Strategies for a Healthier Holiday Season

With the arrival of Halloween displays in late summer comes an onslaught of temptation. Buying sacks of goodies just sounds so tempting and urgently necessary.

It's for the trick-or-treaters!

They're teensy-tiny candy bars! What harm could something so tiny do?

All that amounts to, if you're suffering a sore lack of discipline, is you might burn a fraction of a calorie to unwrap the candies before popping them in your mouth. Never mind how many calories those candies are!

And from there? Oh, even more dangerous! It's cold out, and you might want to bake or enjoy a slice of pumpkin bread or a gingerbread cookie, or five.

It'll warm the house up and make it smell nice. I can share ... after sampling the batter and testing a few, all warm and fragrant from the oven.

All good intentions, all on the highway to health hell.

And of course, there's Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie. Can't turn that down! It's tradition!

Then the holidays are in full swing. Christmas cookies for the kids, for gifts, always sampled, and Christmas hams or roast beef, or a crisp, crackling goose and all the evil but delicious sides.

With all that ahead of us it's a wonder we don't just ask Santa for clothes in a larger size. Then we could at least feel less like we're wearing sausage casings as we greet the new year with what, champagne and more food?

I'm guilty of all of the above. But this year I'm going to try and do damage control so I don't feel like a stuffed turkey throughout and at the end of it all. I don't want a massive food hangover come the end of the holidays.

Thus, a few strategies:

For Halloween, I will not buy candy this year. We don't get a lot of kids on our street, so we end up eating way too many of the goodies, because we always end up buying something we'd want if we were still 7 years old and trick-or-treating. So this year iit'll be off with the porch lights and we'll watch a scary movie instead. We'll save a few bucks and countless calories.

In addition, I vow to keep active. Walk the dog. Rake the yard. Fall cleaning around the house. Dust off the jump rope. Dig out the hand weights. Take a belly dance or a zumba class. Pick a workout tape and work out to it. Take a walk at lunch time. Chase the cats around the house. And keep lots of fruit and vegetables on hand. And no junk food. If there are no chips in the cabinet and no ice cream in the freezer, then it's less likely to be consumed and end up on hips, butt and belly.

Thanksgiving could be the hardest challenge ahead. We don't even know where we're going yet. If we host, however, I'll make some healthier recipes, and make sure everyone leaves with leftovers. If we go to someone else's house, then the danger of throwing together a bowl layered with turkey, potatoes, gravy, green beans and stuffing at midnight is minimized. That part is almost better than the meal itself. Eat while watching a classic movie or a football game and let the turkey coma take you over. Give in ... Give in ... Not this year!

For Christmas (the day of and leading up to), I don't think anybody is going to get a box of cookies or cakes from me this year. I hope someone pays me the same courtesy, but if we get some awesome sweets from the in-laws, I will have my husband hide the tin and he can take it to work. (I do not want to be tempted at my job!)

If it's out of the house, then it should stay out of the mouth and off the hips. And, trotting Rover around the block more often and trying to keep active and distracted from the siren song of the sugar plum fairy and her evil kin should a solid head start to a healthier and slimmer 2010.