September 2010 - Program Updates

Nutrition Resource Centre (NRC)

Nutrition Resource Centre launches Eat Smart!® Recreation Centre Program

After a four-year process of planning and the implementation and evaluation of a pilot in 2008, the Nutrition Resource Centre (NRC) at OPHA is proud to announce that the Eat Smart!® Recreation Centre Program has been launched! The expansion of Eat Smart!® to the recreation centre setting is one of the initiatives of Ontario’s Action Plan for Healthy Eating and Active Living [PDF].

Eat Smart! Recreation Centre Program.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit is the first health unit to award two recreation centres with the Eat Smart!® Award of Excellence. Plans to implement the program before the end of 2010 or in early 2011 are underway in at least six other health units.

To support health units with their planning for the program, NRC has developed an on-line toolkit which provides background information, tools and templates for health unit staff to use with local program stakeholders. In addition, NRC is hosting orientation webinars for public health staff. Representatives from 18 health units participated in the first webinar in August with another orientation to be offered later this Fall.

NRC has developed and consumer-tested a poster and brochure to raise awareness about the program in facilities that receive the Eat Smart!® Award of Excellence. These communication materials feature Canadian national women’s hockey team member and four-time Olympian, Jennifer Botterill. These and other program materials are available from NRC to health units implementing the program and can be ordered using the new order form which is available on the password-protected health unit section of the Eat Smart!® website.

The newly updated Eat Smart!® website was introduced in August. The new website features an interactive tool, the Eat Smart!® Choices Calculator which can be used to quickly and easily assess single serving packaged food products, according to the Eat Smart!® Nutrition Standard for Vending Machines.

NRC looks forward to working with health units as the program rolls out across the province.

 

“You Can Ask” Consumer Campaign

Since 2000, the Nutrition Resource Centre has provided provincial coordination of the Eat Smart!® Ontario’s Healthy Restaurant Program. In 2009, the Ministry of Health Promotion announced that funding for this Eat Smart!® program would not continue past the 2009/10 fiscal year. Because health units are still required to work with food service establishments as part of the Ontario Public Health Standards, a project was undertaken to look at developing a resource for restaurants on incorporating healthier menu options. This resource would be based around the previous Eat Smart!® Restaurant Program nutrition standard.

Initial findings from this work revealed that restaurants are interested in offering healthier choices, but only if consumers ask for, and purchase, healthier choices. In addition, health units felt that there was need for a consumer education component on what the healthier options at restaurants are.

This led to the development of targeted messages for families with children who dine out frequently, based on the concept that they can ask for healthier options when dining out. The messages are based on the former Eat Smart!® Restaurant Program nutrition standard.

The specific messages have been tested with a sample of consumers to ensure that they are meaningful and will likely result in action on the part of consumers. The messages address three key areas: smaller portions, increasing vegetables, and healthier kid menus.

These messages have formed the basis of three webpages on the EatRight Ontario website that each deal with one of the three key areas above. These webpages complement the existing information on the EatRight Ontario website, while ensuring the messages are appropriate and actionable for the target audience.

In the future, there will be web-based “buttons” available for stakeholders and other interested organizations to download that could be used on their website(s), which will link directly with this content on the EatRight Ontario website. This will facilitate message dissemination, ensuring consistent messaging while using few resources.

A plan to monitor traffic flow to the three webpages is being formulated to evaluate this method of information distribution.