I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that the holidays are here.  The bad news is that, well, the holidays are here.

You know the equation.  Holiday parties + rationalizations + rich foods + food pushers = holiday food benders.

Let's cover 10 ways you can avoid them.

1. Don't eat until you’re stuffed

Your appetite called, and it wants more attention this holiday season.

Believe me - it's possible to eat rich foods during the holidays while keeping a lean and healthy body.  The key is checking-in with appetite cues.  Eating beyond fullness (no matter what food is being consumed) leads to fat gain.

2. Don't save up for holiday parties

Humans eat about 3-5 pounds of food each day.  Fasting all day means 3-5 pounds of food are left to be consumed when you arrive at the holiday dinner party.  Not good.

Treat the day leading up to the holiday party as a normal day and mix in some reasonable meals.  This will prevent you from hurdling the dining room table, tackling grandma, and diving head first into the yams.

3. Don't play strange calorie balance games 

If my calculations are correct, eating six blocks of fudge and half a fruitcake means I'll only have to exercise for 32 hours to break even.

Break even with what?  Eating and exercise are separate behaviors. No matter how much/little we exercise, our food choices have a direct impact on our body, health, mood, energy and the world around us.  When we try to offset calories consumed with extreme amounts of physical activity, we’ll spend most of our time locked away in a gym rather than actually enjoying the holidays.

4. Don't drink a lot of rich beverages

Gosh, that coconut milk nog, champagne, punch, cider and cocoa were all really good.  Unfortunately you haven’t even sat down to eat anything yet.  Check your beverages.

5. Don't create a “good” and “bad” food list

Imagine this: You’re at a holiday party and start examining the food selection.  Then you create a mental checklist of what’s "permissible" to eat.

Hummus – check. 

Celery sticks – check. 

Almonds – check.

But wait, just because a food qualifies for your “permissible” list doesn’t mean it can’t be overeaten.  Have you ever worked so hard at restricting rich foods that you ended up overeating nutritious foods?  I hate that.

Sometimes the best way to avoid misusing junk food is to just go ahead and eat some junk food (and move on).

6. Don't overanalyze holiday eating

This is the "holiday" season, not the "gluttony" season.  If you overanalyze and stress about food, you’ll be miserable.  If you instead focus on the people, music, weather, mood, spirit and tradition, you’ll be able to fill up on positive emotions rather than a third piece of pie.

7. Don't feel guilty

We’ve hit a dead end.  Our approach at using guilt to inspire nutritious eating doesn’t work, or at least doesn’t provide enough incentive for sustained behavior changes.  You don’t have to agree with me on this, you're entitled to your own opinion.  But your opinion is wrong.

There's no need to feel guilty after making a conscious choice.  Guilt feeds the diet cycle and shuts off learning.  And paradoxically, the guilt we feel after overeating creates a sense of failure that becomes an excuse to eat even more.

At Precision Nutrition, we follow the "Clean Slate Policy."  Each day, no matter what we did “right” or what we did “wrong”, we wipe the slate clean and move on.  I encourage you to do the same.

8. Don't plan on dieting come January 2^nd

What if I told you that starting January 2^nd you had to follow a restrictive diet and couldn't eat any junk food in 2012?  You'd probably overeat a bunch of junk food during the holidays, right?  Eating a platter of cookies starts to make sense when you’ve convinced yourself those cookies will be off limits come diet time on January 2^nd.

9. Don't let eating influence exercise (and vice versa)

During the holidays, it’s usually “all-or-none” thinking time in North America.

But remember, if you eat non-nutritious foods at a few holiday parties it's not a big deal.  It doesn’t mean the week of workouts should also be scrapped.

And vice versa.  Maybe you miss a couple workouts.  Fine.  This doesn’t mean the week of healthful eating should be forgotten.  Eating and exercise are separate behaviors; remember to treat them as such.

10.  Don't forget about common sense

Pop quiz: Eating a bunch of rich foods without staying physically active over the holidays will likely lead to which of the following?

A – A leaner and healthier body

B – A fatter and more lethargic body

C – A full set of Dawson's Creek DVDs in your stocking

Did you guess C?  Well, that makes two of us who liked Dawson's Creek (shut up).  But that’s beside the point.  If you guessed B then you are a nutrition genius.

Don’t forget about common sense this holiday season.  You likely have the foundational knowledge necessary to make wise choices, so don’t blame the fourth slice of Tofurky on lack of nutrition expertise.

Ryan D. Andrews completed his education in exercise and nutrition at the University of Northern Colorado, Kent State University, and Johns Hopkins Medicine. He has done presentations, authored/co-authored books, and written articles about eating, exercise and health. He currently works as part of the Precision Nutrition team, a group of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle professionals offering life changing, research-driven, nutrition coaching for everyone. www.precisionnutrition.com