Still have a few hours before dinner, but your tummy is rumbling? Have a healthy snack!

Many people swear off snacking in an attempt to cut calories. But snacking is actually a healthy choice. Small, nutritious snacks prevent you from getting ravenous between meals (and potentially overeating). Also, when you choose your snacks wisely, they can help stabilize your blood sugar.

Real Simple has great ideas for healthy snacks that will tide you over until dinner. For example, the Cashew Strawberry Crunch sounds delish -- just top a Ryvita fruit crunch with a tablespoon of cashew butter (rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats). Then, sliced strawberries are placed on top. Yummy!

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When it's time for dinner, plan to stay at the table for a good long time.

When you get up on Christmas morning, it might seem like a good idea to skip breakfast so you can eat more at dinner. Plus you've got all those shiny new presents to distract you from the innate need to seek sustenance. But skimping on your first meal can slow down your metabolism for the rest of the day, according to our friends at Fitsugar. And let's be honest -- that's the last thing you want when the spread is so fantastic.

A better option? Prepare a platter of fresh fruit for breakfast and serve it alongside some low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese or oatmeal. Omelets are also a great option -- the more veggies the better.

What do you have for Christmas breakfast?

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz, I love to exercise, but may only have about 15 minutes to do anything on Christmas Day. Can you give me a quick circuit to do at home before we take off for the family party? Thanks and Merry Christmas, Johnny

A. Sure, Johhny! I'd love to. Before I do that, though, I want to tell you how impressive it is that fitness is such a priority for you. Lots of folks are going to use the holiday as an excuse to do nothing. You and I both know that a brief workout will probably make us feel more energetic and happy on the big day and give us a little more wiggle room to enjoy an extra indulgence without paying the price. High five to you!

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Thanksgiving - 'tis the time for over indulgence, stretchy pants and naps after dinner. Oh, and friends and family, giving thanks, yadda yadda yadda. I know I always eat too much at Thanksgiving -- what about you? I asked you last week if you overdid it -- here's what you said:

• 17 percent of you said yes -- your belt is still tight.
  
• 20 percent of you said you did, but it could have been worse -- you stopped after seconds, not thirds.
  
• 40 percent of you said you were full but not stuffed.
  
• 21 percent of you stopped when you had satisfied your hunger.
  

So the majority of you didn't indulge in some rampant gluttonous feast -- good for you! Keep up the good work come Christmas.

Gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie ... as delicious as it all is, the calories can really add up. Martha told us that a typical Thanksgiving feast can add up to 4,000 calories. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is a bit more forgiving and estimates that most of us consume about 3,000 calories. But that's no less shocking. ACE also estimates that we take in about 229 grams of fat. Or, to look at it another way, it's the caloric equivalent of 5.5 Big Macs. Wow.

Don't let those scary numbers stop you from enjoying the feast, though. Fitz has some great ideas on how you can enjoy Thanksgiving and not regret it later. To help you decide what foods you want to splurge on, consider this list:

• Egg nog -- two cups have 684 calories and 36 grams of fat
• Dark turkey meat -- a 3.5-ounce serving has 187 calories and 7.2 grams of fat
• Candied sweet potatoes -- one cup has 286 calories and 7.8 grams of fat

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Fitz, I'm sick of feeling sick at the end of Thanksgiving Day. I seem to eat all day, even when I'm not hungry. I literally feel like the clothes I put on that morning don't fit me anymore. I'm dreading it this week. What do I do? Alex

A. Gobble Gobble, Alex! I mean ... don't Gobble Gobble, Alex. (Bad joke, I know). Holidays, particularly Thanksgiving, often lead to really weird amounts of mindless eating. It doesn't help that this particular day is actually based on a feast. Darn Pilgrims! Why couldn't they show their gratitude with a running race? I can help you avoid this scenario, though. No one likes to unbutton their jeans to be able to sit down. It's uncomfortable, embarrassing and depressing. So let's get proactive, make a plan and stick with it.

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Got Thanksgiving plans? Of course, you do. You'll get together with friends, family or both, either at their house or yours. A few people will work feverishly in the kitchen, while the others will gobble up appys and drinks. Finally, everyone will gather together in merriment, and the grand finale will happen: The serving of the prodigal meal. Most will go back for seconds, some will undo the top button on their pants, some will thank their lucky stars they wore fat pants. Then most of us will fall asleep in the living room. Sound familiar?

Thanksgiving -- 'tis the season for over-indulgence. But just how much over-indulgence are we talking here?

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Do you happen to have any Lean Cuisine meals in your freezer? If so, you better take stock of what you have -- nearly 900,000 pounds of Lean Cuisine frozen chicken meals are being recalled.

Nestlé Prepared Foods Company in Springville, Utah issued the recall after receiving customer complaints regarding bits of hard, blue plastic in certain meals. So far, one injury has been reported. The products being recalled include:

• Lean Cuisine Pesto Chicken with Bow-Tie Pasta.
• Lean Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean.
• Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan.

Only certain production codes of these meals are being recalled. If you have questions, you can contact Nestlé Consumer Services Center at (800) 227-6188.

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Though meals made from scratch are always better, sometimes the convenience of frozen meals is too difficult to pass up. And the pictures on the boxes of those frozen meals usually look quite tempting, don't they? The reality is often quite different, though. The portions are small and you can be left feeling hungry -- all that extra sodium and preservatives don't feel worth it when it's not even satisfying. But, with a few added ingredients, you can make those frozen meals more nutritious, tasty, and filling.

Women's Health shares lots of easy ideas -- such as adding basil, garlic, asparagus, or tomato to a Healthy Choice Chicken Alfredo dinner. Check out their other ideas as well. Then, the next time you're resorting to a heat-and-eat meal, look around your pantry or fridge and see what fresh and nutritious ingredients you can add.

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When you're crunched for time, you many find it difficult to prepare creative, healthful meals. I know that I resort to my old stand-by meals when I'm really busy. They're stand-by meals because they're quick, healthful, and tasty but after a while, they get a bit boring.

One of my favorite tricks for cutting down on meal preparation time is to cook ahead. For example, if I'm going to be baking some chicken for dinner, I bake an extra piece or two for a different meal later in the week. Self magazine has a great sample menu that uses that same time-saving tip -- and the recipes are healthful, balanced, and sound positively yummy. Give it a try!

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been trying to make a difference in the nutritional quality of the UK's school lunches for years. Now, Oliver is focusing on another area that needs improvement -- the typical British home. He worries that the tough economic times are further degrading the quality of food served at home.

When Oliver was first zeroing in on school lunches and teaching cafeteria workers to prepare fresher, more nutritious meals, he didn't just encounter resistance from kids. In one South Yorkshire town, cameras caught parents of school children shoving burgers and fries at their kids through the school's fence. So now Oliver is working in that town and trying to teach families how to eat healthfully on a tight budget.

Oliver makes a good point: Historically, when money was tight, people had to become more resourceful -- growing their own produce, using cheaper cuts of meat, and so forth. Now, however, people have the option of buying $0.79 boxes of macaroni and cheese or value meals at fast food joints. Have you seen that recent commercial for KFC? The one that challenges people to buy the ingredients for a bucket of chicken for less than they'll sell it to you? That's just the point the Oliver is making -- when convenience and cost pair together, some people will let nutrition slide.

If you're trying to lower your grocery costs, try these tips for eating healthfully on a budget.

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Martha recently posted about whether or not parents should be notified if their children are overweight. A recent user question on Momtourage shows that some doctors are doing just that. ... and I think it's a good thing. The parent asking the question is wondering if they should even be concerned that their child is overweight because they feel that their child is active and happy.

Some children are clearly, unmistakably overweight. But for other kids, it isn't always easy to tell. After all, kids go through growth spurts and they grow at different rates. But if a medical professional expresses that your child is indeed overweight, it's time to take action.

As parents, there are many things you can do to help your child live a healthy lifestyle and maintain an appropriate weight.

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Does being on a diet mean never eating out? Cooking your own meals is one really good way to keep track of what's going into your food -- and your belly. But let's be realistic here -- who wants to cook every night of the week? I'm guessing all of us eat out from time to time.

Eating out doesn't have to spell diet disaster though -- Prevention Magazine recently put together a list of the best foods to nosh on when you're out on the town:

• If you're at an Asian restaurant ... order a shrimp stir-fry
• If you're at an Indian restaurant ... order Chicken Tikka
• If you're at a Seafood restaurant ... order grilled fish with lemon
• If you're at an Italian restaurant ... order pasta alla marinara

Click here for more awesome restaurant rules ... and let us know if you have any of your own.

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Comedian Margaret Cho has been out of the spotlight for a few years now, but she's back, and she's 40 lbs lighter to boot, after years of dieting. So which wonderful diet program finally worked for Cho? None.

Cho admits to People Magazine that she eventually lost weight by eating whatever she wants -- including ice cream, chips, fries and pizza. But she did follow two rules: Eat only when hungry, and stick to small dinners, meaning breakfast and lunch are the big meals of the day. Says Cho: "When I was on crazy diets, I'd gain weight because I would binge on diet food! I learned that any restriction on the kind of food I was eating was going to be problem. By saying I can eat whatever I want, I don't crave it as much."

You know, eating junk food when you're trying to lose weight sounds kind of crazy, but I really think she has a point here. Your thoughts?

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