Every year in March, Nutrition Month is celebrated. Dieticians across Canada remind us how important it is to eat healthy and the impact nutrition has on our overall well-being.
Nutrition is important to Wee Watch because it is crucial to the growth and development of the children in our care. Parents rely on our Providers to ensure their children receive nutritious meals. Wee Watch supplies Providers with a number of tools and resources to help them prepare nutritious snacks and meals; Nutrition Workshops, a copy of Canada’s Food Guide, sample Menu Plans and blank Menu Plans. They use Canada’s Food Guide (link) and a sample Menu Plan to help fill out their own weekly menu plans which are then posted on their bulletin board for parents to see.
Wee Watch has your child’s nutrition covered, who has yours?
Nutrition Month 2015 is focusing on the importance of eating healthy at work; this year’s campaign slogan is “Eating 9-5!” The goal is to promote healthy eating throughout your busy work day and to supply you with the resources to help you achieve this goal.
“Eating 9 to 5!” focuses on five common challenging times in the workplace:
- Rushed mornings: Rushed mornings usually mean skipped breakfast. Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, it fuels your body and mind and prevents you from mid-morning snacking. If you can, make breakfast ahead of time so you can grab it on the go. This will provide you with breakfast and the nutrients you need and allows you to skip the drive thru.
- Meetings, events, and lunches at the workplace: Meetings and other workplace events will likely include a lot of foods with higher sugar and fat content. Try and avoid these foods as much as you can. If you are in charge of the food then offer healthier options.
- Lunchtime: If you are too busy at work to take a proper lunch break, try packing leftovers from dinner to eat for lunch. If you are bored of the same old lunches then try and think outside the box, there are plenty of resources to help you come up with new, easy and health lunch ideas. If you don’t have time to pack a lunch and are heading out, consider healthier options.
- Mid-day slump: To avoid the mid-day slump try some of these energy boosting tips; get up and get moving, eat a healthy snack with protein and carbohydrates to keep you fueled and stay hydrated.
- Commuter cravings: If you have a long commute you may get cravings on your way home. Before heading home grab a drink, staying hydrated will help you stay refreshed and fight fatigue.
Apps for your phone that will give you nutrition tips and ideas:
- Cookspiration: offering healthy recipes based on your mood and schedule.
- ea Tipster: Offering nutrition tips all year round. Through the month of March they will be giving a tip a day to help you eat better at work.
For more information on Nutrition Month and this year’s campaign, check out the Dieticians of Canada website