• Scan the buffet for shrimp with cocktail sauce – virtually fat free and high in protein, iron and antioxidant lycopene.
• Avoid feeling deprived and food-distracted all evening long – allow yourself one dessert or holiday truffle per event.
• Switch out of holiday mode as soon as the party’s over; don’t turn Thanksgiving through New Year’s into one long binge.
• Save calories for only new, interesting foods; have one taste of each.
• Take your camera and be the designated photographer; you can’t eat while snapping pictures.
• Indulge in a single serving of your favorite holiday treat at a restaurant with a friend instead of testing your willpower by keeping it around the house.
• Alternate alcoholic drinks with calorie-free sparkling water.
• Destroy the plate. If you’ve had enough to eat but others are still picking, dump salt over any food you have left.
• Brush up your small talk; talking slows down eating.
• Don’t arrive at the party starving; the fat in an ounce of nuts and protein in a glass of skim milk will blunt your appetite.
