Healthy Food, Healthy Bodies
What do Susur Lee, Il Fornello, Toronto Board of Health and FoodShare have in common? They all support Olivia Chow’s Children’s Health and Nutrition Initiative. It calls for a nutritious breakfast, snack or lunch to be provided to any Canadian child under 18 years of age.
The second component of the Initiative calls for innovative ways to protect children from manipulative marketing messages that encourage poor nutritional habits. The NDP introduced a private members bill to ban all commercial advertising directed at children under 13 years of age.
Once children and teenagers get accustomed to eating unhealthy food, it difficult to reverse this pattern. Statistics Canada reports that approximately 26% of Canadian children aged 6 to 11, and 28% of teenagers are overweight or obese. The average 12-year-old boy is 14 pounds heavier today than in 1981, and girls are 11 pounds heavier.
Read more posts about: Action in Parliament, Children, Children's Food, House of Commons, Legislation, NDP, Universal Food Program
