National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign celebrated annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making well-informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.
In addition, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day increases awareness of registered dietitian nutritionists as knowledgeable providers of food and nutrition information and recognizes RDNs for their commitment to helping people achieve and enjoy a balance of healthy living through healthy eating. The seventh annual Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day will be celebrated Wednesday March 12, 2014.
“Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right’ is the theme for National Nutrition Month® 2014. Research supports that taste tops nutrition as the main reason why one food is purchased over another. The foods we enjoy the most are likely going to be the foods we eat the most. This year’s key message for NNM focuses on how to combine taste and nutrition to create healthy meals. The theme reminds us that it isn’t enough to just know what we should eat but that we need to be excited about food so that we want to eat more healthfully. It recognizes that we can’t endure a lifetime of better-for-us eating if we don’t like the food on our plate. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics refers to this as giving our plate a ‘taste lift.’
When taste is the most influential factor driving what we eat, it is important that we find the balance between choosing the foods we like with those that provide the nutrients we need. These two choices are not mutually exclusive. We all have different food preferences, and a main challenge lies in making the foods we like nutritious so we don’t feel as if we’re depriving ourselves. How many times have you heard someone say that if it tastes good it must not be good for you, or that something that is supposedly a healthier option tastes like cardboard (or vice versa?) People need to lose the idea that nutritious food tastes terrible and delicious food is unhealthy for you. As diabetes educators, we have the ability to empower people to banish the concept of ‘good’ food and ‘bad’ food! Eating nutrient-rich foods that provide the most nutrition per calorie is one of the best ways to "Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right," according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. As part of the 2014 National Nutrition Month® message, the Academy encourages us to choose nutritionally-packed foods to fill a plate.
What does ‘Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right’ mean to you? For each one of us, something different enters our minds when we hear this mantra. Please share what the taste of eating right means to you, AZAADE members!
For additional information and resources, visit: http://www.eatright.org/NNM/