Nutrition from the Ground Up Means “Back to Basics”

I have been getting very interesting responses to my question What does Nutrition from the Ground Up mean to you?! Instead of compiling all of them in one single article – as I had originally planned – I will highlight a couple of them at a time and write a series of articles during this National Nutrition Month.

Here is one from registered dietitian Elisa Zied:

To me, Nutrition From the Ground Up means getting back to basics in terms of diet, nutrition, and health–choosing as many whole, fresh, and minimally processed foods as possible and making them the foundation for a healthy diet. We all live busy, harried lives and have too much on our plates (literally and figuratively!), but if we take a moment to step back, look at our diet and lifestyle patterns, and take small, simple steps to choose and eat more of the foods that are lacking in our diet–like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean sources of protein in particular– that alone can help us get more key nutrients our bodies need not to mention leave less room for high calorie, nutrient poor foods. Each and every one of us has the power to start eating more healthfully. If we take small steps to achieve that by tackling one meal at a time, one day at a time, we can rebuild a diet that’s more nutritious and still delicious. Eating a diet that’s heavy in real foods that are healthfully prepared can help us fill up on fewer calories, and feel more energized. It can also increase the quality of life, help ward off diet-related diseases and conditions, and put us in a better position both mentally and physically to tackle all the obstacles and challenges we face each and every day.

Here is another from registered dietitian Caryn Roll, who also advises taking small steps as you take control of what you eat:

To me, nutrition from the ground up means cooking your own food and staying away from processed junk. I think people should just stick to ingredients that even grandma can understand.  Now that is nutrition from the ground up!

Make small changes and build on those changes like drink more water and then maybe try dropping one meat meal in favor of a vegetarian meal. Experiment with unsaturated fat like olive oil, nuts and avocados.  Switch to whole wheat pasta.

These are excellent comments and very actionable advice. I also think that the message of going back to basics reflects the current mood where a lot of us are becoming more aware of the pitfalls of relying on nutrition out of a box!

What do you think? What does this notion of Nutrition from the Ground Up mean to you? What small changes have you made to your family’s diet recently?

Please share in your comments below. I would love to hear from you!

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Related Posts

Tagged as: Dietitian, Eating Habits, healthy eating, Home Cooking, Nutrition from the Ground Up, Nutrition Month