We were talking about nutrition in children and adolescents in this episode of Doc Talk. Dr Dan and Jamieson discussed the Alberta Nutrition Report Card on Food Environment for Children and Youth.

As well as the provincial report, a local report has been produced for Vegreville and the surrounding area.

Some of the recommendations were based on the 2008 Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth. These are starting to look a little dated, particularly given the most recent update to the Canada Food Guide which represented a substantial improvement over previous guidelines (if you want to learn more about the Food Guide we did a whole show on it before).

Within the Vegreville context, there were a number of good areas highlighted – including food policies having been formulated in schools, availability of healthy food in local stores and initiatives like free fruit for children at some of our grocery stores, as well as programs like the CALS breakfast club.

We gave some practical advice and tips for parents on how to encourage their children to make healthier food choices and improve their food skills. There are some great resources available from Alberta Health Services, including how to deal with picky eaters!

Image by Vikvarga [CC0] from Wikimedia Commons