Does your diet fail every year because of Christmas? Holidays in the United States are almost always relegated to as the time when everyone puts on a few pounds. This year though, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are four pain-free ways you can stay on your diet this Christmas:

1. Drink lots of water. Just as with any diet, drinking more water is essential any time, but especially so during the holidays. Your body can become dehydrated without you even realizing it. Rather than pouring a glass of wine or sugar-filled drinks, opt for a bottle of cold water instead.
2. Have a pep talk with yourself. All too often, diets are thrown out the window during Christmas because you know how much food you’re going to be around. You think that you might as well forget about your diet because there’s no way you’ll be able to stay on it while you celebrate. You’re wrong. Half the battle of sticking to a diet is having a made up mind that you’re going to be successful this time. Remind yourself of this every time you reach for another potato chip or slice of pecan pie.
3. Exercise often. Getting exercise during Christmas is actually not nearly as impossible as you might think. Simple things make a big difference, like parking far when you shop and walking a ways to get to the store. Instead of riding the escalator in the mall, take the stairs.
4. Eat half as much. Cutting down on your portions can dramatically reduce your chances of falling off the diet wagon. Grab a small saucer instead of a full-sized plate. Get a cup of punch that is half-full, if you must drink punch, rather than full to the top. These tiny steps are doable by anyone and can make a huge difference.

Are you concerned about overindulging on holiday party foods? Do you want to ensure you get the proper nutrition during the holidays? The holidays are notoriously blamed for weight gain.

Most who celebrate holidays with feast-filled gatherings neglect to increase exercise as well. This simple oversight can lead to adding a large amount of excess weight in a very short amount of time.

As we all know, celebrating the holidays is hardly accomplished without eating. This year you can make smarter decisions about what to put in your mouth, though.

Here is a list of twelve healthy foods you can snack on during the holidays that won’t put on the pounds.

1. Fresh vegetables with low-fat dip
2. Marinated, grilled chicken breast (boneless, skinless) fingers
3. Nuts & seeds
4. Whole-grain cereals
5. Low-fat mozzarella sticks
6. Salsa
7. Reduced-fat & whole-grain crackers
8. Fresh fruit kabobs
9. Kettle’s potato chips (just a handful or two)
10. Granola bars
11. Rice cake with peanut butter
12. Yogurt

Of course, family gatherings aren’t always filled with healthy foods. As such, you should remember to plan ahead for every social event. Volunteer to bring party foods along. This way you can be sure that there will be healthy foods available for you to snack on.

It is possible to maintain healthy eating habits during the holidays. You have to be proactive in doing this for yourself, though.

UC Medical Center Women’s Health Research Program conducted a research which showed that women are more prone to depression than men. Furthermore, evidence proved that healthy women produce less serotonin than men. What does this mean? For women who already have a low level of serotonin, stress can totally wipe out the remaining, which leads to an onslaught of depression.

Perhaps one of the reasons for women being more susceptible to depression than men is because we are the caregivers. We take care of our families and everyone else and put ourselves on the back burners. It is time to stand up and make a positive change, though. Here are several ways you can brainstorm your way to better health:

1) Write down 5 ways you would like your health to improve.

2) List 4 reasons why you need to work harder on improving your health.

3) Write down every person in your family who has health problems and list what problems they are. Now put a check by the ones that you are experiencing right now.

Continue brainstorming in this fashion. Sometimes it just takes a cold, harsh dose of reality to wake you up.

After you get all these things on paper, now start over and brainstorm all things you can do to become proactive in your life. List all the tiny changes you can start to make. Once you get busy working n the little things, the bigger things will become easier to change, too.

Have you been experiencing a tremendous amount of anxiety and stress in your life lately? Do you feel depression sinking in? There is a single key to boosting your mental health—exercise.

Research has shown that patients suffering from depression see a dramatic improvement in their mental status whenever they keep a regular exercise routine. Practice some of these exercises on a daily basis to improve your mental health:

• Walking – It can’t be said enough that walking is one of the simplest and easiest forms of exercise that almost anybody is capable of doing. You don’t have to go for a power walk for it to count. Just get outdoors and walk for a full twenty minutes or longer. Breathing the fresh air and getting natural sunlight is conducive to a better frame of mind.
• Jump rope – A quick morning routine of jumping rope will get your blood stirring fast.
• Aerobics – Aerobics have long been a fun way to get exercise. The more different the routine, the more fun the exercise will be. Look for fun exercise videos that are a little different from the same old boring routines.
• Kickbox Aerobics – Kickbox aerobics is a vigorous, but very fun type of aerobics. You’ll get fit and learn some great self-defense moves in the process.

Get out and get busy exercising today. Try it for three weeks and track your progress and mental status throughout the weeks. Discover how exercise makes you feel.