Stick to the veggies. Stay away from second helpings. And avoid the chips and candy aisle at all costs.
The facts are the same everywhere, but community health centres in Centretown are ramping up their efforts to help people eat healthier foods by presenting advice in different, more effective ways.
The Centretown Community Health Centre wants to reach out to the community and offer clients a better understanding of nutrition and healthy living.
Through programs such as “Craving Change” – a four-week group discussion on why we crave the foods we do and how to control those urges – and a grocery store tour, showing people healthier food options, dietitians at the centre are trying to get the community to think about the links between diet and health.
“We try to serve all kinds of people in the community. And we try to serve everyone in every way we can,” says Susannah Juteau, the community dietitian at the Cooper Street health centre.
Juteau, the leader of both Craving Change and the grocery store tour, offered in both French and English, says Centretown hosts a lot of newcomers to the country. She says that’s why the tour is so beneficial.
“We can say, ‘What do you normally eat? And let’s compare to what is here,’ ” she says.
Juteau says the tour can give newcomers and others a better understanding of what’s available and what people should be looking for in their food to maintain a healthy lifestyle. She says it’s also an easy way to teach basic nutrition.
The Centretown programs are exactly why nutrition and healthy living programs should be offered at community centres, says Stefania Maggi, a psychology professor at Carleton University with an expertise in health.
“The community centre is a lot more accessible and less expensive,” she says.
Both the craving-control program, starting in April, and the grocery store tour, on Feb. 11, are free.
Maggi says it’s often the case that people will simply stumble over these programs in their community and will start looking into them when they might not have had an interest before.
The Cooper Street health centre also offers group cooking classes in which people can learn what foods are healthy and how to prepare easy meals.
“When you pair nutrition with these basic skills, you can really see the change,” says Maggi.
The Somerset West Community Health Centre has also seen the benefits of offering community health-care programs focused on nutritious eating.
The Eccles Street centre offers one program, a community kitchen, that combines nutrition, mental-health conversation and fitness.