Hey guys - how about ensuring the poor have enough income so they and 
their families can eat right? - Graeme
-----------------------------------------------

http://tinyurl.com/fd52e

Ontario rolls out $10M healthy living plan
Jun. 20, 2006. 05:03 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

Bulging waistlines, a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits 
are the targets of a new government initiative aimed at convincing 
Ontario residents to live a healthier lifestyle.

Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson unveiled the province’s $10-million 
action plan for healthy eating and active living Tuesday at a YMCA 
family development centre in Toronto.

The plan’s initiatives, the details of which are to be unveiled over the 
course of the next 12 months, focus on boosting awareness and 
participation in active lifestyles.

The move is in response to a 2004 report by Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario’s 
chief medical officer of health, that called for a broader provincewide 
effort to tackle obesity.

“The statistics really are quite staggering,” Watson said of childhood 
obesity rates in particular, which have more than tripled in the last 15 
years. More than half of all youth aged 12 to 19 aren’t active enough to 
receive maximum health benefits, Watson said.

He also renewed his call on Ottawa to revive the ParticipAction program 
set up in the early 1970s to promote a physically active lifestyle to 
Canadians.

Watson said he plans to ask federal Health Minister Tony Clement to 
invest funding in health advocacy programs such as ParticipAction when 
the pair attend a meeting of sports ministers Wednesday in Ottawa.

Ontario’s plan includes a pilot project that will provide fruits and 
vegetables grown in the province to children in northern Ontario schools.

Nutrition information will also be made readily available through a new 
phone and web-based dietitian advisory service, based on a similar 
program set up in British Colombia.

Families and health care providers will be able to call a toll-free line 
or submit questions online about their dietary choices.

The Health Promotion Ministry will team up with the Ministry of 
Education to launch a healthy school recognition program, and will 
promote resources to community organizations to help create safe routes 
for children to bike and walk to school.

“The work that we’re involved in is very much a marathon, it’s not a 
sprint,” Watson said.

“We’re not going to see results overnight, we’re not going to see a 
dramatic decline in obesity rates, or physical activity increases over 
the course of the next few months.”

The plan is a way for the government “to act as a catalyst with 
community groups and not-for-profit groups to work together,” he said.

Watson received feedback from 11 community roundtable groups made up of 
more than 1,000 individuals and organizations in tabling the plan.

Basrur applauded the government’s efforts, and said it’s critical to 
tackle the issue of poor health habits and its taxing effects on the 
health care system.

“Our society is battling twin evils — increasingly sedentary lives, and 
super-sized portions of high-fat, low-nutrient foods, and the 
implications for our health care system are truly enormous,” Basrur said.

“To put it bluntly, we cannot afford to continue to live the way that we 
do.”

Basrur said obesity is contributing to dramatic increases in illnesses 
including heart disease, stroke, hypertension and that about 30 per cent 
of all cancers are due to unhealthy eating and lack of exercise.

Obesity costs the province about $1.6 billion a year, according to a 
2001 study cited by the government.

-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]


To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header --  to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH

DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.

To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname

To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.

For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]

To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST

To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html