(RxWiki News) You’ve got a great coach this year for fulfilling your resolution to eat healthier. Experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a free online healthy eating coaching program that will encourage you throughout the year.
MD Anderson is inviting you to join in the 2013 Healthy Bites Nutrition Challenge. It’s a really easy-to-follow and reasonable way to improve eating habits. Challenge members will be encouraged to make small dietary changes each month.
The Challenge kicks off January 7, 2013 – so go ahead and hop onboard.
"Sign up for the MD Anderson 2013 Healthy Bites Nutrition Challenge!"
“Eating the right foods and staying at a healthy weight can help reduce a person’s chances of cancer,” said Mary Ellen Herndon, a wellness dietitian at MD Anderson. “But maintaining a healthy diet can be difficult. That’s why we created the Healthy Bites program.”
If you decide to join this program – which is healthy for anyone with or without a history of cancer – you’ll have all sorts of support tools, including MD Anderson materials on nutrition, recipes, food journals and expert tips. Everything will be geared to helping you meet that month’s challenge.
The monthly challenges help you focus on small changes that, over time, become important new healthy habits. The monthly challenges include:
- Eat breakfast daily
- Eat every 5-6 hours while you’re awake
- Eat more whole grains
- Make MyPlate your plate (The US Department of Agriculture’s nutrition guide)
- Limit red meat consumption
- Drink more water
- Avoid processed meats, such as bacon and sausage
- Dine out less
- Eat more fruits and veggies
- Eat plant-based protein
- Eat less salt
- Drink less alcohol
“Research shows that successful nutrition programs focus on small changes,” Herndon said. “It’s these small changes that can lead to larger, more impactful behavior change.”
Breast cancer specialist, Christopher O. Ruud, MD, of Austin Cancer Centers, told dailyRx News, "An excellent idea, MD Anderson is supporting the idea that prevention is more effective than either cancer detection or treatment. But other than avoiding weight gain, there is limited scientific evidence regarding which foods are helpful."
The program also includes stories and videos from previous Healthy Bites participants. So you’ll get a real life perspective on all of this.
To learn more and sign up for this program, click the links below.
