Christmas is almost here and the new year is fast approaching. Whether you are in the gym daily and watching what you eat or want to start eating a more healthy diet, this time of year makes most dieters weary of gaining the dreaded holiday pounds. I am here to tell you, let it go. Enjoy the holidays with your family and the wonderful foods, like Christmas cookie recipes handed down through generations. Christmas is a time for traditions and a very big one is the foods we eat this special time of year.  Don’t try to deprive yourself by following  a strict diet or eating only vegetables while your family is chugging down the eggnog. That is no way to spend this time of year. Your diet will be there tomorrow, and so will the gym. Savor the food in front of you and every moment with your loved ones.

If you are looking to make another New Years resolution to lose weight, I would like to suggest resolving to eat a cleaner diet. This is what works for me personally. By choosing to buy the cleanest sources of the food I love, I have lost weight.  I recommend instead of going on a crash diet after the holidays, clean out your pantry and refrigerator. Throw out the foods with artificial ingredients and colors, preservatives, processed ingredients, boxes of packaged foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce, and foods with added sugar or multiple sugars on the label (Ex: Corn syrup, sugar, molasses, High fructose corn syrup). And add back fresh organic vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy you can reach for when you are hungry.  Resolve to not buy what I like to call “Fake Food” anymore. I think changing your mindset to eat only clean foods with few ingredients on the label will be the easiest diet to follow. Because it really isn’t a diet at all. It is eating food the way nature intended before modern man got a hold of it.  Weight loss and better health are two benefits I believe you will achieve by cleaning up your diet.

To a fresh and fit new you in the new year!

Happy Holidays!