I've been thinking.

Aside from fruitcake, there are still two other hazards when it comes to the festive season.

The first is the annual office party, which in my view should be banned. The potential for moments of drunken honesty and career-limiting dance moves is just too great.

The second hazard is, collectively, the 95 canap?s you will be offered over the next two weeks. Tis' the season of good will indeed, but it doesn't mean those extra calories won't stick straight on to your thighs and bum.

There are two camps when it comes to Christmas and those who are trying to lose or manage their weight. In the first, we have people who put everything on hold during December, seeing Christmas as a time for full-on and well-deserved indulgence.

Life is for living after all!

In the other camp, we have those who view Christmas with a mixture of pleasure and dread. Sure, the festivities are great, but how do you keep calories to a minimum in the face of such relentless temptation? At a time when the whole world is having a party, you can barely walk into the grocery store without someone offering you a glass of wine and some deep-fried mozzarella.

So those of you who are throwing caution and calories to the wind over Christmas may want to stop reading now.

Remember though that you'll have to pay special attention in the New Year when we tackle the festive bulge.

However, if you're in the more cautious camp and hoping to exercise some restraint over the next few weeks, then read on.

The following steps will help you enjoy Christmas fully without paying a hefty price for it in January.

1. Serve healthy options at your own party. If you're throwing your own party, make sure you have some healthy canap?s to hand. I'm not suggesting that you try and impress your friends with mini rice cakes, instead try the following. They're healthy but tasty too!

Celery stalks stuffed with goats cheese (sprinkled with paprika)

Cherry tomatoes stuffed with hummus

Dips with toasted pita and vegetable crudit?s instead of chips

Melon wrapped in prosciutto

Wholegrain crackers with smoked salmon and cr?me fraiche

Strips of rye toast topped with guacamole and fresh cilantro

Fresh fruit dipped in melted dark chocolate

2. Don't go to a drinks party hungry.

A drinks party isn't a drinks party without canap?s. But while canap?s can be delicious, they can also be laden with calories ? deep-fried shrimp, mini pizzas and filo pastry cups are all hard to resist, especially if you're hungry.

However you can be guaranteed that there will be more calories in the amount of canap?s it takes to fill you up, than in a healthy meal. So if possible, eat before the party and only have two or three canap?s with your drinks. If it's not possible to have a full meal before you go, have a healthy snack (e.g. an apple and some unsalted nuts) beforehand.

As a last resort, if canap?s are going to take the place of your evening meal, then just try to make healthy choices. Many venues serve crudit?s and dip, fruit kebabs and chicken skewers, which are all healthier options.

3. Limit your drinks and choose mixers carefully. Alcohol provides you with "empty calories" (i.e. lots of calories) without making you feel full. If you over-indulge you are also more likely to get an attack of the munchies later on, stopping off for some fries or a burger on the way home. So, limit yourself to two or three drinks, with a few glasses of water in-between.

Coke, lemonade, ginger ale, ginger beer and tonic water are all loaded with sugar or artificial sweeteners ? both of which worsen your hangover. The sugary mixers can also cause weight gain as remember, excess sugar in the bloodstream, can be stored in the body as fat. If you are drinking spirits, then choose soda water as a mixer or fruit juice diluted with LOTS of ice. Champagne, red wine and vodka with soda are some of the better options.

4. Go carefully at the buffet table. Try to limit yourself to the equivalent of one course. Your body can only handle so much food at once. What it doesn't need immediately can get stored as fat. Instead, eating little and often actually helps to boost your metabolism.

5. Don't keep too many treats in the house. I always remember our kitchen being stuffed full of Christmas treats when I was little ?and because it was there, we ate it, even if we weren't hungry. For this reason, buy and make treats in moderation. If you enjoy baking at Christmas, give plenty away too.

6. Convert traditional high-fat, high-sugar recipes into healthier versions.

Baking doesn't always require such a high sugar content. Try using one third less sugar or replacing the sugar altogether with unsweetened apple sauce. This can take some experimentation, but it's worth the effort. It's also important to limit saturated or hydrogenated fats, as these are the fats that cause weight gain and clog up your arteries. Margarine is often less healthy than butter because it contains these hydrogenated fats.

However, important exceptions are some of the healthy vegan margarines. My favourite is the Earth Balance margarine from Down to Earth. It has no cholesterol, no hydrogenated fat and lower saturated fat than many of the others. It's particularly good in baking.

7. Never say never: If you ban your favourite unhealthy treats entirely from your diet for months on end, you are much more likely to fall off the wagon. If you are generally following a healthy eating plan and don't have any serious health concerns, there is no reason why you shouldn't have the odd treat.

8. Introduce some exercise-orientated holiday traditions. Ever notice how most of our Christmas traditions revolve around food? Try and shift the focus away from the table by starting some new exercise-orientated traditions such as a Boxing Day walk along Horseshoe Bay or a treasure hunt in the Botanical Gardens.

Exercise is a crucial component of weight management and is especially important when preventing weight gain over the holidays. Healthy adults should aim to do 30 minutes of appropriate exercise for six days a week ? more if you've eaten too many of those canap?s.

The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns is a fully qualified Clinical Nutritionist. She can be contacted at 291-4725 or clinicalnutritiongmail.com.