Nutrition & Food Security

Eating well and taking a daily multivitamin gives you the nutrients you need to feel your best, and it gives your baby the nutrients needed to grow and develop.

Health Canada recommends that all women who could become pregnant, and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, take a multivitamin containing 400 micrograms of folic acid. In addition, pregnant women need to ensure that their multivitamin contains between 16-20 mg of iron.

Enjoy regular meals and snacks throughout the day following guidance from Canada’s Food Guide. Starting in the second trimester you will need to a little extra food each day such as an extra snack or a small meal. Let your appetite be your guide.

Healthy eating for pregnancy

• Canada's food guide during pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Healthy snacks
• Folate and Neural Tube Defects (handout)
• Folate and Your Health (handout)
• Iron in Foods (handout)
• Calcium and Your Health (handout)
• Vitamin D and Your Health (handout)

Special Considerations

• Nausea and vomiting and other pregnancy discomforts
• Healthy eating guidelines for women with gestational diabetes (handout)

Dietitian Services at 8-1-1

Dial 8-1-1 and ask to speak to a registered dietitian.

• Dietitians are available Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to answer your questions about pregnancy and preconception nutrition.
• This service can also help you find an outpatient dietitian or private practice dietitian near you.

Other resources

• Healthy From the Start is a one stop shop that connects you with services in the community to help have a healthy pregnancy. Register as early in your pregnancy as possible.
• Feeding your Baby
• Public Health Agency of Canada: Healthy Pregnancy

Prenatal Nutrition Guidelines for Health Professionals

Healthy eating for infants, toddlers and preschoolers

Breastfeeding gives your baby the best start for optimal growth and is recommended to two years and beyond. Your baby will need a liquid vitamin D supplement (400 IU) if they receive any amount of breastmilk. At around six months of age, your baby will be ready to start solid foods. Include plenty of iron rich foods each day such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, beans and lentils, tofu, iron fortified infant cereal and thinned peanut butter to support proper growth and development.

How you feed your baby and young child is just as important as what you feed them. Start family meals early, role model healthy eating, and support your child as they learn to eat and accept new foods at their own pace. Avoid pressuring your child to eat as it can slow down this learning.

Visit HealthlinkBC, Healthy Eating for Infants and Toddlers for information on:

• Breast and formula feeding
• Baby's first foods
• Feeding your toddler
• Allergy and food safety information

Handouts are available in up to eight languages.

Use these simple online nutrition assessment tools for toddlers and preschoolers to get immediate feedback about your child’s eating and activity habits.

Additional Resources:

• Feeding your Baby
• Vitamin D for Babies and Toddlers
• Feeding Young Children
• The Benefits of Eating Together for Children and Families
• Vegetable and Fruit Tips
• Pack and Go Lunches
• Pack and Go Snacks
• Canada’s Food Guide Resources (Age 2 +)

Community Partners

• Resources for Childcare Providers: Click on the Healthy Eating in Child Care expandable text in the Healthy Eating in Community Settings section of this page,

Dietitian counselling services

Call 8-1-1 to:

Reach Dietitian Services at HealthLinkBC  about feeding your baby or young child: a food allergy expert is available

Students spend more time in school than in almost any other environment. Having access to nutritious food at school and the opportunity to engage in positive food experiences helps students develop positive eating attitudes, behaviours, and skills that support lifelong well-being.

Meal Programs and Food Guidelines

Students do best when they have positive role models, and when foods offered are in line with healthy eating messages. School food programs can improve access to nutritious foods at school, build food skills, and connect students to their local food systems. Providing positive exposures to growing, preparing, and eating food improves food literacy and has a lasting impact on physical and mental health.

• Implementing School Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
• Selling food and beverages at school sporting events
• Stock vending machines and stores with healthy food and beverages

Teaching about Food and Nutrition

Students benefit from many opportunities to build their comfort and skills with food at school, in a pressure-free environment. The following resources provide educators with tips, resources, and lesson plans for providing positive, student-centered food and nutrition education that aligns with the B.C. curriculum

• Teach Food First: An Educators Toolkit for Exploring Canada’s Food Guide 
• Food Based Learning: Tips for Elementary Schools During COVID (PDF Northern Health)
• Educational resources (K-12) (BC Agriculture in the Classroom)
• Interactive grow BC map (all ages)
• BC at the table teacher resource (grades 8-12) (BC Dairy Association)
• Harvest Bin Project (BC Agriculture in the Classroom)
• Spuds in Tubs (BC Agriculture in the Classroom)
• Creating an Outdoor Classroom (DASH)
• Nurturing Healthy Eaters in the classroom
• Social Justice: Visit the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition website for more resources
• Weight Bias and Stigma in Schools 

Popular School Food Initiatives

The following programs are examples of provincial or regional food-based programs and resources available to schools in B.C. and/or the Interior Health region

• BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program and +Milk (BC Agriculture in the Classroom)
• Farm to School BC
• Cook It. Try It. Like It! Leaders Guide

For a list of healthy schools funding opportunities visit the Healthy Schools BC Grants page

Healthy Fundraising for Schools

Consider non-food fundraiser options or food fundraisers that align with healthy eating messages

• Fresh To You Fundraiser (BC Agriculture in the Classroom)
• Food Fundraiser Ideas for School (Healthlink BC)

Resources for Families

• Healthy Families BC
• Lunches to Go

Positive early experiences with food enhance child development and promote lifelong healthy eating habits. Child Care providers play a key role in supporting and creating these experiences. Food is always an important part of the daycare experience, whether you provide food or it is brought from home. If you are unsure what kinds of food you can offer, check with your Licensing Officer.

See Appetite to Play to access resources and training to help you promote healthy eating and physical activity in early learning settings. Find information on topics like menu planning, recipes, avoiding food battles, supporting parents to send healthy food and developing a nutrition policy.

Fact sheets for child care providers and parents:

• Boost Nutrition in Your Menu
• Smart Snacking in Childcare Settings
• Pack and Go Lunches
• Pack and Go Snacks
• Pack a Safe Lunch
• Healthier Home Baking
• Healthy Celebrations for Child Care
• Fostering Healthy Eating Habits in Your Child Care Facility

Training for child care providers

• Appetite to Play – access online and in person healthy eating training
• PHSA Healthy Eating in the Child Care Setting – Division of responsibility model online course

Food Activities, Cooking and Gardening

• Food Activities for Young Children
• Dry It Manual
• Gardening Guide for Early Learning
• Cook It. Try It. Like It! (for school age)

Other related resources and links:

• Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide
• Choking Prevention in Small Children - HealthLink BC
• Infants and Children Nutrition - Interior Health
• Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC -  email or speak with a registered dietitian

Nutrition resources for community prenatal and early parenting programs (CAPC/POP/CPNP) staff.

Resources to use with your clients

Handouts and Resources:

• Prenatal Nutrition
• Feeding your Baby
• Healthy Eating for Infants and Toddlers
• Canada’s Food Guide – Practice Points and Resources

Activities:

The following activities are designed to be delivered to groups of parents of young children.

Activities can be printed from the PDF’s below or can be borrowed from your Public Health Dietitian.

• The Importance of Family Meals
• Quick Healthy and Kid Friendly Dinners
• Pack a Healthy Lunch
• Packing Healthy Snacks
• Picky Eating

Videos:

These instructional videos by Healthy Families BC can be a good way to share information about pregnancy, baby's arrival, and breastfeeding.

• Prenatal and New Baby
• Breastfeeding

Healthy eating in the workplace is a key component of workplace wellness. Healthy employees are happier, produce better quality work, and have better attendance rates. There are many ways to create a supportive healthy eating environment.

Eat Smart Meet Smart provides resources to assist meeting organizers with ideas and guidelines for providing food at meetings and conferences. The resource includes information on how to accommodate allergies and other dietary requirements.

Public buildings in BC, including health facilities, BC government facilities and universities/colleges must ensure that foods offered in vending machines meet the Nutritional Guidelines for Vending Machines in BC Public Buildings.

The Canadian Cancer Society offers a suite of materials to promote healthy eating at work.

A food system is the complex web of activities involved in feeding everyone. These activities include growing and raising food, harvesting, processing food, transporting food, and the selling and buying of food. A healthy food system is resilient, ecologically sustainable, socially just, and honours Indigenous food sovereignty. A healthy food system gives people access to affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate and enjoyable options.

Interior Health supports a healthy food system by working with community partners and local governments to ensure that policies exist that support local agriculture and more. This might look like ensuring official community plans have policies consistent with building and maintain healthy food systems.

If you are a community partner or a local government representative wanting to learn more about how people with doctorate (PhD) degrees can help you with food system-related projects, policies and plans, please contact us by email.

For more information on actions you can take to help our local food system, explore these resources:

• Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit
• Agriculture's Connection to Health
• Plan H – Food System Resources for Local Government

Food insecurity exists when factors outside an individual’s control negatively impact their access to enough foods that promote wellbeing. Economic, social, environmental and geographical factors influence this access. Food insecurity is most acutely felt by those who experience the negative impacts of structural inequities, such as discrimination and ongoing colonial practices.

Structural inequities are a significant driver of food insecurity. Structural inequities are unfair and unjust biases present in policies and practices that give advantages to some people, but not others, based on social identities such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation and more.

When people face multiple disadvantages, they are more likely to experience food insecurity. An example is how an immigrant family might struggle to find food they recognize at their local grocery store. Another example is how land use and resource management policies create barriers for Indigenous Peoples to access their traditional hunting and gathering lands. Food insecurity is complex, and the solution is multi factorial.

The Food Security team at Interior Health aims to work towards solutions that address the root causes of food insecurity. No single person, community, organization, institution or government will be able to solve food insecurity on its own. Everyone must all work together to help shape a region where no one experiences food insecurity. If you are working towards changing the food insecurity landscape, reach out to us by email.   

Indigenous food sovereignty (IFS) is an essential element to addressing food security. While this movement is growing around the world, there is no universal definition. At Interior Health, we also do not define Indigenous Food Sovereignty because Indigenous communities have the right to a self-determining food system. Instead, the Public Health Dietitian team follows the lead of our Indigenous partners, and support the rights of Indigenous people to self-determination, including within food and food systems. 

We are always open to working with Indigenous partners on food security and healthy eating projects. We hope that if you wish to work with us and reach out by email.