By Jill Taufer, Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent at UF/IFAS Extension-Central District

Reviewed by Karla Shelnutt, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, and Linda Bobroff, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida

March is National Nutrition Month. Every year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics sponsors this event to encourage us to take time to look at our eating patterns and make small improvements that, over time, add up to significant health benefits. This year’s theme is “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right.”

Study after study confirms that taste tops nutrition when consumers make food choices. The challenge is to combine taste and nutrition to maximize both enjoyment and health benefits of meals. One approach is to stay out of the cycle of eating the same foods over and over. Look for ways to expand your diet with tasty, minimally processed foods that add nutrients and great taste to your meals and snacks.

Here are some tips to help boost flavors and increase variety:

• Get cooking. Cooking at home can be healthy, rewarding and cost-effective. When you are in charge of dinner, you can keep the fat and salt down and turn the flavor up with your favorite herbs and seasonings.
• Visit your local farmers’ market or produce stand and ask the vendor, “Where was this grown and when was it picked?” Look for items or varieties you may have not tried, before like purple potatoes, daikon radishes, or jicama (a crunchy root vegetable that will add a mild, sweet flavor to any salad).
• Heat things up! There are so many varieties of peppers available now, with all different levels of heat. Other foods that have intense flavors with a hot edge include ginger, horseradish, and wasabi.
• Change your routine. If you usually microwave veggies, try grilling, roasting, or stir-frying them, perhaps with a few drops of flavorful oil like dark sesame oil.
• For fuller flavor and more texture, substitute whole grains like quinoa, wild rice, or polenta (made with whole-grain corn) for refined grains.
• Make life naturally sweeter. Add fruit to yogurt, salads, and cereal. Enhance meat and fish with fruit salsa or chutney.
• Start your own herb garden. There are so many choices, like parsley, oregano, basil, cilantro, rosemary, and mint. Plant your favorites and your taste buds will thank you. Remember, these seasonings are also packed with antioxidants that help maintain health.

With so many food choices around us every day, it can be challenging to stay on track. Be adventurous, keep looking for healthy flavorful foods to add to your diet, and “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right.”

For more information about starting your own herb garden, visit the Herbs section at UF-IFAS EDIS.

(Photo credit: Food by Nick Nguyen. CC BY 2.0.)

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