Are you dreading the weight you will put on this holiday season? Fight back with these tips on eating, exercise and reducing stress.

The parties, sweets, alcohol, missed workouts, late nights, mall-crawling, small talk, family issues, breathing air on crowded planes—ah, it's the holidays. The experts say you need to get in training and be mindful to stay healthy and stress-free.

"Diet, exercise, mind and spirit are key," says Laurie Steelsmith, ND, a naturopath in private practice in Honolulu and author of Natural Choices for Women's Health: How the Secrets of Natural and Chinese Medicine Can Create a Lifetime of Wellness. "You need to build up to this time of indulgence.

"We need to remember what this is all about: connecting with loved ones," Steelsmith says.

Even if you are foraging in a relative's kitchen and not doing the shopping, a healthy diet consists of five fruits or veggies a day, complex whole-grain carbs and adequate protein. Surely you can grab an apple or banana and slap together a whole-grain, lean turkey sandwich instead of chowing down on cold ham fat and cookies.

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