HEALTHY SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS TALKING TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS PARENT ISSUE FALL 2013

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1 PARENT ISSUE FALL 2013 HEALTHY SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS Teachers and parents teach children and youth about healthy eating. Healthy celebrations are a fun way for schools to support what students are learning in the classroom. This helps create excitement about healthy eating and shows the school is interested in the health of its students. If your child is having a celebration at school, there are many healthy ways you can contribute. Instead of cookies, cupcakes and soft drinks you could send: vegetable and fruit trays vegetable sticks and hummus fruit kabobs or fruit salad fruit and yogurt parfaits yogurt or yogurt tubes cheese and whole grain crackers water, milk, chocolate milk 100% fruit juice Some other ideas to build on the fun: funky pencils and erasers craft supplies bouncy balls puzzles Some schools may restrict items being sent to school to take stress off parents/guardians and to avoid students feeling disappointed that they were not able contribute. If you are interested in sending in something for a classroom party, check with your child s teacher to see what their plans are for celebrations. TALKING TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS Often we may look for information to help guide us in knowing how to talk to our children about alcohol and other drugs. We can get this information from many different places, such as friends and family, our own experiences, health care providers, television, radio and the Internet. The following is a list of sites to help when you talk to your children about prevention: Get Up On It Parent Action on Drugs Partnership For a Drug Free Canada National Anti-Drug Strategy Canada Schools and parents can work together to help ensure school celebrations are healthy.

2 HEALTHY EATING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS Photo by: Melanie Gordon, Roots of Empathy WILL YOUR BABY BE BETWEEN 2 AND 4 MONTHS IN OCTOBER? If so, than you and your baby could be a Roots of Empathy Family. Roots of Empathy is a program for elementary school children. The program s aim is to increase empathy - the ability to understand how another person feels. Children learn to care for and respect each other, and they show less bullying and aggression. Be a Roots of Empathy Family: A baby with one or both parents visits a local classroom over the course of a school year with a Roots of Empathy Instructor. The visits are about 30 minutes long, once a month starting in October. The program helps children to learn about a baby s needs and how babies develop. It also lets children observe the loving relationship between a parent and baby. Babies must be between 2 and 4 months old in October. Is your child involved in an after school program? Healthy Students Healthy Schools partners with Eat Great and Participate to promote healthy eating during after school programs including school sport games, tournaments, banquets and other events for students. Eat Great and Participate is a provincial youth program that promotes healthy eating and access to healthy food and beverage choices in recreation, sport and community facilities and at events across Newfoundland and Labrador. The resource, Making the Move to Healthy Choices - A Healthy Eating Toolkit for Recreation, Sport and Community Food Service Providers, will be helpful for individuals in your child s school, as well as local recreation and community centres, who determine the food and beverages served or sold during after school programs. For more information about Eat Great and Participate and to access more resources visit: livinghealthyschools.com/eatgreat.html Let s continue to work together to help make the healthy choice the easy choice for our children and youth! Roots of Empathy is about changing the world, child by child. For more information visit: rootsofempathy.org To participate in the Roots of Empathy program contact: Hazel Clarke, hclarke@rootsofempathy.org or Frances Cole, fcole@rootsofempathy.org

3 TORTILLA CRISPS Serves 6 Ingredients: 1 tsp Garlic powder 1 tsp Onion powder ½ tsp Chili powder 5 small Tortillas, whole-wheat Nutrition Information per Serving (per ½ tortilla): Calories 48 Fat 1 gram Carbohydrate 3 grams Fibre 1 gram Protein 2 grams Sodium 125 mg Directions: 1. Heat oven to 475 F (245 C). 2. Grease a large cookie sheet. 3. In a small bowl, mix garlic, onion and chili powders together. Set aside. 4. Brush each tortilla with water. Sprinkle with a pinch of seasoning mix. Cut tortilla into 6 wedges. 5. Put tortilla wedges in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes or until tortilla chips are brown and crispy. SOURCE: Sobeys Registered Dietitians Canada s Food Guide... recommends limiting foods and beverages high in calories, fat, sugar or salt (sodium). These tasty Tortilla Crisps are low in calories, fat and sodium and go great with your favourite salsa or hummus. ****************************************************************************************** HEALTHY CANADIANS WEBSITE Healthy Canadians is a Government of Canada initiative aimed at keeping parents/guardians informed about issues related to health and safety. The website covers a variety of topics such as healthy eating, physical activity, product safety, environmental health, bullying and road safety. For more information visit: healthycanadians.gc.ca

4 ALL AROUND THE TABLE: NEWFOUNDLAND SENIORS SHARE FOOD SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE What do you and your family know about vegetable gardens, laying hens, fishing boats and berry grounds? When local seniors were younger, the grocery store was out the back door. Since then, however, Newfoundland and Labrador has become increasingly dependent upon an uncertain global food system, leading communities to seek more sustainable and healthy local alternatives. In our search we can look to the traditional ways of growing, preserving, and preparing our food that still make sense today and share that knowledge with young people. Food Security Network NL (FSN) has released a new series of 12 short videos called All Around the Table, showcasing interviews with 12 local seniors sharing their personal food stories. View All Around the Table online at: rootcellarsrock.ca/all-around-the-table/ ****************************************************************************************** IS THERE A BABY IN YOUR FUTURE? PLAN FOR IT. Did you know that your health before pregnancy affects your: Fertility Pregnancy Baby s health You plan for school, work, holidays and your retirement. What about pregnancy? B4UR Pregnant is a project of Eastern Health focused on supporting women s health before pregnancy. Connect to this website to find answers to questions such as: Does your body weight matter if there is a baby in your future? Why should I be taking folic acid? Do I need to cut back on the amount of coffee I drink? To get answers to these questions and more Google B4UR pregnant.

5 ARE WE DRIVING OUR KIDS TO UNHEALTHY HABITS? 2013 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth Active transportation has the potential to make a substantial contribution to the health of Canadian children by increasing their physical activity levels. Active transportation walking, biking, in-line skating and skateboarding to get to and from places such as school, parks and shops has long been known to be an important source of physical activity for children and youth. For instance, kids who use active transportation to get to and from school can accumulate up to 45 more minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity compared to kids who get to school via car, train or bus. These kids tend to be more active across the whole day, not just during the school commute. Driving our kids to and from school may be robbing them of an important source of daily physical activity. Research suggests that, given the choice, most children would prefer to walk or bike to school rather than take a bus or be driven by their parents. If children walked for all trips of less than one kilometer rather than being driven, they would take an average of 2,238 additional steps per day! This translates to approximately minutes of walking and thus has the potential to make a substantial contribution to the 60 minutes of daily physical activity kids need for overall health. One of the great things about active transportation is that it can be easily integrated into everyday life with little to no cost and its benefits are significant. Imagine the potential impact this small change could have on increasing overall physical activity levels in Canadian kids! See Active Healthy Kids Report Card for more information. ********************************************************************************** TANNING IS OUT: CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY S TAN-FREE GRAD CHALLENGE The Province-Wide Tan-Free Grad Challenge from the Canadian Cancer Society - NL (CCS-NL) is designed to address the growing problem of melanoma skin cancer among young adults. Melanoma is one of the most common cancers in Canadians between the ages of 15-29, and the World Health Organization has identified artificial tanning as a known carcinogen related to skin cancer. The CCS-NL believes that encouraging students to take up the challenge and spread the word among their fellow students can make a significant difference in the alarming statistics around melanoma. Parents can help by supporting this initiative.

6 HEALTHY LIVING A TO Z: ONLINE HEALTH INFORMATION FROM EASTERN HEALTH For information and tips about healthy living, check out Eastern Health s online listing of health topics. More than 100 topics are featured at Eastern Health s Healthy Living A to Z, ranging from adolescent health to child safety, eating well to smoke-free youth, fundraising ideas to safer sex, and much more! The Healthy Living A to Z pages provide brief information in language easy to understand, along with links to reliable websites. Healthy Living A to Z is a convenient way to quickly find health information, but it is not meant to replace professional medical advice. Always check with your health care provider (doctor, nurse practitioner, or other) if you have health concerns that need attention. Healthy Living A to Z is a work in progress, so Eastern Health will be adding new pages over time. To access the Healthy Living A to Z pages Google...Eastern Health Healthy Living. Let us know what you think about the A to Z pages, and send your suggestions for new topics to the Health Promotion Division of Eastern Health at: yourhealth@easternhealth.ca ****************************************************************************************** HEALTHY EATING: IT S NOT ONLY IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS! Healthy eating contributes to overall health and wellbeing. More and more people are interested in choosing healthier food: at home, in the community, and in the workplace. An important part of being a parent is to look after yourself by making healthy food choices. Focus on one or two changes at a time. Take a look at what you currently eat and follow these tips for healthy choices: Use Canada s Food Guide every day Choose vegetables and fruit more often Think about portion sizes Select water regularly to satisfy thirst Drink milk and 100% juice Limit food and beverages high in calories, fat, sugar, or salt. For more information and practical ideas, check out the following: Canada s Food Guide Smart Snacking Healthy Snack Ideas Healthy Lunch Ideas FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER CONTACT: Krista Manning kristamanning@esdnl.ca