Food Day is an opportunity to find a healthy new recipe or evaluate your nutrition
Oct. 24 is Food Day, a nationwide promotion of healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food. Why not mark the day by trying a recipe from the Eat Real Cookbook created by some of America’s top chefs? Or, try creating one of these Halloween treats.
Food Day can also be an opportunity to think about the consequences of what we eat. Sadly, the American diet of cheap food and drink has too many calories and not enough nutrition. That diet contributes to several hundred thousand premature deaths from heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer each year. Curious about how your diet rates? Take the Eat Real quiz.
The alternative — promoted by Food Day sponsors — is a healthy diet that would help us avoid obesity, heart disease and other diet-related conditions. Food Day advocates call for action to ensure that a healthy diet is available to all Americans, regardless of their age, race, income or geographic location. Those are the same goals that have been set by the City of Minneapolis and are being used to trigger work in Homegrown Minneapolis and Department of Health and Family Support programming.
There are many ways to get on track for a healthy diet, including:
- Switch out your soda for a glass of water.
- Challenge yourself to eat five fruits or vegetables a day.
- Plan a meal that involves cooking without a microwave.
- Swap refined white bread grains for nutritious whole grains.
- Read the labels of the food you buy and make sure the first ingredients in the list are nutritious ingredients.
- Reduce sugary snacks and replace them with fruits and vegetables.
- Get creative with salads or veggies as a main meal for lunch or dinner, by adding chicken, shrimp or tofu for protein.
- Start with a good breakfast such as low-fat yogurt and fresh berries, fruit and peanut butter or whole grain bread.
- Get ready for cold weather by making sure your winter diet includes foods rich in the antioxidants vitamin C and beta-carotene such as citrus fruit, cabbage, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach. Make sure to include nutritiously dense foods such as whole grains, seeds – especially sunflower and sesame seeds – dried beans and lentils.
Food Day was created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to improve our nation’s food policies.
Published Oct. 24, 2012