It’s National Nutrition Month… And Why That Shouldn’t Necessarily Be A Big Deal
When I was a kid, usually during either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day (or more likely, during both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day) I or one of my brothers would invariably ask the same question: “When’s Children’s Day?” To which we would invariably get the same answer: “Why, EVERY day is Children’s Day!” The point being, while one day a year might be set aside for kids to make something resembling an effort to take care of mom or dad respectively, every single day has both Mom and Dad taking care of their kids.
Which brings me to this whole National-Nutrition-Month-Week-Day-Whatever. Yes, it’s a fine idea to take a moment from our otherwise super busy social media chaos to shine a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram light on the importance of nutrition during a set-aside period of time. But let’s remember that honoring our bodies–that is, taking care of our health–is not something that is bound to specific numbered squares on the calendar, be it the month of March, or ambitious resolutions committed to on January 1st.
In our event-driven cultural mindset–in which one noteworthy idea flows into the next in an on-going parade of social media trendiness–it is easy to forget that certain, important things are not events, but in fact ways of being. Nutrition is a part of everyone’s life, every day. Some people focus energy on maintaining regular nutritional intake that promotes robust health. Others give what they eat very little thought. While National Nutrition Month gives lifestyle writers something to write about, for people like me, the art of trying to guide people who don’t focus on healthful nourishment to find healthier ways of eating is a year-round pursuit.
So if you find yourself somehow influenced by the annual arbitrarily-chosen nutrition hoopla, good for you, and help spread the word that eating well for maximum health is a good thing. But whether or not any of these days or events even show up on your who-cares-radar, I and my colleagues will be here in the trenches, inspiring people to put beneficial foods in their bodies, and encouraging them to improve their relationships with eating.
Every day.
