Written by Beth O’Shea Kindamo
March is National Nutrition Month, an annual awareness campaign by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to highlight the importance of healthful eating and activity habits. In the fourth and final week of National Nutrition Month, our weekly message is Feel Good with Healthy Habits.
Figure 1 Individual sitting on bicycle taking a break from outdoor bike ride
Tips include:
- Reduce the risk of foodborne illness with home food safety.
- Did someone say FOOD SAFETY?! From church lunches to the concession stand at the ballpark, from home canners to ServSafe for food service managers, we have you covered on the latest information for food safety practices. Browse the Field Report for food safety publications on anything from special considerations for food safety during pregnancy to how to safety infuse your own oils at home.
- Plan in advance to avoid mealtime stress.
- Planning meals in advance can help you reduce stress, eliminate food waste, save money, and stay on track with your nutrition goals. If meal planning feels like a drag, step back and take a more simplified approach. Avoid becoming overwhelmed by feeling like you have to plan everything, all the time.
- Start with planning just one aspect of your week, like snacks, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Choose something that feels relatively easy so you can have a quick win and increase your confidence.
- Cook once, eat twice by building leftovers into your meal plan.
- Make a list of meals and post it on your fridge for a nudge when you can’t decide what to make.
- Bookmark recipes or keep a notebook with recipes you’d like to try. Decide on which day of the week would make the most sense to prepare a new recipe.
- Don’t love to cook? Spend some time looking into options for prepared meals or meal kits.
- Planning meals in advance can help you reduce stress, eliminate food waste, save money, and stay on track with your nutrition goals. If meal planning feels like a drag, step back and take a more simplified approach. Avoid becoming overwhelmed by feeling like you have to plan everything, all the time.
- Include physical activity in ways that work for you.
- The benefits of physical activity go far beyond weight. Choose an activity you enjoy that is accessible to you. According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, even small increases in activity have health benefits and there’s no minimum duration of activity. We can even start by just reducing the time we spend sitting