Well, we did it friends.  We made it almost to the end of 2020 and have finished out the holiday season.  

If you’re like me, you’re probably staring at a couple pairs of jeans that fit you perfectly three weeks ago and now make you look like a sausage in a casing. 

There’s no sense pretending these feelings aren’t here. Despite how counterproductive it is, many of us spend the end of each year beating ourselves up for all the overeating and drinking we did during Christmas time. 

Well, here we are. 

This is why new year’s resolutions are so popular and why January is the beginning of the busy season for nutritionist’s.

In a word, it’s shame. 

We feel embarrassed about what progress we erased over the holidays.  Or worse, we look back on our entire year and realize we are nowhere closer to the goals we made at the start of it. 

I expect this year’s new years resolution interest to be larger than normal. After a year of practicing some version of quarantine, I expect a lot of people to feel pretty guilty about their bodies. 

Already in 2020 I had months that were busier than ever with people who had more time on their hands and found themselves filling that time with food. 

Look, I like new year’s resolutions for the most part.  I think it’s good to set goals for ourselves and hold ourselves to higher standards. 

But I also want us to remember as this new year begins that 2020 was an exceptionally difficult year.  Surviving it, in many ways, was thriving in it. 

And now the year is behind us which means we have new opportunities for renewal.  In order to do that, we must first recover from the shame we carry from the holidays. 

One thing I know for sure: any goal begun with a negative intention, has a negative outcome.  

When people want to lose weight because they hate themselves, it never works out as well as when someone decides to lose weight because they love themself. 

So how do you recover from the holidays?

First, take this time to stop.  Breathe.   Listen.  

What does your inner guidance say? 

Eat your veggies, drink lots of water.  Throw away all those extra sweets and calorie-laden sugar bombs.  

Let’s not extend the overeating out of shame.  Instead, let’s go back to our normal and just hold space for that.  Let’s not dive into anything crazy.  Let’s just take these last few days to reach some stability and to let it all sink in.  

What do we want from 2021?  What goals do we want to make for our health?

Over the next week I’ll be talking a lot about setting goals and the functional nutrition perspective to health and weight loss.