We interviewed health and nutrition professionals about holiday weight gain and found that the three top areas of concern for staying trim during the holiday season are (in order of importance):

1. Maintaining exercise schedule2. Avoiding too many calories from parties and foods3. Eating healthfully “on the run” with a busy scheduleHere are their creative education ideas to help combat the “holiday waist”:Susan Davis Allen, MS RD, plans to send quick, informative tips everyday throughout the holidays, including quick little facts or simple healthful recipes.Many are conducting cooking and food demonstrations – here are some of the best ideas:• Jill Davidson is conducting a variety of timely cooking demonstrations: Healthy, Hearty Soups, Holiday Appetizers and Gifts of Health. We thought they were right on target for combating the biggest hurdles for staying lean throughout the holidays!• Amy Kubal, MS, RD, offers handouts and samples of healthy recipes in the cafeteria.• For October, Dawn Privett, RD, LD, Fit for Life, Inc., is celebrating the fact that apples and pumpkins are in season. For educational classes in their gyms, they will have apple bobbing, a caramel apple design class, grilled apple skewers for snacks, dried apple making, and even shrunken heads made from apples. Then they will do pumpkin decorating and carving contests as well as pumpkin soup, healthy pumpkin desserts and a costume contest on Halloween. In November they will be having fun with pomegranates and cranberries.One dietitian who works in a dialysis center will have her staff cook a full renal-friendly holiday meal and provide the recipes for what they serve. They like to show their patients that they can eat food that tastes good and is healthy for them.Chris Loudon shows individuals how to make a better egg nog with nonfat egg substitute, skim milk and flavor extracts, for traditional flavor without the calories. She also makes a lowfat spinach dip with vegetables for dippers, and items made with cranberries.Jennifer Watson conducts a healthy cooking class focusing on desserts for the holidays. Along the same lines, Kristen N. Roscioli provides recipes and more healthful baking ingredient substitutions to clients.A diabetes support group will be discussing holiday eating for November and in December they will talk about recipe modification. Another diabetes educator will present healthy holiday eating tips with party food tasting at the end of November. A culinary school graduate will be coming up with some neat new ideas for people to keep things yummy but healthy.A wellness coordinator is conducting a trivia contest on a variety of nutrition trivia topics and winners will receive a fruit and vegetable voucher. She will also provide recipes for healthy holiday snacks - one each week from November 6th through December 18th.Carol C. Schlitt Extension Educator, Nutrition and Wellness, University of Illinois Extension, is conducting several holiday diabetic delights workshops with hands-on food preparation featuring holiday foods appropriate for diabetics and others. She is also sponsoring a healthy cooking showcase which features 12 food demonstrators throughout the day presenting food demonstrations on a variety of topics like healthy desserts, appetizers, using buffalo, 5 ingredient recipes, etc. Salads, tastings and demos