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As the holidays wind down, the wellness industry is prepping for its busiest months: “New Year, New You” season. You know, the time of year when health and wellness brands and influencers cash in by convincing you that some aspect of your body (if not the whole damn thing) needs desperate attention. This often involves the promotion of weight loss products, detoxes, get-fit-quick workout plans, and elimination diets. 

These aggressive invitations to fix yourself are everywhere, pushing empowerment while the subtext reeks of judgment and shame.

While it’s true that some people do earnestly want to make resolutions tied to their health or weight, not everyone does. Plus, this barrage of exercise and diet messaging can be especially triggering depending on the relationship you might have with your body or your physical health, or even just the state of your mental health. If any of this is resonating with you, here are a few tips for making it through January and the next few months unscathed from our culture’s obsession with smaller bodies and self-improvement.

If you’re going to do any kind of detox this month, let it be a cleanse of your social media feeds. That influencer who posts “What I Eat in a Day” videos that always make you feel bad? Gone. The lifestyle brand publishing problematic articles like “13 Moves That Target Your [Insert Derisive Name for a Body Part You Didn’t Know You Needed to Be Ashamed Of]”? Unfollowed. Your coworker posting three times a day about her new weight-loss pyramid scheme? Muted. Photos of celebrities who have rapidly slimmed down recently all over the internet feeling harmful? Get rid of those gossip pages and block where you can.

You don’t even need to wait until it pops up in your feed; if there’s anyone who did these things last year or just frequently makes you feel like shit, go ahead and mute them now.

“I think you have to realize that if it’s not doing you any good, then it’s not worth following,” says Christine Byrne, an anti-diet registered dietitian and nutrition journalist.

And if someone is telling you that you need to pay lots of money to live your best life, please be skeptical. “Don’t fall for all of the ploys to buy things in order to achieve your goals,” reminds Jessica Stern, a clinical psychologist at NYU Langone Health. 

There are plenty of accounts to follow that are actually empowering and that will never tell you peanut butter is off-limits or that your butt shouldn’t look the way it does.

“Following people in bigger bodies and in differently abled bodies and just people who look differently than you can really help expand your idea of what is normal, what happy looks like, and what healthy looks like,” Byrne says, “Because those things don’t have a look.” 

You can also subscribe to podcasts and newsletters that help you to identify, question, and dismantle diet culture in your everyday life. For starters, Byrne’s “Quit Your Diet Newsletter” is filled with empathetic advice on very relatable topics. And the very popular Maintenance Phase podcast should basically be required listening for anyone with a body: “It has gotten through to people that I never expected it to,” adds Byrne.

So, what can you do when your mother-in-law suggests you download that new diet app she saw on Facebook, or your friend asks if you’ll join her running group (even though you have never and will never enjoy running)? Read the situation and relationship as generously as possible, and respond or remove yourself accordingly.

“One great canned response is: ‘I have realized that those kinds of things don’t work for me, so I’d rather not talk about them this year,’” suggests Byrne. If it’s someone you’re really close with, you may want to take the opportunity to set a boundary, like: “I really value our friendship, but I find [fill in the blank here] to be really triggering, so I’d appreciate it if we just don’t talk about that.”

While it can be tempting to go on a tirade about diet culture in the moment, a gentler tactic could be pointing them in the direction of a podcast or article that resonated with you about this topic, which might diffuse the situation without making anyone defensive.

Working through your own health and body struggles while “New Year, New You” season rages on can feel especially isolating, so don’t hesitate to call on whatever tools have been helpful for you in the past. That might include a therapist, a dietitian, or a supportive community.

If you find that you’re struggling more with resolution-related pressures than you have before, it might be helpful to talk to a professional about that. “Some people — especially people with anxious tendencies or eating disorders — can get too focused on control. If you’re finding that balance tricky, that’s a great time to seek professional help,” says Stern.

When you’re surrounded by the message that everyone is on Ozempic or doing a glow-up challenge, it can be really easy to assume that you should be doing and caring about those things, too. But maybe you aren’t and you don’t. And that’s fine!

Tune in to your more abstract values, says Stern. That might include things like spending time with family and friends or being in nature. Getting in touch with your values can provide a helpful compass when you’re faced with so many external messages about what you should be doing to “better yourself.”

Take a moment to uncouple those values from any appearance-related goals. Okay, this may take more than a moment, but the point is to recognize that while wellness companies often imply that you won’t really be living your best life until you look a certain way, that’s just not true. 

“You can achieve happiness and health in any body, no matter how you eat, no matter how you look,” says Byrne.

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Why Biden blocked the steel sale: President Joe Biden announced on Friday he would block the sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel on the grounds that the deal represented a threat to national security. But politicians mostly lined up against it due to the strong opposition of the  United Steelworkers union.

A reminder to wash your hands: Norovirus outbreaks are on the rise. If you’re concerned about killing germs, we’ve got a refresher on the pros and cons of antimicrobial soap use. While alcohol-based sanitizers are typically a better choice than soap, the germs that cause norovirus can’t be killed with these kinds of sanitizers.

An unexpected industry is booming in Colombia: Birdwatching tourism has skyrocketed in the country, which has more avian species than any other on Earth, with close to 2,000 distinct varieties. Here’s how Colombia’s unique geography allows it to be home to nearly 20 percent of the world’s birds.

Massive medical costs? One in four adults said they skipped or delayed medical care in the last year due to cost. But patients have tools and negotiating power that can help reduce prices before services are rendered and even after bills are received. Here are the questions you should be asking to avoid high medical bills.

The speaker vote drama, explained: The House of Representatives isn’t able to function without a speaker, which means that key tasks, like certifying the presidential election on January 6, are at risk of being delayed when one isn’t chosen. Last week’s face-off indicates a divide within the Republican party that could pose a real challenge when it comes to the GOP’s attempts to pass policies this year.

Siri privacy lawsuit: Apple must pay $95 million as the result of a class action alleging that the tech company’s voice assistant feature recorded private conversations and disclosed their contents to advertisers. [Reuters]

An odd “Oz” theft: A man accused of hiding a pair of the red ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz plans to plead guilty to theft and witness tampering. The slippers were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. [AP]

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Constance Grady on the prevailing idea that men no longer read. You can learn more about the questionable numbers propping up this concern here.

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Today’s edition was produced and edited by staff editor Melinda Fakuade. We'll see you tomorrow!

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