National Nutrition Month – Celebrate the Bounty and Benefits of Eating Well
Ellie Wilson
MS, RDN, CDN
March is National Nutrition Month®, an annual celebration and education campaign inspiring the national appetite for the benefits eating well brings to your life and wellbeing. This year marks the 51st year this outreach event is delivered by members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest and most recognized nutrition professional organization. Academy members have led the food and health conversation for over 100 years! The term “dietitian” was coined in Lake Placid, NY in 1917, and the Academy was founded in Cleveland, OH, later that year. ₁
This year the campaign theme is Beyond the Table – a call to action to engage in eating well and choosing well on a routine basis, wherever you eat! While there is no perfect eating style, we have good information on the basics of better eating that can be part of every food occasion. Check these options out – which would be a food fit for you?
Keep food safety in mind at home and anywhere you eat.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables every day – most Americans have lots of room to add more to meet their wellness and prevention needs. Start with doubling up what you already enjoy, working your way up to half your plate for each meal or snack!
Eat mindfully – for example, at home is usually better than eating out, and bring lunch instead of buying it. Create a grocery game plan to save time and money!
- Be purposeful with portion control and limiting food waste – our weekly Value Plan blog ideas are right on track to help with that! We are striving to ensure our ideas bring flavor, nutrition, budget, and time together in an easy, enjoyable way.
- Diet culture is off the menu – but heritage and traditions can ensure food is always a bridge builder, connecting families, communities and continents through cuisine and culinary collaborations.
Price Chopper and Market 32 are very proud to be your neighbor – our mission is to help you feed and care for your family! Check out our website for nutrition information and resources!
Wishing you the best for National Nutrition Month
₁. Accessed 3/5/2024; https://www.eatright.org/about-the-academy
Find more healthy eating tips at:
www.eatright.org
Ellie Wilson
MS, RDN, CDN
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the largest organization of nutrition professionals in the world. March is National Nutrition Month®, a now 50-year-old education and awareness campaign highlighting the transformational power of food and nutrition, and March 8th is the annual celebration day for the Registered Dietitian-Nutritionists (RDNs) that make up most of its members. The theme this year is “Fuel for the Future,” which highlights that sustainability and nutrition are always connected.
Over 100,000 registered dietitian-nutritionists (RDNs) in the United States work to bring delicious, nutritious, top-quality science-based information to the table and improve wellbeing in their communities. RDNs work in our hospitals, schools, nursing homes, private practice, primary and specialty health care, public health agencies, hunger organizations, colleges and universities, institutional food service systems, food and water systems policy, college and professional sports programs, health insurance companies, telemedicine, food and nutrition data systems, app development, research, media, culinary medicine and chef training programs, medical and pharmaceutical colleges, grocery stores, non-profits, worksite wellness programs, restaurants, and farming, produce, and food product companies and more – the list is enormous, and their work benefits us all.
The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September 2022 was focused on nutrition security and policy as key opportunities to support homeland security, improve equity, enhance local food systems, and reduce healthcare costs for chronic illnesses impacted by nutrition. Individuals from all walks of life are looking more closely at the quality of food, reducing food waste, supporting farms by eating local, and assisting those with fewer resources access healthy food. In every setting, RDNs are contributing their passion and commitment to ensuring sound science and practical food strategies are positively impacting the food environment and nutritional health of adults and children across the country.
I am very proud to be part of this profession, and perpetually in awe of the work my peers and colleagues do. Congratulations and thank you to them all on our National Day of Recognition!
Ellie Wilson
MS, RDN, CDN
Happy National Nutrition Month! This unique annual celebration of the benefits food brings to our lives marks 50 years the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has been working to create awareness that better health is built on the transformational power of nutrition. The theme this year, Fuel for the Future, recognizes that food choices and sustainability are always intertwined; fueling the future means eating well at every age and stage, and caring for the earth that provides our food.
How can you make this event meaningful for you and your family? Check out these 10 tips to fuel eating well with the environment in mind, this month, and every month.
-Learn about local foods and eat in season. What is your favorite local fruit or vegetable?
-Recycle packaging and containers as much as possible – everyone can be part of the solution!
-Try new fruits and vegetables, or double up on servings of the ones you enjoy – more is better, for you and for the earth.
-Explore foods through flavors and cultures – we live in a global community and learning about cultures through foods creates connection and communication.
-Eat meals and snacks together – family meals are key to better family communications, stronger social skills, better grades, and healthier eating.
-Plan shopping and meals to reduce waste and save money while staying nourished.
-Include children in planning and making meals and snacks when cooking at home. They can also help clean up! The more food skills children have, the more choices they have as they grow.
-Sip smarter – tap water, flavored or sparkling waters or teas without added sugars, in reusable containers, keep you hydrated and healthy.
-If you want a creative, personalized food and health plan, a registered dietitian-nutritionist is the right professional partner. Find one in your area at https://www.eatright.org/find-a-nutrition-expert.
-Practice gratitude for your body and health by eating a variety of foods – fresh, frozen, and canned are all part of a nourishing plan.
Want to discover new recipes? Check out some of our sites:
March is #NationalNutritionMonth, an exciting time to get energized about delicious foods that power great health. One of my favorite ways to do that is to highlight fresh produce and products that connect all the dots – history, farm-to-table, flavor, and nutrient power that is easy to enjoy in many ways. This led me to our friends at Welch’s, an iconic company bringing the unique Concord grape to your table with wonderful Welch’s 100% Grape Juice.
The Concord grape was developed in the mid-19th century by farmer Ephraim Wales Bull. He worked to develop a grape that could thrive in the harsh climate and sandy soil of the Northeast. He was successful in 1849, and named the new North American native grape for its birthplace of Concord, Massachusetts.
Fast forward to present day, and the descendants of that original vine are grown in very specific, cooler microclimates, including the “grape belt” in Western New York, on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. Over 250 New York farm families, a large part of the nearly 1,000 family farmers that make up the cooperative that owns Welch’s, carefully tend the vines and focus on the harvest that is concentrated into a few short weeks each fall.
Welch’s deep, rich 100% grape juice is full of the Concord grape’s purple power and delivers beneficial plant nutrients called polyphenols. In fact, 100% grape juice provides many of the same polyphenols and heart-health benefits as red wine. This juice is wonderful as a drink on its own and as a versatile ingredient for recipes your whole family will enjoy. Check these two heart-healthy recipes out and surprise your family and friends with great dishes you will keep on your go-to list.
Our Signature salmon fillets will serve up beautifully in this Spiced Salmon Fillet with Welch’s 100% Grape Juice – support heart health and get one of your two recommended seafood servings for the week!
Click for recipe.
Easy and quick, lean pork tenderloin comes to life with these Sweet and Spicy BBQ pork and bok choy skewers.
Click for recipe.
Bonus! Print the coupon, explore and enjoy the goodness of the grape with Welch’s!
Written by Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN, CDN Senior Nutritionist, Price Chopper and Market 32
Celebrate great food that is good for you, and the dedicated, passionate women and men that bring better health through nutrition to your community! March is National Nutrition Month, (#NNM) and today marks the annual celebration of Registered Dietitian-Nutritionists. The largest group of nutrition professionals in the world, we are over 70,000 strong in the United States! In a time of unprecedented interest and need, Registered Dietitian-Nutritionists (RDNs) are improving nutrition security by working throughout our food and health care systems to ensure residents have access to safe, delicious and nutritious foods.
Nutrition is getting a lot of love these days – and a lot of action, with RDNs at the center of it. In communities, RDNs are at the center of food access and education; school, college and hospital food and nutrition service and clinical care; farmer’s market education, and community-based medical and specialty nutrition therapy. Food companies are working with RDNs to ensure food labeling is correct, and food operations are safe and sanitary. Supermarkets and convenience store chains have dietitians working at the corporate offices and stores, and RDN entrepreneurs have small businesses all over the state. RDNs are also bringing delicious recipes and evidence-based education to social and traditional media channels – it is an exciting time to be a Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist!
2017 is of particular importance to our profession – it is the celebration of our Centennial. For the past 100 years, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has been dedicated to building a profession that optimizes health through food and nutrition. The Academy was founded as the American Dietetic Association in 1917 by a visionary group of women committed to taking on the greatest food and nutrition challenge of the day: conserving food, feeding the troops and nourishing Americans while combating malnutrition in the face of severe food shortages during World War I. They continue this work today, closing the gaps between individuals and the good nutrition they need. RDNs help you put your best fork forward and make great food good for you – celebrate RDNs and great nutrition today!
