This is the 50th anniversary of National Nutrition Month® which is an annual campaign started in 1973 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. During the month of March, we invite you to learn about making informed food choices and developing healthful eating and physical activity habits. Check out our social media posts for interesting evidence based facts about nutrition and ways to support your goals to become healthy, happy and fit while supporting the environment and sustaining a healthy lifestyle!
This year’s theme is “Fuel for the Future.” Eating with sustainability in mind is a tasty way to nourish ourselves during every phase of life and protect the environment. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist or Nutrition Coach can help you create healthy habits that are sustainable and celebrate which support your unique needs.
Here is the plan:
Eat with the environment in mind.
- Enjoy more plant-based meals and snacks.
- Purchase foods with minimal packaging.
- Buy foods in season and shop locally when possible.
- Start a container or backyard garden to grow food at home.
Below are some tips for sustainable eating.
Enjoy more plant based foods: Choose 2 days a week where you eat plant based meals. It isn’t as hard as you think. This is what it might look like.
- Breakfast: Avocado toast on whole grain bread, coffee or tea.
- Lunch: Tomato soup and grilled cheese
- Dinner: Pinto Bean and Roasted Vegetable Tacos https://www.eatright.org/recipes/entrees/pinto-bean-and-roasted-vegetable-tacos-recipe
- Snacks: Fruits and nuts, dried fruit, raw veggies and hummus, almond butter on celery!
Purchase foods with minimal packaging:
- Opt for foods in bulk, more minimally processed foods and more plant-based meals. These choices often require less packaging, waste, energy and water to produce them.
- Tap your tap. Liquids can be heavy items to ship around the country and lots of fossil fuel is needed to tote them. Instead of purchasing bottled beverages, use a refillable bottle and fill it with water from the tap or filter.
- Store leftovers in reusable containers and plastic bags.
Buy foods in season and shop locally when possible.
Shopping locally is a fun way to support your community.
- It keeps your dollars in the community in which you live and can help foster a healthy environment of diversity.
- When you purchase foods that were grown locally, it cuts down on the amount of fuel needed to ship the food to your market.
- You might have to be a little creative in the winter, but spring, summer and fall are 3 seasons that offer an abundance of fresh and delicious foods.
- Freeze or can what you can and you will have enough to get you through the winter.
Start a container or backyard garden to grow food at home.
- It could be herbs in a pot, tomatoes on a patio or a small plot in your yard.
- Participate in a community garden. You don’t have to have a big plot of land to give you and your family a greater appreciation for what it takes to create food that you grow your own.
- The process can help you gain an understanding of the factors involved in making plants thrive, the attention needed to successfully grow food and how precarious the process can be.
- Planting and growing your own food may influence how you buy, use and dispose of food.
- Get the kids involved, you know how they love to play in the dirt!