March is National Nutrition Month and Pemi-Baker Community Health’s newest Community Partner, Denise Poudrier Normandin, founder, and CEO of Enlighten Nutrition & Wellness wants us to make every bite count. In December, the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 were released, and the aim is to promote health and prevent disease. With over two decades of experience as a Registered/Licensed Dietitian and Health Education, Denise helps make sense of the new findings.
Choosing a healthy lifestyle is key to promoting, maintaining and/or regaining health. Therefore, it is important to consider if your lifestyle choices are programming your biology for health or disease. One of the most significant ways we impact our biology is by the food choices we make on a regular basis. Food can be healing or harmful to our bodies. That is why it is important to choose whole, real foods, the way they are intended from nature. 
“Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food” – Hippocrates. Hippocrates of Kos was a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is often referred to as the “Father of Medicine.”
Just about everyone, no matter their health status, can benefit from shifting food and beverage choices to better support health.
The review of the scientific evidence on diet and health that informs the Dietary Guidelines is representative of the U.S. population—it includes people who are healthy, people at risk for diet-related chronic conditions and diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, and some people who are living with one or more of these diet-related chronic diseases.
The Dietary Guidelines is not intended to contain clinical guidelines for treating chronic diseases. Chronic diseases result from a complex mix of genetic, biological, behavioral, socioeconomic, and environmental factors, and people with these conditions have unique health care requirements that require careful oversight by a health professional. These largely preventable chronic diseases put people at a greater risk for illness, including COVID-19.
Are you ready to make every bite count and start programming your biology for HEALTH?
Here are a few tips for the dietary guidelines to get you started:
- Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every life stage.
- Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations.
- Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages and stay within calorie limits.
- Limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
A healthy dietary pattern consists of nutrient-dense forms of foods and beverages across all food groups, in recommended amounts, and within calorie limits.
The core elements that make up a healthy dietary pattern include:
- Vegetables of all types—dark green; red and orange; beans, peas, and lentils; starchy; and other vegetables
- Fruits, especially whole fruit
- Grains, at least half of which are whole grain
- Dairy, including fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, and/or plant-based
sources - Protein foods, including high quality proteins; beans, peas, and lentils; lean meats,
poultry, and eggs; and nuts, seeds, and soy products - Oils, including vegetable oils and oils in food, such as seafood and nuts
Denise is accepting new patients and is a preferred provider of Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) and is available to meet one-on-one to create a healthy eating plan that works for YOU! She is committed to building stronger, healthier individuals, families and communities through face-to-face individual and group nutrition consultations, telehealth, corporate training workshops, wellness retreats, health, and lifestyle coaching, and speaking engagements. Most recently, she became a board-certified diplomat in Lifestyle Medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. “My passion is to inspire healthy living practices to improve health and transform lives!” Private insurance and Medicare accepted. To learn more email Denise or visit her website: denise@enlightenlivewell.com or enlightenlivewell.com
With over 50 years of experience, serving clients from 22 towns in central and northern New Hampshire, Pemi-Baker Community Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Services include at-home healthcare (VNA), hospice and palliative care, on-site physical and occupational therapy, and aquatic therapy in their 90-degree therapy pool.
PBCH is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org
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