The obesity epidemic is getting worse so what are you do to stave off this national disease? Now that the holiday season is upon us, temptation is lurking everywhere! Here are some tips to help you resist overeating.

Firrst of all, when shopping for food, you should try to avoid your local 7-11 convenience store as the range of healthy foods there is not great. Much better at your grocery store and the supermarket. A new study just out tells us that we should be aiming at NINE portions of fruit and vegetables a day instead of the old FIVE. Poorer Americans will rightly ignore this piece of advice as it would mean that they would have to spend more than 70% of their total food budget just to buy all the fruit and vegetables!

Next, you are invited out. You will be tempted to graze too long at the buffet. First tip is to drink at least a glass of water an hour before you go out. Water has zero calories and will help to make you feel full, so you will eat less. You can also eat a handful of nuts - the fibre in these are going to make you feel less hungry.

You are seated at the table. Alcohol is flowing like a river in full flood! Your host is generous and your glass is always full. What I do in these situations is stick to one glass and alternate wine with water- so one glass of wine followed by one glass of water and so on. I also try to make sure that nobody will fill my wine glass right up to the top. You can cut your alcohol consumption by at least half !

If I am buffet grazing, I always try to take very small helpings and then find a seat and preferably away from that tempting table! I try to find someone who I know and I will have to tell him/her a lot of things. Takes my mind off my food. The whole process of going to get second helpings is going to make me think twice about it.

I always go very easy on stuffing and gravy - just a little sample to remind me what they taste like. Also try to fill up on cranberry sauce - cranberries are great antioxidants. I will also try to fill up on green vegetables - hoping that some health conscious person has thought about us diet obsessed humanoids! Sipping my wine and eating slowly is another great way to reduce my raging hunger pangs.

Sweets and desserts tend to be even more tempting especially if you have a sweet tooth. Just look at the amount of calories in a piece of pecan pie with full fat whipped cream - 700 ! That is half your daily amount of calories. A piece of pumpkin pie with no cream is a much better solution. Don't bother with doggy bags - they will prolong the agony !

After all the holidays are over, the average American will have put on 5 pounds but if you follow my advice above, you will not be one of them !