Celebrate National Nutrition Month in your community
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EmailNational Nutrition Month reminds us of the importance of healthy eating.
National Nutrition Month encourages us to rely on healthy eating basics. Launched by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 1980, National Nutrition Month is an educational campaign to promote healthy eating. The theme for 2016 is “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right,” which, according to campaign organizers, “encourages everyone to take the time to enjoy food traditions and appreciate the pleasures, great flavors and social experiences food can add to our lives.”
There are endless ways to celebrate National Nutrition Month, consider some of these options:
At home:
- Make a plan to eat dinner together as a family more often
- Commit to trying a new fruit or vegetable for the month of March
- Get creative and relieve stress by painting or coloring a National Nutrition coloring page
- Make a healthy snack together
- Research family cultural food traditions through interviews with your elders
- Practice reading food labels
- Take steps to reduce your sodium intake
- Register for a local Michigan State University Extension health & nutrition class
At school:
- Start a school vegetable garden by planting seeds indoors or in the ground
- Take a field trip to a farmers market or a local farm
- Develop a lesson plan that explains the science behind ingredients needed for baking
- Assign a school group project that involves each group researching one of the food groups, allowing each child to explain a food from that food group and what nutrition it provides
- Organize a cafeteria taste test
- Reference this resource on healthy snack for kids
- Support farm to school in your community
At Work:
- Organize a food donation campaign for a local food pantry or shelter
- Organize a healthy potluck, making sure each of the food groups is represented
- Host a “lunch and learn” session on healthy eating
