Report No. 049-12

TO: Chair and Members of the Board of Health
FROM: Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC, Medical Officer of Health
DATE:   2012 March 22

March Nutrition Month and National Dietitians’ Day

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Board of Health receive Report No. 049-12 re March Nutrition Month and National Dietitians’ Day for information.

Background

March is Nutrition Month and March 21, 2012, marks the third anniversary of National Dietitians’ Day.   During the month and throughout the year, Canadian dietitians promote the importance of healthy eating and its positive effect on health and well-being. This year’s theme is Get the Real Deal on Your Meal, addressing popular food and nutrition myths. 

Health Unit Dietitians organized a variety of community activities for Nutrition Month 2012.

Ontario Early Years Centres Let’s Get Cooking Sessions

In an effort to promote healthy eating and provide opportunities for improving the food skills of parents with young families, Public Health Dietitians partnered with Public Health Nurses and the Middlesex-London Ontario Early Years Centre program staff to offer cooking demonstrations in six Ontario Early Years Centres.  The sessions incorporated principles of healthy eating, basic food preparation, food safety, meal planning, label reading and food budgeting.  Messages regarding healthy weights and healthy feeding relationships were also included.

Food skill development was chosen as a strategy to help participants increase food access.  Skill development is a necessary precursor for behaviour change and can contribute to change by increasing confidence. All populations can benefit from skill development in this area; however, marginalized populations tend to experience greater confidence when provided an opportunity to enhance their skill set. Given the trend toward consuming more foods outside the home, combined with rising food costs, teaching priority populations basic food skills and menu ideas can help lower food expenses and facilitate simple and healthy meal preparation at home.

Workplace Initiatives

In a ceremony this month, London Life was awarded the first gold level Eat Smart!® Workplace Award of Excellence in Ontario.  Eat Smart!® is a provincial program designed to encourage healthier dining in workplaces and recreation centres across Ontario.  The Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario Division), the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and the Health Unit are all key supporters of the program.  To qualify for the gold level, a Public Health Dietitian collaborated with the Dietitian from London Life to ensure that the cafeteria met the required standards to achieve gold-level status including:

§   the required food safety and nutrition standards for food prepared and offered within the workplace;

§   the appropriate pricing, placement, and promotion of healthier food options; and,

§   the development and endorsement of a workplace nutrition policy.

In addition, Lunch and Learn presentations were delivered by a Public Health Dietitian to six different workplaces within Middlesex-London.  The presentation focused on popular food and nutrition myths, utilizing the resources produced by Dietitians of Canada for Nutrition Month promotion. In addition, the environmental impact on food and drink choices was incorporated into the presentations to start the discussion with workplaces about the importance of supportive environments and workplace nutrition policies.  The dietitian offered additional support to workplaces interested in developing new or revising previous workplace nutrition policies.

Next Steps

In 2006, the Health Unit adopted a Health and Safety policy on promoting healthy food choices, safe food handling practices and local foods at Health Unit business, educational and community functions (Administration Manual Policy Number: 8-140: Food: Promoting Healthy Choices), attached as Appendix A1(PDF 23.7KB), Appendix A2(PDF 29.8KB) and Appendix A3(PDF 35.5KB).  This policy was revised in 2009 and 2010.  This policy will be reviewed again this calendar year.  To promote the benefits of the policy and encourage compliance with the policy, an in-service will be provided on the updated policy for staff members that are responsible for ordering food for health unit meetings and events (e.g., administrative assistants, program assistants). This training would ensure that staff members are aware of this policy, that they understand and implement it, and can provide ongoing feedback to the Manager of Privacy and Occupational Health, the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee and to the Public Health Dietitians about the utility and effectiveness of this policy and its procedures.

This report was prepared by Ms. Kim Leacy, Public Health Dietitian, Chronic Disease Prevention and Tobacco Control Team, and Ms. Ginette Blake, Public Health Dietitian, Reproductive and Early Years Program Team.

Graham L. Pollett, MD, FRCPC

Medical Officer of Health 

This report addresses the following requirement(s) of the Ontario Public Health Standards:

Chronic Disease Prevention Requirements 4, 8, 11, and 12; Reproductive Health Standards 5 and 6; Child Health Standards 7 and 8 and the Middlesex-London Health Unit Strategic Direction: Improve Health Outcomes, by enhancing service delivery through collaborative comprehensive, integrated strategies in Middlesex-London in the areas of: Healthy eating and physical activity for all.