March is National Nutrition Month!

Last Modified: 04.04.13

• Personalize your eating style: Finding foods that you enjoy and that are healthy and fit into your daily life are ones that will stay. The best “diet” is the diet that you will be able to realistically stick to and follow through on most days. You should not eliminate certain food groups, but you should use portion control and moderate the frequency of those that are higher in calories. Finding foods that are good for you and please your palette makes healthy eating accomplishable.    

• Eat Breakfast: The best way to start your day is with a healthy breakfast. Include lean protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.  Quick and simple ideas will help prevent relying on the drive thru and or skipping it all together. Keep meal replacement bars, drinks, or other grab and go foods in the house to make this easier when you don’t have time to cook

• Color you plate with fruits and vegetables: Make half your plate vegetables and fruits. These foods add vitamins, minerals, and fiber with minimal calories. Vegetables contain the least amount of calories per servings of all food groups so are a great choice to fill up on and add bulk to your plate.

• Watch portion sizes: Every now and again it’s good to pull out the measuring cups and re-assess your portion sizes. Use smaller plates, bowls and glasses to help keep portions under control. Fill half of your plate with vegetables, one forth with lean protein and the other forth with whole grain starches.

• Be active: The benefits of physical activity are numerous, some of the many benefits are; weight control, relieving stress, managing diabetes, and blood pressure only to name a few. Start by doing what exercise you can for at least 10 minutes at a time. Walking is a great way to start incorporating activity into your lifestyle. A good goal is 150 minutes of activity per week; whether it is in increments of 10 minutes or 30 minutes.

• Get to know the food label: The Nutrition fact label is your guide to making the most nutrient rich choices while staying within your daily calorie budget. Take the time to learn about the label or seek one of our RD’s to help guide you on interrupting these numbers.

• Get cooking: Cooking at home can be healthy, rewarding and cost-effective. It can be simple, quick and healthy with semi-homemade ingredients that are significantly lower in calories than eating out. Pre-planning for the week’s meals will allow for ease when deciding what to cook when you get home and ensuing that the ingredients are in the house.

• Bring your lunch: If you are able to bring your lunch to work instead of getting fast food or eating out at restaurants you will save a significant amount of total calories, fat and sodium per day.

• Drink more water: Our bodies depend on water to regulate temperature, transport nutrients and oxygen to the cells, carry away waste products and more. For generally healthy people the Dietary Reference Intakes recommend a total daily beverage intake of 13 cups for men and 9 cups for women

• See: "Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day"

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