Posted on February 05, 2020

Food in February

Category:Nutrition

It’s February! And as you may well have already heard; Food is a big deal in February. You may not have known this but consider this, there are places such as in the US where national food days are a big deal and enable people to enjoy foods they otherwise wouldn’t have had; 1st Feb-National Baked Alaska Day, 3rd Feb-National Carrot Cake Day, 4th Feb-National Homemade soup day, 4th Feb-National stuffed mushroom day, 5th Feb-National Chocolate Fondue Day. It goes on and on with a lot of foods celebrated in February. A quick look shows that there is a delicacy or more from each day of February, maybe over 45 delicacies in total for American National Food Days, many of them mostly made up.

That may scream food!! But hold your horses and remember to consider your health when choosing a food type, or otherwise, the food that should be helpful may turn troublesome, especially in the presence of conditions that may be exacerbated by poorly controlled diets, conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol conditions, and allergies. Sometimes, special diets for health conditions and allergies are needed and your doctor or Pharmacist should advise in such conditions, but we will give a brief overview, say for a condition here:

Diabetes

Food recommendations promote eating regularly and consistently but in moderation, also counting carbohydrates and calories to control blood sugar levels. It involves meticulous meal planning to balance carbohydrate intake with medications and insulin. Also considering sugar use, many February recipes contain Sugar and Artificial sweeteners, these include cakes and cookies that don’t necessarily taste as good or turn out well without sugar so there may be limitations. Cutting fat and salt is important in diabetes by removing skin and fat from poultry, seasoning vegetables with fat-free, low-sodium broth, and using herbs, spices, or lemon juice instead of fat or salt for flavor. Check and confirm the contents of ‘fat-free’ or ‘reduced fat’ foods. And also eat more vegetables.

General nutritional considerations to include in February delicacies include:

1. Emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
2. Include a variety of protein foods such as seafood, Lean meats and poultry eggs, Legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds.
3. Have foods low in saturated fats, trans, fats cholesterol, salt (Sodium), and added sugars

Other conditions that may require special food considerations include Allergies and intolerance, Asthma, Autism, Colitis, Gluten-free/Casein-free diets, Vegetarian or vegan, Yeast-free diets, Sodium restricted diets. In these conditions, your doctor Nutritionist, or pharmacist should advise on a diet compatible with any health condition one might have.