New Year’s Res-illusions Mistake

Some recent nutrition findings explain why many Americans don’t lose weight after the holidays, despite eating healthier. Here’s the (rather humbling) summary, after grocery bills were examined for 207 households:

On average, households bought more unhealthy food during the holiday season (between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day) compared to the previous months. No surprise. After January 1, they bought more healthy foods. Again, no surprise.

HOWEVER, after January 1, while buying more healthy food, they still purchased holiday levels of UNhealthy food. They just bought MORE food and MORE calories. Doh!

If you want to see the gory details, the complete article can be read at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110561

Since I’m currently in Truckee, where the Donner Party famously starved to the point of cannibalism, I’m reminded that over-buying food is a survival instinct baked deep into our biology. But…if your New Year’s weight loss has been stymied, you might want to pay closer attention to your grocery purchases.