Nutrition Month 2016Ambassador Toolkit

TAKE A 100 MEAL JOURNEY: MAKE SMALL CHANGES, ONE MEAL AT A T IME.

Nutrition Month Official Sponsors:

© Dietitians of Canada 2016. All rights reserved. Do not copy, distribute or sell.

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Whether you are a counsellor, educator, manager, writer or blogger, work in a hospital, clinic, human resources, public health, university or college, health organization, private practice or community health centre, there are many ways to get involved in the Nutrition Month campaign.

Nutrition Month 2016

Every year in March, Dietitians of Canada+ organizes Nutrition Month with a goal of providing information and guidance to Canadians making it a little easier to choose, eat and enjoy healthy food. Whether you are a counsellor, educator, manager, writer or blogger, work in a hospital, clinic, human resources, public health, university

TAKE A 100 MEAL JOURNEY: MAKE SMALL CHANGES, ONE MEAL AT A TIME.

or college, health organization, private practice or community health centre, there are many ways to get involved in the Nutrition Month campaign.

This Ambassador Toolkit is your all-in-one kit to assist you in taking part.

If you represent a national not-for profit health organization and your organization is interested in becoming an official Nutrition Month Communications Ambassador, send an email to nutritionmonth@dietitians.ca for more information on what this entails. We’ll work out an agreement that benefits both your organization and Dietitians of Canada’s Nutrition Month campaign.

Do You Want to Get Involved in the Nutrition Month Campaign?

Introduction to the 2016 Nutrition Month CampaignThe Nutrition Month 2016 campaign is dedicated to supporting Canadians to make small changes to their eating – one meal at a time. The slogan for the campaign is Take a 100 Meal Journey: Make Small Changes, One Meal at a Time.

Think about it: Canadians consume almost 100 meals each month. Throughout March, we will be inspiring them with ideas to make small changes, supported by real-life strategies to help make those changes last.

• WEEK 1 – GET READY! We’ll encourage Canadians to take a pledge and join us in a 100 Meal Journey throughout March.

+ Dietitians of Canada is the national professional association for dietitians representing 6,000 members at the local, provincial and national level. As the voice of the profession, Dietitians of Canada strives for excellence in advancing health through food and nutrition.

Each week, our new tips, strategies and ideas will inspire Canadians to make small, positive changes to their meals and snacks:

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• WEEK 2 – QUALITY COUNTS! This week focuses on making food decisions that support individuals’ goals, such as cooking more meals at home, choosing nutrient-rich foods and substituting ingredients.

• WEEK 3 – PRIORITIZE PORTION SIZE! This week, we provide strategies for Canadians to be aware of selecting realistic portion sizes during their 100 Meal Journey.

• WEEK 4 – TRY SOMETHING NEW! Because taste is the number one reason for food choice, this week focuses on nourishing meal and snack ideas that are delicious!

• WEEK 5 – MAKE IT STICK! Every journey encounters detours along the way. This weeek’s tips will equip Canadians with doable strategies to put in place during their own 100 Meal Journey and make healthy eating stick!

Get Planning!Whether you encourage your contacts to take the pledge**, distribute the Nutrition Month fact sheets and feature recipes, ‘tweet’ using the ready-to-go Nutrition Month tweets, promote the popular apps, or organize a workplace event, your efforts will help to increase consumer awareness of the importance of healthy eating.

** Available February 23

KEY DATES FOR THE NUTRITION MONTH CAMPAIGN

• February 23: Take the Pledge** launch• March 1: First day of Nutrition Month• March 16: Dietitians Day

Find all the publicly available resources to support your Nutrition Month activities at www.NutritionMonth2016.ca

FIND A DIETITIAN

Want to work with or feature a dietitian in your Nutrition Month activities but don’t know how to get in touch with one? Check out Dietitians of Canada’s Find a Dietitian database to link with a dietitian in your area. A consulting dietitian can help you plan and execute nutrition month events in your area and more.

> Plan This: Spread the word – let your clients, colleagues or employees know about the Find a Dietitian services in your Nutrition Month communications and activities.

Connect with a dietitian here: www.dietitians.ca/find

FIND OUT ABOUT NUTRITION MONTH ACTIVITIES IN YOUR AREA

Check out Dietitians of Canada’s Canada Activity Map that highlights, at a glance, activities dietitians in your area (and across the country) are planning for Nutrition Month. Are there events being hosted that you could promote, support, or get involved in?

> Plan This: If you’re organizing Nutrition Month activities with a dietitian, get your event noticed! They can add your activity to the Map.

See the Canada Activity Map here: www.dietitians.ca/nmactivitymap

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FEATURE NUTRITION MONTH BY USING OUR ADVERTISEMENT Download the colourful, ready-to-go advertisement, highlighting Nutrition Month. Use it in any of your Nutrition Month communications, such as online newsletters, blog posts, or company emails. This has also been used as a public transit bus advertisement.

Get the ad here: www.dietitians.ca/Your-Health/Nutrition-Month/Campaign-Materials.aspx

Get Equipped!FACT SHEETS

Dietitians of Canada created five fact sheets that feature the weekly Nutrition Month topics.

> Plan This: Print the fact sheets to distribute at Nutrition Month activities, presentations, food demos or workshops. Put them on display at your workplace, community centre, or anywhere you see fit. link to them on your website too.

Get all five fact sheets here: www.dietitians.ca/nmfactsheets

FEATURE RECIPES

Nutrition Month highlights eight scrumptious recipes from Dietitians of Canada’s popular Cookspiration app to support Canadians’ 100 Meal Journey.

> Plan This: Share recipes, offer tastings or feature one in your workplace cafeteria each week through March.

Get all the featured recipes here: www.dietitians.ca/nmrecipes

COOL TOOLS: DIETITIANS OF CANADA APPS

Download and promote the Dietitians of Canada’s apps during Nutrition Month and beyond: Cookspiration, eaTipster and eaTracker.

Get all three apps here: www.dietitians.ca/gettheapps

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** Available February 23

Spread the Word!TAKE THE PLEDGE AND CHALLENGE OTHERS AS WELL Dietitians of Canada is inviting Canadians to take the pledge and join a 100 meal journey. You can participate too! Take the pledge** and feature your journey in newsletters, on your blog and social media.

> Plan This: Get started and join us on February 23! Take the pledge** and encourage people in your circle to join in through your communications activities. Try these Tweets:

• I’m taking a #100mealjourney. I pledge to <fill in the blank> during #nutritionmonth and beyond!

• Get ready to join Canadians in making a small nourishing change! Pledge here: www.NutritionMonth2016.ca #nutritionmonth

What will your pledge be? Join in, challenge others and take the pledge here beginning February 23: www.NutritionMonth2016.ca

DAILY TWEETS Encourage others to take the pledge** with “teaser” tweets from February 23 to 29. Dietitians of Canada has a handy list of ready-to-use tweets so you can easily share them on Twitter, daily from March 1 through to the 31. There are also weekly bonus tweets that you can use any day of the week. Tweet away!

Get the tweet of the day list here: www.dietitians.ca/Your-Health/Nutrition-Month/Campaign-Materials.aspx

Official Nutrition Month HashtagsFor all your social media communications, use the official Nutrition Month hashtags. Look for these hashtags during Nutrition Month so you can get in on the social action! Comment, retweet/repost, like and add your own posts!

• Use #nutritionmonth throughout March• Use #100mealjourney throughout March• Use #dietitianprotip on Dietitians Day (March 16) – follow this hashtag on Dietitians Day for super healthy eating tips from

dietitians across Canada. Add #dietitianprotip to your tweets to ask healthy eating questions of dietitians on March 16!

DIETITIANS OF CANADA MEMBER BLOGGERS Follow @DCmemberblogs on Twitter to keep up with Nutrition Month blog posts by Dietitians of Canada dietitian member bloggers on Twitter. Retweet the tweets from @DCmemberblogs during Nutrition Month and beyond!

THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING TO JOIN IN FEATURING OUR

NUTRITION MONTH ACTIVITIES!

Providing reliable information and guidance to make it a little easier for Canadians to choose, eat and enjoy healthy food is no small task. We appreciate your mutual interest in joining Dietitians of Canada with our 6,000 members from coast to coast to promote Nutrition Month activities. We are certainly stronger together!

Dietitians of Canada / Les diététistes du Canada

480 University Avenue, Suite 604

Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1V2

TEL: 416.596.0857

FAX: 416.596.0603

EMAIL: contactus@dietitians.ca

www.dietitians.ca I www.dietetistes.ca