These guidelines from the Alberta government are designed to help child care facilities, schools, recreation centres, special event planners and communities make healthy food readily available for young people—so that the healthy choice is an easy choice.

Why We Need the Guidelines
Better nutrition for our youth is becoming a priority as alarm bells go off about the levels of overweight and obese children.

Recent estimates suggest that more than one quarter of Canadian children and youth (about 1.6 million) are overweight or obese. Studies indicate a bleak health outlook for these kids, as they run a higher risk of developing problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and respiratory, orthopedic and psychological ailments.

Helping young people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight has become a critical public health issue.

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Helping Kids Eat Better When They’re not at Home
The Alberta nutrition guidelines offer concrete suggestions for how schools and other facilities can apply Canada’s Food Guide to what they offer children to eat.

For example, the guidelines suggest that vending machines offer baked chips, water and 100 per cent fruit juice. They also offer sample menu plans for child care facilities and recreation and community centres.

A simple rating system clearly separates healthy food choices from unhealthy ones with three categories: choose most often, choose sometimes and choose least often.

These approaches make it easier for young people to decide what to have, and it makes it easier for day cares, schools and community centres to decide what to offer.

“Having a credible organization put together a comprehensive document like this is fabulous,” says Andrea Holwegner, a registered dietitian and president of Health Stand Nutrition Consulting in Calgary. “It gives people who don’t have a background in nutrition a starting point. I especially appreciate the diverse and positive and detailed suggestions about what to do instead of focusing on what not to do.”

What Parents Can Do
Parents also have their role to play when it comes to making sure their kids are eating healthy away from home.

Karena Apps Eccles, a nutritionist and mother of three, places a priority on what she calls “packing and planning.”

“I don’t leave my children’s meals and snacks up to chance,” she says. “We take healthy food with us constantly, in the car, on errands and to recreational activities.”

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Apps Eccles doesn’t accept the often-heard statement, “That’s all my kids will eat.” Her reply: “No, it’s not. For the first 11 or 12 years of their lives,” she says, “you are in complete control. Your children will eat the healthy foods you offer. You just need to persevere. Continue to offer small portions of healthy choices frequently.”

Apps Eccles also suggests that parents search for facilities that offer healthy choices. For example, she asks summer camps and day homes about their menus. “I have avoided places that provide junk foods as snacks and processed food for lunch,” she says.

The APPLE Schools Project
Registered dietitian Kristi Jones works on the APPLE Schools project. The project is working with several schools in Alberta to promote active living and healthy eating in school communities.

For example, the project is using the Alberta nutrition guidelines to develop menus for breakfast, snack and lunch programs. Here are some other APPLE activities that Jones and others are involved in:

• setting up displays and activities during parent-teacher interviews
• publishing nutrition information in the school newsletter
• developing lesson plans and resource lists for teachers
• choosing a theme every month (for example, portion sizes) to highlight on bulletin boards, in newsletters and throughout the school community

These are some of the results that Jones has seen from her consultations with teachers and planners of special events:

• Grade 2 and 3 classes created “kaboom kabobs” that highlighted the four food groups and met the Alberta nutrition guidelines.
• Foods at special events have been whole wheat instead of the “whole donut” and water instead of pop.
• Vending machines at schools offer healthier choices.

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Jones says she has seen significant positive changes in a relatively short period of time, and she is optimistic that Alberta schools, community facilities, parents and kids will keep the trend going. “We are definitely getting there,” she says.

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Learn More

Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth
The guidelines are available in PDF form at this address.

APPLE Schools Project
The website for the APPLE Schools project: “Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating in Schools.”

Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide
The food guidelines from the federal government. The Alberta guidelines comply with and build on these guidelines.