The season to be jolly is here at last, and with it, all of those butter-drenched dishes and decadent desserts Aunt Bea loves to bake. But before you layer on the sweaters -- and the pounds they can hide -- check out this advice from Daphne Oz (yes, the daughter of Dr. Oz, Oprah health expert and RealAge medical adviser), who's just followed her first book, The Dorm Room Diet, with a down-to-earth sequel: The Dorm Room Diet Planner. After years of adolescent struggles with as much as 30 extra pounds, Daphne started to lose weight in high school -- and went to college determined: She not only avoided the loathed freshman 15 but also lost 10 pounds. Talk about A+ work! Here are her top stay-slim tips, no matter what your age:

Drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily, including one glass before every meal.

Avoid emotional eating. The next time you reach for that cookie, ask yourself whether you're being prompted by stress, hurt, depression, boredom, or even joy. The purpose of eating is to fuel your body, not temper your feelings.

Always have breakfast. It provides energy to your body and brain and keeps you from going into starvation mode and binge-eating later.

Schedule time to eat. Plan on three meals and two fruit or veggie snacks every day. Look at your schedule for the day and block out windows of time to eat; "not enough time" is not an excuse.

Count to your age before you "cheat." Anytime you find you are about to eat something that's not healthy, count to your age. If you still want a bit after your countdown, feel free; you've made a conscious decision to indulge.

Ditch the defeatist attitude. Everyone falls off the wagon sometimes. The important thing is to get back on. So when you succumb to that late-night bowl of ice cream, don't think "Well, I've already been bad, so I might as well finish the rest of the carton." Instead, enjoy the occasional indulgence and then return to your resolve.

Get off the couch. A daily exercise routine would be ideal. But even walking up a few flights of stairs for a face-to-face conversation is better than text messaging.

Avoid processed snacks. Always try to have a piece of fruit rather than processed snack foods, especially late at night. If fruit alone doesn't cut it, try adding some peanut butter. If you need a sugar fix, nuke a handful of dark chocolate chips in the microwave for a few seconds and dip your fruit into that.

Sounds simple. It is. And Daphne is proof that it works.

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Thanks to their newfound superfood status (see below), pumpkins will be spending less time on the front porch and more time on dinner menus this fall. Plus, they're amazingly versatile: Pureed, mashed, or cubed, pumpkin’s mildly sweet taste can go even sweeter or savory, depending on how you spice it.

• At restaurants, look for pumpkin soups, breads, and muffins; pumpkin-flavored pasta dishes (think gnocchi or ravioli); and decadent pumpkin-based desserts, from cheesecake to gelato.
• At home, keep a few cans of pumpkin puree on hand, and stir a big spoonful into almost anything: soups, stews, yogurt, curries, pancakes, even meatball mixtures.

In fact, there may be nothing you can't pump up with pumpkin -- including coffee: The Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks boosted the chain's sales 11% when it debuted! Need an extra prod to try pumpkin in something besides pie? Here are half a dozen reasons to go for the gourd:

1. It gives your immune system a flu-season boost. A 1/2-cup serving of pumpkin delivers a boatload of immune-boosting vitamins and nutrients, including alpha carotene and beta carotene, vitamin C, iron, and enough vitamin A to last you 3 days!

2. It fills you up for very few calories. Half a cup of Libby's canned 100% pumpkin puree packs 5 grams of stomach-satisfying fiber (20% of the recommended daily intake) for only 40 calories. In comparison, a slice of whole-wheat bread has 2 grams of fiber and 70 calories.

3. It's got the goods to protect your vision. Pumpkin delivers a duo of sight-saving carotenoid antioxidants (lutein and beta cryptoxanthin) that reduce the risk of age-related cataracts and sight-stealing macular degeneration.

4. It keeps your body humming. Pumpkin is a great source of potassium, which keeps your cells, nerves, and muscles running smoothly. Healthy potassium levels also help keep blood pressure in check and can lower the odds of stroke and heart disease.
   
5. It could cut your cancer risk. A diet high in carotenoids can lower the risk of breast cancer. And beta cryptoxanthin, a carotenoid that's particularly plentiful in pumpkin, may help protect against lung cancer. Aim to get your beta carotene from foods like pumpkin, since supplements don't offer the same cancer protection.
   
6. It gives your bones a little extra love. You'll also pick up a little extra bone-building calcium with each serving. Plus, beta cryptoxanthin defends against joint-destroying rheumatoid arthritis.
   
P.S. -- Wondering about canned versus fresh pumpkin? Canned is a little less sweet but, surprisingly, it's a little more nutritious. It has more fiber, beta carotene, potassium, iron, and folate than fresh. It also wins huge points for convenience! And all that filling fiber pays off in more ways than appetite control: Eating a high-fiber diet can make your RealAge up to 3.5 years younger.

Search the RealAge Recipe Box for scrumptious pumpkin recipes.

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Those 100-calorie snack packs are tasty, convenient, and perfectly portioned for calorie counters -- and they're selling like iPhones on opening day. But what's nutritious about a handful of Cheese Nips or Oreo Thins (even with no creamy centers to lick)? Instead, try these 10 far healthier 100-calorie treats. Stash them in your desk drawer, fridge, or car -- wherever hunger pangs hit you. The best part: Most will curb your appetite for hours because they're high in filling fiber or satisfying protein.

1. Midmorning Fill-Up: Just add hot water to a 100-calorie packet of McCann's Instant Cinnamon Roll Irish Oatmeal, which smells ahh-mazing and comes sweetened with Splenda. No doughnut guilt, and there's a bonus: 3 grams of filling, cholesterol-fighting oat fiber.

2. Peanut Butter and Crackers: Make sandwiches out of six All-Bran Multi-Grain Crackers (45 deliciously crunchy calories) and 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut butter (45 smooth calories). You'll get about 2 grams of fiber and a little healthy fat.

3. Apple Mousse: Mix a half cup of unsweetened applesauce (50 calories) with 3 tablespoons of fat-free nondairy topping (45 calories), and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Make a batch and refrigerate in portable snack cups. Supplies 20% of your daily vitamin C and counts as one serving of fruit. Sweet.

4. Veggies and Dip: Flavor ready-to-eat veggies from the produce section -- which have almost no calories -- with a dip: 2 tablespoons of hummus (60 calories) or light ranch dressing (80 calories). For the veggies, think broccoli and cauliflower florets, baby carrots, snap peas, pepper strips, baby squash -- all of them filled with fiber, vitamins, and protective phytonutrients.

5. Cafe Mocha: Stir a packet of Swiss Miss No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate mix (60 calories) into hot coffee for an instant afternoon pick-me-up that only tastes decadent. It actually delivers 30% of your calcium, 6% of your iron, and even a gram of fiber. Add a splash of milk for more goodness. Compare that to 200 calories for the smallest Starbucks Caffe Mocha (2% milk, no whip), with 6 grams of fat.

6. Mexican Potato: Microwave a medium potato and slice in half (80 calories). Save one piece for tomorrow. Mash the other half inside the potato skin and top it with 2 tablespoons of salsa (10 calories). Eat the whole thing, including the skin. Warm, spicy, satisfying and 2 grams each of protein and fiber, some vitamin C, plus a little iron.

7. Finger Food: Munch edamame like nuts. 1/2 cup of these quick-cooked frozen soybeans (about 95 calories) makes a great nibble. That’s why they're a staple at hip bars -- which probably don't care that they're serving you 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and lots of minerals.

8. Snack on a Minimeal: When you're starving but trying to hold back, try this: Wrap a Morningstar Farms Vegan Burger (100 calories), a tomato slice, hamburger pickles, and a little mustard or ketchup in lettuce leaves instead of bread. The 10 grams of protein will keep you filled till it's really mealtime.

9. Happy Hour Combo: Mix 1/2 cup of tomato juice (22 calories) with 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 drops of Tabasco sauce, and a dash of lemon juice. Serve over ice with a celery stick and about a dozen dry roasted peanuts (about 60 calories). Have a second "drink" if you like -- no biggie!

10. Healthy Confetti Crisps: If chips are your downfall, make a batch of these RealAge crisps and divide into 6 portions (95 calories each). Munch through a bag while sipping your club soda and lime. Remember to enjoy the good fat from the olive oil and the fiber and vitamins in the veggies -- these taste so good, you may forget they're healthy.

REALAGE CONFETTI CRISPS
6 servings, 95 calories each

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup each of peeled and thinly sliced purple potatoes, carrots, and parsnips

Mix the oil and seasonings together, add the vegetables, and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20–25 minutes or until crisp and golden brown.

If being able to easily button your tightest jeans isn't incentive enough not to double up on 100-calorie snacks -- they’re tempting, we know -- consider this: Steadily maintaining a desirable weight can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

Dig into the RealAge Diet and Nutrition Center for more ways to snack smart.

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Holiday to-do list expanding too fast? Work pressures got you tearing your hair out? No date for the season’s festivities? Regardless of the cause, when we’re stressed we often counterintuitively turn to diet-busting goodies for comfort. Instead of soothing our frayed nerves, many of them ultimately make us feel worse.

Take the classic, curling up with a pint of ice cream. It's a total backfire. Why? Sweets are insidious: After the initial rush, the body's insulin response kicks in, causing a sudden blood-sugar drop that triggers the release of stress hormones. Soon you're feeling more jangled than you were before you inhaled that whole container of Chunky Monkey. And alcohol, of course, is a wolfish stimulant in calm sheep's clothing.

But true comfort foods do exist:

• Berries, any berries. Eat them one by one instead of M&Ms when the pressure's on. For those tough times when tension tightens your jaw, try rolling a frozen berry around in your mouth. And then another, and another. Since the carbs in berries turn to sugar very slowly, you won't have a blood-sugar crash. The bonus: They're a good source of vitamin C, which helps fight a jump in cortisol, a stress hormone.

• Guacamole. If you're craving something creamy, look no further. Avocados are loaded with B vitamins, which stress quickly depletes and which your body needs in order to maintain nerves and brain cells. Plus, their creaminess comes from healthy fat. Scoop up the stuff with whole-grain baked chips -- crunching keeps you from gritting your teeth.

• Mixed nuts. Just an ounce will do. Walnuts help replace those stress-depleted B vitamins, Brazil nuts give you a whopping amount of zinc (which is also drained by high anxiety), and almonds boost your E, which helps fight cellular damage linked to chronic stress. Buy nuts in the shell and think of it as multitasking: With every squeeze of the nutcracker, you're releasing a little tension.

• Oranges. People who take 1,000 milligrams of C before giving a speech have lower levels of cortisol and lower blood pressures than those who don't. So lean back, take a deep breath, and concentrate on peeling a large orange. The 5-minute mindfulness break will ease your mind, and you'll get a bunch of C as well.

• Asparagus. Each tender stalk is a source of folic acid, a natural mood lightener. Dip the spears in fat-free yogurt or sour cream for a hit of calcium with each bite.

• Chai tea. A warm drink is a supersoother, and curling up with a cup of aromatic decaf chai tea (Tazo makes ready-to-brew bags) can make the whole evil day go away.

• Dark chocolate. Okay, there's nothing in it that relieves stress, but when only chocolate will do, reach for the dark, sultry kind that's at least 70% cocoa. You figure if the antioxidant flavonoids in it are potent enough to fight cancer and heart disease, they've got to be able to temper tension's effects.

Simmer down! Get personalized stress-relief strategies from RealAge.

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Eating just the right thing before lifting weights or jumping on the elliptical trainer can keep you energized from start to finish. But what you should eat "depends on how hard and how long you're exercising," says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of Nutrition for Women. Here are her surprisingly easy ways to fuel your muscles before different workouts and -- pant, pant -- help you recover after you've worked your butt off.

A Solid Aerobics Session: 30–60 Minutes
Before
"A small liquid snack 5 minutes before a run, step session, or power yoga class turns into fuel almost immediately," says Somer. Let these rules be your guide:
• Keep it light (under 200 calories) for faster digestion.
• The less time you have to eat before exercising, the less you should eat. You don't want stuff sloshing about in your tummy as you move.
• Skip juice blends or energy drinks that list high-fructose corn syrup or glucose gels on the label. Both heavy-hitter sweeteners can make blood sugar levels plummet midworkout.

A few 200-calorie-and-under suggestions:

• A blend-it-yourself 8-ounce smoothie made with fruit and low-fat yogurt, or one of Dannon's Light & Fit ready-to-drink fruit smoothies
• Carnation No Sugar Added Instant Breakfast drink made with a cup of skim milk or light soymilk
• A 6-ounce glass of OJ and two graham crackers

After
To rehydrate and keep your blood sugar stable, have some water and one of these snacks:
• A low-fat granola or energy bar
• A cup of low-sodium chicken noodle soup
• A piece of fruit or a small bunch of grapes

Hit-the-Wall Aerobics: 60 Minutes or More
Before
You want a snack that keeps muscles supplied with a steady flow of glucose. "Just as a car sputters to a stop when it runs out of gas, you 'hit the wall' or 'bonk' if your glucose supplies are drained. Once that happens, no snack will fuel you fast enough to finish the workout," warns Somer. Before you go all out, have these:
• Water to ward off dehydration, especially in hot weather.
• Carbs that are high quality and easy to digest -- they’ll leave your GI tract quickly and supply enough glucose to fuel a long workout.
• Protein from yogurt, milk, soymilk, or nuts to offset a rapid drop in blood sugar from eating those carbs.
• Foods that are light (again, 200 calories) and low fat, to avoid digestive problems. If your energy dips or your legs become shaky, eat more the next time, until you hit on the right amount.

Good carb/protein combos:
• Half of a 4-ounce whole-wheat bagel with 1 tablespoon low-fat cream cheese
• One small slice of last night's vegetarian pizza or two-thirds cup of leftover spaghetti with marinara sauce
• One stick of low-fat string cheese, one medium pear, and three whole-grain crackers

After
Recover with more water and a 100-calorie, all-carb snack like these:
• 50 pretzel sticks
• Half a cup Breyer's Double Churn Fat-Free Caramel Swirl ice cream
• Half a baked potato topped with 2 tablespoons of salsa

Up to 60 Minutes of Gentle Yoga, Stretching, or Tai Chi
Before
A preworkout snack isn't essential for low-sweat activities -- say, an hour of yin yoga or a stretch class. But if you're hungry, try a banana for potassium and two graham crackers for carbs. Wash it down with some water.

After
All you need is more water.

Semitough Strength Training: 30–45 Minutes
Before
Carbs with a dash of protein is your fuel of choice. Only serious body builders and weight lifters who pump for more than 45 minutes at least 3 days a week need extra protein -- "most people get plenty," says Somer.
If you're borderline hard core, try these 200- to 250-calorie protein-laced snacks:
• Half a turkey sandwich on whole-grain bread and a piece of fruit
• One handful of trail mix (nuts, dried fruit, and seeds)
• Three whole-grain crackers with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 6-ounces of V8 juice

After
Rehydrate with water, and have the other half of that turkey sandwich -- the protein helps repair and build your muscles.

For the average gym rat who does 30 minutes of weight training two or three times a week, just have a high-carb snack 10 minutes or so before you start. Here are some good options:
• Plain, nonfat yogurt mixed with berries or applesauce
• One tablespoon of nut butter (peanut, almond, or cashew) and one half of a sliced banana on a 10-inch whole-wheat tortilla, all rolled up, burrito-style
• One small (2-ounce) carrot-raisin muffin and a 6-ounce glass of OJ

An All-Day Hike, Cross-Country Ski or Snowshoe Trek
Before
To build your glycogen stores, plan ahead:
• For a day or two prior to your outing, eat high-carb meals of whole-wheat pasta or brown rice dishes.
• Drink ample fluids, too -- at least 10 cups a day. Before setting out, have a substantial high-carb meal of pancakes or waffles with fruit.
• In addition to lunch, pack a couple of energy bars or some dried fruit-and-nut mix to nibble every 2 hours.
• Regularly sip water or sports drinks; don't wait until you get thirsty.

After
Soak in the hot tub! And keep drinking water. Have a high-carb snack, such as popcorn, pretzels, a muffin, or hot cocoa and a graham cracker.
***
Exercising regularly will not only burn off all those snacks, and more, but also it can make your RealAge as much as 9 -- yes, 9 -- years younger. And your body will be inches trimmer. Nice.

Diversify your workout routine -- here’s how!

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You don't have to be smarter than a quiz-show fifth-grader to learn how to control the urge to eat. Just follow these ingenious tips to keep your appetite under wraps:

• Feed it protein for breakfast. You'll be less hungry later on and end up eating 267 fewer calories during the day. At least that's what happened on days when St. Louis University researchers gave overweight women two scrambled eggs and two slices of jelly-topped toast for breakfast rather than about half that protein.

• Make it climb a flight of stairs. At home, store the most tempting foods way out of reach. For instance, Cornell University food psychologist Brian Wansink, PhD, keeps his favorite soda in a basement fridge. "Half the time I'm too lazy to run down there to get it, so I drink the water in the kitchen."

• Sleep on it. People who don't get their 8 hours of ZZZs experience hormonal fluctuations that increase appetite, report researchers. Learn more about how sleep affects your diet.
 
• Give it something else to think about. When scientists scanned the brains of people eating different foods, they found that the brain reacts to fat in the mouth in much the same way that it responds to a pleasant aroma. So if you feel a craving coming on, apply your favorite scent.
 
• Never let it see a heaping plate. The more food that's in front of you, the more you'll eat. So at a restaurant, ask your waiter to pack up half of your meal before serving it to you, then eat the extras for lunch the next day.

• Put it under the lights. You consume fewer calories at a well-lit restaurant table than you do dining in a dark corner. "In the light, you're more self-conscious and worry that other patrons are watching what you eat," explains Wansink.

• Talk it down. Entertaining friends with a great story doesn't give you much time to eat up, so you'll probably still have food on your plate when they're done. Once they're finished, call it quits, too.

• Offer it a seat. If you sit down to snack -- and use utensils and a plate -- you'll eat fewer calories at subsequent meals.

• Satisfy it with soup. Start lunch with about 130 calories worth of vegetable soup and you'll eat 20% fewer calories overall during lunch, say Penn State experts.

• Give it little choice. Packages that contain assorted varieties of cookies, candy, dips, cheese, etc., make you want to try all the flavors. The effect is so powerful, says Wansink, that when people are given 10 colors of M&Ms to munch on, not 7, they eat 30% more!

Oh, and one more thing: Feeding your appetite a diverse diet that is low in calories and high in nutrients can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger. Sweet.

Trim off 10 pounds with these simple tips from RealAge Food Bites.

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Pomegranates have always been intimidating, haven’t they? They're beautiful but dangerous, squirting their permanent red juice everywhere when you try to wrestle the seeds out. But this holiday season, some local markets have gotten smart and hung a how-to sign next to baskets of the knobby red fruit. 

The secret, it turns out, is to break apart pomegranates underwater. Here’s the trick: Score the leathery rind, and then submerge the fruit in a bowl of water while you break apart the segments and tease the seeds free from the white pith. The pith floats, so it's easy to skim off. Pour the rest through a colander and in minutes you'll have hundreds of seeds and no stains! 

Pomegranate seeds are worth the trouble because they're an antiaging, skin-protecting, cancer-fighting powerhouse -- a true RealAge food. Each bittersweet seed is packed with anthocyanins, vitamin C, lycopene, and resveratrol. Research in humans has shown that the juice reduces several risk factors for heart disease and inhibits tumor growth. But the star of the show, beauty-wise, is ellagic acid. 

"Ellagic acid increases the body's built-in supply of glutathione, an antioxidant that both protects DNA and helps recycle estrogen, which protects skin cells. It also inhibits certain enzymes in ways that give cells time to divide normally," explains Los Angeles dermatologist Howard Murad, MD, who has been putting pomegranate extract in his line of skin care products for nearly 20 years.

The ancient Greeks believed that eating this "apple of many seeds" might lead to immortality. And, hey, anything that keeps skin cells plump a little longer, maintains a healthier heart, and holds promise for preventing cancer has got to be good, right?

Pomegranate power!  Learn more about how pomegranates protect your health.

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