What are your plans for New Years goals or resolutions? Do you plan on hitting the gym more, starting a new diet, or eating clean next year? Where did you find your diet to follow for the next….(you determine the how long your diet will last)…..?

Who would you refer to for financial advice? An accountant or someone who is rich or projects good financial know-how? Hopefully you said the former. The internet and popular culture are teeming with dietary advice and plans from the widest variety of authors. They may include medical doctors, wellness experts, nutritionists, personal trainers, someone who lost weight, a registered dietitian, someone who wants to lose weight, or your neighbor. What’s their expertise? Sorry to say that many even self proclaimed nutrition experts and doctors really have no scientific or sufficient training to provide sound and effective methods for eating healthy. So why lean on popular and unfounded nutritional advice/diet from something that hasn’t been proven to be healthful or at least not harmful? If  you seek dietary advice from a reputable source, you’re at a much lower risk of harming yourself in the process. Both physically and emotionally.

All the time, I hear friends try popular diets that force them to adopt totally new eating habits and often require eating “perfectly”. I also hear them lament about how insanely difficult it was to persevere through that diet. Now, I’m not one to shun a challenge. We can all do hard things and doing so does wonders for our self-esteem. But if you’re forced to eat all these vegetables that you hate, what’s the beneficial challenge in that? How likely are you to continue said eating and like those previously hated greens? Fully knowing that you hate them through the process.

So…. how to avoid this trap? Ditch the “perfect” diet mentality because really, where’s the joy in following the “perfect” diet? Besides, what actually constitutes that perfect diet? Popular diets are pretty diverse. Do you have to run for the hills when confronted with gluten, soy, sugar, milk, animal products, and artificial sweeteners? News flash, if you do all this all you’ll probably be able to eat is grapefruit and water.

Time and time again, after talking to friends about diet, I see them following restrictive & in my professional opinion, not very helpful guidelines. This even happens often after we’d just talked about how such diets aren’t sustainable. Why? I don’t get it! I am totally willing (and would actually love talking to you about a healthy diet), it’s my passion and I can’t contain it!

So, when you’re deciding what to do in this new year to make dietary changes, look for references. If a blogger doesn’t back up their guidelines or meal plan, run for the hills. Or ask a registered dietitian. And remember that a nutritionist does not equal a registered dietitian. I struggle with being called a nutritionist, as on one side, it explains what I do, but on the other hand, I’ve been properly trained and others who call themselves nutritionists may not have.

Here’s a great list of blogs written by registered dietitians (aka: great sources of nutrition information) http://www.nutritionblognetwork.com/

& here’s a guide for finding a registered dietitian to work with http://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert

Since this is my own biased professional opinion, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

• Have you followed a fad diet before?
• Was it helpful or harmful?
• Did it help you lose weight…and keep it off?

Rant over, not sorry.

What are your New Years Resolutions or goals going into 2016?

Stay tuned for more tips on how to be successful with your New Year’s Resolutions!