Dr. Lynn Paul, EdD, RD, is the Montana State University Food and Nutrition Specialist. She has been a dietitian for 21 years with a focus on helping people achieve good health through healthy food choices, activity, and positive behavior change.

   Eating Healthy During the Holiday and Into the New Year

    Many of us have great intentions to keep to our usual activity routines during the holidays and into the New Year, however our extra busy schedules may thwart our best intentions. The current activity recommendations are a total of 30 minutes a day which you can add up by doing several 10-15 minute segments throughout the day. So don’t add stress to an already busy time by insisting you follow your regular activity routine every day. Rather, focus on how to get several bouts of activity throughout the day that add up to 30 minutes.
    Here are some great ideas for short activity bouts:
    *5-10 minutes: spend extra time walking and shopping downtown, in the mall, or larger stores
    *10-15 minutes: include one extra short walk during the day at break time, while waiting for your children,
    *5 minutes: park your car at the edge of the lot or down a few blocks
    *5 minutes: make a practice of taking as many stairs as possible over the holidays and into the new year
    *20 minutes: dance, dance, dance at the holiday parties
    *15-20 minutes: find your aerobics tape or tape a session from the TV
    *20-30 minutes: ask your family and friends to join you for a quick walk, ski, skate or any other fun activities that will 
    help everyone add exercise and reduce stress
    *20 minutes: dance, dance, dance at the holiday parties.
    You can see that it will not be hard to aim for 30 minutes a day. It is much easier to work in several short activity breaks during the busy holidays and into the new year. So keep up the aerobics when you can, but think "30 minutes " when you are short of time. Be sure to take the short activity breaks, don’t get into thinking that it is "too much time"–it really isn’t and you and your heath is worth it! Check out this website for more information: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/pubs/physact.htm

    First of all, most people who start using the latest "diet" will not be successful in the long run. There has been some interesting research done with people who have successfully lost weight...and kept it off! So if we look at those people who have been successful, we find that overall they combined changing both food and physical activity habits.
    For most, the successful exceeded the minimum activity guideline of 30 minutes of moderate activity a day at least 5 times a week and found walking and aerobic dance to be easier to stick with over several months.
    Most people in this study reported that they had changed their food choices by having a wide variety of food available, choosing smaller portions, regular meals, and limiting but not eliminating certain foods, such as those high in fat They did not find extreme or fad weight loss diets effective.
    Another behavior common to these successful people is continued self-monitoring. Strategies for self monitoring included weighing once a week, following a regular pattern of food choices using the Food Guide Pyramid. Self-monitoring also provided fast feedback in case changes in behaviors or weight occurred.
    It was interesting to see that people used many different types of strategies and developed many different skills, but this doesn't mean they found the road to healthy weight loss and activity easy. Like any new skill, it requires persistence to find what works and what you can live with for many years to come. Check out for more details of the study. For more information on achieving a healthy weight, click on http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/bibs/topics/weight/consumer.html

There are many strategies you can try, so see which of these work best for you.
* Don’t skip a meal before the party. Arriving very hungry will set you up for eating more than you would like.
* Instead of telling yourself "don’t eat too much", tell yourself to "enjoy the people, activities, and food."
* Eat a light snack like milk or yogurt before the party so you feel hungry but not starved. The light snack will be helpful too if the food arrives late.
* Bring along one of your favorites foods that you make just for the holidays, but you know is not high in calories.
* Take a look at all the food available and see what looks the best. Instead of trying everything, take what most appeals to you.
* Start with smaller portions and tell yourself you can always go back for more.
* As with food, try the same strategies with alcohol. Alcohol adds calories and stimulates your appetite.
* Try to work in some physical activity during the day.
* Find out the strategies that work best for you. Remember it is a learning process, so if you find yourself eating too much at a party, don’t berate yourself, but rather think how you can do it differently at the next party.