By Phil Sottile Hey there! Phil Sottile, the authority of fitness consumer empowerment and that little voice in your head that says, "Are you sure you want to eat that?" It's that time again, baby! Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's or whatever holiday helps your waistline achieve more geography! During Thanksgiving, the average person consumes 3,000 to 5,000 calories. Depending upon who you are, your normal caloric intake could consist of a diet that causes you to ingest 1200 calories to as many as 2500 calories. Of course, this all depends upon your ideal weight, activity level, quality of the calories you consume and/or your own special needs or nutritional demands. The point being, during the holidays we consume FAR too many calories from all our special events and happenings and this is the gateway to a great many horrible happenings that only continue to add to our society's problems of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disfunctions. People usually look at the holiday season as a permission slip to over-eating and over-indulgence. This over-indulgence is when that tricky little 3-5 pounds of un-needed weight becomes 6 to 8 pounds and that's when it's alright to just say, "I'm just up an even Ten." THEN, that's when 10 becomes 12, 12 becomes 15, and soon the fisherman are chartering a boat to come catch YOU! SO...don't get hooked! Get STARTED! NOW! The holidays are the best time to start practicing a better way to go at your diet! Why don't you try this: In most cases, people consume extra calories from sugar (cake, candy, deserts, alcohol, etc.) Very seldom will you hear at the table, "HEY! More chicken! Could you pass me more beef! HEY...more protein damnit! MORE PROTEIN!" Consuming all this extra sugar dumps more glucose into the system and the body fights back by secreting more insulin to counteract this insult. Soon, your passing out at the table from an overabundance of sugar and insulin, not from Aunt Sally' horrible stories of Uncle Henry's bad habits of leaving the laundry all over the house! SOLUTION! Two days before you know that you will be indulging or eating outside of your discipline, lose the sugar! SO...your two days of eating before an event might look something like this:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of oatmeal Snack: Apple Lunch: 6oz. Turkey with mustard on Trader Joe's EZEKIEL Bread Snack: Sliced veggies, celery, peppers, 1oz. nuts Dinner: 6oz Flank steak OR grilled chicken OR FISH with Romaine lettuce salad, radishes, carrots, and a sprinkle of parmesean cheese.

This sample day has more protein and vegetables and less in terms of simple sugars and/or carbohydrates. This means the body will be more apt to utilize stored fats for energy for two days (ala Atkins), reduce serum levels of glucose in the blood, as well as lowering the levels of stored sugars in the cells. THAT MEANS that the body will have greater storage facilities to put the extra sugar that will come in as opposed to it staying in your bloodstream and potentially storing it as fat or stressing the pancreas to handle the sugar in your system with extra insulin. Of course, this is not for everyone and you should ALWAYS consult the proper expert with regard to your health and sensitivies to food, your tolerance to glucose and what foods are best for YOU! I just want to give the general masses an outline of a strategy that has worked for many, time over time. SO, get out there and try to control those extra pounds. Your waistline's rising and only YOU can work to bring this expansion down to a screeeeeeeeeeeching halt!! ---------- About the Author: Phil Sottile is the director and owner of Fitness Together and Intelligent Fitness. He is a Master Fitness Trainer skilled in various areas of fitness sciences and recognized by the top organizations in the fitness industry. Phil is a featured writer for several magazines and websites, a sought after expert in the area of Fitness Program Development and Design, a leader in Drug Free Bodybuilding Promotion, an author, lecturer, motivational speaker, educator, and TV Show Host. For more information you can visit Phil's site at http://www.intelligentfitness.net