March is National Nutrition Month. This year’s theme is “Beyond the Table” which focuses on natural foods and the “farm-to-fork” aspect of nutrition.
Each week has different goals. Week one’s goal is to stay nourished on a budget. It focuses on learning meal planning and practicing food safety at home. Week two’s goal is to try and see an RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist). Week three’s goal is to eat a variety of foods from all food groups. This includes trying new foods, including cultural foods, and experimenting with different recipes. And finally, week four’s goal is to eat with the environment in mind. This involves growing food at home or in a community garden, buying food at farmer’s markets when able to, enjoying more plant-based foods, getting creative with leftovers, and trying to reduce food waste.
Some ways National Nutrition Month can be celebrated is by trying a new fruit or vegetable every week, meal planning lunches and dinners to eat less fast food, and looking up new delicious recipes, but there are always many more ways.
Nutrition teacher Ms. Wilson mentioned some of the misconceptions her students have about nutrition. She said, “They all think low carb or no carb diets are the way and not looking at the total nutrition or health benefits of that, and I would think that their lack of knowledge of sugar in everyday things would be the biggest misconception they have.”
Having a healthy, balanced diet is extremely important for our health. In today’s society, it’s extremely hard to know which foods are healthy or not. Each person will say something different. Some say eating a carnivorous diet is extremely healthy for you, and others say eating no red meat is healthy for you and will prevent heart disease. How you choose to diet is up to you, but overall a balanced diet seems to be the middle ground.
Ms. Wilson said, “This is the time as teens are growing and their brains are growing they need good things in their body.”
A balanced diet focuses on not overeating, undereating, and limiting the amount of sugars, processed foods, and other unhealthy meals. The beauty of a balanced diet is that you don’t have to completely cut out whatever you want to eat less of. For example, if you want to eat less candy or sugar, pack yourself a meal with fruit in it to help satisfy your sweet tooth. If you want to eat less McDonalds, try to make burgers at home with all of your favorite toppings. Making any type of food from scratch is a lot healthier than buying processed foods.
Ms. Wilson finally stated, “A way to anybody’s heart is through their stomach, and if you can cook maybe you can make a connection.”
This month choose health over convenience. You only get one body, so make sure to take care of it. Food has the ability to bring people together. So this month, make delicious, nutritious food for your friends and family! Happy National Nutrition Month, Cougars!
