National Nutrition Month is an annual check in on a person’s diet and health lifestyle. This is important to everyone especially as we age. Are you getting enough nutrients, vitamins, calories in your diet? This campaign helps focus attention to the importance of making informed food choices developing proper eating habits.

Here are a few simple tips to help stay nutritionally balanced into older age:

• Balance food intake with physical activity
• Keep your portions balance – If you are less active, choose smaller serving sizes
• Add vegetables, salad, and fruit
• Make sure to add carbs to your diet at each meal
• Choose carbs high in fiber
• Look to get in five servings of fruit and vegetables every day – this can be fresh or frozen
• Remember to get in a mix of colors for fruit and vegetables such as apples, oranges, bananas, spinach, cabbage, carrots, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and sweet corn
• Include health proteins, dairy foods, heart-healthy fats
• Stay away from saturated fats, trans fats
• Replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats (olive oil, peanut oil)
• Include polyunsaturated fats (omega-3, omega-6, sesame oil, flaxseed oil)