Are You Game?

Take a deep breath in. Smell that? No, that's not spring you are smelling nor your significant other's feet. It is the beginning of National Nutrition Month. Which basically equates to some tingle of excitement for RDs, DTRs, Dietetic Interns, and nutrition students (formal and informal). This excitement will last of all of, well, today and possibly into next week.

If you are fortunate enough, you may stumble upon an information booth that a RD, or other nutrition maniac, is holding a grocery store. But where is the fun in that? You might get a free apple and, hold on to your seats kids, some handouts concerning what is consider proper nutrition. You may consider looking over those papers but everybody, including that nutrition educator, knows that ultimately you're going to throw them out. By the time you walk away from the booth you're wondering if ketchup on your eggs can be considered a vegetable.


Why is it they are almost always giving away the type of apple most people hate? Image from LongIslandPress.com.

That is about as far as most people will get during National Nutrition Month. More than likely, you won't be seeing any of that.

That's not happening here folks. No way, no how. If you remember last National Nutrition Month I undertook four different dietary therapies/ trends. In case you can't recall, you can catch a glimpse here, here, over here, and right there.

A few months back I wrote a piece on how often people follow the new USDA model for good nutrition, MyPlate. As it turns out, it's one week a year. That is out of the 365 days a year, at 3 meals a day, making that 1,095 meals, only 21 meals are equal to my plate. Kind of sad folks.

I want you to do better. Beat out that average American. You know why? It's because I know people who read this are not the average American. This is my challenge to you. Make one week of your meals this month model MyPlate. That's 21 of the 60 meals you will have this month. (Sorry guys, since I'm posting this after day one there are 3 less opportunities.) I am going to attempt to achieve this all month. (I didn't give myself the late start, I started today and have gotten all my meals to be MyPlate friendly.)

Here are some guidelines to help you out:
1. Ketchup, nor hot sauce, is a vegetable. However salsa and pasta sauces are allowable.
2. You don't have to get exactly one quarter of your plate protein, grains, vegetables, and fruit each. I only want you to get some of all of those things on there.
3. Plates come in all sizes. If you have a big plate don't feel the need to pile it on.
4. This may be a given, but this challenge does accept bowls as a formidable replacement to a plate.
5. Low-fat or fat-free milk is the recommended form of dairy. Low-fat or fat-free cheeses, yogurts, and cottage cheeses are permitted as well.
6. Protein is not just meat. It can be eggs, beans/ legumes, and nuts.
7. Try to make your grain selections whole-grains.
8. This challenge does not apply to snacks, just meals.





I will document what I find pertinent and, as always, entertaining. If you're feel like a nutrition rockstar, go ahead and post a picture of your plate or bowl in the comments to show off what you did. I only request that you don't post pictures of someone snorting what appears to be a sugar substitute imitating real rockstars.