The holidays are upon us. Time for celebration, friends, family and feasts. How will you survive, how will your waistline survive. The thing to do is stop worrying and start eating correctly now.

Believe it or not, the answer to controlling and maintaining your weight and living a healthy lifestyle is not as challenging as you may think. Once you’ve started eating correctly and you have increased your metabolism so it can burn food properly and provide your body with lots of energy, you will find an occasional holiday feast and occasional holiday desserts are merely treats to enhance your life.

A few lifelong eating and exercise tips will allow you to eat normally without starving and will allow you to maintain the weight you’re happy with. The biggest mistake people make when choosing to lose weight, is that they stop eating. When you stop eating, you stop fueling your body, which puts it into a state of starvation and results in a very slow metabolism as your organs struggle to survive. The only way to speed up your metabolism is with fuel. The only fuel for the human body is good, healthy food. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that while you’re eating, you’re body is becoming leaner and healthier and you’ll be able to maintain this throughout your life.

1. Begin eating! You should be consuming 5 smaller meals throughout your day. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and 2 mini-meals in between. Your meals should consist of a protein, a carb and a fruit or vegetable. Meats: select from lean beef, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs. Carbs: stick to rice, potatoes and whole grain foods like oatmeal. Fruits and vegetables… fresh and steamed are best – be creative. Your mini-meals are smaller versions of your full meals. All meals should be eaten within 2-3 hours of each other. Your body will learn to process your meals faster and you will get hungry for your next meal. If you find you get too hungry after 2 hours don’t wait to eat. If you wait too long to eat your meals, you will get really hungry and you will tend to overeat. Sounds like too much food… well, it’s really not. You are turning your body into a productive system that learns to continually burn fuel, speed up your metabolism and feed you lots of energy. This system naturally keeps you eating less at each sitting and provides excellent nutrition for your soul. If you need to eat at a restaurant, you can still order yourself a well-cooked meal and enjoy. If you get hungry after dinner, enjoy some fresh fruit.

2. Drink lot of water. 8 glasses a day is great. Coffee, teas, diet sodas can be substituted, but water is best. Keep hydrating your system and it will reward you with better digestion, skin and overall well-being. The benefits are endless. The added liquid also helps to keep you feeling full when you’re looking to slim down.

3. Don’t add salt or unnecessary fats. There is plenty of salt and fats already in foods, especially prepared foods. Be careful when your eating store-bought prepared foods, read the label. Salt will retain fluids in your system and if you’re trying to lose weight, lose the salt. When you get used to the natural taste of food, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how good everything is. Don’t forget there are lots of seasonings out there, be creative. Adding unnecessary fat to your food, adds unnecessary fat to your body. Don’t butter your bread, try berries, whole fruit spreads or nothing. Want a salad, use fresh lemon juice instead of salad dressing.

4. Exercise is an important part of staying healthy through life. Don’t torture yourself with it, enjoy it. You’ll discover what a wonderful stress reducer it is. Find the type of movement you like best and continue with it. Strength building, toning and aerobic exercise, should be combined to create a weekly routine. A 20-30 minute workout, 3 days a week is all you need. If you concentrate on one area of your body each workout, your muscles will stay healthy without risk of injury. Remember to warm-up and cool-down. Allow 48 hrs. before reworking the same muscle group. Abs are the only muscle group that you can safely work on a daily basis if you so desire. An example for the week… Monday: Upper Body; Wednesday: Lower Body; Friday: full body aerobic workout.

With a few changes in your eating patterns and adding activity into your life, you will truly create a healthier you. Build this routine into your family’s life as well and you will create a healthier family. Just remember, children need fats to grow, and depending on activity levels, salt in their diets will help them to maintain proper hydration. Children overheat much faster than adults. Remember to set an example for your children, and they will follow your lead.

Eat intelligently and when it comes time to enjoy a holiday buffet, you will have steadily eaten throughout the day and you will not be as hungry. You can enjoy smaller portions of all the varieties your dinner offers and chances are you’ll fill faster and won’t pig out. Wait 15-20 minutes before going back for seconds and you’ll find you’re too full to eat more. After a while, enjoy some dessert. Don’t deprive yourself of the special treats in life.

Remember, the holiday season only comes around once a year – it’s not like you eat this way every day. Don’t make a total pig of yourself and your new, faster metabolism will take care of the rest. Happy Holidays and enjoy!!