With Christmas just behind us and New Year’s Eve on the horizon (and knowing the festive nature of our clientele), we thought we’d post this helpful article from Food Channel featuring some fantastic New Year’s Eve party planning tips in case you’re hosting a party this year.

Also, for those of you who will be attending a New Year’s Eve party rather than hosting one, you should know we recently discovered the average person gains one to two pounds over each holiday season. That might not seem like much, but consider your belly packing on an additional ten to twenty pounds over the course of a decade!

We thought it might be wise to take a minute to reference some holiday nutrition tips from Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth’s Registered Dietician Nicole Chase when attending a party with a buffet:

* Focus on quality, not quantity. Instead of trying everything at the holiday party, pick and choose small amounts of two or three of your favorite treats. Remember, you don’t have to try every dish at the buffet.

* Monitor mindless eating. Temptation is around every corner this time of year—from office treats brought in by co-workers to the baked cookies that Aunt Sue sends every year. You take a nibble here, a nibble there and before you know it, you’ve eaten your total day’s worth of calories from grazing alone. Be aware of mindless eating by writing down what you eat. At holiday parties, avoid standing next to the buffet table to prevent mindless nibbling.

* Don’t save calories by skipping meals. Budget your calories by eating lighter meals earlier in the day before sitting down to that holiday meal. Skipping meals leads to overeating later in the day.

* Modify holiday recipes. If a recipe calls for sugar, use a zero calorie sweetener instead. Substitute an equal amount of fruit puree such as applesauce for oil, butter or margarine in baked goods. Replace some of the egg yolks in a recipe with egg whites or egg substitute. Use fat free Greek yogurt in place of sour cream for dips to pack in the protein.

More tips from Plaza Medical Center are periodically available on their blog.

Regardless of whether you’ve decided to host or attend a party this New Year’s Eve—or even plan just to sleep through it—we hope it’s a very happy and healthy New Year, and begins for you a very prosperous 2012!