New Program: Go Even Further With Food for National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month and this year, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' theme is to Go Further with Food.

'Whether it's starting the day off right with a healthy breakfast or fueling before an athletic event, the foods you choose can make a difference.' Which is why we want to take this opportunity to encourage you to go even further with your food; by reducing food waste in a way that promotes healthy lifestyles and a healthy environment. Our new 'Go Even Further With Food' Nutrition Station provides the perfect theme or à la carte station for your upcoming health fair. Interested learning more about why you should 'go even further with food' for National Nutrition Month this year? Continue reading below or contact us!

Our busy day-to-day lives can make it difficult to set aside the time to make lists, cook in bulk, take inventory, and get organized. Even if you already manage to find the time to do all of these things, we want to share some steps to help you identify new strategies for getting more out of your grocery shopping trips, reducing the number of uneaten leftovers in the trash each week, and for eating more healthfully and mindfully overall.

So, let’s get started:

1. Plan ahead – Map out your week and get clear on what you need, and how much. This will prevent you from over-buying and creating waste.
2. Take inventory – Look in your pantry and fridge and see what you already have! This will prevent excess.
3. Prepare meals in advance – Pick a day over the weekend to dedicate an hour or two to cooking in bulk and getting your meals packaged and stored for the week.
4. De-clutter your kitchen – Keep your pantry, fridge, and freezer organized, and get rid of things you don’t need or use.
5. Manage leftovers – Keep track of how many leftovers you have (if you tend to have a lot, labeling them may be a good practice); if you’re not going to eat leftovers right away, reduce food waste by freezing them.
6. Get creative – Use up what you already have and add those ingredients to new meals; experiment with different combinations and open your mind to what flavors work together and how things can be cooked.
7. Schedule meals accordingly – Use up the fresh food first! Meals that can contain more non-perishable items should be scheduled for later in the week when your ‘fresh-supply’ may be a little lower.
8. Keep a log – For one week, track your waste! This will help you identify waste patterns and work to combat them.
9. Invest in good containers and kitchen gadgets – Cracked, broken, stained, or rusty containers and gadgets? Invest in your health! Stock up on good, air-tight containers and kitchen tools that perform well. This will benefit all of your efforts.
10. Store food properly – Be mindful of where in the fridge you store your items; the fridge door is the warmest part and is good for sauces and dressings; where the lower shelves are the cooler part of the fridge, and the best place for meats and eggs.
11. Learn to compost – Use up some of those kitchen leftovers to create your own compost pile to later add to your flower beds and pots! You need ‘brown’ materials, like dry leaves, newspaper, and dead flowers, layered with ‘green’ materials, like vegetable peelings, fruit rinds, egg shells, grass, and plant clippings. Make your pile about 3ft tall and then sprinkle with water to keep it moist. Mix up the pile every couple weeks, and when it is finally dry and crumbly, feed it to your flower bed!

These are all some basic food preparation and sustenance tips. But here is the part that is just as important, but not as frequently mentioned: Stay mindful of your food choices!

It’s great if you can stock up, cook in bulk, and prepare for yourself five sets of lunches that you can grab & go for the week – but the objective here also is to FEEL our best and NOURISH our bodies.

So here are some EVEN more tips to go EVEN further with your food this month:

1. Choose fresh, locally-sourced, and in-season ingredients as often as you can.
2. Be mindful of your current diet and habits, and work to integrate foods or food groups that you don’t have as often.
3. Vegetable versatility: choose healthy whole foods that can be applied to several different meals for the week.
4. Experiment with whole foods you’ve never had before!
5. Donate non-perishable pantry items to make room for healthier alternatives.

Following some of the tips from these lists should not only lead to an improved cooking and eating outlook for a stress-free lifestyle throughout the week, but also a HEALTHIER toolkit for more nourishing options. We hope that this will help you to go further…and then EVEN further…with your food.

If you're ready to help your employees go even further with food check out all of our health fair offerings for a comprehensive approach or send us a quick message to get your stand-alone station scheduled. We're always happy to help you foster healthy lifestyles at your workplace!

Get involved with National Nutrition Month on social media by using the hashtag #NationalNutritionMonth!