Nutrition Month 2024: An intro to food literacy
March is Nutrition Month! In this article, we’ll be exploring a key pillar of nutrition – food literacy!
According to Dietitians of Canada, Canadians face many different challenges when making choices about food. Those might include external influences, the marketing of food, and the increasing number of processed foods high in calories, fat, sodium and sugars. Your food literacy skills can also have an impact on your ability to make nutritious choices. Keep reading to find out how you can increase your food literacy to make more healthful choices for your diet.
Building your food literacy
Just like your health literacy, your food literacy impacts your ability to advocate for yourself and make healthy, balanced choices when it comes to your diet.
A dietitian can provide trustworthy nutrition information, help you build confidence in your food skills, and address the external influences that might be impacting your food decisions. A dietitian will provide you with more than just a meal plan. Your dietitian will also educate you on how to make more nutritious choices on your own and help you to develop the skills to make better decisions.
Get started with these resources!
You don’t have to wait to get started with improving your food literacy.
- Explore UnlockFood.ca for expert guidance from Dietitians of Canada. You’ll find a wealth of articles about cooking and food, nutrition for heart health, weight and health, food allergies, meal planning, short quizzes and much more.
- Check out Cookspiration to explore healthy recipe ideas when you’re not sure what to make for dinner.
- Explore Canada’s food guide for tips on healthy eating, recipes ideas and how using food labels can help you compare and choose products so you can make an informed choice.
- Give meal planning a try to help you avoid eating out for a week. Not sure how? Try these simple steps:
- Grab a pen and paper (or your phone) and write out the days of the week. Note what’s going on this week. Soccer practice on Tuesdays and swimming lessons on Thursdays? Plan for leftovers or quick meals on busy nights.
- Choose your meals. Whether you stick to tried and true favorites or try out something new, map out what you’ll make each day of the week. If you need inspiration, ask your family what they’d like to eat, check out Pinterest for new recipes to try, or check out our Wellness Guide for easy and healthy recipes!
- Get your ingredients. Take a quick scan of the recipes you’ve chosen, then take stock of the ingredients you’ll have to purchase and what’s already in your pantry. Incorporate what you’ll need into your weekly grocery list.
- You can also try Cookspiration’s Meal Planning tool here to help guide you through the meal planning process!
- Check out our past articles written in collaboration with Courtney Berg, Registered Dietitian with Vitality Nutrition – and keep an eye out for this year’s series!