Photo: Allison Fishman

As we head into the holiday season chef Allison Fishman, owner of The Wooden Spoon, a cooking school in New York, shares the best ways to prepare your favorite holiday meals and desserts without adding to your waistline and without scrimping on taste.

First and foremost, "Prepare your favorites. It's not the time to skimp," Fishman explained. If you don't, she added, "As my dad would say, you're going to be sitting there with a 'broygis punim,' [that's sad face in Yiddish]. This is family, this is Thanksgiving. Let loose and enjoy." But there is room for a little diet-friendly compromise. "If pumpkin pie's your favorite thing in the world, I'm not going to tell you not to have it, but you could make crustless pumpkin pie. [The crust] contains a tremendous amount of calories, fat -- leave it off. The only food that should go into your mouth is food you absolutely love."

That's Fit: How do you go about changing your cooking style for health considerations?

Allison Fishman: I grew up with mashed potatoes that were made with a container of sour cream. Now I make mine with buttermilk. Buttermilk is naturally fat-free. I think they're a little bit gross and heavy now that I've got the other version.

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Overwhelmed by all of the "Follow Friday" recommendations on Twitter? Each week AOL Health's Twitter alias Healthpop and That's_Fit search the Twittersphere for the greatest diet and fitness Twitterers, and each week, we'll highlight the best-of their best tweets (no Twits here). Got any great advice for our Fit Follow Friday post? Give us a shout on Twitter and let us know all about it!

Celebrity dietitian and motivational life coach Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of www.ffactordiet.com and founder of www.skinnyandthecity.com, has helped thousands of people lose weight and keep it off with her program. Her philosophy? Tanya believes you should never sacrifice taste, even when you're eating healthy foods. Have a recipe in need of rehab? Click here to submit!

Recipe may vary from photograph. Photo: nimetimesthree, Flickr

Every couple of years, there is a new culprit to blame for the obesity epidemic in America. Red meat, carbohydrates, saturated fat and high fructose corn syrup have all been charged with the crime at one point or another. But the bottom line and true reason is that the portion sizes deemed by the American Dietetic Association are a thing of the past. We are a country of abundance, with a surplus of food, and now, exponentially-larger portions sizes are the standard. Without them, we don't feel like we've gotten our money's worth of food. Quiz yourself at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to see if your portion sizes are preventing you from making your goal weight.

One area where this holds especially true is with baked goods. Many Americans still think that a muffin is a healthy breakfast option. The reality is that a blueberry muffin at Dunkin Donuts has 510 calories, 16 grams of fat, no fiber, and is actually four servings compared to the standard. A muffin should not be the size of a softball; it should be 2 1/4-inch in diameter, the size found in that tin at home that makes one dozen muffins.

My muffin recipe sticks to that standard and tastes delicious, much better than anything commercially prepared. So skip the drive-through on your way to work. Get your satisfaction from a homemade baked good, which is filling because of my swap for whole-wheat flour and addition of bran cereal. You can make these healthy, low-fat muffins in bulk and freeze them so you'll always be prepared during your morning rush.

Photo: jupiterimages

Going out to eat -- be it breakfast, lunch or dinner -- can be an exercise in will power. No matter what the server brings, you can almost bet that what's on your plate will be at least two to three portions worth. Sure, we all want to get the most food for our buck, but that doesn't mean falling off the wagon by licking the plate clean. To arm yourself, you need get your portion sizes down. For example, one serving of steak is no bigger than a deck of cards, and one 3-inch pancake out of the stack will do it for breakfast (here's a diet-friendly trick: Top it with fresh fruit). Find out more about portion size here and then take this quiz to check your portion IQ.

Find out how even "The Joy of Cooking" is working against portion control.

Our family has a bad summertime ice cream habit. We're known by name and by flavor at our local ice cream shop. This year, I vowed to be better about our frequent visits, and we went all of August without stopping in once. Just last week, we popped in during a bike ride. Let me tell you, when it comes to chocolate, absence really does make the taste buds grow fonder. That cone was delicious.

Did you know that after the first bite of something yummy, every other bite is less enjoyable? It's something I learned reading this article about cravings over at CNN. It's something to keep in mind when cravings get the best of you. Rather than deny yourself your favorite goody, one simple technique to beat the craving is to let yourself have it -- a small portion that is. Other tips include:

• Eat regularly. If you're hungry, your cravings are going to get the best of you.
• Never say never. Say "later" instead. Tell yourself you can have the treat, just not now, may do the trick.
• Watch your portions. A small piece of chocolate will probably satisfy you, so why eat the whole bar?
• Try substitutes. If ice cream is calling your name, try eating a frozen banana with a touch of chocolate sauce instead.
• Write it down. A food diary will help you keep track, and keep you honest.
  
  

How do you battle your worst cravings?

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Goodness knows I've done it. I'm a terrible emotional eater and, if I don't stop to think, I can easily find myself digging in the cupboard for food. Not to satisfy hunger, but in a futile effort to stuff down some other emotion. (I'm not proud, but there's the truth.) Even if you don't emotionally eat, it's easy to overeat when sitting down to watch a movie and the over-sized bucket of popcorn is right in front of you.

To stop overeating, you have to understand your triggers. AOL Body has some great tips about overeating. Some of the causes:

• Environment. Restaurants invite you to relax, enjoy the environment, and usually order more. Fast food joints super-size your quick meals. Buffets let you eat all you can. Don't succumb to the environment and eat more than you normally would.
  
• Eating by association. You turn on the TV and it's time to snack, right? No! You're supposed to eat when you're hungry, not because your activity dictates it.
  
• Portion distortion. Our eyes play a big role in what we eat. If your plate is over-sized, don't be fooled into thinking the whole plate needs to be filled.

For more causes of overeating and tips on how to stop, check out the AOL Body slideshow.

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Portion size can throw your best-laid diet plans off quicker than a bull bucks off a cowboy. We've become so accustomed to super-sized meals and big restaurant portions that we serve up big sizes as a matter of course. For most people, weighing and measuring foods isn't something they can reasonably sustain for the long-term. So the trick is learning to reliably recognize portion sizes by sight. Here are some tips for controlling portion sizes:

• A quick way to check your portion size is to look at your clenched fist. If the food is larger than your fist, you're almost certainly eating more than you need.
  
• When eating at home or at a buffet, choose a small amount to start. Then, eat slowly and enjoy each bite. When you're done, take some time to let your body recognize that you're full. Having an overfilled plate just gives you the temptation to clean your plate like your mom used to preach.
  
• At restaurants, plan on eating only half of your meal and bringing the rest home for later.
• Eat healthy, small mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Letting yourself get ravenous will likely lead to overeating.

Find out if you know your portions -- take this fun AOL Body quiz.

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I hope this news makes you as happy as it just made me. Wholly Guacamole, my very favorite pre-made guacamole, has come out with 100 Calorie Snack Pack.

Wholly Guacamole is made of avocados, spices, and not a lot else. It is "Fresherized," meaning that they use pressure to preserve the product, not chemicals. In the regular size, they offer Classic, Spicy, Pico Style, Guaca Salsa, and Organic. So far, the 100 calorie packs are just available in the Classic flavor, but hey, I have no complaints.

Why am I so excited about this new option? Avocados have all kinds of health benefits (and a guac like this is a good source of avocado), but they are a bit higher in calories and fat then most fruits and veggies. I know perfectly well how much guacamole I should put on my plate. However, when that bowl is in front of me, it's really, really hard to take just what I should have and walk away. Having only 100 calories in the packs (and they come in packs of three or six) is just what I need to help me with my guacamole portion control.

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We have a saying around my house -- "don't serve up Army-sized portions, just you-sized portions." It's a saying born of necessity. My healthy, athletic son has a tendency to skip lunches and then overeat at night. Overeat to the point that he's sick. During the day I have to remind him to eat and at night I have to make sure he stays reasonable. Luckily, he likes fruits and veggies so it's easy to have him stick to healthy foods, but I want to help him learn healthier eating patterns. He's energetic enough now that he easily burns off any extra calories, but as he grows up his metabolism likely couldn't handle his evening gorge-fests.

I think we all have overeaten from time to time. Goodness knows I have. We take a bit too much from the buffet line, go back for second helpings of a delicious dish, or cut an extra large slice of dessert because it looks so good. Eating past the point of hunger isn't nutritionally necessary. So how do you stop overeating?

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Every day I learn something new from my son. He's so much better at forgiving and forgetting, he throws himself into all his activities with his whole heart, and the second he meets someone new he considers them his friend. They're beautiful lessons to learn and I'm constantly reminded that while I'm the parent and it's my role to teach him, it's also my role to put my jaded adult heart aside and learn from him, too.

When it comes to physical activity we could all take a tip from our kids. Dietblog has a list of 5 things we can learn from toddlers:

• They stay on the move. Toddlers wake up and don't slow down until it's time to go to sleep. They play, play, and play some more. Just the simple act of being in motion more can make an impact on adults' weight control and energy level. If you find you're stuck behind a desk all day, make an extra effort to move a bit more -- by a small stepper for use underneath your desk, get up and walk around the office, stand up and stretch, and make some extra trips up and down the stairs.

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Want to be fit and fabulous by swimsuit season? It's really not too late. February is wrapping up fast, but there's a lot of time left before that hot weather hits. It's reasonable that you could drop two pants sizes by summer, maybe even more. All it takes is a few healthy changes in your life, like these ideas from USA Today:

• Cut back your calorie intake by 400 to 500 a day.
• Burn more calories by beginning an exercise routine.
• Start strength training.
• Use a calendar to record your progress and to remind yourself that summer is on its way.
• Fill one half of your plate up with fruits and veggies at every meal.
• Measure food to understand portion size.
• Eat at the table to avoid mindless eating.
• Pay attention to how you feel -- healthy foods will give you more energy, while junk food may make you feel sluggish.

Don't think of it as a diet or not being able to eat what you want. Instead, look at what you add to your day -- fresh air, exercise, nutritious foods. By summer you'll be fit and feeling great!

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When we talk about weight loss, we often mention portion distortion. Controlling portions is key to losing weight, and many portions today are actually super-sized by normal standards.

Figwee, a new calorie counting website, thinks they may have the answer. When you choose a new food and enter it into your food diary, you can manipulate the portion size and actually see it what it physically looks like. So if you had a large piece of chicken for lunch, you can go onto Figwee, judge the size of your meal, and from there approximate the number of calories.

It's a pretty cool gadget for those who are into tracking calories, and very visually attractive. Because it's in its beta stage, you can sign up for free right now and help Figwee's creators test their program.

(via Diet-Blog)

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In a perfect world, chocolate would be a health food. But because they contain butter and sugar, chocolate-y concoctions tend to fall into the "seldom" category of the food pyramid. That said, there is room in a healthy diet for a sweet treat now and then, you just have to watch your portions. To that end, iVillage has figured out exactly how many bites you can take of your favorite candy bar before you hit 100 calories. If you can control the temptation to keep going after a few small bites (and that's a big if), you just might be able to enjoy chocolate again.

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Here's an ingenious suggestion from Working On My Fitness -- use Bento Boxes for portion control. Bento boxes -- those cute Japanese eating 'plates' that have little compartments for each part of your meal -- would be ideal if you're trying to follow the food pyramid. Put your veggies in the largest compartment, your grains in the second largest and your protein in the smallest. There might even be room for a small (healthy) dessert.

What's great about this idea is that you can't just heap your plate full of food like you can with regular plates. And your meal doesn't have to Japanese to use the Bento box, but it can't hurt since Japanese food is one of the healthiest cuisines out there.

So what would go in your Bento box?

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Here's a new idea on how to cute calories: eat like a kid! Kids don't have adult-sized appetites, so their snacks and meals always come in smaller packages -- and ordering from the kids menu is an instant, painless way to control your portions. And let's face it -- portion control is a problem for many of us adults. Children don't have the same issue -- they just stop eating when their full.

Say, for instance, you're on a road trip and find yourself with no other option but the local fast-food joint. Instead of super-sizing, downsize by ordering from the kids menu. You'll cut out a ton of calories and you'll have eaten just enough food to be satisfied. And your local supermarket is bound to offer lots of awesome kids' snacks that you can carry in your purse for a quick energy fix. Prevention Magazine list some here.

What's your favourite pint-sized snack?

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