Eat Right, Bite By Bite

By Rilee Froehling, RDN, LD

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics celebrates National Nutrition Month in March each year to bring awareness to healthy eating. The theme this year is Eat Right, Bite By Bite. This means making each bite count and changing your eating habits in small steps. Small changes like reducing portions of dessert, bringing a healthy appetizer to a party, or choosing whole wheat bread instead of white bread are examples of small changes that can lead to a big impact on your overall health.

The 2015-2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans reported that most Americans do not consume enough vegetables, fruit, dairy, or healthy fats. Here are some more tips on how to eat right and incorporate more of these important foods into your diet:

Vegetables

• Add a side salad at meals
• Add extra vegetables to soup and stir fry
• Snack on raw vegetables and hummus
• Have vegetables prepped ahead of time to make them convenient during the busy week.

Fruit

• Add fruit to salads, oatmeal, and yogurt
• Choose fruit as a snack
• Make a fruit and yogurt smoothie
• Satisfy your sweet tooth with a bowl of berries topped with whipped cream

Dairy

• Have yogurt topped with berries as a snack.
• Make a greek yogurt dill dip to have with raw vegetables
• Have a mozzarella cheese stick as a snack or slice it up and add it to your salad
• Include a glass of low fat milk or dairy substitute that is fortified with calcium and vitamin D with your meal.

Healthy Fats

• Cook with extra virgin olive oil and other plant-based oils
• Limit tropical oils like coconut and palm
• Snack on nuts or add them to salads
• Eat fatty fish like salmon twice per week.

And as you change your eating habits bite by bite, you can also increase your physical activity step by step! Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week (30 minutes, 5 days per week). Got a long way to go? Start with a 10 minutes walk and build from there!