Healthy Eating
Publication date: February 20, 2025Healthy eating is a pattern of eating that contributes to the best possible health through positive relationships with food and diverse, balanced food choices that meet a person’s needs for nutrients and energy.
Healthy eating promotes and supports social, physical, and mental well-being for all people at all ages and stages of life and contributes to the overall health of individuals, families, and communities. Healthy eating helps minimize the risk and occurrence and supports the management of disease.
Under the leadership of the Provincial Dietitian, the province is addressing healthy eating by:
- Building partnerships to support healthy living
- Creating, identifying and communicating evidence-based best practice resources with partners and stakeholders
- Developing strategic policy to ensure activities and programs are both effective and aligned with goals
- Ensuring accountability for managing resources and monitoring outcomes as programs and policies are developed and implemented
Policies
Health Care Facilities
The BC Provincial Nutrition Standards for Acute Care (PDF, 106KB) establishes provincial nutrition standards for acute care and rehabilitation hospitals to support consistent, quality-focused, patient-centered, meal experiences and nutrition care, and to identify, prevent, and treat malnutrition.
To support Feed BC, health authorities track and report on their B.C. food expenditures annually towards an aspirational target of 30%. Local food provides value to patients, residents, communities and the provincial food system.
Kindergarten to Grade 12 Schools
The Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools are no longer available. Schools seeking tools and resources to create and maintain nutritious and supportive school food environments will find this information on the BC School Food Toolkit website (www.bcschoolfoodtoolkit.ca).
Publicly Funded Buildings
The Healthier Choices in Vending Machines in BC Public Buildings Policy is no longer available. Organizations seeking tools and resources to create and maintain nutritious and supportive food environments can refer to the information found on the BC School Food Toolkit website (www.bcschoolfoodtoolkit.ca). This resource has been created to support Kindergarden – 12 schools with their school food programs. However, the nutrition and supportive food environment information and suggestions can be applied broadly to all food environments.
B.C. Pediatric Nutrition Guidelines
The B.C. Pediatric Nutrition Guidelines (Birth to Six Years) for Health Professionals are evidence-informed nutrition and feeding guidelines for healthy full-term infants and children from birth to six years of age. Health professionals can use the guidelines to provide high-quality care related to feeding and to identify potential nutrition risk. The B.C. Pediatric Nutrition Guidelines (Birth to Six Years) for Health Professionals were updated December 2022.
Vitamin D Recommendations
This paper discusses the current scientific evidence for vitamin D’s role in health, as well as information on sources of vitamin D in British Columbia. The paper’s intention is to support health professionals in providing informed recommendations to clients/patients to ensure adequate vitamin D intakes for perinatal women and healthy, term infants (birth – 12 months).
This is a quick reference tool for health professionals related to vitamin D in order to provide informed recommendations to clients/patients to ensure adequate vitamin D intakes for perinatal women and healthy, term infants (birth – 12 months).
Programs
Many healthy eating programs and services are available to people living in British Columbia through partnerships between the Ministry of Health, health authorities and non-government agencies. Discuss any food or nutrition issue with a registered dietitian by calling HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 and asking to speak to a dietitian or by emailing a HealthLink BC dietitian.
Community Food Action Initiative
The Community Food Action Initiative (CFAI) is a provincial health promotion initiative that supports community partnerships to increase access to nutritious foods and food security, with a focus on rural, remote and Indigenous communities. CFAI is delivered by the regional health authorities and the Provincial Health Services Authority.
Farm to School BC
Farm to School BC brings healthy, local food into schools through partnerships with local farmers and helps students learn about the food system.
Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program
The Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program helps lower-income seniors and families, including pregnant women, access locally grown produce and food products.
Food Skills for Families
This hands-on cooking program helps lower-income families learn to select and to prepare healthy food.
Generation Health
Generation Health offers targeted community and clinical programs dedicated to supporting families with children and youth on their journey towards healthy living. Families build the foundation for health by focusing on active living, healthy eating, family connections, screen time, sleep, and mental well-being.
Live 5-2-1-0
Live 5-2-1-0 is an initiative that partners with communities across BC to promote and support healthy behaviours among children. By bringing community stakeholders together, Live 5-2-1-0 helps build partnerships and opportunities to create healthy environments where kids can eat well and be active where they live, learn, and play.
Resources
A variety of print and web resources are available to provide individuals and families with the knowledge and skills needed to choose and enjoy nutritious foods for optimal growth and development, preventing chronic disease and lifelong wellness.
Early Years
Appetite to Play
Appetite to Play supports early years providers, parents and caregivers to promote and encourage physical activity and healthy eating.
Schools
Bake Better Bites
This resource is no longer available. For recipe ideas for school food programs, please visit the BC School Food Toolkit website (www.bcschoolfoodtoolkit.ca).
Teach Food First
Teach Food First supports educators with tips, resources and lesson plans for exploring Canada’s food guide in the classroom while encouraging positive food experiences. Teach Food First lessons align with the BC curriculum, are grade-specific and age-appropriate and were developed with equity and culturally inclusive considerations.
Tips and Recipes for Quantity Cooking
This resource is no longer available. For recipe ideas for school food programs, please visit the BC School Food Toolkit website (www.bcschoolfoodtoolkit.ca).
BC School Food Toolkit
The BC School Food Toolkit website is filled with tools and resources to support schools to create and maintain nutritious and supportive school food environments. Find out more at www.bcschoolfoodtoolkit.ca.
Healthy Eating for Seniors Handbook (under review)
Find recipes, menu plans and information on good nutrition to keep you healthy as you age.
Baby's Best Chance
A resource for new parents from pregnancy, through birth, and in the parenting of a baby up to six months of age that includes information about healthy eating for pregnant women and new moms.
Toddler's First Steps
Find parenting tips and child health and wellness information for parents and caregivers of children between the ages of six months and three years of age.
Health Professionals
Balanced View
Balanced View is a free evidence-informed online learning resource designed to reduce weight bias and stigma among medical professionals, mental health professionals, allied health professionals and public health professionals across the province.
Beyond Nutrition
This interactive course is intended to support health care providers in understanding and navigating our complex relationships with food. It provides information to make conversations about food sensitive, relevant, and practical.
Food Safety
Learn more about food safety here.
Contact a Dietitian
Looking for nutrition advice? Registered Dietitians are your most trusted source for credible nutrition information and are accountable to a provincial regulatory body such as the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC . You can connect with a dietitian in several ways:
To contact the Office of Nutrition of Policy and Promotion email: nutritionandphysicalactivity@gov.bc.ca