8 strategies for not gaining holiday weight

It is estimated that we make more than 200 food-related decisions every day — and during the holidays that number seems even higher. Do you come face to face with cookies in the office work room, candy canes at the receptionist’s desk and a dish of red and green M&M’s on your colleague’s desk? Then there are the seemingly endless holiday parties and buffets that tempt even those with the most willpower. Here are the top eight tips for surviving the holiday eating scene.

• Ban hunger. Never go to a party on an empty stomach. Eat breakfast every day to keep hunger at bay and eat a light snack before heading out to a party. A small snack with protein and carbohydrates (cereal and milk, yogurt, a handful of trail mix) will help curb your appetite.

Have a question of general interest? E-mail Chris Rosenbloom Fit to Eat columns Get out of rut: Try new fruits and vegetables  Three questions: Organic produce, iron and iodine, and tryptophan  Setting the record straight on some food myths         More Fit to Eat • Chris Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., is a member of the nutrition faculty in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University Related: • Carolyn O'Neil: Think of add-ons as accessories  Good links: • Evening Edge • AJC Food & Drink • AJC Health Channel • Diet and Nutrition headlines, resources • Atlanta Restaurant reviews and search • Low fat/ heart healthy recipes • Search recipes

• Look at liquids. Some alcoholic drinks pack quite a caloric punch. Even nonalcoholic holiday drinks can have triple-digit calories. Limit alcohol to one drink, then switch to water. Alcohol zaps your ability to make good judgments, including food decisions. You’ll feel better the next day, too.

• Cruise the buffet. Look over everything on the buffet table before you pick up a plate. Brian Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating,” studied behaviors at Chinese restaurant buffets and found that overweight diners were less likely to browse the buffet before loading their plates.

• Think tablespoons, not serving spoons. Allow yourself to eat anything you want but limit the portions to a tablespoon or two and not the usual serving you would eat if faced with one or two choices.

• Share the wealth. If your aunt gives you a 5-pound box of chocolates, eat one or two pieces and share it with your family or colleagues to avoid the temptation to eat the whole box.

• Location, location, location. Never stand near the buffet and nibble. Eat from a plate and move far away from the table. In the Chinese restaurant study by Wansink, overweight diners sat facing the buffet — so keep your distance.

• Savor the good stuff. Enjoy the foods that are special to the holidays and skip the ordinary. Why waste calories on chocolate chip cookies when your sister-in-law’s homemade baklava is a once-a-year treat?

• Use a salad plate instead of dinner plate. A few years ago while entertaining 20 relatives for a holiday dinner, I thought about everything but the number of dinner plates I owned. I was two short, so my husband and I ate off salad plates — everyone thought it was a smart idea because we ate less than the others.