You will be able to spot if your meals are lacking in nutrients. Sometimes it is more about the types of food that you eat, rather than the quantity. You do not need to be overweight to have an unhealthy body. You have to eat the right things. Keeping a food diary may show you are not eating enough green vegetables, which means you will probably be missing some nutrients like B vitamins, folic acid, zinc, vitamin E and others that your body requires to function properly. Also, a lack of certain minerals and vitamins can cause hair loss, or a pallid complexion or many other health problems.

With a food diary, you can make changes to your diet that last a lifetime. You can assess what you currently eat and make substitutions that are a more healthy alternative. For instance, if you eat a lot of pasta, lowering your portion size and changing to wholewheat pasta can lower your weight and your cholesterol level. If you change one thing at a time you can test how it works for you.

Try keeping a food diary for a week. You will find out a lot about your eating habits in seven days. And armed with this information, you will be able to make the changes to your diet that will enable you to get healthy, lose weight and reduce your risk to certain diseases.

Little changes in your holiday eating habits won't take away your fun. But they will take away inches from your waistline. Even more importantly, they will model behavior for your children that will help them stay fit for a life time. These six ideas are easy to implement and will help you navigate through the holiday temptations.