National Nutrition Month®, sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, is an annual nutrition education and information campaign in March that allows for the public to gain and spread awareness about the importance of making informed food choices and developing healthy lifestyle habits.
This year’s theme is “Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle”, which promotes adopting healthy eating and physical activity plans in order to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Following a diet that corresponds to the Dietary Guidelines and MyPlate recommendations will help you adopt a healthy eating plan.
For nutrition tips and ideas, read these 10 Tips Nutrition Education Series from MyPlate. They provide easy-to-follow tips on various nutrition topics. Following these some of these tips will definitely start you off on the right track towards a healthier lifestyle.
A registered dietitian nutritionist can also help you meet your nutrition goals.
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)
There are various reasons to see a registered dietitian (or registered dietitian nutritionist). It can seem like there is wealth of nutrition information available online, but there is also a great deal of misinformation that can lead people to make unhealthy food choices. This is why it is always necessary to make sure that the information you are getting is coming from a reputable source, but sorting through these materials alone can be very challenging. Seeing an RDN is a sure way to obtain the most accurate, up-to-date information on nutrition, which is extremely important when reaching your nutrition goals.
Here are some of the benefits of seeing an RDN:
- Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, but RDNs have completed years of education and training. This means that you are getting the highest level of nutrition counseling and recommendations.
- When you see an RDN, they will not just give you general advice on how to manage your diet. They will gather your health history, current and past eating habits, food preferences and other information to better understand your overall health. By getting to know you, RDNs will assist you in setting customized, manageable goals and give personally tailored advice on how to meet those goals.
- Whether you want to manage your cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer, an RDN will help you understand and obtain the proper nutrition required to best manage your chronic disease.
- If you suffer from food allergies, sensitivities or intolerances, an RDN can help you in navigating your diet. They can teach you how to accurately read food labels to avoid certain ingredients and offer alternative options to ensure you are not at risk for nutrient deficiencies.
- If your goal is to lose weight, an RDN can create an effective weight loss plan that will result in healthy lifestyle changes.
Nutrition counseling can benefit anyone, but it is especially valuable for cancer patients who need to prevent weight loss. It is even better if cancer patients are able to consult with RDNs who are Certified Specialists in Oncology (CSO). CSOs have had over 2000 hours of additional training above and beyond their RDN training and have passed a nationwide certification examination. They have specific expertise to help cancer patients manage specific side effects resulting from treatments and help them meet their nutritional needs.
At Meals to Heal, we believe proper nutrition for cancer patients is fundamental to comprehensive cancer care, which is why we have a team of registered dietitians with CSO credentials that are available to assist everyday. You can visit our website for more information on the counseling services that we offer https://savor-health.flywheelsites.com/nutrition-counseling/, or you can also search for an oncology dietitian in your area, http://www.oncologynutrition.org/search.
If you would like to learn more about National Nutrition Month®, go to website for Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. You can also read our last year’s blog post here. This blog post covers some tips on what you can do to combat cancer treatment-related side effects.
Resources:
- “National Nutrition Month® Media Materials.” Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. <http://www.eatrightpro.org/resources/media/multimedia-news-center/national-nutrition-month-media-materials>.
- “What an RDN Can Do for You.” Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. <http://www.eatright.org/resource/food/resources/learn-more-about-rdns/what-an-rdn-can-do-for-you>.
- “10 Tips Nutrition Education Series.” MyPlate. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-tips/ten-tips.html>.
Image: <http://www.nationalnutritionmonth.org/uploadedImages/National_Nutrition_Month_Stand
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