Living Your Healthiest Life [Video]

Registered dietitian Kat Galeos said the right food can be medicine. “I always tell people a key to decrease the inflammation, which decreases chronic diseases, is to make sure you’re following a whole foods, plant-heavy, and plant-forward diet.”

She recommends getting 9 servings of fruit and veggies daily, but she often tells people to ‘eat the rainbow.’ “If it’s easier for you to get those nine servings but if that’s too overwhelming for you, then just aim for seven colors every day. So maybe get some red and blue in the morning with strawberries and blueberries. Maybe get some green and orange at lunch with some broccoli and carrots,” said Galeos.

2024’s theme for National Nutrition Month is “Beyond the Table.” While nutrition is one of the components of a healthy lifestyle, it’s important to exercise, manage stress and aim for 7-9 hours of sleep a night. “There’s been a lot of research out there that links poor sleep quality and not getting adequate sleep to chronic diseases. Also, stress management. If you think you’re not increasing your risk for chronic diseases and your high stress all day, then you have to rethink that because stress management, finding ways to cope with stress, is extremely important,” said Galeos.

Lee Health offers cooking classes in our teaching kitchen, one on one nutrition counseling and more. You can learn more by searching for nutrition on leehealth.org.

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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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