When November comes around, I always think “Oh, no!”  It’s time to get ready for the fast-paced ride.  It is the beginning of tons of food and endless to-do lists.  I have found one key to an enjoyable holiday season–and creating one that I can live through and enjoy–is to take time to create a holiday calendar.  At the beginning of the holiday season, set aside a special family time for planning.  Write on the calendar shopping trips, school events, Christmas concerts, putting up the holiday tree, and time to trim the tree and wrap all the presents.

Another good idea is to set special goals for the holiday.  One might be NOT to gain weight.  Once you have that goal in mind, it is important to gather together the strategies that you will follow to accomplish the goal.  Here are three ideas you could use to accomplish your weight loss goal:

  1. Plan holiday meals that have a low-calorie dessert, instead of high calories and candies.  One that is my favorite to serve is a banana boat! For each serving, take one banana and slit it down the center, opening it up like a canoe.  Mix together 2 tablespoons each of dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, soy nuts or slivered almonds.  Place this mixture down the center of the bananas that you’ve opened.  Warm up in the microwave for 10-20 seconds or until the chocolate chips are melted.  Enjoy!  Total calories for this treat are around 200 calories.
  1. Office Pot Luck Parties:  If I am going to a pot luck party, I always take a wonderful dish that is high in flavor and low in calories.  In the event that my dish is the only one that will keep me in my weight goal, I will at least have something that I really enjoy.  A nice one is a wonderful spring green salad with apples, slivered nuts, orange slices and diced chicken.  The low calorie dressing that I like with this is Newman’s Own Lite Sesame Ginger dressing, which has only 35 calories per 2 tablespoons.
  1. When eating out, order a delicious fish, chicken breast or lean meat meal and double the vegetables, without any butter on them.  A salad to start and a dish of fruit at the end will not add on those holiday pounds.

I always think back to the famous saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  Take time now to set yourself up for one of the best holiday seasons of your life!

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