Big holiday coming up? Don’t panic. With a good game plan and strategic planning you and your diet can not only survive holidays but you can actually thrive on them. Holidays do not have to be a time of feast or famine­–you can strike a happy balance between gorging and self-sacrifice.

•  Review your eating habits from the previous year’s celebration. Does food take center stage during the holidays? Do you genuinely enjoy foods like fruitcake, for example, or do you just eat them out of custom and tradition?

•  Before digging in at a big holiday feast, imagine how you will feel after eating it. Visualize the bloated, uncomfortable, and guilty feelings you’ve experienced on past occasions.

•  Forget about being “perfect” on holidays. Stringent dieting may be unrealistic and you could sabotage your efforts by setting standards that are too high. Don’t set yourself up for failure by only thinking of what you can’t have. Concentrate instead on healthy options such as fruit baskets.

•  Learn to be festive without depending on alcohol. A drink here, a toast there–the calories of alcohol can add up. Substitute club soda or mineral water for alcohol.

•  If you’re invited to someone’s home for dinner, ask if you can bring a dish, then make it  low-calorie. (And be sure to make plenty. Low-calorie foods are usually very popular.)

•  Remember that the major purpose of the holidays is to enjoy family and friends. Food and alcohol are secondary factors.