March Celebrations Roundup

There are a lot of celebrations in the month of March, so I thought I’d touch on a few relevant to my interests (and hopefully yours). 

March is National Nutrition Month, brought to you by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. They invite us to “learn about making informed food choices and developing healthy eating and physical activity habits.” One of the things you can do, they suggest, is “Learn how to read Nutrition Facts Panels.” Don’t do it. Not unless you are planning to start measuring the amount of every kind of food you eat, at every meal and when you snack, and track calories, saturated fat, protein, sodium, added sugars and so on. Oh, and also, you’ll need to know exactly how much you should be eating of every macro and micronutrient. Even those who track their macros, as has become more popular with the development of apps like MyFitnessPal, are not tracking much beyond hitting their numbers for protein, fat and carbohydrates.  

Tracking every last aspect of your food is about as useful as having a national Learn How to Use Every App on Your Phone month. Wait a minute, that might actually be useful.  

It’s also National Women’s History Month. If you are so inclined, here are a few books by and about women I enjoyed. The first is Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. I got her autograph at a James River Writers convention in Richmond, Virginia. At the convention, she talked about how she had a movie deal even before she finished the book and how she grew up in the neighborhood where all of those women worked. Read the book and watch the movie.

Next, read Delia Owen’s 2018 novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. I’m in a men’s book club and this was voted one our favorite book over the last five years. Her descriptions of the life of Kya growing up in a swamp are amazing.

Finally, I’ve seen the movie and plan to read the book; A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell. It’s about Virginia Hall, who helped to create the French Resistance and was constantly hounded by Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, of the Gestapo and the Vichy French secret police. Barbie said, “We must find and destroy her.”

By all means, enjoy National Women’s Month but don’t spend time on learning how to read the food label. OK, I probably didn’t have to tell you that. It’s also National Colon Cancer Awareness Month and eating fiber helps to prevent that. Only five percent of people are eating enough now. You don’t have to read labels; for soluble fiber eat beans, brussels sprouts, broccoli, or carrots. For insoluble fiber, brown rice, and nuts and seeds.

And by all means, enjoy Irish-American Heritage Month by ignoring the 2020 Dietary Guidelines and, ladies, have more than one drink on Saint Patrick’s Day if you like.