National Nutrition Month

Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month here in the United States? No neither did I! Why is that you ask? Because good nutritious food isn’t usually advertised in fliers, magazine or on TV. Those ads concentrate on the highly processed foods as those are the companies that have the big bucks to spend on advertising and usually the ones seriously lacking in good nutrition. As a personal trainer I hear all the time that people just don’t know how to make good healthy nutritious food choices. Our modern Western diet has gotten so out of hand and distorted that the average person truly doesn’t know what options to choose for good health, and for the environment.

Choose foods with fewer ingredients
If you look at anything in a box at the supermarket these day the ingredients list is akin to reading war and peace! Save yourself the health risks and help you global footprint by keeping the ingredients list short and sweet. The fewer ingredients there are the healthier the item is for your body and for the environment. Less ingredients means less transportation, less shipping and packaging and less overall processing. There is a little saying in the eco-friendly clique that goes “eat as close to nature as possible” so eat fruits and vegetables first!

Choose foods with ingredients your kids can pronounce
Take a good look at the ingredients on the everyday foods you buy and you’ll see ingredients on there that you need a PhD to pronounce! Skip those items and get back to basics. We still don’t know the long term impact those chemicals and additives will have on our bodies so if you can’t pronounce it – don’t eat it!

Choose organic where possible
There is still an ongoing debate on whether organic is better for us health wise, there is research supporting both sides of the argument but honestly I don’t see how it cannot be healthier? Hmmm let’s see lettuce grown with chemicals, herbicides and pesticides or without? I’ll take without thanks! There is NO doubt though that environmentally organic is better, so make the switch if you can. Just purchasing one organic item each week helps!

Avoid GMO crops
Despite arguments from the GMO manufacturers there has NOT been any long term studies done on the impact of GMO foods and our health. Because the foods are classed as similar to other foods they bypass proper testing. Personally for me the fact that these foods are banned in some countries and have mandatory labeling in others is reason enough to avoid them for health reasons, but also they have a devastating effect on the environment due to mono-culture crops.

Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup
Another topic with lots of controversy, but avoid it if possible. High fructose corn syrup generally comes from GMO corn and as stated above the mono-culture type of farming is bad for the environment. Not too mention HFCS is bad for our health as a syrup the calorie content is high with little to no nutritional value whatsoever.

It you aren’t already on the eco-friendly food path, start making some good nutritional eco-friendly choices this month as part of Nutrition month!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles