Don't eat the whole turkey! Avoiding gorging during the holidays

For many of us the holiday season offers cherished moments with family and friends celebrated with the joy of giving and food, lot's and lot's of food.

Though smiling on the outside, the holiday season is actually very stressful for a lot of the population. Many get anxious and are worried about over eating and gaining weight.  Most won't talk about their concern because they don't want to be seen as a Christmas killjoy.

We can have a good time without over eating.  Here are a few tips:

Avoid prompting others to over eat, and If someone says they're done at one plate, then so be it, enjoy their company and try not to cajole them into eating more.

Don't do the no eating thing during the day to save up over eating points for dinner.  This usually backfires because you're so hungry by the time dinner comes around you eat far more than you would have had you ate breakfast and lunch.

Although it's tempting to load the plate to make it look like the great pyramids, serve a normal sized plate.  You'll still enjoy all the food and you'll avoid the uncomfortable bloat that inevitably follows.

If you're set on going back for seconds then plan ahead.. Make your first plate smaller, then go back for less than half a plate of things you like the most.

Don't trick yourself with the "it's only one time" excuse to over eat.. in reality most of us have already over ate at the office party, have more than one family dinner to attend, will be eating left-overs for days, then we're hit New Years over eating.  Additionally it's likely that we've been over eating all year anyway so there is no way it can really be a one-time thing.

Enjoy your friends and family because of their human value, because of your history with them.. we don't need to pig out in order to enjoy the company of friends.

Besides, we all know that we regret over eating afterwards.  Why spend any time during the holidays regretting over eating?   Simply skip the over eating to begin with.  I promise you you'll still enjoy the celebration.

Click here to read what Heart and Stroke has to say about holiday eating