Healthy Living

Make the month of love a little less sickly sweet…
February is the month where hearts are top of mind. It’s Heart Month for one thing, and down the hall from BCAHL our neighbours at the Heart and Stroke Foundation are super busy. But Valentine’s Day is around the corner too, and ads are out for candy, chocolate, even heart-shaped cakes. It’s a month of…
In BC, School Food Means Apples Not Deep Fryers
One of my all-time favourite things at my children’s school has been the hot lunch program. It made for happy, stress-free mornings. I felt good leaving lunchtime in the hands of the school district, with the assurance that they were following the Guidelines for Food and Beverages Sales in BC Schools (the Guidelines). I know…
Tobacco with a Cherry on Top? No, Thanks!
Next week (January 19-25, 2014) is National Non-Smoking Week in Canada, and BCAHL is lining up with others who want to stop new smokers from starting and support smokers who may be read to quit. This year’s theme “Truth in Advertising” highlights the sad fact that our youth are being tricked into starting smoking through…
Health Starts at Home – Food Security and Social Housing
On December 5th, 2013 BCAHL hosted a webinar on the ways that food security is and can be addressed in social housing. We were so pleased to have three engaging presenters who offered their perspectives on some of the current policy, research and programs on housing and food security. BCAHL believes that good health starts…
If Age is Just a Number – Is it Fair to Cut Off Youth-in-Care at 19?
I just returned from spending Thanksgiving weekend with my large extended family. We span multiple generations from 10 months to 85 years and everything in between. It was interesting talking with my cousins and nieces in their early twenties. Some of them have found good job prospects and interesting careers, while others are still finding…
Fixing the Three-legged Stool – Mental Illness, Stigma and Employment
This week I read an astonishing media article, ‘Stigma surrounding mental illness major barrier for employment: report’ I was shocked to read that 90% of Canadians with serious mental illness are unemployed. Such a high number leads to questions about ‘how workplaces support mentally ill employees?’ and ‘what are the policy levers that support both…
Announcing BC Childhood Healthy Weights Initiative
As part of BC’s Childhood Healthy Weights Intervention Initiative, the provincial government has provided funding to the Childhood Obesity Foundation for the implementation of MEND and the expansion of ShapedownBC. Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It! (MEND) is a new program that provides healthy lifestyle learning and activity sessions for children 5-7 and 7-13 who are…
On The Path to Better Health
Future projections for chronic disease underscore the need to continue on this path and make prevention a priority. In the next ten years the number of new cancer cases in BC is expected to increase by 75%. Looking forward, we see that to continue tackling chronic disease and promoting healthy living for all, it will…
Planning in Context – BC Communities, Health and the Built Environment
How can we build it better? For walkers, cyclists, and wheelers, kids and seniors, the fit and wanna be fit? BCAHL’s Planning in Context webinar, held Thursday June 20th, showcased some great examples of how good planning helps make the healthy choice the easy choice. Kelly Cameron, a Forest Technologist, who has worked for the…
Planning In Context – Supporting Healthy Choices
The built environment sets the context for how we live and play. Rita and I have blogged many times about our own experiences and the types of environments that allow us to make healthy decisions or not. My community is really pretty good (although, it can always get better…). I live in Vancouver, where I…
The Joy (or Pain) of Cooking
I just finished reading about an event being held this month at Vancouver’s “last working farm”, the UBC Farm. Joy of Feeding is an event that celebrates the joy food brings, both growing and cooking it, with foods from 16 different cultures prepared by 16 different home cooks. It sounds like an incredible celebration of…
Hearts, Flowers And A Little Less Salt
What does Valentine’s Day mean to you? For me, it means a number of little indulgences – like flowers, time together with loved ones and maybe a special dinner out. I am planning a little indulgence of my own in the form of Indian food from Vij’s, which I love! But I know that for…

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