It's time to change the way you pack your backpack!

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High School Courses

Grade 9: Nutrition 101

✓ This course covers how to read nutrition labels and teaches students practical information, like how much added sugar, saturated + trans fat, and sodium they are allowed in a day.

✓ It includes a fun, age-appropriate game. This course speaks to all students, rather than just the athletes in the class.

Grade 10: Beverages: A Guide to What's in the Glass

North Americans are drinking their calories, a factor among many that is contributing toward an obesity epidemic. So, what should we be drinking? This course aims to answer this and other hydration questions, such as: Is fruit juice better for me than pop? Do we really need 8 glasses of water a day? Are sports drinks better than soft drinks? Are fruit smoothies good for me? What about diet pop?

Students will learn how much caffeine is in some of their favourite drinks as well as how to identify the various forms of sugar and artificial sweeteners as they appear on food labels.

Grade 11: Eating for Exercise

This course is designed to educate high school students on the importance of eating for exercise.

Participants will learn:

✓ what to eat before and after exercise to optimize their performance and recovery,

✓ how making unhealthy food choices (e.g. sugary cereals and granola bars, caffeinated beverages etc.) affects their athletic performance,

✓ the importance of proper hydration.

Grade 12: Supermarket Solutions

This course is designed to help students make healthy choices at the grocery store. They will learn to read nutrition labels and understand health claims on products such as granola bars, soups, cereals, crackers, and yoghurt.

*Optional: Part 2 - a grocery store tour where students can apply what they have learned in Part 1.

All courses are approximately seventy minutes in length but can be tailored to suit your needs. Book a High School Course.

Team Seminars

Youth - Participants will learn:
  • to pack their backpacks full of nutritious foods to keep their energy levels up throughout their day,
  • how to eat for exercise,
  • to time their meals and prepare for practices and games, whether practice is before school, after school, or after dinner,
  • hydration tips.

Seminar includes an interactive game which keeps everyone learning while they’re having fun! Parents are encouraged to attend and participate in the seminar.
Adult - Participants will learn:
  • to pack their backpacks/briefcases full of nutritious foods to keep their energy levels up throughout their day,
  • how to eat for exercise,
  • proper meal timing and balanced snacking tips,
  • hydration tips.
Varsity - Participants will learn:
  • how to time their meals and snacks in order to show up to practices and games feeling full of energy and ready to play their best,
  • what and when to eat after training, in order to speed up recovery,
  • hydration tips.
All team seminars are sport-specific. Backpack Nutrition has designed courses for hockey, volleyball, rugby, soccer and more. Whatever your sport, Backpack Nutrition will design a course to suit your needs: from rowing to running, we have it covered!
Book a team session.

Corporate Seminars

Corporate Seminars - Corporations will benefit from nutrition seminars through the increased energy of their staff. Say goodbye to post-lunch lulls and end-of-day low productivity by booking a nutrition seminar. Corporate seminars are 1.5 hours in length.

Topics:

  • Eating on the Run: Participants will learn how to create balanced snacks that can be enjoyed at work and how to time their meals to reduce carbohydrate cravings. The benefits of this course are stabilized blood sugars, decreased cravings, improved moods, and higher energy levels. This course is designed for individuals in the working world that wish to boost their overall energy levels.
  • Eating for Exercise: Help your staff succeed at work and at play. This course is designed to help individuals in the workplace leave work with the energy they need to get active outside or back to the gym.
  • Supermarket Solutions: Got the grocery store blues? This is the course for you. Have you ever stood in the juice aisle and wondered which of the Omega-3 orange juices will provide you with DHA and EPA to protect your heart? Ever lingered in the cereal aisle staring at labels and hoping a high fibre, low sugar cereal would just leap off the shelf and land in your cart? Ever wondered if vegetable cocktails really pack in two servings of vegetables and fruit in every glass? Look no further. Learn to read nutrition labels and wade through the health claims.
  • Healthy Lunches for Kids on the Run: This course is designed to help busy parents pack nutritious snacks and lunches for their children.

How to Get Fussy Eaters To Eat : This course is designed for busy parents who struggle to prepare healthy meals for their families. Children can be picky eaters. This course provides easy tips and simple recipes for making sure everyone at the dinner table is satisfied.
Book a corporate session.

Corporate Lunch and Learn Seminars

Book any of the corporate seminars (above) and grab your lunch. These sessions are perfect for employers that want to provide nutritional information to their employees over lunch hour. Lunch and Learn seminars fill your lunch hour with great nutritional tips while you enjoy your lunch.
Book a lunch and learn session.

Grocery Store Tours

Confused by the labels and claims on your favourite foods at the grocery store?

Backpack Nutrition offers grocery store tours. Participants will learn:

  • which orange juice has heart protective DHA and EPA and which does not,
  • if there really are two servings of vegetables in a glass of your favourite garden cocktail,
  • which low sugar, high fibre cereal is your best bet,
  • how to find the healthiest granola bars,
    -and more!
Get back on track with a nutritionist beside your grocery cart.
Book a grocery store session.

Continuing Education
Nutritionist’s Guide to the Grocery Store: This course is the grocery store tour that comes to you! Find out which products should end up in your cart and which ones should stay on the shelves. Learn which crackers, cereals, breads, soups, and juices are the most healthy for you and your family.
Nutrition on the Run: Ever feel fatigued in the late afternoon? Crave carbohydrates? Drink coffee for a quick boost of energy? Overeat at dinnertime? Have you ever skipped your workout because you were too stuffed or tired after a long day at work or school? Get back on track with a Sport Nutritionist.
Participants will learn how to create balanced snacks that can be enjoyed at work or school and how to time their meals to reduce carbohydrate cravings. The benefits of this course are stabilized blood sugars, decreased cravings, improved moods, and higher energy levels. This course is designed for any individual that wants to lose weight, improve their current eating habits, or boost their overall energy levels.
Nutrition and Osteoporosis: This course is designed for women with osteoporosis. Making sure you get enough calcium and vitamin D in your diet can be challenging. We’ll look at which foods are rich in these, and other important nutrients, and discuss healthy recipes to try at home. Many products on the grocery store shelves claim to provide us with extra calcium and vitamin D, but which ones are the best? We’ll look at everything from orange juice to ice cream to determine which products are the best buy.
Quick Meals for Busy Lives: Having trouble finding time to prepare healthy meals? Look no further. Leave with quick and easy recipes and balanced snack ideas that will keep you fuelled for your busy day.
Beverages: A Guide to What’s in the Glass: North Americans are drinking their calories, a factor among many that is contributing toward an obesity epidemic. So, what should we be drinking? This course aims to answer this and other hydration questions, such as: Are fruit smoothies good for me? Is fruit juice better for me than pop? Do we really need 8 glasses of water a day? Are sports drinks better than soft drinks? What about diet pop?
Participants will learn how much caffeine is in some of their favourite drinks as well as
how to identify the various forms of sugar and artificial sweeteners as they appear on
food labels.

Continuing Education Courses run from 7:30-9:00 pm at the Wellington Centre for Cont. Education.

To register, call 519.836.7280 or email continuing.ed@ugdsb.on.ca

Kindergarten Workshop
Are you concerned by the unhealthy foods you see your students eating at snack-time?

It’s time to change what goes into their backpacks!

Jump start your Health and Well-being Unit with a half-day, hands-on, interactive nutrition workshop from Backpack Nutrition!

Students will rotate between four stations. They will learn:
  • to identify healthy snacks from less healthy options,
  • discover how their food is grown,
  • take a look at nutrition facts panels on some of their favourite snacks,
  • find out how water helps their bodies.
This session fits in with the curriculum. The course:
  • provides students with the opportunity to discuss nutrition with a nutritionist from their community,
  • incorporates gross motor skills,
  • helps students develop fine motor skills,
  • allows them to have lots of fun!
The half-day presentation fee is $160.
Maximum class size is 24 students.
$25 deposit due at time of date confirmation.
To book a session, send an email to info@backpacknutrition.ca.
Please include your name, the name of your school, your telephone number,
the number of students in your class, preferred month for the presentation,
and whether you would prefer an AM or PM session.
Backpack Nutrition offers nutritional training to youth and adults. Seminars are available for teams, groups, and corporations. Individual training is also available.

Alyssa Foulkes, M.Sc., Sport Nutritionist is an energetic and enthusiastic educator. A former varsity athlete, Alyssa understands the nutritional demands of high performance athletes.