Make a commitment to eating healthier during March, which is National Nutrition Month®. The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program at the Florida Department of Health in Orange County is encouraging everyone to Eat Right, Bite by Bite. 

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. 

This year’s theme, Eat Right, Bite by Bite, promotes eating a variety of nutritious foods every day, planning and creating healthful meals each week and the value of consulting a registered dietitian nutritionist. 

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for nutrition/breastfeeding education, supplemental foods, and health care referrals for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

For over 40 years, the WIC Program has been providing nutrition education and counseling. Registered dietitians and nutritionists help families develop lifelong healthy eating habits through one-on-one counseling and group classes, where they learn: 

• What to eat during pregnancy and breastfeeding
• How to feed infants and growing kids healthy foods
• How to successfully breastfeed
• Shopping for healthy foods on a budget
• How to cook healthy, delicious meals 

Florida’s WIC Program operates 220 sites throughout the state where families improve their diet and food choices with the assistance of licensed nutritionists and nutrition educators. For more information, visit the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at www.eatright.org.