Top Ten List for Surviving the Holidays

What's your definition of holiday stress? Is it the frenzy over buying and shipping gifts? Or is it being tempted by all the "wrong" foods? For me, holiday stress is caused by eating foods that I intuitively know are unhealthy for our family.I just got back from a Thanksgiving visit with relatives, where the turkey and vegetables were heated in plastic and the food available for kids was chock full of hydrogenated oils and corn syrup. Mentioning this would have insulted my host, so I quietly resolved to feign enjoyment of the plastic turkey and fed the kids high doses of sugar and chocked it up for one week of living dangerously. But boy did it stress me out.

It's hard to stay healthy during a time of year that is infamous for bad eating, depression, lack of exercise and increased stress. There's no easy answer and I won't pretend that the following list is a panacea. But here are 10 strategies that are at least worth a try:

1. Set a Goal: goal setting is highly motivational, but you will be most successful if the goal is broken down into smaller, more manageable ones. Start by writing down a goal that you want to accomplish 6 months from now. Then break it down into smaller goals: one for next month, next week, even a small goal for tomorrow. Having this type of strategy to get to your goal will help you reach your long term goal and keep you on track during the holiday season.

2. Live in the Present: "Saying, I am living a healthy lifestyle is more powerful than saying I want to live a healthy lifestyle. By saying I am you can trick yourself into doing the things necessary to be who you want to be, like eating healthy, exercising and drinking plenty of water." So this season live in the present.

3. Healthy Hors D'oeuvres First: If you must fill up on appetizers, go for the healthier ones first. Scout them out and zero in on anything that contains healthy proteins, healthy fats (avocados, olives, nuts) and vegetables. Stuff yourself with vegetables (for some of you, you might consider this an opportunity to eat the veggies that you didn't get during the day). Give yourself permission to indulge in these foods first. Then wait. And, with any luck, you won't be as hungry or as tempted to revisit the food table in search of the cheesy, high carb delights.

4. Set a Plan Before you get to a Party: Having a plan will put you in control, so try writing down on a piece of paper the number of hors d'oeuvres you'll have that night. Or decide ahead of time whether or not you'll have dessert. If your answer is "yes," then by all means enjoy a few bites of your favorite treat.

5. Eat Before You Go: Have something to eat before you go to an event, so that you're not gobbling your way through the dessert table. A cup of soup in a broth base (I recommend vegetable or miso) can be very filling, and acts as a perfect healthy deterrent for over indulging.

6. Don't Imitate Behavior: A much-publicized article in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year reported that your chance of becoming obese is much higher if you have a close friend who is obese. Obesity appears to be socially "contagious." Social influence does play a part in obesity. As humans, we tend to nonverbally mimic behavior, and the same may hold true for our eating habits at parties, where people are more relaxed. So if you're standing around the chip dish and one friend starts munching, you may have an overwhelming desire to munch too. Either avoid the chip dish chatter or be conscious of the fact that it might happen.

7. Live Healthy the Day of a Holiday Party: Don't fast before a party-it's likely to cause steep fluctuations in blood sugar which will sabotage your efforts. Eat normally the day of an event, to keep blood sugar steady and to avoid overindulging once you get to a party.

8. Eat Dessert in the Afternoon: Let's face it, part of the fun of holiday celebrations is the seldom-eaten desserts, a chance to indulge a little. So indulge. But indulge in the afternoon as much as you can, so your body will be able to burn off those sweet sins before bedtime.

9. Exercise: While exercise is good all year round, it is almost a critical part of health during the holiday season. A combination of exercise works best: stretches when wake up and before you go to sleep, 20 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of resistance training. Walk around the block during a lunch break. Get out of your office chair and stretch all day long. Exercise will naturally lower stress hormones, so find ways to work at least a little exercise into your schedule every day.

10. Rehearse: My nutritionist friend and author Jonny Bowden recommends rehearsing a problem in your mind before it happens . That way you're not caught unprepared, and you can actually practice reacting to a variety of situations. Studies have shown improvement in sports performance just by doing visualization exercises, in which, for example, basketball players mentally "practice" shooting baskets under various conditions. You can do the same thing with the holidays: pick a day, visualize what it's going to be like, where you're going to be and with whom. Think about what food is likely to be available, when you're likely to be hungry and what the circumstances will be. (Are you going to be in a restaurant known for its crème brulé and homemade breads? Is your mother going to be there watching everything you eat and sitting in silent judgment?). Now visualize the situation. If there's temptation or anxiety, close your eyes and picture it. Hear in your mind what people will say. Then visualize yourself responding in a way that would make you proud of yourself, whatever that is. It might mean allowing yourself one or two bites of something "off your diet", The point here is not what you choose, but that you choose it, and then you stick to it.

Lastly, find a few moments of peace for yourself every day . Even a warm bubble bath will help keep stress at bay and help you enjoy the holidays more.

As for me, there is another holiday right around the corner, but different relatives this time, and a whole new set of challenges. Most notably that my sister is friends with Bobby Flay (from The Food Network) who has shown her 5 ways to make mouth-watering fudge .…