One study found that 20% of its participants resolved to lose weight on January 1. Diets don't work long- term- most people eventually gain back the weight, if not even more-and lower body weight doesn't mean better health.

Changing your diet in the name of losing weight can do you real harm. But that doesn't mean you can't benefit from eating differently. If you're not feeling physically well or your relationship with food feels off, it's not a bad idea to change the way you eat. It's possible to better your weight control by being more mindful about what you eat. Doing so may even lead to changes in your body composition. The key is to correct the idea that losing weight should be your driving goal.

People are more likely to maintain resolutions that involve an addition to their routine, rather than goals that require avoiding something appealing. Instead of resolving to limit treats, set a goal to eat a greater variety of foods. Try adding vegetable to every meal, or eating a piece of fruit for your afternoon snack.

The idea of adding instead of subtracting (减去) can guide you to make meals more nutrient-rich. Instead of giving up chips and cookies, aim to pair them with what benefits your health - slices of orange or a handful of nut. Mix leafy greens into your soup or throw some cabbage into your morning egg.

Besides, tracking each day that you maintain your resolutions can make the goal feel measurable. “Start out small, ”says Vivienne, a psychologist, “Rather than saying 'I will do this every day', say 'I'm going to do it two or three times a week. ”

The federal school lunch program for 30 million low-income children was created more than half a century ago to combat malnutrition(营养不良). A breakfast program was added during the 1960s, and both attempted to improve the nutritional value of food served at school.

More must be done to fight the childhood obesity epidemic(流行的), which has caused a   frightening peak in weight-related disorders like diabetes, high-blood pressure and heart disease   among young people. The place to start is schools, where junk food sold outside the federal meals program—through snack bars and vending machines—has pretty much canceled out the benefits   of all those efforts.

Federal rules that govern the sales of these harmful foods at school are limited and have not   been updated for nearly 40 years. Until new regulations are written, children who are served healthy meals in the school cafeteria will continue to buy candy drinks and high sodium(钠) snacks elsewhere in school.

Many states’ school districts have taken positive steps, but others are likely to resist, especially districts that sell junk food to finance athletic program extracurricular activities, and even copier expenses.

Those districts should take note of a study released in 2009 in West Virginia showing that the budgetary costs of switching from sodas to healthy drinks such as fruit juice, milk, and water were   very little. Even if the switch costs money, so be it. The school should not be trading their students’   health to buy office supplies.

Over the last 50 years, the obesity rates for adolescents have tripled. Unless there is decisive action, weight and inactivity-related disorders will bother a steady larger proportion of the work   force and replace smoking as the leading cause of premature death.

Sugar-free cookies, reduced-sugar cereal, sugar- free candy, diet soda...are these better for you? After sugar became a taboo(禁忌) in the nutrition and wellness world, sugar-free food items and beverages acted as substitutes for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Claiming to be ZERO sugar meant it was healthier, better for diabetics, and helped you slim down...Right?

Wrong. Sugar-free food isn’t better for you. In fact, it is worse.

Sugar-free means that artificial sweeteners (甜味剂) are used instead of real sugar. The problem: these sweeteners do not come from natural sources and they can cause you more harm than good.

Let’s get into what these artificial sweeteners actually are. Sugar-free sugar sounds wrong and that’s because there is no such thing as sugar-free sugar. Some of these sugar-free alternatives even contain sugar and the ones that don’t have chemicals your body often does not know how to process.

Most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar so only a tiny amount is needed. That’s why they can market sugar-free alternatives as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie”. It also means that you get no nutritional value from consuming them, which is why many sugar-free substitutes are classified as “non-nutritive”. These artificial sweeteners tend to hide under sneaky names. Actually, they are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar.

When you eat sweet stuff, your body continues to desire it and, even though your body cannot metabolize(新陈代谢) these sugar-free alternatives, your brain does not know the difference. In turn, sugar-free alternatives connect to weight gain and type 2 diabetes (糖尿病).

Artificial sweeteners also damage your gut’s ability to break down sugar which impacts everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn’t know how to handle artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.

A good rule of thumb: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like Stevia or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugars that come from fruits and stay away from products claiming to be sugar-free or diet!