Dear Just Be: How do I avoid gaining weight over the holidays?

So the holiday season has officially begun, although these days it feels like it starts at Halloween. With all the sweets and decadent food everywhere it can seem like an impossible task not to gain weight; however, there are some easy tricks to avoid weight gain.

1.) Don’t skip meals. If you skip meals you are prone to overeat because you justify the fact that you missed a meal and so haven’t taken in that many calories.

2.) Eat a piece of fruit. The fiber in fruit makes you feel full quicker and longer and will help you from overeating.

3.) Use small plates. Smaller plates, like your dessert plates, limit the amount of food you can pile on.

4.) Mingle. Mingle not with the buffet, but with the people at the party, and make sure you do it away from the buffet table.

5.) Walk more. Walking is an easy exercise to incorporate into your daily routine. Park at the back of parking lots, walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator, walk around the store and look before you buy.

6.) Play. With family and/or friends have a snow ball fight, go snowshoeing, go skiing, go dancing, play board games or with a dreidel (a four-sided spinning top). All of these are great ways to stay active, stay away from food and keep your mind off of food.

These easy tricks are not only great for the holidays, but year round too.