Health Fitness

6. Curb your options

Variety might be the spice of life, but it’s also a recipe for overeating. Rolls found that students who were offered sandwiches with four different kinds of filling ate a third more than those who got only their favorite sandwich. Health Advisory Board member David Katz, MD, an associate professor of public health at Yale University, advises bundling together similar flavors. For instance, put only salty (or meaty) foods on your plate at once. You’ll grow tired of that flavor more quickly and end up feeling full and satisfied on fewer calories.

7. Pace yourself

Take your cue from the slowest eater at the table. Research shows people may eat as much as 50 percent more when dining with friends. That’s why on Thanksgiving it seems like you can scarf down five times more food than on any other day. “When someone gets seconds or orders that third glass of wine, you kind of go along by default,” says Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. If you’re surrounded by speed-eaters, take a sip of water between bites to slow down.

8. Drink slimmer

Alcohol is a double whammy during the holidays. It tends to weaken your resistance when it comes to eating, and the calories in drinks add up rapidly. “If you want to be a slender drinker, drink out of a slender glass,” advises Cornell’s Wansink, whose research shows that people tend to drink more from short, fat glasses. So try this optical illusion: Use a white wine glass rather than a goblet, or a highball over a tumbler.

9. Slip, don’t slide

If you eat three helpings of mashed potatoes and half a chocolate Santa, don’t just say you blew it and decide you might as well polish off St. Nick. Learn from your slip-up. Did you arrive at the party starving? Did you befriend the buffet because you didn’t know anyone? Next time, eat a salad first, start a conversation, and park yourself far from the danger zone. And let next time start today.

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