Canadian kids fail health report card

Educating your children about food makes sense

Rosie Schwartz
National Post

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

With the end to the school year comes the annual report card. And things are not looking good for Canadian kids - at least when it comes to the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. For the second year in a row, youngsters continue to maintain a failing grade. Simply put, our kids are headed for trouble as they continue on the road to overweight and obesity as a result of sedentary living and fat-laden food styles.

Report cards providing a possible snapshot into the future health are not new. A number of years ago, the Heart and Stroke Foundation first reported that Canadian children aged 6 to 12 barely obtained a passing grade on lifestyle issues.

A few years later, after another Heart and Stroke Foundation report card evaluating the lifestyles of kids aged 9 to 12, the organization suggested that the youngsters could be in the fast lane for developing heart disease and stroke as early as their 30s.

But some of the solutions being proposed make you wonder whether those behind some of these endeavours have evaluated the long term consequences of their initiatives or even looked at the basics of human behaviour.

Just tune into The Learning Channel on television and watch the program, Honey, We're Killing the Kids. At the start of the program, parents are treated to a computer enhanced version of what their currently overweight children will look like as adults. After shocking the parents, a nutritionist comes in and imposes Draconian-like rules on the family.

Why does healthy eating have to be about punishment and misery? It's certainly a way to guarantee rebellion in the younger generation. Why not show the family how to eat nutrition-packed favourites in appropriate portion sizes?

Or take a look at the newest invention - the Persuasive Mirror, a device designed to show the toll that unhealthy lifestyles can take on the body. If you're a junk food eater and a couch potato, an extremely overweight person, double chin and all, will show up in the mirror to reveal the "future you." Scientists are proposing that these visions might scare adolescents into healthy lifestyles. But it's well known that kids with healthy self-esteems, not those who have seen blimp-like visions in a mirror, are more likely to develop positive lifestyle habits.

Developing a foundation of healthy lifestyle habits is critical. And fear and punishment are not the way to build this foundation.

Educating kids about food while at the same time providing some positive ground rules makes sense. Talking about what should be on the menu not the foods that should be eliminated is one of the first steps to achieving a healthy relationship with food.

Getting youngsters involved in food -- at all levels -- has been shown to be a powerful teaching technique and one that can make a difference. At FoodShare Toronto, a new program called Field to Table Schools starts with a food garden on the school grounds -- in the yard, on the roof or in the classroom. Students visit local farms, farmers' markets or have farmers come in to the classrooms. The youngsters harvest honey from beehives or get exercise gardening or composting. But most importantly, they learn to love food. And they cook the same produce after they harvest it. There's nothing like a little ownership in the fixings to make the concept appealing. The same goes for menu planning and cooking. Make space in your garden or get some planters for a balcony and let the youngsters dig into the soil.

If you're struggling with healthy eating issues at home, sit down with your youngsters. Tell them that there are changes taking place -- healthy eating is on the agenda -- but not just for them. When parents set good examples, they have a better chance of their offspring buying into the program. Work out a menu for meals, including favourite flavours and dishes while using healthy eating guidelines as a basis.

Have the each child take responsibility for making at least one or two dishes per week. Younger children might need a little more help but you can fool them into thinking that they were responsible for the wonderful tastes. Buy some children-oriented cookbooks or have the kids seek out some recipes online. It's absolutely amazing what they will eat or expect family members to do when they've had a hand in the meal. Try it - you'll be astonished at how effective getting kids to cook can be!

- Rosie Schwartz is a Toronto-based consulting dietitian in private practice and is author of The Enlightened Eater's Whole Foods Guide: Harvest the Power of Phyto Foods (Viking Canada).

nutrition@nationalpost.com