By David Junno Psy.D.

For many of us the holiday season is a time for celebration. This usually means a lot of eating, especially of high fat foods. Most of us put off making any plans to diet or exercise until our New Year's resolution. The problem is most of us don't follow through on our New Year's resolutions. So if we are not going to get started then, why not start now.

"What!" You may say, "start a diet during the holidays".

Before dismissing the suggestion consider some of the following arguments:

1. There is probably no other time during the year that we are going to eat more high fat foods and gain more weight. Think about it, most of us are making New Year's resolutions because we ate and partied so much during the holiday season. So just think if we start watching what we eat during the holidays we will get the jump on the New Year, and may not even have to make a resolution!

2. We can make a big dent in our diet goals, especially if we look at our average over several months. Consider this, if we look at three months, say November, December and January. Let's say we gain no weight during November, 6 pounds during December, and 3 pounds during January. The average weight gain for three months will be 3 pounds. If we don't gain any weight during December and still gain 3 pounds during January, the average will be 1 pound a month. That is a 67% reduction. If I could get the stock exchange to over look my worst month of the year I'd be in much better shape than I am now.

3. How many more cookies and cakes do we really need? Are we really going to be more satisfied eating 20 cookies than 10? Just by cutting our consumption of deserts in half we can make a huge reduction in calories compared to previous years. And this is with still eating deserts!

4. Make all the deserts you usually do but use reduced fat recipes. These can be easily found at a number of sites on the Internet. Go to: http://www.lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or- not.com/resources.htm and scroll down to "Need help finding low fat recipes?" You will find many options.

5. Why not celebrate every other day. If you eat normally during the days you don't celebrate and don't try to pile on extra the days you do to make up for it, this could result in a 50% reduction in calorie intake from previous holiday seasons.

6. If we are really serious about dieting and making healthier choices we are going to have to make changes eventually at the holiday season. Aren't we just putting off the inevitable if we wait until after the holidays?

7. Think of how good you'll feel about yourself as you are making healthier choices then the people around you. It is amazing how easy this can be once you set your mind to it. I know I started my diet 7 years ago during the holiday season.

If you recognize you need to do something about your diet, if you convinced yourself that making healthier choices is your goal, and if you have prepared a plan of action, then you are ready to start. If you are ready, don't procrastinate any longer, start now and have a healthy holiday season.

Quotes

"The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse." Jules Renard

"Make food a very incidental part of your life by filling your life so full of meaningful things that you'll hardly have time to think about food." Peace Pilgrim 190? - 1981

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Remember, having the right diet and getting enough exercise will not only improve your health- IT WILL IMPROVE YOU LIFE.

Until next time,
Dave Junno Psy.D.

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Dave Junno Psy.D. is a psychologist, coach and author of Lowering High Cholesterol and Reducing Your Risk of Heart Disease- READY OR NOT! To contact him mail to: drjunno@drjunno.com or visit his website: http://www.lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or-not.com and sign-up for his free e-mail newsletter: Ready or Not.