Put Your Best Fork Forward for National Nutrition Month

This National Nutrition Month, put your best fork forward by doing the best YOU can do to live a healthy lifestyle and enjoy what you love in life.

As you may have heard, March is National Nutrition Month® (NNM), a time to pay special attention to what we eat and our lifestyle habits around food and nutrition. It happens that NNM comes at just the right time of year – after all, those resolutions that were made in January have likely fallen by the wayside, so it’s the perfect time to get back on track with those healthy eating habits.

What does ‘Put Your Best Fork Forward’ Mean?

This year’s theme, Put Your Best Fork Forward, is a fun one, but can mean something different to everyone. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the organization that runs NNM) explains the theme as a reminder that every bite counts and to make small changes in our eating habits, one forkful at a time. Some of my RD colleagues have explained the theme in their own words. Here are a few I really enjoyed and think explain the theme well, albeit a little differently:

• Eat Real Live Well – focus on doing your best
• Lemond Nutrition – eating healthy is an undertaking that requires effort and determination
• Heather Goesch Nutrition – focus on being a work in progress
• Sharon Palmer Nutrition – eating healthier doesn’t happen overnight

How Can You ‘Put Your Best Fork Forward’

I agree with all of these explanations and have always advocated for making small changes when it comes to lifestyle habits. To me, Put Your Best Fork Forward is about doing the best you can do to live a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced diet, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight, all while enjoying what you love in life.

What does that mean? You should enjoy that slice of cake at your friend’s birthday party if you want it. You shouldn’t feel guilty about skipping a workout if you’re not in the mood or have a deadline to meet. You menu plan with the goal of cooking a certain number of meals at home, but if life gets in the way, you order takeout and that’s okay.

The point is, you’re human and the best you can do is just that – the best for you. No guilt, no shame, no throwing in the towel. If one day doesn’t go the way you planned, there’s always the next day.

As you work towards putting your best fork forward this month (and hopefully for longer), here are a few of my previous posts that may help you out:

• 10 Practical Lifestyle Changes You Can Make for a Healthier New Year
• 5 Tips to Stay on Track Over the Weekend
• 7 Ways to Improve Your Fruit and Vegetable Intake
• 5 Easy Ways to Eat More Mindfully
• How to Reignite Your New Year’s Resolutions

How will you put your best fork forward this year?

Please share with me below or on social media!