The abundance of sweet and rich foods during the holiday season often yields an abundance of healthful resolutions for the New Year.
In a free workshop tonight at the Culinary Learning Center at the Lebanon Co-op Food Store, the co-op’s nutrition specialist Hannah Brilling plans to help those seeking a way to set and achieve health goals in 2017.
The class will cover SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goal-setting and include time to brainstorm and develop individual plans. It also will feature nutrition and fitness information, snacks, planning tools and recipes.
“I wanted people to leave with specific goals for them,” said Brilling in a phone interview last week. “I don’t want the whole class to be so general that you still have more homework when you go home.”
Instead, the workshop will offer participants a framework to use as they set their own goals and chart a path toward achieving them. Brilling will be available to answer participants’ questions.
While fad diets may work for some, Brilling said, “I get a little nervous when people try to go on crazy cleanses.”
Some such diets can be so restrictive that people wind up worse off than when they started, she said.
She can help people to evaluate whether a cleanse might work for them and how it might (or might not) fit in with their longer term health goals.
Some participants might not yet be ready to make a change and they just want to test the water to see what information Brilling has to offer, she said.
“Anyone’s welcome to come,” Brilling said.
Brilling, who holds a bachelor’s degree in health science from Keene State College, said it can be difficult for people to wade through the wide array of nutrition information available, some based in science and some not.
To help inform shoppers, Brilling offers a free class monthly and gives store tours for individuals and groups. She can be reached at hannahbrilling@coopfoodstore.com or 603-640-6577.
The free New Year’s goal workshop is set to take place tonight at 5:30. To register, stop by the customer service desk at the Hanover or Lebanon store or call 603-643-2667.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
