I recently surveyed some of my readers on what they would like me to write about in 2020, and one of the responses was, If you could give everyone no matter our body shape or current health three pieces of nutrition advice, what would those things be and why? Excellent question!

I could trot out the typical Eat more vegetables, eat fewer highly processed foods, and get enough protein response, but I wont, even though those are solid nuggets of advice and ones Ive previously given. Instead, Im offering some big-picture advice for the New Year that I hope will help make you more confident eaters.

1. Theres more than one way to eat for health. Dont believe anyone who tells you that there is only one right diet especially if they use the language like the secret they dont want you to know. First, if the secret advice was actually valuable, it wouldnt be a secret. Second, nutrition research demonstrates that there are a number of nutritious ways to eat that can support good health and reduce risk of chronic disease. Third, look around you. If you discovered the eating habits of everyone around you who is currently healthy with low disease risk, I guarantee you would get a mix of answers. Some would eat vegan or vegetarian, while others would include meat in their meals. Some would eat low-fat, while others would eat low-carb. Some would say something like I dont know everything in moderation? And honestly, some healthy people dont even have a healthy diet because, like it or not, they won the genetic lottery.

2. Food isnt the monster under the bed. I have an entire article planned on food fears, but for now, suffice it to say that food has nourished and sustained you for your entire life thus far its not out to kill you. There are no foods or food groups that will destroy health in the context of a balanced diet (anything could be harmful in severe excess, even water). Wheat, meat, eggs, dairy, nightshade vegetables, fruit, nonorganic produce none of these are the dietary devils they are often made out to be. It should go without saying that if you have a food allergy or intolerance (hopefully diagnosed by a medical professional please dont self-diagnose), then you need to avoid that specific food.

3. If the way you eat makes you unhappy, its not the right way for you. Unhappiness cuts a few ways. For example, if following the healthiest diet in the world makes it impossible to socialize with friends over food because theres nothing you can eat, and requires you to cook everything from scratch even though it stresses you out, then thats not the right diet for you. Conversely, if the way you eat leaves you perpetually hungry, tired and cranky, or perhaps overfull, lethargic and uncomfortable, those are clues that something needs to change. Feeling like you would kill for a cracker or might fall into a food coma promotes neither health nor happiness.

A final bit of advice that relates to all of the above: Please stop looking for silver bullets. They dont exist. Health is so multifaceted that it would be impossible for any one food, one supplement or one diet to have an impact that even resembles magical status. Small steps, taken consistently and turned into healthy habits, are what make a difference. Not dramatic, and certainly not sexy but true. Happy New Year!

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New year, new diet? Not so fast. Instead, heed this big-picture eating advice for 2020. - Seattle Times

This is the season when holiday festivities and diet talk are in full swing.

Just skip lunch so you can indulge tonight.

Ill burn 500 calories at the gym to earn my food.

Im bringing the gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar-free cheesecake ... despite having no medical reason to and, if were honest, you really prefer the real thing.

And the most common diet talk: Oh, screw it, Im going to eat whatever I want. Ive already lost control over my holiday eating. Ill just be good on Whole 30, Paleo, Keto (whatever) beginning next week.

The language we use transitions from indulging in December to restricting in January.

Even though weve heard that diets dont work, we continue to pursue them year after year.

Why? Because diets do work, just not long term.

We continue to be enticed by diet culture promises because most of us do lose weight, experience health improvements and feel better on a diet, albeit, more often than not, temporarily.

Thus, for many of us, dieting could be part of the health epidemic problem instead of the solution.

This obsession with thinness is driving us crazy, said Glenn Mackintosh, principle psychologist at Weight Management Psychology. And the only tangible result most of us see from endlessly battling our bodies is the number on the scales rising over time. Even the few who achieve the ideal arent immune to the madness and live in fear of weight gain.

And dont be fooled into thinking your next food plan or watching what you eat in the name of health isnt just a diet in disguise. To diet, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is to restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.

As we start a new decade, give yourself a long-lasting gift: a way out of diet culture and its defining, controlling characteristics of willpower and restriction. Reliance on these strategies is why diets dont really work.

Willpower is not the problem

Do you rely on willpower to be good and avoid the refined sugar dessert but end up sneaking back into the kitchen for a slice?

Do you opt for a healthified version of dessert but find yourself full but still dissatisfied?

Or do you white-knuckle it to avoid carbohydrates all day and then crave them and feel out of control to the point where you overeat them at night?

Resisting your favorite foods lasts only so long. Why?

First, its not because you are a willpower weakling.

We dont have an endless supply of willpower, defined as restraint or self-control. Its limited. We start with a full tank of willpower in the morning and then use it up throughout the day making decisions and choices. Notice when we usually give in: later in the afternoon and evening, or on the weekends after a week of being good.

And what are you using willpower for? To restrict forbidden foods.

Nothing amplifies a craving like restriction.

Its human nature to want something even more when were told we cant have it, said Barbara J. Rolls, Guthrie chair of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, in a 2018 article in Shape magazine.

It feels like self-punishment. Restriction just says No, you cant have it, or just one.

Perhaps you label yourself addicted to sugar but wonder why the plate of holiday cookies on the kitchen counter just isnt a big deal for your husband?

He eats some. And moves on. It seems unfair.

Little evidence is found to support sugar addiction in humans, researchers Westwater, Fletcher and Ziauddeens found in their study Sugar Addiction: The State of the Science. It appears that the bingeing, the addictive-like behavior, occurred due to intermittent access to sugar.

Restriction breeds obsession

Still not convinced that restriction isnt the way to wellness?

Conducted by the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene at the University of Minnesota, the study illuminated the problem with restrictive eating.

Researchers selected 36 men who were deemed in good physical and mental health for a nearly yearlong study that was broken into four parts. The first three months the men were fed a normal diet of 3,200 calories, and the next six months they were fed a semistarvation diet of 1,570 calories; During the next three months, the rehabilitation phase, the men were fed between 2,000 and 3,200 calories, and in the last eight weeks they were given unrestricted access to food.

What did the researchers learn by measuring the physiological and psychological changes?

Mainly, the men became obsessed with food.

They fantasized about food and read cookbooks and looked up recipes. Their lives became food-centered. They reported feeling depressed, fatigued, irritable and apathetic on a 1,500-calorie diet. A few men sneaked food and were removed from the study ... because they failed.

Its how we feel and act after a few weeks on a diet, yet we still engage in restrictive eating 75 years later.

Upon Googling 1,500 calorie diets, I found a list of current nutritionist-designed programs touting the benefit of such a program, though we know that semi-starvation the class which this was labeled in the study doesnt work.

Food deprivation, no matter how diet culture labels it, is distressing. Period.

So when your friends, family members and social media influencers engage in diet talk, trying to convince you to jump on the latest healthy eating plan, my No. 1 tip is: Dont.

Tanya Mark is a mind-body nutritionist and body image movement global ambassador. Contact her via tanya@tanyamark.com; follow her on Facebook.com @TanyaMarkMindBodyNutrition or Instagram at @TanyaMark.

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Try this New Year's resolution: ditch the diet - Jackson Hole News&Guide

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Festive Foods That Won't Break Your Holiday Diet - E! Online

Highlights

There are many foods in our diet that we consider as staple and consume them more often than we realise. Bread, soft drink, biscuit - convenient foods like these form a part of our everyday ritual. They seem to be completely harmless when we eat them in oblivion; but the fact is that many of such foods are not really good for our health. Fraught with improper nutrition from sugar, refined foods, saturated fats, preservatives, food additives etc; these so called 'everyday foods' may not be actually good for everyday consumption. But, how do we live without these foods that were not an occasional binge and have always been an intrinsic part of our diet?

Thankfully, many of these foods can be easily made at home with healthy substitutes. Yes, if we really look around, we can find genius alternatives to make the foods that we love in a healthier way. Here are some ideas to get you started.

(Also Read:5 Healthy Alternatives For Candies That Your Kids Will Love)

Brown bread can be used toreplace white bread.

If you are used to start your mornings with a hearty sandwich, we won't ask you to give up on your habit. Just discard white bread made of refined flour and opt for healthier versions of bread like whole-wheat bread or multi-grain bread. You can use healthy flours to make other foods like pancakes and desserts.

Milk creamer is a favourite with coffee lovers who like their drink creamy. They can opt for coconut milk, vanilla extract and maple syrup instead. And, if you can't do without carbonated drinks for that much-needed energy boost, try to drink green tea, kombucha or lemon tea instead. Homemade granola bars made with oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruits, are an excellent substitute for store-bought biscuits.

There are many other ways you can eliminate unhealthy foods from your everyday diet and replace them with healthier options.

About Neha GroverLove for reading roused her writing instincts. Neha is guilty of having a deep-set fixation with anything caffeinated. When she is not pouring out her nest of thoughts onto the screen, you can see her reading while sipping on coffee.

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Healthy Diet: 7 Healthy Alternatives For Everyday Foods And Drinks That May Be Harmful - NDTV Food

The Buff Dudes brothers Brandon and Hudson White regularly tackle the toughest diets and workouts on their YouTube channel. Recently they took on the vegan diet, and now they've decided to do the complete opposite by tackling the carnivore diet.

If you're unfamiliar with the diet, it's basically as it sounds. No potatoes. No vegetables. No nuts. No 3 a.m. tacos unless they're made with meat tortillas.

The brothers hit up Costco to buy meat in bulk. Hudson explains he normally eats a lot of chicken but opted for meat with more fat, like salmon and rib eye, to account for the lack of carbohydrates in his diet.

During the first week, Hudson enjoys this new style of eating for its simplicity. He consumes two hard boiled eggs before the gym, then bacon and eggs after working out. Lunch is ground beef and dinner is a rib eye steak.

However, he soon gets tired of eating meat all the time and eventually drops ground beef from his diet.

"I burp ground beef. I dream about ground beef. I'm over it," he says.

But he does enjoy the diet for its ease. "It's kind of a meal prepper's dream," he says. "You just eat the same thing day in and day out." At one point, Hudson celebrates his birthday and is surprised with a meat cake.

Brandon, on the other hand, doesn't feel so great on this all-meat plan.

"I'm feeling pretty exhausted at night," he says.

In addition to the fatigue, eating large amounts of meat has left Brandon constipated. And when he does finally use the restroom, the results are less than stellar.

"The consistency is really....not good," he says.

However, the Buff brothers agree on one point: the carnivore diet helps with weight loss. At the beginning of the experiment, Brandon weighed 225. A month of eating all-meat helped him lose 12 pounds. Hudson lost roughly six pounds in the same time period.

Of course, there are other ways to lose way that don't involve giving up, well, everything.

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What Happened When Two Bodybuilders Tried the Carnivore Diet for 1 Month - Men's Health

The cardiac diet is the best medicine for fighting heart disease. Learn what to eat, benefits, and tips to stick with the diet here.

Every year, over 600,000 people in the United States die from heart disease.

One of the major contributors to heart disease is poor diet. Diet and exercise are key to preventing heart disease and helping to manage it.

The term cardiac diet is used to denote a heart-healthy approach to eating. It involves controlling what types of foods you consume and limiting others. Avoiding most alcohol is also part of a cardiac diet.

Salt is one of the leading causes of high blood pressure. Limiting your salt intake will help to lower your blood pressure and prevent fluid retention.

Be careful when purchasing low sodium foods. Some products are labeled as no salt added but can still have considerable amounts of sodium. Youll want to pay careful attention to nutritional labels.

Cutting salt out of your diet is not always necessary. The key is to limit the quantity ingested to manage your cardiac health better.

Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease. Lowering the amount of sugar you ingest will help to avoid Type 2 diabetes. Sugar can cause many negative impacts on your health.

Drinks with a lot of sugar can raise blood pressure. Sugary foods also take the place of healthier options and represent what dieticians call empty calories.

Cutting down on your sugar intake is critical to a healthy cardiac diet and a healthy body. Replace soda and energy drinks with water.

When we eat saturated fat, it can clog our blood vessels. This can create blockages that lead to a heart attack. The only way to treat a blockage is with a surgical procedure.

Baked foods and fried foods are all high in saturated fats.

Our bodies crave saturated fat foods because weve evolved for survival situations. For modern people, there is no reason to consume large amounts of fat.

While meat is good for you, the problem is that most people eat way too much of it. Having red meat with every meal is not recommended. Red meat and pork are full of saturated fat and cholesterol.

Digesting red meat can produce harmful chemicals linked to heart disease. It is important to have days without meat in your meal if you want your cardiac diet to work.

Try substituting red meat for more chicken and fish. Another great type of meat for cardiac diets is the rabbit. Rabbit meat is incredibly lean and has very little cholesterol.

You dont have to be a vegetarian or vegan to be on a cardiac diet. You should always eat more vegetables than meat.

Some vegetables are more heart-healthy than others. For a cardiac diet, its important to place a focus on these heart-healthy vegetables.

The preparation of vegetables is also important. Much of the health benefit is lost once you fry a vegetable. Potatoes are a heart-healthy food, but preparing them with butter and salt negates their benefit.

Try to steam your vegetables and avoid salty and fatty dressings. Salad dressing, butter, and most condiments are bad for your cardiac diet.

A majority of adults dont eat enough fruit. While fruit should be consumed in moderation, it offers you a delicious way of eating healthy. The fructose in fruit is less harmful than processed sugar.

Fruit can help prevent diet fatigue. Having healthy food that tastes good is essential to staying on your diet. You can try to eat too healthy and ruin your diet because of how difficult it is to follow.

Let fruit be a healthy snack and a way to get around that sweet tooth. Instead of grabbing a doughnut, try an apple instead. Switch out sweet, baked treats for fruit and youll shed calories fast.

Whole grains have been proven to be healthy for you. Whole grains found in certain wheat breads and pastas can be a fantastic addition to your cardiac diet. Eat them in moderation.

The types of whole grains foods you should consider wont have a lot of salt or fat in them. This allows for the benefits of whole grains without adding negative elements to it.

Your doctor may prescribe you medication to help make your diet more effective. One of the most common types of medication used for cardiac diets is cholesterol medicine.

Another potential medication to help you is Jardiance. Consult with your physician about medication options.

Increasing your physical activity is essential to heart health. Even if you eat all the right things, you still need to be physically active.

That doesnt mean you have to go overboard with intense workout sessions. Moderate, consistent activity that increases your heart rate and burns calories is the best. Light cardio workouts are a great place to start.

Having a proper cardiac diet involves lifestyle changes. Some changes can be difficult. Exercising both build a healthy heart and helps to increase energy levels.

When you make the choice for your health and future to eat healthily, do it responsibly. Having great intentions when you begin your journey doesnt mean youll succeed.

Make food choices that you can live with. If youre miserable while following your cardiac diet, its far more likely youll fail.

Its not easy to eat healthy all the time. You may have to try new foods and methods of cooking that you arent used to. You may also find that your tastes change as you stick with your cardiac diet.

The price of not eating healthy often results in early death. One in four deaths in the United States is caused by heart disease. Dont be a statistic. Diet, exercise, and medication can all help you.

If you found this guide helpful, please take a moment to browse the site for other insightful reads.

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The Cardiac Diet Explained: Guidelines, Benefits, and Tips - Baltimore Post-Examiner

Although the holidays are times of reunions and celebration, much of the time we spend with family were focusing on our hopes for the future and our health. Plenty of our New Years resolutions revolve around getting in shape, especially since we tend to spend our holidays pigging out and sleeping in. While it makes sense, in theory, to enjoy your holidays now and worry about your health later, plenty of studies show that January diets rarely work.

While its never a bad time to focus on your health and to challenge yourself with something new, its important to keep your expectations in check, especially since diets are already pretty stressful without accounting for cultural pressure and the hangover from the holidays.

Here are 4 reasons why starting your health resolutions in January might end up backfiring.

Photo by Rima Kruciene via Unsplash

In the simplest of ways, when trying out a January diet, the numbers are stacked against you. Different studies show that most quit their January diets early on. Data also shows that these resolutions cause lots of harm to peoples mental state. They also drain large amounts of your money.

RELATED: Why Dry January Is Dumb And What You Should Do Instead

The vast amounts of money spent on diet clubs, special foods, and over-the-counter remedies, estimated to be on the order of $30 billion to $50 billion yearly, is wasted, explains Dr. Marcia Angell in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A lot of people who start to diet in January do so out of guilt over holiday eating or because everyone else is doing it. These motivations arent usually enough to get people to stick to their diets, at least over long periods of time.

RELATED: 5 Simple Habits That Can Help You Live Longer

The problem with this lies in the concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. With intrinsic motivation, we are driven to achieve our goals because they reflect our most personal values, our truest aspirations and our most authentic selves. Extrinsic motivation means we base our goals on what other people think we are supposed to achieve, said OPTAVIAs behavioral manager on an interview with the Huffington Post.

Photo by Chelsea shapouri via Unsplash

Weve all experienced this to one degree or another, especially in January. We hope that the new year will reboot our systems and instantly make us a healthier and more goal oriented person, only to be disappointed when we realize that were still the same person and that achieving these goals is hard. Instead of quitting when things get challenging or when you fail to meet your goals, take things one day at a time.

If youre a person who thrives on stress, this might not apply to you. But if crowds and the knowledge that everyone you know and their mother is on a diet stresses you out, January is not the appropriate time for you to start a diet. This month tends to be one where gyms and classes are full and where trainers are super busy.

Link:
4 Reasons Not To Start A Diet In January - The Fresh Toast