The Pitfall: Creamy sauces and fatty dips.

The creamier, greasier appetizers and entrees are loaded with extra calories that will race to your waistline.

The Remedy:

• Go for the colors. Grab the veggies and fresh fruits with dips that are lower in fat, especially trans-fat ridden dips claiming to be ‘fat-free’.
• Use cream cheese-based dips as opposed to mayonnaise-based. The fat in the cream cheese [assuming you don’t eat a pound of it] will slow your digestion down and make you fell more satisfied with smaller portions.
• Load up on salad and olive oil-based dressings.
• Sweet potatoes [without the butter and brown sugar, please] instead of white potatoes offer fiber and vitamins not found in the white stuff.

Foods high in sodium such as pretzels, salt-cured meats such as cold cuts and anything with ‘buffalo’ in front of it will mean excess drinking and a bloated stomach. Unless you feel like sloshing around the party like a water balloon, stay away from the salty-stuff.

• Stay away from the shaker and use seasoning such as Mrs. Dash, garlic or onion powder [bring mints]
• Use condiments such as mustard, barbeque sauce, etc. that will flavor food without the extra salt.
• Ask for “no-salt” in your margarita!

The holidays can be a stressful time for many of us. Whether caused by financial, professional, or relational concerns, stress makes us feel like we want to forget about rules and limits. Sometimes we feel we “owe it to ourselves” to eat and drink a lot because we work so hard all year and it’s ok to let loose.

The Remedy: Don’t let one source of stress lead to two more.

• Trying to over-eat and drink stress away doesn’t work. Stuffing yourself or getting so loaded you forgot you drove your car through your neighbors front room does not typically lend itself well to managing our problems.
• Overindulging leads to more of the same. Drinking and eating more leads to more drinking and eating and, before you know it, your pants don’t fit and you’re up about ten pounds. This leads to more stress, guilt and blame: blaming others for your decisions and feeling guilty for what you’re doing to yourself and those around you.
• Get control of your stress by talking to a friend, clergy, or a person whom you trust without exception and whom will not judge you.
• Exercise every day you can. If you don’t exercise already, get out for an early morning walk or a jog on the treadmill you’ve had since Reagan was in the White House. Join a gym, hire a trainer, or get a fitness tape and workout in your living room. Do something to burn calories and discharge that negative battery you had charged up all day. You will feel and function better and be in control of your eating and drinking habits better that ever!

Lifestage Fitness was created by combining the best attributes of most contemporary fitness centers with unparallelled personal fitness services.

Joe Ranieri is a 30-year veteran of the health and fitness industry, and is owner of Joe Ranieri’s LifeStage Fitness, an individualized fitness and nutrition training facility in suburban Chicago. Joe has helped hundreds of exercise enthusiasts of all ages and ability achieve their fitness goals using his simple, realistic approach to proper nutrition and exercise. Joe can be reached for questions regarding your desire for a healthy lifestyle through his email at joe@lifestagefitness.com.

Understanding that life-changes do not occur overnight, Joe Ranieri provides a real-world approach to making regular exercise and proper nutrition second nature – an easy, sustainable way to gradually, and permanantly, help you help yourself.

• 45 Day Slimdown - Part 1
• 45 Day Slimdown - Part 2
• 45 Day Slimdown - Counting Calories
• Surviving Fad Diets - The "Lose Weight Fast" Scheme
• Get Rid of Excess Fat - Part 1
• Get Rid of Excess Fat - Part 2

• Childhood Obesity - Leading by Example
• Childhood Obesity Step 1- Portion Control
• Eliminating Childhood Obesity - Do's and Don'ts
• Eliminating Childhood Obesity - More Do's and Don'ts

• Manage Holiday Eating - Part 1
• Manage Holiday Eating - Part 2
• Manage Holiday Eating - Part 3