Nutrition North

Have you ever walked into a grocery store and gasped at the price of fresh milk? Or nearly fainted when you saw how much a bag of cherries cost? If you answered yes to either of these, then chances are you live in Canada’s great, white and expensive North. Northerners have a different perspective when it comes to buying food. We eat what we can afford, and sometimes that means neglecting proper diets. Nutrition North Canada is looking to correct that with a new subsidy program that took effect April 1st, 2011. The goal of the project is to make nutritious, perishable foods accessible to Canadians living in isolated northern communities.

The new system is similar to the past food subsidy program but this one focuses more on the requirements of the Canadian Food Guide. The new program will feature 2 categories. Category 1 contains foods that are considered to be the healthiest and they will receive the greatest subsidy. Category 2 contains food like crackers and unsweetened juice, which still have nutritional value, but are not as healthy as the foods in category 1.

Anita Pokiak is a community health representative for Tuktoyaktak and has recently become involved in Nutrition North Canada’s community programs, which focus on teaching healthy eating habits and food preparation. “I’ve been working in the health center for many years,” says Pokiak. “I have a real concern for peoples health and I know we [Nutrition North Canada] do a lot of different kind of promotions but what we promote is eating. Everything we eat does something to our body. If we can learn to eat properly then we will all be healthier people.“

Like most health care professionals, Pokiak has noticed the lack of fresh vegetables and fruits in our diets, and she attributes this to the extremely high cost and limited availability of healthy foods. She is hoping that the programs Nutrition North Canada are providing in the communities will help promote healthy

By Maia Lepage

eating habits and also get people excited about cooking with new foods.

Diana Trang is a nutritionist with the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, which provide support to high-risk moms who have babies or who are pregnant and she agrees with Pokiak. “The most important thing is to get the stores to bring in certain products before people can change their eating habits,” says Trang. “I don’t know if it is unique to this particular area. It might be challenges elsewhere as well, but one of the things I find is that its really challenging to get stores to bring in new products because they don’t know if its going to sell.”

“In Canada, most people don’t eat very many beans,” says Trang. “We try to encourage people to have some vegetarian meals because it is better for your health, lower in fat and high in fiber. We try to find recipes that taste good so we can show people that you can have this as a substitute. And its still going to taste good.“

If we take a quick look at beans, we might be surprised at everything this little fruit has to offer. One cup of cooked beans provides approximately nine to thirteen grams of fiber. Soluble fiber can help lower blood cholesterol, which is a common health concern among men 55 years of age or lower, and women 55 years of age or older. Beans are also high in protein, complex carbohydrates, foliate, and iron. A common side effect of beans is the musical effect it has on our gastrointestinal system, and it is also the reason many Canadians shy away from this “musical fruit”.

Nutrition North Canada’s goal is to give us the knowledge to make healthier eating habits and their subsidy program is going to give us the means to make the right choices. Just because we choose to live in the beautiful North doesn’t mean that our diets (and wallets) have to suffer. We can have our North, and eat cherries too.∞