Prioritize Nutrition for Your Healthiest Life

Do me a favor. Think back to the traditional food you ate at the new year to bring you good luck. Was it posole, tamales, black-eyed peas, collard greens, dumplings, rice, cabbage, or sauerkraut? Something else?

This longtime custom is but one example that shows the importance we place on the food we eat and illustrates that food is much more than just something to fill our hungry bellies with. Food provides comfort, pleasure, satisfaction, and it strengthens our connection to the people and cherished traditions that are important in our lives.

However, one crucial aspect many of us often overlook when making our food choices is whether they are nutritious and are helping our bodies — or hurting them.

“The most important thing you can do for your health is to prioritize good nutrition and make informed food choices that will empower you to live your healthiest life,” said Susan Greeley, MS, RDN, Senior Vice President / National Director of Wellness Services, Castle Connolly Private Health Partners.

But for many, the ten-million-dollar question is how?

Follow the Dietary Guidelines

Again and again, research supports the notion that eating a balanced, nutritious diet is one key element to preventing and managing chronic health conditions and to sustaining energy and vitality. However, few American adults follow the readily available life-saving guidance, as evidenced by steadily increasing rates of obesity (2 out of 5) and other diseases from hypertension (nearly 50%) and high cholesterol (nearly 35%) to diabetes (nearly 12%) and heart maladies (nearly 50%).

What these statistics suggest is that either we don’t know what to eat, or we do know but can’t seem to consistently do what we know is right.

This reality prompted the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture to launch the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This guide explains how to make choices that will meet our nutrient needs, improve our health, and reduce our risk of disease at all stages of life. What the 164-page document boils down to is this:

• Choose foods and beverages that are rich in nutrients (especially calcium, potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D, and iron).
• Eat a variety of options from each food group (vegetables, fruit, dairy, grains, beans, protein sources, healthy fats) to help ensure you get all the needed nutrients.
• Even when sticking to these foods, it’s important to stay within your calorie limit and pay attention to portion size to avoid weight gain.
• Limit foods and beverages that are high in added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
• Stick to a consistent pattern of making thoughtful, informed eating choices; think of it as one decision, one meal, one day at a time.

Fortunately, there are so many delicious and nutrition foods to choose from, it’s easy to build personalization into your diet that dovetails with your specific preferences, tastes, budget, and culture.

Being open to trying new-to-you dishes introduces new sources of food and nutrients; new buying, prepping, and cooking techniques; and new information about the place and culture from which the dish originates. Even better, it widens the range of foods that you can choose from in order to make the best eating choices for your health.

Here’s a sampling of the types of healthy and readily available food you can choose from (Remember that most of these foods can be enjoyed fresh, frozen, canned, juiced, or dried.):

Vegetables 

• dark green leafy vegetables: bok choy, broccoli, chard, collards, kale, mustard greens, poke greens, romaine, spinach, taro leaves, turnip greens, watercress.

• red and orange vegetables: calabaza, carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, winter squash.
• starchy vegetables: cassava, corn, green peas, jicama, lima beans, plantains, potatoes, taro root, water chestnuts, yam, yucca.
• other vegetables: asparagus, avocado, bamboo shoots, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, green beans, kohlrabi, mushrooms, nopales, okra, onions, radish, rutabaga, seaweed, snow peas, summer squash, tomatillos, turnips.

Fruits

• apples, bananas, berries, citrus, cherries, dates, figs, grapes, guava, jackfruit, kiwi, lychee, mangoes, melon, nectarines, papaya, peaches, pears, persimmons, pineapple, plums, pomegranates, raisins.

Grains

• whole grains: amaranth, barley (not pearled), brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur, millet, oats, popcorn, quinoa, dark rye, whole-grain cornmeal, whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat chapati, whole-grain cereals and crackers, wild rice.
• refined grains: white bread, cereals, crackers, corn grits, cream of rice, cream of wheat, barley (pearled), masa, pasta, brown/white rice.

Dairy

• buttermilk, cow’s milk, soy milk, yogurt, kefir, cheeses.

Beans, Peas, Lentils

• black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, edamame, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans, pinto beans, split peas.

Protein

• meat: beef, goat, lamb, pork, game meat (bison, moose, elk, deer).
• poultry: chicken, Cornish hens, duck, game birds (ostrich, pheasant, quail), goose, turkey.
• organ meats: chitterlings, giblets, gizzard, liver, sweetbreads, tongue, tripe.
• eggs: chicken and other bird eggs.
• seafood: anchovy, black sea bass, catfish, clams, cod, crab, crawfish, flounder, haddock, hake, herring, lobster, mullet, oyster, perch, pollock, salmon, sardine, scallop, shrimp, sole, squid, tilapia, freshwater trout, light tuna, whiting.
• nuts/seeds (unsalted) and soy: tree nuts, peanuts, nut butters, seeds (chia, flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower), seed butters (sesame/tahini, sunflower); tofu, tempeh, and products made from soy flour, soy protein isolate, and soy concentrate.

Fats

• oils that contain essential fatty acids: canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, sunflower; oils naturally present in nuts, seeds, seafood, olives, avocados.

When it comes to getting proper nutrition and food variety needed to thrive, some people find it easier to follow a specific diet, like the Mediterranean Diet. If that’s you, check out the plethora of online resources to find a diet that appeals to you and whose food list can meet your nutritional, cultural, budget, and taste needs. Before starting a new diet, especially one that restricts or severely limits food groups, talk with your physician.

Takeaway

Every March, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics promotes National Nutrition Month to give Americans the information and tools they need to make informed food choices that will enable them to develop and maintain healthy eating habits — key to overall good health. Here are a few easy ways you can participate in this year’s month-long celebration designed to help you create a better connection to the food you eat and the people you share it with.

• Commit to trying one new item from each of the main food groups each week.
• Cook a meatless meal once a week using alternative protein sources like beans, lentils, eggs, tofu.
• Have each family member find a recipe that uses new-to-you foods, then have them help prep one or two of these recipes a week.
• Eat fewer restaurant meals and more home-cooked meals.
• Read food labels to get a better understanding of what’s in the food you’re buying and eating; try to stick to the foods whose ingredient list is higher in whole food items and lower in chemicals you can’t pronounce.
• Reduce food waste by researching how to store produce and other foods so that they last longer.

Yet another step you can take to improve your nutritional health is to seek guidance from experts who can provide you with personalized advice about your nutritional needs.

Your concierge physician can give you a referral to a registered dietitian/nutritionist, and your SENS Solution Wellness Program team can provide tips for ramping up your nutrition game as well as the other equally important contributors of good health, from getting sufficient exercise and quality sleep to lowering stress levels and disease risk.

It’s never too early or too late to eat healthy. And if you need help, it’s just a phone call away.

REFERENCES

Odphp, Make Every Bite Count During National Nutrition Month, https://odphp.health.gov/news/202103/make-every-bite-count-during-national-nutrition-month

CDC, Adult Obesity Facts, https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult-obesity-facts/index.html

American Heart Association, 2024-Statistics-At-A-Glance-final_2024.pdf, https://www.heart.org/-/media/PHD-Files-2/Science-News/2/2024-Heart-and-Stroke-Stat-Update/2024-Statistics-At-A-Glance-final_2024.pdf

CDC, High Blood Pressure Facts, https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html#:~:text=Nearly%20half%20of%20adults%20have%20high%20blood%20pressure,are%20taking%20medication%20for%20high%20blood%20pressure.%202

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Top 10 Things You Need to Know About the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials/top-10-things-you-need-know

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 and Online Materials, https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/resources/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials

Cleveland Clinic, How Many Calories Should You Eat in a Day?, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-many-calories-a-day-should-i-eat

Eating Well, Food Serving Sizes: A Visual Guide, https://www.eatingwell.com/article/290916/food-serving-sizes-a-visual-guide/#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20general%20guidelines%20for%20the%20number,day%206%20Fats%2C%20oils%2C%20and%20sweets%3A%20Eat%20sparingly

Cleveland Clinic, Mediterranean Diet: Food List & Meal Plan, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16037-mediterranean-diet

Eat Right, National Nutrition Month®, https://www.eatright.org/national-nutrition-month

Eat Right, 50 Ideas to Get Involved in National Nutrition Month®, https://www.eatright.org/health/wellness/awareness-campaigns/50-ideas-to-get-involved-in-national-nutrition-month