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Smith is working with the recreation directors from the five municipalities in Lunenburg County, and invited the Region to take part in their discussions.
The group is trying to work out what foods will work in these settings. Smith says it is important to look at this now, because of the South Shore’s high overweight population. On the South Shore 62.5 per cent of people are overweight or obese, compared to Nova Scotia at 56.5 per cent and Canada at 48.9 per cent. She added encouraging healthy eating helps prevent chronic diseases, like coronary artery disease, stroke, some cancers and osteoarthritis.
Across the country, 88 per cent of recreation facilities have no food policies in place. In Nova Scoita, there are no policies at any facilities.
“In lieu of policy, the default is ongoing cultural practices,” said Smith.
The choices are not generally healthy she says, and they include chips, chocolate bars and deep fried food.
The goal of this committee is not only to create a policy for recreation facilities, but also create an environment to support healthy living
“If you teach nutrition, people improve their understanding of what they need to eat. That really translates into behaviour,” said Smith. She added if there are only bad choices out there, that is what people will eat.
“If we are spending $20 million of taxpayers money to making this county healthy, then we need to put our money into getting away from French Fries and hot dogs.” - Counc. Darlene Norman
The group expects to have a policy ready by April or May to present to councils. Municipalities would not be required to adopt the policy, and could modify it to suit their needs.
Counc. Darlene Norman spoke highly in favour of the idea, and is in agreement of getting healthy eating into Queens Place.
Counc. Norman says she has met a lot of resistance to the idea of bringing in healthy foods to Queens Place. She was against deep fryers going into Queens Place, though was not successful in stopping them.
“If we are spending $20 million of taxpayers money to making this county healthy, then we need to put our money into getting away from French Fries and hot dogs,” said Counc. Norman.
Nutritionist Shelley Moran said you can still have foods people enjoy, but make them healthier. Examples she gave included baked French Fries and hamburgers using lean ground beef. The goal is to bring that choice to recreation facilities, she said.
“It’s very unlikely to get rid of things that aren’t healthy, but you need to bring that choice,” said Moran.
Council voted in favour of send a representative from Queens County to take part in the discussions.
