National Nutrition Month

Jane Carroll

Mar 05, 2018

Four healthy eating strategies for National Nutrition Month

In honor of National Nutrition Month, rather than choosing a side about which foods we should be eating, let's talk about some of the ways we can focus on eating healthier: 

1. Make a choice, and then make another. Rather than focusing on being “on a diet” and trying to be perfect all the time, and then feeling guilty if I slip up, I try to think of my nutrition as lots of individual choices. Focus on every meal (or snack) you eat as its own individual choice. This way, you’re in control -- not cravings, not your surroundings, and not your family members pushing their extra special, homemade recipes on you. If you choose something that you know isn't healthy, savor each bite and then choose healthier for the next few decisions.
2. Plan Ahead. For me, the key to making healthy choices stems from planning ahead. I take about 20 minutes over the weekend (before I go to the grocery store) and plan out all my meals for the week. I include lots of easy options and sometimes prepare a few things on the weekends to help make it easy during the week. You don't always have to follow it perfectly. But planning ahead gives you a baseline of healthy options to pick from, so that when you’re running late in the morning or come home from work late and exhausted, you don’t have to make an emotional decision.
3. Eat food, real food. It’s important that we know where our food comes from -– and that doesn’t mean just googling what sodium acid pyrophosphate is (which I did just for the sake of this point, and still didn’t understand it). It means, eating food that is primarily from the earth or from an animal, and doesn’t include genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are made in a lab somewhere. It means that if you’re buying food that’s pre-packaged, checking the ingredient label to know exactly what it’s made of. The concept of “clean eating” has been gaining traction for over a decade and has become a major movement, driven by people from all walks of life who want to feel good about the food they’re putting in their bodies. Try to stick to the outer perimeter of the grocery store where you’ll find produce, meat, and dairy -- rather than the center aisles which are usually filled with all of the pre-packaged junk foods.
4. Decipher the ingredients. Related to the point above but important enough to call out in more detail, the only way to know what you’re eating is to read the ingredient list. Product marketers can and will say anything on their package to lead us into thinking it’s a healthy option. Low fat, low sugar, gluten free, heart-healthy ... these are all claims that manufacturers make on their packages to get us to choose their product. The only real way to know what something is made of is to read the ingredient list. If it lists a bunch of ingredients that sound like chemicals, chances are it doesn’t qualify as “real food.” Even better than reading the ingredient list? Eating whole, natural foods that don’t need one... like vegetables!