March, known as National Nutrition Month, is a great time to start some healthy habits around getting the best nutrition possible to positively influence our health. National Nutrition Month also focuses on helping people develop exercising habits in addition to good nutrition. Making smart food choices can reduce the risks of illnesses or diseases (like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and obesity), manage our weight, improve energy and mood, and ultimately increase our energy, immunity, physical performance, health span, and lifespan.

Personal Story

I love to study nutrition topics! Improving nutrition has a significant impact on my overall health, protects me and my family against disease, and helps me maintain a healthy weight. I like to apply what I learn to my life, the meal planning I do for family dinners (and snacks!), and to help my clients and students learn how to help their families and others.

Nutrition

Here are some tips for you to consider:

• Plan weekly meals so you can cook healthy foods. Start with creating 12 – 14 balanced meal menus that you can rotate throughout the month. In your planning, try to include all five food groups. MyPlate is a free resource that can help you create a balanced plate of food. You can find it here: https://www.myplate.gov/
• Create a list of meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and healthy snacks. Then make a document that includes all the recipes for those meals.
• Next, create your personal grocery list of ingredients from all the recipes in a document and print it out. (I like to add non-food items like toilet paper, paper goods, personal care items, cleaning supplies, etc. on this list, too.)
• This grocery list can be put in a sheet protector to use for checking off the products when you are grocery shopping.
• Be sure to look at the nutrition labels as you shop and choose the items you will put in your cart.
• Have healthy snack options available at home, school, and work to help you and your family stay energized. A homemade trail mix made with nuts, dried fruit, and adding dark chocolate chips is a fun idea for kids and adults alike.
• If you eat out, choose restaurants that have healthy food options.
• Start a garden to grow your own food.

I have many other blogs on my website that can help you with ideas for nutritional plan. Please take a few minutes to read some of them. To find them, type “nutrition” into the blog search bar and at least a dozen will come up.

Exercise

Exercise is a little more complicated for me. While I love to go outside for a daily walk or the occasional longer hike, other forms of exercise like weightlifting, stretching, or general exercises are more difficult for me. I think one of the main problems is not knowing what types of exercises are best for me to do. I will share some of the things I am learning and wanting to implement little by little in future posts, since the focus this month is on March being National Nutrition Month.

Action

Plan a week’s worth of healthy, balanced meals and the accompanying grocery list. Schedule a time to grocery shop on your calendar. Then plan a daily time to do food preparation. Enlist your family to help with one aspect of the meal preparation. If you put on some music and make it fun, they will enjoy the time with you and learn skills that will benefit them for a lifetime of healthy nutrition.

May God bless you on your wellness journey!

Joni