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Federal budget pledges a Canadian school food program but recipe requires funding

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Federal budget pledges a Canadian school food program but recipe requires funding

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Canada is ranked 37th of the 41 most wealthy nations in regards to child well-being and access to healthy food, according to UNICEF.
(Shutterstock)

Amberley T. Ruetz, University of Guelph and Sara FL Kirk, Dalhousie University

Hectic mornings of rushing around packing school lunches for kids could actually become a thing of the past for Canadian parents.

In the recent federal budget, Canada has finally declared its intention to work towards a national school food program with the provinces and territories.

The pledge is embedded in the new national food policy, although the government has not yet committed any funds for the program.

As researchers focused on student nutrition, wellness and national and provincial food policy, we see a national school food program is a no-brainer.

Food at school can improve children’s health and academic outcomes while creating economic opportunities for local, sustainable agriculture. To ensure this, however, the federal government needs to establish food procurement criteria and regulations to protect against corporate food and beverage from gaining entry into schools.

In many countries, parents’ main focus in the morning is getting their kids out of the door on time because schools handle lunch as part of a larger health, education and economic strategy.

In France, school lunches are part of the school day, not a break from it. Children are served a four-course meal while sitting at a group table with a supervisor who teaches them about nutrition, healthy eating and table manners.

In Italy, school meals are locally sourced and certified organic, with special meals provided for children with food allergies, intolerances and religious restrictions. School lunch menus are sent home on a weekly basis to help parents avoid overlap at home.

In Japan, where food education is mandated by law, lunches are cooked in school. In an effort to reinforce a culture of self-sufficiency students serve one another and when lunch is done everyone helps clean up.

In Japan, food education is mandated by law. Here, Yoshihiko Noda, former prime minister, joins children for a kindergarten in Yokohama, near Tokyo, in October 2011.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

In Brazil, school food is part of a national and comprehensive food strategy that integrates education, agriculture, health and food security while supporting family farming.

Health crisis spans economic divides

The last time the federal government seriously discussed implementing a national school food program was during the Second World War when the government rejected a school lunch program. Instead, Canada decided to provide a family allowance designed to ensure families had enough income to buy food for their children.

Since then, the pervasiveness of diet-related diseases among children may make today’s youth the first generation to have sicker, shorter lives than their parents as found by a House of Commons standing committee on health in 2007.

Children spend a considerable amount of time at school for well over a decade of their lives, so schools are the ideal medium for fostering and reinforcing a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Preventing chronic diseases through improving nutrition among children and youth should, therefore, be a priority.

A national, health-promoting school food program is essential for Canada. With adequate funding and national standards, it can be the powerful health-promotion program needed to reverse our current health crisis that spans socio-economic divides.

School food programs are not only about children eating healthier, but also about children developing lifelong skills towards good health.
(Shutterstock)

Universal, sustainable

Most provinces in Canada have some form of a school food program (breakfast, snack and to a lesser degree lunch), but the type of program and quality of food served varies across the country. Existing programs largely rely on charitable funding because if there is any provincial and municipal support, it often only covers a fraction of the cost.

A national research team that my co-author was part of recommended six key characteristics to guide a national school food program in Canada. Such a program would be:

1. Universal and offered to all students at no cost or subsidized cost, and administered in a non-stigmatizing manner.

2. Health Promoting, thereby focused on providing whole foods, specifically vegetables and fruits.

3. Respectful of local conditions and needs, serving culturally appropriate foods.

4. Connected to communities, supporting local food producers when possible.

5. Multi-Component and integrated with curricula to incorporate nutrition education and hands-on food preparation for the development of food skills.

6. Sustainable and so receiving ongoing funding, staffing and training along with regular monitoring and evaluation.

Economic opportunity

A national school food program isn’t just an expense; it’s an economic opportunity. Internationally, school food programs have an impressive return on investment — three dollars to $10 for every dollar invested — including the creation of new jobs.

School food could also be a fruitful emerging economic activity in Canada as it is in the United States as my research aims to show. Canada would have the chance to develop a made-in-Canada school food economic growth strategy, akin to what Brazil or Italy has pursued.

The economic burden and preventable cost of nutrition-related disease in Canada is estimated at $13.8 billion annually. Treating chronic disease already consumes an alarming 67 per cent of all direct health care spending. Such expenditure levels could cripple Canada’s universal health care system. Yet, over 30,000 deaths could be averted or delayed annually if our diets complied with dietary recommendations, particularly for eating more fruit and vegetables.

Right now, more than 3,200 signatures have been put to a petition to the Minister of Health for the implementation of a universal healthy school food program whose cost is shared with the federal government.

This is an official e-petition to the House of Commons — that means it was made available online on the House of Commons website after it was introduced to Parliament by MP Julie Dabrusin on behalf of Debbie Field, co-ordinator of the Coalition for Healthy School Food.

The promise of a national school food program is an important step forward for Canada. The provision of adequate funding will ensure that it benefits all Canadian children.

An investment in a national school food program is an investment in children today and the leaders of tomorrow.

Amberley T. Ruetz, PhD Candidate in Geography and Arrell Food Scholar, University of Guelph and Sara FL Kirk, Professor of Health Promotion; Scientific Director of the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Dr. Sarah FL Kirk: Girls and women need more time in nature to be healthy

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Girls and women need more time in nature to be healthy

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Getting enough physical activity can be challenging for women and girls, because they have to negotiate complex gender roles, stereotypes and cultural narratives about the body.
(Shutterstock)

Rebecca Spencer, Dalhousie University and Sara FL Kirk, Dalhousie University

Supporting girls and women in their efforts to be physically active must become a global public health priority. Preliminary results from our research at Dalhousie University suggests that access to nature may be key to achieving this.

A recent study in The Lancet Global Health pooled global data from the past 15 years and showed persistent and worrying trends: Women continue to get insufficient physical activity, and the gap between activity levels of women and men is widening.

Similar trends are seen in girls aged 12 to 17. Only two per cent meet the requirements of the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines — which include adequate sleep and at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Our own review of the evidence also found that girls have complex relationships with physical activity, requiring an ongoing negotiation of gender roles and stereotypes. They have to navigate cultural narratives focused on the “body” in many parts of their lives every day. They are expected to be pretty but to appear natural, to be thin but not too skinny, to be fit but not too muscular.

We are currently engaged in research to explore the health of adolescent girls and young women through a technique called photovoice, in which participants take photographs to represent their own experiences.

Flowers, trees, and water

In this study we asked seven research participants to take photos to explore their health, nutrition, and physical activity experiences and to bring them back to discuss in a group, and look for themes or trends.

A participant shows some of the photographs she submitted.
(Kylee Nunn Photography), Author provided

They found themes relating to challenging norms and stereotypes and to the importance of social support and confidence. They discussed their perceptions that “everything is gendered” and that there are activities girls are “supposed to do.” They talked about sometimes feeling excluded from sports dominated by boys, and expectations around what girls should wear while being active.

They also discussed how they challenge those norms. The girls, for example, took photos engaging in non-traditional physical activities like aerial circus silks and climbing trees in skirts. They also stressed the importance of support from friends and family to feel safe in challenging norms. There was also a surprising finding: the emphasis they placed on being outside in nature.

Although nature and the environment were not part of the intended research purpose, being outside emerged as important. Many of the girls and young women shared photos of natural elements, like flowers, trees and water.

A photo of a tree submitted by a research participant.
Author provided

They also took photos of themselves, their friends and families engaging in physical activity outside. This most often included general active outdoor play, but also, more specifically, activities like hiking and camping.

We learned that nature provided important context for these girls and young women to feel comfortable, safe and confident to navigate the complex gender norms around physical activity.

Safe spaces outdoors

A recent review shows that, due to urbanization and parental fears, youth are less connected to nature than ever before and are missing out on health benefits as a result.

A photo of a flower submitted by a research participant.
Author provided

This trend is duplicated in popular culture, with books, songs and films depicting nature less and less over time.

Similarly, a large-scale survey in the United States shows youth spend more time with technology than nature but also indicates they value their time with nature and need more opportunity for that connection.

With the United Nations’ recent warning that we have only about a decade to alter climate change without devastating consequences, engagement with nature has never been more urgent. This can be done through encouraging outdoor play, supporting active transportation and providing safe spaces for women and girls to participate.

Achieving gender equity

Interestingly, the evidence indicates that women face barriers to experiencing nature.

Gendered expectations, fear for their safety and feelings of objectification and vulnerability mean girls and women have to negotiate these feelings in order to participate in outdoor recreation.

A photo of a girl climbing a tree submitted by a research participant.
Author provided

Achieving gender equity is a key challenge for the 21st century, reinforced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which also highlight the importance of nature, environments, sustainability and health.

The benefits of physical activity to mental and physical health are extensive but are not being realized by half the population. Studies are starting to explore gender and the outdoors, while the importance of nature to women is gaining momentum.

But there’s more to do to determine how this finding can support gender equity. The importance of nature for health promotion is an emergent trend in research, and the focus of the upcoming International Union for Health Promotion and Education Conference.

Can nature be the key to promote physical activity among girls and women? More research is needed to know for sure, but it certainly shows promise.

Rebecca Spencer, Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate & Instructor, Health Promotion, Dalhousie University and Sara FL Kirk, Professor of Health Promotion; Scientific Director of the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Dr. Sara FL Kirk: How to make a national school food program happen

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How to make a national school food program happen

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In Rome, 70 per cent of ingredients in school meals are required by law to be organic. In Brazil, food is a constitutional right for children. Canada lags shamefully behind.
(Shutterstock)

Sara FL Kirk, Dalhousie University and Amberley T. Ruetz, University of Guelph

As summer winds down and a new school year begins, the conversation about food in schools is once again heating up.

In June, Sen. Art Eggleton tabled a motion calling on the federal government to consult with key stakeholders to develop a cost-shared universal nutrition program across Canada.

He is not the first senator to have made this call. Back in 1997, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance made the recommendation “to create a national school nutrition program” but no action was ever taken. In 2015, the Standing Committee on Social Affairs Science and Technology and the Minister of Health advocated “for childcare facility and school programs related to breakfast and lunch programs… and nutrition literacy courses.”

A universal, national school food program would make sure that all students from kindergarten to Grade 12 have the same access to healthy food in school.

The case for such a program in Canada is already strong. So what needs to happen to make this a reality?

A patchwork of programs

Canada is lagging behind other high-income countries in providing nutritious food to children.

In a UNICEF report published last year, Canada ranked 37th out of 41 countries on access to nutritious food for children. That is below the United States.

By using local foods, a national school lunch program could double as a local economic growth strategy.
(Shutterstock)

One reason for this is Canada’s patchwork of programs that serve only a fraction of kids. Funding for programs comes from several different stakeholders, including provincial and territorial governments, municipal governments and charities. This contrasts sharply with school food programs in other countries.

In Brazil for example, food is a constitutional right, which means that a national program feeds 47 million students at 190,000 schools each day.

The benefits are multiple, not only improving student nutrition, health and social development, but providing wider employment. The program supports local food systems and regional economic development, since 30 per cent of food purchased for the program comes from small family farms.

In Italy, school meals are a central part of education about national culture and health. In Rome, 70 per cent of ingredients in school meals are required by law to be organic. These are also local or regional foods, making school meals a local economic growth strategy as well.

In Finland, school lunches, which are free for all students, are the healthiest meal that students eat during the whole day.

It’s time for action

These international examples illustrate how healthy food provision is prioritized elsewhere in the world. This pays off through an impressive return on investment for school food programs — of $3 to $10 for every dollar invested.

Because children’s eating habits are more easily influenced than those of adults, interventions aimed at children are also more likely to have the potential to reduce future health-care costs.

Children spend on average six to seven hours or 50 per cent of their time awake at school which makes schools the ideal medium for instilling lifelong eating habits in a non-stigmatizing way.

Public support for a national program is growing. Martha O’Connor, former director general of the now defunct Breakfast for Learning Program affirms that “70 per cent of Canadians believe that child hunger in Canada is more important than national unity or the deficit. Strategic investment in a national school nutrition program is an investment in the future of all Canadians.”

Political will is essential for a national school food program to become a reality. And Eggleton’s motion is catalyzing this important conversation about the state of children’s health in Canada.

Soda tax as revenue

Growing rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease among Canada’s population are unsustainable. The Coalition for Healthy School Food, comprised of 40 organizations across Canada, estimates that a national, universal healthy school food program would cost $1.8 billion per year.

The Coalition is calling on the Government of Canada to initially invest $360 million, through provincial and territorial transfers, in healthy school food programs.

A soda tax could almost finance a national school food program throughout Canada.
(Shutterstock)

The eventual goal would be universal coverage, through a cost-shared model of joint investments from the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, as well as some investment from not-for-profits and parents where applicable.

The United Kingdom recently implemented a promising strategy of directing the revenue from a national sugary drinks levy to fund school food programs. Diabetes Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Childhood Obesity Foundation are making the same recommendation for Canada.

A soda tax could produce $1.7 billion in annual revenue for Canada, just short of the Coalition’s estimate to fund a national school food program.

Given the burden that chronic, diet-related diseases already place on the Canadian health care system — a cost estimated at $190 billion each year — a $1.8 billion investment in the health of our next generation is surely a small price to pay?

The cost of implementing a national school food program will pay for itself through improved mental health, learning and other health outcomes.

Schools have a strong history of successful public health intervention and a national school food program is a critical investment that we all can support. It’s a no-brainer.

Sara FL Kirk, Professor of Health Promotion; Scientific Director of the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University and Amberley T. Ruetz, PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Guelph

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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