Student Presentation

What are your favorite foods? Let’s Talk What are your favorite foods? To get us started thinking about healthy eating, I’d like you each to take a minute to think about your favourite food. Now pair up with a person next to you. Tell each other your favourite food and why you enjoy that particular food. Ask for a few examples. What did your partner say? Tastes good? Sweet? Salty? Some of our favourite foods are healthy choices, some are not. All foods can fit as part of healthy eating. The trouble is that sometimes we lose the balance and eat way more than we need of the less healthy choices and not enough of the “good stuff”. Then we miss out on the benefits of healthy eating. It’s not only what we eat, but also what we don’t eat that affects our health, ie. too much of some things like calories, sugar, salt and fat and not enough of other things like calcium and fibre. Get a sense as an overall group of how many think they get 60 minutes of physical activity every day? What do those people do? What could the others do to get more physical activity? In the next half hour or so, we will look at some of the issues related to living healthy in this province including: Why healthy eating matters? How we are doing in this province? New provincial school food guidelines – what will be in them? How can a school be more active? What do you think about the proposed directions? A chance to give your opinion, the opportunity that exists for schools to promote healthy eating.

What are the benefits of healthy eating and active living? Helps you learn Promotes healthy weight Sports performance Keeps you healthy Prevents diseases Dental health Sleep better Increase self-esteem & self-confidence Decrease depression & anxiety Brainstorm: Why healthy eating matters for young people: helps you learn (concentrate, attend etc.) keeps you healthy promotes healthy weight helps prevents chronic disease dental health performance in sports etc.

Did You Know? Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest rate of overweight and obesity in Canada Poor eating habits and physical inactivity contribute to many health problems among adults These health problems such as type 2 diabetes are now being seen in children NL has highest stats on overweight but not we’re not alone. Obesity has been called a global epidemic. Problems with overweight start early. A study last year by researchers at Memorial University found that 25% of preschoolers were already overweight. Chronic disease - According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 30 to 35% of all cancers can be prevented by eating well, being active and staying at a healthy weight. A high fat diet increases the risk of developing high cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease (fatty streaks have been found in the arteries of young soldiers killed in combat). NL has one of the highest rates of heart disease in Canada. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 8 men over the age of 50 develop osteoporosis. The main prevention is good calcium intake and weight bearing exercise when you’re a teen and young adult. Type 2 diabetes has only been seen in children in recent years. Prevention is key. How are we doing in this province? Let’s look at a few slides to see. (5 minutes) Note:– don’t want to overemphasize weight The rate of obesity has increased in all provinces over the past 20 years. Show maps. The steady increase in the weight of the population is a signal that changes are needed in what we eat as a population and how active we are.

Environment Think for a minute about the food: in grocery stores in corner stores in movie theatres at fast food restaurants at sports events at school Are unhealthy eating practices and physical inactivity all in our individual control? Think about: (5 minutes) ·     Environment (in your own community) - is it easy to make healthy choices? Have students discuss each scenario as to whether it would be easy to make healthy choices of foods in each of these places. ·     

Portion Sizes National Geographic, August 2004 Portion sizes (how they’ve changed) – (could also mention that soft drink consumption has increased a lot over the years and milk consumption has declined. p.119 Improving the Health of Canadians) And the industry is pushing food…super-sizing for only pennies more National Geographic, August 2004

Advertising… Can Nutrition Education Compete? Advertising (how we’re all influenced) – think about all the advertising that we’re exposed too from an early age. How much advertising is there for healthy food choices? It’s easy to get sucked in by advertising The industry tries to hook people early! (young)

Change is happening at many levels You can help create a school environment that supports healthy eating! . L otsLots of things are happening. People are starting to look at what is being offered in various settings and trying to make changes eg.the Boys and Girls Clubs in NL have declared themselves as “Junk-free zones”. Many schools are already making changes on their own.

School Food Guidelines Foods served or sold in school should make a positive contribution to students’ eating habits Schools teach about healthy eating. They should also model healthy eating. Guidelines include 3 categories of food: Serve Most Serve Moderately Foods Not Included ·        Based on the premise that foods served or sold in school should make a positive contribution to students’ eating habits ie. belong to CFG. ·        Schools teach about healthy eating. They should also model healthy eating by offering healthy food and beverage choices (often a contradiction at present) ·        Guidelines include 2 categories of food: o     Serve most o     Serve moderately Does it mean that all foods not in the 4 food groups are “bad” and should never be eaten? No. Lots of other opportunities to enjoy them in moderation Let’s see what you think about some of the issues. (12 minutes)   Everybody stand up. On one side of room you’ll see the sign “Strongly Agree”. On the other side “Strongly Disagree”. If you’re not sure or if you’re “on the fence” you can stand in the middle or somewhere in between. There is no absolute right or wrong. We are interested in your opinion. It is what you feel about each issue today. I’d ask you to listen to the following statement and think about whether you agree or disagree. Go where you think bests represents your view. (Do one or two depending on time) “Schools shouldn’t sell soft drinks to any students from kindergarten to grade 12” “ The School Food Guidelines should apply to all school-related activities, on or off the school premises” “Junior and senior high school students will eat healthy foods and beverages if they are readily available at school.” Thanks for your input. As you can see, a lot of this is not black and white. Later in the summit there will opportunities to talk about the barriers to healthy eating and how some schools have been working to overcome them. Each school needs to start where they are. Even small changes can make a big difference. Build on your successes.

Grain Products Choose whole grains more often Breads, cereals, pasta, rice, tortilla wraps, crackers Serve Moderately: White based grains

Fruits and Vegetables Fresh Frozen Fruit can also be: Canned in juice Dried fruit Serve Moderately: Sweetened fruits/juices French fries (once a week)

Milk Products Choose lower fat & unsweetened products White milk (<2% milk fat - M.F.) Lower fat cheese (<20% M.F.) Yogurt (<2% M.F.) Serve Moderately Chocolate milk Yogurt drinks Ice cream (once a week)

Meat and Alternatives Choose lean cuts of meat, fish, poultry and dried beans and peas Use lower fat cooking methods Use in moderation any added fats such as oil, gravy, cream sauces Serve Moderately: Salami, pepperoni, bologna, wieners, bacon, chicken wings, or fried meats (once a week)

Foods Not Included Some foods provide very few nutrients Students can fill up on these foods and will not have room for healthier foods Examples: Cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, chocolate bars Popsicles, Jello Potato chips Pop, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks Battered & fried products – nuggets, battered & fried chicken pieces, onion rings

Do you get 60 minutes of physical activity every day? Active Living Do you get 60 minutes of physical activity every day?

64 percent of NL students are inactive – not active enough to realize health benefits)* Only 38 percent of girls and 48 per cent boys are considered active enough * * Stats Canada and the Canadian Fitness Lifestyle Research Institute – or CFLRI Regular exercise among youth declines as the grade of schooling increases (World Health Organization)

TV, computer, Nintendo/Playstation/X- box Inadequate access to quality physical education classes Lack of recreational facilities Lack of access to school buildings Inactive parents

Encouraging Active Living Active Transportation Intramurals & Informal activities Access to school/community resources after school hours Physical Education Activities in other classes

Key Messages Healthy eating & active living matters It’s not always easy to eat healthy in today’s world There are opportunities to increase physical activity within our school community We can all be agents of change Let’s all work together to make the healthy choice the easy choice for students!

What can you, as students, do to support Living Healthy? Nutrition Physical Activity