As at September 1st 2011 a new healthy eating initiative came into play in schools in the Ontario province of Canada. This was brought in after some pretty worrying statistics found amongst the young people of Ontario. According to the Canadian Community health survey carried out in 2004 twenty eight percent of children between the ages of two and seventeen are either overweight or clinically obese and less than half of the children surveyed ate the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. This rate is currently increasing at around 10% per year, so clearly something had to be done. Enter the healthy eating initiative.
So what does this mean for schools and school children?
Governmental nutrition standards were laid down in schools meaning children could no longer be served items such as candy, fizzy energy drinks or any type of fried food. In addition to banning the above foodstuffs, school menus had to be made up of at least 80% of products such as those that give the highest levels of essential nutrients, and the lowest amounts of sodium, fats and sugar. This includes products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, brown rice and wholemeal bread. The remaining 20% can be made up of products that have a slightly higher sodium, sugar and fat content like cheese and bagels. All foods, whether they be sold in tuck shops, vending machines, cafeterias or catered events such as lunch programs, sports events and bake sales, have to conform to this criteria.
Obesity costs the health care system in Ontario a staggering $1.6 billion dollars every year and this is something that the government is looking to reduce drastically. It has been well documented that healthy eating is related directly to a better performance and when this is combined with daily exercise (of which 20 mins per day has now become mandatory in Ontario schools) then this is going to bring the best out of the child.
As a guide to what can and cannot be sold in schools the nutrition standards board list all foodstuffs under three categories and they are as follows:
Not to be sold
Foods that fall within this category contain little or no essential ingredients that a child needs in their diet and include fried foods such as hamburgers, Coca Cola and chocolate bars/candy.
Healthy
This category makes up twenty percent of the total dietary regulations of Ontario schools and include those foodstuffs which are slightly higher in fat, sodium and sugar but not excessively so. These include healthier drinks which still contain sugar and dairy products such as cheese and bread that’s not wholemeal such as bagels.
Healthiest
These make up the bulk of the entire food menu (80%) and are foods which contain all the essential nutrients and ingredients that make up a healthy diet. Items such as extra lean meat and fish, green vegetables, brown rice and wholemeal bread.
As well as sticking to the above guides, cooking staff are to prepare all foods in a healthy way that mean little or no added fat. Methods that are good are baking, barbecuing, grilling poaching, stir frying and steaming.
As you can see, the government are serious about cutting down obesity rates and it starts with children. Only time will tell as to whether this initiative works, but one would suspect that the results will be dramatic.