The New Year is here, and so is the army of people who are committed to making serious changes in their life. I'm 100% behind you when it comes to improving your nutrition, activity and stress levels. Actually, I'm 100% behind you regardless of any healthy change you opt to make a part of your life. Despite all the great information that's out there to help guide you, there is plenty of of misinformation. Here are 5 diet mistakes to avoid in 2015.

 1) You Think Fat is Bad
This one makes the top of the list for me. Fat is one of the most important components of a healthy diet, and largely responsible for absorbing vitamins A, D, K and E, providing energy, improving skin health and making hormones. Keep fat in your diet, but make sure it's a high quality, with sources including eggs, avocado, olive oil and coconut oil, to name a few. Steer clear of processed oils found in most commercial salad dressings and packaged foods, such a corn, canola and soybean oil.

Here are a few good ways to include a reasonable amount of healthy fat in your diet:

• Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil along with lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to a salad.
• Enjoy a half of an avocado with a bowl of berries in the morning.
• Drizzle a little bit of coconut oil on air popped popcorn for an evening snack.

2) You've Been Duped by Diet Labels
The labels on food packages are only as true as their ingredients. If you see a package of food that says it's healthy, turn it over and check out the first few ingredients and the number of grams of sugar it contains. If the food you're about to eat or buy contains more than 12 grams of sugar per serving or includes any of the following ingredients, put it back and look for something healthier:

• enriched (refined) wheat
• high fructose corn syrup
• sucralose
• aspartame
• acesulfame-k
• hydrogenated oils (trans fats)
• artificial colors

3) You're Not Down With D
You may not know it, but it's likely that you're running low on vitamin D. In fact,studies suggest more than 75% of Americans get less vitamin D than needed. This is hardly an intentional diet mistake, but something that can easily be corrected. There is good reason to be concerned about your own vitamin D levels. According to the journal, Neurology,  people who don't get enough vitamin D are at a significantly increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease. In contrast to all other vitamins, our body converts sunlight to D. When we're not getting enough D, good sources, optimally obtained as vitamin D3, come from fortified dairy products, egg yolks and fatty fish, as well as in supplement form. This all important vitamin is actually a steroid hormone and, when consumed or absorbed in adequate amounts, helps our body in many ways, including:

• immune system support
• improved muscle growth
• lower blood pressure
• improved bone development
• optimal body weight
• improved memory and cognitive function
• cancer prevention

4) Your Healthy Diet Ends When the Weekend Begins
You've stuck to your guns all week long, but when Friday evening rolls around, you start to lose steam. Maybe you have a couple drinks or dive into a decadent dinner as the weekend begins, then make a few more exceptions on Saturday and Sunday. A few extra indulgences is all it takes to stall weight loss efforts, reversing all the hard work you put in throughout the week. It's perfectly fine to enjoy a glass or two of wine, or even a small dessert, but when those small exceptions become a regular occurrence more than once a week, you may not see the results you deserve. To stay on track, try the following:

• Keep a food and activity journal: writing out how you eat and move helps keep you more accountable.
• Schedule early morning workouts: knowing you have to get out of bed early to exercise might make you think twice about eating or drinking too much.
• Take a picture of the indulgent food or drink you eat or drink and keep it on your phone: revisit the pictures before you're persuaded to indulge again. Having photo proof of what already went down the hatch might deter you from further indulgences.

5) You're Either In or You're Out
You give it your all and commit 100%... until things start to come unraveled. Maybe you missed a couple workouts or you had a larger-than-planned dinner one night. Because things didn't go quite as well as you anticipated, you opt to put the brakes on your efforts indefinitely.

Not everything goes as planned, so expect setbacks. The last thing you want to do, however, is stop progress in its tracks. Progress is progress and everyone makes strides at their own pace. If you happen to fall off the wagon, get back on and keep moving. It's always better to make a little progress than no progress at all.

Source : Traci D