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Acknowledgment
Translation of this Website has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada, through the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer; and from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The views expressed herein represent the views of the Quebec Coalition on Weight-Related Problems and the Collaborative Action on Childhood Obesity and do not necessarily represent the views of the project funders.

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Solutions

Making it easier to adopt and maintain healthy living habits

Informing and educating a population about nutrition and physical activity is not enough to get it to change its eating habits. This is because eating habits, like transit habits, are in large part shaped by the environments in which people live. Promoting favourable environments means ensuring that citizens can easily opt for healthy life habits.
 

Prevention: the only viable solution to weight problems

Weight problems constitute a societal concern that necessitates environmental, social and political solutions aimed at ensuring that our environments foster and sustain healthy lifestyle choices. Developing collective solutions to weight problems is of the utmost urgency and prevention represents the only long-term answer in this regard.

The state of Quebec public finances is such that the repercussions of obesity on healthcare costs cannot be ignored. It is therefore critical to strive to prevent health problems, as this will ensure a healthy future for tomorrow’s generations and reduce the strain on the healthcare system.

Consequently, the government must:

  • Sustain ongoing actions aimed at promoting healthy living habits and invest further in the prevention of weight-related problems.
  • Redesign our cities to facilitate physically active lifestyles, including active transit, and to improve the availability of wholesome quality foods.
  • Tighten regulation of food marketing practices and increase resources allocated to enforcing the law prohibiting advertising directed at children.

To this end, the Weight Coalition proposes taxing soft and energy drinks in order to create a source of additional funding that would allow investing in prevention.

The contribution of national, regional and local decision-makers from the fields of health, transportation, environmental protection, sports, recreation, education, and urban planning is needed to ensure that the choice to be physically active is an easy one to make and that such a choice is available to all.