20 Healthy Holiday Eating Strategies

The holiday season is a healthy-eating minefield. First, most traditional foods are either heavy on the sugar and carbs, or loaded with fats and salt. Even more, you're expected to eat. A lot. And the holiday season lasts for months.

Despite all these challenges, you don't have to undo your healthy way of eating until New Year's. You can go through the holidays with a few healthy eating strategies in mind—and no, that doesn't mean being completely restrictive. Just be mindful and change your approach.

For starters, if you're tracking calories, skip the charcuterie and cheese boards. Hang out over at the crudités platter, which will still fill you up without all the extra sodium.

Get yourself away from the mindless snacking inherent in holiday mixers. Instead, offer to help the hosts set up. Stay busy, engage in conversations and keep yourself from picking at the trays and tables of bite-sized calorie bombs.

Being the host puts you in control of the food being offered, how it's made and how much you'll serve. Even if you follow through with all the high-calorie, high-carb, high-sugar treats and meals that make holiday eating great, as the host you can also include more veggies and salads, low- or no-sugar options and busy yourself in the kitchen while everyone else indulges their inner glutton.

While you're indulging, or trying not to indulge, remember to stay hydrated. Drinking lots of water can also help regulate your appetite and keep you from going overboard. Lots of holiday foods are pretty salty, too. (Think: ham.) So keep your refillable water bottle nearby.

There's no rule that says you're not allowed to introduce new dishes into holiday fare. A veggie-studded quinoa dish might be just the thing for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas dinners. It's high in fiber and protein, has all the vitamins of added vegetables and very filling. Make it your main dish and just take bites of the more indulgent parts of the holiday meals.

Try to get plenty of sleep during the hectic holiday season. This will help keep you from overindulging at mealtimes. Lack of sleep gets all the hormones in the body going toward feeding your brain sugar. There's so much sugar around on the holidays, you'll no doubt want to comply.

Plan for substitutes so you don't feel deprived. For example, serve pesto alongside gravy at your holiday meals. It's a nice, flavorful switch for a change but does the same kind of heavy lifting that gravy does (a salty, tasty kick to, let's face it, kind of dry turkey).

Who doesn't want to eat their feelings when times are stressful? And what's more stressful this time of year than prepping and participating in the holidays? To keep yourself from eating on the go, mindlessly snacking or reaching for booze or chocolate to calm your nerves, plan for ways to slow down and relax instead. Turn down invitations that you're not excited about. Sleep in whenever possible. Bring store-bought items to potluck dinners. Ignore relatives who get on your last nerve.

Even during the jam-packed holiday seasons, some days you're not obligated for anything. On those days, plan to eat light. Days where you know you'll be out to dinner or at brunch with friends who are home for the holidays, go for salads, yogurt and other light fare during the rest of the meals.

If you love fruit pies but worry about carb-loading on a double crust, try offering grilled fruit topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream or mascarpone. The deep richness of the grilled sugars and the indulgent cream will keep you from missing the glucose-spiking crust of a fruit pie.

Instead of sipping eggnog, go for a small cup of dark hot chocolate. You'll take in fewer calories and fats while getting the health hit of antioxidants in the chocolate. Skip the marshmallows, whipped cream and candy canes to stay especially on the straight and narrow.

Whenever you can, exercise during the holidays. If your gym closes over the break, do squats, planks and other big-muscle exercises at home, then bundle up and head outdoors for a walk or jog. Whatever you do, try to stay active over the holidays. Sure, you should feel free to lay around watching sports or Netflix, but get up off the couch and get your body moving at least once a day, too.

Another crust workaround that won't leave you feeling deprived is pumpkin pudding—basically pumpkin pie without the crust. Just follow the directions on a can of pumpkin filling (feel free to cut back on the sugar a bit!) and bake in a pie tin or casserole dish. Cooking time will vary, so keep an eye on it and take it out when it has set.

Make sure you're still eating protein- and fat-packed breakfasts. This will keep you from showing up to holiday brunch, lunch or dinner starving and ready to eat anything (and everything)! It's still the most important meal of the day, even during holidays. It's your secret to stay in control.

If you're hosting a holiday meal or party, be sure to pack up the leftovers and send them home with someone else. That way, you won't have a chocolate pie or a container of creamy mashed potatoes staring at you every time you open your fridge. Out of sight, out of mind … at least until the next party.

There you are, in the buffet line, loading up on everything. It all looks so good! As you're eating, though, and starting to feel full, quietly ask yourself whether you're still enjoying what's in front of you. If the answer is no, just leave it on your plate. The key is not feeling deprived over the next couple of months, but also not feeling like you're obliged to eat food that is just OK.

Which is why you should eat only what you love. If you're not a fan of turkey, skip it! Or put the smallest sliver you can get away with on your plate and move your fork over to something else. Same for corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing or pumpkin pie. There's plenty to eat over the holidays, only take what you really, really like.

The more you drink, the less self-control you have. Which means that third glass of wine might leave you inhaling the cheese platter or power-sipping the gravy. Too much alcohol can also add unnecessary calories, affect your sleep and leave you feeling dehydrated and/or craving pizza the next day. Know your limit and stick to it.

When you're hitting the food line, or waiting for dinner to be served, hit the veggie platter hard. Load up your plate with all the crunchy, raw, vitamin-filled goodness. The fiber will fill you up and keep you from overdoing it on rolls, butter and other good-in-small-amounts stuff.

Try to load up on foods with the most fiber at every meal. This means covering your plate in salad, going for broccoli and cauliflower from the crudités platter and piling on the non-marshmallowed sweet potatoes.