Healthy Bodies and Minds

Healthy Eating:

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• Support and create strategies that improve access to healthy foods for children and youth (e.g., community gardens, breakfast, lunch, and snack programs, healthy fundraisers).

Physical Activity:

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• Create environments that support safe and active transportation (e.g., School Travel Planning).
• Create accessible indoor/outdoor recreational opportunities.

Healthy Eating:

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• Teach positive nutrition messages about balanced eating. Encourage students to enjoy colourful vegetables and fruit, whole grains, lean meat and alternatives and lower fat dairy products every day. Encourage them to enjoy a variety of foods in moderation and without guilt.
• Use the terms “everyday” and “sometimes” foods instead of “good” and “bad” foods.
• Be aware that students have little control over the foods that they bring from home. Lunches and snacks should be free from scrutiny as this can isolate students from their peers.
• Respect students’ hunger and fullness cues by allowing them to choose what and when to eat a particular food or beverage from their lunch.
• Ensure that water is available to students at all times.
• Create a safe and pleasant eating environment (e.g., allergy safe; clean, calm, and welcoming; opportunities for hand washing/sanitizing).
• Model what you teach related to nutrition (e.g., drink milk or water while teaching).
• Avoid using food as a reward or punishment. Use non-food rewards (e.g., verbal praise, free time, help the teacher, stickers).

Physical Activity:

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• Use physical literacy tools and strategies when providing physical activities (e.g., keep everyone moving, introduce audience gradually, use pit stops so students try a variety of challenging movements and can build literacy at their own pace).
• Incorporate physical activity into the classroom whenever possible.
• Promote physical activity as fun and as part of a healthy lifestyle.
• Model what you teach related to physical activity e.g., join students in gym class and Daily Physical Activity/DPA). Modify physical activities to be non-competitive and inclusive of all skill levels.
• Introduce students to a variety of new activities—don’t forget the outdoors!
• Avoid taking away physical activity as punishment (or giving it as punishment).
• Avoid talking about physical activity as a way to change weight shape or size (can lead to an unhealthy relationship with their body and physical activity)

Healthy Eating:

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• Support universal breakfast, lunch, and snack programs for all students.
• Use the current Ministry policies to guide healthy food choices in the school environment.
• Involve students in the planning of foods offered/sold at school.
• Create school policies that encourage: using non-food rewards, healthy fundraising options, drinking water, and providing healthy food choices at school.
• Consider non-food fundraising options (e.g., calendars, water bottles, gift cards)
• Ensure that water is available and easily accessible for students.

Physical Activity:

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• Support and encourage Daily Physical Activity (DPA) in the school environment.
• Consider getting your school community involved in active and safe routes to school.
• Ensure that your playground is inviting and safe

Healthy Eating:

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• Include at least three of the four food groups (vegetables & fruit, grain products, meat & alternatives, and milk & alternatives) at each meal.
• Start your child’s day with breakfast to give them the energy to learn, play and grow.
• Make mealtimes pleasant (e.g., eat meals together and talk about positive things).
• Encourage children to eat when hungry and stop when they are full.
• Let your child decide how much food to eat from the healthy choices you offer.
• Avoid using food as a reward or punishment.
• Involve children in planning, shopping for, preparing, and serving meals.
• Use meal and snack times to teach your children about different foods, food preparation, and good table manners.
• Offer new foods more than once without pressure—it may take 10 or 15 tries before they will actually eat them!
• Schedule meals and snacks at regular times.
• Teach that all foods, including treats, can be part of healthy eating. Avoid labelling foods as good or bad; instead use the terms “everyday” and “sometimes” foods.
• Avoid allowing your children and teens to drink energy drinks. One energy drink could have more caffeine in it than the recommended daily intake.
• Eat meals without watching TV or engaging in other distractions.

Physical Activity:

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• Plan to make physical activity part of each day (kids need 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day).
• Be active with your children. Active parents have active children.
• Ensure that children are well hydrated during physical activity. Water is the best choice.
• Help children find fun things to do; help them explore and interact with different environments in nature (e.g., grass, mud, snow ice, water, trees, rocks).
• Replace screen time (TV, video games, computer) with active time
• Focus on the fun and social aspect of being active and less on winning.

Sleep:

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• Ensure that children receive an adequate amount of sleep—9 to 11 hours a night for younger children, and 8-10 hours a night for teenagers.
• Set a regular sleep schedule. Bedtime and waking time should be similar every day.
• Create a comfortable bedroom (e.g., quiet, no electronics, dark, a comfortable temperature).

Healthy Eating:

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• Offer healthy food choices at your programs/events.
• Provide non-food-related incentives and prizes.
• Model healthy eating when around children.

Physical Activity:

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• Look for ways to incorporate indoor/outdoor physical activities into your programming.
• Modify physical activities to be non-competitive and inclusive of all skill levels.
• Model physical activity (e.g., join children in games and activities).
• Plan activities to keep every child moving. Allow them to experience success and failure in a fun and challenging way, avoid singling children out by introducing an audience slowly.