National Nutrition Month 2018

Bite This: March is National Nutrition Month...every year! 

Once again it is National Nutrition Month! This year’s theme is Go Further with Food. Basically by eating healthily, you are able to fuel your body with what it needs to go further – in all regards. But man, oh man, eating healthily ALL of the time is tough!

I can relate to many of my participants that eating healthily takes time. It takes time to plan meals, it takes time to prepare meals. I started out so well and then I had 3 kids and everything I learned and everything I did went out the window. I find that when it’s just me that I am feeding, I generally do eat well. I bring fruit, veggies, and whole grains like quinoa to work with me and I eat and enjoy it. But at home, chaos ensues and I find myself eating leftover crusts of grilled cheese, or hours-old quesadilla, or sometimes nothing at all. I tried to instill good eating habits with my boys by preparing all of their baby food, introducing them to lots of fruits and veggies, and limiting sweets and convenient snack foods. Then I had another baby.  Time to think about and prepare healthy meals was gone. Plus the boys are  pickier now and do not want to eat veggies (I also cannot hide kale in their peaches anymore without pureeing it). Or sometimes they don’t want to eat the food they had been eating a million times for a million days before – suddenly it’s “gross.”  Or sometimes I make a healthy meal and it gets thrown on the floor followed by little demands for oatmeal or just “a piece of bread.”  And then there’s the bribery! You can get a 2.5 year old to do almost anything for a treat. I am not saying that is healthy nutritionally or developmentally, but when all you want them to do is to go to bed, take a nap, get in the car, go to the bathroom in a toilet, or leave the park, sometimes 1 M&M is totally worth it.

I am getting tangential. The point is, eating right ALL of the time is nearly impossible. And if you’re finding that it is possible, you’re likely obsessing over what you eat and that’s all you can think of –orthorexia. But if you eat 80% healthily and 20% of whatever else, you’re probably doing better than 50% of the population. In order to achieve this, you do need to meal plan. Even if it is just thinking about what your next meal may be. And maybe a little preparation. Like washing fruits/veggies when you get home from the store so they’re ready to go and easily accessible. Other things that help: make a list for the grocery store and do not buy packaged convenience foods.

Other ways to make food go further  -eat breakfast for sustainability, plant a garden to eliminate waste and have added convenience, and opt for nutritionally-dense foods.

How else do you make foods go further?

Oh and Wednesday, March 14^th is National RD Day! I didn’t miss it this year…yet! 

Sound Bite: Do something cool and healthy on March 14th for the RD in your life.