Marci’s Nutrition Principles for National Nutrition Month
“For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one’s strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it.”
-Aristotle
March is National Nutrition Month. And in my line of work, it’s easy to see how darn confused everyone is about what it means to be a healthy eater. We hear new “get skinny quick” schemes on a daily basis and our nutrition research seems to refute itself with every new study. We live in a society where figuring out how to eat well feels like a land mine.
So I thought I’d share with you my basic “nutrition principles” for National Nutrition Month.
1.) The American Dietetic Association’s guidelines are very useful: balance, variety, moderation
2.) Avoid going too long without eating, I typically recommend every 4 hours or so.
3.) Make sure your meals contain food sources of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. That will help your body chemistry stay in balance. Also, getting a variety of food sources helps to ensure nutritional adequacy.
4.) Practice listening to cues of hunger and fullness. Our biological need for fuel (rather than emotional and social needs) ought to drive most of our eating experiences.
5.) Eat foods that are truly satisfying.
6.) When making dietary changes, ask yourself if they feel manageable today and forever.
Here are my favorite nutrition resources:
1.) “Intuitive Eating” by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch: for healing the dieting and disordered eating backlash
2.) “The Solution” by Laurel Mellin: for healthy weight management
3.) “Nutrition at Your Fingertips” by Elisa Zeid: for answers to just about any nutrition question under the sun
Here’s to healthy and happy eating.