Choose You Blog

March was National Nutrition Month!

It was largely to celebrate good nutrition–exercise too–and to highlight some dietary recommendation changes.

Changing dietary recommendations is a good news/bad news situation: good news because it needs to be dynamic as we learn more, but bad news because frequent changes undermines confidence in the recs themselves and can overwhelm people, make them think it’s impossible to keep up.

However, in the case of nutrition, it’s worth the few minutes it takes to scan the guidelines. In the end, though, it really depends on the individual and it’s important for everyone every now and again to keep a food journal, even if only a 2-4 week one, to track how your body is hungry, reacts to food, and so forth. This truly can help you eat right.

What else has March Nutrition month revealed? Here it is, in brief:

• New dietary guidelines for Calcium and Vitamin D. In short, it’s best to get these from nutrient rich food sources, and more is not better especially when it comes to supplements. First, it may be harmful to health and studies show that vitamin supplements feed cancer cells as well as healthy cells.

• There are new dietary guidelines for Americans. One-third of children and more than two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. HHS, NIH and more are determined to help Americans reach a healthy weight and good exercise point, despite the challenges. Choose You is a great program to assist with this.According to the press release:”The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on balancing calories with physical activity, and encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains.More consumer-friendly advice and tools, including a next generation Food Pyramid, will be released by USDA and HHS in the coming months. Below is a preview of some of the tips that will be provided to help consumers translate the Dietary Guidelines into their everyday lives:
  • Enjoy your food, but eat less.
  • Avoid oversized portions.
  • Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
  • Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
  • Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
  • Drink water instead of sugary drinks.”
• It’s better to eat at home (PDF). Why? Five reasons:
  • Home food is healthier (specifically: lower in calories, sodium, and fat).
  • You can fix it your way.
  • It saves money.
  • You can control portions.
  • It’s a family affair.

  Choose You offers great recipes, too.

• Other helps? The American Dietetic Association offers some great resources.

But that’s a lot about food. The goal of nutrition month, all health organizations really, is to balance eating right and exercise.

You need to move it daily, my friends, in some way. Want some help? Right here on the blog, for free, are new workouts of the day from Exercise TV. Just look to the right, there, see, on the sidebar? You may need to scroll down. There, right there!

Those got me watching the station, and I began recording Namaste Yoga, which I really enjoy (even though  have to fast forward through commercials). It’s free, I can do it at home, and it’s a good workout. I even branched out and got into a few of their dance programs.

The key is to keep mixing it up. I got too attached to walking and my body began compensating. Plus, I wasn’t, as I learned, doing enough to work my mind and body together, nor strengthening or stretching to build muscle.

You can also download a free two week workout.

Be healthy, choose you and keep going strong!