Doesn't it seem like just yesterday we were enjoying summer peaches and spending our afternoons picnicking in the park? Then, all of the sudden, the days got shorter and we had to start pulling our sweaters out from the back of the closet and start moving our skirts out of the weekly rotation. And now, the holiday season is upon us once again. With your entire social circle, office, and family each having a holiday party of some sort, this is a season where even the most determined healthy eater and gym devotee can fall off track.

But what is a person to do? Swearing off all holiday parties is downright Scroogey, so you'll be glad to know that there is a happy medium. One tip that applies not only to holiday parties, but to everyday eating is to always fill half of your plate with veggies, ¼ with meat or protein and ¼ with starch. If you're having turkey, stick with the white meat and skip the skin. Since it usually seems like the side dishes are the most calorie laden at parties, another option is to bring a healthy side dish for everyone. Bringing something like Red Pepper Parmesan Orzo, Pumpkin Walnut Focaccia, or Roasted Red Potatoes will be healthy, but no one will ever know it!

Can't pass up a slice of Aunt Millie's famous pecan pie? Don't. If you deny yourself the foods you love but only get once or twice a year, you'll regret it and could end up overeating foods that mean less to you. Instead, have reasonably sized portion of the food you adore and pass on the things that don't mean as much. Another common mistake we make during the holidays is overindulging in alcohol. Not only are you taking in empty calories with the drinks themselves, but when your guard is down you're less likely to control yourself at the buffet. This year, try to only have a glass or two of wine and be glad it's Mary from the accounting department dancing on the copy machine instead of you.

Here are some healthy tips to keep in mind when planning out your holiday eating:

- Try to get a good workout in before you go to your party. If that's not possible, try to gather up your family to go for a walk after dinner.

- Fill up on fruits and veggies

- Drink plenty of water

- Listen to your body - stop eating when you're full. Don't stuff yourself!

- Eat a big salad before you go so you won't load up on unhealthy hors d'oeuvres

- Avoid dips, creamy sauces, and fat-laden gravy (most are made with the drippings of the turkey and lots of flour - a total fat trap!)

- Fat and calories are lurking in nuts, breads, butter, and alcohol.

- The typical Thanksgiving meal contains a whopping 7,100 calories. It takes 3,500 calories to make up 1 pound. Choose what you eat carefully to avoid taking in unnecessary calories. Visit this nifty site to enter in serving sizes for common Thanksgiving foods and calculate your calories. This is a great tool for planning your meal!

- For the average 150 pound woman, it takes 20 mins to burn 100 calories by briskly walking on the treadmill. Think of how long you'll need to work out to burn off that piece of cheesecake. Are you sure you still want it?

Another pitfall of the holiday season is the time crunch that often leaves you without time to hit the gym. While the best thing to do is to try to clear a small window of time into your schedule for working out, we know that isn't always possible. When you can't work out, do little things like taking the stairs, walking, or hitting the dance floor at parties.

Remember, the holiday season is supposed to be a fun time for you to enjoy the company of loved ones and reflect on the past year. As long as you don't expect to keep the exact diet you've been maintaining pre-holiday season and you eat reasonably, you'll survive without wrecking your waistline.

Have more tips? Email us and we'll post them.

We are happy to announce the launch of the Living Lowfat Member Pages! We've created this section of our site for you to make your own personal webpage to share your journey and view the journeys of other members. We hope you'll sign up and create your own page‚- whether you're just starting out or have been eating healthy all your life, we welcome all perspectives!

Accountability is a crucial component in creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself and running your own site can provide you with this. You can use your site to track your weight loss progress and journal your food and exercise intake. You can also use your site to share your favorite recipes or just vent about the joys and frustrations of your day-to-day life.

After you've created your own, we hope you'll peruse the sites of our other users. Finding people that are going through similar obstacles or finding those that have overcome some of the hurdles you're facing is one of the best motivators ever. Gretchen has started the ball rolling by creating her own progress site and we hope you'll join us in creating a community of success stories where people can find support and motivation for their own weight loss journeys!

The feeling of fall is most certainly in the air. Suddenly, all we can think about is apple picking, Halloween, and all things pumpkin-flavored. It seems as though as soon as the temperature dips below 70, we're hard-wired to want the comfort foods of fall. As far as healthy eating is concerned, you're in luck this season! With only a little bit of planning, you can enjoy all the fall foods you're craving while sticking to a healthy eating plan.

There's nothing quite like the smell of bread baking in the oven. Now that most of us have returned to our carb-senses, bread is no longer the enemy. Our all-time favorite bread recipe is pumpkin bread. We make tend to make our breads in muffin form to keep us honest about portion sizes. We also just tried Cooking Light's Pumpkin Walnut Focaccia and absolutely loved it. If you haven't subscribed to Cooking Light yet, we definitely recommend that you should! It is a great resource for healthy, yet delicious cooking ideas. They also have seasonal issues that feature new recipes for each season. This month, Cooking Light featured fall recipes such as Creamy Tomato Balsamic Soup, Apple Crumb Croustades, Honey Roasted Root Vegetables, Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns, Potato Leek Soup, and many more tasty, yet low fat dishes. Don't miss these great issues! Subscribe here.

But what is a delicious bread without some warm soup or chili on the side? If you're craving a hot, healthy lunch, try our Low Fat Chili recipe. We make a big batch of it on the weekend and bring it to work all week. If you'd like a lighter soup, try the tomato basil or the homestyle turkey.

Another fall favorite of ours is the return of the crockpot. For some reason, our crockpot seems to gather dust during the summer months. Now that the weather is cooling off, however, there's nothing we like more than to come home to the smell of food that's spent the whole day cooking while we've been at work. Crockpot Beef Stew is our favorite for the fall. CD Kitchen's Crockpot recipe website and Cooking Cache's crockpot archive are great crockpot resources as well.

Now that you've eaten all the fall foods you can stand, remember that fall is the perfect season for walking. It's no longer so hot that you're sweaty within minutes of putting on your sneakers, but you're not shivering either. It's a great time to walk around your neighborhood and enjoy the changing colors and crunching leaves. And remember to enjoy this season while it lasts, because it won't be long before you're bundled up in your winter parka!