The month of March has been designated as National Professional Social Work Month. In fact, a previous post on this website had been dedicated to Social Work Month. In addition, March happens to be National Nutrition Month. Since nutritional choices are known to exert such a notably profound impact on peoples’ health statuses, National Nutrition Month deserves a very honorable mention and a post to call its own.
National Nutrition Month is an informational and educational campaign that lasts for one entire month. The entire purpose and aim of this campaign is to educate people in the U.S. on a massive scale regarding principles of good nutrition, as well as prompt them to pay closer attention to the sheer importance of opting for regular exercise, overall physical fitness, and nutritious food choices.
This campaign is viewed by dietitians, nutritionists, dietetic technicians and other important stakeholders in the health and fitness sector as an effective means to promote the significance of optimal nutrition and regular exercise habits to the American public on a very large scale. After all, good nutrition and consistent exercise can result in good health, while poor nutrition and no exercise can lead to disease and premature death.
Improving one’s health status through good nutritional choices enhances well-being; in addition, weight loss and/or maintenance of an ideal body weight can lessen the risk of developing chronic medical afflictions such as heart disease and diabetes (National Day Calendar, 2019). In other words, the goals of National Nutrition Month are really noble and should be applauded by all members of the American public.
Here is a brief history on the interesting origins of National Nutrition Month. It all got started in 1973 as National Nutrition Week. In 1980, the formerly one week-long celebration ended up ballooning into a one month-long observance as a direct response to the public’s increasing attention to matters that revolved around nutrition. This makes perfect sense due to the fact that nutrition affects every aspect of most peoples’ lives.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2019), National Nutrition Month, which is recognized on a yearly basis during the month of March, aims to help people recognize the importance of making informed nutritional choices and cultivating good eating habits and physical activity routines. Healthy diets and healthful exercise routines are solid habits that can prevent disease and help people to live longer lives.
Here is an example of how nutrition can directly affect an individual’s health status in a detrimental manner. Even though it is true that type 2 diabetes has a strong hereditary component, development of this metabolic disease is often triggered by poor nutritional choices such as a diet that contains too many processed carbohydrates. In addition, nearly 90 percent of persons afflicted with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.
Moreover, type 2 diabetes actually can be put into remission in its early stages by strict adherence to a healthy low glycemic diet that significantly curtails or eliminates added sugars and processed carbohydrates, as well as losing enough weight to get one’s body weight into the normal range of the body mass index (BMI). Yes, type 2 diabetes can be reversed in its earliest stages through implementation of hardcore lifestyle changes.
Hence, healthy lifestyle changes such as consistently sound nutritional choices and healthful exercise habits can contribute to the complete reversal of type 2 diabetes in the earlier stages of this dreadful disease process. This is an example of how poor nutrition can result in the development of a disease process. It is also an example of how dietary changes and a regular exercise habit can provoke the remission of a disease process.
To observe National Nutrition Month, an individual can choose to utilize the hash tag #NationalNutritionMonth when posting on various social media outlets (National Day Calendar, 2019). Persons can also observe National Nutrition Month by making healthful alterations to their diets and exercise routines to optimize their health statuses, as well as openly discussing their healthier lifestyle changes to the people in their lives.
REFERENCES
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (2019). National Nutrition Month. Retrieved from https://www.eatright.org/food/resources/national-nutrition-month/national-nutrition-month
National Day Calendar. (2019). National Nutrition Month – March. Retrieved from https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-nutrition-month-march/
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