Science, health, and the politics behind food choices.
In Nutrition & Health, students examine how food, energy balance, and nutrients affect health across the lifespan. The course connects nutrition science to real-world issues such as disease prevention, food security, environmental responsibility, and nutrition trends. Through hands-on food preparation and social science research, students develop a nuanced, informed understanding of food — and the systems and politics that shape it — while preparing for post-secondary studies.
How can mastering essential kitchen skills and safety practices empower us to cook confidently and responsibly?
This unit builds your practical kitchen skills and safe food-handling habits so you can cook with confidence. You’ll learn accurate measuring and scaling, knife and equipment use, personal and food safety, and how to follow recipes so food is both safe and delicious.
How do policies, politics, and power shape the way our food is produced, distributed, and accessed?
We’ll investigate the systems and decisions that shape access to food — from local production and supply chains to national policies and environmental impacts. Students will research real cases, evaluate causes and consequences, and propose practical, equity-focused solutions.
How has Canada’s Food Guide evolved over time, and what does it reveal about the relationship between nutrition science and public policy? Who has been harmed, what voices have been silenced, and what dark history is erased in the history of Canada's Food Guide?
This focused mini-unit unpacks the history, evidence, and politics behind Canada’s Food Guide and compares international approaches. You’ll learn how guidelines are made, what the Guide recommends, and how policy influences what people eat. You will also learn about Canada's role in Nutrition testing at Residential Schools and the lasting impact it has had on the formation of our Food Guide, and Canada's Indigenous communities.
What roles do macro- and micronutrients play in our health, and how do energy and nutrient requirements shift from infancy to older adulthood?
This unit covers nutrient fundamentals (macro & micro), digestion and metabolism, energy balance, and how nutritional needs change through life. We’ll also explore nutrition-related disease prevention, population differences in nutritional status, and evidence behind popular trends and functional foods.
In this summative task, you will critically evaluate the nutritional quality and real-world practicality of a 4-week meal plan generated by ChatGPT for a fictional client. By conducting an in-depth analysis of one selected week, you will apply course concepts related to nutrients, energy balance, Canada’s Food Guide, food politics, culture, access, and sustainability.
This task brings together learning from all units of study and course expectations, allowing you to demonstrate your ability to assess nutrition information, use credible research, and make evidence-based conclusions about health, food systems, and the efficacy of AI providing nutrition-based information.
Assessment in HFA4U is grounded in Growing Success and prioritizes growth, feedback, and meaningful learning over grades. Achievement is expectation-based and informed by observations, conversations, and products, with an emphasis on recent and consistent evidence of learning.