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Every March, Nutrition Month highlights the essential role of nutrition in Canadians’ health and well-being. Created by Dietitians of Canada, it encourages informed food choices and healthy eating habits that support long-term wellness.

Health involves many factors: diet, physical activity, stress management, quality sleep, and social connections. Join us in celebrating Nutrition Month 2025 by creating activities that emphasize a balanced approach to wellness.

This article offers strategies and tips for organizing Nutrition Month events using the 4-step APIE model — Assessment, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation — to make your initiatives impactful and sustainable. Additionally, it provides 30 ideas to get involved in Nutrition Month. Let’s make Nutrition Month 2025 a memorable celebration of health and wellness.

GOALS OF THIS ARTICLE:

1. Promote Nutrition Month: Share tips on effective program management and highlight the importance of Nutrition Month across various settings where CSNM members work, including schools, hospitals, offices, and senior communities.
2. Enhance Public Knowledge: Foster greater awareness and understanding of food and nutrition among the public.
3. Encourage Engagement: Inspire participation in engaging, enjoyable nutrition-related activities that build healthy habits.

STEP 1: ASSESSMENT

Start by understanding the unique needs of your clients or community to develop a targeted Nutrition Month program.

• Secure management support and form a committee with colleagues and human resources.
• Identify barriers to achieving nutrition goals and seek feedback to address these issues.
• Assess your workplace’s nutrition environment using tools like the Workplace Nutrition Assessment Scorecards.
• Survey your team to identify their strengths that can enhance the program without adding extra workload.
• Envision an effective Nutrition Month committee, incorporating client feedback to align with their needs.

A thorough assessment will help tailor your Nutrition Month initiatives for maximum impact.

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STEP 2: PLANNING

With management support, a committee, and feedback in place, it’s time to plan your March 2025 activities. Start with ‘quick wins’ to encourage participation and address your audience’s needs.

30 IDEAS FOR CREATING YOUR NUTRITION MONTH PLAN

CREATE A SUPPORTIVE EATING ENVIRONMENT

• Increase the availability and visibility of nutritious options in menus, cafeterias, and vending machines.
• Offer nutrient-dense options like whole fruits, nuts, and vegetables with dip at events. Limit foods high in saturated fat, salt, and added sugars.
• Provide balanced catering choices, such as yogurt and fruit, instead of sweets.
• Ensure access to fresh water through pitchers, drinking fountains, and coolers.
• Create lunchrooms to promote healthy eating spaces and foster a culture where it’s enjoyable for employees to eat at work.
• For special events, serve a mix of healthy options alongside requested favorites.
• Decorate cafeterias with Nutrition Month posters, banners, table tents, and balloons. Create displays with brochures, bookmarks, and tip sheets.
• Reduce waste by offering reusable cups, plates, and cutlery, and by composting and recycling food waste and packaging.

PROVIDE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND ENGAGEMENT

• Share resources and information on healthy eating with employees.
• Deliver education through various formats, such as in-person, online, or hybrid sessions. For example, organize Nutrition Month presentations and activities with virtual options for flexibility.
• Use interactive activities, such as polls and contests, to promote engagement. For example, conduct votes on favorite fruits and vegetables and share the results.
• Gamify nutrition learning by using points, rewards, and challenges to engage participants. Try trivia, bingo or team contests where participants earn points by chance or by answering questions correctly. An example of gamified online education is Blooket (www.blooket.com).
• Host “make-and-take” workshops where participants create items to take home. Examples include nutritious snacks like trail mixes, energy bites, and veggie-hummus jars; or learn simple napkin folds and table decor ideas to enhance mealtime experiences.
• Highlight healthy food options and profile favourite healthy recipes of staff or residents.
• Offer tailored education programs led by dietitians and remind employees about health benefits that cover nutrition support.
• Host professional development sessions on nutrition trends and publish daily nutrition tips.
• Invite nutrition or cookbook authors for discussions or team meetings.
• Plan live or virtual culinary demos with registered dietitians, chefs, or culinary schools.
• Sponsor “Ask the Dietitian” events for participants to discuss nutrition-related questions.
• Invite local experts to discuss topics like food packaging and recycling.
• Arrange field trips to farms or invite farmers as guest speakers.
• Explore the history of food or showcase kitchen gadget inventions.
• Host lunch-and-learn sessions on healthy eating, led by registered dietitians.

COMMUNICATE AND RAISE AWARENESS

• Educate employees about healthy eating through posters, emails, electronic message boards, or word of mouth.
• Highlight cultural food traditions with special menu items from various cuisines.
• Draw attention to balanced eating plates through cafeteria menus and signboards.
• Collaborate with food service providers to promote balanced meal messages.
• Use various communication channels for each target audience, such as allstaff meetings, smaller group presentations, local or social media stories, e-newsletters, or closed-circuit TV.
• Leverage key relationships with partners, stakeholders, or allies, like colleagues in HR, nursing, PSWs, suppliers, or other partners. For example, ask nursing colleagues and PSWs to share your message at their staff meetings.

CONSOLIDATE YOUR PLANNING

To streamline your planning, consider creating a Nutrition Month Planning Table. This tool will help you organize your target audience, communication channels, key messages, calls to action, and the resources or support needed. Here’s how you can use it effectively:

Target audience: Identify who you are trying to reach. Are they clients or patients (current or potential), colleagues, partners, health care providers, the public, media, workplaces, or others?

Communication channels: List the communication channels you will use for each target audience. Think about opportunities to leverage your message.

Plan your message: Decide on the key message or call to action for each target audience. This could involve dispelling misinformation, teaching food skills, or explaining when and why to see a dietitian. Dietitians are licensed professionals who can help with general and specific health issues like diabetes, heart disease, and gut health. Refer to the Nutrition Month 2025 Social Media Toolkit and adapt the messages to your needs.

Identify resources: Determine the resources, activities, links, or information you need to support your key message or call to action. Do these resources already exist, or will you need to create them?

Assign responsibilities: Note who will deliver each activity, where it will take place, and when it will occur.

Using the example table below, you can jot down ideas, pose questions, and start planning your Nutrition Month activities effectively.

STEP 3: IMPLEMENTATION

While thorough planning is important, managing the implementation process is equally significant. Projects rarely go exactly as planned, but a solid system helps maintain momentum despite obstacles. Have the project lead track progress, anticipate issues, monitor for “scope creep,” and mark deliverables for reporting. Adjustments may be needed to meet organizational and client demands. Providing clarity, transparency, and leveraging team strengths support effective teamwork and promote success.

STEP 4: MONITORING AND EVALUATION

To evaluate the success of your Nutrition Month 2025 campaign, gather data such as participant numbers, resources shared, and social media engagement. Analyzing this data will help you understand the impact and identify areas for improvement.

SUMMARY

Nutrition Month 2025 is a great opportunity for nutrition managers to promote healthy eating and enhance community well-being. By following the steps of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation, you can create an impactful program, engage your audience, provide valuable education, and celebrate healthy eating.

Let’s make Nutrition Month 2025 a success and inspire lasting positive changes in our communities! #NutritionMonth #NutritionMonth2025