Celebrate a World of Flavors!
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has deemed March 2022 as National Nutrition Month. This year’s nutritional emphasis is on embracing the global culture of cuisine by encouraging people to allow their palates to explore healthy foods from around the world. Experimenting with new shades of color and novel flavor combinations can contribute to a healthy lifestyle, so open your mind to trying some of what this wide world of varying cultures has to offer. Check out the Cuisine section under the “Browse Categories” drop-down menu on this helpful database provided by the USDA. It’s loaded with interesting meal ideas from around the world, including a huge vegetarian section for those who prefer a plant-based diet.
Americans on average tend to overdo some of the less healthy options when it comes to mealtime. The U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting added sugars and saturated fats to the food and drinks of those age 2 and older. Of course one meal won’t make or break a person’s health, but to establish useful guidelines that will be conducive to the development of health-optimizing habits we can learn from the USDA’s My Plate program. My Plate personalizes a plan for you based on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. It helps you create meals with the right amounts from each of the food groups consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy. Of course it has lactose-free, vegetarian, seafood allergy, and other personal dietary options to take into consideration for your plan. There’s even a free app for IOS or Android, so wherever you go you’ll always have access to information for delicious and nutritious food offerings. You can get started by taking a short quiz (really a simple assessment) about your current habits that will assist you with the right first steps. For further nutritional education, there’s no shortage of resources offered by My Plate, including videos, graphics, and fun tools.
If you want to specifically target particular vitamins and minerals as you peruse the many cultural food offerings from around the globe you can cross check individual ingredients for their nutritional content with this handy guide to what’s in food. It has the facts on vitamins and minerals from A to Z. Alternatively, you can search more by food name at the USDA’s Food Data Central. It zeroes right into the specifics of what you’re looking for.
If you don’t want to go out on a limb and try cooking your own ethnic dish, consider visiting a new restaurant that represents that nation or culture’s culinary offerings. Dining out can be more challenging when monitoring a healthy intake of food than preparing it yourself, but with a few easy preemptive strategies you can still celebrate a world of flavors without compromising your healthy initiative.
A healthy diet goes a long way in contributing to a healthy life, but diet alone, unfortunately, can’t repair muscular imbalances, weakness, or joint pain caused from accidents, arthritis, or dysfunctional movement patterns. To accurately assess, treat, and repair problems with your neck, back, or limbs you need an experienced and educated professional. Physical Therapy Doctors of Florida are Licensed Physical Therapists and Assistants who specialize in helping you move without pain. Augment your nutritious eating with pain-free moving and get back to the things you enjoy doing. Call us today at (941) 264-1414, email info@ptdoctorsfl.com, or fill out our Message Form for more information or to schedule a consultation. Your non-surgical back and joint pain specialists are conveniently located in Bradenton to serve all of Manatee and Sarasota Counties.