Ingredients for a Healthier Tomorrow
Greetings NSTEPpers!
Welcome to Nutrition Month! 2022’s theme is “Ingredients for a Healthier Tomorrow.” Let’s take a deeper look at some highlights of this year’s theme:
Food Literacy
Food literacy is all about learning and utilizing new food skills. Like the old saying goes, if we know better, we do better. The more food preparation tools we have in our metaphorical tool belt, the more confident and motivated we feel to explore and prepare our own food.
Food Security
it is estimated during COVID, 1 in 7 Canadians were experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity means having limited access to food. Barriers that create these limitations may include living far away from grocery stores or financial constraints. Alternately, food security is having sufficient access to healthy food choices. Feelings that accompany food security encompass having enough food to eat when you are hungry, adequate means to get to a grocery store, and not feeling any pressure around buying food.
Food Sovereignty
Continuing on with the point on food security is food sovereignty. Sovereignty, in this case, is pertaining to having the power to make your own food decisions. If someone is experiencing food insecurity, they likely have altered food sovereignty, too. For example, if money is tight, someone may not be able to buy the food they want, instead having to purchase something else.
Sustainable Food Choices
As our world’s population keeps growing, the demand for food is increasing. To help slow the depletion of resources, we can choose to make different food decisions in our own life. Buying vegetables and fruit from local produce stands and baked goods from local bakeries not only supports local businesses, but also have less ecological footprints than shopping at big supermarkets. Even smaller choices like composting food scraps or using reusable kitchen cloths decreases the amount of waste we produce.
Action Items
That being said, how can we act on these initiatives?
- Is there a cooking skill you’d like to learn? See if you can find a video of someone teaching the skill on YouTube. Don’t be discouraged if it takes you a couple attempts to master the skill – practice makes perfect!
- Are you wanting to help those who are experiencing food insecurity or have impacted food sovereignty? Reach out to organizations, churches, or community centers in your community and ask about how you can contribute. Hint: small grassroots organizations are always looking for contributions, donations, and volunteers.
- Is there something in your food practices that you could make more eco-friendly? Composting, using reusable containers, and reducing food spoilage all reduce our ecological footprint. Also, you can check out the grocery stores around you on the app FlashFood. Grocery stores list food products that have upcoming expiry dates for a reduced cost. This is another way to prevent food waste.
The month of March is also the home to Earth Hour. On March 26 at 8:30pm your local time, you are invited to turn off your lights to raise awareness for climate change and nature loss. Whatever you’re willing to give – even if it’s 15 minutes – helps support the cause. Check out the Earth Hour website for more information and resources!
