Healthy Eating Awareness and Education Initiative

Healthy Eating Awareness and Education Initiative
Healthy Eating and Health Weights
with a focus on food skills
NRC Webinar
February 14 th , 2013
Jennifer Giurgevich, MScFN, RD
Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Canada

• Context
Outline
• Healthy eating goals
• Platform and outreach channels
• Healthy Eating Awareness and Education Initiative
• Phase 3: Healthy Eating and Healthy Weights (food skills)
• Web and Digital Engagement
• Healthy Canadians – Consumer content
• Health Canada – Healthy Eating Toolbox for Intermediaries
• Food and Nutrition RSS Feed
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Healthy Eating Awareness and Education Goals
• Improve Canadians’ awareness and understanding
of healthy eating, including following Eating Well with Canada’s Food
Guide, understanding nutrition labelling, reducing sodium intake and
improving food skills (healthy weights).
• Increase Canadians quality of life by improving their overall health
and decreasing their risk of hypertension, obesity and other nutritionrelated
chronic diseases.
• Work collaboratively with a network of partners, including Provinces
and Territories, Health Professional Associations, Non-Governmental
Organizations , Retail and Industry Associations.
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Platform & Outreach Channels
Media
Partners
Clear & consistent messages;
campaign look & feel
Intermediaries
/ PTs / NGOs
Industry /
Retail
Partners
Parents of
children
aged 2-12
Public
Relations
Web & Digital
Engagement
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Healthy Eating with Canada’s Food Guide
Foundation of the work we do
Healthy Eating Awareness and Education Initiative
2010/11 2012 2013 2014 2015
Phase 1: Healthy Eating & Nutrition Labelling
Nutrition Facts Education Campaign (NFEC) – % Daily Value messages
Phase 2: Healthy Eating & Sodium Reduction
Eat Well Campaign – Healthy Eating and Sodium Reduction messages
Phase 3: Healthy Eating & Healthy Weights
Eat Well Campaign – Healthy Eating and Food skills messages
(supporting Curbing Childhood Obesity Framework)
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Phase 3: Healthy Eating and Healthy Weights
Building on current work:
• Improving Cooking and Food Preparing Skills (2 reports)
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/child-enfant/index-eng.php
• Healthy Eating After School
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/heas-saae/index-eng.php
Upcoming relevant publications:
• Measuring the Food Environment in Canada
– to be released March 2013
• Working with Grocers in Support of Healthy Eating
– to be released April 2013
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Phase 3: Healthy Eating and Healthy Weights
Defining “Food Skills”
Knowledge + ability + practice = self-efficacy
Food Skills require:
• Knowledge
• Planning
• Mechanical techniques
• Conceptualizing food
• Food perception
(Vanderkooy, 2010)
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Message Development
Consumer Behavioural Research:
Phase 3: Healthy Eating and Healthy Weights
• Rapid Response modules of the Canadian Community Health Survey
• Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) survey looking at Canadians’ awareness, knowledge and use of
CFG, in field May/June ’12
• Food Skills survey looking at Canadians’ food skills and eating behaviours, in field Nov/Dec
‘12 and Jan/Feb ‘13
• Research results will give information on Canadians’ current state of knowledge and provide
direction to allow the creation of effective messages
Message testing:
• Food skills
• Planning messages, in field Dec ‘12; further planning and food skills messages, in field Mar ’13
and Fall ‘13
• Healthy weights
• Healthy weights message testing with BC and Dietitians of Canada, in field Jan ‘12
Ongoing research and message testing in 2013-2014 to be determined.
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Web and Digital Engagement – Health Canada
Healthy Eating Toolbox
Information for Intermediaries
• The toolbox includes resources for
intermediaries such as articles,
quizzes, fact sheets, interactive tools,
presentations, media relations and
social media materials from partners.
• The Healthy Eating Awareness and
Education Task Group provided input
to the toolbox for the purpose of
facilitating the sharing of information
among the group and with NGOs.
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/part/tb-bo/index-eng.php
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Web and Digital Engagement – Healthy Canadians
Information for Consumers
• Ongoing updates to web content
• Social media: Facebook & Twitter messages
connected to other channels (i.e., media, PR,
partners)
www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/eatwell
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Food and Nutrition RSS Feed
To continue to stay up-to-date on Food and Nutrition web postings
and publications, please subscribe to the Food and Nutrition RSS
feed or visit us often to check out what's new on our site!
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/_feeds-fils/index-eng.php
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/rss/fn-an/fn-an-fra.xml
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Contact Information
jennifer.giurgevich@hc-sc.gc.ca
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