How Not to Become A Big Fat-Ass This Holiday

There was a moral behind the "finish everything on your plate" redundancy that your mom fed you all through adolescence. No, it wasn't to stuff your face every night, filling your gut to the gills. Instead she was suggesting that you only serve yourself what you will eat.

Yes, sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Case in point? The 48 million tons of food tossed each year. It is estimated that as much as $31 billion worth of perfectly good food finds its way to landfills instead of your (and every other American's) stomach. And that whole "There are starving children in Africa" part that that often followed the "finish everything on your plate" line; that's true too. Sadly, all of that trashed food could have been put to good use feeding as many as 49 million hungry people.

Problem is, we tend to devour whatever is placed in front of our faces, contributing to both our waste AND out waist lines. So if you don't want to become a fat-ass this holiday season, here are a few tips to curb your food enthusiasm so that maybe you can still fit into that sexy little number come New Years Eve.