Here we go again -- it's back-to-school time! Hopefully, in addition to stocking up on binders, pencils and notepads, parents are starting to plan for healthy lunch options for their children, too. Unfortunately, in today's lunchbox, healthy food choices often take a backseat to prepackaged, nutrient-void foods such as processed meats, white bread, cookies and sugar-filled goodies.
Is your child eating healthy?
Consider the following sad but true facts:
• Only seven per cent of children consume the recommended three or more servings of vegetables and two or more servings of fruit daily.
• Fried potatoes account for between 25 and 50 per cent of all vegetables consumed by children. Consumption of vegetables other than potatoes has decreased in the last 25 years.
• Half of all children consume less than one serving of fruit per day and when fried veggies are excluded, 30 per cent of children have less than one serving of vegetables per day.
A look at Canadian nutrition statistics
A recent survey conducted by the Canadian Community Health Survey and Statistics Canada investigated the eating patterns of both Canadian adults and children. Results showed that Canadians are exceeding the daily limit for fat intake and are not eating enough fruit, vegetables or dairy products. Researchers asked more than 35,000 people to recall what they had eaten during the 24 hours prior to taking the survey. Here are some of the results :
• The majority of Canadians ate fewer than five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. In fact, seven out of 10 children did not meet the minimum requirement for fruits and vegetables.
• More than one-third of children aged four to nine did not have the minimum recommended two servings of milk products a day.
• One-quarter of Canadians reported eating fast food in the previous 24 hours.
• One in five Canadians got more than the recommended share of their calories from fat.
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