Why diabetes?

Managing diabetes requires education, skill-building, and supporting long-term health and develop live long healthy habits.

Our diabetes program helps children to manage their condition, by providing food and nutrition education, we aim to equip kids with the knowledge and skills they need to make healthier choices and develop long-term healthy habits:

Developing Essential Food Skills:

Understanding nutrition and meal preparation is important for diabetes management. Our program provides hands-on experience and guided meal preparation to equip participants with the skills to create balanced, diabetes-friendly meals at home.

Improving Health Outcomes:

Participants gain knowledge on how to balance meals, monitor carbohydrate intake, and make informed food choices. This can help to stabilize blood sugar levels and develop lifelong healthy habits, promoting better overall health and preventing complications.

Fostering Community Support:

Diabetes can be isolating. Our program connects participants with peers, creating a supportive environment where they can share experiences, and build a network that lasts beyond the program.

In 2022 and 2024, we collaborated with the SickKids Hospital Diabetes Clinic to adapt our 8-week program, led by Registered Dietitians. Participants learned diabetes-specific educational content, such as how to pair foods for balanced blood sugar levels and how to read labels for carbohydrate counting.

Our Research.

Our ongoing clinical partnership with SickKids Hospital Diabetes Clinic, also in collaboration with Toronto Metropolitan University, focuses on assessing the impact of a virtual food skills program for Children with Type 1 Diabetes. Our research found that virtual food skills programs can significantly improve food literacy, cooking confidence, and nutrition behaviours.

Please click here to read our paper in collaboration with TMU and SickKids.

Watch Joeie Schwartz and Vanita Pais present research findings at the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes 2024.

Findings from: “Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Food Skills and Food Sustainability Program Designed for Children Living With Type 1 Diabetes”

Sarah Goldstein, Olivia Chow, Joeie Schwartz, Vanita Pais, Susan Wright, Enza Gucciardi

What Folks are Saying!

“Thank you for all the amazing and new recipes you guys introduced to us. We’ve always enjoyed bringing a new bag of ingredients home with us each week.”

— Community Member, SickKids x SL+ at Home Program.

“The idea of engaging young kids in a cooking course through covid was a very useful way to keep them preoccupied. It also lets you complete the activities asynchronously, which gives time for families to work at their own pace during their busy schedules.”

— Community Member, SickKids x SL+ at Home Program.

“We had an amazing time, thank you so much for such a well organized program. We learned so much! One of our biggest takeaways was that cooking together really got her to eat all kinds of new things. Because she prepared it, she ate it and munched on some yummy vegetables along the way. This is an experience we will take with us! Thank you!”

— Community Member, SickKids x SL+ at Home Program.