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An average Canadian adult consumed 2,358 calories per day in 2009, down 155 calories per day from the waistline-stretching days of 2001, according to a report from Statistics Canada.
The food statistics report supports key findings in a CBC News/Leger Marketing survey that suggests Canadians are eating better. The Statistics Canada report says the intake of fresh fruit and vegetables is up and consumption of red meat, which can be too fatty, is down.
The CBC News/Leger survey suggests Canadians are getting a clear message about healthy diets.
Fifty-four per cent of adults surveyed believe they should be consuming five or more servings of fresh fruit or vegetables per day. However, few in the survey actually hit that target.
Adults said they consume an average of 3.8 servings per day.
When CBC News went into one Toronto family's home and kept a close watch on what was actually consumed, the discrepancy between what people believe to be healthy eating and the reality of what they consume became glaring.
Kev Needma, his wife, Lisa, their daughter Meg, 11, and son Josh, 13, consider themselves an average family. For one week they were given diaries to track everything they ate, right down to the last Smartie.
For Lisa, a long commute is easily interrupted by a visit to a Tim Hortons coffee shop along the way. Kev, who works from a home office, admits hot dogs are his weakness.
"Put hot dogs and a bun in the microwave for a minute and 30 seconds. And when it's done, put ketchup on it. It's like three minutes and you're off to the races," he told CBC News.
Calories underestimated
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a family physician turned weight-loss specialist, agreed to evaluate the family's food choices.
"We know people underestimate calories. They're not hiding Twix bars," he told CBC News, "[but] nibbles get lost, so people underestimate by 20 per cent. So if you were adding 20 per cent to these folks, you would be adding a meal's worth of calories a day."
Studies suggest that, compared with 30 years ago, Canadians are consuming an entire extra meal a day in calories. They also eat too much sugar and far too much salt. Still, they may not recognize where all that salt and sugar is coming from.
Freedhoff is quick to spot the culprits, starting with the family's "taco Tuesday." He says anything that comes in a package is loaded with salt, such as the family's taco mix.
When he looked at Meg's eating habits, which included a precise count of every candy she nibbled, Freedhoff calculated she had consumed 1.4 cups of sugar in a single day. Much of it came from sugary cereals, juices and drinks that may sound healthy, like chocolate milk.
"People believe chocolate milk is a very healthy beverage, but yet chocolate milk has double the calories, double the sugar of Coca-Cola, drop per drop," he said.
Too much, too much
Over the course of one week, Freedhoff calculated this family of four ate 4.1 kilograms of sugar, more than double what health experts say they should be consuming. They also consumed twice as much salt as they should.
Lisa was shocked.
"I would never allow my children to sit down in a week's time and eat that much sugar and bags of chips. However, finding out that is what I am doing, and there has to be some major changes," she said.
Freedhoff said the family's diet is bad for everyone, but especially the kids.
"The building blocks of these kids are what they eat," he said, "not only their bones and muscles and joints, but they are building blocks of what they're going to be feeding their families, and what they're going to be eating for a lifetime.
"That's why it matters."