Celebrate National Nutrition Month®
March is National Nutrition Month® (NNM) – a nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the American Dietetic Association. Initiated in March 1973 as a week-long event, it became a month long observance in 1980 in response to a growing public interest in nutrition. The campaign is designed to focus attention on the importance of making healthy and informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.
The key messages of the campaign include:
1) The food and physical activity choices made today and everyday affect individuals’ health and how they feel today and in the future. Eating right and being physically active are keys to a healthy lifestyle.
2) It is essential to make smart choices from every food group. A body can have the balanced nutrition it needs when persons eat a variety of nutrient-packed foods every day. It is, nevertheless, important to stay within each person’s daily calorie needs.
3) It is essential to get the most nutrition out of calories by choosing the most nutritionally rich foods from each food group daily – those packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients, but lower in calories.
4) It is important to find balance between food and physical activity. Regular physical activity is important for overall health and fitness, plus it helps control body weight, promotes a feeling of well-being and reduces the risk of chronic diseases; and
5) Foods should be prepared, handled and stored properly to keep individuals and their families safe.
The American Dietetic Association has set up web pages with information as well as activities related to the NNM including, but not limited to a NNM 2006 fact sheet, a teacher’s guide with suggestions for classroom activities, a NNM quiz, a NNM merchandise website, and event ideas.
Event ideas listed on the website include promoting food and nutrition fairs; conducting supermarket tours to provide label reading opportunities and information about health food choices; conducting a series of healthy weight and fitness sessions; spending some time reading labels and comparing calories, fat, sugar content, vitamins, etc.; organizing a “healthy recipe” contest; and contacting the local library and scheduling a story time, movie, nutrition program or a poster/coloring contest for kids; among others.
For additional information on the National Nutrition Month®, please contact:
American Dietetic Association
Headquarters
120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000
Chicago, Illinois 60606-6995
Phone: (800) 877-1600
Washington, DC Office
1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 480
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (800) 877-0877
Email: nnm@eatright.org
Source: American Dietetic Association website.