If you’re looking to supercharge your diet this year, March is a great time to start, because it’s National Nutrition Month 2025!
What started as a public campaign by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 1973 has only flourished over time, annually drawing Americans’ attention to the importance of eating a healthy diet and staying physically active.
Nutrition education is what we’re all about here at Catalyst Nutrition and Training. For this year’s National Nutrition Month, we wanted to present you with some unique nutrition tips that you may not find from a lot of other sources.
A healthy and sustainable diet is the foundation of a strong body and mind, so let’s get into it! Here’s how to supercharge your diet this National Nutrition Month.
1. Consider Ancient Grains
If you’ve ever passed by the healthy cereals in the grocery store, you may have seen that some of them contain something called ancient grains. Of course, ancient grains aren’t found just in cereals!
As their name says, ancient grains are those that are mostly the same as they were when they were grown by people thousands of years ago. Examples of ancient grains include quinoa, amaranth, chia, spelt, and farro.
Ancient grains could be called superfoods because they’re whole grains that haven’t been stripped of their nutrients during the modern refining and enrichment process.
When you eat ancient grains, you’re getting all the health benefits they’ve been offering people for many, many years, including fiber, antioxidants, and magnesium for healthy muscles and blood sugar levels.
You can add ancient grains to your diet in salads, yogurts, risotto, and more.
Make a note, though, that not all ancient grains are gluten-free! If you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy, don’t worry, because we have a nutrition tip for you below!
2. Eat Gluten-Free Fermented Foods
We don’t leave anyone out here at Catalyst Nutrition and Training. If you’re gluten-free for any reason, you can try adding some fermented foods to your diet to balance out your gut’s microbiome of organisms.
In the case of celiac disease, individuals may struggle at times to keep their gut flora in a healthy place to absorb all the necessary nutrients from their food. Fermented foods can restore that balance of microorganisms and help you derive more benefits from what you already eat.
Gluten-free fermented foods include yogurt, green olives, Japanese miso, Korean kimchi, sauerkraut, and tempeh.
People who are gluten-free often hear about the foods to avoid in their diets, so we hope this tip has helped you to ADD some unique and less-talked-about foods into your day!
3. Focus on Your Food
For this one, we’re not suggesting any particular type of food to eat, but instead a WAY to eat.
Think about how you eat every day. Most of us are busy all the time, but eating is something we know we have to do regardless of our schedules.
So, what do we do?
We combine eating with other activities: driving, working, watching TV, you name it.
The result is that we often don’t get the chance to enjoy our food, taste it, savor it, or even think about what or how much we’re eating.
We could all probably use a little more mindfulness in our diets. Not just to taste the flavor, but to avoid the kind of mechanical overeating that can define snacking habits.
We tell this to our patients sometimes: if you get into the routine of eating only at the table, you’ll come to associate the table with eating. While you’re there, try not to do anything else but eat what’s in front of you.
Look at your food. Take your time eating it. Think about how it tastes and the benefits you’re getting from it. When you’re done, leave the table and carry on with your day.
Eating this way may seem inconvenient at first, but we think it pays to consider your food this way. You may end up enjoying what you eat all over again!
4. Be Aware of Emotional Eating
Food is different things to different people. It’s fuel for all of us, but we’d be lying if we said certain foods don’t also make us feel good!
That word “feel” is interesting because food does actually engage our emotions! Think of how much better a football game is to watch when there’s pizza and wings. And what is a birthday party without cake?
But we can sometimes run into trouble when we take emotional eating to extremes.
It’s stressful to be angry, sad, or otherwise upset for any reason. We then want something that can make us feel better quickly, and food certainly satisfies that need.
Problems arise, though, when we eat emotionally without actually being hungry or having the NEED for food at the moment.
Everyone’s case will be different, but if you ever find yourself craving food when you’re emotional, consider taking a walk, listening to music, meditating, or talking to a friend or family member.
It may not seem like it, but stress management actually goes hand-in-hand with a healthy diet and improved overall wellness.
We always ask our patients if anything is stressing them because that’s part of the holistic, functional nutrition approach here at Catalyst. What you eat matters, but WHY and HOW you eat are just as important!
5. Discover New Protein Textures
Our final tip for National Nutrition Month 2025 concerns protein. No, we’re not simply saying “eat more protein” because we know every patient is different and has unique needs.
We’re actually focusing on a more unusual angle here: discovering different protein textures to suit your preferences.
What do we mean by that?
Most of us are used to protein being the standard meats we eat in our Western diets: chicken, beef, pork, fish, and so on.
Our dietitians have worked with patients who acknowledge their need for protein but can’t stand the look, feel, and texture of meats like these. And of course, it’s our job to help our patients find personalized solutions to their nutrition needs.
In this case, you can try proteins of varying textures to find the type you like the best. Here are some examples of what we mean:
Crunchy Proteins
Cooked tempeh
Fortified cereal
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Roasted chickpeas
Roasted crickets
Dense Proteins
Chicken breast
Tofu
Fish
Beef (ground, steak, burger)
Chewy Proteins
Seitan (gluten-based)
Jerky
Textured vegetable protein
Dried seaweed
Smooth Proteins
Nut butters (watch the calories!)
Protein smoothies
Greek yogurt
Silken tofu
National Nutrition Month is an ideal time for us dietitians to remind everyone of how beneficial the right kind of diet can be for you. Of course, those other 11 months of the year aren’t bad, either!
If you need some help optimizing your diet this month or any other, contact Catalyst Nutrition and Training. We personalize our recommendations so you can find food that fits YOUR life. Our dietitians aren’t afraid to think outside of what’s expected to help you find the right dietary solutions.
Get in touch today to learn more or schedule a consultation!
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