Ease Up on Food Worries During the Holidays, Nutritionists Say


As the holiday weekend fast approaches, you might catch yourself overthinking the amount of calories on your plate.

Diet tips may appear on your social media feeds with suggestions about how to avoid a holiday weight gain — complete with unrealistic food substitutions.

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Jen Bruning, national spokesperson for the Chicago-based Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, is encouraging people to rethink diet culture, especially during the holidays and new year.

“I always like to see people honoring the traditions that they look forward to the most at the holiday time,” Bruning said.

Instead of cutting out your favorite holiday foods, Bruning suggests people enjoy the foods that are part of holiday tradition while balancing it out by adding fruits and vegetables to the plate.

Bruning hopes people realize that the holidays don’t make a significant difference in weight gain. On average, people might gain one to two pounds over the course of a week, so the idea that people will gain more weight than any other week gives the holidays bad press.

“If you do something once a year, it’s not why you’re gaining weight,” she said.

And then just a week later, New Year's resolutions may leave you feeling overwhelmed. Bruining suggests taking a step back and setting realistic goals and expectations.

“We need to reflect on what it is we truly want and what’s really realistic for us. Sometimes it’s a goal of going to the gym a number of times during the week but in reality that goal might simply not be realistic for a person’s schedule,” Bruning said. “So start with small changes, realistic things that you really want to focus your energy on.”


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