Make small changes one meal at a time

MARPAC’s Health and Wellness Strategy Team

Joanne Baxter, Health Promotion ~

To kick off Nutrition Month on March 1, MARPAC’s Health and Wellness Strategy Team will be handing out fruit at the Naden and Dockyard gates.

The yummy treat is a reminder to all members of the defence team that they need seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day.

It’s also one of the initiatives the base will be taking throughout March to encourage everyone to eat a little healthier.

The Wardroom, Venture and Nelles Block will be promoting healthy choices by offering a healthy side salad to cash paying customers:
Week 1 – Spinach Mandarin salad
Week 2 – Garden Tossed salad
Week 3 – Fruit Salad  
Week 4 – Marinated Vegetables

The message is that small and consistent changes can lead to better choices. It’s part of the Dietitians of Canada 2016 campaign, “Take the 100 Meal Journey: Make small changes one meal at a time.”

To help Canadians enact this change, the campaign features a five-week action plan:
Week 1: Get ready. Visit the website (www.dietitians.ca), make the pledge, set small goals.
Week 2: Quality counts. Cook more meals, focus on nutrient rich ingredients.
Week 3: Prioritize portion size. Strategies for realistic portions.
Week 4: Try something new. Tasty new flavors make choices easy.
Week 5: Make it stick. Doable strategies for inevitable detours.
Week 1: Getting Ready

Self-monitoring – Tracking your eating habits builds awareness about food intake and eating patterns. It helps identify areas where you can make change and helps you stay on track.

Stimulus Control – Many messages within our environments signal for us to eat. Examine your own personal environment and find ways to make choosing the healthier options easier.

Goal Setting – Make your goals SMART: Specific, Measureable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Time-Framed.

Planning – Plan ahead to help set yourself up for mealtime success.

Visit www.dietitians.ca/gettheapps, to download three apps designed to help you along the way:
Cookspiration: find dietician approved recipes.
eaTipster: Get a dietician approved nutrition tip every day.
eaTracker: Consumers can enter foods and activities, set goals to change activity and eating habits, and get feedback on progress.

Watch the Lookout over the next four weeks for more nutrition month tips from the MARPAC Health and Wellness Team.