Each year, March is recognized by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as National Nutrition Month. This initiative aims to raise awareness about how vital it is for everyone to eat healthily and to avoid unhealthy eating habits. National Nutrition Month also accounts for the healthy lifestyle choices outside of food and beverage consumption to highlight the importance of exercise.
Having National Nutrition Month in March a ton of sense considering many have abandoned their New Years Resolutions by this time and have likely fallen into bad habits, likely stemming from the cold weather. But with spring on the horizon, it’s smart to start fresh and follow the below steps to make sure you’re ready to start spring on the right note:
- Change Your Diet: With the warmer weather coming soon, eating local food will be a much easier ordeal. Limiting red meat consumption will have an overall positive effect on your heart as well as your waistline. Along with red meat, try to avoid frozen foods at all costs. Instead, opt for whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Be Mindful of Your Eating: Changing up your diet is not the only step it’ll take for you to maximize your nutritional intake. Be mindful of what time of the day you’re eating (eating late is a no-no) and how much you’re eating.
- Exercise: Working out helps your body in a near-infinite number of ways. Besides improving your muscle mass, cardio and mobility, it also helps dramatically reduce your chances of developing a number of harmful diseases. If you don’t like going to the gym, find alternative ways to work out, whether it be playing basketball, going to boxing classes or doing yoga.
- Drink Plenty of Water: In addition to hydration, water helps improve your metabolism, which will help keep your weight down. Water also helps with headaches, cramps and overheating.
Practice the above steps this National Nutrition Month and keep the momentum going for the rest of your life. This will only help you in the long run as you will soon find that you have more energy, more muscle and less fat.
