly and watch your weight. And staying in shape is not just about exercising regularly and eating well. It is also about managing your budget, time, and food. Benoit Morin, PHSA, is doing his bit to make things work in the health department.
- People who do physical activity regularly need to pay attention to what they eat to maintain their weight or lose it if needed.
- We need to monitor our time to find the time and energy to exercise daily. Spending some time for fun and relaxation is essential, but it should not take away from the time you dedicate to your goals.
- Managing food is not just about having a good diet but also about being able to plan and prepare your meals for the week.
- Because managing these two different aspects of our lives is challenging, it is essential to be able to make good decisions that help us achieve our goals.
The Final Word:
Benoit Morin PHSA, has been a critical player in the development of the PHSA's Health Foundation, which offers guidance on better eating habits, leading more active lifestyles, and adopting physical fitness as part of a healthy way of living. He is providing all his time to live up to the vision of health and care. To know more about him, visit benoitmorin.ca.
