National Nutrition Month
March is National Nutrition Month: Eat a Rainbow of Vegetables and Fruits
Nurture Your Food Wisdom!
What comes to mind when you think about nutrition? Perhaps it’s the food pyramid recommending set amounts of carbs, veggies, and protein. Maybe it’s experimenting with keto, paleo, or intermittent fasting. If any of these ideas are on your list, Student Wellness Services invites you to reframe how you define nutrition and gain food wisdom! Intuitive eating experts, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, encourage individuals to honor their health using gentle nutrition by following three concepts below:
Variety: Do you tend to eat the same food day after day? Are you dieting and restricting food groups (i.e., carbs)? Try opening yourself up to a wide spectrum of nutrients you’re craving by switching up your food routine and giving unconditional permission to eat various foods.
Moderation: Are you measuring your foods or putting limits on how much you can eat? Awaken your inner intuitive eater by honoring your hunger and fullness and make peace with all foods. As you eat, ask yourself, “Do I need to eat more or less to satisfy my hunger?”
Balance: Balance of nutrients looks different for everyone and you can trust yourself to know what your body needs. Tribole and Resch (2012) state that “adults often become disconnected from their intuitive wisdom due to powerful influences from the media, from friends, and certainly from dieting, but that wisdom can be reimagined.” How can you practice restoring balance throughout this week?
Eat the Rainbow
Get Red in Yo Head:
Red fruits and veggies are great for decreasing inflammation and increasing immunity! Think of tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, radishes, cherries, red peppers, apples, beets, watermelon, potatoes, and grapefruit.
Go for the Gold:
Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables are also great for decreasing inflammation and increasing immunity! Try orange and yellow peppers, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe, oranges, bananas, apricots, nectarines, peaches, mangoes, and pineapple.
Green Gets the Job Done:
Deep greens have lasting benefits, such as helping your lungs stay healthy, keeping your liver functioning, producing blood cells, increasing blood clots, and lowering blood pressure! Eat up those dark leafy greens (kale, spinach, swiss chard, cilantro, etc), green beans, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, avocado, kiwi, green apples, grapes, and pears.
Live Purple and Blue:
Eat up these to protect your cells from damage, improve your memory (for class!), and reduce aging. Try red onion, purple cabbage, eggplant, purple potatoes, blueberries, blackberries, plums, raisins, and purple grapes.
White is Bright on Your Plate:
Eat up the white and beige foods to help lower cholesterol, protect your cells from damage, and increase your immune system’s fighting power. Try cauliflower, garlic, jicama, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, and rutabagas.