By - Ken Kashubara

‘Tis the season of holiday parties, family gatherings, traveling and heavy drinking. ‘Tis the season of cupcakes, mashed potatoes, gravy on everything and Bailey’s in the coffee. Unfortunately, this all adds up to an average American weight gain of seven to ten pounds from Thanksgiving to New Years’ Day. How do we combat this trend?

Holiday weight gain is not unavoidable. Drinking does not have to be heavy, overeating is not a foregone conclusion and muffins don’t have to turn into “muffin tops". Follow these holiday weight loss tips and the season can remain healthy as well as happy.

1. Eat a low calorie meal or big snack BEFORE going to parties that will be serving high calorie foods. Doing so will help prevent overeating and curb poor food choices. If time is an issue, carry food substitute bars in the trunk of the car. Due to their “good” fat content, nuts and seeds also work as a filling appetizer before fatty, salt-filled meals.
   
   
2. Offer to bring baked goods to holiday parties. Make a batch of lower calorie cookies or muffins for those trying to stay health conscious. The health crowd will appreciate it. If you are not a baker, Whole Foods (a natural and organic foods retailer with more than 265 stores in North America and the United Kingdom) has a low calorie bakery. Bring the real sugar cookies and fatty baked goods to share with everyone else. This way, nobody will accuse you of sabotaging the holiday.
   
   
3. Don’t get drunk. Staying sober carries multiple benefits. You don’t have to worry about checkpoints or DUIs. Drinking too much weakens resistance against fatty or salty foods - staying sober keeps the willpower high. Alcohol is the ultimate “empty calorie.” Alcohol contains seven calories per gram. It doesn’t matter what you drink - beer, wine, or liquor, the calorie content will be similar. If you must drink a mixed drink, avoid anything mixed with highly acidic, high calorie dark cola. Use fruit juices.
   
   
4. Substitute fat free, low calorie fruit juice bars for ice cream. The bars usually contain about sixty calories. Five ounces of chocolate ice cream contain from 300 to 350 calories. This includes twenty grams of fat equaling at least 180 saturated fat calories.
   
   
5. Don’t forget your vitamins. The holiday season is busy with work, shopping, family obligations and traveling. Time is of the essence. Sometimes, meals must be skipped, meaning less produce consumption. It’s also flu season. Therefore, it is vastly important to take your vitamins daily.
   
   
6. Speaking of shopping, most people spend a lot of time at the mall this season. It’s been said before but it’s going to be said again - take the steps. Don’t use the escalator. Don’t take the people mover. Walk. Don’t spend an hour looking for a parking space. Park far away and walk to and from the mall. That’s why we have winter jackets.
   
   
7. Lastly, eat slowly. People only leave a slotted amount of time for meals. If you eat slowly, you won’t eat as much. Eating slowly gives people time to actually enjoy the food and will cause the “full stomach” feeling with less food. As an added bonus, eating slowly is also easier on the digestive system.

As an added treat, here’s a holiday healthy food recipe for Pear Pie. The following dessert serves four people.

Ingredients:

• Two pears (organic preferred)
• ½ cup of apple juice with no added sugar
• 1 cup of water
• Nonfat, low-sugar vanilla yogurt
• ½ cup low-fat granola

Directions:

Lengthwise, cut pears in half and remove core. Cut side down, place pears in a dish just large enough to hold them. Pour the apple juice and water over the pears. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes. Separately, place granola in a pie plate and place in oven for ten minutes. When everything is done baking, pour pears, water and apple juice into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat on stove for ten minutes and then let cool. After liquid is cooled, pour into pie plate over the granola. Cover with any additional granola and yogurt.

Enjoy!

Bring this delicious dessert to parties, don’t tell anyone it is healthy and no one will suspect it is not filled with saturated fat.

Have the self-discipline to eat a snack before you get to a party, don’t drink excessively, eat slowly, take your vitamins and don’t be lazy when shopping. These tips and treats will go a long way in the battle against holiday weight gain.

About the Author:

Ken Kashubara owns and operates Kash Personal Training in Troy, Michigan. He is certified as a personal trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and American Council on Exercise. He is also a Metabolic Specialist, trained by New Leaf Fitness.

Ken has trained amateur and professional athletes in a variety of sports, from hockey to women's figure competitions. Most of his clients wish to lose weight and his clients lost over 800 pounds in 2006. His fitness writing can also be seen in his free monthly newsletter,

The Health E. Times .

(c)copyright 2007