National Nutrition Month 2017 – “Put Your Best Fork Forward”

Meet Melissa!

Melissa is currently completing her dietetic internship as part of her pursuit to become a registered dietitian and has been interning with the West Lakes Hy-Vee dietitians during the month of February. She is our guest blogger this week and she wrote a really fun and informational piece for you that relates to the theme for National Nutrition Month, which officially starts March 1^st. Get a jump start on National Nutrition Month and enjoy her blog below!

National Nutrition Month 2017 – “Put Your Best Fork Forward”

March is National Nutrition Month, and this year’s theme is “Put Your Best Fork Forward.” Now you may be wondering what in the world this means, but don’t you worry. I’m here to help!

Okay, to get things started, raise your hand if you’ve ever tried to lose weight. Did you just put your hand up at the office? Or at your kitchen table? In your car? (I hope not in your car… distracted driving is dangerous.) If your answer was yes, how did that go? If it went well, how long did it last?

If you’ve ever tried and failed to lose weight, this message is for you. First of all, I want you to know that you did not fail. The diet failed. Statistically, diets fail more often than not, and you are not to blame. Since diets have a tendency to fail, it may seem like weight loss is impossible, but that is just not true. Weight loss is very possible, but today try to start looking at it from a different standpoint. Instead of focusing on weight loss, focus on improving your health. That may seem like a daunting task, but I am here to help you get started.

What do you think you could do this week to improve your health? Could it be getting an extra serving of fruits or veggies? Or finally giving that whole grain pasta a try? How about getting active, even if you can only spare 10 extra minutes during the day? Could you drink more water?

Whatever it is, give it a shot! Even if you only squeeze in one more serving of veggies or one more walk this week, that is improvement! Every effort matters. Everything we eat and drink matters. Every time we move our bodies, it matters. That is the whole point behind this year’s theme of putting your best fork forward. It is to remind you that every time you pick up your fork, it matters. You are fully capable of improving your health, one step at a time. One bite at a time.

Set one goal each week this month that will help you improve your health, and focus on how great these accomplished goals are going to make you feel. Make sure they are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goals, because then you will have an easy way to measure your success. For example, if your goal is to drink more water, your goal could be, “I will drink one glass of water before dinner three evenings this week.” You don’t have to commit to doing it every day, because this is probably not attainable at first, but work on building up to it. As the month goes on and these goals start becoming habits, work on thinking up some new goals. Over time, these seemingly small changes will add up, and you will feel the positive results.

You know what they say (whoever “they” are), Rome wasn’t built in a day. (It was built in a large, unspecified amount of days…) But you get the point. It’s wild to think Rome could be built in a day, likewise, it would be wild to think we could reach all our health goals in one day. Rome was built slowly, and over time, and we should work on improving our health in the same manner. One brick at a time. One forkful at a time.

Examples to get started: 

Week 1 Goal: Walk for 10 minutes 3 different days this week.

How-to: Wake up a little earlier and walk 5 minutes away from home and 5 minutes back; walk 10 minutes over the lunch hour; walk while on a conference call; walk a full lap through the mall before shopping; get off the bus a stop early and walk the rest of the way; take a walk after dinner.

Week 2 Goal: Drink one glass of water before dinner 3 times this week.

How-to: If you like plain water, by all means drink it that way! If water isn’t your thing, that’s ok too. Try adding a squeeze of lemon, or muddling up some fruit and adding that. Whatever makes you want to drink it.

Week 3 Goal: Have an extra serving of veggies 3 times this week.

How-to: Mix some tomatoes and peppers (or any veggies you’d like) in with your eggs at breakfast; try adding a side salad at lunch; microwave a steam-able bag of veggies with dinner.

Week 4 Goal: Make ½ your grains whole grains 3 times this week.

How-to: Have a breakfast burrito with a whole wheat tortilla instead of flour; enjoy whole wheat bread with your sandwich at lunch; try whole wheat pasta or brown rice with dinner.

Good luck and enjoy the journey of putting your best fork forward J  

-Melissa