National Nutrition Month Celebrates Good Nutrition All Year Long!
March is National Nutrition Month, one of our favorite holidays; we wanted to share a few new tricks and tips for every day eating! One of my favorite tips is that small changes can make a BIG difference! You don’t have to have a “perfect” diet to be healthy. In my opinion, a “perfect” diet does not actually exist. Rather, make a few simple substitutions that fit your life. Those small savings add up over time to make a big difference. Whether it is calories, saturated fat, sodium, or another nutrient that you want to limit, every effort counts.
First let’s talk about some simple substitutions that are easy, comparable in price and don’t alter the taste too much! Below you can see our Change it Up, A healthy twist to favorite family recipes, handout.
Choosing lower fat versions of foods such as low-fat dairy or leaner meats is a simple way to make any dish healthier without changing the overall recipe. Other changes such as using bananas when baking cakes and cookies in place of butter can lower the calorie and fat in a big way. From my family’s experience, no one can even tell I made the change to bananas. Let’s face it; some foods are never going to be an essential part of a healthy diet. But, it doesn’t mean we can’t try to make a substitution!
Take mayonnaise for example, a serving size is just 1 Tablespoon and regular mayo provides a whopping 90 calories and 10 grams of fat. For the same price and no big change in taste you can use olive oil mayo instead. Olive oil mayo only has 35 calories and 3 grams of fat.
Below you can see a common recipe we all know, Tuna Sandwich, and see the difference a few changes can make with keeping the same taste!
Look at that difference. Almost 100 calories less and half of the fat! This is for just one meal. If we all did these little changes each day, it could make a big difference! What I’m trying to say is it is not always about the big changes in what you eat. Instead, take on small changes that are doable for you. It is important to remember not to get bogged down by the numbers. Look at the numbers, see the benefits of trying a healthy substitute and make a decision! Only you can decide what is doable for your life! Remember, diet is what you eat every day, not what you restrict. So look at your current diet, look for a few healthy modifications that are simple to do and let the good nutrition begin!
Hope you have a healthy National Nutrition Month!
Stephanie
P.S. Another way to make the tuna sandwich even healthier, swap out the bread for celery sticks or use non-fat Greek yogurt instead of mayo.
Tags: 30 minutes or less, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, ADA, AND, apple, bread, celery, diet, dietitian, dinner, Healthy, healthy recipe, lettuce, lunch, national nutrition month, Nutrition, Oklahoma, ONIE, ONIE Project, pickles, sandwich, SNAP, tuna, tuna salad, vegetables, whole grain, whole wheat
We have turned a sandwich into a special treat with summer squash and zucchini; some of the cheapest summer vegetables. I love this sandwich. It is yummy, light, and helps me eat my daily servings of veggies! I picked up the veggies at my local farmers’ market that accepts SNAP benefits.
ONIE Project 