Concerned by the poor eating habits
of school children, the Ontario
Greenhouse Vegetable Growers initiated
and funded the healthy eating pilot
project Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds™
to help kids get nutrient rich food
and promote healthy eating habits.
Concerned by the poor eating habits
of school children, the Ontario
Greenhouse Vegetable Growers initiated
and funded the healthy eating pilot
project Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds™
to help kids get nutrient rich food
and promote healthy eating habits.
This
kids’ healthy eating pilot project is now in
its third year and is being implemented
in 30 schools in Windsor and Essex
County.
Nearly 75 per cent of elementary
school students are not eating the recommended
five to 10 servings of fruits and
vegetables each day, and as a result,
obesity has doubled in children and
tripled in adolescents over the last 10
years. The OGVG offers elementary
school-aged children nutritious and great
tasting Ontario greenhouse vegetables as
healthy snack alternatives.
The project also looks at how increased
servings of fruits and vegetables impact
other eating behaviors like snack choices
and participation in the school meals program.
Through the initiative, the OGVG
hopes to bring on board other agrifood
providers as well as other organizations
to promote and implement a provincewide
healthy eating habits program.
The OGVG hopes that this test program
becomes the business model utilized
by the provincial government to
implement a province-wide program.
Less than one per cent of the Ontario
Ministry of Health’s budget could provide
all children in Ontario with healthy
snacks twice daily.
• www.ontariogreenhouse.com
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