March is National Nutrition Month. To celebrate, I tapped a few registered dietitians (RD) for their best nutrition advice. The prompt was simple: What’s your No. 1 tip for healthy eating that you want everyone to know?
Believe it or not, the answers are incredibly simple and straightforward. Not a single dietitian recommended following a diet or restricting calories! As a matter of fact, these tips are about adding more foods to your plate and building well-balanced meals.
Eat more plants, in any way possible
My top nutrition tip is based on my own experience as a registered dietitian and vegetarian for more than a decade: Add more plants to your plate at every single meal, in any way possible. Whether that means blending greens into a smoothie, adding black beans to tacos, using minced mushrooms in your burger or simply adding a yummy side of corn to your main dish, there are plenty of ways to get plants in your meals.
Not only do plants boost the flavor of most meals, they also provide ample health benefits. Research suggests eating more plant-based foods may play a role in prevention and treatment of heart disease, cancer, obesity and osteoporosis. It’s no surprise since plants are the major source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Change your mind on processed foods
“It’s time to let go of the thinking that all processed food is bad,” says Elizabeth Shaw, registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and author of the “Air Fryer Cookbook For Dummies.”
“In fact, processed simply means prepared,” she tells TODAY.com. Many processed foods — like frozen fruits and vegetables, canned beans, yogurt, and soy products, like tofu and tempeh — are actually quite nutritious.
Shaw says that many Americans are missing out on important nutrients, like fiber, potassium and vitamin D, and many processed foods include those nutrients. That said, research shows that eating an abundance of ultraprocessed foods, like soft drinks, sugary baked…
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