March is National Nutrition Month, and the American Dietetic Association is encouraging people to reevaluate their diets and plan for healthy eating.The theme for this year’s Nutrition Month is improving nutrition from the ground up, said Yvette Quantz, media representative for the Louisiana Dietetic Association. This means focusing not only on food but also nutrition as a whole.Quantz said students should try to incorporate cheap, healthy foods into their diets. Top choices include beans, berries, brown rice, cabbage, eggs and canned salmon, which has a better nutrition profile than canned tuna.”For a college student, it’s important not to have the mindset of, ‘I can’t eat healthy because of my budget,'” Quantz said.One way to be healthy and save money is to plan ahead, said Beth Reames, LSU AgCenter nutritionist and member of the American Dietetic Association.”Jot down some menu ideas for a few days,” Reames said. “If you have leftovers, combine those into casseroles and stretch your food dollars that way.”Preparing food and using leftovers makes preparing meals at home cheaper than fast food, Quantz said. Adding rice or beans can also stretch meals, she said.Reames said students should also be cautious of common frugal meal staples like Ramen noodles, which are high in sodium.”Combine them with fruits and vegetables,” she said. “Potassium helps blunt the effect of sodium.”Students can still snack while being healthy, Reames said. Adding seasonal fruits or vegetables to cheap snacks like popcorn is a good alternative to junk foods, she said.Healthy snacks, such as yogurt or trail mix, are important to a complete diet, ADA spokesperson Toby Smithson wrote on the ADA Web site.”A healthy diet doesn’t mean deprivation,” he said. “There is no reason to go hungry just because you’re making healthful changes.”
 
 
 
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