As we enter the last 2 seasons in the end of each year, we have many special occasions with family, relatives and friends, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. I am sure during those holidays, we are normally being served with eclectic delicious and tempting foods. Unfortunately, no matter how tasty the foods are, they usually contain high calories or in other words could deteriorate your health and make your weight loss program neglected. You probably have been wondering, are there any tricks to maintain a balance weight as well as a healthy life style naturally?

Before a party, you have a healthy snack, fresh fruits and drink  sufficient mineral water to restrain your desire for food.

Additional tips:

Never skip your breakfast. This has been shown to prevent overeating later in the day.

Preparing your meals with garlic and pepper may prevent overeating, according to a study presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Pop a sugar-free mint gum in your mouth, or sip some peppermint tea and take a whiff to outsmart a craving. People who regularly smelled peppermint ate 23 percent fewer calories per week, a study from Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia found.

During the party, bring a healthy dish to a gathering to ensure there’s something you can indulge in.

Additional tips:

Eat the best-for-you offerings first. For example, a healthy hot soup as a first course — especially when it’s broth-based, not cream-based — can help you avoid eating too much during the main course.

Choose foods wisely, filling your plate with low-calorie items, such as leafy green salads, vegetable dishes, and lean proteins, and taking smaller portions of the richer ones. Limit the number of high-calorie foods on your party plate. Your hungry eyes and temptations to eat more will occur if your plate is served with various tastes, textures, smells, shapes, and colors of foods. Thus, it is based on a study, despite your true hunger level.

Focus on your meal while you’re eating it and have a seat during meals — concentrating on chewing your food well and enjoying the smell, taste, and texture of each item. Eating while seated at a table with nice plates and utensils can lead you to consume about a third less than if you munch on the fly, a study in the journal Appetite notes. Eat more slowly, so you have time to notice when your body sends the all-full signal. Of course, dinner-party conversations is only natural, but try to set your food down until you’re finished chatting so you are more aware of what you’re taking in.

Stand more than an arm’s length away from munchies, like a bowl of nuts or chips, while you chat so you’re not tempted to raise your hand to your mouth every few seconds.

To reduce on food court temptation, never go to the mall on an empty stomach.

Additional tips:

Plan your shopping route so you don’t pass the Dairy Queen stand a dozen times. The obvious reason? Both sights and smells can coax you to eat, and with some vendors purposefully wafting their aromas your way, saying NO can feel impossible.

Choose a proper restaurant over the grab-and-go food court whenever you can, and request a table away from loud sounds and distractions, which can cause you to eat more. The bright lights and noisy hard surfaces can speed up the rate at which you eat and lead to overeating.

Avoid fast-food places that emphasize red in their color schemes. Red has been shown to stimulate the appetite more than many other colors, and many restaurants add it to their decor, in everything from the flowers on the table to the squiggles on the plates.

Keep a food journal to help you stay persistent to your goals during this risky eating period.

Additional tip:

Zip yourself into your favorite pair of slim-fitting pants and casual shirt once a week and note how they fit. Too tight? Adjust your eating and exercise habits. Just right? Keep up the good work.