Bailey Bariatrics dietitian Rene Norman, RD/LD, shares the importance of National Nutrition Month as a reminder of how our mindset towards food affects our nutrition.
March is National Nutrition Month. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietitians (AND) picked “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right” for this year’s theme. To help celebrate this theme, AND asked dietitians to share their thoughts and inspirations about the best way to help consumers “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right.” The winner was Annelies Newman, RDN/CD of Utah. Here is her contribution:
"Imagine we are going to a beautiful National Park. But you are blindfolded and have ear plugs...how much would you enjoy the drive? Not much? Well, now start engaging your senses. Stop the car, walk around, smell the air, feel the breeze, see the beauty. Savor and enjoy. The same is true of healthy eating. Choose your favorite recipes for fruits, veggies or a healthy meal. Now sit down, relax, breathe, turn off distractions and engage as many senses into the experience as you can. Take in the colors, textures, flavors and aroma. Slow down, use your senses and enjoy!"
In our busy paced lives, we don’t often take this advice. Savoring and enjoying a meal brings satisfaction, which can result in eating less food. Marinades for poultry, pork and beef can add flavor, tenderize the meat and provides moistness to the meat. Here is a recipe for a meat marinade recipe to practice savoring the flavor.
Marinade for Pork, Chicken or Steak
From Spark People, this recipe has been used for chicken, pork and steak and takes just a few minutes to stir together. This is enough marinade for one pound of your choice of meat, poultry, pork or fish.
Ingredients
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
Directions
Mix all ingredients together. Place meat of your choice in the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least five hours or up to two days. A zip top plastic bag or shallow dish works best to keep everything together. Turn several times before cooking to distribute the marinade. A longer marinade time gives the marinade more time to tenderize the meat. Grill until done. You could also bake or broil the meat. If this marinade recipe is a winner in with your family, you can freeze the marinade with your choice of meat in a zip top freezer bag to use later. Put in the refrigerator a day before you want to use it to thaw safely.