How to Regift Fattening Foods: Save Your Diet and Your Manners

If you're on a diet, the holiday gift exchange can feel like a true battle of the bulge. Well-meaning friends, colleagues, and even family members want to please you by giving you something they know you like -- but unfortunately, it just might be a food item that you adored in your pre-diet days.

So there you are: the happy holiday is over. And you're got a stockpile of beautiful boxes of candy, tempting tins of candied pecans, and crave-worthy containers of sugared almonds. The challenge: you want to stay on your diet. But, gee, wouldn't it be rude to give those goodies to someone else?

Yes, no, and maybe. Here's the 411 on how to cope politely -- and save your diet at the same time:

1. Don't show your dismay when you open the gift. Thank the giver sincerely, and say that you're saving it until "later" if you're asked why you don't sample it. An alternative: say you want to share, open it, and pass it around BUT only do this if you truly feel you can restrain from having any (or if you want to have just one and can keep it at that number!).

2. If it's not perishable, wrap it in new gift wrapping paper immediately. Then create a separate area of a closet or pantry labeled "Gifts to Give." Tag that package with the giver's name (because you do NOT want to re-gift someone with something they gave you!)).

3. If it is perishable, pass it on immediately. Consider taking to the office breakroom to "share," or to the church coffee hour. Just make sure that you have the willpower to "just say no" to taking the lion's share of that treat for yourself!

4. When you're ready to re-gift: make it a separate occasion with completely separate people. For example, suppose you received a lovely container of candied nuts at a family holiday gathering. When you give it as a gift at a subsequent date, look for an opportunity such as a friend's birthday party or an office going-away party for a colleague. That way, the individuals are different and you won't be "caught."