National Nutrition Month: A great time to focus on eating well!

March is National Nutrition Month and serves as an opportunity to educate ourselves on one of the common threads to our existence: food! Without food, we wouldn’t be able to survive, but we would also lose out on the positive experiences that come along with it. Food provides necessary nutrients for our bodies to function, and the quality of the food that you consume can affect the quality of how your body performs. This month, nutrition educators unite to bring you information about how you can promote your best authentic self through eating well.

First, it is important to eat a balanced diet that meets the recommendations outlined in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). These Guidelines include incorporating all five food groups in your daily diet and meeting the recommendations for servings of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. The Guidelines also give recommendations for limiting foods that are high in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium and also limiting alcoholic beverages. While it may seem confusing or difficult to sift through all of the information regarding different popular diets, eating well and healthfully is actually really simple.

Rather than following a “diet”, the DGA encourages establishing a healthy dietary pattern, which is the combination of foods an beverages that makes up a person’s complete dietary intake over time (hence the word “pattern”). A healthy dietary pattern involves choosing foods that are nutrient-dense and provide vitamins, minerals, and healthy macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) and little to no added sugars, saturated fat, or sodium and drinking water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages. A diet that is made up of mostly whole, minimally processed foods easily falls in line with the DGA and can help promote good overall health.

Eating well doesn’t have to be complicated. Take time during National Nutrition Month to learn more about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and how they can serve as a tool to help you be more authentically YOU!

National Nutrition Month(R) Resources