!7: Catalog Nestle Toll House Cookie Cake: January 2012

!±8± Healthy Holidays 2011

What do most of us love about the holidays? The delicious, rich, comforting and soul satisfying foods. What do most of hate about the holidays? The delicious, rich, comforting and soul satisfying foods. Talk about a love/hate relationship! We all know that the next six weeks are going to be incredibly tempting with colorful cocktails, succulent meats, a slew of side dishes and rich, decadent desserts. We know this and know it well in advance, the schedule is pretty much set, yet we fall into the same health defeating cycles again and again. And it's not only about weight gain, as that can vary from a couple of pounds to several or more, depending on the individual. It's also about the emotional toll this time period has on us. Instead of truly enjoying the holidays with our loved ones, we excessively worry about overeating, gaining weight and guilt about making bad food choices, or we totally give in, eating anything and everything we want and think "I'll just start fresh in January for the New Year". But again, without a plan or discipline we fall back into our old habits until spring comes along with the stress of getting into shape for summer and the cycle begins again. Does this sound familiar to you?

Okay, let's start by working on making the 2011 holiday season different and healthy. We can have our cake... pie, cookies, trifle... and eat it too. I am going to share with you my personal "get through the holidays without gaining weight" strategy that will allow you to indulge in your holiday favorites without the extra pounds or experiencing added stress in your life. Granted, my strategy isn't something most of you haven't heard before, it's all about moderation and making healthy choices; and I'm going to provide you with practical steps to help you achieve success, if you put in the effort and follow them.

Moderation: While the holidays season last for several weeks, the actual days of feasting are only two or three. Set the intention and make clear in your mind the fact that you do not have to give in to all the treats and goodies offered at your workplace and from your neighbors and relatives on the days and weeks leading up to the major holiday dinners. Trust me, saying no to them will not hurt their feelings, most likely they will admire your discipline and perhaps even follow suit, or they may just eat that second piece of cranberry cheesecake anyway, while still admiring your discipline. Instead of giving into every sugar cookie, red and green foil covered chocolate or mug of eggnog, save your calories and time of indulgence for those special meals that you share with your family and friends. Compare that truly satisfying experience of enjoying good food with loved ones against the feeling of guilt about eating all the gingerbread men after the kids went to bed, and baking a new batch by morning, or the fact that you sat at your desk and ate most of the office holiday goodie basket, before lunch. Moderation is the key to living a healthy life.

Make healthy choices: In addition to being mindful of what and how often you eat, keep your workout schedule consistent. I know, it is very difficult to do so around the holidays with all the shopping, visiting relatives, house guest and depending on your line of work, there may be a lot of late work nights. But as Andrew Carnegie said "Anything worth having is worth working for." And what is more worth working for, or worth having for than your health and wellness so you can have many more holiday seasons to celebrate. And actually, physical activity is a wonderful way to spend time with your family during the festivities. Whether you go for brisk walks together in the evenings, take advantage of the holiday guest passes offered by gyms or even play a sports game or challenge grandma to a dance battle, don't laugh, she may win, on the new, interactive video game systems. The goal is to move your body and work up a sweat 4-5 days a week.

Living a healthy lifestyle is a process and a journey, and it's one that becomes more challenging and difficult starting with the Halloween candy and ending with January's champagne toast, but with the right mindset and effort on our part, it is possible to experience a healthy and indulgent holiday season. Cheers to your health!