Nutrition Goals for the New Year
December 30, 2025 by HFS Staff
This is the second installment of our Health and Wellness Tips for the New Year series! Nutrition plays a central role in how we feel and function, and HFS Nutrition and Wellness Specialist Lacy Anderson offers insights to help you fuel your body in 2026.
Aim for a Balanced Plate Instead of Restricting Foods or Nutrients
Don’t picture pink elephants. Did you just do the exact opposite of what I told you to do? What do you think happens when you tell yourself you’re not allowed to eat something? It can become the very thing you focus on and crave even more.
Unless you have a medical or religious dietary restriction, there’s no need to set strict rules that make specific foods or entire food groups off-limits. There’s also no good reason to restrict calories below what you need to keep your brain and body strong. Nutrition restrictions can deprive you of important micronutrients and macronutrients, cause you to start tying your self-worth to your willpower, and even lead to cycles of over-restricting and binging.
This isn’t a way of living that I would wish on my worst enemy, yet it’s one of the most common New Year’s resolution themes.
Instead of thinking of ways to restrict yourself, think about what you’d like to add to your plate to make it more balanced and health-promoting. Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate is a good guide to follow. Making a quarter of your plate protein, a quarter whole grains, and half veggies and fruits is a great way to get the variety of nutrients you need to fuel your body and mind.
How does your current eating pattern stack up against this image? Where do you think you can make some changes? What can you start adding more of to your plate?
Odds are, you could be adding more veggies, fruits, and whole grains. I say this because most Americans (over 90% of women and over 97% of men) do not get enough of these foods and fail to consume their daily recommended amount of fiber (25-28g for college-aged women and 31-34g for college-aged men). Fiber is a friend for your gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems. If you aren’t already getting down with fiber, embrace it in 2026!
You don’t need to make New Year’s resolutions if it isn’t your thing. However, if the New Year inspires you to reflect and goal-set, I hope you pick resolutions that bring you joy, reduce your stress, and help make this a great year to be you.
I wish all you Huskies a very Happy New Year!
Lacy Anderson, MS MPP RDN CD
Nutrition and Wellness Specialist
lacyand@uw.edu
Need some recommendations for goals that will support your wellness in 2026? Read our other Health and Wellness Tips for the New Year blogs for more information:
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