March 02--March is National Nutrition Month, an annual effort by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to help Americans eat more healthfully. The theme for this year's campaign is "Savor the flavor of eating right." But eating right depends on you and your lifestyle, for as the academy points out on its website: "There's no one diet that is right for everyone."
Exactly. So what to do? The Chicago-based academy hopes you'll turn to a registered dietitian for help. Or you can seek advice from doctors and other health experts. You can even look at the U.S. Government's 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Release of the report back in January generated news stories focused on alcohol consumption (one glass a day; two if you're a guy); moderate coffee drinking (3 to 5 cups is cool) and eggs (reputation restored, apparently) but there was still the same old story underneath: Americans eat too much fat, sodium and sugar and too little good-for-you vegetables, fruits or grains.
Eating right can be a struggle. We all know that.
Doctors, nutritionists, scientists and government officials have been urging us for years to change our ways (National Nutrition Month started as a week in 1973 and grew into a month in 1980), but how many among us has actually done so successfully?
"Making changes to eating patterns can be overwhelming," the report reads at one point. "That's why it's important to emphasize that every food choice is an opportunity to move toward a healthy eating pattern. Small shifts in food choices--over the course of a week, a day, or even a meal--can make a big difference."
Although the report is not specifically aimed at the general public, it contains a number of food choices you can begin making today to establish a healthier eating pattern. Take the quick choose-this-not-this quiz above and learn what they are.
wdaley@tribpub.com
Twitter: @billdaley
