Beat winter weight gain! 3 ways to avoid holiday pounds—and even lose weight - Holiday-Proof Your Diet!

Shape, Nov, 2003 by Robin Vitetta-Miller

Staying active in winter has a fringe benefit: Like sunlight, it elevates your mood and reduces stress, which in turn helps you avoid overeating to alleviate winter depression, says Peeke. "All those mood-enhancing endorphins released during exercise aren't likely to happen when you just sit on your rump all winter long," she adds.

"What we can predict, we can control," says John Foreyt, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "We know winter is a high-risk time for weight gain, so we must create and follow strategies to minimize eating and maximize opportunities for exercise."

These three strategies, along with the delicious recipes on the following pages--all hearty and satisfying favorites made healthy--will help to ensure you don't gain a single pound this winter.

COMFORTING FAVORITES

Since many of us long for hearty high-fat, high-calorie foods when the weather turns chilly, here are some recipes to satisfy those cravings healthfully. All of these scrumptious dishes are lowfat, protein-rich versions of high-fat comfort foods, so go ahead and indulge without guilt!