During the holiday season, it can be quite stressful. It is easy to get tired and lose momentum on our goals. If you have a nutrition related goal, don’t give in to the temptation to say, “It won’t hurt.” or to say “I’ve already blown it for today!”

Make sure you have a written plan of how you will cope with stress, fatigue and temptation. Give yourself a little leeway yet stay on track. A little slow progress is better than none.

I have 5 suggestions to help during this time.

1. Plan some discretionary calories. Make a list of the foods you will allow yourself to eat and the portion size you allow. Don’t eat more than you allow and don’t eat anything not on your list.

2. Eat some but not all of it. Remember the three bite rule. Eat 3 small bites of what you can’t resist and quit. Don’t eat them all at once, spread them out so you can have 1 bite of some rich dessert 3 times.

3. Don’t keep foods that trigger urges to eat in the house.

If you are serving something hard to resist, drink 8 ounces of water 20 minutes before a meal, have a large salad with no cal dressing then a small meal. Take your time and it will diminish your desire.

4. Plan to exercise for 5 minutes several times throughout the day.

Take a quick 5 minute walk or do 5 one minute exercises. Burn up some of those extra calories.

5. Plan 10 minutes per day for quiet meditation.

I use “Totally Tranquil”. It comes with a 10 minute session and a 1 hour session. You can even download a 10 minute sample through their website. Click through from my front page. Its under recommended products.

Have any other great ideas? How about sharing them?

The person who can share the most ideas from 10 Dec to 31 December will win a copy of Totally Tranquil. The minimum to win is 5 new ideas.

You may list your ideas in the comments section. I propose a contest open to anyone over age 18 anywhere who gives me a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

The rules are:
Only one idea per comment per day. At least 5 valid comments left on 5 different days is required to win.

You must be over 18 years old.

Each comment must be able to be done by anyone who reads it.

Comments like have your jaws wired shut or your stomach stapled will work but the idea is to use techniques that prevent you from needing such drastic measures.

Each suggestion should not endanger the the health of the person doing it.

I don’t like having to say all of this but I want to ensure each reader understands the spirit intended when I asked for these comments.

You may not reuse any of my or anyone else’s suggestions.

A suggestion may only be used once.

The spirit of this contest is to create a list of as many different ways

to stay on track as possible.

If there is a tie a panel of judges picked by me will decide the winner.

The winner will be announced the first week of January 2008.

Popularity: 3% [?]