Being healthy means adopting a lifestyle built on eating well and being physically active every day.

In 2007, Doctors Nova Scotia added a focus on nutrition to its health promotion strategy. Doctors recognize that making healthy food choices is important. Eating well can help all Nova Scotians achieve good health by preventing weight gain and obesity.

Canadians have lots of room for improvement when it comes to healthy eating. The facts are worrisome:

• Over one-quarter of Canadians aged 31 to 50 get more than 35 per cent of their total calories from fat, which increases health risks.

• Seven out of 10 Canadian children aged four to eight, and half of adults, don’t eat Health Canada’s recommended minimum of five servings of vegetables and fruit each day.

• Canadians of all ages get more than one-fifth of their calories from "other foods." (These are foods and beverages not part of the four major groups.)

• More than half of Canadian adults are overweight.

• In 2005, 25.6 per cent of boys and 19.9 per cent of girls in Grade 3 were overweight.

• Childhood obesity has almost tripled over the last 25 years.

The World Health Organization refers to the escalating global epidemic of obesity as “globesity.” It estimates there are more than one billion overweight adults in the world, 300 million of whom are obese.

It has taken several generations for society to develop unhealthy eating habits and it will take some time to correct them. But you and your family can start today. Take the first step by reading some of the tips for healthy eating.