In the past several weeks, I’ve received no less than two dozen “avoid holiday weight gain” and “no-guilt Thanksgiving” emails. Even with the holiday being over, I am sure that the onslaught of emails will continue–just with the word “Holiday” in place of “Thanksgiving.”

What amazed me about these articles is how disordered some of the advice is. While there are a lot of healthy suggestions out there (like “Don’t skip breakfast” and “Focus on friends and family rather than the food”), I have so many examples of unhealthy “tips”:

Wear snug clothes and keep one hand busy. When you wear snug-fitting attire, chances are you’ll be too busy holding in your stomach to overeat. – WebMD

Doesn’t that sound miserable? You’re bound to not enjoy anything if you feel uncomfortable and self-conscious in your clothing .

Use a knife and fork to cut one bite at a time. By using both utensils, you’ll have to slow down between bites. Don’t cut all your food at once. Not only is it technically in poor taste to do so, having precut food makes eating quickly much easier. – The Daily Spark

Count 15 chews per bite. – Whole Living

I’m all for pacing yourself and enjoying your food… but counting how many times you chew each bite and cutting up your food into tiny pieces both fall in the “disordered” category for me.

Keep something in your hands — even an empty glass. – Whole Living

Wear something “fitted and fabulous, so you’re reminded to be conscious of your clothes not popping.” If you’ve got post-cocktail dinner plans and don’t want to fill up on hors d’oeuvres, keep your hands occupied by “carrying a clutch and a beverage.” – Whole Living

While I’ve personally never held an empty glass and a clutch to make it physically impossible to pick up an appetizer… it doesn’t sound very “normal” to me.

Granted, these aren’t necessarily the healthiest sources out there–but the articles aren’t from Weight Watchers Online or anything.  I guess it just goes to show how blurry those lines are between healthy eating, dieting, and disordered eating.