Thanksgiving has passed and you are now faced with more holiday parties and family gatherings. You tell yourself to wait and kick off your diet or exercise program on January 1st. I’m here to tell you: don’t wait and start right NOW!
What if you were to start right now so you are armed with all the tools and strategies you need to ‘officially’ kick off on January 1st? It takes time to figure out what strategies and tactics to deploy to make this happen. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) is a Food and Nutrition Expert. These individuals are trained to assess your situation and develop a personalized approach to getting your health back on track. For instance, my initial consultation with clients is very lengthy. I ask all kinds of questions about mind, body and spirit. These are all connected and need to be aligned, or in balance, as one embarks on a sustainable health journey.
Need another reason to start NOW? The average holiday weight gain in the U.S. is typically around 0.5 to 1 kilogram or 1 to 2 pounds. This gain occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s and is due to increased calories consumed and less physical activity. This doesn’t sound like a lot of weight and usually goes unnoticed by both people and their health care providers. The data shows that this 1 – 2-pound weight gain is not reversed during the spring or summer months. This means that the cumulative effects of yearly fall/winter weight gain are likely to contribute to significant increases in body weight over time. Not to mention, as we age, it is a bit more challenging to get the weight off. It is possible though, don’t get me wrong, but you do need to focus and have a thoughtful and intentional plan on how to lose it or keep it off, depending on your situation.
An RDN can help you devise a personalized health plan to achieve your goals – whether it is losing weight, gaining weight for a sports competition, treating an eating disorder, fine tuning your diet or preventing a chronic condition such as end stage renal disease or diabetes. An RDN is trained to conduct “medical nutrition therapy” which is very different from a basic nutrition consultation, which can be provided by Medical Doctors, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Personal Trainers or Celebrity Nutritionists. For more information on what an RDN can do for you, visit https://www.eatright.org/about-rdns-and-ndtrs.