Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle: Happy Nutrition month! 2015

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day, celebrated in March 11th, also increases awareness of registered dietitian nutritionists as the indispensable providers of food and nutrition services. The campaign is full of resources that can be found in its website www.nationalnutritionmonth.org/nnm
Other countries celebrate Nutritionist or Dietitian day this March or in another dates, like in Argentina Nutritionist Day is every August 11th. 

The 2015 National Nutrition Month® theme is "Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle." So, I would like to share  two healthy aspects of Argentina´s food culture: family meals and simplicity:

Family meals  
In Argentina, we usually take the time to sit and have a meal. In the big cities, many people have lunch at work but they do share the other mealtimes with family. It has been shown that shared mealtimes makes family members feel loved, confident and happy. Also, homemade food in Argentina includes many preparations from scratch with few processed ingredients. Sharing mealtimes with your kids and involve them in the cooking process will make them have better eating habits since childhood. 

Simplicity
Enjoying food prepared with fresh and minimally processed real ingredients is a national tradition. When you visit the supermarket you will see that there is not much variety of frozen meals or processed food boxes. Supermarkets aisles are not that overwhelming like in other parts of the world. Another example of simplicity: in Argentina the typical salad dressing is oil and vinegar (commonly olive oil and balsamic vinegar). That’s what the waiter will bring you to season your salad if you are eating out. And, don’t look for salad dressings in the supermarket, you won’t find much. Some of the typical condiments are mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and salsa golf (an Argentinean creation that resembles Thousand Island dressing). Just make your own dressings and toppings with real ingredients and bring in simplicity to your dinner table!

Meats are also lightly seasoned with just a pinch of salt and pepper (and sometimes chimichurri). No one puts butter or other toppings on a grilled steak, there is no need.  And, recently, the province of Buenos Aires banned the salt shaker from restaurant tables in an effort to combat high blood pressure. It will be available upon request, but only after the guest have tasted the food. The new restaurant trend in Argentina is to get back to basics, value regional meals and natural ingredients.