No Such Thing as Holiday Weight Gain!

So the holidays are here and I learned yesterday that there has been a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine stating that there is NO DATA to support the theory that people gain 5-10 pounds during the holidays. 

WHAT! 

Is it possible that this holiday weight gain was fabricated so that diet and health professionals could have a profitable first quarter? Do we, in the health and wellness business, prey on overindulgence and the fear of holiday weight gain to lure clients into our web of good health and happiness?  

Maybe...

But I will venture to guess that we all become interested in our health and wellness in January because of the inevitable pendulum swing; holiday overindulgence swings back to post-holiday abstinence and if that is why clients contact me in January great. My job is to teach people how to eat to feel best in their own skin so they can enjoy their life the entire year (including during periods of overindulgence). 

I thought I would mention that the report does briefly cover when people tend to gain weight; adolescence, pregnancy, mid-life in women, after marriage in men and during periods of environmental change such as quitting smoking or emigrating to a more highly urbanized culture. There is some data to support seasonal weight gain or loss but not to the extreme of 5 - 10 pounds that is claimed to occur during the holidays.

So eat, drink and be merry this holiday season and let the pendulum swing!

All my best,

Linda