Nutrition Month is an opportunity to educate people and provide them with the tools they need to make healthy choices, including information about healthy food choices, recipes, cooking tips, and resources for finding healthy foods in their communities.
Nutrition Month is important because good nutrition is essential to good health. Eating a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats can help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It can also help maintain a healthy weight, improve energy levels, and boost mental and emotional health.
How to celebrate National Nutrition Month
• Move your body – Nutrition doesn’t end at what we eat. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics encourages making exercise an integral part of our lives. Try a new activity like Zumba, swimming, or spinning to keep your workouts fresh and excited.
• Find Inspiration – Does the kitchen feel outdated? Pinterest provides tons of recipes and unlimited inspiration to get you started on any nutrition journey. Getting a new cookbook or following a great food blogger works too!
• Meet a dietitian – he or she will provide you with a detailed meal plan to suit your lifestyle and goals. Many, if not most, health insurance plans cover the cost of a dietitian’s services, and city health departments sometimes offer free services or charge fees on a sliding scale. In any case, a healthier, happier outlook on life is priceless!
Five (realistic) ways to eat healthy this month
• Go, go, H2O – We all know that drinking water helps with almost every aspect of wellness, but drinking the recommended amount each day can be challenging. Electrolyte supplements offer the same benefit, if not better, than drinking six or more glasses of water per day.
• Choosing Food Over Supplements – Although some are severely lacking in vitamins and minerals that cannot be achieved through diet alone, most of the good things our bodies need come from food – not store-bought supplements. Research shows that some nutritional supplements have not been tested to meet many standards for purity and safety, making them unreliable nutrition sources.
• Choose a color – when in doubt, throw some color on your plate – a natural colour. The bright greens of crunchy greens or the vibrant red of tangy fruit will not only make your meal Instagram-worthy, but also give you a healthy boost.
• Prepare your lunch – Avoiding traditional restaurants or fast food may seem obvious. However, according to Health Publishing, what’s more important is the ability to control portion sizes when packing your lunch. Try something fun, like a DIY Bento Box!
• Perimeter shopping – Shopping in supermarkets outside the aisles ensures that you get healthy alternatives to processed foods, such as produce, meat and dairy products. Moving inward, most, if not all, products contain unnecessary additives and sugar.
Overall, Nutrition Month is important as it helps promote healthy eating habits and raise awareness of the importance of nutrition for good health. By focusing on nutritious food monthly each year, we can encourage people to make positive changes in their diet and lifestyles that can affect health and well-being.