Your Christmas Cookie Survival Guide

Don't beat yourself up over a cookie or two. Indulgence is fun for a reason, and a day or two of binging won't have you looking like Mrs. Claus.

"If there's something or a day where you really want to indulge, you might be willing to do a little extra activity to make up for it," says Sandra Carpenter, RD, Senior Program Manager for Weight Management and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

You don't have to spend all winter on a treadmill, though. Use these strategies to satisfy your cravings without overdoing it.

3. Stay Away from Two-for-One Treats

Cookies like the Reese's Peanut Butter cup blossoms—a peanut butter cookie stuffed with a chocolate cup—are like two treats in one. And that complexity can make you stuff yourself silly, says Jennifer Ventrelle, R.D., lifestyle program director at Rush University Prevention Center in Chicago.

"You have to use more of your taste buds to detect all the flavors, which activates more pleasure centers in your brain," she says. This can trigger many of the same hormones associated with addiction to drugs, gambling, and sex. "So your brain is wired to continue to eat those things."

If a treat has chocolate and nuts and cranberries all in one… it's a slippery slope. Choose simpler offerings—you'll be able to eat more cookies for fewer calories, and you won't eat like an addict.

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