As February is sliding into a halt, March brings new things to the table including National Nutrition Month®, a campaign for nutritional education and information. National Nutrition Month® was created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to promote healthy, well informed food choices and active lifestyles. This year’s campaign is inspiring individuals to “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day”.
Approaching food choices in a healthy way is important for the body and mind. Food provides the fuel energizing physical actions and thought processes occurring nonstop throughout daily activities. As we move around our bodies are constantly undergoing processes to breakdown the foods we eat into useable energy to fuel our muscles and brains.
Eating healthy is something I find important but I also find value in the foods I like to eat. Being aware of what you’re taking in is an important step to making healthier food choices. To me, eating right “my way, everyday” means making sure what I choose is a balance of healthy carbohydrates, fats, and protein while moderating my intake of less healthy choices such as pizza and chocolate. To compensate for the additional calories I consume, engaging in an active lifestyle allows me to enjoy the foods I like without restricting my choices. I exercise daily including aerobic exercise such as walking uphill or biking but my true passion is weightlifting to keep my body strong. To me, living actively extends beyond gym time through taking the stairs, parking further away than usual, and taking stretching breaks throughout the day to relax the body and mind.
For each person eating healthy and living actively means different things and can be approached from many different angles. I challenge you to think critically and determine what your thoughts are on “eating right, your way, every day” and then follow up with this link to get some tips and ideas for improving your healthy food choices: http://www.eatright.org/nnm/handoutsandtipsheets/
