Nutrition Month is celebrated every March, and is sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Nutrition Month focuses on helping people to make correct food choices as well as developing good eating and exercising habits.
1973 saw the launch of Nutrition Week by presidential proclamation, and by 1980 it had been transformed to cover the entire month of March. Federal and state governments as well as the American Dietetic Association (as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics was then known) enthusiastically embraced Nutrition Month as an excellent vehicle to promote healthy eating and as a way to educate the public.
Nutrition Month is centered around a different theme each year, and during the years 1977 to 1980, Nutribird, who had a bright green cabbage for his head and a bold orange carrot beak, was the logo for the month.
Themes for Nutrition Month have included:
- 1973. Invest in Yourself—Buy Nutrition
- 1978. Nutribird Says: Eat a Balanced Diet Every Day
- 1989. A Lifetime Decision—Choose Good Nutrition
- 1994. Nutrition Fuels Fitness
- 2002. Start Today for a Healthy Tomorrow
- 2014. Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right
Fun Food Facts
To make eating healthily more interesting, some fun food facts:
- Banana plants are members of the herb family.
- Strawberries contain more vitamin C than oranges.
- Coffee beans are the seeds of the fruit of the coffee plant.
- One can of soda contains around 10 teaspoons of sugar.
- A hardboiled egg will spin but a soft-boiled one won’t.
- A medium-sized potato is a similar size to a computer mouse.
- Only wash grapes just before you eat them as they keep better unwashed.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics makes it easy to celebrate Nutrition Month as they have a bundle of activity hand-outs and nutrition tip sheets available for children and adults. They suggest trying out a new healthy food each week to give variety, eating at some of the many ethnic restaurants as they often offer lots of healthy options, and varying cooking methods as this gives foods a different taste.
Enjoy Nutrition Month every March, eat well and live healthy, and then carry on for the rest of the year!
