Nutrition: Pack a Lunch Edition

Paige Baker-Lyons Gabrielle Gagnon

Trent University

BACKGROUND
- The fundamental cause of childhood overweight and obesity is an
energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.1
- Many diets are too high in fat and sugar and lacking nutrients, vitamins
and minerals2
- Good nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight is incredibly important
for children
- Inadequate nutrition during 0-20 years of age increases susceptibility to
disease in later life such as cancer, heart disease, and musculoskeletal
problems3
- Proper nutrition is equally important for brain development and is
associated with childrens self-esteem and ability to be successful
students4
- Children often eat meals and snacks outside the home and need to
develop the knowledge and skills to make nutritious choices in their
lives

Figure 1. Measure Overweight and Obesity Using WHO BMI-For-Age Cut-Offs in

Children and Youth, by Sex, Canada, 1978-79 (Ages 2-17), 2004 (Ages 2-17),
2009-11 (Ages 5-17) 5

PURPOSE
- Provide students at Roger Neilson Public School with knowledge about
nutrition:
- Canadas Food Guide
- Energy from foods
- Serving Sizes
- Understanding hunger and thirst cues
- Eating a variety of foods from all 4 food groups
- Nutrients, vitamins and minerals in food
- Food Safety
- Nutrition facts tables
- Apply nutrition to everyday life
- Encourage healthy eating behaviours
- Encourage students to make healthy choices with an emphasis on
practical and applicable skills such as packing a nutritious lunch for
school
- Encourage students to eat all the necessary food servings each day
- Encourage children to develop/maintain energy in and energy out
balance
- Encourage healthy attitudes towards nutrition and food

METHODS

Figure 2. Gantt chart. This figure illustrates the progress and timeline of the community nutrition education program

- To attain the projects goal of providing children with nutrition knowledge the following strategies were used:
nutrition education, personal skills development, health promotion and health maintenance
- The material taught to the students was based on the Ontario Curriculum6, Dieticians of Canada7 and Canadas Food
Guide8
- Nutrition lesson plans were created and tailored according to the different grade levels with guidance from the health
and physical education portion of the Ontario Curriculum
- For each class, the material was covered over two, 30- 50 minute education sessions
- The following are examples of activities incorporated into the sessions:
- Food Rainbow: Students were asked to explain the food rainbow and place foods that belong to each food group/
colour onto the large rainbow
- Pack a Lunch: Students utilize knowledge learnt about food groups, the difference between processed and
unprocessed foods and the various essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients to pack a healthy lunch
- Media ad creation: Students were instructed to create a media ad for their favourite healthy food and to identify a
personal health goal
- Serving size comparisons (e.g. baseball = 1 cup, deck of cards = 1 meat serving, etc.)
- Nutrition facts table game: Objective is to match the nutrition facts table to the food item

Figure 3. Collection of healthy food media ads, created by students at Roger

Neilson Public School

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

- This nutrition education program provided students with knowledge
about nutrition and gave students the practical skills in regards to
making healthy choices
- Further programs and policies may look at increasing the availability
of nutritious food choices for students
- Creating community gardens at the school
- Taxing unhealthy foods9
- Releasing cookbooks to families with easy and affordable recipes
- Hosting parent nutrition information nights

OUTCOMES
- In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the nutrition education strategy, verbal assessment was done at multiple
occasions throughout nutrition education
- The main evaluations were done at the beginning and end of the second session in order to assess knowledge learned
from the previous session
- It was found that, in general, the students retained and were able to apply the majority of the nutrition knowledge
covered in a practical way
- Some students in the kindergarten and grade 3 class demonstrated some struggle with recalling and applying the more
challenging concepts such as meat and dairy alternatives
- A select few students in the grade 4-6 classes struggled with identifying sources and the role of certain vitamins,
minerals, and nutrients
- Based upon the results of verbal evaluation, one can conclude that the nutrition education program was fairly effective
as demonstrated by students nutrition knowledge retention and application
- Teachers from the school reported that they overheard students discussing healthy eating at lunchtime and noticed
students identifying the healthier foods in their lunches as well as choosing to eat those first

REFERENCES
1

World Health Organization. (2014). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. Retrieved
from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood_why/en/

2 World

Health Organization. (2014). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. Retrieved
from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood_why/en/

World Health Organization. (2002) Joint WHO/FAO expert consultation on diet, nutrition and the
prevention of chronic diseases. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/who_trs_916.pdf

Bryan J, Osendarp S, Hughes D, Calvaresi E, Baghurts K, Van Klinken J. (2004). Nutrients for
cognitive development in school-age children. Nutrition Reviews, 62, 295-30

Public Health Ontario (2013). Addressing obesity in children and youth: Evidence to guide action for
Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/eRepository/
Addressing_Obesity_Childr en_Youth_Sept2013.pdf

6 Ontario

Ministry of Education. (2010). The Ontario Curriculum: Grades 1-8. Health and Physical
Education: Interim Edition. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/
healthcurr18.pdf

Dieticians of Canada. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.dietitians.ca/

Health Canada. (2011). Food and Nutrition. Eating Well with Canadas Food Guide. Retrieved from
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php

Mytton, O.T., Clarke, D., & Rayner, M. (2012). Taxing unhealthy food and drinks to improve health.
BMJ, 344, e2931